Yao Si felt that there was something wrong with her recently. She used to sleep like a brick, so even roaring thunder couldn’t affect her slumber. But oddly enough, she couldn’t seem to fall asleep for the last couple days, and what was even more strange was that she felt energetic and in good spirits despite the sleepless nights.

Her back was no longer sore, her legs weren’t weak, and even menstruation which had been bothering her for years ceased to visit her. She could climb ten flights of stairs effortlessly in one breath.

Her diet was even more magical. She used to love chili pepper all her life, but now her stomach got cramps at the sight of their bright red color.

Initially, she thought it was just weakness in the stomach and spleen induced by her insomnia, but as time passed, she realized it wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t only pepper that she no longer could stomach. She had lost her appetite for food as if she had anorexia. Food tasted as dry as dust in her mouth, retaining of its original flavor. There was, however, an exception. It was something which she wouldn’t have even spared a look for before, let alone consume it – duck blood curd.

“Hey girl, you’ve been staring at my duck blood for half an hour already, are you going to buy it or not?”

“Huh?!” Sisi was stupefied. Her eyes were glued to the red substance on the stall, and she was unable to come to her senses. “Buy it… or not?”

“What’s there to hesitate about? If you want to eat it, then buy it.” The owner pounced at every possible hint of business and began to promote his products with a burning passion. “Sister, I must say you have a good taste. My duck blood is the best in the entire market, just look at this color, you can’t buy this elsewhere. It’s delicious when you make it into a curd.”

“Really?”

“Of course, all the blood is freshly collected from the ducks butchered today.”

“That’s… quite fresh, hahaha…” Plus, it smelled so delicious.

“Two dollars for half a kilo, cheap and affordable.”

“Yes.” It smelled so good, so good, so good.

“This opportunity comes and goes, my duck blood crud is in quite great demand. If you had come in the afternoon, there wouldn’t have been any left.” The owner lifted a piece of duck blood curd and weighed it in his hands while saying, “I promise you, once you taste it, you will come back for more.”

“Really?”

“How about a kilogram, sister?”

“But…” Sisi’s lip corners went down. “I am allergic to duck blood!”

“… Huh?” The owner was dumbfound. The duck blood curd in his hand slipped off and landed into the water with a thud, splashing onto Yao Si’s face.

“Girl, are you playing around with me? If you’re allergic to duck blood then why are you standing over here for so long?” Unable to sell anything, the owner was choked with anger.

“I don’t want to either!” Just the thought of it filled Yao Si with grievance. “I haven’t eaten or slept for dozens of days, I can’t hold anything down, and I only desire this.”

“Are you fooling with me, girl?” The owner was clearly not pleased. “You don’t look like you haven’t slept for a dozen days.” Obviously not. She looked like she was bursting with energy. Besides, how could she have the strength to stand here after not eating anything for that long. “How about you check out something else?”

“I’m serious.” Yao Si still couldn’t control herself, and her eyes were stuck to the duck blood in the water. “I smelled its fragrance from three blocks away.”

“How’s that possible if it’s so far away. That aside, you’re not even a…” The owner’s voice suddenly dropped as if he had recalled something. His eyes went wide when he scanned her from head to toe. Something flashed in his eyes and he immediately changed his words. “Sister, I have something even more fresh inside the room. Maybe you won’t be allergic to that once you have a taste. Why don’t you follow me inside?”

“Really?” There was duck blood that could combat allergies?

“Come along,” the owner said and walked into the backroom. There, he turned around and gestured for her to come over.

Yao Si followed him inside. Just as she entered the room, the owner drew the curtains closed, forming a closed-off space. The initial bright room darkened in a split second, shielding off the noise from the market outside.

Yao Si’s heart made a thump, and she timidly looked at the owner who had become so warm to her. “Brother, you don’t happen to have a side-job as a human trafficker, do you?” This couldn’t be another mini “Rujia” incident.

The happiness on the owner’s face cracked, and his lips twitched. “What nonsense is running up your head, sister? I’m not a bad person.” He glared at her with slight discontent, unable to understand her suspicions. He walked over to the right of the room, picked a cup, and poured in the remnants of what was inside an intricate container nearby. He then passed the cup to her. “Here, sister, try this.”

“What is it?” Yao Si extended her hand and held the cup. It was half-full, containing a bright-red liquid that hadn’t solidified yet. It was dazzling and brilliant like a ruby, and a strong whiff of blood-like fragrance greeted her, recovering her stagnant senses. Saliva pooled in her mouth, and even her stomach began to resonate with waves of rumbling.

