Once Zhou Yan realized that he was being fed blood, he quickly made a list of suspects in his mind. But there were too few people who came to his mind; after all, the people who he had met in this world could practically be counted on one hand.

  A knock on the door brought Zhou Yan’s thoughts back.

  “Xiao Yan, are you in there?”

  Zhou Yan gnced at the mess on the counter and replied, “Yes, Mother.”

  “Dinner’s almost ready.”

  Zhou Yan replied, “I’ll be down soon.”

  There was silence on the other side of the door.

  But Zhou Yan had no way of knowing if Mother Zhou had already gone out as he hadn’t heard any footsteps when she entered his room. Without a doubt, there was something wrong. With his sensitive hearing, he could normally pick up most sounds.

  He had to quickly shower.

  After stepping out of the shower, he saw that there was still the pile of powdered medicine that he hadn’t cleaned up yet.

  Zhou Yan swept the powder and capsule onto his hand and flushed them down the toilet. He loosely pced the cap back on the bottle and carried it out.

  The system’s monitoring had returned as soon as Zhou Yan had stepped out of the bathroom.

  Zhou Yan didn’t know the reason for why the system was always monitoring him, but he, never once, had let his guard down around the system--it was mutual. Just like how he didn’t trust the system, perhaps the system also never trusted him too.

  But maybe he could use the system’s monitoring to find out who was feeding him blood.

  So, Zhou Yan had pced the bottle on the edge of the nightstand and walked away to put his towel back. Walking to his bed, he leaned over and grabbed a few of the things that were in the pile to put away.

  When Zhou Yan straightened out his body, he let his elbows knock over the medicine bottle.

  The bottle bounced and rolled along the floor in a circle--spilling most of the pills that were inside of it.

  Zhou Yan had pced the items he was holding back into the bag before he went to clean up the mess on the floor. When he picked up the medicine bottle, he saw that there was only a quarter left of the original amount in the container.

  Grabbing the lid that also fell off, he twisted it back onto the bottle and then pced it into his school bag.

  After he cleaned up the medicine, he went downstairs but only saw that Mother Zhou was the only one sitting at the table.

  Dinner was silent.

  When Zhou Yan returned to his room he noticed that a medicine bottle was sitting on his nightstand.

  He quickly went to his school bag and opened it to see that there was no bottle.

  Mother Zhou seemed to know that Zhou Yan lost much of his medicine and repced it.

  But he and Mother Zhou had been together throughout the entire time. He also didn’t see her once coming up the stairs when he left his room. There shouldn’t have been any chance for her to come into his room and repce the medicine.

  Zhou Yan walked towards the trash bin where he threw the medicine in but saw that it was empty. He furrowed his eyebrows.

  However, he couldn’t dwell on it any longer because Mother Zhou had come--gently reminding him to sleep early.

  “Make sure you go to sleep early, Xiao Yan.” Mother Zhou softly said as she pced a hand on Zhou Yan’s shoulder.

  He could feel the slightly cold hands on his shoulder pat him gently and rhythmically.

  “Yes, Mother.”

  Smiling, Mother Zhou took off her hands.

  When Zhou Yan turned around, he saw that Mother Zhou was holding a gss cup that held a somewhat red liquid.

  “Mother went to the doctors today. He said that drinking this would help Xiao Yan get healthier.” She smiled as she held the cup out towards Zhou Yan.

  Zhou Yan took the gss cup but didn’t drink it immediately.

  Mother Zhou cocked her head to the side. “Why won’t you drink it?”

  When Zhou Yan heard her talk, there was a faint raspiness to it. He tightened his hold on the cup and lifted it up--downing the entire cup in one gulp.

  The cold liquid slid down his throat. There was a mostly water taste to it, but a slight metallic taste which reminded him of his medicine was still present.

  After drinking all the liquid, Zhou Yan handed the gss cup back to Mother Zhou and waited for her to leave, but Mother Zhou stood still.

  Seeing that Mother Zhou wasn’t going to leave, Zhou Yan silently looked down and let his hair cover his eyes. He didn’t understand. What’s the purpose of all the medication?

  Mother Zhou had spoken with a gentle tone; however, there was an underlying emphasis in her voice. “Mother will watch over you.”

  Zhou Yan finally moved. Since Mother Zhou wouldn’t leave right away, he could only wait until after she left to vomit out the stuff he just drank.

  He got into bed under Mother Zhou’s watchful gaze and closed his eyes.

  It seems that the concentration of the drink seemed less than the medication as he hadn’t gone unconscious right away.

  But he could still feel his consciousness slowly slipping with each minute passing by. He needed to quickly vomit out the drink before passing out.

  It felt like an eternity when Mother Zhou finally moved.

  “Sleep tight, Xiao Yan.”

  The door closed and isoted Zhou Yan.

  Zhou Yan could still feel a watchful gaze, but he attributed to the system. After all, if there was another person in the room, there should be another person’s breathing in the room alongside him.

  He wanted to dey opening his eyes just to be sure that he was alone but there wasn’t any time to waste, so he had to open his eyes prematurely.

  When Zhou Yan opened his eyes, he could see Mother Zhou peering down on him beside his bed. He heard the sound of his heart beating wildly.

  “Xiao Yan, why aren’t you asleep?”

  Mother Zhou inched closer to Zhou Yan’s face.

