Blood Queen

October 26th, Saturday night.

Zhong Jing had been busy with routine work at his office all day today, conducting business supervision and fund allocation for various secret industries owned by Wan Yue.

Only when his stomach let out a slight rumbling did Zhong Jing finally close his last video conference. Looking at the time in the bottom right corner, it was already 11 PM.

While hastily recording final data in computer files, he picked up the phone, planning to order takeout for a quick meal.

Slight movement came from behind him. Zhong Jing's heart jumped as he spun around, only to discover Tsurumi Haruka standing behind him, quietly watching him with a smile on her face, carrying a thermal bag in her hands.

Zhong Jing glanced at the file content on his computer screen, his brow slowly furrowing as his expression darkened.

A wave of terror mixed with rage and despair roared through his heart like a locomotive, immediately followed by intense helplessness and regret flooding his mind.

Zhong Jing smiled bitterly, sighed lightly, stood up, straightened his shirt and tie, then pulled open a drawer. With a sideways movement and a flick of his hand, a pistol was pressed against Tsurumi Haruka's forehead.

"Fine, you win... You don't think that after seeing my stuff, both of us will walk out of this room safe and sound, do you? One of us has to die."

Zhong Jing showed this terrifying cold expression for the first time. That dissolute, frivolous playboy style had completely vanished.

The young man's voice was unusually low and hoarse, like a desperate man driven to the edge: "What, think I'm overestimating myself? Then let me, this ant, witness the power of a Fujiwara Family Blood Clan Baron."

Only the dull sound of the computer case fan remained in the room, along with the twisted, weak shrieking from the incompletely closed window gap that rose and fell.

"Jing-kun, today is Saturday. I saw you hadn't come home all day, so I asked Uncle for this address. I brought you food."

Tsurumi Haruka ignored the gun barrel at her forehead. After more than ten seconds, she gently placed the thermal bag on the computer desk, her expression calm, her voice very light.

"If I wanted to do anything harmful to you, I wouldn't need to act personally. I've said it before, you are my future husband, and I will always put you first."

"Tsurumi Haruka, what act are you still putting on? Just kill me and be done with it, heh... you old actress."

Zhong Jing tossed aside the gun, sat back in the computer chair expressionlessly. In his irritation, he clicked the lighter several times without lighting his cigarette, then angrily threw the lighter at Tsurumi Haruka.

Zhong Jing knew exactly what kind of monster he was facing. With his ordinary human body, no matter how quick his reactions, he could never be a match for Tsurumi Haruka.

"Seeing you so hysterical... you probably knew my true identity long ago. But what benefit would I get from killing my future husband?"

Tsurumi Haruka smiled as she took plastic food containers from the thermal bag. Soon, a table of still-warm food was spread before Zhong Jing, seemingly completely unbothered by his current emotional state.

"Heh, go to hell... What's your identity? Maybe I should call you Miss Fujiwara instead. You're over seventy years old, constantly pretending to be young, don't you find it ridiculous?"

Zhong Jing impatiently took out a new lighter from the drawer to light his cigarette. Seeing a trace of shy anger suddenly appear on Tsurumi Haruka's pretty face, driven by vengeful psychology, he disliked her even more.

"Jing-kun, I'm just learning how to get along with ordinary people, how to get along with you. If you like any anime female characters, you can tell me, I can learn them all. Actually, I've spent the past ten years learning how to please men, but I'm afraid I'm not the type Jing-kun likes..."

Tsurumi Haruka lowered her head. A second later, she put on an elegant and polite smile again, as if she had long prepared to accept any of Zhong Jing's emotions submissively.

"Sigh, a broker, Shadow Arrow, and me… the Zhong family nest is bizarre enough, but I didn't expect the Japanese Fujiwara Family to join in too. We could play a round of mahjong now."

Zhong Jing knew that everything on his computer screen had been seen by Tsurumi Haruka just now. With no more fig leaves between them, his heart broke like smashing a jar, losing all composure. He simply laid everything out directly.

"The Fujiwara Family? Heh, yes. Since I was three, I've been locked in a deep mountain castle in Japan with all the family sisters, fed various drugs and blood like livestock every day, training, hibernating, even killing each other...

"Some sisters were lucky. They advanced to Knight and were sent out of the mountains, given new surnames as adopted daughters, then married off to the outside world where they could see many, many interesting sights..."

Tsurumi Haruka sat on a small stool nearby, wearing a strange smile as she methodically told stories from her memory.

