What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 494: Wrathful Thunder (Middle)

Liu Shiling followed her grandmother to a room on the first floor to put away their luggage. Even though the room was much simpler and older than the one at her aunt’s, and the bed didn’t have a mattress, it was considerably more spacious.

However, it seemed that no one had been living here for a while. The bed was piled with stuff, and there was a thick layer of dust on the furniture.

If it had been before, she might have been worried about small bugs. But with Custard Pie by her side, she had nothing to worry about.

After tidying up with her grandmother for a while, Liu Shiling went out into the yard with her grandmother to have dinner with her aunt’s family.

The food prepared by her aunt’s family was salty, which made Little Fatty Girl frown. However, she was too embarrassed to mention this, and just ate more rice and less dishes. Her grandmother, fearing that she would not eat enough and concerned that she was too shy to serve herself, kept heaping food onto her plate. So, she could only try to finish her dinner quickly, which was luckily something she was good at.

What Little Fatty Girl did not know, was that her swift way of eating only made her aunt and cousin look more displeased.

After dinner, Liu Shiling, following her mother’s teachings, sweeped the leftovers like fish bones into her own bowl, and carefully held the bowl and chopsticks to wash them at the tap nearby.

Her grandmother hurriedly stopped her, telling her to just leave her bowls and chopsticks there, they will wash them together after the meal.

Only then did Liu Shiling put down her bowl, then brought her chopsticks to the sink beside the yard that she had observed earlier to wash carefully. After washing, she wiped them dry with a paper towel, and put them back in her box – these were the chopsticks that Uncle Bald had given her. Now she always brings these chopsticks with her whenever she and her mother eat out at restaurants.

However, seeing her doing all these, her aunt commented “Children raised in the city are always more particular”, while her uncle praised her to her grandmother, also warning his own daughter, who was two years older than Little Fatty Girl, to learn from her cousin’s diligence.

After having dinner, Liu Shiling fetched the cat food to feed Custard Pie outside of the door.

Since her aunt didn’t allow cats inside the house, luckily, there was a long porch outside which could shield against wind and rain, a yard outside, and in the yard a very obedient big yellow dog. Not far from her and her grandmother’s room on the first floor, so Little Fatty Girl, took an old, unwanted piece of clothing from her grandmother to make a temporary cat nest here, and didn’t ask her aunt to let Custard Pie inside anymore.

She vaguely felt that her aunt and her mother’s sister didn’t seem to like her, so, as much as possible, she didn’t want to go against her aunt’s wishes or cause trouble for her grandmother.

After Liu Shiling hand-fed Custard Pie, she returned to the room to find two children about her age and her cousin in the room she was sharing with her grandmother.

She had noticed these two children when they had entered through the yard, and from how they addressed her aunt and uncle, they seemed to be relatives from her uncle’s side.

But now these two children were rummaging through her red backpack and taking her things, while her cousin merely stood by and watched. Even when she walked in, they didn’t stop.

Liu Shiling looked back through the living room door and saw her grandmother chatting with her aunt and uncle in the yard, looking serious. So, she stepped forward, stood by the bed, and watched the two children rummaging through her red backpack, saying nothing.

One of them took her storybook and the other her watercolour pens. Then they tossed the backpack back onto the bed and walked out with her cousin.

Her little red backpack was not big to begin with, and couldn’t carry many things. Mostly, it was filled with food and sand for Custard Pie.

The “Magic Paper” that Uncle Bald had given her was also in there. But the crumpled paper had not caught their interest and was still in the backpack.

Although she didn’t see it happen, Liu Shiling was acutely aware that the three coins in her backpack – the “Green Bean Cake”, the “Sachima”, and the “Lemon Tea” – were now with those two children.

“Wait a minute.” Liu Shiling called out to them, then went to pick up her little red backpack, opened a hidden compartment inside, and took out all four pieces of chocolate from it. She used to sneak snacks into preschool in this way. The two kids apparently hadn’t gotten to this hidden compartment yet.

“These chocolates are really delicious, I’ll give them to you, could you return the three coins to me?” said Liu Shiling, offering them the chocolates.

The two children glanced at their cousin, took the chocolates, but intended to leave right away.

“If you don’t return them to me, I’ll tell Grandma and Aunt!” Lui Shiling furrowed her brows and said seriously.

“Hmph, stingy.” The two children finally took out the coins from their pockets, tossed them under the bed, and then left the room following their cousin.