It smelled so good…

Yao Si couldn’t resist it and wolfed down the entire cup. The odorous liquid felt silky as it rolled against her tongue, appeasing her taste buds. She was stolen away by the brilliant aftertaste. It was more enjoyable than a feast of Malatang, and even her teeth started to itch as something went down the corn of her lips.

“Just as I thought…” The owner let out a heavy breath.

This finally snapped Yao Si from the heavenly aftertaste, and she realized that she had drank a whole cup of raw blood and even wanted another cup. Eerily, she didn’t even feel disgusted, which was more than just confusing.

Seeing the shocked expression on the owner’s face, she set down the cup, gave a dry cough, and asked, “Hey boss, this anti-allergy duck blood ain’t too shabby. How much for a kilogram? Give me five kilos.”

“Sister…” The owner didn’t move an inch, his eyes suddenly turning sympathetic as if he didn’t know how to begin. “I heard that you haven’t slept or eaten for weeks?”

“Yep!” Yao Si nodded. Did this have anything to do with her buying duck blood?

“Don’t you feel like there’s something wrong with your body?”

“A little.”

To be honest, she had already went to the hospital for a comprehensive check-up. She did it three times, but everything seemed to be fine. Even the doctors couldn’t believe that she had really not slept or eaten for such a long period of time and had silently passed her business card to some psychiatrist.

“Do you know why you’re like this?”

“No.” Yao Si shook her head, then gave a look to the mysterious person. “Boss, even if the anti-allergy duck blood costs four dollars for half a kilo, I will still buy it.”

“I’m not raising the price.” The owner gawked at her snappishly. “Don’t you want to know what’s happening to you?”

“Of course!” But even the hospital couldn’t diagnose it. “You mean you know?” she casually said.

“Hold on.” The owner looked around sneakily, then walked over and drew the curtain even tighter before returning with a stern face. “Sister, I want to ask you, have you encountered anything out of the ordinary in the past few weeks? ” he inquired.

“What do you mean anything out of the ordinary…”

“Like being bitten or getting injured?”

Yao Si shook her head vigorously. It would be difficult for a homebody like her to be injured.

“Did any stranger come to look for you?”

“Only takeout service and delivery.”

“Then how about dreams? Have you had any strange dreams? Or something that you can’t remember?”

“I dreamed of winning a five million lottery, does that count?”

“…” The owner was speechless. In the end, he let out a long sigh, mumbling beneath his breath, “Who cares, it’s probably an accident. It’s not a surprise in a troubled time like this…”

His expression filled with even more pity. If the look that he gave her before could be compared to a person looking at a lost child, then this would be the look for an orphaned child.

Yao Si felt panicky under his eyes, even though she was indeed an orphan. “Boss, just spit it out, would you? What’s wrong with me?”

The owner composed himself. He pulled over two stools from the side, signaling for her to take a seat. Then, with his brows knit into a frown, he told her the truth.

“Sister, you’re dead.”

“…”

F*ck!

...The sun sank beneath the western horizon and the day began to darken....

It was only then that Yao Si rolled up the thick blind and let out a sigh of relief. Peeping at the streets beneath that were ablaze with light, she found a black overcoat and prepared to go out, but then her phone suddenly rang.

She fished it out of her pocket only to see the two words “Unknown Number” on the display. Her heart tightened, and she stared at the two words for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and picking up the call.

“Hello?”

“Yao Si?” A flat voice with no fluctuation in tone sounded from the other end. It contained a thorough coldness that could be felt across the distance.

Yao Si felt her ankles weaken at the sound. “Yes… Yes, that’s me!”

“Your death certificate has been granted.” The other person didn’t have any desire to exchange courtesies with her and straightforwardly said, “The process is finished. Where do you want it to be sent?”

“Umm…” The corner of Yao Si’s mouth twitched, for she had almost heard it as ‘Where do you want to die?’. Although this was all expected, it still felt like she was picking a spot for her grave. “It’s okay, just send it to me. I’m an orphan so I have no family.

“Okay,” the person gently responded. There was still no rise or fall in his voice. “Also, the verification that you demanded has been done, and the result is fifth generation.”

“Fifth generation…” Yao Si immediately felt a sense of hopelessness. Needless to say, this result was quite disappointing.

“Right now is a troubling time, so we are unable to investigate in regards to who sired you.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.” She was an orphan since a young age, so this was just another time that she got orphaned.

