Chapter 101

Chapter 101

“Should I say I’m not surprised at all that you’d call?”

Wagner laughed softly.

Two days had passed since their last meeting. Ning Qiuyan had thought it over countless times, but in the end, he still made the call. He was walking beneath the giant redwoods on campus, with carefree couples ahead of him, speaking to each other in hushed, gentle voices.

And Wagner Jones had been waiting for this call all along.

“Mr. Jones.”

Ning Qiuyan did not bother with pleasantries. He got straight to the point.

“Can I see Qin Weizhi one more time?”

Wagner did not seem surprised in the slightest. “Of course. I’ll arrange it for you.” Then, deliberately, he asked, “You want to see him because of the matter I mentioned?”

Ning Qiuyan fell silent.

Wagner did not press him. He said, “My friend, you are just as clever as I imagined. It’s just that this matter may not be so easy to handle. You saw it yourself-Mr. Guan doesn’t have much fondness for Qin. Even if Qin is willing to help you, aren’t you afraid of making Mr. Guan angry?”

“I am.” Ning Qiuyan sounded despondent, almost possessed. “But so what if I’m afraid? If I can live forever, I’ll have time to think of a way to make him forgive me. I don’t want to leave behind irreparable regrets the way you did, Mr. Jones, so I can’t give up even the smallest chance. As long as I’m still here, then one day, he’ll understand why I did this.”

The young man’s thoughts were naive, yet sincere.

Wagner pondered for a moment. “It seems you’ve truly thought it through.”

“What conditions do you have?” Ning Qiuyan sounded as though he had finally made up his mind. “As long as you’re willing to help me, I’ll do anything you ask.”

Wagner corrected him. “Not us.”

Ning Qiuyan did not understand.

Wagner said, “You may not believe me, but Qin and I truly aren’t on the same side.” Wagner had learned that phrasing from Qin Weizhi and now used it naturally on himself. “What he wants and what I want are completely different. I can help you, and I don’t need any conditions. But as for him, I can’t say.”

After the call ended, Ning Qiuyan took a deep breath, unsure whether what he was doing was right or wrong.

Guan Heng was absent again that night. Qu Shu accompanied Ning Qiuyan to dinner.

Seeing that he had been preoccupied these past few days, Qu Shu thoughtfully chatted with him and steered the conversation elsewhere.

Everyone could tell that something minor had gone wrong between Guan Heng and Ning Qiuyan.

Even Li Tang, who had rarely appeared lately, had noticed. He blamed himself for saying too much to Ning Qiuyan and said he had thought the two of them had already made up a few days ago. After all, Guan Heng had prepared so carefully.

“What do you mean?” Ning Qiuyan asked.

But Li Tang only became mysterious and refused to say another word.

It was not until after dinner that evening that Qu Shu asked, “Do you like the food here?”

This was a very famous high-end restaurant in Sujing, and it was usually difficult to get a reservation.

Ning Qiuyan had occasionally seen people mention it online, and he had been very surprised when he followed Qu Shu inside earlier.

“I do. It’s delicious.”

Even though he had been distracted, the food here had still awakened his taste buds.

“Sister Shu, what made you suddenly think of coming here?”

As the only two humans around Guan Heng, they often made plans to eat together.

“Mr. Guan booked it,” Qu Shu said. “He originally made the reservation a few days ago, but you didn’t come, so he had someone postpone it for a few days. Then today, Deshan and the others asked him to attend a discussion, so he had me come with you instead.”

Ning Qiuyan was at a loss.

When Vampires ate human food, it was like chewing on a sheet of paper that had been soaked and dried countless times.

They usually did not have dates like this.

Why had Guan Heng suddenly booked a restaurant?

Seeing his expression, Qu Shu smiled and gave him a hint. “It was the day Wagner Jones abducted you.”

That day?

Ning Qiuyan froze. Then, all at once, he understood something.

“Mr. Guan wanted to appear more naturally in public, and he even went out of his way to find Li Tang’s hairstylist,” Qu Shu said. “Remember? That day, Mr. Guan had short hair.”

He had short hair and was wearing formal clothes.

Ning Qiuyan’s heart began to pound violently.

So this was the careful preparation Li Tang had mentioned. It seemed he had missed a very important date.

Qu Shu comforted him. “But it’s all right that you missed it. Mr. Guan said good food is always around, and as long as you like it, you can come anytime.”

After paying the bill, the two of them left the restaurant.

Qu Shu turned back. Ning Qiuyan was still holding her coat for her. Compared to an employer and assistant, the way they got along was more like that of an older sister and younger brother.

Qu Shu took the coat back.

“Let’s go back,” she said. “Mr. Guan picked several restaurants for the food tour list, and they’re all waiting for you to try them one by one. He doesn’t mistreat his subordinates, so I get the chance to enjoy plenty of good food too.”

Ning Qiuyan nodded.

