“Bang!”

Xi Feng kicked her bedroom door open with a little too much force. Her lips were practically pouting up at the ceiling, and her brows had twisted into two perfectly symmetrical check marks. She might as well have written “I’m unhappy” right across her face.

She didn’t dare show any dissatisfaction in front of Bei Yaoyue, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t bothered by Bei Yaoyue’s heartlessness.

All she’d asked was to have her head patted. Was that really too much? Was it? Was it??

It would’ve taken nothing more than reaching out, and it wasn’t like she’d asked Bei Yaoyue to do anything cruel. If she couldn’t even agree to a request that simple, was there anyone more heartless in the world?

You can tell a lot from a little. After what had happened today, she could already imagine the miserable life Bei Yaoyue would make her lead, squeezing every last bit of work out of her.

And no matter how much she cried for help, no one would answer.

Life was hard. Xi Feng sighed.

It reminded her of that saying: “Marry the right person, and they’ll swing you through a life of romance. Marry the wrong one, and they’ll take you to Mount Hua for a duel to the death.”

She figured she and Bei Yaoyue must’ve been enemies in a past life. Their fates were clearly at odds, and she had no idea how they’d ended up bound together in this ill-starred relationship.

In the end, she could only blame herself for being careless—for letting her mouth run, drinking blood she shouldn’t have, and leaving behind a fatal weakness.

Suddenly, a daring, downright crazy idea popped into her head. If she’d turned Bei Yaoyue into a familiar back then—or even… killed her on the spot—would all this humiliating business never have happened?

She was a vampire, after all. Maybe there really was some way to turn a human into a familiar.

It wasn’t too late to fix things. If she could secretly turn Bei Yaoyue tonight—or kill her—maybe she’d be free again.

But the wicked thought lasted only a moment before Xi Feng came to her senses and quickly stamped it out.

As a good young person raised on the core socialist values, she would never take someone’s life. That was a crime, and she absolutely wouldn’t do it.

As for turning her into a familiar… first, she’d have to know how.

A vibration from her phone interrupted Xi Feng’s thoughts. She casually pulled it from the pocket of her shorts. The screen lit up, displaying a line of text.

“From QQ: Your friend ‘He Pingge’ sent you a message.”

When she opened it, a short message appeared: “Have you gotten used to things these past couple of days?”

The simple message, so full of concern, instantly brought Xi Feng to tears. Gugu, you really are the one who cares about me most in this whole world. Waaaaah…

He Pingge was her childhood friend. She had the adorable and very fitting nickname “Gugu,” and was four years younger than Xi Feng—or, rather, four years younger than the old Xi Feng. Now, Xi Feng had no choice but to call seventeen-year-old He Pingge “big sis.”

There was actually a third member of their childhood-friend trio: Ji You, who was twenty and in his third year of college.

The three of them had built a strong, pure friendship from childhood. After more than a decade, they’d become incredibly close, like a group of siblings—even though they weren’t related by blood.

Of course, their relationship had always been nothing but friendship. No one had ever entertained any improper thoughts or tried to cross the line.

The reason their friendship had never turned into anything else was simple: He Pingge was a dedicated yuri fan, and there was no doubt she was into girls.

As her close friends, Xi Feng and Ji You naturally respected her choice. They’d nipped any thoughts they shouldn’t have had in the bud long ago, keeping only the sincere affection they shared as friends of the opposite sex.

He Pingge was currently in her hometown, Autumn Maple City, in her third year of high school. In a little over twenty days, she’d be heading into the college entrance exam battlefield.

Ji You, meanwhile, was in New Moon City with Xi Feng, attending his third year at New Moon University of Science and Technology—the same university Xi Feng had attended.

“I’m doing okay. Nothing I haven’t gotten used to. Why are you suddenly asking?”

Confused, Xi Feng typed out the question on her mind and sent it.

She’d come to New Moon City alone after graduating from middle school. It had been a full seven years, so she didn’t understand why He Pingge was suddenly asking if she’d gotten used to things over the past couple of days.

“Beep… beep…”

Instead of a string of explanations, the reply came as a video call request.

Feeling guilty, Xi Feng’s first instinct was to reject the call. She was far too embarrassed to let anyone see what she looked like now.

But just as her finger was about to tap the reject button, she hesitated.

He Pingge really was worried about her, after all. It didn’t feel right to reject her outright. Besides, as far as He Pingge knew, this was what Xi Feng was supposed to look like, so there was nothing to hide.

If it wasn’t bad luck, then it was something she couldn’t escape. Sooner or later, she’d have to face the fact that she’d turned into a white-haired little girl.

Xi Feng shook her head helplessly and tapped the accept button.

“こんばんは (Good evening)!”

The moment the call connected—before the video feed had even had time to load—a lively voice burst from the phone’s speaker. It had the bright energy of a young girl, as clear and sweet as a willow warbler singing at dawn.

