FXDL V1C1

Fu Xing Dong Lai (蝠星東來) is a fantasy Taiwanese light novel series that I read and instantly fell in love with. It’s an older work by Lan Qi Zuo Ren (藍旗左衽), the author of Residence of Monsters (being translated at RBKTR Translations). One of the biggest reasons I loved this series is because it reminded me of a mix between Residence of Monsters and Unique Legend (written by the same author as YBCB!), and certain aspects remind me of Legend of Sun Knight as well. The story is a supernatural tale of self-discovery, of finding one’s place where they can truly be themselves. There isn’t any romance in the novel, and the plot instead focuses on the characters forming deep friendships and overcoming life trials together. It’s a story filled with comedy, drama, angst, and lots of heart-warming moments that truly let the readers connect and relate to the characters.

You can find more details by clicking the Index page below, as well as some important translator notes (ie. the meaning of the title). There is also a novel synopses page that will be updated with translation progress. In addition, this series has official character art + profiles for all the characters. I will be updating the list with new character profiles as they appear with their respective volumes. There’s a bunch of other official merchandise, artwork, and fan art that I will probably share eventually as well. :)

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

                              Index              Next

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Chapter 1: The western summit, Fu Xing arrives from the east

He Fu Xing sat in one of the tiered seats, buried in the crowd as he blankly stared at the front of the classroom.

A middle-aged, slightly chubby man named Ned was this class’s professor. He was currently standing at the wide rostrum holding a glass bottle. He twisted it open like a glutton about to taste some brewed wine, and the faint odour of gasoline wafted out.

What’s this old man doing? He Fu Xing raised a brow as he suspiciously kept his gaze locked onto the other person’s every action. Although it had already been two days since he had entered this school, he still could not completely believe everything before his eyes, even suspecting that it was all a scam.

—A scam set up by his family as revenge for his Basic Competency Test scores being even lower than his BMI.

Ned shook the bottle and a clear liquid spilled onto the marble floor, accumulating together into an uneven pool. He then pulled out a match and straightforwardly swiped a spark before elegantly tossing it into the gas covering the ground. Instantly, a raging blaze was ignited.

“Holy crap!” Fu Xing couldn’t help but cry out in alarm. Isn’t that going overboard? Do all Swiss people pull these kinds of acts? In any case, the UN headquarters are located here. How could a teacher’s conduct be no different from a terrorist’s!

Then, instead of engulfing the short and fat body, the bright flames instead spread as if on a grass plain, burning outwards. It was as if there was an invisible wall between it and the professor. He Fu Xing was stunned.

“This is a basic ward, set to expel flames. This is why the flames cannot enter within a fifty-centimetres radius around me. As one’s ability improves, the type and range of the ward will increase. You can expel anything from your set area.”

As Ned elegantly explained, he pulled out a slim bottle from his pocket and sprinkled a fine powder onto the flames. The next instant, the flames immediately went out, leaving behind only smoke. The students sitting in the front row coughed while using their notebooks to fan the smoke away.

He Fu Xing swallowed hard and continued to stare at the front.

Ned snapped his fingers, and a flock of small winged fairies materialised out of thin air with a cloth and bucket of water. They swiftly cleaned up the remaining mess before instantly disappearing.

So that means, this is real…His dad and mom hadn’t lied to him. He really had entered an academy that was not for humans.

Now, starting from the beginning:

He was He Fu Xing, an ordinary eighteen-year old student. A few months ago, he had completed the junior high Basic Competency Test— Yes, at eighteen years old. It was thanks to his debility that he had gotten sick multiple times, resulting in a leave from school for two years. During dinnertime on the day he had received the acceptance list, his parents and older sister had solemnly told him of their family’s hidden secret.

“We’re afraid of sunlight, so we only move around at night. However, we’re stronger than humans, and can live longer as well. We also like the taste of fresh blood…” Old man He sombrely stated, “In short, we’re not human.”

Faced with this world-shaking declaration, He Fu Xing first stared blankly. Then, he couldn’t help but feel grieved.

