Chapter 159: 10

Chapter 159: 10

The rest of morning classes were fine as they covered similar things to what a normal school should. Jia Hyson and Prince Silas warmed up a little bit more to each other but generally took a tacit silence. After all, one was a bit too lazy to talk and the other was supposed to be a good student who pays attention to class. If there was a difference, it wasn't noticeable to the passerby's eyes.

But, if one continues watching, they will occasionally see Prince Silas raise his head and write something onto Alaric's notebook, while Alaric will pause his actions and quietly chuckle under his breath as he continues to move his pencil in response. The silver-haired prince will huff as he peeks at what the other was doing, and will reach over to write something once more.

Their silent communication was a little warm, and slowly the page was filled with various scribbles, doodles, word games, and small conversations, giving the once neat page a cluttered but funny appearance.

Jia Hyson and Silas enjoyed the interaction happily, satisfied with such a simple yet limitless source of fun. Once the morning classes ended, it was only these two who were disappointed as the other vampires rushed to leave.

In fairness, after the initial disappointment, Jia Hyson was also quite happy. After all, the morning classes were 'normal' and quite dull with their basic content.

What interested everyone the most was really the afternoon classes as it was either about socialising (playing around), practising powers (playing around) and leadership teamwork-based activity classes (playing around but in groups).

There was also quite a bit of physical fitness involved which causes a split between the athletic vampires, and the artistic and intellectual types, however as vampires, everyone's physical abilities were naturally high and as long as you do the minimum required amount you can laze around the rest of class doing whatever, which everyone found acceptable.

Jia Hyson also wanted to do his best (at playing around) but unfortunately, he still had to keep up a somewhat strict personality. Even if he softened the edges, there was no way to completely change the core so fast, not to mention the stimulation that caused the change was not drastic enough to logically result in an extreme change. Therefore while he was milder, it was not enough to encourage others who had been 'scarred' by Alaric's original personality to come up to him.

Under his interpretation of the character, his personality was still making a transition that can't be rushed. Alaric now is more understanding about humans and has adopted a more open-minded and positive mindset after finally being able to indulge in cross-dressing which had been both something he really liked to do but also extremely hated and despised himself liking.

Yet he has been friendless and full of superiority for such a long time. Prince Silas and the other princes were his superior, it is okay for him to be the one to place himself in a humbler position to approach him. But others? Obviously, it was not the same.

It was like going back to reunite old friends after spending years away. Maybe you changed your personality when you left them, but when you return you'll naturally seem to return to familiar and almost long-forgotten speech patterns and habits. It is harder to change who you are under the eyes of people you've known your whole life compared to complete strangers who know nearly nothing about you.

Alaric may not be the most emotionally intelligent vampire, but he recognised that he didn't exactly treat other vampires around his age group as equals and looked down on them greatly. Even if he wanted to, his high pride couldn't take the shame of bowing his head right now. Not to mention, it's been over twenty years, everyone has refined their cliques and friendships have long solidified, it was a little difficult to enter now, especially with a pre-established bad reputation.

Jia Hyson frowns, slightly impatient at the slow changes despite comforting himself over the logistics of his choice. Still, the mind and the heart are annoyingly fickle partners that are often not on the same side.

Mentally he knows his character design is solid but emotionally he doesn't like how he could easily make friends but couldn't because of his pre-set design. Jia Hyson isn't shy to admit he has introverted tendencies and is very happy being alone, but he also wants to be alone, simply because he desires to, not because others don't like him and won't associate with him.

To be honest, even though he altered the character a little bit it was still quite stifling. He could only respect the other hosts who had to take on personalities so different to their own ah. It wasn't even like being Alaric was extremely difficult. There were no close friends or family who would be suspicious of behavioural changes, and there were many points of the character that Jia Hyson also had to some extent.

Jia Hyson used to be a bit like this when he was a child. Obviously not so extreme but he was a good child who followed the rules when he was small, and he had a tendency to mother others who he liked in a, in retrospect, faintly condescending manner. And of course, like a lot of things from childhood, some of these tendencies stayed with him to a certain extent, which is probably why a lot of the outward personas he favoured were the gentle and responsible types, and his skin was so thin* in public.

*thick skin is shameless, thin skin is self-conscious, cares about reputation, doesn't want to look bad etc

Jia Hyson used to be quite picky with systems in system novels, especially when they were so talkative. But as a host, Jia Hyson felt like it was probably better to have a system with personality. After all, other than Bebe, there is probably no one else he could be more himself to. Without that anchor, Jia Hyson couldn't fully imagine the long term effects on one's mentality in a job with ever-changing environments and identities.

So Jia Hyson swallowed the discomfort of being so obviously isolated by these vampire classmates of his and continued to focus on maintaining the growing friendship with Silas instead.

'Prince Silas also has little friends, it is not bad to befriend him for more than the benefits of his protection.' Jia Hyson reassures himself. Even if he has Bebe he still wants to have a friend to alleviate any loneliness whenever he feels it, similar to how you always want to have ice cream in your freezer should you feel the urge to eat it.