Perhaps because of her quick acceptance, the indifferent voice had two seconds of rare silence, then it suddenly opened its mouth and warned, “The great war is about to begin. Scattered newborns like you better not leave the house; otherwise, you won’t even know how you have died.”

“All right, thank…”

“Your identification has been sent. From now on you are one of the bloodlings. Do be responsible for your actions.”

Before Yao Si could reply, the beeping tone from the phone rang out. Are all bloodling civil servants this blunt?

Yao Si looked at her phone for a few seconds without uttering a word. Right then, the doorbell rang.

It was a delivery outside the door. She signed for the parcel and opened it up. There was only a bat-shaped card lying inside the box, and it was her identification. The bloodlings were indeed efficient at handling affairs. On the card was a large mark with the number “5”, proving that she was a fifth generation bloodling. Beneath that was her name and a long strand of numbers. She made a safe guess that it was something close to a social security number.

She carefully scanned the identification card a few more times before tucking it into her inside pocket and letting out a long sigh. It was hard to believe that in a short span of a month she had changed from a pure human that lived under the sunlight and was raised beneath the red flag of socialism into a vampire that roamed in the darkness of night and lived on blood, especially the kind that had an official identification.

Her stomach rumbled again in protest as Yao Si looked again at the sky outside that had gone completely dark. Only then did she relax and walk out the door with her wallet and keys. Her teeth itched in the dark and windy night. It was time for her to go out and eat some… Duck blood curd.

╰(￣▽￣)╭

“Hey, Sister Sisi, you’re here.” Just as she arrived at the marketplace, the eyes of Brother Li who sold duck blood gleamed. He waved at her, the vigorous smile making his face crumple together so it looked like a chrysanthemum.

“Brother Li.”

“What took you so long today?”

“The sun’s too bright, I didn’t want to leave the house,” Yao Si responded carelessly. She crouched before the stall, diligently looking at the row of red, appetizing-looking duck blood curd, unable to prevent her mouth from watering.

It smelled so good, so good, so good… She felt herself grow even hungrier.

“You newborns!”

Brother Li chuckled, his expression that of a person who had experienced it all, and shook his head. He surveyed his surroundings, making sure that no one nearby could hear them talk. He then lowered his voice and said, “Initially it’s like that, you don’t want to go out in daylight, but you will get used to it after some time.”

“Yes, I know, thank you Brother Li.” Yao Si nodded. If she had not met him, she wouldn’t even know that she was no longer a human.

That’s right, Brother Li was a vampire too. His full name was Li Zheng, and he was converted much earlier than Yao Si; it had been more than a hundred years since then.

That day, when Brother Li told Yao Si that she was a vampire too, she thought that he was a maniac and almost called the police. However, a few days later, she began to realize that the transformations her body was undergoing matched his descriptions, even to the point of two retractable fangs in her mouth appearing…

It took her a month to finally accept the truth that she was no longer a human. As to the basics regarding the bloodlings, Brother Li had been filling her in. Different to the vampires on television that needed to hide and live on human blood, the actual bloodlings lived quite… carefree lives.

Although they still lived on blood, there were many varieties from which they could choose – chicken blood, duck blood, pig blood, cow blood… As long as it was blood, it could be consumed as food that filled their stomach. Besides, there were all sorts of distinctive dishes that branched out of blood, duck blood curd being the most common vampire food. From that, it could be seen that there was no ‘body’ that drank human blood.

Yao Si had asked Brother Li for the reason behind it, and he gave her a look as if he was looking at an idiot. He retorted, “Have you ever seen any species that only eats one kind of food? Plus, is human blood even edible in this age? Humans nowadays eat tons of additives, melamine, preservatives, gutter oil, and other god knows what. What would happen if we got food poisoning from drinking human blood?”

“…”

It was so reasonable that Yao Si fell short of words to respond to it.

To sum it up, the bloodlings, despite differences in lifestyle, diet, and physical characteristics, were not so different from humans. Their society also had organizations and laws, the kind that required every newborn to register for identification.

If one insisted on asking Yao Si what was different from before, it would probably be that she had changed from spice lover to spicy-blood-curd lover!

“Brother Li, let’s have five kilograms.”

“On it!” Li Zheng rolled up his sleeves and began to pick fresh ones to package. As he was doing that, he asked, “By the way, Sisi, did your identification arrive yet?”

“It’s done, the ID was delivered today.”

“Really!” His eyes suddenly brightened. Carrying a bag in his hands, he walked out from inside the stall. “What’s the result? Did you find out your lineage? Have you found the bastard that bit you?”

