Yu Sen instinctively leaned back, his muscles tensing.

But the hand seemed only intent on that brief touch, wiping lightly before calmly withdrawing.

He glanced at Si Xuanyang across the table, who was gripping his dining knife tightly. Yu Sen frowned slightly and signaled with his eyes for him not to act rashly.

Lance licked the finger that had touched Yu Sen’s lips, his crimson tongue curling up the tiny bit of blood. His face displayed an expression of pure ecstasy, like an addict lost in a high.

Suppressing the urge to gag, Yu Sen cut a piece of bloody steak and brought it to his lips, the metallic taste exploding on his palate. His chest and stomach churned violently, and his face gradually paled.

All he could do was pray that the blood from the steak would mask his own scent, even if just a little.

Si Xuanyang’s face was extremely grim. Yu Sen gave him a reassuring smile, gulped down a large glass of water, and forced the undercooked steak down his throat.

Lance’s gaze towards him grew increasingly blatant, as if he was about to devour him alive in the next second. Yu Sen sighed inwardly, feeling the silver cross inside his sleeve lightly rest on his thigh.

At this moment, Lance suddenly stood up from his seat, the soft heels of his shoes making a sound on the ground.

Yu Sen’s heart jumped, and he stared fixedly at Si Xuanyang across from him, his gaze turning cold, forbidding him from making any move.

Lance’s fingers slowly slid across the back of the chair, and Yu Sen felt as if a venomous snake had crawled over his back, the cool sensation wrapping around the exposed back of his neck, making his heart tighten slightly with a faint pain.

Fortunately, it seemed Lance was only passing by behind him without doing anything further, as he leisurely walked past the back of Si Nan’s chair.

Yu Sen let out a breath of relief but noticed Lance stopped behind Tian Jing’s seat, and across from Tian Jing sat Guo Xiang.

Lance bent down, lifting a strand of Tian Jing’s hair by her temple, gently tucking it behind her ear, smiling all the while. Yet, Tian Jing trembled all over from his approach, her face turning deathly pale, even more so than a vampire.

Yu Sen felt a bit sorry for her, thinking that Lance must have sensed something.

He wanted to signal Guo Xiang with his eyes, but Guo Xiang was staring fixedly at Lance, not sparing him a glance.

Lance draped his arm over Tian Jing’s shoulder and slowly said, “Why are you trembling so much?”

Tian Jing’s lips quivered, too scared to speak, burying her head and shrinking her body, shaking her head continuously, her mouth letting out intermittent sobs.

Lance’s fingers tapped on her shoulder like playing a piano, his relaxed demeanor making Tian Jing seem like a fish on a cutting board, struggling helplessly, unable to escape.

Tian Jing’s sister beside her seemed unable to bear the psychological torment any longer, covering her face and sobbing softly.

For a moment, the dim room became even more oppressive with the sounds of sobbing and whimpering.

Yu Sen saw Guo Xiang’s eyes widen like copper bells, his whole body tense like a lion ready to pounce, veins bulging on his forehead.

Yu Sen’s heart skipped a beat; this was the state of someone under extreme stress, teetering on the edge of intense tension and excitement. He understood that at this point, no matter who tried to calm him down or gave him a signal, it would be useless.

Sure enough, as soon as Lance placed his hand on Tian Jing’s hair again, Guo Xiang snapped as if the last string in his mind had broken. He grabbed a bucket and leapt up, throwing its contents towards Lance.

In the rush and urgency, Guo Xiang couldn’t distinguish between friend or foe. The person most drenched by the corpse oil wasn’t Lance but Tian Jing, who was directly in front of him.

Tian Jing’s piercing scream suddenly echoed, and the nauseating stench of the corpse oil erupted in the dining hall.

Yu Sen’s pupils contracted sharply, his attention still on Lance. When the corpse oil was thrown, he clearly saw Lance pull someone beside him, causing Tian Tian to stumble and crash into Tian Jing, with the two sisters absorbing most of the oil.

The sound of chairs scraping across the floor plunged the dining hall into chaos. Yu Sen stood up abruptly and shouted at Guo Xiang, “Don’t act rashly!”

But Guo Xiang was too consumed by his own plan, unable to hear any words, as he followed through on a vision he had rehearsed hundreds of times in his mind, grabbing a candlestick from the table and hurling it with all his might across from him, his face twisted in rage.

The flames flared up instantly.

The girls’ heart-wrenching screams made Yu Sen stagger back a few steps, caught by Si Xuanyang around the waist.

He shifted the cross into Si Xuanyang’s palm and whispered urgently in his ear, “If Lance makes a move on us later, we’ll respond, but otherwise don’t act rashly. I’ve noticed tonight might not be his weakest moment.”

Si Xuanyang, with a cold gaze, glanced at the blood on Yu Sen’s lips, clenched the cross in his hand, and said coldly, “Understood.”

