Chapter 4

It took at least half a day to travel from Jiang City to Water Lotus Village, with a stretch of muddy mountain road along the way. The journey was long and bumpy.

By the time An Xiang arrived at the village after traveling so far, it was already afternoon. The rustic mountain village lay hidden deep in the wilderness, beneath vast skies and surrounded by clear waters and verdant trees. The beautiful scenery filled her gaze at a glance.

Most of the villagers were elderly. They gathered in small groups beneath the shade of trees to chat and play cards, occasionally pointing at An Xiang as she passed, their eyes openly studying her.

She was not used to such naked stares. Lowering her head, she quickened her pace.

Her grandfather's courtyard was right ahead. Funeral banners hung from the gate, and several curious children gathered outside, standing on tiptoe as they kept peering in.

Her son was in that courtyard.

The moment that thought surfaced, An Xiang suddenly wanted to retreat.

It was not as if she had never come to see him over the past three years. But every time, she had only watched from afar, never once getting close enough to speak with him.

To An Zimo, she was a strange mother; to An Xiang, the boy in the courtyard was a son she knew nothing about. They were mother and son in name alone, complete strangers.

Just as she panicked, the system's voice sounded in her mind.

[Host, there's something I need to tell you before you go in to find your son.]

Compared to usual, the system's tone was clearly tinged with nervousness.

"Y-you tell me." An Xiang had no mind to listen to the system. She craned her neck and looked around, but when she failed to spot that small figure, disappointment immediately filled her. She found an old locust tree and furtively crouched beneath it.

[Don't be too shocked when I tell you this. Actually, your son isn't your son.]

"...?"

An Xiang was stunned for a long while. "What?"

The system spoke solemnly.

[It means... there was someone else that night.]

An Xiang's heart skipped a beat as she began carefully recalling every male she had encountered since transmigrating.

Other than the young vegetable vendor downstairs and the old security guard at her apartment complex, she swore she had never interacted with any other young men. Forget young men—she had not even interacted with young women.

An Xiang panicked, her expression anxious. "Y-you-you, don't talk nonsense. Other than that person, I've never slept with anyone else!!"

She was the best-behaved vampire in the world. If not for awakening her Vampire Clan abilities, she never would have rashly accepted such an absurd mission.

What the system said was practically an insult to her dignity as a vampire!

Unable to bear it any longer, An Xiang anxiously tore at the grass. "Y-you... take that back right now. I'm about to see my son. It wouldn't be good if he heard it."

[Don't panic. What I mean is...]

The system's signal became unstable.

[I bugged out.]

After saying that, it fell into a lengthy silence.

"...What???" An Xiang was even more confused.

What did it mean, it had bugged out? Something so high-tech could bug out too?

[The last time you secretly came to see An Zimo, I noticed that this child's Vampire Clan bloodline was somewhat wrong. So I checked, and discovered that a program error made you sleep with the wrong vampire.]

An Xiang's thinking had always been half a beat slower than normal people's. Those complicated, obscure words nearly made her brain crash.

She tried to understand what the system had said, but in the end, her mind was still a complete mess.

"My brain isn't very smart. Can you say it in a way I can understand?" An Xiang did not understand, but she could sense that something was wrong. Her eyes immediately stung, and she felt like crying.

The system patiently explained.

[Simply put, you slept with the wrong person, got pregnant with the wrong child, and the mission has failed. I'm leaving.]

The system had secretly looked into it. There was a strong possibility that this An Zimo's soul came from the son the original owner had given birth to in a parallel world.

There were countless parallel worlds in the universe. Every world contained the same people, yet they had entirely different personalities and entirely different lives.

In that parallel world, An Zimo's biological father was unknown, while his biological mother was vicious.

Every day, he lived under his mother's exploitation, suffering violence and oppression every moment.

A life devoid of love had left him with a severe emotional deficiency. He could not feel happiness, nor could he experience sorrow. Finally, at fourteen, he fell from a high-rise building and ended his miserable, short life.

The program bug had caused two parallel worlds to intersect, and it had also completely derailed the original novel's plot.

The die was cast, so there was naturally no need for the system to remain.

An Xiang's eyes widened. "What am I supposed to do if you leave?"

[Although I don't know what the male lead's life will be like from now on, this body's death is inevitable. You will still die in a year and return to your own body. Don't worry, it won't affect you in any way.]

That was not the point at all!!!

An Xiang's face went pale.

Back when her soul had left her body and she had been inexplicably summoned by the system, she had willingly signed the contract to take another person's place and live out her life for the sake of Vampire Clan abilities.

If the system left, would not her grand plan to awaken her abilities go down the drain too?!

An Xiang was so anxious she wanted to cry.

[Aren't you from interdimensional space? How can you make this kind of mistake? I don't agree to you leaving!]

The system sounded entirely justified, without the slightest remorse.

[More precisely, I am a piece of code from a higher-dimensional space. As long as it is code, bugs can occur. It's a normal phenomenon.]

That was it? This was supposed to be normal??

An Xiang was speechless. Suddenly, she did not know how to refute it, and anger surged from her stomach.

She hastily wiped away the tears that had somehow appeared. For the first time in three years, she opened the system panel. A pale blue panel floated before her eyes. She rapidly scrolled downward and finally found the report button at the very bottom.

[???]

[H-host, don't act rashly!! We can talk this out!!]

"Talk my ass! I'm not talking to you!"

It was her first time swearing. She froze for a moment, then repeated it. "Talk my ass!"

Mm, that was the feeling!

Without hesitation, An Xiang mercilessly pressed the report button.

