Chapter 1 Vivian's Cooking

It still surprised Hao Ren that Vivian would cook at all, seeing as the girl was a bona fide vampire. If you were to go by the vampires in movies and TV shows: red cloak, black tuxedo, a 20,000 square meter seaside castle, servants lined up, jewelry filling the coffers, waking up at six in the morning for beauty sleep and sleeping until eight-thirty at night, waking up to a bottle of vintage '82 blood plasma, then inviting a house full of cronies to breakdance until midnight (of course, they called it a ball), and finally standing on the balcony with a glass of wine, striking a pose under the moon until dawn before going back to sleep – *that* was the life of a proper vampire, low-key, luxurious, and sophisticated. But Vivian, this dirt-poor vampire, was not one of them. Not only did she not need to rely on fresh blood to sustain her life, but she could also stomach Hao Ren's crudely-made noodles, and even used a human gas stove to cook...

Just thinking about these things was surprising enough.

But after Vivian put the food on the table, Hao Ren realized he'd been surprised too early.

Vivian's cooking skills were actually pretty good, but the dishes were quite perplexing: there was garlic eggplant, garlic green beans, garlic vermicelli – all fragrant and flavorful, filling the entire living room with a strong garlic aroma. Hao Ren felt like he was swimming in an ocean of garlic, and the so-called vampire sat down at the table and casually tossed a clove of garlic into her mouth... Even a normal person couldn't handle that!

Hao Ren and Lily were dumbfounded, and then they both looked at Vivian and said in unison, "Are you really a vampire?!"

Vivian immediately straightened her expression, sitting up straight: "Please call me a member of the Blood Clan, this is a serious matter..."

"This is not the time to be picky!" Hao Ren said, while mentally calculating how many more of his worldviews needed to be rebuilt. "Aren't... aren't members of the Blood Clan afraid of garlic? You're practically eating garlic as a meal!"

Vivian looked down at the dishes on the table, and then it suddenly dawned on her: "Oh, you mean this – ordinary members of the Blood Clan really don't like it, and low-level vampires will even get sick from the smell of garlic, but I don't know why... Anyway, I'm not afraid of it. When life is at its most difficult, even eating normal meals is a problem, so who cares about what tastes good?"

Hao Ren was speechless, then he touched his nose: "I've always wanted to ask, how did you, a dignified member of the Blood Clan... become so poor?"

"How would I know? Anyway, my luck with money has never been good since I can remember. When there was no currency, I lost things; when shells were used as currency, I lost shells; when there was metal currency, I lost coins; now I'm losing banknotes. It's also difficult to find a job, and it's difficult to do business. I once decided to be a bad guy and rob a nun, but after seeing how pitiful she was, I gave her six pounds..." Vivian spread her hands, her face full of resignation after thousands of years of bad luck. But as she spoke, she suddenly seemed to remember something and showed a proud look, starting to rummage around on her body. After a moment, she took out a pair of silvery armbands: "Actually, I still have some good things. Look at this, I couldn't bear to exchange it for money even when I was at my poorest. I found it in a small village in Egypt hundreds of years ago. Pure silver armbands, wearing them on your arms can ward off evil..."

Hao Ren: "..."

Vivian pulled out a small chain from her collar. A cross hung on the chain: "I got this near the Vatican. For a while, I lived in Europe, my wallet was stolen, I lost my job, and the place I lived in caught fire. I was penniless and had nowhere to go, so I had to work odd jobs in a church to get food. Because I was diligent, the priest gave me this cross, which is said to have been personally blessed by the Pope, it can ward off evil~"

"And this, this piece of wood was obtained when I went to Mount Wutai a few years ago, a Taoist priest gave it to me, it can ward off evil!"

"And this amulet, I got it from a group of Vikings hundreds of years ago, I helped them a little. This amulet is very effective, wearing it can ward off evil!"

"In short, I've summarized a rule, that is, I will definitely lose money if I carry it with me, but since humans have had currency, I won't lose things that I carry around... This must be the fault of the Great Cosmic Will!"

