The plan was going well, but in the end, Kevin couldn't bring himself to kick Wei Lili out so abruptly.
As I mentioned before, he's a good person—he doesn't meddle in things he can't help with, but when he can lend a hand, he absolutely can't ignore it. Just kicking Wei Lili out, and then what? This seemingly down-on-her-luck vampire girl might have to sleep on the streets, just like she said, going to the wilderness to find ruins or graveyards to spend the night, with no food, no drink, no home, no job. At that point, going to any train station could alert the auxiliary police, leading to either forced Taking inor deportation… How pathetic.
Seeing such a pretty little girl end up in such a situation, most people wouldn't have the heart to.
Although Kevin thinks that with a vampire's true abilities, she probably wouldn't have to resort to that level… But who knows for sure, the one he encountered doesn't seem to be a normal vampire either. Anyway, nowhere has it been said that a vampire can be this stubborn, not only poor and whiny, but also a good girl who loves humans.
But he didn't outright say for Wei Lili to live in the house for free. Good intentions have their limits; he's not a saint, and he also has to consider the feelings of Lily, who pays rent normally. So he could only compromise and let Wei Lili owe the rent for now, to be paid back after finding her wallet (slim chances) or getting a job and earning money (this has some chances).
Is this really okay?" Wei Lili seemed unbelieving that such good fortune could fall from the sky. She looked at Kevin in disbelief, "It might take me a long time to pay you back. I'm not very lucky with money..."
Kevin's eyebrows twitched: looking at the expression on this vampire girl's face, hearing her resigned tone, how miserable could this guy usually be?
"Don't worry about anything, just stay here for now," Kevin waved his hand and glanced at Lily, who looked unhappy. "That's settled! This is my house, and I have the final say when it comes to renting it out."
Then he looked at Wei Lili, "There's an empty room upstairs, I'll take you there. But where's your luggage?"
He should have asked this earlier: Lily had dragged a huge suitcase weighing over a hundred pounds when she came from another city. Surely this vampire girl couldn't be so poor that she only had the clothes on her back?
"Oh, it's outside!" Wei Lili suddenly remembered her luggage and quickly ran out to bring in an old travel bag that was left at the door. Fortunately, her bad luck with money hadn't spread to her belongings. This big bag of stuff hadn't been lost even after being forgotten at the door for so long.
Seeing Wei Lili's luggage bag, Kevin couldn't help but sigh again: he vaguely remembered that when his father was still alive, he often went on business trips with a similar-styled bag, which was passed down from his grandfather...
He would never watch a movie about vampires again in his life.
Just as he was about to go upstairs to help Wei Lili tidy up her room, a loud "gurgling" sound suddenly came from beside him. Lily awkwardly rubbed her stomach and stood up, "Landlord, shall we eat?"
Kevin looked up at the clock in the living room and realized it was already 10 a.m. With all the commotion early in the morning, he almost forgot about breakfast: the only one in the whole house who had eaten was "Gun"!
"Fuck, my life is worse than a cat's," he muttered to himself, and then heard Wei Lili's surprised voice, "Oh? Do you provide meals here? Do we need to pay extra for food?"
The vampire girl's face was filled with joy. Kevin really wanted to tell her honestly that they didn't provide meals here, and that this was a special circumstance, but seeing her expression, almost immersed in happiness, he couldn't say a word: Damn it... It felt like a vampire had fallen to such a pathetic level!
Breakfast had been delayed until now, to the point where it was more like lunch. So Kevin decided to make what he was best at—noodles. Anyway, Lily seemed like an omnivorous werewolf who wasn't picky about food, and Wei Lili, being so poor, probably wouldn't be particular about what she ate either. Just putting together a meal would suffice. Of course, before heading to the kitchen, he turned around and asked the vampire girl, "Wei Lili, do you...eat normal human food? I heard that vampires can only drink blood and can't digest regular meals."
As soon as he said that, he felt a chill down his neck!
"I'm a vampire noble, not a lowly vampire," Wei Lili corrected seriously first, then scratched her face embarrassedly. "Other vampires can indeed only digest blood, but I can eat ordinary things. There's no other way. Nowadays, there are too many strange diseases, both in humans and animals. If I accidentally drink impure blood, I'll have diarrhea for days. Before sucking blood, I have to check if the target has a health certificate. Sometimes, even those with health certificates might have faked them... I can't stand it anymore. I haven't touched blood for years."
Kevin: "..."
However, just as he was about to step into the kitchen, a loud cell phone ringtone suddenly came from the armrest of the sofa. Lily jumped up and glanced at it, holding up Kevin's nearly five-year-old Nokia color screen phone and shouting excitedly, "Landlord! It's a call! From a very strange number!"
Kevin ran over in a few steps and took the phone. He wondered what kind of number could be considered "very strange," but when he saw it, he was stunned: the caller ID displayed a series of numbers, 00000012345!
Was there such a number in the world?
The monotonous ringtone continued to sound like a death knell. The eerie caller ID was clearly displayed in front of him. Kevin couldn't help pinching his face to make sure he wasn't seeing things. And he wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but the ringtone seemed to be getting louder and louder, gradually giving the impression of coming from all directions. He felt the phone in his hand getting hotter, and the ringtone speeding up... That eerie sixth sense he had since childhood was also stirring. Instinctively, he felt that this call was extraordinary.
Like being possessed, he couldn't help but press the answer button and put the phone to his ear, "Hello? Hi there?"
A pleasant but somewhat loud female voice came through the phone, "Hello? Hello? Is that Kevin?"
"Uh, yeah, it's me," Kevin said, trying to recall when he had given out his phone number and when he had met a woman with a similar voice, but he couldn't remember at all. "Who is this?"
"Don't worry about it for now," the strange woman on the other end shouted. From the background noise, it seemed like she was calling from a very noisy place, with faint, eerie whistling sounds, perhaps from a construction site. "I'm from... oh, the Import and Export Trading Company. Didn't you submit your resume for a job a couple of days ago? I'm notifying you to come for an interview this afternoon."
An Import and Export Trading Company? Kevin was taken aback, then remembered that it was true. When he decided to go out and look for a job, he had indeed submitted many resumes, but mostly as a shot in the dark. After all, he didn't have any work experience, nor was he a graduate of a prestigious university or an industry talent. He had been rejected all day when he went door-to-door for jobs, and he hadn't had high hopes for his resume submissions either. But he didn't expect anyone to call him for an interview today, and it sounded like an impressive company—an Import and Export Trading Company?
Was he about to have a stroke of luck?
But he glanced at the two new tenants in the living room. He had submitted resumes to look for a job because his rental apartment business wasn't working out and he hadn't had any income. But now it seemed like he had tenants...
Well, these tenants weren't very reliable either. One was a foolish werewolf, and the other was a stubborn vampire who was so poor she was almost starving. Not to mention, Kevin found it incredible that they, as their race, would pay their rent honestly. He felt that he couldn't continue to pin his hopes for life on the rental property business.
At that moment, the impatient voice of the woman came through the phone again, "Hey! Are you still there? I'm notifying you to come for an interview this afternoon!"
Kevin thought for a moment and nodded vigorously, "Okay, I'll be there this afternoon."
The strange woman gave him an address that didn't sound too far away and hung up the phone.
Kevin stared in disbelief at his phone, which displayed "Call Duration: 0m 0s". He switched to the call log.
It was blank. The number 00000012345 seemed to have never existed.