Watching the live stream, Lu Chen curled the corner of his lip.
"Very well, since that’s what you wish, I’ll show you something thrilling. I just hope you don’t get so scared that you turn and run..."
Before that, however, he needed to go find some blood to drink.
He made sure the rooftop door was firmly locked, then turned and walked to the edge of the roof. With a leap, he transformed into a swarm of bats, fluttering through the mid-air until he found a room with an open window and slipped inside.
"Huh? Did I just see a shadow fly past up there?"
Down below, Yu Yiyi, who had just snuck into the hospital, stopped in her tracks. She looked up, feeling a bit strange, but the moon overhead was bright, and she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile, as more people flooded the live stream, the mocking comments began to pile up.
"Stop acting mysterious, streamer. That only works on kids."
"Holy crap, is that a hospital? Did you even get permission to film here?"
"Report! Block the channel! Everyone, do your part—don’t just scroll past..."
"Hilarious. You’ve got guts, streamer, wandering around a hospital in the middle of the night with all this negative energy."
Yu Yiyi gritted her teeth at the taunts, but held her temper. She gave a little huff and said, "I, Yu Yiyi, have never relied on gimmicks. I don’t use fishing lines or props, and I swear on my life that what you see is exactly what’s happening."
"Besides, I’m not going into patient rooms. I’m just filming the environment."
"Alright, I’ll take you all on a tour now. I imagine most of you don’t get many chances to visit a hospital this late at night."
Yu Yiyi waved for the camerawoman behind her to follow.
The two had scouted the location during the day, so they managed to slip into the inpatient building through the back entrance, easily bypassing the nurses and doctors on duty on the first floor.
The hallway lights were bright, yet they cast a sickly, pale glare. Between the faint, raspy coughing drifting from somewhere unknown and the eerie sound of dripping water, the atmosphere was genuinely chilling.
"So, everyone, this is what the wards at First Hospital look like at night..."
Yu Yiyi lowered her voice, sweeping the camera around. Most of the rooms were empty; she mustered up the courage to peek inside a few, but found nothing.
They reached the fourth floor. Aside from the occasional strange noise, there was nothing unusual. The content was so boring that the viewership, which had taken so long to build, began to drop, and the mocking comments grew even louder.
Yu Yiyi was fuming but felt helpless. Her camerawoman looked discouraged and mouthed, "Maybe we should head back for tonight..."
Yu Yiyi gritted her teeth. "Just a little longer..."
Just then, she caught a glimpse of a dark figure walking slowly at the end of the corridor, and her eyes lit up. Doctors and nurses wore white coats; this had to be a patient. She could interview him, ask if he’d encountered anything strange while staying here.
She signaled the camerawoman to follow and hurried after him, only to see the figure turn and push open the door to a patient room.
As she hesitated, wondering if she should follow, a sharp rebuke came from behind: "Stop! Who are you people? What are you doing here?!"
She cursed internally. Turning around, she saw a night-shift nurse walking toward them, furious, pointing directly at the camera. "Don’t you know filming isn't allowed? And you’re not patients, are you? How did you even get in here?!"
The live chat erupted in schadenfreude:
"Haha, busted!"
"The streamer’s done for!"
"Hahaha!"
Yu Yiyi ignored the jeers, offering an awkward, apologetic bow. "I’m sorry, we were just trying to film something unique... And we haven’t disturbed anyone. The patient in that room just came out to use the bathroom, so we wanted to have a quick chat with him."
The nurse didn’t believe a word of it. After checking the room number, she looked at Yu Yiyi like she was a con artist.
"That room houses an elderly man who is paralyzed and on a catheter. You say he came out to use the bathroom? Who do you think you’re kidding?"
"Huh?"
Yu Yiyi froze, exchanging a confused look with her camerawoman.
"It’s true, we both saw him..."
"There are thousands of people in the live stream watching, too. If you don't believe me, go check for yourself."
"Could it have been a thief or something..."
The nurse snorted. "You think I’m lying? I’ll go check. If there’s no one else in there, you’d better start thinking about how to explain this to the police..."
She stepped forward, her hand touching the door handle, and realized the door was only pushed to—it swung open at her touch.
The nurse paused, her gaze following the opening door into the room.
The instant she saw what was inside, her pupils contracted, and a shiver ran down her spine.
Beside the paralyzed elderly man in the bed sat a strange, unfamiliar man with an eccentric look. He was leaning over the old man, biting into his neck. Upon hearing them, he lifted his head and snapped his gaze toward them.
The camera caught it all. The audience in the live stream saw him clearly: a handsome, mixed-race man with a gaunt, deathly pale face, his mouth pulled back to reveal two blood-dripping fangs, as if he had just finished a feast.
He locked eyes with them, red light flickering in his irises. Combined with the strange, cosplay-like outfit he was wearing, the sight left both Yu Yiyi and the camerawoman stunned in silence.
In the live stream, the chat paused for a heartbeat before exploding. The screen was flooded with comments, far more dense than the scattered ones from before.
A sea of "Holy crap!"
"Too intense!"
"A real vampire?!"
"Is the person above a kid? Obviously, it's fake!"
"My apologies, streamer. I didn't realize you were in cahoots with the hospital, holding back just to slap us in the face like this!"
"These props are incredibly realistic! You’ve really spent a fortune on this, haven't you?"
Yu Yiyi felt her teeth chattering, and she involuntarily took a step back.
"This... this definitely wasn't our doing..."
She was on the verge of tears. What kind of outdoor streamer would stage something so blatantly fake?
The nurse, after her initial shock, began to boil with rage.
"You’re in on it with these two! These internet celebrities have no bottom line when it comes to chasing fame! I’m warning you, if anything happens to this elderly man, you’re all murderers!"
With that, she hurried forward to pull the strange man away.
But before she could take a few steps, she saw the eerie, mixed-race youth lick his blood-stained lips, his expression one of disdain and disgust.
"Mere lowly mortals, daring to disturb the feeding of the noble Blood Clan!"
The comments in the live stream moved faster and faster.
"666, where did this chuunibyou come from? It's so cringey I'm curling my toes."
"The acting is so bad, though the actor is pretty handsome. Where did they find this pretty boy?"
"I support the nurse calling the police! Arrest these shameless streamers!"
"A cheap cosplay outfit—I’ve seen better at anime conventions."
But just then, in the camera frame, the man elegantly extended his right hand toward them, as if a pianist playing a concerto, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at corpses.
"Feel regret for your insolence."