He had not imagined that his poor grades would anger his old man to the point of a stroke…

“Fu Xing, this is real.” Lin Lin was his mom, her full name was Fu Lin. Lin Lin was her nickname, and she liked her family members calling her as such, claiming that it made her feel younger.

Fu Xing dryly chuckled. “Eh, is that so…” What to do, even Mom has lost her mind. What am I supposed to do at times like these? Call an ambulance?

“Don’t look like an idiot.”

The elder daughter of the Fu family, He Fu Qing, was calm and composed as she ate the noodles on her plate. “This might be beyond the scope of your brain’s comprehension, but it’s indeed a fact.”

“You’re the one that looks like an idiot!” If even Sis is saying this, then it might be a bit believable. Fu Qing was the smartest and most cool-headed person in the family. There was no reason for her to go crazy with the rest of the family.

His dad, who was an author haunted by occupational disease, had probably intentionally used unrealistic words to describe a simple matter. Just like how in the past, his old man had denounced with grief and indignation, “The cruel reality is that free will is repeatedly compromised due to the repulsive side of human nature.” Nobody had known what he was saying, and in the end, they eventually realised much later that his dad only been complaining about how the vendor that sold the oyster noodles he would order every Wednesday had retired without any reason.

“Mm, and so?” If not human, then what? Vampires? Demons? Or aliens? Pfft! Regardless of which, it should just be an adjective.

“The true identity of the He family is—” He Xuan Yi took a deep breath. “Bat spirits. I’m a pure one, while Lin Lin is a human-bat spirit hybrid. So you two are three-quarters bat spirit by blood.”

“What?” Why such a Chinese-style answer? Alright, I give up. He truly could not guess what a bat spirit was supposed to signify. May your happiness be as immense as the East Sea? Or happiness and longevity all return? ¹ “And so?”

“So, you have to go study at this school.” Lin Lin pulled out an off-white folder and passed it to Fu Xing.

“What?” It felt like there was no logical connection between the words from earlier and now. His old man’s lies were related with school? Could it be that bat spirits were already included within the main targets that the government subsidised?

Fu Xing pulled out a document and read out the words on it. “Shalom Academy, school for special animate beings…?”

What are special animate beings? Is that some alternative name of school for special education? Although his grades were horrible, they were not bad to that kind of extent.

“That’s right, it accepts beings aside from humans.”

“You tested into an expensive and crappy private school. Going to study there is equivalent to just tossing your money into an incense burner. Moreover, you can’t get any compensation. Our family’s financial situation can’t afford it.”

Fu Xing discontentedly explained himself, “The reason I tested like that was because—”

“Yes, yes. You misread the question numbers for social science, shifting all your answers up by one space; you didn’t notice the final question for maths; you wrote your school and name on the essay paper for humanities and wrote an original poem because you thought you were a literate youth. As for your natural sciences, you were poor at it in the first place. Even if there were not issues, it couldn’t have been much better.” He Fu Qing lazily picked at her ear. “Being able to makes these kinds of mistakes all at the same time is a marvel in itself. You could even be called a leading scholar in the world of idiots.”

Although these words sounded harsh to the ear, He Fu Qing’s words were ultimately facts.

Fu Xing knew he could not win an argument against her, and only let out a heavy huff. He casually flipped through the document and was shocked to discover that the school’s location was actually Switzerland! “Shalom Academy is in Switzerland?”

“Yep.”

“Accurately speaking, it should be in some corner of the Alps mountain range. After all, this kind of school cannot be built in too conspicuous of a location,” He Xuan Yi calmly explained with an astute manner.

“Then why not just build it on top of the Himalayas? Then you could even ride yaks. Studying here should be more expensive than a private school, right?”

He Xuan Yi replied with a mysterious smile filled with profound mystery. “Tuition is free, and there’s scholarship.”

“For real?” For the welfare to be that good, it just felt like a scam organisation…Though, specifically going overseas from Switzerland to scam people seemed to hold a diligence that was seldom seen. There were not many people left that were so dedicated in their job in this day and age.

Fu Xing continued to read the document. Aside from the usual admission instructions, the document also included multiple strange vocabulary, such as witchcraft, human sociology, and beginning monster transformation, second-generation types, hybrid types, all far exceeding his original worldview.

