The sun sank beneath the western horizon and the day began to darken.

It was only then that Yao Si rolled up the thick blind and let out a sigh of relief. Peeping at the streets beneath that were ablaze with light, she found a black overcoat and prepared to go out, but then her phone suddenly rang.

She fished it out of her pocket only to see the two words “Unknown Number” on the display. Her heart tightened, and she stared at the two words for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and picking up the call.

“Hello?”

“Yao Si?” A flat voice with no fluctuation in tone sounded from the other end. It contained a thorough coldness that could be felt across the distance.

Yao Si felt her ankles weaken at the sound. “Yes… Yes, that’s me!”

“Your death certificate has been granted.” The other person didn’t have any desire to exchange courtesies with her and straightforwardly said, “The process is finished. Where do you want it to be sent?”

“Umm…” The corner of Yao Si’s mouth twitched, for she had almost heard it as ‘Where do you want to die?’. Although this was all expected, it still felt like she was picking a spot for her grave. “It’s okay, just send it to me. I’m an orphan so I have no family.

“Okay,” the person gently responded. There was still no rise or fall in his voice. “Also, the verification that you demanded has been done, and the result is fifth generation.”

“Fifth generation…” Yao Si immediately felt a sense of hopelessness. Needless to say, this result was quite disappointing.

“Right now is a troubling time, so we are unable to investigate in regards to who sired you.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.” She was an orphan since a young age, so this was just another time that she got orphaned.

Perhaps because of her quick acceptance, the indifferent voice had two seconds of rare silence, then it suddenly opened its mouth and warned, “The great war is about to begin. Scattered newborns like you better not leave the house; otherwise, you won’t even know how you have died.”

“All right, thank…”

“Your identification has been sent. From now on you are one of the bloodlings. Do be responsible for your actions.”

Before Yao Si could reply, the beeping tone from the phone rang out. Are all bloodling civil servants this blunt?

Yao Si looked at her phone for a few seconds without uttering a word. Right then, the doorbell rang.

It was a delivery outside the door. She signed for the parcel and opened it up. There was only a bat-shaped card lying inside the box, and it was her identification. The bloodlings were indeed efficient at handling affairs. On the card was a large mark with the number “5”, proving that she was a fifth generation bloodling. Beneath that was her name and a long strand of numbers. She made a safe guess that it was something close to a social security number.

She carefully scanned the identification card a few more times before tucking it into her inside pocket and letting out a long sigh. It was hard to believe that in a short span of a month she had changed from a pure human that lived under the sunlight and was raised beneath the red flag of socialism into a vampire that roamed in the darkness of night and lived on blood, especially the kind that had an official identification.

Her stomach rumbled again in protest as Yao Si looked again at the sky outside that had gone completely dark. Only then did she relax and walk out the door with her wallet and keys. Her teeth itched in the dark and windy night. It was time for her to go out and eat some… Duck blood curd.

╰(￣▽￣)╭

“Hey, Sister Sisi, you’re here.” Just as she arrived at the marketplace, the eyes of Brother Li who sold duck blood gleamed. He waved at her, the vigorous smile making his face crumple together so it looked like a chrysanthemum.

“Brother Li.”

“What took you so long today?”

“The sun’s too bright, I didn’t want to leave the house,” Yao Si responded carelessly. She crouched before the stall, diligently looking at the row of red, appetizing-looking duck blood curd, unable to prevent her mouth from watering.

It smelled so good, so good, so good… She felt herself grow even hungrier.

“You newborns!”

Brother Li chuckled, his expression that of a person who had experienced it all, and shook his head. He surveyed his surroundings, making sure that no one nearby could hear them talk. He then lowered his voice and said, “Initially it’s like that, you don’t want to go out in daylight, but you will get used to it after some time.”

“Yes, I know, thank you Brother Li.” Yao Si nodded. If she had not met him, she wouldn’t even know that she was no longer a human.

That’s right, Brother Li was a vampire too. His full name was Li Zheng, and he was converted much earlier than Yao Si; it had been more than a hundred years since then.

That day, when Brother Li told Yao Si that she was a vampire too, she thought that he was a maniac and almost called the police. However, a few days later, she began to realize that the transformations her body was undergoing matched his descriptions, even to the point of two retractable fangs in her mouth appearing…

It took her a month to finally accept the truth that she was no longer a human. As to the basics regarding the bloodlings, Brother Li had been filling her in. Different to the vampires on television that needed to hide and live on human blood, the actual bloodlings lived quite… carefree lives.

Although they still lived on blood, there were many varieties from which they could choose – chicken blood, duck blood, pig blood, cow blood… As long as it was blood, it could be consumed as food that filled their stomach. Besides, there were all sorts of distinctive dishes that branched out of blood, duck blood curd being the most common vampire food. From that, it could be seen that there was no ‘body’ that drank human blood.

Yao Si had asked Brother Li for the reason behind it, and he gave her a look as if he was looking at an idiot. He retorted, “Have you ever seen any species that only eats one kind of food? Plus, is human blood even edible in this age? Humans nowadays eat tons of additives, melamine, preservatives, gutter oil, and other god knows what. What would happen if we got food poisoning from drinking human blood?”

“…”

It was so reasonable that Yao Si fell short of words to respond to it.

To sum it up, the bloodlings, despite differences in lifestyle, diet, and physical characteristics, were not so different from humans. Their society also had organizations and laws, the kind that required every newborn to register for identification.

If one insisted on asking Yao Si what was different from before, it would probably be that she had changed from spice lover to spicy-blood-curd lover!

“Brother Li, let’s have five kilograms.”

“On it!” Li Zheng rolled up his sleeves and began to pick fresh ones to package. As he was doing that, he asked, “By the way, Sisi, did your identification arrive yet?”

“It’s done, the ID was delivered today.”

“Really!” His eyes suddenly brightened. Carrying a bag in his hands, he walked out from inside the stall. “What’s the result? Did you find out your lineage? Have you found the bastard that bit you?”

“No.” Yao Si shook her head, picking out a piece of duck blood curd and placing it into the bag in his hands. “But I have already been verified, fifth generation.”

“Fifth generation!” Li Zheng was shocked, his face filled with disbelief. “How can that be? You look like you’re full of potential.”

“It’s true.” Shaking away the water on her hands, Yao Si pulled out the card with the number ‘5’ from her pocket.

Li Zheng took a look at it, and his eyes revealed some sympathy as he patted her shoulder in comfort. “Don’t let your hopes die. There are advantages to being a fifth generation. At least you won’t need to participate in the great war this time.”

“Great war?” Yao Si was dumbstruck. “What great war?”