I'm Warning You, Don't Push It

Fang Cheng insisted that Kanzaki Rin take him to a barbecue restaurant, or a hot pot place if that was easier.

Not long after he came back to life, hunger had hit him like a tidal wave. He could barely stand and needed food to replenish his strength.

But Kanzaki Rin flatly refused, saying she had to deal with the aftermath.

It was a perfectly reasonable excuse, but she also had a selfish reason—she'd suffered heavy losses this time and would have to pay for the Rapid Condensation Machine. Her wallet had taken a serious hit.

Money didn't grow on trees, and she couldn't let Fang Cheng spend it so freely.

"But I'm so hungry I can't even walk... You said you'd cover my post-battle nutrition. That's the basis of our partnership... You can't go back on your word."

Fang Cheng lay on the ground in protest.

Kanzaki Rin folded her arms and explained, "I only said no to your unreasonable extravagance. I never said I wouldn't pay for your nutrition."

Fang Cheng weakly raised his head. "Then how are you going to provide me with nutrition? Just so we're clear, sex doesn't count as nutrition..."

Kanzaki Rin kicked Fang Cheng, cutting off his sexual harassment, then turned and walked toward the wrecked car.

Kuroishi Yuto had cut the car into several pieces, but the things in the trunk hadn't been damaged much.

Kanzaki Rin rummaged through it and found a sealed bag. She returned to Fang Cheng, opened it, and poured out a pile of individually wrapped blocks.

Fang Cheng had a bad feeling. "What are these?"

"Military ration bars and energy bars. I prepared them especially for you."

There was a hint of smugness in Kanzaki Rin's voice. She knew Fang Cheng would need to replenish his energy after a fight, so she'd secretly prepared these cheap but practical snacks.

Fancy barbecue wasn't the only thing that could fill you up. Junk food worked, too.

Fang Cheng snapped, "Have you no conscience? I fought for my life, and this is all you give me?"

Kanzaki Rin crouched down and tore open an energy bar for him. "Quit complaining. Hurry up and eat, then we'll go home."

"I'm not eating! I want barbecue! I want hot pot!"

"I'll feed you."

"You think feeding me is some big deal? I'm not a pig. I don't need you to feed me... Mmph!"

In the end, Fang Cheng faced reality and ate all the ration bars and energy bars.

He had to admit, the energy bars tasted pretty good.

And despite being small, they were enough to fill him up and get rid of his hunger.

So what excuse did he have left to mooch off her?

Once he'd recovered his strength, the two of them went their separate ways.

Kanzaki Rin had to stay behind to deal with the aftermath. The dozen or so dismembered gang members, along with the women Kuroishi Yuto had kidnapped, were all a big headache.

She had to contact people from the Disaster Countermeasure Department to handle things. Fang Cheng couldn't help, and his presence would only expose his identity, so he had to leave first.

The car had been cut to pieces, so Fang Cheng had no choice but to ride one of the gang members' motorcycles.

He disapproved of taking things from the dead and felt rather embarrassed about it.

The only regret was that he couldn't take a few more.

After changing into the clothes Kanzaki Rin had brought, Fang Cheng rode the motorcycle home.

Once he entered the city, his speed got him flagged by police patrol drones several times. Fortunately, he had the Countermeasure Department credentials Kanzaki Rin had given him, so he could ride legally without being hauled off to the traffic bureau for driving underage.

By the time he got home, it was past four in the morning.

After showering, Fang Cheng didn't rush to bed. Instead, he started testing the two new abilities he'd acquired.

The first was Short-Range Dash. It greatly increased his speed over short distances, and he could use it repeatedly. Its only drawback was that it rapidly drained his stamina, making it impossible to use for long.

The second ability was Steel Blood. It was what had allowed Kuroishi Yuto to beat Fang Cheng so badly.

Steel Blood did exactly what its name suggested: it turned blood into a solid as hard as steel.

Fang Cheng took a fruit knife from the kitchen and nicked his fingertip. A drop of bright red blood welled up.

He immediately activated Steel Blood. The droplet on his fingertip quickly hardened into a red crystal identical to Kuroishi Yuto's.

"Hard as hell!"

Fang Cheng tested it with the fruit knife. The crystal really was as hard as steel. He scraped and sawed at it with the blade, but couldn't leave so much as a mark.

After hardening, the crystal was shaped like a droplet. Fang Cheng turned it back into liquid, then tried to harden it into a spike like Kuroishi Yuto's.