Hao Ren silently put down his bowl, pinched his thigh hard to confirm that he wasn't dreaming, and then stared at Vivian: "Repeat one more time, are you really a vampire?!"

"How many times have I said it, not a vampire, you should call me a member of the Blood... well, never mind, humans often confuse this," Vivian waved her hand generously. "Landlord, why are you so obsessed with this?"

Hao Ren, his three views shattered, looked at the "vampire" in front of him, who was covered in various magical artifacts (how could she hide so much stuff under a thin black dress?). He felt like he was about to have a heart attack: "You ward off evil?! You are 'evil' yourself! This stuff you're wearing is enough to kill how many vampires?!"

"I don't know what's going on," Vivian said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, I've never been afraid of these things since I was born! And wearing these things might be able to dispel my bad luck – if it can't dispel my bad luck, it can at least give me courage."

Lily quickly finished the food in her bowl like a puppy, then looked up and muttered, "As a vampire, wearing a bunch of crosses and amulets to give yourself courage, so embarrassing."

This idiot isn't surprised at all! Her perspective is really unique...

In any case, the dinner ended in a strange atmosphere. Hao Ren reacquainted himself with one of his abnormal tenants: Vivian. This was not only a poor vampire, but also a vampire who was not afraid of garlic, not afraid of silver, not afraid of crosses, and not even afraid of various evil-warding artifacts from all over the world. This magical creature even specialized in carrying at least six *jin* of amulets to try to reverse her bad luck – listen to that unit of measurement! *Jin!* From this, you can imagine how much junk this guy is carrying around...

After dinner, everyone had their own things to do. This temporary "weird group" ushered in its first truly peaceful day-to-day life (before, either they were fighting, or Hao Ren wasn't home). A human landlord (who may also be an employee of the Time-Space Administration), a brainless werewolf, a vampire on the verge of poverty, and don't forget a black and white kitten named "Roll." Hao Ren thought to himself that it was a miracle that all these residents could live together.

Now Lily was squatting in the living room watching TV. That's right, she was squatting in the living room watching TV, in a posture similar to a puppy, and "Roll" was squatting next to her, like sisters. It seemed that the idiot werewolf was finally getting used to the cat, although she was still a little apprehensive, and as long as "Roll" made a slight movement, Lily would respectfully change the channel, but at least she didn't run behind the sofa to hide like she did yesterday.

Vivian went out for a walk with great energy. As a nocturnal creature, Vivian's biological clock became active after the sun went down. She decided to fly to the city to see if she could find a job... Hao Ren understood a little why this vampire was so poor and couldn't find a job. Would she die if she adjusted her biological clock a little? Going out to find a job in the middle of the night, is that a brain problem?

After Vivian transformed into a huge bat and blended into the night, Hao Ren also carried a recliner to the open space outside. This place was sparsely populated, which brought an unusually quiet environment. There was a large open space in front of the small apartment building, which no one had occupied so far, so it was now defaulted to Hao Ren's "territory." After dinner, Hao Ren decided to come here to enjoy the cool breeze as usual, and think about life in the quiet night. This environment was much healthier than the air conditioner in the house.

Of course, the main reason was that he really didn't want to spend too much time alone with Lily, for fear of losing IQ... That idiot werewolf was watching dog food commercials, can you believe it? Hao Ren felt that even if he hid in the bedroom with a wall in between, a third of his intelligence would be sucked away!

The summer nights in northern cities were much cooler than in the south. Hao Ren unfolded the recliner and lay down in his usual cool spot, listening to the distant sounds of people and insects mixed together faintly, and gradually felt a little tired.

In a half-dreaming state, he seemed to feel an unusual light breeze brush his face.

This breeze was fresh and cool, completely without the roughness brought by human activity in modern cities. This breeze woke Hao Ren up all at once, who was almost asleep. He suddenly sat up – and then the recliner folded up and clamped him.

But he had already seen the strange situation around him.