After Chi Yan and Jiang Tian entered the door, they couldn't find Alex and Emily, and they couldn't even see any familiar faces. The two had no choice but to walk around the venue with wine.
The venue for this reception was bigger than Chi Yan had imagined. After entering the door, there is a large banquet hall in the middle, and there are four side halls on each side of the main hall.
There is a band playing soothing music in the corner of the main hall, and a dining table is placed on the other side, and from time to time a waiter brings new dishes, fruits, desserts and drinks. Well-groomed, well-dressed men and women wandered the venue languidly and casually—they seemed to know each other. There were other young boys and girls about the age of Chi Yan, most of them standing near the edge, with their circle of friends.
It was seven o'clock in the evening when they arrived. Chi Yan and Jiang Tian wandered around the venue boredly until after eight o'clock, and found that the only thing that attracted them was the dining table over there, but they were embarrassed to keep going to get something to eat.
Jiang Tian put the empty wine glass in his hand on the dining table on the side, pointed to the side hall on the right and said to Chi Yan: "Zhi Zi, I'll take a look there, and find Alex and the others by the way. I don't know about this. What time will the reception be held, and when will we get to the main topic." It can't be like this all night, just for people to hold wine and talk to each other, right
"Okay, I'll wait for you here. If you have anything, text me." Chi Yan watched Jiang Tian's back disappear, and took out his mobile phone to play. No one would notice him anyway.
But he was wrong. He just played the game for ten minutes when a man walked up to him and said, "Why are you here alone? Who brought you here?"
The man looked very young, but he looked twenty-seven or eighteen. Chi Yan didn't know the identity and intentions of the other party, so he politely put away the phone and replied with a smile, "I'm a student of AHU, and my classmate brought me an invitation card."
"So, you're still a student... If your classmates don't take you to play, would you like to join me tonight?" The man invited him with a smile.
Chi Yan always felt that the man's words and tone of voice were a little weird, so he refused with a stiff smile: "No, I shouldn't be going back very late, my classmates will take us back together."
He pretended to take out his mobile phone and looked at the time again, nodding to the other party and saying: "I see that the time is almost up, I should go to them."
Chi Yan said, put away the phone, turned to look in the direction where Jiang Tian left. If Jiang Tian came back and couldn't find him, he would definitely call or send him a message, but don't worry about missing it.
The man didn't stop him, just smiled and watched his leaving back... Go back sooner? I'm afraid this cute child doesn't know where he came from...
Chi Yan just walked in that direction when someone grabbed his wrist within two steps. Alex patted him and said in relief, "Thank God, I finally found you. Where's Kevin?"
"He went to find you? Didn't you see it?" Chi Yan asked rhetorically.
"This way..." Alex muttered and shook his head, "Then leave him alone, it's enough to have you, I'll find him later." Then he pulled him to one of the side halls. go.
Chi Yan tried hard to pull out his hand, but it was impossible to tell from the outside that Alex was so strong that his hand felt like it was being welded by iron pliers, and he couldn't break free. Fortunately, Alex noticed his struggle and took the initiative to let him go.
Chi Yan rubbed his left wrist: "Why do you say that having me is enough? What do you want to do?"
"...Playing cards." Alex looked back at him. "Pokers, can you? If not, we can teach you."
"Yes, but not necessarily your rules, but you should be able to learn it quickly." Chi Yan followed Alex to the side hall and took a seat on a dark red round sofa in the far corner.
In addition to the two of them, there are five people, Simon and Judy are among them, and the others are somewhat familiar, and they are all friends who often play with Alex.
Chi Yan sent a message to Jiang Tian and asked him to find them at the sofa in the side hall on the left side, then raised his head and asked, "Where's Emily? Why isn't she here?"
"Don't worry about her," Alex smiled casually. "She should already be familiar with this kind of situation. Let her play by herself."
This side hall is very quiet. After closing the door, the noisy conversations, music and footsteps are all isolated. Only a few young people in front of them gathered together and spoke in a low voice.
After playing the cards, the time passed very fast. After three cards, Chi Yan took out his mobile phone and saw that it was already 9:58 pm on the screen.
"It's been more than an hour, why hasn't Kevin come over yet? Isn't he fascinated by some beautiful woman?" He joked, putting the card in his hand on the low table in front of the sofa, "I Go out and find him."
He said and stood up and was about to go out, but the other six people all stood up at this moment, blocking his way.
