Chapter 010

An Zimo was on edge as he gripped the sides of the coffin with both hands and peered inside.

In the faint light, the person he called his mother lay sleeping peacefully inside.

An Zimo's pupils trembled with shock. Of all the possibilities he had considered, he had never expected An Xiang to be inside! The immense shock made him lose his footing, and before he knew it, he had fallen straight into the coffin.

Fuck!

An Zimo pushed his upper body up with his small hands, his gaze fierce. Only then did he discover the soft mattress lining the inside.

Click.

Strings of tiny lights lit up along both sides of the coffin.

An Zimo's spine stiffened, and he slowly turned to look.

Bleary-eyed, An Xiang rubbed her eyes and took quite a while to make out the intruder. "Zimo?"

She wore floral pajamas, her messy hair framing a face full of sleepiness.

An Zimo remained frozen, saying nothing.

The disturbance had woken An Xiang up considerably. "Zimo, why aren't you asleep?" Her gaze swept over the little bedside clock. The hour hand was approaching two.

"Y-you, you, you-" An Zimo pointed at An Xiang, stammering for ages. No longer in the mood to keep pretending to be mentally impaired, he finally expressed his shock. "You sleep in a coffin?!"

An Xiang blinked innocently. "Is that not allowed?"

"Only dead people sleep in coffins!"

"Yes, and dead people sleep in urns too," An Xiang said. "I can't exactly sleep in an urn, can I?"

An Zimo choked on his words and abruptly fell silent.

Mother and son stared at each other, one pair of big eyes meeting a smaller pair.

An Xiang couldn't understand why An Zimo had come to her room so late. After turning it over in her mind, realization dawned. "Son, are you having trouble getting used to the crib?"

"Mm." An Zimo didn't deny it. He really couldn't get used to that lousy crib.

A strange light flickered in An Xiang's eyes. "I get it! You want to sleep in the coffin with Mommy too, don't you?"

"..." Who the fuck wants to sleep in a coffin with you? Are you nuts?!

"If you like it, I'll have a children's version custom-made for you tomorrow," An Xiang promised, patting her chest.

It was understandable that her son wanted to sleep in a coffin. After all, half his genes were Vampire genes. A Vampire who didn't sleep in a coffin wasn't a proper Vampire!

"Sleep with me tonight for now." An Xiang moved over and thoughtfully pulled her pillow into the middle. She slapped the mattress generously. "Come on, Mommy will share half her coffin with you."

An Zimo was dumbfounded.

What the fuck do you mean, share half your coffin? Are we being buried together?

"No..."

Before he could finish, An Xiang scooped him over beside her with one arm.

"Don't be shy, son. It's really comfortable." She had specially ordered a soft mattress fitted to the coffin and chosen a cool, breathable silk quilt. An aromatherapy lamp stood beside it, so unpleasant smells weren't a concern. There was even Wi-Fi. When An Xiang didn't feel like going out, she would spend the entire day curled up in her little coffin reading novels and watching movies.

"Should I close the coffin lid?"

"..." I'll suffocate.

As though she had heard his thoughts, An Xiang helpfully answered, "I had air holes put in the lid. Don't worry about suffocating."

"..."

Ha. Why bother with air holes? Wouldn't suffocating be great? Better yet, dig a hole underneath the coffin. Once you die, shut the lid-one-stop burial service, with no middleman taking a cut.

An Zimo suddenly felt like an idiot for all his careful planning earlier.

Judging by this woman's behavior, she couldn't possibly manage something as difficult as serial murder.

"Son, why aren't you asleep yet?" He kept moving beside her, seemingly restless about something.

An Xiang tucked the quilt around An Zimo and recalled the parenting guide she had read not long ago. It said babies had trouble sleeping because they felt insecure and needed comfort from their mothers, preferably a lullaby.

No one had ever sung An Xiang a lullaby when she was growing up, though she had learned a few from movies.