Ah, I understand.

Fu Xing smiled and nodded, pretending to comprehend it as he looked at He Xuan Yi. “Dad, this is your manuscript, isn’t it? Mm, the subject matter seems to be quite attention-grabbing. Your draft will definitely pass this time. Fantasy light novels are all the rage these days.”

“As if I’d write those things meant for tricking children!” He Xuan Yi glared at his son. “Have you still not understood the situation? Everything is fact. You’re a bat spirit. Starting from September, you must go and study at this school that specifically takes in beings like us!”

“Alright, let’s just take it as fact then.” He Fu Xing scratched his head. “Then why only tell me now?”

These past eighteen years, he had always lived a normal life, even if it was a bit good-for-nothing, a bit tedious. Why not tell him of this “reality” earlier and make his life a bit more interesting?

“We originally thought you inherited more human traits, since you didn’t have a bat spirit’s abilities. Likewise, you didn’t inherit the bat spirit’s weakness. You can stay under the blazing sun for an entire day, something that none of us can do.”

He Xuan Yi let out a sigh. “We thought about this for a very long time. Although we wanted you to continue your previous lifestyle, you still have jingguai blood flowing through your body in the end. This isn’t a normal situation, so we decided to have you go to Shalom Academy and interact more with people like yourself. Additionally, that place has special classes that should help develop your abilities.”

“More importantly, we don’t want you to waste money on meaningless things,” Fu Qing added.

Fu Xing glared at her. “You shut up!” Oh right, didn’t Sis also study abroad? Don’t tell me—

“Sis also studied there for senior high?”

“She did. Though she studied at a normal senior high in Switzerland while taking classes at Shalom simultaneously.” He Xuan Yi calmly said, “But your circumstances are different. You just need to focus on studying at Shalom. Shalom has means to provide you a graduation certificate for a normal Swiss senior high school. Aside from classes targeted towards special animate beings, the academy also has normal academic courses. When you graduate, you can either come back to take the exam, or you can apply to a school overseas like Fu Qing did too.”

What open-minded and diverse admission options those are!

“If Fu Xing doesn’t want to immediately study further, that’s fine as well. Bat spirits live for a very long time anyways, so you could retake the exam a hundred times without any issues,” Lin Lin smiled as she gently said this.

“Eh, I’m not that bad…” He did not want to keep repeating grades.

He Fu Xing looked at the document as he listened to his family prattle away. Although his family was speaking seriously, he still felt like this was all just bullshit to deceive him, the objective being to have him obediently study at a school overseas. His grandmother was French. His guess was that they had likely used his grandmother’s connections overseas to help get him into a school.

Seriously, why not just say things straight out instead of going through this trouble? It’s not like I’m a child that needs to be tricked into going to a hospital…

“You seem like you still don’t believe it?” He Xuan Yi narrowed his eyes at his spaced-out son.

“Eh, I believe it.” As if.

“Your reaction is too calm, you’re not surprised at all.”

“I’m surprised at heart.”

“Do you want us to show you the ability of a jingguai?” Lin Lin smiled and said, “Ah Yi can jump down from the rooftop without any issues, since he can fly.”

“Ah! No need!” He hurriedly rejected the offer so that his dad wouldn’t have to jump off a building. If that happened, he would have to attend his dad’s funeral before he could attend his school’s opening ceremony.

Although it was absurd, he didn’t completely doubt it. After eighteen years of interaction, he had obviously discovered some unusual parts about his family members. It was just that it was impossible for him to wholeheartedly believe his family member’s words.

Bat spirit? That’s too ridiculous.  If that was real, then why didn’t they cover their faces, wear skin-tight clothing, and ride illegally modified, black sports cars to fight criminals at night?

Hm, that doesn’t seem quite right. Forget it, it’s all false anyways, no matter which term is used.

He was only certain of one thing: after summer break, he would have to study in Switzerland.

Sigh, I wonder if Switzerland has any manhua rental shops…

 

Just like this, as he held onto this state of half disbelief, time quickly passed by.

