(After this chapter, 'Mom' goes offline. Very toxic! But I really don't know how to write an excuse for going offline. I didn't consider this part carefully enough when starting the book. You can skip this part.)
At the Hiiragi Family estate in Shibuya, the Hiiragi Family's top brass were holding a meeting to discuss the resettlement of the survivors.
Due to Japan's sharp population decline and the government's paralysis, Hiiragi Tenri had arranged for the Emperor Demon to take over.
From then on, the Imperial Demon Army appeared in the survivors' field of view.
Meanwhile, Shinoa Hiragi was sitting there, holding asuramaru in a daze.
At first light today, she and Akane Natsume had left the basement and discovered that the Emperor Demon had already retaken control of Shibuya.
Akane Natsume immediately insisted on returning home to find Luke. Shinoa couldn't dissuade her and could only let her go.
It was also at this moment that she discovered asuramaru lying quietly in the courtyard, surrounded by signs of a struggle.
Shinoa recognized the sword at a glance; it was something belonging to her older sister, Hiiragi Mahiru.
Why was it here?
Shinoa couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she thought.
But perhaps seeing the object made her miss the person. Shinoa curled up in a corner, hugging asuramaru, and whispered softly.
"Sis, I miss you."
On the other side, Akane Natsume had also returned home.
Seeing the corpses strewn haphazardly in the hallway, Akane Natsume paid them no mind.
Arriving at her own door and finding it had been violently broken open, Akane Natsume walked inside.
"Luke, Luke, Mom's back. Stop playing hide-and-seek with Mom, okay?"
Akane Natsume called out in the rooms.
The house was a mess, likely because someone had come in and ransacked it.
After searching all the rooms without finding any trace of Luke, strangely, Akane Natsume didn't break down or cry. Instead, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
"It seems Luke has started his own game instance."
Then, Akane Natsume acted as if nothing was wrong, making herself a meal, completely unlike someone worried about their child being in danger.
Just as she stood up to leave, she saw a rather large block of ice on the table, surrounded by water. Something seemed to be frozen inside the ice.
Looking at this block of ice, Akane Natsume felt it was somewhat strange.
Judging from the water from the melted ice around it, this block of ice was probably very large initially.
If it had been last night, you certainly couldn't have seen anything frozen inside, but now, you could begin to make out some clues.
Akane Natsume casually waved her hand, and the ice block melted rapidly as if put on fast-forward.
The clock on the wall spun forward three hours in the blink of an eye.
Inside the ice were a note and a necklace.
The note read as follows:
"Mother, the neighbors suddenly died. I was so scared. There were also people sucking blood everywhere. I called Mr. Saito, and he said he would come get me and take me away first. So I left with Mr. Saito for now. The necklace is a gift I prepared for you. I couldn't give it to you in person. I hope you like it."
Akane Natsume found it somewhat amusing.
Couldn't even her'son' come up with a proper excuse?
Why freeze the items in ice? Where did such a large block of ice come from? Did Luke encounter Vampires? If he did, how did he escape? If he didn't, how did he know about the blood-sucking people?
Everything was so clumsy and full of holes.
But Akane Natsume didn't bother with these details because she wasn't Luke's real mother. Accompanying Luke's growth was just one of her tasks.
In fact, this was exactly what Luke had placed here yesterday after waiting for Akane Natsume to go to the Hiiragi Family.
He also knew that in the eyes of a normal person, this was full of inconsistencies, but he really couldn't think of how to explain being alive yet unable to return.
Furthermore, based on his understanding of Akane Natsume, Luke knew she only needed a reason for him to be alive. As long as she knew he was alive, Akane Natsume wouldn't do anything rash.
But how could Luke know that Akane Natsume didn't care about these things at all?
She wasn't a native of this world.
Akane Natsume clenched the necklace Luke had left behind, smiling as she muttered to herself.
"Giving me the reward I gave you as a gift... a very novel way to curry favor."
This was the best reward Luke had received in eight years.
The Phoenix Necklace with a 24-hour cooldown.
After receiving a fatal injury, enter a state of suspended animation. Revive after ten minutes and restore the body to its optimal condition.
He remembered when Luke was five years old, the task was to obtain a drop of Saito's blood.
At the time, Luke felt this task was purely meant to be difficult. How could he make Saito bleed?
In the end, during a birthday celebration for Mika at the Hyakuya Orphanage, Luke secretly gave Saito some imported ginseng wine that had been buried at home for over a decade. He used all his strength to make Saito drink more.
But Saito rarely consumed human food normally. Plus, his body hadn't undergone experiments yet at that time; he was still a cellular organism. Drinking such a top-grade tonic wine for the first time, unsurprisingly, he got a nosebleed.
Thus, Luke successfully completed the task.
A glimmer of white light shone from Akane Natsume's body, and she actually transformed into the form of the Golden finger that Luke had seen.
The Golden finger took out a notebook and wrote something.
On the notebook's cover was written — Human Observation Experiment!
The Golden finger let out a sigh and complained.
"The homework the old man left before his business trip is so annoying. Luckily, I probably won't have much to do for the next few years. I'm out of here!"
Then, she vanished on the spot.
The sky drew its curtain of stars, and thus the day passed.
But for Luke underground, he didn't know if it was day or night. He only felt that even after waking from sleep, it took a long, long time before Krul sent someone to fetch him.
Looking at the familiar face before him, Luke was momentarily unsure.
"Ha... hello there, haha."
Kyle did not respond to Luke's greeting.
"Let's go. Lord Krul says she wants to see you."
After saying that, he turned and led the way on his own.
Luke thought to himself, your threshold for laughter is pretty high. You don't even laugh seeing my face. I can barely hold it in myself.
Luke hurried to catch up, scrutinizing Kyle's back carefully.
Kyle wasn't as thin as last night; his whole body was noticeably more filled out. However, the effects of prolonged blood loss hadn't disappeared that quickly. Compared to other Vampires, he was still very frail.
Sensing Luke's gaze, Kyle didn't turn around, merely asking curiously.
"What are you looking at?"
Luke responded smoothly.
"Looking at a handsome guy."
But a Vampire might not fall for that line.
"Hmph, cut the tricks. All those strange gadgets you had on you were confiscated by me before you were locked up."
Luke's expression remained unchanged, thinking to himself: Tch, what you confiscated can't compare to my hacks. My hacks are all stored in the Pure White Space. If I don't like the look of you, I can still blow you up!
Luke didn't reply, and Kyle didn't continue speaking either.
The atmosphere along the way seemed somewhat awkward, though, of course, only for Luke.
"We're here."
Kyle stopped before an ornate, grand door.
"Go in by yourself."
Without waiting for Luke to ask anything, Kyle turned and left.
Leaving Luke alone, standing anxiously before the door, somewhat hesitant.
After hesitating for a long time, Luke gritted his teeth.
"She won't eat me, she won't eat me."
Luke placed his hand on the door.
"She just drank from me yesterday, surely she won't today."
Luke psyched himself up.
Summoning his courage, Luke pushed open the palace doors. A throne sat directly in the center. The surroundings were vast and empty. There were also several doors in the walls. He had no idea which one might be his.
Luke cautiously entered the palace and approached the throne, recalling in his heart the first time Krul drank his blood.
"You've arrived, human brat."
Krul's voice came from the left. She emerged from one of the doors, followed by several Lower-ranking Vampires dressed as maids.
These Vampires, after following her out, didn't dare linger or even look around. Keeping their heads slightly bowed, they left the palace.
Only Luke and Krul remained in the palace.
"Here, you'll sleep in this room from now on."
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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