[Please enter report reason (multiple selections allowed): A. Verbal abuse and personal attacks; B. Program bug obstructing mission completion; C. Sexual harassment, attempting an interspecies romance with me; D. Actor.]

Without another word, An Xiang selected B and D.

[Customer service is reviewing your report. Please wait.]

[Review successful. Report verified. The bugged system has been urgently recalled.]

[Our company sincerely apologizes for the losses caused to you. We will provide the following compensation—1. Repair the host's physical defects; 2. Fix the erroneous bug causing the Vampire Clan's blood allergy and inability to drink blood. Additional gifts—an enhanced sense of smell beyond that of ordinary people, allowing you to find high-quality human blood more quickly; the milk tea shop you have always dreamed of, x1. Our company will purchase supplies for you every month. All profits will belong to you personally.]

An Xiang had indeed said in Chapter Two that she wanted to open a milk tea shop or draw comics to earn a little money and support herself. But the funds needed to open a shop far exceeded her bank savings, so she could only settle for drawing simple comics online. She could earn two or three thousand a month from views, and with rental income, she made eight or nine thousand a month.

Now she could get a shop for free?

Could something this good really happen?!!

[Compensation will be issued after your soul returns to your own body. You may choose to receive the additional compensation now or later.]

Receive it now, receive it now!

She had to open the shop quickly and earn an inheritance. When she died, she would leave it all to her son!

At this point, the system would no longer meddle in her affairs. Since the novel's plot had already fallen apart, there was no way to predict her son's future. No matter which time and space he came from, he had come from her womb.

She had made up her mind. She had left him here for over three years to complete the mission. Now, even without the mission binding her, she would take good care of her son.

She had never received her parents' love; now, she could choose to let her son receive it.

Even though... she had no idea how to be a mother.

An Xiang clicked to receive the compensation, and the system completely detached from her consciousness.

Without realizing it, she had been standing beneath the tree for a long time.

The sun slowly sank in the west. Sunset clouds spread across the sky, dyeing the mountains and waters red. Smoke rose from the low houses around her, and the villagers headed home in pairs. In the blink of an eye, An Xiang was the only one left on the entire road.

She had always been someone easily satisfied. After a brief period of disappointment, she quickly accepted the reality before her. It was a little regrettable that she could not awaken her abilities, but being able to speak and no longer being allergic to blood was pretty good too. With a milk tea shop, even after returning to her own body, she could leave her family and continue running the shop to make money.

When she thought about it carefully, life was still incredibly beautiful!

An Xiang silently encouraged herself, tightened her grip on her luggage, and entered the courtyard.

Water Lotus Village still practiced burial in the earth. A dark brown coffin sat in the courtyard, while a portrait of the deceased and offerings rested on the altar.

The two distant relatives dressed in mourning clothes, standing nearby and lighting incense, had not noticed An Xiang yet. They lowered their voices and whispered to each other, but every word clearly reached An Xiang's ears.

"Look at that child. His great-grandfather died, and he hasn't shed a single tear."

"I heard he's a fool. Who knows where that granddaughter of his went messing around and got herself a child."

"At his age, he's still helping raise a child. If it were me, I'd rather die than do it."

"His granddaughter has several properties in the city. She gives him plenty of money, I guess..."

As they talked, the two women put down what they were holding and walked back into the house arm in arm, grinning.

An Xiang had grown up hearing countless cruel words. The idle gossip of a few village women could not hurt her at all.

She was more afraid that An Zimo would hear it. Human children of three or four were sensitive, and even the smallest blow could leave them traumatized.

An Xiang stood on tiptoe and peered through the window. The main room was packed with people. An Zimo was quiet by nature and liked being alone, so there was no need to guess that her son was not inside.

Maybe he had gone to play in the sunflower field? Or perhaps he was tucked away in some corner of the mountain.

Just as she was about to turn around and search for him, she suddenly felt a gloomy gaze coming from the side.

An Xiang stopped and followed the gaze.

A young child was curled up in the corner by the wall. Wild grass grew rampant and tangled, nearly concealing his whole body.

Like a lost little beast, he hid in the shadows. His black eyes, hidden beneath the grass, were fixed tightly on her.

Those eyes were cold and blank, mixed with hatred and intense violence.

He did not look like a child who was nearly four. He looked more like a villain filled with hatred.

Faced with those eyes, An Xiang froze.

At the same time, an indescribable fragrance drifted into An Xiang's nose on the evening breeze.

It was the long-lost scent of blood.

Every thought in her mind was thrown into chaos by that scent. Having been allergic to blood since childhood and never experienced the pleasure of drinking blood, An Xiang unsurprisingly fell for it at once.

Her gaze remained fixed on An Zimo, crouching in the corner by the wall, as she uncontrollably moved closer to him.

The scent was closer.

The fragrance grew stronger.

Slurp.

With no self-control whatsoever, An Xiang could not help swallowing at the son she had just met for the first time.

Then, An Zimo, who possessed the power to read minds, heard An Xiang's thoughts at that moment—

My son smells so good.

I really want to eat him.

An Xiang: Son, let me explain!! Slurp.

The current situation was that Mommy had received the gift and could smell the fragrance of blood, but her human body still could not drink blood...

***

The son came from a parallel world! He was reborn into the wrong time and space! The original owner in that parallel world was a bad mother who constantly abused him.

In case you didn't understand, I'll explain it again~

I'm late again!!!!!!

Still 500 red envelopes. Love you all.

I discovered that red envelopes aren't very appealing to you. Whenever I act cute, there are more comments. As expected, I'm a charming woman.