He doesn't mind Prince Silas really but from his superficial understanding given the plot, the man was a really useful plot device but just, like, the shittiest friend and brother. Because of how lazy he is, not to mention inevitably a little spoiled given his status. Silas was the type of person that either arrives twenty minutes late for something unapologetically or just cancels at the literal last minute.

Silas' laziness was his biggest flaw as a character that directly dragged down his OP-ness. He was smarter, more powerful, and stronger than the protagonists, therefore how can he live well? Fortunately, he must be the Author God's favourite, so for him to live he was given the enthusiasm of a sloth.

Oh, he always thought Prince Kieran was suspicious and should've been taught better? He'll only mention it briefly and apologise to Prince Damien before doing the bare minimum so it can only be officially revealed in the middle of the story.

There is an artefact that can make people tell the truth that all people with high levels of authority know and can learn as long as you have access to the restricted area of the palace library? Prince Silas must have thought of it, but couldn't be bothered or pushed it back till he forgot about talking about it, allowing Damien and his friends to do most of the detective work and get the Pearl of Past Truths Artefact.

Prince Silas could have easily assigned guards to protect his innocent younger brother and also try to prove his innocence? He considered it but decided to have a nap first which lasted three months and by then he forgot.

In short, this was a young man who was made to have a personality that will literally only appear and do things when the author god has written their protagonists into a corner. Meaning, he will only help when there's no other way.

It's a nice safety net for sure, but it was a really boring friendship unless you managed to somehow stimulate his emotions. Jia Hyson knew he had his interest currently but this was simply the getting to know you phase. Afterwards will be the 'honeymoon period' and inevitably once that passes it will only be then that Jia Hyson would see if he managed to forge something valuable or the heat that's cooled down reveals nothing but a waste of time.

If he was going to be brutally honest, Silas' best traits to him so far, was his usefulness as a friend and his very attractive face. It's not enough to maintain his enthusiasm and perseverance in cultivating a friendship in the long term given his fickle nature.

Friendship is always a give and take relationship, Jia Hyson is old enough and has lived long enough to make many different friends, and while he doesn't mind giving, in fact he enjoys it a lot as it satisfies his need for control, superiority and a strange sort of mothering mentality. But he is too lazy to maintain a friend who will always take and never give back. It's too exhausting and frankly, his self-esteem is higher than that.

"Class!" A slightly frustrated voice calls out, "You fucking- class! Come over here and get your assignments! They'll be due in two weeks. If you need extra time I'll give you an extra week- no, wait I have a date around then- two extra weeks!" An annoyed but handsome vampire who looked like he was in his mid-twenties, smoking two cigarettes simultaneously with one hand and furiously texting in the other, tilted his head to a massive pile of paper stacks and art supplies floating next to him.

This was Mr Garth who had a particularly powerful albeit plain telekinesis ability, but apparently the side effects were headaches so he was constantly angry unless he was sleeping with someone. However he was smart, had the most free time and his assignment due dates were so casual there was once where the deadline was extended by a year. So, nobody except maybe Mr Garth himself, particularly wanted him gone despite his temper.

While he continued to text Mr Garth adds on with spiteful glee, "And don't think any of you can slack off this time! Miss Reina cursed these papers so we'll fucking know who was doing what ah!"

The entire class groans in unison. Miss Reina was a very nice teacher but her power What Did You Do? was a form of psychometry* where she could curse objects and as long as she can find them again she can 'read' all that has happened with the object since she had cursed it.

*Psychometry is a psychic ability in which a person can sense or "read" the history of an object by touching it

Essentially, as long as they were forced to accept these papers, they couldn't afford not to pull their weight. Fortunately Miss Reina had a possessive husband so usually she didn't do these sorts of 'favours'. They really didn't know how this chain-smoking bad-tempered fuckboy teacher managed to do it. Most of the little vampires cursed in their hearts as they reluctantly took a stack of paper.

Each stack of paper had a small coloured sticky note on top. The students weren't surprised by this, touching it decisively and muttering their names, the moment they touched it and spoke, their names were immediately written onto the sticky sheet. Anyone who had the same coloured sticky note would also be revealed once they had also put their name down.

These sticky notes was planted with the power of a vampire who made a fortune selling it to other vampire communities and it was a common way to assign groups among other things. As long as you touch it and speak, the words you speak will be written on the 'cursed' stationary and anyone with that holds something that was once part of the original cursed item will also see the words as well. Hence why it was so good to use for notepads and sticky notes.

Jia Hyson and Silas both had stacks of paper with a classic yellow sticky note. There were three other members in their group it seems, with pretty standard vampire names that looked like they came fresh off a vampire name generator site.

While there were quite a few vampires in the class, at least forty, Prince Silas and Alaric Rong were well known and eye-catching, so quickly the group mates Dante Serrano, Abel Night, and Darius Krauss came to them. Jia Hyson wasn't surprised that they had an all male group. In fact among the class there was only eleven female vampires.

