Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Li Yuebai hung up the phone, having guessed the gist of the matter.
The dormant entity, hiding within the artifact, awoke and tried to escape, but was trapped in a tightly sealed combination lock, unable to leave. So, it controlled everyone in the car except the driver, putting them into a hallucinatory state. First, the curator entered the first three digits, then the three-digit expert entered the last three digits— even for the powerful Vlad III, manipulating so many people in his fragile dormant state was extremely taxing on his magic, not to mention erasing their memories afterward… This process thus took a full ten minutes.
In fact, after escaping the combination lock, the dormant entity could have easily controlled the curator to close it, creating the illusion that nothing had happened, but he didn’t. Instead, he left the combination lock open— this was related to Vlad III’s personality. According to the information, he was extremely arrogant and self-centered, and naturally disdained such cleanup work, preferring to leave traces instead.
After escaping the safe, it hid inside the car, using magic to search for a suitable host— being in a moving car was actually more convenient, as the dormant body was very fragile, and although it could fly, it didn’t want to expend too much energy on it.
Li Yuebai drew the route the black Lincoln from the museum had taken on the map.
There were three hospitals along this route.
The hospitals would be full of unconscious, dying, and even the dead; why hadn’t Vlad III chosen any of them? Why had he chosen Gao Chengyu instead? It could only be explained as a selection process.
Even the maid Ampsa was selective, refusing to possess the headless Xu Lili; how much more so would a powerful vampire like Vlad III?
He had to choose someone he approved of.
…The more he thought about it, the more he felt this villain was the author’s favorite character.
Li Yuebai had a terrible headache, his mind filled with images of villains from various anime works.
Evil and powerful… and their luck was often astonishingly good…
“So, host, be very careful when facing Vlad III, the Impalement King…” The system’s words were more full of schadenfreude than concern.
Li Yuebai had been pondering which side this system was on lately; it seemed to have never been on his side.
“The Impalement King…” Li Yuebai rubbed his temples in frustration.
The Impalement King… wait, no!
“System, what did you call him, the Impalement King?” Li Yuebai calmly caught a linguistic error: “No, all records refer to Vlad III as the Duke of Impalement— his title is Grand Duke, not King.”
A Grand Duke was slightly higher than a Duke, in English it was Grand Duke, while a King was King.
The system chuckled: “He’s a King now.”
“Hmm…?” Li Yuebai’s heart sank. According to historical records, Vlad III was a Grand Duke until his death in the 15th century.
“Just recently, he was crowned.” The system revealed a bombshell.
Gao Chengyu, using some unknown means, escaped directly to Romania in Europe, where he gathered vampires who had successfully undergone a transformation and, through some mysterious and forbidden ritual, was crowned king.
“Can dead people pass through customs? And how do they get through with ID cards and passports?” Ye Qing asked casually.
“With mind control, he can go anywhere without any obstacles,” Li Yuebai sighed.
Ye Qing’s IQ in math and physics was off the charts, but he had never had the intention to break the rules.
It was very likely that Gao Chengyu was still in Europe— which explained why he was able to obtain the pen holder containing the snake demon Lilith, and why he hadn’t come after him.
Gao Chengyu was certainly not a magnanimous person; he would definitely not let Gu Xisha go, but before that, he needed to make thorough preparations.
Having sorted out the current situation, night deepened.
Li Yuebai stretched and yawned, intending to take a shower and go to bed.
No matter how difficult and dangerous the future may be, he must take care of his health first.
“Xiao Ye, go to sleep.” He turned to urge Ye Qing, only to see Ye Qing with a blank expression, carrying a glass of water as he walked out.
“Where are you going?” Li Yuebai was stunned. “Are you going to feed the stray cats outside? The teacher thinks they might prefer cat food…”
“No.” Ye Qing said calmly. “I’m going to see the stars.”
Li Yuebai was exhausted and made a facepalm gesture.
“Xiao Ye, did you look at the time? What time is it? The zoo has been closed for ages!”
“No.” Ye Qing calmly pointed to the ceiling. “The stars in the sky.”
Li Yuebai searched through Gu Xisha’s memories and found that Ye Qing didn’t have any habit of looking at the stars at night.
But that was the original Ye Qing; this transmigrated Ye Qing might like looking at the stars.
Every day, he had to deal with all sorts of weird quirks from the various unruly kids in his class. Teacher Bai was already used to it.
So he calmly watched Ye Qing open the door and leave.
Three minutes later.
Li Yuebai looked around the empty room and felt a chill run down his spine.
Although Ye Qing was usually silent at home, sitting cross-legged on the sofa intently working on his computer, the screen light casting a bluish glow on his face— but this scene inexplicably gave him a sense of peace, like having a door god hanging in the house to ward off evil spirits, a feeling of security.
