The bright moonlight broke through the tree shadows, spreading across the stream’s surface like fragmented silver scales.
“Quick, look! A big squid!”
Vivian’s little head popped out from underwater, both hands holding up a massive squid.
Its body was wet and slippery, soft tentacles writhing haphazardly, shimmering with a pale blue-white luster under the moonlight.
Though Vivian didn’t know why there was a squid in the river, this was another world, and any strange thing could be explained by magic.
Maybe it was a squid with magical powers that had learned a spell to live in fresh water.
Splat.
With a sticky slapping sound, the big squid was tossed onto the bank.
Vivian swam ashore and shook her wet hair like a dog that had fallen into water.
“Hey, don’t shake that on me!”
Nolan, who had come over to pick up the squid, got splashed by Vivian and hurriedly turned sideways to dodge.
“I did it on purpose!”
Vivian puffed out her chest with justification, grinning as she approached him.
Then she abruptly hugged Nolan and deliberately rubbed her wet body against him.
“Don’t do that, Vivian. We still have to eat a midnight snack later.”
Nolan pushed Vivian away with a look of refusal.
“What midnight snack? Come on, I’ll take you to eat something else.”
A smile curled at the corner of Vivian’s lips. She took Nolan’s hand and pulled him toward the bank.
Just moments ago, when their wet bodies pressed together, a licentious thought flashed through Vivian’s mind.
‘Today, I must eat something good.’
“Eat what? Fish?”
At the bank, Nolan looked at the water before him and asked.
He really hadn’t had fresh fish in a long time.
Ma’en City was an inland city, far from the coast.
To transport sea fish here would require ice magic to preserve them, which greatly increased the cost, so they were simply unaffordable in daily life.
So the people here didn’t have the habit of eating fish; instead, they went into the forest to hunt wild beasts for meat.
But Vivian didn’t answer his question. Instead, she pressed up against him from behind.
Splash!
The two fell into the water in a tangled embrace.
“What are you doing, Vivian!”
Nolan abruptly stood up from the stream, the water reaching his shoulders, only his head visible.
He was startled by Vivian’s sudden attack, and a hint of anger crept into his tone involuntarily.
“Do me.”
Vivian also emerged from under the water, meeting his eyes, and said something shocking in a flat tone.
“Huh?”
For a moment, Nolan couldn’t process what she meant.
But before he could snap out of it, cold but soft lips pressed against his.
In an instant, Nolan was actually pushed underwater by the petite Vivian, her limbs wrapped tightly around him like squid tentacles.
And then… Vivian enjoyed the carnal pleasure…
—
At the temporary camp in the forest.
“Tonight has been really fruitful—not only did we pick juicy berries, but we also caught a big squid.”
Vivian held the squid in one hand and a burlap sack in the other.
Through a hole in the bottom of the sack, the dark red berry skins were faintly visible.
She walked leisurely back to the camp along the path they had come from, humming a tuneless little song.
“Don’t you think so, Nolan?” Vivian turned around and said excitedly.
“Yeah… really… fruitful…”
Nolan, beside her, replied weakly and perfunctorily.
His whole body was limp and weak, looking like his consciousness was about to scatter and his soul ascend to heaven.
As if he had been drained dry by some kind of soul-sucking monster.
“Cheer up, Nolan! Don’t make it look like I bullied you!”
Vivian pouted and said discontentedly.
“Fine, I’ll try…”
Nolan still replied weakly, completely lacking energy.
‘Aren’t you just bullying me…’
He muttered resentfully in his mind.
‘First playing in the water, then on the big rock by the river, then on the big tree trunk on the bank…’
‘And then making me strike those embarrassing poses.’
‘Vivian, you’re just a bully!’
Thinking this, Nolan cast a reproachful look at Vivian, like a wronged little wife.
Vivian felt a bit embarrassed by his stare.
“Alright, alright, next time I’ll let you be on top.”
She could only make a small concession, trying to salvage her image in Nolan’s eyes.
“No, I want to…”
Nolan opened his mouth to haggle with Vivian.
“Help! Someone help!”
A pitiful cry for help came from the direction of the camp, interrupting Nolan’s unfinished words.
“Sounds like that tail-with-fur one. She’s been attacked?!” Nolan said.
“Let’s go check!” Vivian tossed the ingredients aside and dashed toward the camp.
In the blink of an eye, the two returned to the camp.
A hen the size of a house stood in the middle of their camp.
The big hen’s beak held a slender little leg.
The little leg struggled fiercely, trying to pry the hen’s beak open, but it was too weak to make a difference.
“Someone come quick! If you don’t, I’m going to die!”
Feilin’s shrill howl came from the hen’s mouth, still sounding full of energy, not at all like she was dying.
“Don’t panic, I’ll get you out right now.” Vivian shouted at the big hen.
With that, she turned into a purple streak of lightning and charged at the hen.
Her wrist straightened, fingers tightly together.
Her arm suddenly swung up, striking out with a sharp hand blade.
Cluck!
With a miserable chicken cry, the big hen’s neck was severed in two, warm blood spurting from the cut.
A few drops of blood landed on Vivian’s fair face. She raised a hand to wipe them off and walked over to the hen’s head.
“Are you okay, Big Tail Rat?”
She grabbed Feilin’s leg and pulled her out of the hen’s beak.
“Not at all. I’m having the worst luck…”
Feilin hung her head, sitting on the ground, covered in dirt.
Just ten minutes ago.
The other three had gone searching for ingredients, leaving her alone, sitting bored in front of the campfire.
Suddenly, a large egg fell from the sky and hit her on the head.
Then a big hen burst out of the forest, grabbed her in its beak, and tried to swallow her alive!
If Vivian hadn’t returned in time, she would have ended up respawning from a pile of chicken droppings tomorrow.
“Waaah~ Thank you, Miss Vivian.”
Remembering the miserable scene of being covered in chicken poop, Feilin couldn’t help but burst into loud sobs.
At that moment, a coppery-sweet smell invaded her nostrils.
The moment before, Feilin had been wailing loudly; the next moment, she immediately stopped crying, a sharp gleam flashing in her eyes.
“Blood! Fresh blood!”
She abruptly stood up and pounced on the severed neck of the big hen.
Gazing at the blood gushing out before her, she took a mesmerized deep breath of the blood-filled air, a flush of excitement rising on her face.
“My favorite blood.”
Then Feilin buried her whole face in the bloody cut, drinking in ecstasy.
“Are all vampires like this?”
Nolan, holding the ingredients Vivian had dropped, shrugged and said.
“No way! We noble vampires are very particular about ceremony when drinking blood.”
Vivian stomped her foot and quickly distanced herself from this embarrassing creature.
“This one is too crude. I’ve decided to remove her from the vampire registry and never accept her again!”