In the start of September, He Fu Xing was accompanied by his father as they took an eighteen-hour flight, a four-hour car ride, and an additional half-hour walk to arrive at Shalom. The classes in the first two days had been very normal, so he hadn’t sensed any abnormalities. Although he was curious about the fact that all of his classmates spoke Chinese, he used the excuse of “Chinese language school” to convince himself.

He had not been acclimatized to the foreign country at first, spending the first two days of his school life with diarrhoea and dizziness, making it impossible for him to be in the mood to interact with others. Despite being in a double bedroom, his roommate had not yet moved in, so he had no conversation partner.

He had always assumed this was just a normal, remote school. He had even assumed that this “Basic Witchcraft” class was just a “Grammar Education” class that had been translated incorrectly.

That was all up until now. Finally, he deeply and truly sensed that he had stepped into a place he should not have.

Too late, He Fu Xing.

“A ward’s ability is mainly to defend, but if done well, it can sometimes become a trap to attack the enemy.” Professor Ned continued, “For example, you can expel the air inside a ward.”

He used his finger to draw a circle on the table and quietly muttered something. Then, from under the table, he pulled out a glass bottle containing a cockroach. He then tossed the cockroach in the place he had drawn. As soon as the cockroach landed on the table, it immediately began to violently convulse, scrambling in all directions, yet unable to leave the drawn range. It took only a moment for it to lie on its back with legs pointed upwards as it breathed its last.

He Fu Xing’s eyes widened as he stared in shock at the stiff, dead cockroach.

How convenient! If I can learn this trick, I won’t have to clean the smashed cockroach pulp underneath shoes anymore—That’s not the point!

This kind of thing, this kind of thing…wards and incantations and magic and whatnot, this kind of thing actually exists!

Did that mean that the classmates around him, as well as the mild and sincere teacher in front that looked like the KFC grandpa, really weren’t human? Just like his dad had said, they were all supernatural beings like jingguai, werewolves, vampires, etc.?

He Fu Xing swallowed hard and couldn’t help but automatically survey the people around him. Honestly speaking, he was at his wits end when it came to the topic of the supernatural and monsters. To be more accurate, he was extremely terrified.

Calm down, there’s no need to be nervous. He was just one of many, there was no need to be afraid. This is a global era. No matter where people came from, everyone can be good friends…

As He Fu Xing inwardly consoled himself, he continued to secretly observe the students in the classroom in attempt to spot any clues.

Every classmate seemed composed, as if finding nothing strange about the professor’s trick. Their external appearances were no different from a normal human’s—Ah, not quite the same either. Most of the students here looked particularly outstanding! Both males and females, regardless of skin colour or ethnicity, possessed remarkable looks. It looked exactly like a scene from Next Top Model.

Mixed in with these foreign students that seemed as if they had walked out from a fashion magazine was his average, Eastern-type face, like a soy egg that had been mixed in with a box of exquisite, Paris-brand name macarons. His inside wasn’t the only thing completely incompatible with the others, as even his outside seemed to be super uncoordinated with everyone else!

Is this really a school established for “special animate beings”? He admitted that this place was indeed abnormal, but every person present looked like a human.

“…Next, I’ll ask for students to come up and demonstrate. The black-haired male student sitting in the fifth row, third from the right.” Ned looked at Fu Xing with a smile.

“Eh?” Fu Xing snapped out of his daze. “Me?”

“Yes, you.” Ned’s smile was filled with warmth as he waved at Fu Xing. “Don’t be nervous.”

Fu Xing hesitated for a moment before steeling himself and standing up to walk to the platform.

“Um, uh, Professor, I’m afraid I can’t complete your request…” He honestly spoke in a mellow voice.

“Oh, it’s not a problem, you’re being overly modest.”

This isn’t being modest. “Actually, I’ve never tried this before.” With his ability, he wouldn’t even have a chance to act modest.

“Really? Then I’m your initiating teacher! Hehe, developing fresh talent is truly something to be happy about.” Ned smiled in delight, an eager expression on his face. “Don’t be nervous, there’s a first time for everything. Do you remember the procedure and method I just talked about?”

