V1: Chapter 28: Provocation

Liang Lin and Liang Di exchanged a glance.

"Can you tell me what you saw? I'm a little curious."

Laura, always a blabbermouth, cautiously looked around. Seeing no one else, she crouched down and whispered in Liang Lin and Liang Di's ears, "That woman, she had no color in her skin, like she'd been drained of all her blood. I didn't see clearly at the time because I was too scared and ran away. Later, I called the Knights, and while they were investigating, I secretly peeked. Do you know what I saw?!"

Liang Lin held her breath.

"I saw that the woman didn't have a single wound! That's really strange! No blood at all, how can there be no wounds? Later, I heard the Knights say something about... small holes in her wrists..."

Laura's face turned horrified. She touched her arm, goosebumps rising on her skin. "The other nuns told me it was a vampire! It was definitely a vampire!"

Huh?

"A vampire?" Liang Lin paused for a second, then burst into laughter, her cheeks flushed. "Hahaha~ Isn't that a story adults use to scare sleepy kids? There's no such thing as a vampire in the world–… uhh."

Liang Lin's laughter stopped abruptly. She looked at Liang Di.

Okay, if tentacle monsters exist, then it's reasonable for vampires to actually exist in this world. Reasonable, very reasonable, completely flawless.

"So, that's why I said the priest was right…" Laura scratched her head in annoyance. "I must have been hallucinating, seeing things wrong, having some kind of illusion."

"Hmm."

Liang Di took Liang Lin's hand.

"Let's go."

Before leaving, Liang Di turned back to look at Laura, saying meaningfully, "Laura, you shouldn't go out at night lately… and be careful during the day too."

Laura dazedly replied, "Ah, thank you for your concern, Miss."

She thought Liang Di was concerned about her.

"Is it... over?"

On the way, Liang Lin kept looking back.

"We've confirmed the priest is the one with the problem, so there's nothing more to say to that nun. Let's go into the woods and see if we can run into some... you know."

"Hmm..."

Looking at Liang Di's serious expression, Liang Lin felt a little dazed. The Liang Di of this moment seemed completely different from the sadistic Liang Di of a few days ago; they were like two different people. This serious and witty Liang Di... actually seemed quite likable.

But I still needed to find a chance to kill her.

No matter what, Liang Lin's desire to kill Liang Di hadn't changed; she just lacked the ability to kill her.

"Do you think vampires really exist in this world?"

It was getting late, the sun was setting, and the woods were shrouded in a gray haze. Liang Di looked around, searching for anything unusual, as she answered Liang Lin's question.

"Maybe, maybe not even a vampire, maybe... someone with some physical abnormalities, similar to me."

Can someone with physical abnormalities still be called human?

Liang Lin didn't ask.

The deeper they went, the quieter the environment became. All around was eerily quiet, save for birdsong and the rustling of insects. Occasionally, a snake would flick its tongue, hanging from a tree or slithering through the grass.

Would a serial killer repeatedly dump the body in the same spot after each murder?

The sky was growing darker; the sun was barely visible, soon to set completely.

"Phew~ Good thing I brought a lantern."

Liang Di struck a match and lit the candle inside the lantern. In an instant, it illuminated the surroundings. After working for half a day, she had found nothing.

"Tsk, let's go back." Liang Di turned away.

"Wait...!"

Liang Lin grabbed the arm of the person beside her, pointed ahead, squinted, still unsure, "There...it seems like something, yes, it seems like something...sitting there!"

Something?

Sitting there?

That's quite chilling...

"Let's go, let's go take a look."

Liang Lin was incredibly brave. She snatched the lantern from Liang Di's hand and strode forward without a trace of fear. Liang Di, behind her, couldn't help but remind her, "You'd better be careful."

"It's okay."

As she got closer, Liang Lin frowned because she smelled an indescribable stench of decay, like the odor of rotting flesh. A bad premonition immediately filled her heart, but at the same time, she was overjoyed. She had finally found the corpse of her kind that the nun had mentioned.

Reaching the thing, Liang Lin bent down, pressing the lantern against it. The dim yellow light shone on the thing, creating a scene straight out of a horror movie.  Under the lamplight, Liang Lin and Liang Di could clearly see the decomposing, rotten corpse.

"Ugh..."

The smell was incredibly pungent. Liang Di couldn't help but feel nauseous, as if countless ants were crawling in her throat. The nausea intensified especially upon seeing the corpse.

The corpse had been there for an unknown amount of time. Besides fallen leaves and weeds, there were swarms of ants and other insects, gnawing at the body.

Liang Lin wasn't used to the smell either. Although she frequently went to the battlefield, the corpses there were different from this decomposed one. Besides, she didn't have to clean up the battlefield, so she had never come into contact with such a highly decomposed body.

She was also nauseous, and at the same time, she covered her mouth and nose with her hand.

"We...we need to check it, right?"

But, with the female corpse in this state, it was truly impossible to examine it... She felt that even touching her would leave her covered in insects and tainted with the stench of decay.

Liang Lin looked around. There was no one else around besides the two of them. A mischievous idea started brewing in her mind. She nudged Liang Di with her elbow.

“Hey, this isn’t a good place to start. Anyway, there’s nobody here right now. Why don’t you use your tentacles to examine this corpse? Turn her over and take a look…”

Liang Di: “…”

“I mean, is it possible that those tentacles are also part of my body?”

Liang Di was speechless, and disgusted, her face turning pale.

“What you’re saying is practically asking me to grab this corpse with my bare hands.”

“Then…”

Liang Lin looked at the corpse on the ground; she couldn’t bring herself to do it either.

No, this is a stalemate!

Liang Di’s eyes darted around.

“Sister Liang Lin~”

Upon hearing this tone, Liang Lin knew something was wrong.

"Sister Liang Lin, could it be... you're scared?" Liang Di's voice was teasing as she tried to take back the lantern. "If you're scared, just tell me. I won't force you to examine this corpse..."

Very well, Liang Di knew exactly how to provoke Liang Lin.