How Did We End Up Eating? (Please Recommend)

Let's rewind a little.

With Maeda Kenichi pointing a gun at him, Fang Cheng slowly walked into the kitchen.

He rolled up his sleeves and said to Maeda Kenichi, "This is duck blood. If you don't believe me, I can prove it to you."

Maeda Kenichi knew he'd overreacted a little, especially when he saw the blood.

But that was perfectly normal. Countless law enforcers had paid for a moment's carelessness or complacency with their lives.

After all the bloody lessons taught by those who came before him, Maeda Kenichi would rather shoot a suspect preemptively than end up in a monster's jaws.

What's more, Fang Cheng's calmness with a gun pointed at him put Maeda Kenichi on guard.

That wasn't the kind of mental fortitude a kid his age should have.

"How are you going to prove it?"

he asked.

"By making Mao Xue Wang, of course. Didn't I already tell you?"

Fang Cheng replied, then turned around and started preparing the ingredients, treating the two uninvited guests behind him like they weren't even there.

His movements were crisp and practiced, not a single one wasted. The cleaver flashed in his hands, and the sound of chopping vegetables was as lively as music.

At that moment, Fang Cheng looked less like he was cooking and more like he was putting on a culinary performance.

Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go stared in astonishment, almost as if they'd wandered into a five-star chef's kitchen.

"Senpai..."

As if afraid of disturbing Fang Cheng, Kujo Go lowered his voice to a whisper. "What is Mao Xue Wang?"

"Some kind of... uh... food, I guess."

Maeda Kenichi sounded uncertain. He hadn't tried it himself; he'd only heard of it once or twice.

It was apparently made with blood. Was that even something people could eat?

With Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go watching, Fang Cheng soon finished making a steaming pot of Mao Xue Wang.

As he carried the pot to the dining table, Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go both noticed a small cut on Fang Cheng's finger. He must have nicked himself with the cleaver by accident.

Their attention instantly shifted from the Mao Xue Wang to the wound.

Besides drinking blood, vampires were best known for their immortality and astonishing ability to heal. The smaller the wound, the faster it healed.

Under the two men's watchful gazes, Fang Cheng noticed the injury on his hand too.

He put his finger in his mouth and sucked on it, but the bleeding wouldn't stop. He could only tell them, "Wait a moment. I need to stop the bleeding first."

"Here, use mine."

Kujo Go pulled a pink handkerchief from his clothes. It was printed with two muscular, scantily clad men wrestling.

Fang Cheng: ...

Maeda Kenichi: ...

"Sorry, wrong one."

Kujo Go hastily stuffed the handkerchief away and took out a medical adhesive bandage instead.

"Th-thanks."

Fang Cheng hesitantly picked it up between two fingers. He had a feeling that using it would somehow rub off its gay vibe on him.

Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go exchanged a glance, both secretly relieved.

If the bleeding wouldn't stop, that meant the person in front of them wasn't a vampire.

Neither of them had any idea that Fang Cheng could now perfectly control how quickly his wounds healed—even slowing the process to below an ordinary person's rate if he wanted.

Of course, he really wasn't a vampire. It was just that no one believed him.

"Give it a try."

Fang Cheng picked up a piece of duck blood with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, then pushed the Mao Xue Wang toward the two men.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Maeda Kenichi picked up his chopsticks and put a piece of duck blood in his mouth as well.

Although the wound had convinced him Fang Cheng wasn't a vampire, he still couldn't ignore the last remaining doubt.

He'd never tried duck blood, but he could tell whether it was human blood. That was one of the things every official member had to know.

Maeda Kenichi chewed with a frown while Kujo Go watched him anxiously, unable to help thinking how tough it must be for his senpai.

Senpai, you've really been through a lot. You'd even eat something this bizarre for work.

Then he watched Maeda Kenichi swallow the duck blood and pick up another piece.

The third piece, the fourth, the fifth...

Maeda Kenichi's chopsticks moved faster and faster.

"Senpai! Senpai, what are you doing?"

Kujo Go hurriedly nudged Maeda Kenichi.

Weren't you just going to try a little? How did you end up eating the whole thing?

Maeda Kenichi came to his senses and gave Fang Cheng an awkward smile. "Sorry. It's just so delicious, I couldn't help myself..."

The Mao Xue Wang was spicy and numbing, tender and silky. It brought an intense pleasure, like a lover's tongue.

It was practically made for Maeda Kenichi's tastes.

"Don't be shy. I made enough for three. You came so early, so you probably haven't had breakfast yet. Just have some. I can't eat all this by myself."

Fang Cheng quickly set out bowls and chopsticks for them, then served them each a portion with a spoon.

"N-no, this doesn't seem right, does it?"

Kujo Go hurriedly tried to refuse. They were there to work, not to have breakfast—and certainly not a stranger's breakfast.

"Don't be so formal. You're law enforcers protecting the city, and I'm an ordinary citizen under your protection. It's only right that I make you breakfast."

Maeda Kenichi had long since stopped suspecting Fang Cheng. His thoughts were now entirely on the delicious-looking pot of food.

Seeing Fang Cheng's warm invitation, he happily went along with it. "Haha, in that case, we won't stand on ceremony."

Kujo Go hurriedly tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Senpai, we still have an investigation to do."

"It's fine. Breakfast won't take long."

Maeda Kenichi felt a little awkward eating alone, so he immediately dragged Kujo Go into it too. "Come on, give it a try. It really is delicious."

"No, I'll pass."

"Don't be shy. Come on."

"Yamete!!"

Thanks to Maeda Kenichi and Fang Cheng, Kujo Go was successfully dragged into it too.

The three of them dug in with gusto. And of course, the meal wasn't just Mao Xue Wang—Fang Cheng had also made a pot of rice.

Pouring the fiery red broth over rice made for an incredible taste.

Halfway through the meal, Kanzaki Rin came storming in.

The four of them stared at one another in bewilderment. Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go both cried out at once, "Kanzaki, what are you doing here?"

Looking at the three of them eating, Kanzaki Rin was just as baffled. "Why are you eating?"

Before she came, she'd imagined the worst-case scenario: Fang Cheng's identity was exposed, he resisted arrest, and then he fought Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go, with casualties on both sides.

Even the best-case scenario she'd considered was Fang Cheng successfully hiding his identity and sending the two men away.

The one thing she'd never imagined was that the three of them would be sitting together, enjoying a meal.

Did they have a thing for each other or what?

Hearing Kanzaki Rin's question, Kujo Go suddenly realized it too.

That's right. We came here to investigate vampire sightings. How did we suddenly end up eating?

Maeda Kenichi was an old hand. He immediately brushed past the question of why they were eating and asked instead, "Kanzaki, how did you find us? Did something happen?"

He assumed something had happened at the Countermeasure Department and Kanzaki Rin had come to find them.

But why hadn't she called?

Kanzaki Rin broke into a cold sweat.

She'd rushed over in a panic, thinking only about how to protect Fang Cheng. It had never occurred to her that things would turn out like this.

Now she was in trouble. How could she explain why she'd hurried over—and how she knew where the two men were?

If she made up some excuse, someone as experienced as Maeda Kenichi could easily see through it and become suspicious instead.

For a moment, Kanzaki Rin didn't know what to say.

She'd rushed over to rescue Fang Cheng, but Fang Cheng had handled the problem on his own. Now she'd put herself in an awkward position with no way forward or back.

As Maeda Kenichi and Kujo Go looked more and more puzzled, Kanzaki Rin's heart pounded and the pressure mounted. The more flustered she became, the harder it was to find a plausible excuse.

In the middle of that eerie silence, Fang Cheng spoke.