Maybe because this was a female lead teen novel, there just seemed like an unexplainably high percentage of men among the vampires. To be honest, it was a big concern for the native vampires of this world for many reasons so there's a lot of research dedicated to trying to bring up the female ratio. However Scum Hyson didn't really care, everyone was generally super attractive regardless of gender.

Jia Hyson: 'God, they look like they came straight out of a punk boy bands.'

Bebe: 'Well, Bebe sees it.'

One of them was wearing a black short-sleeve shirt with a red tie with a look similar to a certain outfit belonging to a certain member of Green D*y. Another one had adopted a 2000s emo hipster vibe with bulky black glasses frames, a black fedora covered in white bat designs and a shawl-like scarf wrapped around his neck artfully with the inverse design of his fedora. The third one was more exaggerated, having half his face covered in hair that had the tips dipped in green hair dye, eyeliner, a three quarter sleeve leather jacket with spikes, fingerless leather gloves, ripped jeans and so on.

All three screamed teenage rebellion. But their face values were all very high, their height was quite tall, skin was perfectly smooth and their bodies were far more sculpted than any normal teenagers. Even the thinnest one had some muscle definition that suited his body well. So even if they screamed teenage rebellion, Jia Hyson was sure that there were many girls who would scream teenage rebellion with them.

Jia Hyson: 'Agh, what I would give to get their backstage pass if you know what I mean~' ()

Bebe: 'Please desist the horny during class hours.' _ 'You are staining the spirit of education.'

"Ah?!" At this time Mr Garth happily swore as he threw down the two cigarettes from his mouth, stepping and grinding them into the ground while he lifted his phone to his ear. "Hey~ baby~ You really got four of your good sisters* to agree to come tomorrow night? Ah, I knew you treated me well- don't worry I will show you all a very good time, my brother owns the YY hotel." Unlike the angry shouting from before, Mr Garth had become completely seductive and sultry, the voice hoarse from constant smoking was raspy and sexy when he murmured sweet words, "You say this fourth friend of yours is only just a model, not a supermodel? Don't worry, don't worry, any friend of yours is a friend of mine, I will pamper her equally well both during the day and night."

*friends, not actual sisters

Bebe: '' Bebe has eaten Bebe's words. This place has no educational spirit at all.

Jia Hyson: '' Aaaaahhh I'm so jealous! Why couldn't I have transmigrated directly into a bad tempered playboy bastard instead of a bad tempered good child?!

Three, no including the girlfriend, it's four supermodels plus a regular model- fuck, it's unscientific!

Thinking about in the third world where a certain Samotrelian ex-boyfriend of his lived with six handsome masters, and Jia Hyson wanted to mentally collapse and scold the heavens! He's so angry! His sexual abilities is clearly a hard-earned gift from god but it's being wasted thanks to the fickle hands of fate!

Bebe:

No, what sexual abilities are a gift from god?! Have you also been infected by second grade syndrome?? More importantly, with your karma, the fickle hands of fate should have strangled you!!!

Jia Hyson could not hear Bebe who was furiously dissing him in it's little system heart, instead he pushes his grievances aside to look at the assignment.

The first page on the stack of paper messily and carelessly had a few sentences scribbled on, and was clearly not very well photocopied either.

'Plan and draw a comic with your group. It must not be shit. At least 20 pages. Will accept 12 pages if you meet the original deadline. Yes you have to colour it in- Mr Garth.'

Heh. Very good. As expected of this casual education system.

One of the three vampires, Dante, groans at the assignment. "Garbage teacher, this isn't art class." He scolds. "And what is this 'don't be shit' comment. You're shit! Your entire family is shit!"

Darius glances at the angry vampire and points out, "Isn't Mr Garth your direct cousin or something?"

Dante: ''

"He's not my direct cousin," Dante protests.

"I thought he slept with your aunt. That's pretty direct to me ah." Abel mentions as he idly weighs the paper stack with a hand.

"Actually didn't he date your mum as well for a while?" Darius asks half-curious.

Dante flushes and snarls, "You are so annoying! Can you just get off my back for a minute dammit!"

Abel snickers, "That's what Mr Garth said to your mother last night."

Darius, knowingly: "Oh~"

Jia Hyson, who couldn't help but also want to join in after listening: "Oh~"

Prince Silas, who was too lazy to listen in but wanted to copy Alaric: "Oh~"

Dante: '....'

Dante who had been ready to verbally abuse his good buddies immediately felt suffocated when these barely considered acquaintances of much higher standing also joined in.

Also, did these two big guys eat the wrong medicine today?? Usually they were aloof and distant, albeit Alaric was a bit warmer these days. Why did they wake up today and decided to tease him like this ah?!

Abel and Darius were also surprised the pair joined in with their friendly ridicule and jeering. Abel even touched his chin and wondered if he had the potential to become a comedian to even make the strict ice flower Alaric and the apathetic sleepy prince Silas also surrender to the urge to join the fun.