“No.” Yao Si shook her head, picking out a piece of duck blood curd and placing it into the bag in his hands. “But I have already been verified, fifth generation.”

“Fifth generation!” Li Zheng was shocked, his face filled with disbelief. “How can that be? You look like you’re full of potential.”

“It’s true.” Shaking away the water on her hands, Yao Si pulled out the card with the number ‘5’ from her pocket.

Li Zheng took a look at it, and his eyes revealed some sympathy as he patted her shoulder in comfort. “Don’t let your hopes die. There are advantages to being a fifth generation. At least you won’t need to participate in the great war this time.”

“Great war?” Yao Si was dumbstruck. “What great war?"

“You haven’t seen the notices yet?” Li Zheng was even more shocked than she was.

“Notices?”

“My bad, I forgot that you don’t have a sire, so you don’t know how to use it yet.” He smacked his forehead, then cursed with an angry expression, “Who would commit such a sin? It’s all that person’s fault. Turned you then washed his hands of you, leaving a little youngster like you here unattended. He deserves to be killed with a thousand knives and damned with eternal solitude.”

He cursed as he took the ID card from her hands. In some mysterious way, the bat-shaped card suddenly turned blinding red, and the number ‘5’ on it transformed into an exclamation mark.

Wow, who would have guessed that this ID card was so high-tech!

“See this? It is the warning sign for the great war. If you see the card turn this color in the future, don’t wander outside during that time.” He flashed the card around. “It’s chaotic out there, so my store will also close for the oncoming days. It won’t be operating anymore.”

“Hold up!” Yao Si was still a little muddled. “That great war you mentioned, what is it? Who are you fighting against?”

“With those Western jerks of course.” Li Zheng tapped the chair beside him, gesturing for her to sit down as well, and then began to fill her in.

The current internal structure among the vampires was not that harmonious, still possessing some conflicts. To sum it all up, the top brass were divided into two factions, the Western and the Eastern. Each side had their own politics and management system.

Occasionally, both sides would break out into bloody clashes. The principal conflict of it all was their attitude toward humans. The Western side promoted peace and harmony, advocating to live without inferring with each other, minding their own business. The Eastern side, on the other hand, concentrated on integration, suggesting that they should reveal themselves to the humans and promote mutual development. And it was because of this that the two factions were in loggerheads and countless battles were fought.

“Us bloodlings are already an exotic species, so what’s wrong with converting some humans?” Li Zheng’s face was filled with anguish. “Those Westerners even called themselves the conservatives, but in my opinion they are all reactionaries!”

Ummm… Why do I feel like we’re more like the reactionaries. “Turning all the humans into bloodlings, only the big antagonistic boss in movies would do such a thing.”

“Nonsense… You must have been watching too many western movies to think like that. Humans are so vulnerable, easily diagnosed with incurable diseases. What’s wrong with being a bloodling when it’s just a change in the diet at most? At least they won’t get sick again.”

It did make some sense.

“Anyhow, us bloodlings can only convert one offspring in our lifetime, so to be correct, we’re the ones that suffer from the greatest disadvantage.”

There was such a setting! However, now that Yao Si thought of that, without the human-blood drinking requirement so often seen in the movies, it wasn’t too shabby being a bloodling. Although they had less options for food, the intelligence of foodies in the great celestial empire was unlimited. If there came a day when all humans were converted, they would probably invent over a hundred ways to cook duck blood alone.

“Sisi, you’re still young, but you can’t learn the way of the Westerners.” He held her hands and said earnestly, “Those western vampire movies and novels are all lying. They’re definitely the tricks of the Western faction; it’s a conspiracy. They’re playing with the public’s opinion. It’s clearly a way to prevent the cultural invasion of the opponent. You must keep a clear mind and be aware!”

It was hard to tell from first glance that Brother Li had such profound political awareness that even she was being persuaded. Yao Si’s hands ached in his hold. To prevent him from becoming even more agitated, she could only nod her head and agree, expressing her unshakable decision to stay with the Eastern Faction. “I know, my brother, I belong to the Eastern side.”

“Good girl.” He patted her shoulder in joy, then pondered for a second and began to explain again, “By the way, I heard that this great war isn’t that simple. Old vamps from first, second, and third generation are all mobilized. We lost a lot of our kind over at City A. Even though that battle was far from here, you shouldn’t leave the house for a few days to be safe.”

“All right, Brother Li, I understand.”

