Being Human Means Having Principles

Kanzaki Rin saw Fang Cheng staring unblinkingly at the heart in his hands, as if it were some kind of treasure, and immediately became furious.

You bastard. You said you didn't want it, and even insulted me, but you were still craving it after all?

Kanzaki Rin crossed her arms and sneered. "You want to eat it, right? Then go ahead. No one's stopping you. You don't have to pretend you don't want it."

Kanzaki Rin's words brought Fang Cheng back to his senses.

He rubbed his eyes, and the lines of text in his vision gradually faded away.

At that moment, Fang Cheng felt that his sense of smell had become much sharper. A mass of complicated odors flooded the house, yet he could clearly distinguish each one.

Clearly, that was the effect of Advanced Olfaction.

As for the other three, their names alone made them easy to understand. Collect enough fragments, and he would obtain the complete skill or reward. It was exactly the same as the reward system in the mobile game he'd played before crossing over.

Blood of Madness and Burning Blood were probably skills Yagawa Ryoka possessed as a Vampire.

He could set those aside for now. What interested Fang Cheng most was the Life Fragment.

His extra lives were what kept him alive. He had always been looking for ways to gain more, but hadn't found any.

He hadn't expected to get a Life Fragment now—and by rummaging through a corpse, no less.

He really ought to thank Kanzaki Rin. If she hadn't tossed the heart in front of him, Fang Cheng would never have thought to search Yagawa Ryoka's body. He didn't have any weird hobbies.

But this method of obtaining Life Fragments was obviously meant to force him to fight monsters and level up.

How dangerous. It would be better to have an idle system like in a game, where he could level up just by lying in bed every day. There was no need to go around fighting and killing.

Seeing that Fang Cheng still hadn't moved, Kanzaki Rin asked again, "Are you going to eat it or not? If not, I'm taking it back."

Fang Cheng glanced at her and tossed the heart over. "Eat that? Hell no. I'm not some savage who lives on raw blood and flesh."

Kanzaki Rin hastily caught the heart and looked at Fang Cheng in surprise. "You really don't want it? Eating this can make you stronger. Don't you know that?"

Was that true?

Fang Cheng didn't know. Even if he had, he still wouldn't have eaten it. He wasn't a Vampire, so it wouldn't do him any good.

He stood up and declared righteously, "If I want power, I'll earn it myself and train for it. I won't use an evil method like this to gain strength."

Fang Cheng looked straight into Kanzaki Rin's eyes and said earnestly, "I want you to remember this: a Vampire bit me, but I'm still human. I have principles. Don't look at me like I'm a monster."

Kanzaki Rin was taken aback by Fang Cheng's forceful presence and was speechless for a moment.

If Fang Cheng had said that earlier, Kanzaki Rin would have scoffed and thought he was talking nonsense.

But now the facts were right in front of her. Fang Cheng really could resist his instincts.

The heart had been right there, yet he'd refused it. Making that choice was far harder than going out to hunt his own kind.

It was like a severe addict summoning all his willpower to refuse drugs placed right in front of him.

It was absurd. A Vampire's instinct was to prey on their own kind, an urge far stronger than drug addiction, yet Fang Cheng had managed to resist the temptation.

Kanzaki Rin almost felt as if she had to get to know Fang Cheng all over again. She'd thought his willpower was merely extraordinary, but now she saw that it was more than that. He was practically not human.

"I understand. I hope you'll do as you say and hold on to your principles. I won't treat you like a monster, either."

Kanzaki Rin reached out to Fang Cheng. "Let's start over. I'm Kanzaki Rin, an intern at the Disaster Countermeasure Department."

Fang Cheng didn't shake her hand. Instead, he put his hands on his hips and grinned. "You think a handshake will make all our disagreements disappear?"

Kanzaki Rin frowned slightly, doing her best to keep her eyes from drifting downward. "If you feel that I offended you before, I can apologize. I've been keeping an eye on you day and night to protect you..."

"NONONO, that's not what I mean!"

Fang Cheng wagged a finger, then pointed at Yagawa Ryoka's corpse. "We can talk about that later. What are we going to do with this?"

Kanzaki Rin could only put her confusion aside. "Leave it to me."

"Fine. You take care of it. I'm going to change."

Fang Cheng turned and went back to the bedroom. Kanzaki Rin had burned his clothes off earlier.

After Fang Cheng left, Kanzaki Rin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The guy had no shame. He could stand around naked in front of her without batting an eye.

Yet she couldn't bring herself to remind him. Otherwise, she'd look as if she cared too much.

She used the drone to toss a hollow package in through the window. Inside, after she opened it, was a silver-gray body bag.

Kanzaki Rin put Yagawa Ryoka's body inside the bag. Once night fell, she could have the drone carry it away.

After changing, Fang Cheng came out and set the overturned sofa and coffee table upright.

He sat on the sofa, clasped his hands in front of him, and struck a classic old-fashioned pose.

Kanzaki Rin sat across from him, looking troubled. "What exactly do you want? We don't have any other issues between us, do we?"

"No issues? Heh!"

Fang Cheng let out a cold laugh. "You kept saying you were protecting me, but really, you were using me as bait to lure out Vampires. Am I wrong?"

Kanzaki Rin was slightly startled. She hadn't expected Fang Cheng to see through her fishing operation so quickly.

She soon regained her composure and admitted, "You're right, but I already warned you about how dangerous the other Vampires were."

Fang Cheng cut her off. "But you did use me. If your drone hadn't been following me, I wouldn't have gone to school and exposed my whereabouts."

Kanzaki Rin's expression remained composed, and there was no hint of panic in her voice. "I won't deny that I intended to use you. But even without me, those Vampires would have come looking for you sooner or later. You can't stay inside forever. At least I helped you."

Fang Cheng tapped the coffee table with his finger and mocked her. "I'd already died once before you arrived. You were the one I saved when things got dangerous. By 'helping me,' do you mean helping collect my corpse afterward?"

Kanzaki Rin fell silent for a few seconds, lowering her eyes. "That was part of it, of course."

That included her own body, too. She'd brought three body bags before coming here.

If Fang Cheng knew, he'd surely think the woman was ruthless, and not afraid of dying at all.

"If you're still unhappy, I can apologize to you, and even offer you some compensation."

Kanzaki Rin was surprisingly accommodating. When Fang Cheng heard the word "compensation," his eyes lit up as well.

Compensation sounded great. He'd been waiting for her to say that.

Kanzaki Rin seemed not to notice Fang Cheng's expression and continued, "The process was complicated, but the outcome was good. We were both lucky. Maybe we should have a more constructive conversation instead of blaming each other. What do you think?"

Fang Cheng immediately understood what she meant. "You still want to use me as bait?"