What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 546: Hair-Raising

Yang Zhen’er walked over, a doubtful expression on her face. She picked up the round eraser on the ground, examined it carefully, then crouched down next to the Little Fatty Girl and moved her hand away from her forehead, “Did it hurt? I’m sure I didn’t flick it as hard as the last time.”

As Yang Zhen’er examined her forehead, Little Fatty Girl spoke up, “Old Fairy Sister is so accurate. She hit the same spot twice! It’s an addition to the previous injury, and the pain has doubled!”

“Xiao Lingdang…” Yang Zhen’er held Little Fatty Girl’s chubby cheeks in her hands.

“Huh?”

Yang Zhen’er suddenly raised her voice and spoke quickly, “You lied, didn’t you! I didn’t hit you at all just now, did I! The eraser stopped right in front of your face, didn’t it?”

With her cheeks being held by Yang Zhen’er, Little Fatty Girl looked at her Old Fairy Sister and seemed to be in a daze. The seconds ticked by, then gradually, her eyes began to blur, tears started to well up, and then a tear rolled down her cheeks, falling into Yang Zhen’er’s hand.

Yang Zhen’er was taken aback, the reaction was even bigger than when she saw the eraser hovering in mid-air. She quickly pulled Little Fatty Girl into her arms, gently patted her back and kept apologizing, “Xiao Lingdang, Old Fairy Sister wasn’t trying to scold you. I was just joking with you. Don’t cry, don’t cry. Old Fairy Sister is bad. You can flick the eraser at Old Fairy Sister’s forehead next time, I promise not to dodge! Don’t cry, don’t cry, you can choose the food when we order takeout. You can have anything you want…”

Liu Shiling’s head rested on Yang Zhen’er’s shoulder. A tear still hung from her eyelashes, but she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn’t purposefully show off her acting skills – she couldn’t cry on command, she could at most wail saying “I’m crying, Old Fairy Sister”, but no tears would follow – unless she pinched her thigh hard a few times.

Just now, she was flustered when Yang Zhen’er uncovered her lie. Then she realized it was wrong to lie to Old Fairy Sister, but she had promised Uncle Bald not to reveal the “Magic Truth” to Old Fairy Sister for the time being. Caught between her promise and her conscience, also thinking of how Old Fairy Sister had always been so kind to her, she felt anxious and uncertain, and that’s why she started to cry.

Unexpectedly, her tears allowed her to evade the situation.

But she was actually extremely curious. Because a moment ago, when she was fully focused on the eraser Old Fairy Sister held, she had actually controlled the eraser.

This control didn’t seem to be direct, but an indirect control through the “Chocolate” and “Ice Cream” in her pocket.

The feeling from the eraser was different from all the other objects like coins, beads, and all sorts of “Magic Treasures” Uncle Bald had given her – it felt both unfamiliar and intimate.

Yes, the intimacy was akin to the feeling Old Fairy Sister gave her.

It seemed the eraser was Old Fairy Sister’s “Magic Treasure”. But this eraser was not given by Uncle Bald, so how could it possess magic?

Well, she’ll have to ask Uncle Bald about it on QQ later.

While pondering these thoughts, Little Fatty Girl sniffled and, half-pushing and half-yielding, let Yang Zhen’er wipe away her tears and snot. Following this, she returned to the sofa.

Yang Zhen’er coaxed her by passing her the phone to order food. The two laughed and chatted happily while choosing their dishes.

Once the food arrived, they laughed even more while eating. They discussed the taste of various dishes and reminisced about the delicious food they had in Chongyun Village. The pair seemed merry and pleased in no time.

But Little Fatty Girl was eager to go home to report the urgent situation to Uncle Bald on QQ, so she made the excuse of needing to study from a book at home and wanted to leave early.

What she forgot, however, was that her mother was still at work and hadn’t returned home yet, so Yang Zhen’er would inevitably have to accompany her home.

The result was naturally Yang Zhen’er escorting her home together. Liu Shiling grabbed her books and iPad and went to study in her room, while Yang Zhen’er sat on her bed, fiddling with her eraser and stealthily observing her.