He Fu Xing hesitated for a moment before nodding. He had only truly realised the situation five minutes ago. Prior to that, he had been an oblivious layman that hadn’t even known where the door was. He was extremely unconfident about really knowing what to do.

“Then just follow the procedure! Establish a basic ward. I’ll stand by your side in a moment and light a small fire. Use the ward to eliminate the flames.” Ned patted Fu Xing’s shoulder in encouragement and then picked up a match from the podium and lit it up. “If there’s any issue, I’ll provide assistance from the side. Don’t underestimate yourself and just try your best. Novices always have astonishing potential!”

Fu Xing kept his gaze locked onto Ned, confirming that the other had no intentions of letting him return to his seat. Thus, he could only obediently obey the instructions.

Nothing to be done about it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s not like this would be my first time embarrassing myself.

Fu Xing took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he closed his eyes, recalling the contents of the class from earlier.

He thought about it…First, concentrate on gathering willpower—Gather! Gather! Ok, very good, I seem to have gathered it. Next, think of a range to set—Hm, range? How big? Is one metre enough? Forget it, just do whatever, it’s not like it will succeed anyways…

Finally, think of the condition to set for the ward, to eliminate or restrict something—the professor just said to eliminate flames, so that should be eliminate.

Fu Xing silently thought through the steps, but he still did not sense any changes. And there was the quiet sound of laughter from below, disturbing his focus like a fly.

“Go on, you’re almost done!” Professor Ned’s voice rang next to his ear. “I can feel the magic power moving! Keep up the spirit, and the flames will go out!”

Really? It’ll succeed? Ned’s words motivated Fu Xing. He concentrated his will even more, brows tightly furrowing together as he continuously repeated the same thoughts in his mind.

Eliminate…eliminate…eliminate…

Eliminate, eliminate everything aside from the people around me!

Bang! Pop! Rip! A series of noises burst out. At the same time, an ear-splitting sound of something ripping and wood collapsing could be heard.

Did it succeed?!

When the sounds rang out, He Fu Xing opened his eyes to look at Ned.

Professor Ned was still standing in the same spot, the match in his hand having immediately dissolved and turned into a pile of dust—Aside from this, the suit that had been around the short, chubby body instantly split into shreds that flew out everywhere, as if pulled apart by an invisible force!

Huh? What’s going on?!

He Fu Xing’s gaze followed the cloth cutting through the air as it landed on the ground a metre away. He stared in shock at the shredded cloth and discovered in astonishment that among the cream-coloured pieces of clothes was a bunch of dark-brown, hairy things that also landed next to the platform.

This-this is…?

With a sense of uneasiness, he slowly looked back towards Professor Ned.

The previously gentle KFC grandpa had now transformed into a fat Turtle Hermit, and completely naked at that!

Noisy clamour immediately arose from every corner of the classroom.

“You-you actually—!” Ned glared at Fu Xing in shame and fury.

Fu Xing rushed to apologise. “Ahhh! Sorry!”

What am I supposed to do now?! Oh right, I can’t continue letting the professor lose face!

To express his sincerity, he hurriedly bent down and reached a hand out so that he could block Professor Ned’s three important parts with his palms.

“What are you doing! You little pervert!” Ned slapped Fu Xing’s hands away and clamped his legs together in panic.

“I just wanted to help you cover up,” he honestly answered.

“No need!” Ned snapped his fingers, and the little fairies from before appeared once again. When they saw Ned’s condition, they were stunned at first, then laughed so hard that they rolled about mid-air. Finally, after Ned glared at them, they quickly materialised cloth, one tugging each end as they flew left and right to help cover Ned’s body.

This scene made He Fu Xing think of a world-famous painting: Birth of Venus. However, it was too realistic…

“What are you looking at!” Ned roared furiously at Fu Xing. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you!”

“Absolutely not!” Startled, Fu Xing took three steps backwards, accidentally stumbling and falling onto a seat in the first row.

Rip! The sound of cloth shredding rang out once more, followed by alarmed shouts.

“Ah!” The student sitting in the first row had their clothing fly outwards like darts. The table and chair immediately shattered too.

“Ahhh sorry! I’m really sorry!” Fu Xing stood up as he moved to the side.