"Knights... those with poor aptitude had to wait twenty or thirty years... Occasionally a newspaper or comic book would come in, and sisters would fight each other bloody for them. It wouldn't be strange if the more ruthless ones killed someone... If aptitude was better, they'd be even more pitiful. They'd receive focused cultivation, meaning being locked in the deep mountains for longer, much longer..."

Zhong Jing stood up, turned his head away, interrupting Tsurumi Haruka's reminiscence: "Don't tell these touching perverted stories. Leave it for your Japanese melodramas!"

"Hehe, Jing-kun, if I really wanted to do something, with just one word from me, not only you, but Hyacinth's entire background could be investigated. The Fujiwara Family is proudly Japan's premier Marquis family. We can't compare to China's Wang Family, but we're not far behind."

Seeing Zhong Jing's expression getting uglier, Tsurumi Haruka stopped talking appropriately. After more than ten seconds, she sighed lightly and stood up, picking up a bowl of still-warm soup: "Jing-kun, this is chicken soup I made with Auntie.

"Jing-kun, you don't need to treat me like a wild beast. I just want to try whether I can have the life I want..."

Tsurumi Haruka moved in front of Zhong Jing, her smile unchanged, steadily holding the chicken soup without a ripple visible on the surface. "I want to experience my sister's life. Even if it's fake, it doesn't matter."

Zhong Jing quietly looked at her face with its unreadable emotions, took the soup bowl and drained it in one gulp, then sat down to smoke again, no longer looking at her face.

"You chose the wrong person. I can't be the kind of life partner you yearn for. You might read shoujo manga, but I read harem manga, understand?"

"At least I can experience freedom through Jing-kun. If I can't marry Jing-kun, I don't know where the family will arrange for me next. I don't think my luck afterward will be better than now..."

Tsurumi Haruka's hands trembled slightly as she held the empty soup bowl Zhong Jing had drained, staring carefully at the empty bottom, a trace of confusion in her eyes.

Suddenly, Tsurumi Haruka stepped back two paces, lifted her skirt hem and slowly knelt down, hands clasped in front of her, forehead buried deep, trembling all over: "Jing-kun, this is my only chance to leave the cage. I won't give up..." Fresh chapters posted on novel[f]ire.net

"Just a bunch of women driven crazy by being locked in cages... You Japanese really know how to play, turning even your own people into perverts... all for who knows what."

Zhong Jing tossed away his cigarette butt, avoiding her pitiful posture, coldly smiling: "Today I've also spoken openly with you. You can stay at my house, but don't interfere with, touch, or look at anything else. And those subordinates of yours, stop crouching on my roof. Or just kill me outright!

"As for what you want, if I really inherit the family business someday, I'll just give your Tsurumi Financial Group the shares, understand?"

After speaking, Zhong Jing took a deep breath, his face self-mocking.

"Jing-kun, you don't need to be nervous. This is China. The Fujiwara Family came to cooperate, not to seek war.

"And if you go out, could you take me with you... that way the family will be assured I'm here. Everything I saw today, I'll also keep secret and not tell anyone."

Tsurumi Haruka didn't seem to mind Zhong Jing's attitude toward her, just nodded slightly, still speaking gently.

Good grief, you're already turning your elbow outward before even getting married? How much love were you lacking as a child?

Zhong Jing couldn't help but complain internally.

After eating the dinner, unsure whether made by his mother or Tsurumi Haruka, Zhong Jing said nothing more.

But honestly, it really did taste good.

Until after 1 AM, Zhong Jing paid no more attention to Tsurumi Haruka and stopped being secretive, just focused on handling his work.

Sometimes lighting a cigarette to think deeply, sometimes typing on documents, occasionally pulling open drawers to take out stacks of files to review.

Tsurumi Haruka beside him seemed to have become air in Zhong Jing's eyes, but the Japanese girl had no complaints, sitting obediently nearby like accompanying a beloved man, quietly watching every move of the young man before her.

Finally feeling the warning of bodily fatigue, Zhong Jing shut down the computer, stretched, checked his watch, then lit the last cigarette in his pack.

Only then did the young man turn his head, looking with a strange expression at Tsurumi Haruka who had remained quiet for several hours, still dignified and elegant.

Probably understanding Zhong Jing's thoughts, Tsurumi Haruka stood up, walked to a nearby rack, and took down Zhong Jing's suit jacket and tie.

"Miss Tsurumi, do you understand Chinese culture, Chinese men, me?"

Blocking her attempt to tie his tie, Zhong Jing carelessly stuffed the tie into his pants pocket: "If you haven't made certain psychological preparations, I don't think you'll have a good experience."

"After leaving the deep mountain castle and becoming an adopted daughter of the Tsurumi family, I also studied for ten years."