"What's the matter? I'm going out to find Kevin, Simon, can you please let me go?" Chi Yan hadn't realized what was going on at the moment, and didn't understand why they stood up with him.
Simon didn't move or speak, just stood there looking at him. The lights in the side hall were very dim, and half of his face was hidden in the shadows, sketching out a weird smile that was half a smile.
At this time, Chi Yan realized that something was wrong. His eyes swept across the few people in front of him, and he became more and more sure that they were deliberately blocking their way, like a few malicious cats blocking the path of little mice with nowhere to escape.
Chi Yan turned to look at Alex, her throat moved, and she pretended to laugh at ease: "...Are you playing some game? Or some prank that I don't know about?"
Alex glanced down at the watch on his left wrist and smiled at him: "Jerry, thanks to your reminder, I realized that the time has come."
Chi Yan subconsciously followed his movements and glanced at his mobile phone. Three minutes had passed, and it was now 10:01.
Alex's phrase "it's time" was like a key to turn on a switch, and no one has spoken since then, but all six of them were waiting closely for him, who was surrounded by the center, with an unusually eager look. Out of the corner of Chi Yan's eyes, he caught a glimpse of the two people whose names he couldn't remember, and saw an extremely terrifying scene—in the shadows, the blood on their faces faded away, turning into a lifeless bluish-white, even more terrifying. It was terrifying that there were two long fangs sticking out from between their lips.
At that moment, Chi Yan was so frightened that his heart almost stopped, and he turned his eyes quickly. Fortunately, Alex and Simon were still the same, but their skin seemed to be paler than usual—this may also be psychological The effect is troublesome, just like the scene just now may be just an illusion caused by light and shadow effects.
The air around them became extremely quiet. It seemed that even the heartbeat had stopped.
Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, they may be deliberately creating a weird atmosphere to scare you, wanting to see you embarrassed by being frightened. Chi Yan was encouraging himself in his heart, and suddenly realized a problem in this quiet and mysterious atmosphere - he even moved in the direction of Alex without a trace, and felt it carefully.
Immediately, he couldn't help swallowing a mouthful of saliva—it wasn't an illusion, but from just now, the heartbeats of everyone else stopped. At this moment, I can only feel my own heartbeat here.
There are seven people present, except for themselves, they are really not human.
Chi Yan's pupils instantly tightened.
Simon seemed to enjoy the moment when he finally found out the truth, opened his mouth and laughed. He licked his teeth with satisfaction—long, sharp, gleaming fangs.
Alex reassured in a soothing tone: "Don't worry, Jerry, it won't be too painful, and we won't kill you. Maybe you'll love it again, a lot. Humans also enjoy being sucked, like Emily."
Chi Yan's brain quickly processed the words he heard, "pain", "human", "blood-sucking"... They are not human, are they legendary... vampires
This answer was completely beyond his imagination of the real world, and Chi Yan couldn't accept it for a while.
The vampires who had been holding back for a long time did not give him any time to react. Under the leadership of Alex, they approached him little by little, and gradually narrowed the encirclement.
Chi Yan stood there, so nervous that he couldn't react, he couldn't imagine what he was about to face, and none of the self-help knowledge he had seen before was of no use at this time.
"Button, button, button-"
Just then, there was a slow knock on the door.
Immediately afterwards, the knocker who received no response pushed open the door on his own accord.
As the door squeaked, Chi Yan and the vampires looked back at the man who suddenly appeared at a critical moment.
It was a middle-aged man with gray hair. He was wearing a neat three-piece suit, his hair was meticulously combed, and an ancient gold pocket watch was hung on his chest. The pattern of thorns and roses was engraved on the pocket watch.
He looked at the scene in front of him calmly, and said in the same unhurried voice, "I'm sorry, young gentlemen and young ladies. Your Highness ordered me to take this gentleman away."
He used declarative sentences, and did not mean to consult other people's opinions, as if he had already obtained the supreme will of the world.
The man's eyes turned to Chi Yan, and without his explanation, the vampires present knew who he was referring to.
Two of the vampires looked at Alex and the other at Simon, as if waiting for their opinion. Judy wanted to say something, but Simon held her hand tightly.
"Of course," Alex retracted his fangs and smiled decently at the middle-aged man, "I hope Jerry can satisfy His Royal Highness."
He stretched out his hand and pushed Chi Yan out.
The man nodded and motioned Chi Yan to follow him away.