Jia Hyson decided to hit while the iron was hot and gave the group of vampires a smile and a polite greeting that was neither humble nor overbearing. "By the way," He adds, smile growing slightly, "Mr Garth really does look a bit like you, Dante, ah."

"Damn, I always suspected it," Abel clapped as if in sudden understanding, wasting no time in kicking his friend when he was down.

"En, the nose is similar." Darius nods wisely, peering at Dante's face like it was a specimen to carefully observe.

Jia Hyson smiles gently, "They share the same disinterest in deadlines." As Alaric, he paid a lot of attention to his classmate's work ability.

"Both their skins are so pale too," Abel touches his cheek and ignores the fact everyone's skin is just as pale and white.

Prince Silas glances at Dante, trying to think of his impression of him and any common traits with Mr Garth before succinctly saying: "Bad temper."

Dante: ....

Unable to hold back anymore Dante explodes, "You bastards! My mum only slept with the fuck once!"

Abel: "Oh~"

Darius: "Oh~"

Jia Hyson: "Oh~"

Prince Silas: "Oh~"

Dante: "FUCK YOU GUYS." ()

Everyone laughs, even Silas couldn't stop a snort of amusement at the dramatics.

Sometimes friendship can form inexplicably. The best way is not necessarily through sharing common interests but instead through a common hatred, complaint or joke.

After a few more sentences playfully ragging on Dante, Jia Hyson easily calms them down tactfully by mentioning how they needed to take the rest of the time to discuss what to do about this assignment. This didn't surprise the other vampires, in fact, they were pleasantly surprised that Alaric took this long to mention it.

Sitting in a circle they all stare at the stacks of paper in silence. To be honest drawing a comic meant you needed at least an idea, a writer, an artist. Unfortunately, Mr Garth gave them no direction to start and while Dante, Darius and Abel were close to each other, they weren't close at all to Alaric and Silas even if they warmed up to them a bit.

Prince Silas was known as the bastard of group work who barely contributed to anything and mainly slept through the entire thing, and even if many people wanted to yell at him, as the crown prince they didn't dare. Alaric was the opposite end of the spectrum, he was the dictator of group work that was not only a control freak but demanded everyone pull their weight and didn't hesitate to scold and tear the faces of people who didn't, including Prince Silas albeit much more respectfully.

However even though it was unpleasant to work with Alaric, it was true the work they handled in almost guaranteed a good grade and it was better than dead weight.

Thinking that, all three little noble vampires looked at Alaric expectedly.

Jia Hyson understood their thoughts and sighs inwardly. However he had to admit, he was very similar to Alaric in this aspect by a lot of points. After all, once he chooses to shoulder the responsibility of leading a group he does his best to make sure everyone does their part and will constantly check on them and edit if he deems fit.

Honestly, Jia Hyson was, undoubtedly, a really awful person. Despicable, morally a very dark grey, hypocritical, with a mix of violent sociopathic and psychotic tendencies on top of being manipulative and a scumbag. But he was probably also the best person to be in a group project with.

In this sort of 'we all live or die together' situation, Jia Hyson refuses to be dragged down or be someone who drags others down. He won't slack off, he will do his best to finish his part, help the people behind or struggling, and take over the leadership role if necessary. Of course, he may secretly murder the slackers in that group project afterwards, but hey, his PowerPoint skills are amazing and he's willing to do the public speaking parts.

Looking at the group he pulls off the sticky note and begins to write down a list to put ideas into as well as everyone's names. "If anyone has good ideas throw them out whenever but for now it's good to assign some roles first. Is there anyone good at art or particularly likes comics?"

Dante: "I like superhero comics, I can't draw but I can do the bubble fonts and stuff."

Jia Hyson: That's okay.

Darius: "I like comedic comic strips. I can also do fonts. Oh, I can draw flowers okay I guess."

The family had an 'all thumbs are fingers but all fingers aren't thumbs' sort of situation where not everyone in the family will get this gift, but if someone has this power it's from the Reeves family. Obviously, there are other powers that also come under the genre of foresight and fortunetelling but throughout the different covens, it was more or less determined that the Reeves family inherited a power that was the best, with the lowest requirements, consistent, and is also very accurate.

Some other similar powers could only be used once a moon, or require them to drink a certain type of rare blood, or even more, unfortunately- only during the height of intense climax. There was even a case study of one particularly powerful one who could predict futures but only if nobody was in the room and whilst he slept. The predictions were also in Spanish for some reason too despite the vampire never learning it.

Apparently, his parents really thought he was possessed by something when he started showing the signs of his powers. Unfortunately, while it was both extremely accurate and had only the requirement that he must sleep alone in the room, the topic of the predictions was completely random. However because the vampire predicted two natural disasters weeks before they hit certain countries, he was still considered a national treasure in his own country.