In the small, smoke-filled dining hall, with the two girls desperately struggling and screaming as they burned, the smell of corpse oil and scorched human flesh mixed in the air, and the sound of dry retching filled the room.

Thick smoke gradually spread, stinging everyone’s eyes.

Some tried dousing the girls with water from the table, while others threw tablecloths over them, but the flames were too fierce, and these efforts were in vain.

Yu Sen covered his nose and mouth, gripping Si Xuanyang’s clothes tightly, his eyes stinging from the smoke as he stared at the spot where Lance had stood. He had clearly seen Lance, weakened and unable to dodge, get splashed with some corpse oil.

But now, aside from the corpse oil-stained tablecloths and chairs, the only human forms on fire were the two sisters, Tian Tian and Tian Jing.

Alarm bells rang in Yu Sen’s mind: where had Lance gone?

Guo Xiang and the others clearly noticed this too, abandoning their efforts to help Tian Tian and Tian Jing. Guo Xiang shouted, “Everyone, take out your silver crosses and Bibles for protection!”

The small dining hall was now filled with thick smoke, the girls’ screams growing weaker as the flames died down, further reducing visibility.

Yu Sen’s unease intensified as he instinctively leaned closer to Si Xuanyang, only to suddenly freeze.

When had Si Xuanyang’s body temperature become so cold?

Like a corpse—impossible.

Unless… the person standing beside him had already been replaced.

Yu Sen’s face turned deathly pale.

A cold, lifeless arm wrapped around his waist, and a chilling breath whispered near his ear, like a lover’s intimate murmur, but the words made the blood in half his body freeze.

“Where’s the silver cross in your hand? Gave it to your lover?”

Yu Sen swallowed involuntarily. Other than the two of them, there was no sound around anymore—definitely not a good sign.

He gritted his teeth, ready to fight to the end, but suddenly a hand gripped his neck. The cold breath approached his face, and his lower lip was lightly sucked, both gentle and seductive, sending a shiver through him.

Yu Sen: “???!!!”

His eyes widened in disbelief. What the hell is going on?

If you’re going to suck blood, can’t you just bite the artery on my neck directly? With such a small crack in my mouth, can you even suck more blood than a mosquito?

Is this vampire out of his mind?

He reached out to push Lance away, but before he could even touch him, Lance let go of his grip on his own and whispered into Yu Sen’s ear with a light laugh, “So sweet, I can’t bear to end it so quickly. Let’s save it for tomorrow when we enter the coffin together and sleep.”

With that, the chilling aura surrounding them completely dissipated.

Yu Sen stood there with a blank face, a thousand curses running through his mind. He couldn’t believe he had just been teased back. Usually, it was him teasing Si Xuanyang, but now, he had been counter-teased.

And the one who did it wasn’t even human—it was a vampire, a different species altogether!

This is just absurd!

He moved closer to the side, and the familiar fresh scent of Si Xuanyang broke through the smoke and stench, reaching his picky nose. Only then did Yu Sen slowly relax, rubbing his head against Si Xuanyang’s shoulder.

Si Xuanyang, unaware of the strange situation earlier, just assumed Yu Sen’s body couldn’t take it anymore and anxiously held him close. “What’s wrong? Can you still manage?”

Yu Sen sighed, “Yang Yang, you were almost cheated on just now, but let me clarify—I was a hundred percent unwilling.”

Si Xuanyang: “Huh? What are you talking about?”

Before he could figure out what was going on, a sharp scream rang out from a distance, followed by the abrupt sound of Guo Xiang’s cry.

The sounds of intense struggle echoed through the smoke—punching, kicking, chairs toppling, and the clashing of cutlery… finally, the crisp sound of a silver cross hitting the ground.

Yu Sen and Si Xuanyang exchanged a glance and carefully moved toward the dining table. The strong scent of blood now overpowered the stench of the burnt corpses.

They stopped in their tracks as someone nervously lit the other candles again. In the flickering candlelight, Lance’s mischievous eyes glinted, illuminated by the light, with a sinister red gleam.

His sharp fangs were sunk deep into Guo Xiang’s tan neck, the blood that he couldn’t swallow quickly enough streaming down to form a large pool on the floor.

Guo Xiang’s hand was feebly pulling at Lance’s arm, his body writhing in a struggle that was visibly weakening. His mouth opened wide, letting out faint gurgles, while his eyes turned bloodshot and gradually lost their light.

The people around them initially stepped back in shock, but then quickly regained their senses, rushing forward with crucifixes.

But Lance was quicker and stronger. Dragging Guo Xiang’s body, he swiftly retreated into the shadows beyond the reach of the candlelight and vanished into the darkness once more.

All that remained was a faint, sinister chuckle, echoing in everyone’s hearts.

As the thick smoke in the dining hall gradually dissipated, a scene of utter chaos emerged—scattered dishes, a large pool of blood on the floor, and two burnt corpses.

^[1]Author’s Note:

Si Xuanyang: This is a cult! It must be a cult! I’m going to start punching someone!