Qu Shu then listed several other restaurants for him, along with their cuisines and signature flavors.
Ning Qiuyan knew why Guan Heng had done it.

After letting him experience the sensation of falling from a great height, Guan Heng wanted him to taste the most delicious food, to let him understand for himself just how precious it was to have human taste buds.

Ning Qiuyan’s photography assignment had been selected for the student showcase of outstanding work.

It was a shot of the city at night.

But he felt it still wasn’t as pretty as the casual photo he’d taken of Sujing Tower. They were both night views of Sujing, but as Guan Heng’s phone wallpaper, that photo seemed to have been given some mysterious, high-end filter without him even trying.

“What sound are you planning to pair with it?” Guan Heng asked.

They were sitting on the living room floor.

Guan Heng was behind Ning Qiuyan, holding him loosely in his arms.

Ning Qiuyan had printed his photography assignment as a physical photo and was sliding it into the audio photo album he’d recently made. He hadn’t had much inspiration lately. He’d put in quite a few photos, but not every one had a sound paired with it.

“I haven’t thought of one yet,” he said.

After a moment, he turned his head and asked Guan Heng, “What sound would you like to hear?”

The audio photo albums were all made for Guan Heng.

Ning Qiuyan had bought a lifetime membership on a sound library website.

Guan Heng’s long hair fell forward, the strands brushing the side of Ning Qiuyan’s neck. “The sounds of the world.”

As long as it belonged to this world, as long as it was something around Ning Qiuyan, any sound would do.

Guan Heng asked, “Still not considering taking pictures of yourself?”

Last time in the media room, Ning Qiuyan had said he hoped Guan Heng would think of him when he looked at the photos and listened to the sounds. Guan Heng’s request had been, “Next time, take pictures of yourself.”

Capture his own appearance. Record his own voice.

So Guan Heng could look, and so he could listen.

Although Guan Heng still didn’t know how long he would stay in Sujing, sooner or later, he would return to Du Island.

Ning Qiuyan remembered Guan Heng’s request, but he had never gone through with it. He was embarrassed. He didn’t know what kind of expression to make in front of the camera, or what he should say.

But there was still time. There was plenty of time.

Ning Qiuyan hoped there would always be enough time.

He turned his head and kissed Guan Heng.

Guan Heng didn’t move, wanting to see if he would leave right after the kiss like last time.

But Ning Qiuyan didn’t.

His soft, damp lips pressed against Guan Heng’s, sucking carefully at his lower lip. Only after doing it two or three times did he devoutly move upward. He was fairly good at kissing, yet there was still a green awkwardness to his probing. His tongue shyly licked at the seam of Guan Heng’s lips.

When Guan Heng responded, he simply turned all the way around and knelt in front of Guan Heng, cupping Guan Heng’s face in his hands.

His lips and tongue took the initiative and pressed in, carrying a very faint taste of tobacco.

Guan Heng could smell it, but what he tasted was still sweetness.

He had seen Ning Qiuyan smoke a few times. Usually, Ning Qiuyan stood somewhere deserted, his back slightly bent, a cigarette between his long, slender fingers. After taking a drag, he would pause for a long time before slowly exhaling the smoke.

Guan Heng didn’t dislike it.

They didn’t stay in the living room for long.

Guan Heng’s foreplay was usually very gentle, but Ning Qiuyan’s teasing only made him rough.

The two of them hadn’t even reached the mattress. They had only just entered the bedroom when Ning Qiuyan was pressed against that black feature wall, whimpering as he cried.

Guan Heng only had time to put on the bite restraint at the very last moment.
—
The slight easing in their relationship made Ning Qiuyan start to regret calling Wagner.

Wagner hadn’t called back, either.

A few days later, however, when he saw Deshan and Joshua appear in the living room of the Black House, Ning Qiuyan suddenly wished more than anything that Wagner would call.

He was not someone suited to keeping secrets. So the instant Wagner’s number suddenly appeared on his phone, he nearly jumped up from his homework.

Guan Heng was in the middle of speaking. He looked toward him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“A call from a classmate,” Ning Qiuyan said in a fluster. “I’ll go outside to take it.”

With that, he grabbed his phone and ran downstairs.

Joshua watched his retreating figure and laughed.

Guan Heng propped his fingers against his temple and lifted his eyelids. “What are you laughing at?”

“Sometimes I feel like Xiao Ning resembles certain small animals,” Joshua said. “For example, just now, he looked like a startled little dog.”

“It’s a dog, darling, not a head of dog,” Deshan corrected her Blood Contract Partner. “You use head for slightly larger animals.”

Joshua said, vexed, “Sorry.”

Deshan thought about it, then added, “But not necessarily. In Chinese, head can also be used for very small things, like a head of garlic.”

Joshua was thrown into confusion. “…”

Deshan smiled. “You’re so cute.”

Even after so many, many years together, the love flowing between them remained as sweet as it had been in the beginning. For each Blood Contract Partner pair, the bond deepened day by day, which was the ideal state for many who had entered such contracts.

