Die Again

For the next few days, Fang Cheng lived a peaceful, routine life, keeping his head down at school and working hard on his fitness at home.

Every time he trained, Fang Cheng gained 1 point of physical enhancement.

However, the time required for each session kept increasing; initially, he could gain 1 point after two hours of high-intensity training.

Now, it took two and a half hours to gain that same point.

He had already accumulated 4 points of physical enhancement, the effect of which allowed him to lift his sofa with one hand and easily bend steel bars.

This terrifying increase in strength was a huge surprise to Fang Cheng; he hadn't expected the physical gains to have such a significant effect.

The next time he ran into Morishita Yamato, he wouldn't need to trade injury for injury to beat those muscle-heads into the ground.

Morishita Yamato hadn't appeared at school during this time, likely because the wound on his head hadn't healed yet.

But even though he hadn't shown his face, Morishita Yamato's petty schemes had already begun—every day on his way home from school, Fang Cheng could feel someone watching him from the shadows, and there were even sedans following him from a distance.

The other party thought Fang Cheng didn't know, but Fang Cheng's senses had been sharpening alongside his physical strength, making him extremely sensitive to gazes.

He didn't act rashly, pretending to be oblivious as he went about his daily commute, waiting to see when they would lose their patience.

Kanzaki Rin hadn't appeared before Fang Cheng again either, though he would occasionally see her walking through campus, a beautiful sight that drew countless gazes.

Yet, the drone surveillance never missed a day, and Fang Cheng suspected that Kanzaki Rin was likely aware of Morishita Yamato's activities.

On the fifth day after his conflict with Morishita Yamato, Fang Cheng headed home from school as usual.

Upon arriving outside his apartment building, a thick, pungent smell of blood hit him.

Someone had dumped a few dead chickens at the stairwell, leaving blood all over the floor, and a white banner hung on the wall with the words, "Pay up or your whole family dies!" written on it.

He had no idea which poor soul in the building had defaulted on a loan shark.

Fang Cheng wrinkled his nose, stepped around the dead chickens, and entered the building.

When he reached his front door, he could still smell the blood; he sniffed his own hands, then pulled out his keys to unlock the door.

He suddenly froze mid-stride as he crossed the threshold.

In that instant, Fang Cheng's keen senses detected someone watching him.

He was just about to turn around when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

A hand had pierced through his chest from behind, clutching his still-beating heart.

"Damn it!"

Fang Cheng only had time to curse before his vision went black and his life was extinguished.

"Squelch!"

The person who ambushed Fang Cheng pulled their arm out with force.

Fang Cheng's corpse lost its support and immediately tipped forward, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

Blood splattered everywhere upon impact, coating the entryway.

With the body fallen, the person behind it was revealed: an adult woman with a cute, delicate appearance, sporting a bob cut and wearing a black casual tracksuit.

Her name was Yagawa Ryoka; a few days ago, she had been an office worker, but now, she was a vampire living in the shadows.

Yagawa Ryoka watched Fang Cheng's corpse cautiously for a while, and only after seeing no signs of him reviving did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Vampires could ignore most injuries and possessed incredible self-healing abilities, making them universally recognized as undead creatures.

However, they were not without natural enemies; many things could threaten a vampire, but the greatest threat actually came from their own kind—attacks from fellow vampires dealt true damage.

A vampire's greatest enemy might be another vampire, and their own kind would always be at the top of their food chain.

Vampires seemed to be a race born to kill one another; they hunted each other, and the victor would dig out and consume the loser's heart to seize their power.

Before she was bitten, Yagawa Ryoka had just been an ordinary office worker with no way of knowing these things.

After becoming a vampire, this knowledge had appeared automatically in her mind.

A desire surged from the depths of her soul, driving her to seek out and hunt other vampires.

After carefully cleaning the bloodstains at the entrance, she dragged the corpse into the room and locked the door.

Once finished, Yagawa Ryoka stared at the heart in her hand as if looking at a delicious delicacy.

She couldn't suppress the excited smile on her face.

It was just too easy!

Yagawa Ryoka hadn't expected this brat to have such low vigilance; he had been completely unguarded, allowing her to succeed in her ambush on the first try.

When vampires got within a certain distance of each other, they could smell a unique, bloody scent on one another.

It was precisely because of this that Yagawa Ryoka had accidentally discovered Fang Cheng's identity a few days ago.

She had been secretly tracking and observing him for several days.

Although she was curious about how this brat could move around safely during the day, there was no mistake that he was a vampire.

The bloody scent radiating from him, from the inside out, was simply too delicious.

Yagawa Ryoka had held back for several days before finally losing her patience and taking action, specifically using a few dead chickens to mask the scent between them.

She had assumed the success rate of this method wouldn't be very high, but she hadn't expected the process to go so smoothly.

She had even prepared a multitude of follow-up contingency plans, only to find that not a single one was needed.

"But it's thanks to you being so off-guard that I was able to obtain the most precious first heart."

Yagawa Ryoka stared at Fang Cheng's corpse and muttered to herself; she had to say something to vent her overwhelming excitement.

"I will thank you properly, keep you in my heart forever, and live on with your strength."

With that said, she couldn't wait to lower her head and tear into the heart in her hands, devouring it bite by bite.

In the silent living room, only the chilling sound of chewing echoed.

Yagawa Ryoka finished the heart quickly, her mouth smeared with blood, and then let out a satisfied burp.

"Burp... thanks for the meal!"

She stroked her stomach with one hand, her eyes narrowing slightly as an unnatural flush appeared on her face.

But soon, Yagawa Ryoka frowned, because she didn't feel any new power emerging within her body.

This didn't align with the knowledge in her mind; her instincts told her that consuming the heart of a peer should grant her their power immediately.

Yagawa Ryoka opened her eyes again, turned her head to stare at Fang Cheng's corpse, and began to mutter to herself.

"Could it be that I have to eat his entire body... I don't have that kind of appetite!"

As she spoke, she moved toward the corpse, a wolf-like, eerie glint rising in her eyes.

"Bang!"

A sudden, thunderous noise interrupted Yagawa Ryoka's movements.

The living room window shattered abruptly. Amidst the clattering sound of breaking glass, a small sphere was tossed inside, rolling to Yagawa Ryoka's feet before instantly releasing a massive cloud of smoke.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Yagawa Ryoka only had time to catch a glimpse of a drone outside the window before she was completely engulfed by the smoke.

The acrid, stinging smoke caused her eyes and throat to burn intensely, and tears and mucus streamed down her face instantly.