“Ah, newborns like you ought to have your fathers next to you to be safe. And now that you’re also a fifth generation, absolutely no… Wait!” He turned to look at her. “Have you awakened your ability yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Not even one?” Li Zheng was somewhat surprised. It had been four months already.

Every newborn bloodling would awaken some, stronger or weaker, special abilities. The most basic were speed, power, and five elemental powers, metal, earth, plants, fire, and water. Others had special powers like control of time or dimensions, but those were rather rare. The strength of the abilities was also connected to the generation, the first generation being the strongest and those below it descending in power.

“I really haven’t.” Yao Si shook her head. She really didn’t feel anything strange in her body. “Maybe it’s because I’m a fifth-generation. Too weak, that’s why…”

“That’s not possible. I have seen a sixth-generation bloodling with the ability of super speed.” Despite not being very strong, there was no reason why a fifth-generation bloodlings couldn’t awaken their ability. “Ah, if only the person that converted you was here. They could then feel your ability through the blood connection.

“It’s all that jerk’s fault. Who leaves their only descendant behind, and now you can’t even… Argh.” He was halfway through his curses when he suddenly slapped his thigh and said with excitement, “I remember there’s a way that you can test your abilities.”

“Really!” Yao Si bounced to her feet. Even though she was a weakling among the bloodlings, having a special ability was better than nothing. “What way?”

“Wait here.” Brother Li turned toward a small compartment behind him and began to fumble through the drawers. It took him a while before he found a long rectangular thing. He passed it over to her with a face full of excitement. “Here it is.”

Yao Si stared at the object, dumbfounded and unable to snap back to reality. It was…

She felt the blue veins on her forehead bulge.

“Brother, I am not married.”

“I know.”

“I haven’t been in a relationship either.”

“Huh?”

“Neither have I had any indecent affairs with anyone.”

“Oh.”

“I’m even a homebody.”

“So?”

“So…” The corner of her mouth twitched. “Why did you give me a pregnancy test kit!”

–

When Yao Si returned from Li Zheng’s place, the moon had already risen high in the sky.

To her surprise, the pregnancy test that Li Zheng had given her was actually had the ability to test for special abilities, but it could only identify the abilities from the five elements. By dropping the blood onto the test paper, a strip of color assigned to the ability would appear.

Unfortunately, her blood didn’t reveal any mark at all. She could remember Li Zheng’s teary eyes after there was no result. He then used “The Three Character Classics” is a piece of ancient Chinese literature written in the 13th century and still taught to young children at primary school. Each line has three characters and each sentence has six which teach a moral principle. The five central themes of “The Three Character Classics” are benevolence, righteousness, honesty, respect, and filial piety. So what Li Zheng did there is basically cursing that man’s ancestors in a polite manner. Three Character Classics 1 to greet the bloodling who had turned her for a full half an hour.

Yao Si would be lying if she said that she wasn’t disappointed. She was recently converted, had no sire, and now even couldn’t awaken a single special ability. If that wasn’t enough, she was also a fifth-generation bloodling.

What did fifth-generation mean? Let’s just say that if Brother Li who was a fourth-generation wasn’t qualified to participate in the fight between the western and eastern sides, then she was a weakling without any worth and who would just be a burden during battle.

Her ears still echoed with the sympathetic tone Li Zheng had used when she left.

“Hahaha, Sisi, maybe your ability is a one in ten million special ability. Don’t look so down.”

Hell, that was even more tragic!

Rubbing her nose, she gave up. Who cares, she may as well hurry home and eat a bowl of blood curd to calm herself.

Squeezing the identity card in her hand that had turned red, she felt nothing toward the war that Brother Li had mentioned, that quarrel between the Western and Eastern factions. Not to mention that not that long ago she was still a good girl who was born under the red flag of socialism, raised in the glorious spring wind, and living in a peaceful era, she had only seen the word war in television and movies.

Besides, City A in which the violent conflict had occurred was tens of thousands of miles away from City F in which she lived. She was just a fifth-generation weakling who was in no position to enlist, so the flames of the civil war would never affect her.

Bang!

A loud sound pierced through the night, and a black silhouette flashed past her. A large, light box suddenly fell from above, landing right before her, and shattered into pieces. Sharp glass scattered across the floor, leaving only a step’s distance between her and the box’s remains.

“Humph, is your whole Eastern Faction filled with this kind of weaklings?” A disdainful humph sounded from above her head.

Oh shit!

As the words Yao Si had thought moments ago echoed in her head, her confidence went crashing down.