Rip! Rip! Rip! Everywhere he went, ripped cloth filled the air, the shocked cries and noise becoming more chaotic.

“Your ward hasn’t been undone yet, don’t move around!” With cloth wrapped around his body like a mummy, Ned shouted this out as he muttered an incantation to release Fu Xing’s ward.

Fu Xing froze, not daring to move. He discovered that as Ned walked towards him, the cloth on his body did not fly away, confirming that the ward had indeed been lifted.

The chaos would not spread for the time being, though he had already created a “disaster” that could not be restored immediately.

Some students had directly transformed into their original forms to avoid the embarrassment of being naked. The originally empty seats now had a wolf, two foxes, and a pheasant.

Some of the students, unable to transform into another form, could only use their hands to cover their perfect bodies, elegantly sitting on the ground as if they were exquisite sculptures. The students that were elves spread their wings to conceal themselves, just barely blocking their front and back with their semi-transparent wings.

This scene shocked Fu Xing once again. The people actually turned into animals! Eh, and there are wings too! Isn’t-isn’t this too extreme…

Fu Xing’s eyes were as round as saucers as he stared straight at a silver-haired girl sitting diagonally across from him. The girl’s ears were now long and pointy, her soft, silky hair falling in front of her chest, following her figure to cover her perfect curves.

He gulped.

This-this is so ridiculous, it doesn’t even seem real—The beauty was so extraordinary that it was difficult for him to look away.

If he pulled out a cellphone to snap a photo now, would he become a pervert?

The girl noticed Fu Xing’s stunned daze, the corners of her lips tilting up slightly. He Fu Xing’s heart skipped a beat as he gave a foolish smile in return. Hehehe…what a beautiful girl…

“You!”

A heavy palm fell onto He Fu Xing’s shoulder. He looked back to see the completely wrapped Ned glaring at him in fury. That trace of sourness wrenched him from his pink-coloured fantasy to return to reality.

“Professor, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know things would become like this—”

“There’s no need to say any more.” Ned tilted his chin towards the messy platform. “Regardless of what your reason or objective was, this is a result that you caused. You will be staying after to help the brownies clean up the aftermath!”

“Brownies?” Isn’t that food?

When all the students dispersed, he finally understood. The brownies that Ned spoke of referred to the little fairies flying about.

As the fairies danced through the air, they quickly cleared up the debris from the ground. He Fu Xing was responsible for moving the larger garbage to the location the little fairies assigned. As they flew, the brownies spoke to Fu Xing in a tone he could not hear. From their expressions, he could tell that they were likely complaining, even occasionally letting out ear-piercing, threatening noises at him.

Seeing as they share a name with a delicious dessert, they should at least be a bit gentler…Fu Xing apprehensively grumbled in his heart as he cleaned up.

In any case, he couldn’t quite believe that he had actually been able to create such a large disturbance. Did he possess that much destructive power? As Fu Xing silently pondered this, he stared at his hands and recalled the sensation from earlier.

Even if it was true, so what?

Having a strong skill to strip clothing did not seem anything worth rejoicing over. Stating this would just make him seem obscene.

He rushed to clean the site up. When the second bell rang, Fu Xing left the classroom to rush to his next class.

His final class according to his schedule was homeroom, and the entire class had to gather in their room.

He Fu Xing was in Class C. He followed the signs to head towards the school building where the classroom was.

Homeroom should mean class meeting, right? He did not know what his advisor would be like, nor who would be in the same class as him. Anyways, they wouldn’t be humans.

He walked up the stairs, turned the corner, and reached the end of the hallway where a gold C was printed on the wooden door.

Fu Xing walked up to the door and lightly pushed it open. Chatter immediately poured out from the crack.

The spacious room had a blue and maroon carpet on the ground. There was a fireplace inlaid in the wall, and there were also multiple paintings and carvings along the walls. The room had a few circles of sofas set up, also with blue and maroon as the main colours.

Aside from the large sofas, there were short stools and single wooden chairs of various sizes scattered around too. Two long, classical-styled cabinets were installed in the walls, with short cloth-covered sections jutting out from the bottom for people to sit on. There was also an enormous wooden table at the innermost part of the room with a movable blackboard next to it. A luxurious crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.