The Rongs can be said to have a situation that will encourage them to produce more children. They pride themselves in having members that not only help contribute greatly to society but also have at least someone in each generation that works closely with the monarch and royal family, whether as an advisor or a personal butler or their PR consultant. Therefore to increase the chances of continuing the trend, while they don't rush their vampire children, they will not deny, reject or abort any 'early' pregnancies either unless there were special conditions concerning the other mother slash father.

Anyway, Alaric's attitude in contrast to most vampires in his generation and even the generation before him had originally been already considered like a budding flower among seedlings. But now, coupled with Jia Hyson's coaxing words and gentler, unpretentious attitude, he directly became a blooming flower in the eyes of many elders.

Jia Hyson sighs. There were benefits to being a good kid, unfortunately, his shitty gacha luck brought him here. Grey City was poor and the chances of coming across some cute clothes would be quite small.

The biggest upside was probably at least the prices were cheap, but he was rich and during patrol, he was given a personal credit card to splurge with. Not to mention Mr Garth gave him a stack of cash that couldn't be traced by the card too. Just as the teacher had essentially said, as long as he did his duties and didn't cause any big trouble, and didn't gamble, nobody minded if he spent an absurd amount of money on a hotel or going shopping for souvenirs and such.

So why would he care about something being on sale ah?

Not to mention, this city was very behind with few tourist attractions and Jia Hyson doubts he would have much fun during these five days.

Ahhhhh, he really hoped to see Green City or Goldleaf City, with the former being a place known for botanical beauty and the latter known for the rich and trendy. He had heard both cities had opened their first bubble tea store and ever since then, he had hoped with his entire boba-loving heart to be dropped off there.

Jia Hyson, internally sobbing: 'I want bubble tea wuwuwu.'

Bebe: 'You are such a frickin baby sometimes.'

Jia Hyson: 'Yeah. A baby that wants to suck the teat of my bubble tea cow QwQ'

Bebe: () 'Why must you make everything sound so disgusting??'

'You know you can buy it on Bebay right?' Bebe sighs irritatedly, 'It's a bit of a waste but you don't really buy a lot from it anyway so-'

Gasping in happiness, Jia Hyson unhesitatingly stops and runs to an alleyway and leans against a less dirty part of the wall. Pulling out his new first-generation UPhone, Bebe inputs the Bebay site on the screen, thoughtfully having already set it on the Drinks section where a list of Boba drinks was listed. Upon closer inspection, these were actually shop names where, if you clicked on them, you would see their variety of wares.

There were three popular Boba Brands shown with very high ratings. Princess Tea Time, The Shining Pearl, and finally, the undisputed top ranker- Ch*time.

Jia Hyson: '' It seems a certain bubble tea brand was not satisfied with taking over the world and even took over the system world as well ah.

Taking another look Jia Hyson felt a little speechless at the far too familiar brand. Damn, it was really Ch*time.

'There was a high demand for bubble tea from both hosts and system alike,' Bebe explains, 'So what we did was form a contract with the owner of the company and in exchange for merits to supplement his soul we could bring the brand here. That way the systems would get a monopoly over the bubble tea industry. Princess tea is founded by a Royal System, and The Shining Pearl is a company founded by a group of high-level hosts.'

Once again faced with the corporate side of the fantastical system world Jia Hyson can only swallow it down wordlessly.

While he was curious about the other two brands, Jia Hyson in the end had to go with Ch*time. It was partly because of the good reviews and high popularity but also because of the familiarity. To be honest, he was more a G*ng Cha and H*ytea fan but now that Ch*time was a system product, and such a popular one too, there was no way it could be any worse and the consistent quality was basically assured too.

Happily Jia Hyson picked Ch*time and chose his usual order of a large cup of roasted milk tea with boba and coffee jelly, no ice, 50% sugar. However, at the end, there was an option for special extras.

"Tsk, tsk, as expected of a system product," Jia Hyson mutters as he sees the special extras.

The large roasted bubble tea he had ordered was only 5p, with 0.5p for extras, meaning the current price of his drink was only 6p. It wasn't too expensive as far as food prices on Bebay were, but it wasn't cheap either. However, where the price really lies was the special extras.

A sprinkle of 10,000-year-old ginseng extract - 2.5p

A dash of beautifying silk pearl powder - 4p

One ground leaf from an immature tree of knowledge - 6p

Half a drop of the blood of a Phoenix*, dragon, 500-year-old demon, cultivator at Nascent Soul stage - 10p

*Currently out of stock.

To be perfectly honest, looking at the product names and the prices, Jia Hyson had the instinct to order all of them. After all, it was all so cheap! However, it was recommended to only purchase two special extras at most, similar to how you couldn't just gorge yourself blindly on medication to become healthier.

Not to mention, with further critical thinking, the prices were really too cheap, and the amounts listed were incredibly small. The effects were definitely not going to be as good as buying half of the real product, and would not be so obvious, much like how vitamin pills tended to work. A little disappointed by his own logic ruining his expectations, Jia Hyson still requested a sprinkle of 'lucky charm' mix and half a drop of ice demon blood.