  The darkness prevented Zhou Yan from seeing Mother Zhou’s face clearly. He silently swallowed and calmly spoke, “I feel a little thirsty.”

  Mother Zhou processed the answer and seemed to accept it. She backed away from the bed and spoke gently. “So that’s what it was. Mother thought that Xiao Yan was being a bad boy.”

  In reality, Zhou Yan had originally wanted to go to the bathroom but now he couldn’t.

  He got up from the bed and walked out the room. Mother Zhou was following closely behind him as he went down to get a gss of water.

  Having drank a gss of water with a hazy mind, Zhou Yan headed back to his room where Mother Zhou finally stopped outside the door.

  She watched him close the door and stood in pce throughout the entire night with her ear up against the door--making sure that Zhou Yan was sleeping.

  When it was time for breakfast, Mother Zhou slowly and rhythmically knocked on Zhou Yan’s door.

  “Wake up, Xiao Yan. It’s time for breakfast.”

  There was a dey in Zhou Yan’s reply. “Okay, Mother.”

  After hearing Zhou Yan’s reply, she made her way into the master bedroom and changed into new clothes which made her have a more elegant look. While Mother Zhou retouched her makeup, Father Zhou was sitting limply in a chair--almost lifeless like a puppet. She then went down and entered the dining room where a table of food was already there.

  Soon after Mother Zhou sat down, Father Zhou came down wearing a new suit. He sat in the main seat where a cup of coffee and a new newspaper was waiting. Father Zhou began reading the newspaper and drinking the coffee. Every other paragraph was followed by a sip of coffee--no more and no less.

  When Zhou Yan came down, he acted as if nothing had happened st night and morning followed the same routine as if it was any other day.

  When Mother Zhou watched Zhou Yan leave, she ignored Zhou An who sluggishly came down.

  After being dropped off in front of the school gate by Father Zhou, Zhou Yan gnced at Zhou An. She had been unusually quiet throughout the entire morning and her face was also pale.

  Zhou Yan asked, “Are you okay?”

  Although there wasn’t much concern in Zhou Yan’s voice, Zhou An looked at him in surprise. She quickly replied with a grin, “I’ll be fine soon, Brother.”

  Seeing that Zhou An wasn’t going to say more, Zhou Yan simply nodded and didn’t ask.

  The two made their way into the school and saw Luo Jin standing at the entrance.

  Luo Jin had spotted the two and greeted them. There was a slight echo to the greeting with the ck of students in the building.

  He wrapped his arm around Zhou Yan’s shoulder and spoke to him. “Xiao Yan, let’s go py after school together.”

  Zhou Yan could the slight accumution of discomfort from yesterday disappear with Luo Jin’s touch.

  Zhou An quickly interrupted. “I want to go too, Brother Luo!”

  Luo Jin gnced at Zhou An and smiled. “Of course, Xiao An.”

  Zhou An looked at the smile that wasn’t a smile but didn’t back down.

  The system saw the gloomy air around Luo Jin and hastily spoke to Zhou Yan. [Host, quickly accept the male lead’s invitation! It wouldn’t be good for you if the male lead and female lead are alone. What if their feelings grow?]

  Luo Jin looked at Zhou Yan--waiting for a reply.

  Zhou Yan didn’t have any reason to disagree.

  The system silently wiped away it’s nonexistent sweat.

  The three continued in silence towards the cssroom, and when Zhou Yan opened the door, he noticed the weather through the window. Just a minute ago, it was sunny, now there were strong gusts of wind alongside darkening clouds.

  For most of the day, as far as Zhou Yan could tell, the weather stayed the same.

  When it came time for lunch, Zhou Yan was forced to take his medicine with Luo Jin watching him. Even when he wanted to go to the bathroom, Luo Jin was following him--it gave him no privacy.

  And so, another afternoon went by with Zhou Yan falling unconscious until the end of school.

  The school bell chimed and startled Zhou Yan awake. When he opened his eyes he found that the sky had cleared.

  Luo Jin had been staring at Zhou Yan and saw that he had finally awakened. He spoke with a hint of joy in his voice. “Let’s go, Xiao Yan.”

  There was a slight sluggish feeling in Zhou Yan’s body. He could tell that the effects of the medication was starting to affect his physical health now. It was apparent that he needed to get rid of the pills.

  Finally rising from his seat, Zhou Yan walked with Luo Jin. Their footsteps sounded throughout the hallways.

  The quietness amplified the loneliness of the world.

  Walking in front, Luo Jin spoke. “Unfortunately, Xiao An can’t come with us today. She had something else to do.”

  Although Luo Jin said that it was unfortunate, there wasn’t a hint of sadness in his voice.

  After walking out of the school, Luo Jin led Zhou Yan through an alleyway.

  “This way is faster.”

  Inside the alleyway, it was spotless and had no noticeable smell. There wasn’t a single piece of garbage the entire way through.

  Zhou Yan followed Luo Jin as he made several turns, and after they reached the other side of the alleyway, he found that they had emerged next to an arcade building.

  When they entered the building, Zhou Yan immediately noticed that the entire arcade was empty except for a few employees.

  The arcade was brightly lit, and it was an old-school type of arcade. There were many different types of games avaible such as shooting games, racing games, cw machines, and more.

  In the strangely quiet arcade, Luo Jin happily brought Zhou Yan to py various games.

  He was like a child who was left alone with his favorite toy.