The advisor in charge of Class C had not yet arrived. There were around twenty people or so inside the room, most of them having already formed their own little groups, chatting together in twos and threes.

Fu Xing looked around to survey the entire room while moving towards an empty spot in the corner. He noticed a girl glare at him when he entered and he recognised her as one of the people that had turned into a fox in the previous class.

His classmate was a fox spirit, it seemed. He wondered if she liked eating greasy bean curd, as he recalled that from a bunch of Japanese manga.

He Fu Xing had only just taken a seat when he felt someone pat his shoulder. He turned his head to see a young girl with a classical oriental beauty sit next to him. She had long black hair, but her eyes were a deep lake-blue, paired with her gentle and beautiful facial features on her delicate skin. Her clothes were made of blue muslin that fluttered around like ripples of water as she breathed.

“Hello.” The corners of her delicate lips tilted upwards into a smile.

“Hello.” Overwhelmed by her favour, he opened his mouth to respond. In Taiwan, there had been extremely few instances where a girl he did not know would voluntarily come chat with him. At most, they would be part-time students looking for people to sign questionnaires in front of the Taipei train station.

“Your performance earlier was really brilliant. I never knew that wards could be used in such a way.”

“Ah, that was an accident.” Fu Xing scratched his head in embarrassment.

The girl chuckled. “However, you destroyed my uniform and made me go back to the dorm to change into another before coming here.”

“I’m really very sorry! I apologise! I’ll pay you back.”

“It’s fine, the uniforms are free. The school will reissue another set.” She smiled brightly. “Besides, thanks to your luck, I was able to see a pretty good scene.”

“Um, what?” Had he misheard?

The girl smiled and continued, “My name is Zhu Yue, what’s yours?”

“He Fu Xing,” he replied somewhat nervously. “You can just call me Fu Xing. I’m from Taiwan, how about you?”

With Zhu Yue’s gentle and sweet smile, he would be willing to sign a hundred questionnaires even if he had to write them with his blood!

“I usually roam about the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Sometimes I go upstream to the Yangtze River and move around the Dongting Lake.”

Yellow Sea? Yangtze River? “So that means, you’re…?”

“I’m a jiaoren.” She grinned.

“Is that a mermaid?” Wow, how dreamy!

“That’s a European type. The East Asia area is mainly jiaoren. A mermaid’s aquatic form is half human, half fish, while a jiaoren’s is more like half human, half serpent.”

“Is that so.” No wonder her eyes are like the sea. “Did you come here alone?”

“Yes. I love human things, so the clan sent me to come study here. What about you, Fu Xing? What type are you?”

“I’m a jingguai-type, a bat—”

Before he could finish speaking, he felt a tightening around his neck. Then his vision started to shift, getting further and further from the ground.

“Isn’t this the little pervert from earlier?” A deep and resounding voice came from behind.

Fu Xing turned around and saw a male with a tall and sturdy figure like that of an American football player standing behind him. The person’s deep-green eyes were level with his—For that matter, when he had gotten so tall? He glanced up out the corner of his eyes. Ah, it turned out that it wasn’t him who had gotten taller, but that someone had lifted him up by the collar with a single arm.

An extremely submissive position.

The male neared Fu Xing’s neck, and for a moment, he wondered if the person would bite his neck and cause a bloody strawberry to appear. But then, the other person simply sniffed at him before saying in disdain, “You smell like a human. I recall that Shalom doesn’t accept humans.” He scoffed, “Don’t tell me you were sent by that White Triangle trash?”

White Triangle? What’s that? A brand of chocolate?

“You’re mistaken, I’m not human.” Why had he ended up in a sudden and unexpected disaster for no reason? Ah, he knew now. This has to be one of those so-called school bullying incidents! “Mm, if you want money, I only have 300 NT…”

“What did you say?” The male knit his brows together, confused by Fu Xing’s response.

Fu Xing tried to communicate calmly, something that Lin Lin had taught him while he had been young. The more dangerous the situation, the calmer one had to be.

