Chapter 164: Where is Wen Yichen? (First Update)

With that, Wen Yichen turned and left the men's restroom. The boy walked with brisk strides, his long cape gently billowing backward in his wake, carving a graceful arc through the air. He looked as though he had genuinely stepped out of a comic book—a vampire prince, noble and freezing cold.

Meanwhile, inside the women's restroom, Jiang Muwen and Gu Nianxi were changing into their outfits. The two girls had bought matching vampire costumes, largely because they could not think of any more interesting attire for a masquerade ball. A girl-to-girl wardrobe change inevitably involved fixing collars and smoothing out rumpled hems. Once everything was ready, Jiang Muwen and Gu Nianxi exchanged a smile before popping their fake vampire fangs into their mouths.

Just as they were about to turn and leave, the door of a restroom stall clicked open. The next instant, a familiar female voice rang out from behind the two girls, "Zhou Yao, come and check my back for me. Something feels like it's sticking into me."

It was Xia Manman's voice. The moment those words dropped, Jiang Muwen felt a start run through her heart. What a small world; Xia Manman truly seemed omnipresent.

Jiang Muwen glanced back at Xia Manman, who was not only dressed in a dark gothic Lolita style but was also heavily made up.

Before Xia Manman could look up, Jiang Muwen immediately grabbed Gu Nianxi, turning to make her escape. Unexpectedly, the moment they pivoted, Xia Manman's voice echoed behind them, "Well, if it isn't Jiang Muwen?"

Hearing herself called out like that, Jiang Muwen felt too embarrassed to keep moving forward. She spun back around and forced a polite smile at Xia Manman. "Hello—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jiang Muwen abruptly froze. The next second, her expression stiffened. She had never imagined that speaking while wearing vampire fangs could sound so utterly ridiculous.

Had she made such sounds in front of Gu Nianxi, the latter would certainly have burst into belly laughter. But the person standing before her was not Gu Nianxi; it was Xia Manman. At that moment, she felt terribly humiliated, as though she had just made a fool of herself in front of an adversary.

Xia Manman had naturally caught Jiang Muwen's slurred, muffled words. Once Jiang Muwen stopped, Xia Manman let out a soft chuckle. Whether it was due to the makeup she wore that day or simply her natural demeanor, that single laugh made Jiang Muwen acutely aware of the chill and disdain radiating from her brows.

After a brief, quiet pause, the door to another stall swung open. Before the person even emerged, her voice spilled out, "Manman, this outfit of mine seems a bit—"

Zhou Yao's words cut off mid-sentence. Her gaze bypassed Xia Manman entirely, landing straight on Jiang Muwen and Gu Nianxi. After sweeping her eyes over the two girls from head to toe in a thorough appraisal, a sneering smile bloomed across her face. "Are you two supposed to be a 'buyer's show' versus a 'seller's show'?"

Zhou Yao shifted her gaze from Gu Nianxi back to Jiang Muwen as she spoke. The implication was crystal clear to everyone present. Standing to the side, Xia Manman covered her mouth and giggled quietly.

Regardless of whether Zhou Yao was deliberately picking a fight, Gu Nianxi felt deeply uncomfortable hearing those words. Her face dropped instantly. She already had little patience for Zhou Yao, and this provocation pushed her irritation to the limit. Without a second thought, she ripped the fangs out of her mouth, looked Zhou Yao up and down, and then turned the same critical gaze onto Xia Manman. "And what about your outfits? Master and servant?"

Gu Nianxi pulled up the corners of her mouth as she spoke. It was the first time Jiang Muwen had ever seen her wear such a mirthless, forced smile. Before Jiang Muwen could react, Gu Nianxi grabbed her hand. "Let's go, let's head downstairs."

The moment the two girls reached the lower floor, they spotted three boys walking toward them. Jiang Muwen swept her gaze from left to right: Yin Lize, Bai Xu, and Gu Chen. But where was Wen Yichen?

"Boss!" The moment Yin Lize caught sight of Gu Nianxi, he happily pulled out his vampire fangs and hurried over to them. "You're a vampire today too? What a coincidence, so am I."

"Where is Wen Yichen?" Jiang Muwen looked around in all directions, unable to spot his figure anywhere.

Prompted by her question, Yin Lize shifted his attention to Jiang Muwen. "Didn't he come to find you?"

"No?"

"He came down ages ago. I thought for sure he went looking for you." As Yin Lize spoke, he stepped up beside Gu Nianxi and, the very next second, casually slung his arm over her shoulder.

The gesture was so sudden that Gu Nianxi was entirely unprepared. The moment his arm rested on her, she flittered with a start, then instinctively shoved his hand away, offering a dry, awkward, "Cut it out."

Watching the two of them, Jiang Muwen momentarily felt as though she was operating at far too high a wattage as a third wheel.

"Why don't you go look for Brother Chen?" Yin Lize suggested.

With those words, Jiang Muwen nodded. "Then I'll go look for him. You guys go ahead and play."

Watching Jiang Muwen walk away by herself, Gu Nianxi instinctively wanted to call her back. But before she could take a step, Yin Lize hauled her back by the arm. The boy lowered his head slightly, and his deep voice rumbled right beside Gu Nianxi's ear, "Relax, this is the school, the big guy won't get lost. If we tag along, wouldn't we just be acting like human lightbulbs?"

As night slowly fell, the surroundings grew dark. Although this was the school and perfectly safe, for a girl who was afraid of the dark, it still felt rather unsettling. Furthermore, she was no longer in a densely populated area; walking down a dim path by herself made her heart flutter with a lingering sense of panic.

Jiang Muwen looked around, and seeing virtually no one else nearby, she considered turning back the way she came. Surely Wen Yichen wouldn't come to a place like this?

Thinking this, the girl pivoted around. Yet the moment she turned, she abruptly discovered a figure standing directly behind her.

A tall, slender frame enveloped the girl in shadow. The hazy moonlight made it difficult for her to clearly discern the person's face; she could only tell that the figure was a boy, nothing more.

The boy before her was also dressed in a vampire costume, with a half-mask concealing the upper half of his face. Raising her gaze, Jiang Muwen could vaguely catch a faint, shimmering light in the boy's eyes. The pristine moonlight draped over him like silk, gently silver-plating his edges. At that moment, the boy truly looked like a vampire who had walked out of the pages of a comic book.

The moonlight softened the contours of the boy's cheeks in the quiet stillness. Jiang Muwen stared straight at him, wondering why he looked increasingly familiar the longer she looked.

Finally, Jiang Muwen removed the vampire fangs from her mouth and tentatively called out, "Who are you...?"