All along, their cousin never gave Liu Shiling a glance, nor did she say a word.

Liu Shiling, acting mature, let out a sigh, raised her hand, and the three coins under the bed jumped back into her hand on their own.

When she first came over with her grandmother and learned that she had a “cousin”, she was actually a little happy and excited, even thinking about how to make her “cousin” like her, and how to play with her “cousin”. Because she knew that Elder Fairy Sister was Roast Chicken Wing Sister’s cousin, and they’d grown up together with a very good relationship, so she naturally had a sense of closeness to the term “cousin” and wanted to have such a good “cousin”.

But after lunch, Liu Shiling’s idea was extinguished, because her daytime experience at her aunt’s house made her more quickly and acutely aware of the cold attitude of her aunt and cousin.

If she was initially coming to her aunt’s house, she might try to change the attitude of her aunt and cousin, but having experienced her uncle’s family, she was disheartened.

Anyway, she also had Pretty Sister, Roast Chicken Wing Sister, Elder Fairy Sister, Sister Xiao Pingguo, and Sister Luosi, she was not lacking in sisters!

Just as Liu Shiling was sitting on the bed packing her little red backpack, her grandmother suddenly rushed into the room and said, “Shiling, your aunt was just hit by a car in town, now your uncle is driving me back, your cousin needs someone to look after him, you’ll have to stay here today. If you need anything, talk to your aunt and cousin, okay?”

Liu Shiling was stunned for a moment, nodded subconsciously, and then saw her grandmother and uncle leaving.

After they left, the aunt told her cousin to go to someone else’s house to play mahjong, and asked her to take care of Liu Shiling.

However, Liu Shiling still stayed alone in her room, not trying to play with them, firstly because she was not interested in playing with them, secondly because she could perceive her cousin’s coldness and disdain towards her, and she didn’t want to be disliked either.

Without her iPad, and nothing here suitable for practicing Chinese or math, and also feeling tired from several car rides today, Liu Shiling took off her shoes, cuddled her little red backpack, and lay sideways on the bed.

Originally she planned to pull over the quilt to cover her stomach, but when she smelled a musty odor, she gave up on the quilt and decided not to undress, relying on her backpack for warmth.

Hm, magicians shouldn’t catch a cold, right?

As she was thinking, Liu Shiling sneezed.

Then she suddenly felt the wrath of the custard pie, so she sat up on the bed, put down her little backpack, put on her shoes, ran out of the room, and came to the yard.

The two kids that had just appeared in her room were each holding a bamboo stick, teasing the custard pie.

The custard pie was now in a fluffed up state, like a little tiger, lowering its center of gravity, showing its sharp teeth, ready to pounce. Perhaps being alarmed by its ferocious posture that exceeded its size, the two kids both looked wary.

Liu Shiling quickly ran over, spread her arms in front of the Custard Pie, and shouted at the two kids, “You can’t bully Custard Pie, he’s a good boy!”

She knew that if they were outside, the Custard Pie, when threatened, could just run and usually outpace anyone. But here, the Custard Pie chose to stay with her and couldn’t run away. He was also reluctant to scratch or bite in self-defense.

She had to protect the Custard Pie.

“We’re not here to bully it, we just want to pluck a whisker each!” said one of the kids.

Liu Shiling glared at him, “If you dare pull his whiskers, I’ll pull your hair, ten strands, no, a hundred!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“If you bully me, my grandma will spank you when she gets back!” Liu Shiling, facing two kids holding bamboo sticks, was not afraid at all. She knew she was a “magician,” but she wouldn’t use her magic against humans. She wouldn’t stoop to their level, but she was not scared either. Hmph!

Then, Liu Shiling turned to her cousin standing silently nearby and said, “Cousin, could you stop them from bullying Custard Pie, please? When my mom comes to pick me up, I’ll ask her to bring some delicious chocolates for you…”

But before she could finish, her cousin suddenly furiously interjects, “Who are you calling cousin?! I’m not your cousin! Your mom is a homewrecker! Your dad is a murderer! We have no relative like you!”

Liu Shiling was stunned, momentarily puzzled by the barrage of words.

Hearing the term “murderer”, the two children who had been circling the Little Fatty Girl unconsciously moved back a couple steps.

Liu Shiling instinctively retorted out loud, “No! You’re lying! My dad is not a murderer!”

“I’m not lying, my mom was talking with my Aunt this afternoon, they said your dad killed someone, got arrested by the police and soon, he’s going to be executed!” her cousin yelled back, “We don’t want a relative like you! We don’t want you living in our house!”