Despicable people always had pitiful points. Perhaps this person seemed like a fierce thug but came from a deprived household. Perhaps he simply lacked attention and hoped to gain the attention of other children.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but feel a flood of emotions surge forth.

“Don’t be like this.” Fu Xing tried his best to smile lovingly. “You’re a good kid, don’t do this type of thing. We’re all good friends, hehehe.”

The male’s expression turned ugly. It was like that of a person who had originally wanted to reach a hand outside to check for rain and ended up finding that bird droppings had fallen onto their palm instead.

“Brad, I’m certain he’s not someone from White Triangle.” A brunette male standing next to them said, “Unless White Triangle is a mental institution.”

“Fu Xing is a bat spirit.” Zhu Yue watched the suspended Fu Xing in kind concern as she helped explain for him. “Please let him down.”

The person called Brad turned his head to glance at Zhu Yue.

Although Fu Xing was helpless, he couldn’t help but worry that the other person would do something bad to Zhu Yue. But then, Brad simply stared at Zhu Yue for a while before obediently putting Fu Xing down—No, tossing him towards a seat near the fireplace.

“Bat?” Brad sneered as he tauntingly said in the direction of the fireplace, “So you’re someone from the bloodsucking bugs’ side? No wonder you’re so weak.”

Bloodsucking bugs? Meaning vampires? Fu Xing rubbed his pained butt as he lifted his head.

The people that had been gathered by the fire had originally stayed out of the disturbance. However, upon hearing Brad’s words, everyone fell silent as cold gazes glared in his direction.

“Are you talking about us? Stupid pup?” A beautiful girl with wavy, auburn hair coldly mocked, “Did you lick your own dung? Why do you keep spouting dogshit?”

“Take care of your own race.” Brad snorted as he shot Fu Xing a glare. “So underhanded, a complete eyesore!” He then harshly turned away to leave.

Fu Xing hurriedly said, “No, you’re mistaken. I’m not a vampire.” So Brad’s treatment towards me was because he thought I was a vampire?

Brad paused and lazily turned his head. “Ah?”

“I’m a bat spirit, a jingguai, not a vampire.”

Brad stared at Fu Xing with a look of disapproval for a few seconds, before smirking. “Oh, is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Mn, I believe you.”

“Oh.” He had not thought this guy would be so reasonable. “Why?”

“Because darkbloods wouldn’t call themselves vampires,” a sinister voice said from behind him.

Fu Xing turned his head to see a black-haired male sitting in the centre of the sofas with a frosty expression, glowering at him with a dark and ferocious gaze.

“Vampire is a contemptuous term to my race.” The male spat out each word one by one in a low voice.

Although he did not move, the air seemed oppressive, making others feel even more threatened.

Great. Fu Xing had only been focusing on pacifying Brad; he hadn’t imagined he would anger another party instead.

“No, that’s not it, I had to intention of showing contempt. I just didn’t want to be mistaken as a darkblood, so—”

“Does being mistaken as a darkblood make you feel ashamed?”

“No!” Crap, why are things just getting worse! He subtly turned a bit to glance at the situation behind him. Brad had already returned to his own group to watch on, seemingly enjoying a good show.

Zhu Yue still stood in the same place with a worried expression, not knowing what to do. The others either continued doing their own things, or bore the attitude of watching the fires burning across the river like Brad, silently watching.

Ahhh, seems like things are just getting messier. Why did he always ruin things…

Just then, Fu Xing had a sudden lapse in concentration as he recalled a story he had heard while young. The bat that wasn’t a bird or a four-footed animal had been spurned and crowded out by all other animals, finally left to fly alone in the dark for the rest of its life—

Fu Xing turned his head to continue facing the enraged darkblood, his gaze just happening to meet the black-haired male’s. He discovered that the other person’s dark eyes were emitting a faint, red glow.

It seemed as if his life would come to an end before he even got the chance to fly alone.

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^{1. “May your happiness be as immense as the East Sea (福如东海)” and “Happiness and longevity all return (福寿全归)” are both idioms that start with happiness (福), which is a homophone of bat (蝠). Both are pronounced as fú. ↑}

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