Although Yang Zhen’er was not able to trick Little Fatty Girl into telling the truth through her shout just now, she only ended up crying, scaring herself and not daring to bring up that matter again. However, it does not mean she has given up on it.

She is very certain, extremely sure, that she just unmistakably saw the eraser hovering before Little Fatty Girl’s forehead.

If it were another eraser, she might have doubted whether she had a misconception, or perhaps the eraser just adhered to Little Fatty Girl’s forehead, having stuck there due to sweat, and remained like that for a moment.

But for this eraser, Yang Zhen’er has a strange sense of conviction towards its various states, just like knowing where it could be thrown and where it would land the moment it was released from her hand.

Therefore, she has a very clear and direct sensation towards the sudden levitation of the eraser, as if a yawn was abruptly stopped halfway.

Why would such a situation occur?

If Little Fatty Girl was as surprised as her, then she might have suspected that the problem lied with her. However, it was evident that when Little Fatty Girl discovered the hovering eraser, the first reaction was to pretend it never happened and try to defuse the situation, which indicated a big problem!

Yet, she clearly has a rather special sensation towards the eraser. So why was it controlled by Little Fatty Girl?

Could it be that Little Fatty Girl has the ability to control objects remotely?

Yang Zhen’er, squinting her eyes, was sizing up Little Fatty Girl, who sat at the desk, studying maths on her book and iPad, recalling her unusual performance during the game just now.

However, the conclusion drawn was:

Ah~, worthy of our precious Xiao Lingdang, she is so cute even when studying seriously.

…

Tang Baona got home early tonight, but unexpectedly, she didn’t see Zhen’er and Xiao Lingdang at home. On her way home, she had specially quickened her steps, wanting to return home early to play games with them. Not only Zhen’er, but she had also recently become quite addicted to the game “Coin Collision”.

It’s not just the game itself, more importantly, while playing that game, she has the feeling that the connection between her and her coin is getting deeper and deeper.

It seems as if they are not using the coins for gaming, but rather their own “pet fighter” instead.

Not only the “Coin Collision” game, nearly all the coin games designed by Little Fatty Girl, have the same effect while playing.

Or to say, because coin games designed by Little Fatty Girl are extremely suitable to play with coins in numerous ways to toy with and control the coins, it can enhance their connection with the coins, similar to how spending a lot of time playing with pets can promote bonding and understanding.

For others, if they hear this metaphor, they might find it extremely strange — who treats a coin as a pet? Are they out of their mind?

However, for Tang Baona and Yang Zhen’er, this metaphor feels inexplicably apt.

Little Fatty Girl is undeniably a coin master, her understanding and familiarity with coins has reached another level, and she can easily create fun games based on coins.

Also, the way how Little Fatty Girl so passionately controls the coins, Tang Baona, who believes the appearance and following of the “little elf” is related to the “lucky coin” given by Xiang Kun, is secretly guessing in her heart:

Perhaps Xiao Lingdang also knows about the existence of the “little elf”?

Being home so early and without Old Three and Lingdang around, and with no games to play, Tang Baona was suddenly a little bored.

If Zhen’er took Xiao Lingdang home so early, most likely Lingdang is sleepy and Zhen’er wants to put her to sleep. Judging from the takeout boxes in the trash can, the two didn’t eat out but had dinner at home tonight. That was quite unusual recently, could it be because Lingdang felt tired earlier today?

Tang Baona began to worry if Lingdang wasn’ feeling well, so she sent a WeChat message to Zhen’Er. When she received an assured reply that Lingdang was just studying, she was relieved.

Tang Baona decided not to go to Lingdang’s place, instead she returned to her room, opened her laptop, logged into her Bilibili account, and checked the data of the various videos she had uploaded.

She hadn’t updated anything for a long time, and many fans were speculating in the comments under the old videos whether she had gotten married or gone to have a baby…

She watched the comments speechlessly for a while, wondering if she should record another song and upload it.

Of course, she didn’t have her recording equipment here, so she could only do some preliminary preparations first, picking a song, then coming up with a music arrangement, and getting some practice in.

Tang Baona wandered around on several music platforms, sampled songs that topped the charts which she hadn’t listened to, to see if there were any good ones to cover.