Tsurumi Haruka walked around Zhong Jing and began tidying the messy items on the computer desk, her tone calm: "I've dabbled in all Chinese knowledge. Including Uncle and Auntie's personality traits, the Zhong family's friends and relatives' situations. But Jing-kun was still young then, I didn't know your personality."

"Heh, besides novelty and excitement, I don't have much respect for women beyond equality. Plus, being caught between the normal and vampire worlds for so many years, my subconscious personality might be dark and twisted."

Zhong Jing smiled as he put on his suit jacket, returning to his frivolous, suave smile with a slightly provocative tone: "What if I get chauvinistic and start domestic violence, slapping you and such. Could a dignified Fujiwara Family Blood Clan Baron tolerate that?"

Tsurumi Haruka was startled, slowly lowering her head without saying a word. Her expression wasn't visible, but her small hands were nearly crushing the thermal bag's handle.

"Can't take a joke, no fun... Let's go home, or my mom will think I took you to a hotel room. Tomorrow she'd probably start thinking about naming her grandchild."

Seeing that she actually endured his provocation, Zhong Jing also lost interest. Dropping his scumbag expression, he shrugged and strode toward the door. Tsurumi Haruka quietly followed behind like a submissive little wife.

…

…

"Ah!"

Jiang Yao woke from a nightmare, her entire body soaked in sweat, even the areas where her body had been injured aching deep inside.

She had dreamed again of being torn to pieces, sent onto a cold conveyor belt, mixed, crushed, finally turned into medicine and cosmetics.

Grabbing her bedside phone, she anxiously opened social media, only to discover that the Lawless Maniac hadn't sent her a single message today, making her heart even more irritated.

"What's wrong!? Blood thirst?"

The bedroom door opened and the lights came on. Jiang Yan walked in with a serious expression, carrying a glass of water in her right hand and a little golden pill in her left palm.

Jiang Yan had also been awakened by Jiang Yao's earlier bout of uncontrolled pheromone fluctuations, or rather, once this somewhat violent and anxious aura appeared in their small home, it was like a heavy bomb.

"Sister, I had a dream that I died..."

Jiang Yao swallowed the little golden pill and drank the cool water, her face still showing lingering fear.

"A dream could make your pheromone control lose control... No, you... you've become an Upper-tier Knight?"

Jiang Yan sat on the bedside, casually placing her hand on Jiang Yao's shoulder. At this closer distance, she suddenly sensed some changes in her aura, immediately both surprised and delighted.

"Sister, you seem to be a Mid-tier Knight too?"

Jiang Yao was startled, looking at her face for a long time before showing suspicion: "Sister, isn't our growth speed a bit excessive?"

"Mm, so our weakness is internal and external hormone control ability and blood-boiling stability. Sister Wan has been trying to help us find solutions."

Jiang Yan closed her eyes, slightly sensing the changes in her own aura, finally shaking her head helplessly: "We're ostensibly Siberian Blood Clan. Before Baron level, it's mainly pheromone control and sensing. Internal hormone control is a natural weakness, and blood-boiling problems are troublesome."

"Sister, don't Blood Clan have universal techniques like in martial arts novels?"

Jiang Yao began self-sensing control with half-understanding, resulting in chaotic pheromone aura again, nearly activating blood-boiling. She quickly took deep breaths in fright.

"Sister Wan is half-step Viscount. Even if she has her own insights now, we haven't reached that level so it's hard to comprehend. Otherwise, so many people wouldn't be stuck. What she can teach us are specific situational control methods that can't solve growth problems comprehensively.

"Everyone's characteristics are different. This training should be gradual work. Don’t think about quick success... Alright, we still have work tomorrow. Sleep quickly."

With that, Jiang Yan patted Jiang Yao's shoulder and prepared to leave.

"I can't sleep after waking up! Sister, how about I teach you mobile games!"

Jiang Yao quickly grabbed Jiang Yan's arm while looking around her pillow for her phone.

"Gaming makes the central nervous system more excited, you want to drag me down too? Lie down quickly."

Speaking, Jiang Yan habitually touched Jiang Yao's hair, gently pressing down her head just like comforting her in childhood.

As if activating some bodily response mechanism, within just dozens of seconds, Jiang Yao's light sleeping breath could be heard. Only then did Jiang Yan quietly turn off the lights and leave.

The room darkened again. At some unknown time, a faint glow from a phone screen quietly spread by the bedside pillow.

Jiang Yao held her phone, staring blankly at chat records with someone on social media, constantly scrolling up through all the messages she had sent.

Those she found satisfactory made her smile, while unsatisfactory ones made her frown or look puzzled, as if re-examining herself.