But as soon as the word “house” leaves her lips, she suddenly couldn’t hear her own voice anymore.

Not just her own voice, all the surrounding sounds seemed to have disappeared. Her ears felt swollen, as if filled with air. The skin on her scalp and arms started to tingle.

For a moment, the entire yard became as still as if the pause button had been hit. Everyone stood frozen in place, motionless.

Her cousin and the two children noticed something was off, while Liu Shiling was plunged into intense internal turmoil.

The words “killed someone”, “arrested by the police”, “murderer”, “execution” relentlessly attacked her cognition. One part of her was angry and the other part was scared. She was afraid of losing her parents.

It was only for a short time that she had stayed outside, whether it was with her Aunt or her grandmother’s house, whether it was in a cramped room or a bed with smelly moldy sheets, she accepted it with no complaints, knowing her mother was busy. Once her mother was done with her work, she’d come pick her up and bring her home. As a “magician”, she should be more understanding.

But what if she can never go back? What if there was no mom…no dad?

Then this fear turned into anger, and it was aimed at her cousin who had bad-mouthed her mom and dad.

She wanted to use her magic without any hesitation, disregarding everything else. She wanted to destroy her and also those two kids who were bullying Custard Pie and trying to steal her coins.

Two fleshy little fists clenched tightly at her sides as the five large coins, led by “chocolate” and “ice cream,” were completely activated in her pocket.

But then Uncle Bald’s words echoed in her head: A qualified “magician” should be able to control their own magic power, “magic” can’t be used casually, it can only be used on monsters and villains.

Another voice whispered: She insulted your mom, insulted your dad, called your dad a murderer – she is the villain!

Uncle Bald’s voice again: In times of utmost necessity, you can protect yourself, but you need to know clearly when you can seek help from your teacher, when you can seek help from your mom, and when you can seek help from the cops. Magic is the last resort, remember we have to keep it a secret.

What Liu Shiling had not noticed was, after her emotions of fear and fury took over, her five “Super-connected Objects” were completely activated and the whole Qing Mountain Village lost power and was submerged in darkness.

Not only that, even mobile signals were completely blocked.

The sudden darkness and incoming blackness startled the cousin and two kids standing in front of her.

Immediately after, under the moonlight, they found that the Little Fatty Girl, who had been puffing her cheeks and reasoning with them just a moment ago, was now clenching her fists and bowing her head, not saying a word. It seemed like something was wriggling in her pocket, wanting to jump out, which gave them the chills.

Suddenly, they saw that behind Liu Shiling, an incredibly pretty little girl appeared out of nowhere. She was wearing a beautiful white princess dress, her cold eyes were gazing at them, and she was holding a small knife in her hand.

The cousin’s electronic watch on her wrist suddenly started smoking. She screamed, quickly unbuckled her watch and tossed it away, while the two children had already started crying and ran out of the yard.

The cousin’s scream pulled Liu Shiling back from her inner struggle. She saw her cousin crying and running outside, but didn’t know what had happened.

Feeling a light tap on her shoulder, Liu Shiling turned around and saw Alice.

“Xiao Lingdang, don’t be afraid, Xiao Luosi will always protect you.”

Alice’s voice sounded different from what Liu Shiling had heard through the IPAD or other electronic devices, and even in her dreams. It was laced with static, broken up, like a badly received radio signal. And as soon as Alice finished speaking, she dissipated instantly.

But in that one moment, Liu Shiling’s tumultuous heart, filled with panic, fear, anger and resentment, was soothed significantly.

Liu Shiling also noticed that her surroundings were completely dark, the whole village was without electricity. She knew she had caused this, and that the aftershocks were still going on, even intensifying, because her anger, fear, and panic had not fully subsided.

Liu Shiling bit her lip, turned around and walked back into her room, picked up her little red backpack, came out again, and said to the Custard Pie who had been looking up into the air motionless since the start, “Custard Pie, let’s go find mom.”

After that, the girl and cat walk out of the house, trudging along the village road in the darkness towards the foot of the mountain.

In the dark yard, the big yellow dog bulged its round eyes, looking around cautiously, but still didn’t dare to move, squatting close to the wall.

The clear night sky, once filled with gleaming stars, was now, at some unknown point, covered in dark clouds.

In the woods, a seemingly sourceless wind was blowing, with its howling echoing everywhere. The temperature also dropped sharply.

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