TSFLIP Chapter 985

She looked so adorable like that… it was almost impossible not to give in to the impulse.

Acting on instinct, Ming An took Feng Guang’s hand and pulled her into a deserted alley. The moment he pressed her against the wall, she realized what he was about to do. She had just opened her mouth to say that they were outside when he immediately captured her lips in a kiss. Taking advantage of the fact that she had already parted her lips, he easily deepened it into a lingering, passionate French kiss.

His hand, as familiar as ever, started to slip beneath her skirt. But suddenly, he stopped mid-motion and instead tightened his arm around her waist, shifting them a step to the side. Where they had been standing moments before, a set of claw marks now gouged the wall.

Startled, Feng Guang grabbed his clothes and looked toward the mouth of the alley. It was only a low-level vampire, moving like a mindless corpse. She let out a breath of relief. At least it wasn’t someone from the Elders’ Council or the Hunter Association.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the low-level vampire lunged toward them. When it was about three steps away, a thin layer of ice suddenly spread across the ground, freezing it in place.

Ming An covered Feng Guang’s eyes. She heard the sound of ice shattering. When he lowered his hand, the alley looked the same as before, as though the vampire had never appeared.

She knew exactly what had happened. Clutching his hand, she asked, “Isn’t Osiris supposed to be a place where hunters and noble vampires gather? Why would a low-level vampire suddenly show up here?”

Vampires below C-rank had no self-awareness or reason. In their eyes, there was only food. For blood, they would even attack their own kind. They were the kind both the Elders’ Council and the Hunter Association sought to eliminate.

The origin of C-rank vampires was simple enough. When a vampire bit a human and fed them their blood, that human became their servant. The servant survived on the master’s blood. If the master chose to stop providing it, the servant would gradually transform into a C-rank vampire.

But in a town like Osiris, jointly overseen by the Elders’ Council and the Hunter Association, how could something so dangerous appear?

A shadow flickered through Ming An’s eyes, but his voice remained gentle. “Perhaps some noble in town failed to keep track of their servant. This isn’t something you need to worry about. The Hunter Association and the Elders’ Council will handle it.”

“Will they?” Feng Guang didn’t feel reassured. Her instincts told her something was off—that sooner or later, something would happen. She looked at him seriously. “Ming An, if something really does happen at school, you have to protect yourself.”

He smiled. “I’ll protect myself—and I’ll protect you too.”

He suspected that the woman was finally about to make her move.

The morning had been cloudy, but by afternoon the sun suddenly came out in full force. Feng Guang sneezed several times in a row. Ming An took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, and they headed home early.

Once home, she lay listlessly on the bed. Even when she held his arm to feed, she lacked her usual energy. After taking in only half her normal amount, she drifted into a groggy sleep.

She’d caught a cold from wearing too little in the sun.

While Ming An’s blood could heal injuries, it wasn’t a cure-all. Holding her in his arms, he murmured regretfully, “I shouldn’t have taken you out today.”

She blinked pitifully from his embrace. “It’s my fault… My health’s never been great. Ever since I was little, too much sun would make me sick. Today was supposed to be our date…”

And yet she’d lasted less than half a day before coming back.

Vampires didn’t treat illness the way humans did. They relied mostly on self-recovery, and how long it took depended on their constitution. Some recovered from a cold in a day. Others stayed sick for a week or more.

Unfortunately, she belonged to the latter group.

When humans were sick, they ran a fever and their body temperature rose. When vampires were sick, the opposite happened—their bodies grew colder.

Ming An pressed his forehead to hers and clearly felt that her temperature was even lower than usual. He sighed. “Next time we go out, I’ll make sure to bring your coat.”

And her parasol, too.

She burrowed weakly against his chest. “No one expected the cloudy sky to suddenly turn sunny…”

“Your body temperature is very low right now. Does it feel awful?”

She murmured drowsily, “It does…”

He lifted her chin with slender fingers and kissed her gently for a long moment, then shifted closer, as if to warm her with his body heat.

She lay there limply, too weak to protest, her mind muddled from illness. Feeling his warmth, she grew teary for no real reason and muttered hoarsely, “Ming An… you’re awful…”

Being sick had made her unusually childish.

He raised his head when he saw her on the verge of tears, both amused and concerned. He kissed away her tears and softened his voice. “Why are you crying? Even if I were awful, you can’t make yourself cry over it.”

“You’re always like this…”

“I’m always like what?”

“You always… always hold me close and tease me, but you never…” Her thoughts tumbled out in her feverish haze. “Is it because you don’t like me enough…?”

Her voice wobbled as she grew more emotional. “Ming An… do you not like me anymore…?”

She felt miserable and couldn’t stop crying.

Ming An might not understand many things about modern youth culture, but he certainly understood this much.

He sat up and pulled the unreasonable, sick girl into his arms, gently patting her back so she wouldn’t cry herself breathless. With a helpless half-smile, he said, “Feng Guang… you’re still underage.”