They knew that Guan Heng and his own Blood Contract Partner had a small disagreement between them.
Deshan realized she shouldn’t have interrupted with things like that at a time like this, and turned to Guan Heng. “Sorry.”

They had kept the habit of apologizing.

No matter how close the person before them was.

Guan Heng seemed unaffected. Like a gentleman, he waited for them to finish, then made a dismissive gesture. He rose and went to the window, watching as Ning Qiuyan hurried downstairs, his figure rushing through the garden.

Only after he had left the house and reached the alley outside did Ning Qiuyan press the answer button.

Fortunately, Wagner had not hung up.

“Hello?”

Ning Qiuyan’s heart was pounding like a drum.

On the other end, Wagner asked directly, “Dare to leave? I sent someone to pick you up.”

With that, he actually ended the call.

Before Ning Qiuyan could react, the sound of an engine approached from afar. A motorcycle came roaring from the end of the road and stopped in front of him after a beautiful tail swing.

The rider took off his helmet, revealing the smiling face of a young human boy. “Ning Qiuyan, get on.”

So this was the person Wagner had sent.

Ning Qiuyan was still startled and uncertain, but the men in black behind him were already walking toward him. He could not hesitate any longer. He swung a leg over and climbed onto the back seat, and the boy handed him a helmet.

The boy threw a line at the men in black. “Taking him for a spin. I’ll send him back in a bit!”

Then, with lightning speed, he started the motorcycle and shot off.

Ning Qiuyan was thrown backward by inertia, then pitched forward. Instinctively, he braced a hand against the boy and saw bite marks, both old and new, on the side of his neck.

The boy was one of the blood slaves.

A living, breathing human, kept by someone unknown.

The motorcycle tore through alley after alley, deliberately choosing roads that were difficult to track. The sky was dark. They cut through the neon of the streets and the interlacing shadows of tree branches, like a collage that had broken free of realism.

The wind was bitterly cold. It sliced through Ning Qiuyan until he felt chilled to the bone, and when he got off the motorcycle, he nearly lost his footing.

The boy smiled at him and lifted his chin. “Go in.”

Ning Qiuyan looked in the direction the boy indicated and first saw a very narrow flight of steps.

At the top of the steps was a black iron door. Above it hung a signboard flickering between light and dark, the words on it already impossible to make out.

The boy parked the motorcycle by the roadside.

The two of them went up the steps together. After pushing open the door, Ning Qiuyan discovered that this was, astonishingly, another club, much like Lost Club.

Inside, it was spacious and dim, wreathed in smoke, making it difficult to tell who were humans and who were Vampires.

Compared with the former, however, this place was a little cleaner. There was no trace of Huanle. Ning Qiuyan knew that after Guan Heng’s handling of the matter, once the supply chain had been cut off, most clubs connected to Huanle had already been shut down.

There were far more Vampires in Sujing than he had imagined. They, too, needed places to gather and socialize.

By day, these Vampires seemed to vanish. The humans walking on the surface would never be able to imagine how many creatures that could not bear the light existed in the underground world.

At some point, the boy behind him, one of the blood slaves, had disappeared.

Ning Qiuyan stood there at a loss for a while, but no one paid him any attention, even though he looked completely out of place here.

Wearing the Mark of a Blood Contract Partner, Ning Qiuyan was not especially afraid.

He knew the protective laws surrounding Blood Contract Partners. He knew no one here would do anything to him.

Besides, the owner of his Mark was Guan Heng.

The layout inside the club was unclear. Ning Qiuyan felt his way forward for some distance until finally, at the doorway of a private room whose door stood open, he saw Qin Weizhi.

This room was even darker. The lighting had been arranged with particular ingenuity, casting the room in cold silver light and shadow like moonlight.

Beneath the brightest beam of light, Qin Weizhi was drinking blood.

The person serving as one of the blood slaves leaned halfway against Qin Weizhi’s shoulder, back to the door, clothes half slipped off. It was obvious the bite was not deep. Compared to simple feeding, the scene seemed far more ambiguous.

Sometimes Vampires drank blood for reasons other than hunger.

What a human consumed could alter their blood, just as Dr. Ling had once tested Ning Qiuyan’s blood before he donated it. He had to make sure the blood was pure and harmless, because although a Vampire could not be directly affected by medicine, they could taste the acquired components within the blood.

For Guan Heng, that was something that had to be avoided. For certain Vampires, however, it was entirely different.

They were happy to taste such flavors, and so they kept all kinds of blood slaves.

Qin Weizhi noticed Ning Qiuyan had arrived. He glanced at him and, as if deliberately making him wait, bit deeper into the person serving as one of the blood slaves.

This time, Ning Qiuyan was not as fragile as he had been before, so shocked he backed away, his face full of pity.

This time, he simply stood in the doorway and silently watched the whole thing.