Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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The Seven Star Tower, located in the old city, was a building with a history of five or six hundred years, weathered by war and vicissitudes, and with a rather bizarre history— it was originally built as a Buddhist pagoda. While ordinary pagodas are tall and narrow, the builder, wanting to embody the principle of “greatness lies in tolerance,” constructed each floor to be spacious and tall. As a result, the Zhengde Emperor, for reasons unknown, suddenly took a liking to this pagoda, occupied it, and then neglected to repair it. It gradually fell into disrepair. Later, with the changing dynasties and the ravages of war, the tower was occupied by a group of wicked Taoist priests who converted it into a Taoist temple. Later still, the priests fled for various reasons, and the building was bought by a wealthy family who converted it into a library. Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, Western missionaries bought the building from the wealthy family and used it as a Christian church… In short, the building’s history was absurd and chaotic, a collection of various religions and bizarre ghost stories.
When Li Yuebai arrived at the Seven Star Tower, it was late at night, and a crescent moon hung in the sky like blood. The old city was already desolate, and due to the riots in the city, the power was out, plunging the surroundings into darkness. There were no streetlights, and he could only barely make out the scene before him in the blood-red darkness.
The dilapidated Seven Star Tower stood atop the hillside, its outline bizarre, a chaotic jumble of architectural features from different periods and styles, riddled with craters from cannon fire. In the darkness, it resembled a haunted building, utterly grotesque and terrifying.
Moreover, whether it was an illusion or not, the closer Li Yuebai got, the more he felt a black mist shrouded the Seven Star Tower. This mist would sometimes condense, sometimes disperse, adding another layer of horror to the already menacing structure.
All around was silent; no insects chirped, no human voices were heard, only a waning moon hung in the sky, as if the world had left the modern era. Li Yuebai gritted his teeth and stepped up the hillside, heading towards the entrance to the ground floor of the Seven Star Tower— where there used to be an iron gate, but now only a dark doorway remained.
As Li Yuebai entered the doorway, he heard the cawing of crows.
The interior of the Seven Star Tower was completely different from what he had imagined—no decorations, no furniture, just a large, empty room. A winding staircase led upstairs, the walls were black brick, and a window, without glass, was just an empty archway. A crow perched on the windowsill, cawing mournfully, and under its claws lay a piece of parchment.
Li Yuebai walked to the window, reached out, and picked up the parchment— the crow indifferently hopped away, not flying off, but just staring coldly at him.
It felt like playing some kind of adventure game; the first thing he saw upon entering was a hint. This parchment might be a medium for communication between Gao Chengyu and him.
As if to confirm his guess, words appeared out of thin air on the parchment, written in Chinese, clearly:
You’ve come.
Li Yuebai was momentarily annoyed by this greeting.
He didn’t reply, but instead wrote on the parchment with his finger: Yes, I’ve come, so what?
“Very good.” —The parchment replied.
“What have you prepared?” —Li Yuebai asked.
The parchment was large, but it couldn’t possibly hold all the words infinitely, especially since the words Li Yuebai had written with his finger in his haste were quite large. Therefore, all the words would automatically disappear after a period of time.
“This building has seven floors. I just need you to walk from the first floor all the way to the seventh floor, it’s that simple.” —The parchment replied.
Like a level-based game? Li Yuebai was increasingly unable to distinguish whether he was in reality or in a game.
But now he was on the first floor, yet there was nothing around him, no enemies, no vampires, no traps or mechanisms… Wasn’t Gao Chengyu’s goal to capture him? Why greet him with an empty floor? This didn’t make sense.
New words appeared on the parchment: “Soon, you will see that person, don’t be too surprised…
“Who?”
Li Yuebai felt a chill in his heart. He knew very well that in this world, besides Ye Qing, no one else was the most special “that person” to him.
“Could Ye Qing be here? Impossible! Ye Qing was clearly still at the beach when we last spoke…”
Li Yuebai suddenly summoned the system in his mind: “System, contact Ye Qing for me.”
The system remained silent and unresponsive.
Could it be that he couldn’t contact Ye Qing? Why?
A smiling emoticon appeared on the parchment, seemingly mocking him.
Soon, Li Yuebai knew why he couldn’t contact Ye Qing.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs; someone was coming down from the second floor, and the footsteps sounded very familiar.
Li Yuebai looked up and immediately felt his heart freeze.
It was Ye Qing.
He looked no different from when they last parted, except his face was even paler. The strand of red hair by his left ear and the blue teardrop under his right eye were clearly visible. He was now wearing a black robe, and his movements as he descended the stairs were extremely calm. His eyes were fixed on Li Yuebai, filled with complex hatred and desire.
“Ye Qing…?” Li Yuebai was completely bewildered, forgetting his decision not to speak, and blurted out, his voice trembling, “Why are you here?”
The moment he opened his mouth, he seemed to see Ye Qing smile.