She cleared her throat and gently patted her son's tummy, singing to a tune she had learned from a movie. "Night has come, are you hungry? What would you like to eat? The women by the roadside are all sumptuous dinners..."

An Zimo's eyelid twitched. He had a vague sense of foreboding.

"Moonlight has come, haven't you finished eating? Be careful, be careful, be careful before the sun rises. Don't make a sound..."

"What are you singing?" An Zimo asked.

"A lullaby," An Xiang said.

"..." More like a song to summon souls.

The sleep-inducing tune was slow and lilting. As An Xiang sang, her voice gradually grew quieter until it disappeared altogether.

Her arm rested over An Zimo, holding his soft little body completely captive in her embrace.

The night was quiet, especially in the basement.

Breathing in An Xiang's scent, An Zimo felt bewildered for the first time.

The mother beside him was completely different from the one in his memories, both in her behavior and her lifestyle. She didn't hit or curse people, and she often thought about strange things he couldn't understand.

Was this a butterfly effect caused by his rebirth? Or had she simply not fully revealed her true nature yet?

Judging by this house, she wasn't living very well. If he revealed his intelligence, she might well turn him into a money-making tool again, just as she had in his previous life.

Being too clever wasn't a good thing. Even his mind-reading ability could bring murderous danger at any moment.

Since An Xiang hadn't done anything for now, his next step was to keep playing dumb and testing her until she gave herself away.

Having silently made up his mind, An Zimo gave a slow yawn and closed his eyes to sleep.

He slept well all night.

An Xiang's body clock had always been punctual. Her eyes opened the moment six o'clock arrived.

In the dim, shifting light of the basement, a little face came into view.

He was sleeping soundly, one little leg draped over An Xiang's stomach, unconsciously sucking his finger in his sleep.

The baby's eyelashes were long and thick, naturally curled like a doll's. His sleeping face was innocent and adorable, without any of the unapproachable ferocity he had when awake.

An Xiang watched her son for a long time. The more she looked, the cuter she found him, especially his baby-fat cheeks with their rosy flush. They made her want to take a bite.

Her son's blood smelled wonderful, like mango mixed with a milkshake.

Her stomach growled twice. She sneaked a glance at the still-sleeping An Zimo, smacked her lips, then opened her mouth and bit his round little cheek.

"Ow!"

An Zimo woke instantly.

"What are you doing?" Still half asleep after being pulled from his dream, An Zimo covered his cheek, his eyes hazy. Then he closed his eyes again and rolled over, presenting An Xiang with a haughty little back.

Listening to his even breathing, An Xiang patted her chest, still shaken. Thank goodness. If she really hadn't been able to resist eating her son, she would never have been able to explain herself.

She carefully climbed out of the coffin, then tripped over that rotten piece of wood yet again on her way up the stairs.

Used to it by now, An Xiang calmly got up, brushed the dust she had accidentally picked up off her skirt, and headed into the kitchen as though nothing had happened.

Breakfast didn't need to be complicated. An Xiang decided to make a simple sandwich, then take her son to the coffin shop to have his sleeping coffin custom-made.

Right, she also needed to look at the milk tea shop customer service had given her. If all the supplies were there, she could open at any time.

As An Xiang concentrated on her work, her wrist wobbled. The kitchen knife slipped sideways, its sharp blade slicing straight into her index finger.

Bright red blood flowed from the cut and mixed with the tomato juice.

She stared at the wound, the rich, fragrant scent of blood filling her nose and relentlessly battering her reason.

Hunger gnawed fiercely at her stomach. An Xiang swallowed and murmured, "...It smells so good." Unable to stop herself, she licked her dry lips, then slowly put her injured finger in her mouth and sucked twice.

That single taste nearly made An Xiang throw up.

"It tastes so bloody!"

Perhaps her sense of taste exceeded that of ordinary people because her sense of smell was so sensitive.

Her human body couldn't stomach blood. The taste of rust spread through her mouth, her stomach churned, and her whole body rejected it.