A familiar smiling face appeared right after. Her short black hair was tied into a side ponytail, giving her a sweet, youthful look.

When she saw Xi Feng, He Pingge smiled warmly. Her lively, energetic grin felt like a Monster Reborn card had just been played on Xi Feng’s heart, shattered by Bei Yaoyue. She was back to full HP in an instant.

Ah! Gugu really was the gentlest. Compared to her, Bei Yaoyue was an unforgivable demon!

A fond smile slipped onto Xi Feng’s face. She flopped onto the bed like a dead fish, relaxing all over. “Good evening, Gugu. Aren’t your college entrance exams coming up soon? How do you still have time to chat on QQ?”

“Who do you think I’m chatting with? I’m worried about you, you know?” He Pingge pouted a little, showing her displeasure. “You just moved to New Moon City, and you’re transferring to Tianshui No. 1 High School next week. I was worried you wouldn’t be able to adjust to life there. But you seem to be in a pretty good mood now, so I feel better.”

“As if I’m in a good mood…” Xi Feng gave a helpless, bitter smile. She swallowed the words that had almost slipped out.

As for Bei Yaoyue… better not to say anything if she could help it. She was too embarrassed to admit she’d been forced to become someone’s maid.

Wait—transferring schools!?

Only then did Xi Feng pick out one of the key words in He Pingge’s message. So, in this world that seemed like a parallel universe, she’d only just moved to New Moon City, and she was starting at Tianshui No. 1 High School next week.

Looking back at the timeline, she’d moved to New Moon City when she was fourteen. That checked out.

But then the idea that she and Bei Yaoyue had been neighbors for years was a load of nonsense. Or did Bei Yaoyue think she was just a new neighbor who’d moved in a few days ago?

It was probably a harmless little bug that no one would ever notice. Xi Feng thought it over for a moment, then decided not to dwell on it. Almost no program was completely free of bugs. As long as Lilian didn’t cause a Fatal Error big enough to crash the whole program, it’d be fine.

If the world’s process crashed, who knew what kind of weird things might happen?

Noticing Xi Feng’s bitter expression, He Pingge tilted her head. “Why do you suddenly look so troubled? Is something bothering you?”

“No, no, it’s nothing. I’m just about to enter a new environment, so I’m a little worried about whether I’ll fit in.”

Now that she’d figured out the situation, Xi Feng quickly waved her hands and carried on without batting an eye.

She considered herself pretty good at lying. She’d had plenty of practice since childhood, and by now she could spout nonsense without even blinking.

She genuinely felt guilty about lying to He Pingge. Still, she had to tell this lie. She couldn’t bear to let anyone find out.

The fact that she’d become Bei Yaoyue’s maid… absolutely no one else could ever know!

“Don’t worry. Believe in yourself. You’re such a cute girl—there’s no way people won’t like you.” The smile in the corners of He Pingge’s eyes nearly spilled over.

“W-what do you mean, cute? Don’t say stuff like that.” Xi Feng’s cheeks warmed despite herself. Mentally, she was still a man, and she wasn’t very good at accepting compliments like “cute.”

“I’m not making it up! My Xifei has always been the cutest girl in the whole world.” He Pingge said, giving her a playful wink.

“X-Xifei!?”

The completely unfamiliar nickname left Xi Feng stunned. What dimension had this dumb nickname dropped in from?!

Worst of all, it didn’t even sound nice. It might even lead to some weird misunderstandings!

Xi Feng’s extreme reaction left He Pingge baffled. She blinked her bright, obsidian-black eyes, looking completely confused. “What’s wrong? Haven’t I always called you that?”

“N-no, it’s nothing…” Xi Feng wanted to cover her face and crawl under the bed. So it was He Pingge’s special nickname for her—but it was way too embarrassing!

“It’s getting late.” He Pingge’s smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. “You should get some sleep. You’re so frail, you shouldn’t stay up late. I’m really worried your health will suffer.”

“Thanks for worrying. I’ll take care of myself.” Xi Feng scratched her head helplessly. It seemed that, in everyone else’s eyes, she was a genuinely frail girl.

But only she knew the truth: she was a vampire!

Even fatal wounds healed quickly. A few trivial aches and pains couldn’t possibly bring this body down.

She didn’t think she was so frail because her body was naturally weak. It felt more like she’d been hit with some kind of weakening debuff.

“I’m getting a little sleepy too,” He Pingge said, yawning at just the right moment.

“Oh… okay. Good night. Take care of yourself too. Your exams are coming up, so don’t wear yourself out.”

“おやすみ、またね (Good night. See you next time).”

With those final words, the video call ended.

Xi Feng set her phone beside her pillow, furrowed her brows, and felt that something wasn’t quite right.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that He Pingge had treated her a little differently today.

They’d always been close and could talk about almost anything, even private matters. They’d never hesitated to ask favors of each other, either. But had He Pingge been a little too concerned about her today?

Maybe she was just overthinking it.