So Li Yuebai decisively grabbed a gun, threw on a shirt, and went out to find Ye Qing.
The building was old and dilapidated; the stairs led directly to the roof— though a concrete slab blocked the entrance, difficult to move, but not entirely impossible.
In the night, Ye Qing lay alone on the roof, a glass of water resting steadily beside him.
He’d thought when he said “stargazing,” he meant going up to the roof for some fresh air, but it turned out he was actually looking at the stars.
Li Yuebai walked around the roof, breathing in the not-so-fresh high-altitude air for a while, then found a clean spot next to Ye Qing and sat down. The concrete roof, baked by the sun all day, was still hot.
“Even though you’re exhausted, you still have the energy to count stars. You’re a true young man,” Li Yuebai remarked. “Hey, by the way, aren’t you a math genius? How many stars are there? Have you finished counting?”
Although this place was near the suburbs, there was still light pollution. One side of the sky was illuminated by neon lights, making it difficult to see many stars.
“About four hundred billion,” Ye Qing replied without blinking.
Did he really count them, or was he just making it up? Even a math genius wouldn’t do that, right?
Li Yuebai couldn’t help but take another look at Ye Qing’s eyes.
Ye Qing’s eyes were bright, seemingly reflecting billions of stars, but he couldn’t understand what he was thinking at all.
“Do you know what kind of person is truly lonely?” Li Yuebai couldn’t control his tongue anymore, saying whatever came to mind: “Truly lonely people are definitely not those who complain every day: ‘I’m so lonely, so isolated…'”
“Hmm.” Ye Qing didn’t seem to hear him, responding faintly.
“Truly lonely people are like you.” Li Yuebai felt too tired sitting, so he simply lay down, but not side by side with Ye Qing, instead forming a T-shape: “You don’t say anything, nobody knows what you’re thinking, no past, no future, forever alone.”
Ye Qing seemed to chuckle, and after a long while, spoke: “Master, are you planning to advise me not to be so lonely?”
Li Yuebai didn’t speak.
“I know, don’t worry.” Ye Qing’s voice was still so cold and calm: “For the upcoming mission, I can talk to you 30% more each day; increased communication between partners is necessary.”
“No.” After a long while, Li Yuebai finally spoke: “I never meant that.”
“When everyone says someone possesses a certain trait, doesn’t it mean they want to be more normal?” Ye Qing seemed to smile.
“I’m not.” Li Yuebai waved his hand in the darkness. “This kind of domineering attitude isn’t my style.”
“…”
“Loneliness is a part of you. You’re born this way, or you’ve just experienced many things you don’t remember, and I don’t know either.” Li Yuebai said, “If you feel that loneliness is natural, then there’s nothing in this world worth giving up loneliness for. As your partner, I have no right to ask you to change.”
“Thank you.”
“For ordinary people, there are many interesting things, but for you…” Li Yuebai said, “boring is boring. Rather than pretending that boring is interesting, it’s better to be freely lonely.”
Ye Qing seemed to smile again.
“It’s because special people like us exist that the world is interesting.” After summarizing, Li Yuebai sat up and reached out to ruffle Ye Qing’s hair. “Alright, go back to sleep!”
Li Yuebai reflected on his words in his sleep, feeling that he might have been too arbitrary.
Ye Qing seemed to have mentioned that there were a few things in this world that interested him, like fighting bosses, like…
Recalling Ye Qing’s words, “Your future tragic experiences seem quite interesting,” Li Yuebai broke out in a cold sweat.
Speaking of loneliness, wasn’t he lonely too? Everyone, more or less, feels like they’re the only person in the world at some point…
Li Yuebai had been hailed as a god-like figure since childhood— handsome, intelligent, well-read, good-tempered, and always the object of secret admiration— yet he was still single.
Being single wasn’t enough; he was also lazy.
It was too easy. He could get good grades without studying hard, and a stable job without much effort… Born into an orphan family, Li Yuebai had an innate yearning for peace and stability. Therefore, in his twenty-odd years of life, he had rarely challenged anything, contentedly serving as a god-like teacher at the Eighth Middle School, his life incredibly comfortable, without ever considering exploring his potential.
After encountering thugs and being forcibly dragged into these treacherous worlds by the system, he discovered he possessed an unexpected burst of power. The closer he got to the brink of death, the more explosive and dramatic his reversals became.
This feeling… was kind of exhilarating?
But fear remained a constant companion. He couldn’t be as calm and collected as Ye Qing; he was always afraid of the dangers to come.
But fear was fear, wasn’t it? Without fear, where would one’s intelligence come from?
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