But-

An Xiang looked at the still-bleeding wound. "It smells so good..." Unwilling to give up, she took another suck. "Ugh, it tastes so bloody."

"Wah, I smell so good."

"Ugh, I taste so bloody."

An Xiang's thoughts bounced repeatedly between these two sensory experiences.

Having just emerged from the coffin, An Zimo stared in disbelief at this baffling display of human behavior. His brow twitched hard, and he silently turned to leave.

Better go back to the coffin. It's much safer in there.

Returning to the basement, An Zimo tripped over the broken wooden step yet again. He got up with a frown, brushed off the dirt, and climbed back into the coffin as though nothing had happened.

An Xiang hadn't noticed her son coming out at all. She soon bandaged her wound, utterly dejected because she couldn't drink the delicious blood.

An Zimo had no desire to talk to his strangely behaving mother either. Once breakfast was ready, he sat quietly in his chair and ate the whole time. He had to admit, the sandwich was surprisingly good.

"Wait a moment," An Xiang stopped him.

An Zimo stopped chewing and looked up.

An Xiang reached out and removed one slice of tomato. "I got some of my blood on this earlier."

Oh. No wonder it tasted so sweet.

An Zimo swung his little legs and finished the rest of the sandwich in a few bites.

"We're going out to buy your everyday necessities in a little while. If there's anything else you want, Momo, you can tell Mommy."

She had brought him home in such a rush that she hadn't had time to prepare many things.

An Xiang sighed inwardly, suddenly finding herself thinking of the system.

Her family had kept her imprisoned in a tower as she grew up. Unable to communicate with people, she knew nothing about the outside world. Without the system, she might still have been running around like a headless chicken.

During her years living in the human world, she had depended on the system for many things.

Now that she had reported the system, she would have to rely on herself from now on.

Looking at the little bean before her, An Xiang suddenly felt a heavy weight on her shoulders as a mother's sense of responsibility welled up within her.

From now on, she was a boy's mother. She could no longer live so freely and without a care.

An Xiang stepped forward and hugged An Zimo's little head, her voice brimming with affection. "Baby, Mommy will love you properly from now on."

Her son was dim but adorable. She would protect him well!

She would make him the strongest little man in the whole world!!!

Faced with his mother's sudden declaration of affection, An Zimo remained expressionless, even somewhat disdainful. The corners of his mouth drooped, and he said nothing.

"Then let's head out now!"

The first stop on An Xiang's itinerary was the coffin shop. Once she had ordered the coffin, they would go to the mall.

An Zimo was still wearing the children's clothes she had hastily bought in town yesterday. They didn't fit very well, hanging loosely on him. His hair was an untended mess too, making him look like a wild boy who had fled from deep in the mountains.

An Xiang decided to give her son a proper makeover first and make him the prettiest baby in the world.

Her mind made up, An Xiang grabbed her wallet, picked up her son, and took a ride to their first destination of the day.

It was a long journey, and signs of habitation outside the vehicle grew increasingly sparse.

Finding it stranger and stranger, An Zimo couldn't help asking, "Where are we going?"

An Xiang was looking down, searching Baidu for the latest children's coffins. Whenever she found one she liked, she saved it to show the shopkeeper later.

Hearing An Zimo's voice, she answered without looking up, "To buy you a bed."

This was the one!

A Peppa Pig collaboration coffin. Her son was sure to love it!

What An Xiang sang was "Underworld Lullaby."

As for why Momo doesn't want to drink blood, the setting is that young Vampires only grow fangs after their baby teeth fall out, and only then can they drink blood.

It's like how human babies a few months old can only drink milk, not eat meals, because they have no teeth. Vampires are the same QW

When Momo's baby teeth fall out, he'll be stunned, wondering why his teeth keep getting so fucking long. He'll be so frightened that he'll secretly find a file to grind them down a little every day.

Red envelopes for the first hundred.

Tomorrow for sure! Update at six!!!!