It took only a minute after purchase before a cup of bubble tea seemed to virtually be constructed into existence, floating in front of Jia Hyson with a semi-translucent appearance. It was only after he grasped it did it solidify and Jia Hyson could feel the weight and cool condensation in his hands.

"Ah, that's pretty neat," Jia Hyson comments mildly before lifting the drink to his lips and sucking on the straw. This time his eyes light up with pure happiness.

"Mmmhh! It's so good~!" Jia Hyson compliments sincerely and enthusiastically, his free hand pressing against his cheek as if trying to massage the side of his wide smile.

The roasting was prominent but not in a burnt way, giving a toasty taste that emphasised the tea flavour throughout the sweet drink, the boba was chewy and not overly sugary and cloying, and the coffee in the jelly could easily be tasted. It was a simple drink but it made Jia Hyson's tongue almost feel ticklish under the sweet pleasure.

Invigorated by the drink, Jia Hyson was filled with determination. If he couldn't find any fun things in Grey City then he'll make his own fun!

After all, other than the rather cheap prices there was another benefit- there was nobody here who would recognise Alaric Rong. The vampires who lived in Grey City were few and they disliked 'slumming' it as much as the next rich person. Hence running into them was a very low chance, and even if he did, they were not familiar.

Therefore, he might as well make the most of it and try properly crossdressing in public. Not like what he had been doing, which was pretending to crossdress outside but in reality was faking like a bitch with the power

While he only had a backpack with necessities and his wallet, Jia Hyson still had the system space. While he avoided using it to minimize developing a reliance on it, he had packed a few emergency outfits in case there was nothing nice to buy and show off on his blog, extra food, as well as some nicer menswear plus a few accessories that could be sold in a pinch. Putting the bubble tea inside the space for now Jia Hyson began to look for a place to change with a nervous but anticipatory heart.

Proving that with money you can even make the devil push a grindstone*, Jia Hyson paid a small, somewhat run-down boutique to use their changing room and a hush fee. The shopkeeper was an old woman lazing by the cashier with a rather mean, calculating face. However, with a wave of a stack of fifty dollar bills, she magically became the most attentive attendant.

*[]. Yu qin nng sh gu tu m. If you have money you can make the devil push a grindstone= Money can buy you anything.

Jia Hyson didn't care, greedy people can be quite useful, and mean people tend to have the most brutal gossip with little bottom lines in hiding things unless it personally involved them. Not to mention this woman didn't seem like an idiot either from her attitude change. She even offered to serve him complimentary tea as he gets changed, her face full of flattery.

An opportunistic greedy leech was much better to use than an idiot, so Jia Hyson who didn't really think much initially, noted her down in his heart.

Being the only one in the store, and having the shopkeeper actively volunteer to drive anyone who enters out to give him more privacy, Jia Hyson happily chats with her as he changes. Thanking her for her generosity first, he deftly brings up many topics that were easy to talk about.

The woman who was initially very flattering and worried this bigshot would talk about things above her head, slowly relaxed and began to run her mouth very cheerfully. It turns out there was such a low-key humble bigshot who also liked to gossip about tv shows and celebrities.

Of course, Jia Hyson wasn't really a star chaser. He did watch a few shows, but he was always the type who is a fan of the character, not the actor, who can praise a song but have little to no idea about the artist behind it. Fortunately, Bebe who was connected to the internet could easily access gossip and feed him any interesting facts and information about Actress A's messy love life, or rumours of Singer B's divorce.

After exchanging gossip, Jia Hyson moves on to asking the shopkeeper about her neighbourhood and any interesting stories to tell, assuring her that her stories will surely not bore him. Of course, even if he says so, she will naturally still have the urge to impress him.

She starts off with cheating scandals, and with Jia Hyson's prompting and manipulation, he moves to the darker things, such as rumours of abuse, disappearances and hauntings. Of course, most of these things will simply just be what it is, the darkness of human nature. However, there were a few suspicious points in two stories that Jia Hyson could deduce may have signs of something more.

For example a woman with bruises and injuries on her arms and legs, however to the shopkeeper's knowledge, the woman had no man warming her bed and only a baby to take care of. Her boyfriend left her before she found she was pregnant, and it was said that he was indeed a looker.

Another one was people complaining about noises on their houses, like something heavy hitting their roofs but when they check there's nothing. What was damning was it was always a cluster of nearby houses who would complain at the same time. While it wasn't a daily thing, everyone around the area of the neighbourhood has experienced it a few times in the past two months.

Jia Hyson sighs in his heart. Fortunately these two stories didn't suggest he would have to do anything too difficult to find out the truth. If it was something like mass kidnappings, that would indicate a possible underground criminal ring that might involve blood slaves, which was really something Jia Hyson couldn't do much with other than report it to the higher-ups for help.

However the first story was quite concerning. Jia Hyson silently hoped that it truly was a domestic violence situation, because if it was an alternative involving vampires then the problem and solution becomes very messy.

