“Parasite.”
“…”
“Parasite, stop leading the way. I suspect we’ve already missed our destination.” Seeing the whistling blizzard before him, Ji Bai took quick steps to catch up to Lin who was not far away.
“Let’s stop here. Give me the map and let me examine it. We’ll take a short break.”
“…” Lin didn’t say a word and allowed Ji Bai to take the ‘map’ from her hands.
“God… These two devils have finally stopped. Even if we don’t die from exhaustion by continuing on like this, hypothermia will definitely kill us!” Without any hesitation, the three loggerheads sat down on the snow-covered ground. However, before they could even catch their breath, their complexion froze and they hurriedly leapt up on their feet.
“Too cold!”
“…Was this map of yours drawn by an impressionist painter? Why do I see only a bunch of diverging black lines with no directions on it?” Despite how much Ji Bai flipped and turned the map, he was completely clueless as to the true nature of the slip of paper on his hand.
“Who told you this was a map?” Lin shot a glance at Ji Bai.
“? If this is no map, then why were you looking at it for this long? Don’t tell me you were expecting a flower to reveal itself or something? Anyway, where’s the map?”
Lin slightly turned her head aside. “I lost it…”
“…Did you lose it on the way here?” Ji Bai looked at Lin whose head was slightly lowered. He was rather surprised and curious that this silent, expressionless and cold vampire actually possessed such a sloppy attribute.
“So, can you tell me what this is now?” JI Bai shook the yellow parchment in his hand which was making flapping noises from the wind.
“The route we took.”
“…” Ji Bai looked at the fresh black lines that were drawn in a complex manner and was somewhat speechless.
“Luckily you didn’t wait till the four of us are dead before bringing up the issue.”
“…Sorry.”
“Well, it’s not like you’ve done a terrible job at it. You were able to bring us to the mountaintop just by walking blindly. Good job.” Seeing the vampire who was always concerned about her reputation offering an apology for the first time ever, Ji Bai had no intention to ridicule her and returned the paper slip.
“It’s getting somewhat late. Let’s rest here for the night and think of something once the blizzard stops. Otherwise, we’ll have to bury these three logheads here.” Ji Bai shot a glance at the trio which was bouncing to and fro like frogs.
“Everyone, take out your food and shelter. Nail your tents down tight if you don’t wish to see yourself at the bottom of the mountain.” Ji Bai’s voice resounded in the ears of the trio under cover of the blizzard.
“Ooooh my god!1 They’ve finally agreed to stop and rest. Geh, the taste of this frozen rations is even worse than the flatbread Mrs. Susan bakes next door!”
“Oh, my dear Sire Raybia. Stop that damned translationese this instance, or I’m going to use Mr. Cooper’s leather shoes and give your butt a good spanking!”
Seemingly liberated, everyone quickly took out a tent from their bags and began gnawing on their rations while drinking water from their flasks.
Sitting some place away from the crowd, Lin grabbed onto both ends of a bag and was gnawing on a solidified chunk of blood with traces of regret surfacing on her expressionless face.
“…Haven’t you seen enough?” Some bloodstains clung on the corners of Lin’s mouth as she shot a glance at the armored man. With his body crouched and his hands supporting his head, he was brazenly observing her as if he was watching something amusing.
‘From the way this cockroach is taking the initiative to approach me, he most likely wants to ridicule me.’
“It’s actually the first time I’ve seen someone add rock sugar to a blood bag. I’m guessing the occasional rock sugar helps to enhance the flavor after drinking too much blood, right.”
“…” Lin turned her head to the side and decided to ignore Ji Bai’s slightly sarcastic words.
“I’m thinking, since a vampire’s diet is mostly fluid, what does it feel like when they are forced to eat solid blood? Is the feeling similar to that of humans eating fluid food?” Asked Ji Bai in a feigned doubt.
Lin continued to ignore him and wore an →_→ expression on her face.
“Speaking of which, are your teeth alright? Vampires depend on their fangs to eat. If you break something while biting too hard, that’d be awkward. No one is going to marry a toothless female vampire, right?”
His words continued to be ignored by Lin and were met with an ←_← expression.
“Here, take that.” An object flew towards Lin. Upon grabbing it, she felt a warm sensation spreading in her palm.
‘…A hot flask?’
Lin slightly knitted her eyebrows and turned to the side, but realized that Ji Bai had already turned around and left.
“…Come… here… and… me…”
Ji Bai, who was preparing to take out his tent, suddenly stopped his footsteps and looked around. Eventually, he directed his gaze at Lin who was closest to him.
“Do you need something else, parasite?”
“???” Lin turned her head around in confusion.
“Wasn’t it you who called just now?” The eyes behind his visor narrowed.
With her hand holding onto the hot flask, Lin shook her head with the blood bag in her mouth.
Ji Bai turned his eyes towards the chattering trio happily jumping around like frogs some distance away and shook his head.
‘Did my overexhaustion cause me to hallucinate? …My body constitution is really not the same as it was before.’
As he came to that conclusion, Ji Bai exhaled a mouthful of warm air as he prepared to take the tent from his backpack and set it up in front of himself.
“…Set… me… free…”
Ji Bai stopped his movements and slowly put his tent back into the backpack before surveying his surroundings.
The howling blizzard scraped against his ears. Like droplets in the ocean, the lingering voice disappeared without a trace.
“…My…”
Ji Bai suddenly looked up. Putting his backpack on, he urgently treaded against the thick snow and ran in the direction where the blizzard was most rampant in its destruction.
“??” Lin was the first to notice his action. Despite a slight moment of hesitation, she put away both the blood bag and hot water flask and quickly went after him.
“Oh my god. I’ve finally set up the tent. …I’m so exhausted…”
“Tell me about it. Sigh, we’ve walked a whole day through this blizzard… Eh? Where did Teacher and that world-class athlete go??” The spiky-haired man pointed at an area not far away from them in a daze, causing the other two to be stupefied as well.
“No way?! Did they leave the three of us behind?”
“Over there! I see them!” Raybia was the first to catch sight of two frantically sprinting black dots which were one behind the other.
“Dang it! Didn’t we agree that we’d rest for the night? Why did they suddenly go berserk?”
“What are you still in a daze for? Hurry, we need to go after them, or we’re going to freeze to death here!”
“B-But… We’ve just set up our tents…”
“Any more buts and we’ll lose track of them! Hurry up and take down the tents!”
“W-Wait for me!”
…………
Lin adjusted her breathing as she tried her best to keep up with Ji Bai’s footsteps.
Perhaps it was just a subconscious reaction, but when she witnessed Ji Bai suddenly acting as if he had been possessed by a devil, she had decided to follow him without any hesitation.
A vampire’s physical strength was the same as that of a human. Even with a spell to enhance her strength and balance, it was still somewhat strenuous to keep up with him.
Finally, the sprinting silhouette in front of her came to a stop.
“Huff, huff, huff…” Lin slightly adjusted her breathing and didn’t ask Ji Bai about the exact reason behind his behavior; She only followed his gaze and looked ahead — At a set of massive door arches made out of lacquered metal.
It was unknown how long they had stood there, as traces of wind erosion could be seen on the lacquered metal which was known for its toughness and durability.
Beyond the arches was a space in the form of a T-junction.