Only after working up a sweat did Fang Cheng finally manage to harden the crystal into a spike.

[Steel Blood (Training) +1]

Fang Cheng couldn't help but stare at the notification. Could abilities he'd absorbed also be improved through training?

Then why hadn't Advanced Olfaction... Oh, Fang Cheng understood. He hadn't trained it at all since acquiring it, so naturally there hadn't been a notification.

He tried Short-Range Dash as well. Sure enough, after a few uses, he got a Training +1 notification.

The discovery thrilled Fang Cheng. If he could improve these abilities as quickly as he'd improved his fighting skills, his combat strength would increase dramatically in a short time.

But after a few attempts, he had to give up on the idea of improving them overnight. Short-Range Dash was manageable, but Steel Blood was far too difficult to train.

It looked like he'd have to practice for a long time to build up his skill before he could do what Kuroishi Yuto had.

Fang Cheng had wondered why Kuroishi Yuto hadn't turned the crystal into armor to protect himself. If he had, killing him would have been a hundred times harder.

Now that Fang Cheng had acquired the ability himself, he understood. Kuroishi Yuto hadn't been unwilling; he simply couldn't do it.

Turning the crystal into armor that fit closely to his body required extremely precise control and intense concentration.

Kuroishi Yuto hadn't been a vampire for very long, so he hadn't mastered the fine control of Steel Blood. He could only shape it into crude spikes.

It was lucky that Fang Cheng and Kanzaki Rin had killed Kuroishi Yuto when they did.

If they'd given him more time to grow stronger, the question wouldn't have been whether they could kill him, but whether they could escape if they ran into him.

In any case, Steel Blood had enormous potential.

For Fang Cheng, it was like winning the jackpot.

He'd used to envy Kanzaki Rin's supernatural ability, but he didn't need to anymore. He could acquire even more powerful abilities.

After fiddling with his new abilities for a while longer, Fang Cheng began his daily workout.

He kept exercising until after eight in the morning. Once he'd earned one point of stamina, he collapsed into bed, exhausted, and fell into a deep sleep.

He slept through the day and night, and didn't wake until the next morning, when the doorbell rang incessantly.

Yawning, he went to open the door and found Kanzaki Rin standing outside with a bag of duck blood.

She was dressed simply and wore light makeup, yet she was still stunningly beautiful and youthful. No wonder her admirers could line up all the way from Edogawa to Shinjuku.

When Kanzaki Rin saw Fang Cheng open the door, she was about to greet him.

Then her expression changed. She looked at him as if he were some kind of exhibitionist pervert.

"What are you looking at?"

Fang Cheng scratched himself. "Never seen this before?"

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

"You're crazy. Even if you wanted to look, I wouldn't let you."

Kanzaki Rin suddenly raised her hand.

Fang Cheng jumped. "I'm warning you, don't push it!"

Kanzaki Rin snorted, shoved him aside, and walked in, as if she were in her own home.

By the time Fang Cheng had brushed his teeth and washed his face, Kanzaki Rin had tied up her long hair, prepared the duck blood, and taken the glass noodles out of the fridge to soak.

Kanzaki Rin knew how to cook, too. It was hard to say which of them was better.

Fang Cheng only liked making dishes from his hometown, while Kanzaki Rin was good at Japanese cuisine. Each of them thought they were the better cook.

It looked like Kanzaki Rin planned to show off her skills today and make a Japanese-style duck blood and glass noodle soup.

Fang Cheng didn't plan to help. He sat on the sofa and started trimming his toenails with a pair of scissors, casually asking, "How did things go yesterday?"

Kanzaki Rin, who was chopping scallions, didn't turn around. "It was the day before yesterday. Are you still groggy from sleeping?"

Fang Cheng pulled out his phone and checked. Only then did he realize he'd slept for a day and a night.

He rubbed his face in annoyance. He'd wasted a chance to score a free point of stamina.

"How did things go the day before yesterday?"

"Everything went smoothly."

"So when do we pick up where we left off?"

Fang Cheng was starting to get hooked. Killing a vampire got him abilities and extra lives. It was way more satisfying than playing games.

And the longer they waited, the stronger the vampires would become. Fang Cheng now agreed with Kanzaki Rin: they had to stamp out the danger before it could take root.

Kanzaki Rin's hands paused for a moment. Only after a long silence did she say softly, "We'll have to put things on hold for a while. If all goes well, we may never need to act again."

Thanks to I'm a Pig-Skin Bully and Mysterious Peruser for the tips! (*^▽^*)