After all, he's done a lot of messed up stuff but he's never had to kill a baby to his knowledge yet ah.

Bebe: 'Wait, to your knowledge???'

Jia Hyson: 'Well, with my track record I have to cover all my bases you know?'

Bebe: 'NO. THAT SHOULDN'T EVEN BE CONSIDERED AS A BASE TO COVER.' () 'YOU- GODDAMN-!'

Jia Hyson, sipping bubble tea: Sippingbubbletea.gif

With a baby blue three-quarter sleeve turtleneck under a desaturated blue spaghetti strap v-neck that had been fashionably paired with a denim skort*, a desaturated dark blue puffy jacket and light powder blue wedges, Jia Hyson twirls around the mirror and preens at his appearance, touching the gold simple gold locket that completes the set.

*shorts that look like a skirt

The outfit was all from RosiePosies by designer Li that he had found at a pop-up market for new designers. While, the look was not overly feminine but it still was light, breezy and very appealing to the eye. Wearing it, Jia Hyson didn't even have to wear a wig, after a bit of self-styling, he already more or less looked like a fashion-forward petite tomboy.

Ah, ah, he poses in front of the mirror and flushes at how pretty he looks, inwardly praising himself for his good taste. When Jia Hyson saw these clothes he just knew he had to get it for himself. And just as expected, he was completely satisfied with the end result.

Now that he finished collecting enough information to get an idea of where to start patrolling, Jia Hyson finally left the changing room. The lady shopkeeper who had rushed up with some warm tea to offer, immediately choked in surprise.

When Jia Hyson entered the store he was an icy pretty boy that looked like he was mixed blood with bright blue eyes and an Asian appearance. Even though his features were delicate he was still unmistakably a boy, and his voice while gentle and light, wasn't androgynous either. But now, the shopkeeper doubted herself.

"Thank you very much for the tea," Jia Hyson politely takes the cup and sips it, feigning a cool calm confidence despite his face warming and back sweating profusely from his anxiety and nerves. Ah, it was exciting but it was also quite scary.

Pushing an extra few hundred dollars, he smiles amicably, "You were very kind miss, and I love your makeup. May I ask if you know any good places?"

The lady shopkeeper finally woke up with the power of money. It was true she was a bit uncomfortable and wasn't sure of the other person's gender now, but money was genderless too! It didn't matter if this person was some sort of pervert, he was rich ah, rich!

In her mind she was greedy but she was open-mindedly greedy. The customer with money to spare is the one that deserves to be respected and doted on even if they came out of the changing room stark naked. If she discriminated and drove Jia Hyson away then she was discriminating against money which went against her code of life.

With a bright smile, she babbled about all sorts of hidden places and even complimented him for his taste and style. As a boutique owner herself she still had many opinions and a sense of fashion, and she didn't hesitate to say as much as she would to a good friend. Jia Hyson was a little touched and indulged in the conversation with her.

Of course if he really knew that what she was seeing was the genderless form of banknotes when she looked at him, he, well, he didn't really care as long as she sincerely thought he looked good ah.

Leaving on an amicable note, Jia Hyson went off in the direction Bebe gave him, which was where the abused woman lived. The place wasn't too far so they quickly found the place. With a concerning amount of well-practised movements, Jia Hyson circled the house before finding the easiest place to break in soundlessly. Maybe because the woman was poor and it was well known there wasn't much to take, or maybe she was so out of it she simply forgot, the back door to the rather decrepit place that can only be reluctantly be described as a house, was unlocked.

Entering, Jia Hyson cocks his head and strains his ears, picking up two sounds of breathing, both in the same general area.

Silently, he walks in that direction. The house was very small and it was only a few metres before he saw a pale woman with bruises on her body lying on the couch. Jia Hyson sighs softly before moving his eyes to look for the owner of the second breath. It didn't take too long, the baby cot was next to the tattered couch, at the woman's feet.

Jia Hyson crept over and observed the baby. It was pretty cute. Had a healthy colour.

Touching the child's forehead, Jia Hyson sighs in faint relief. Warm.

Just to be extra cautious, he pulls out a vial of blood from his backpack and puts a drop on his finger. After smearing it a bit he moves his hand close to the baby's face and waits a minute. Seeing no reaction he fully relaxes and licks the blood off himself. Very good, false alarm.

Satisfied, Jia Hyson pulls out part of the stack of bills that Mr Garth had handed him and slips it under the couch cushions. After all, he was here, rich, and just broke into the poor lady's house. He can afford to show some charity. There were at least fifteen hundred dollars, which was not bad. It could at least give the woman some financial security for a few months, maybe buy a better door which could be considered compensation.

Feeling he did enough for the first night, Jia Hyson quickly leaves the house to patrol the surrounding areas.

Pulling out the half-finished bubble tea from the system space, Jia Hyson went around and bought a hotdog that looked okay. To be honest, while Jia Hyson disliked the dirty conditions of his surroundings, he didn't disdain the poor and as long as the food is good, and it looks like there's an effort to take care of the place, he will enter and eat there regardless of how shabby the store is.