The next second, Li Yuebai felt the cold ground slam heavily onto his back and the back of his head, a familiar suffocating sensation on his neck. Ye Qing had once again pressed him hard to the ground and gripped his neck. This time, Li Yuebai didn’t want to resist at all; he just wanted to know the answer.
“I said I’d come back to you,” Ye Qing whispered in his ear.
Li Yuebai’s eyes widened instantly.
Yes, Ye Qing had indeed said those words during their last interaction through the system; he remembered them clearly.
The pressure on his neck increased, and Li Yuebai’s mind went blank.
Why, why, why?
“Because I’m a vampire.” Ye Qing explained softly in Li Yuebai’s ear, his voice still calm as always. “I can’t suppress my desire to devour you, so I have no choice but to cooperate with your enemy… As for why this is so, Master, don’t you know the reason?”
Yes, Ye Qing was a vampire, and how could a vampire let VILA go?
Gao Chengyu’s goal was to use VILA to manipulate his subordinates. If he were even more ruthless, he could even attract Ye Qing and make him stand on his side.
These past few days, he had been avoiding Ye Qing, not contacting him, letting him suffer alone. Not long ago, when they were attacked in the small square, he had asked Ye Qing for help, but after escaping the predicament with Ye Qing’s help, he immediately agreed to Gao Chengyu’s conditions and came here, without any intention of finding Ye Qing.
For Ye Qing, who had already lost his mind, this was an unbearable neglect.
“Do you hate me?” Li Yuebai’s breath grew weaker and weaker.
“Hate.” Ye Qing was still smiling. “But maybe, after a while, the hate will be gone, after I devour you.”
His body, clad in a black robe, pressed tightly against Li Yuebai. Li Yuebai could feel the contours of Ye Qing’s bones and muscles. The once young and vibrant body was now cold and terrifying, chilling him to the bone.
“I’m the one who turned him into this. It was me.”
Li Yuebai closed his eyes. Ye Qing’s teeth bit into his neck again, in the exact same spot as before. His sharp canines pressed against the skin and blood vessels, but he hesitated to break through. Instead, he made licking and sucking motions, just like last time.
In that instant, Li Yuebai suddenly didn’t want to resist anymore.
Let it end like this. Let Ye Qing drain my blood, let me die here, end everything, and never have to endure the torment again.
Even towards Ye Qing now, he felt no hatred or fear, only heartache.
What had Ye Qing gone through during this time? Just thinking about it made his heart ache.
Let it end like this.
With his last ounce of strength, Li Yuebai reached out and touched Ye Qing’s face.
The touch was exactly the same as he remembered— cold and lifeless.
When he finally opened his eyes, he saw the parchment floating in the air, with new writing on it— Gu Xisha, kill Ye Qing.
No— Li Yuebai silently answered in his heart.
Kill him. Didn’t you come with weapons? —The words on the parchment were clear.
Li Yuebai carried a gun and silver bullets. That’s right, Gao Chengyu hadn’t demanded that he come without weapons, so, with the intention of resisting to the end, he had brought them.
If facing any other vampire, Li Yuebai would certainly have fired without hesitation.
But his opponent was Ye Qing, and no matter what, Li Yuebai couldn’t draw his gun and pull the trigger.
Ye Qing seemed to be in a state of fanatical obsession, simply holding himself tightly, as if trying to savor this precious moment, without continuing to drink blood— perhaps he knew that once he started drinking blood, it would be the end, so he stopped himself.
At this moment, he even had the chance to draw his gun, aim it at Ye Qing, and kill him in retaliation.
But no, he couldn’t do it no matter what.
“If you refuse to kill him, in return, I will kill everyone in the orphanage,” the parchment showed.
Li Yuebai’s heart clenched again.
The thing he feared most had finally happened— a dilemma. Gao Chengyu’s greatest pleasure was forcing him into such a dilemma, a dead end no matter which he chose.
If life could be quantified, which was more important, a hundred-plus lives or the life of the person he valued most? No one could say for sure.
Moreover, the person he valued most was killing him.
Out of the instinct for survival, he should obey Gao Chengyu’s orders and kill Ye Qing; this was the most correct and reasonable choice.
Li Yuebai closed his eyes again. He felt as if he were in a spacetime rift, being swallowed and torn apart, his mind a chaotic, dark void, with countless stars bursting before his eyes.
Calm down, calm down.
From the moment Ye Qing walked down the stairs, he had already lost control.
The only way to solve the problem was to slowly regain control and find his way back to the present, no matter how painful it was, he had to keep thinking.
He endured the excruciating pain and dizziness in his head and began to piece together his thoughts, starting from the moment Ye Qing walked down the stairs, not letting any detail slip by…
Finally…
Li Yuebai opened his eyes and took a difficult breath.
Ye Qing’s face was still buried in his neck.
“Xiao Ye,” Li Yuebai said softly, “Can I ask you one last question?”
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