Having picked a traditional style song she liked, Tang Baona found the official accompaniment, then softly sang along with the lyrics twice.

On a whim, she lifted her head and squinted at the room light, saying, “Little Elf, what do you think of this song? Do you like it?”

After a few seconds, the room light didn’t change at all. She didn’t mind. If she was alone these days, she would often ask the light something like that. The “Little Elf” responded occasionally, but most of the time it didn’t.

Just as she was about to continue practicing, the song on her computer suddenly changed to the song “Learning Cat’s Meow” that Xiao Pingguo once taught the Little Fatty Girl to sing:

“Let’s learn to meow together~ Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow~ Acting coquettishly in front of you~ Ow, meow, meow, meow~~”

Tang Baona was taken aback, what happened, did the player automatically switch songs?

But when she tried to switch songs and found that she couldn’t, she realized something, tilted her head, and squinted, “Little Elf, is that you?”

The light dimmed, then brightened.

“Do you like this song?”

The light dimmed and brightened again.

“Do you want to hear me sing it?”

The light blinked twice rapidly.

So, Tang Baona happily started to look for the accompaniment to this song, but, surprisingly, it had already been found.

“Little Elf, was that you? You can even operate the computer like this, that’s so cool!” Tang Baona said happily.

Then she began to softly sing along to the accompaniment, and as she sang, she even started making gestures.

“Little Elf, is there any other song you want to hear? I’ll find and sing them for you!”

“Lingdang singing this song is even cuter, super adorable. Oh, let me play you her video of singing this song, it’s so cute, so adorable!”

“Haha, you agree with my opinion, right?”

“Oh yes, do you… also know Lingdang?”

“So you indeed know Lingdang! Do you know Xiang Kun either? And Old Xia! Zhen’er! The comrades we used to live with in Chongyun Village, you should know them.”

“Do they know you?”

While having a one-way conversation, Tang Baona was humming along to the songs automatically selected by the computer.

Sometimes, the lights did respond, sometimes not, but she didn’t mind, because she thought just being able to communicate at this level was rare enough, it gave her the feeling that “Little Elf” was guarding her in the room.

…

Shiling’s mom came back relatively early today too, so Yang Zhen Er didn’t stay too long. She was planning to go back and discuss with Nana, improving her previous guesses a bit, and then trying to “buy over” Xiao Lingdang again tomorrow.

When she got home and as soon as opened the door, Yang Zhen Er heard the sounds of accompaniment and Nana’s singing from her room. The song she was singing… The grass by the river is evergreen, the sky is eternally young? It sounded like an old song. Was Nana planning on posting a new cover video?

As she changed into slippers and was heading towards the room, Nana’s singing suddenly stopped, and she seemed to start talking to someone.

Yang Zhen Er’s spirits lifted instantly. Squinting her eyes and wearing a curious grin, she tiptoed over to eavesdrop at the doorway.

“This song is pretty good, I used to listen to it when I was a kid too, when did you first hear it? Or is this song from your era?”

“Do you think I should sing cute songs, melancholic love songs, or inspirational songs?”

“The messages from the fans online all say that I have a domineering sister’s voice, that my voice is inherently whip-like, how ridiculous!”

“Ah, I’m a bit hungry, I feel like getting some takeout, but I’m afraid of gaining weight. When living in Chongyun Village, my strict diet was ruined by Xiang Kun, and it was so hard to start it up again, surely I’m not going to give up halfway again?”

“By the way, do you ever get hungry? Should I get you something as well?”

In the beginning, Yang Zhen Er thought Nana was video calling or talking to Xiang Kun on the phone, but as she continued to listen, it didn’t seem so.

She couldn’t help but worry, could it be that Nana now has another favorite, and her secret plan of tagging along with Nana for Brother Xiang’s meals in the future would fail?

So she peeped inside through the partially opened door, and saw Nana talking while lying down on the bed. But her phone was placed on the desk next to the computer, the Bluetooth earphones were also on the table, the laptop didn’t show any ongoing video calls, and there was no one else in the room besides Nana.

Who was Nana talking to?!

Yang Zhen Er suddenly felt a chill rise from the soles of her feet, her scalp tingling.