Unfortunately, it may be his poor luck or something but the street food that was available this late at night in these streets he had wandered around looked like they fulfilled none of those conditions. He sneers as he gives a few coins to the leering owner before trotting away.

The hotdog was basic, just a slightly stale bun, a slightly over-salted sausage and the usual tomato sauce and mustard, with pickles Jia Hyson specifically asked for. Jia Hyson still slowly ate it with some relish as he continued walking, after all, the food was warm, and it filled the stomach. Coupled with the sweet bubble tea, he was content.

Even if he came with the intent to play around, Jia Hyson still had a sense of responsibility and would always spend his first few hours walking around the 'hotspot' areas to see if there was anything. Hotspot areas were usually the shady parts of a neighbourhood, or areas behind hospitals, and around seedy bars. Typical places for criminal dealings really, though the hospital thing was more inclined towards vampires who sometimes illegally steal or make deals with medical staff to smuggle bodies and organs for them.

Jia Hyson had done quite a few patrols and had even once come across the shocking scene of some dumbass 'turned' vampire trying to shove some bags of organ meat and blood into her padded bra, and in her cargo pants which was hidden under a long skirt.

It was very funny in retrospect. At the time he had just turned the corner to see her swearing and struggling to keep the bags from falling out. At first he didn't understand what she was doing and just wanted to be a good Samaritan on a whim, as well as being partly curious of what she was stuffing into her bra. When he came closer, she panicked and a bag feel out onto the ground and burst.

With the scent of human blood, both Jia Hyson and the turned vampire's eyes turned red and they stared at each other in surprise for a few seconds before she turned and ran away with all her hidden bags sloppily falling out.

Jia Hyson, at the time: "Hey, you- ahahaha- you dropped something ahahahah!"

Vampire: *#@^&$!

Because of the bags hindering her, and the fact a noble-born vampire was generally superior in speed and strength compared to a turned vampire, Jia Hyson quickly ran up to catch and beat her up before throwing her to the vampire he was assigned to report to in that particular city.

Trotting along the fairly empty streets, Jia Hyson inwardly complains at the height of his wedges. At best he usually wears kitten heels, however, he really wanted to emphasise his legs in this outfit and felt a little ambitious since nobody he knew would be around. But even with vampiric healing, he could still feel the uncomfortable ache in his feet as time passes. Ah, fashionable people don't have it easy.

As he sipped his bubble tea, enjoying the cool air of the night, Jia Hyson stops as he hears a commotion nearby. Bored, with not much else to do, Jia Hyson strolls over curiously.

It was a scene of what looked like many older boys beating someone up in an alleyway. Seemed like a case of bullying, as they were all wearing uniforms. Jia Hyson clicks his tongue, tsk, how annoying to the eyes.

After some thought, he takes out his phone and instructs Bebe to make siren noises. Then, in a higher pitched voice, he screams, "POLICE! OH THANK GOD! YES, OVER HERE! THESE MEN ARE MURDERING SOMEONE AND, OH GOD, THEY'RE FUCKING THE CORPSE! POLICE!"

The gangsters: '.' Girl, are you blind?

Hearing the sirens getting loudly someone eventually snapped out of their confused daze and cursed, "Fuck! We got to go! Hurry!"

Panicked at the prospect of going to jail these teenagers immediately ran blindly away. A few did take the time to shout at the beaten person, promising that it wasn't over yet. Jia Hyson clicks his tongue again. So cliche but quite exciting ah. If the bullied kid is handsome, he would really feel like a female protagonist in a school romance novel.

Trotting into the alley, Jia Hyson looks down at the victim of the beating who was lying on the floor in a rather embarrassing state. It was a teenage boy, definitely smaller than the bullies. "Hey," Jia Hyson gently calls out, lightly nudging the stiff body with his wedges. "It's okay, I scared them off. Can you get up? If you can't move your fingers."

The teenager groans painfully and after some movement, seems to give up trying to get up, and moves his fingers. After making sure that the other wasn't in need of emergency medical attention thanks to Bebe who quickly scanned him, Jia Hyson touches his nose thoughtfully before coming up with an idea.

Cracking his neck, Jia Hyson pulls out a water bottle and some aloe vera gel from his backpack, places it on the floor and sits down to carefully cradle the other's head, placing it on his lap. "You just rest a bit, I'll give you some water and put some gel on you. If you really can't move after twenty minutes I'll carry you somewhere I suppose ah."

Feeling the cool smooth thigh pressed against the side of his sore face, the beaten teenager's already warm face from the bruising, heats up further in embarrassment. Using what little strength he had, he tried to turn so he lay on his back, head up. Blinking blearily, he was stunned to see the bright blue eyes a pretty and petite looking girl with short black hair.

Conversely, Jia Hyson was surprised to see bright silver eyes that stood out against the bruises on this young man's face.