Chapter 232 – Just Don't Come Near Me

“It’s not completely impossible.”

When these words reached the ears of the two girls from Su Ming’s mouth, they both froze slightly.

“What? You have a way?”

Yun Langyue asked with some curiosity.

“Sort of.”

Su Ming relaxed his previously furrowed brows as his consciousness sank into his Golden Finger backpack.

Just now, Su Ming suddenly remembered an item he had obtained from a package long ago.

That item was rather peculiar – similar to the one that could transform a certain comrade Marmot who wished to remain anonymous into a moss demon – both were items Su Ming had previously shelved and kept at a distance.

But now, it seemed this item might actually come in handy.

Su Ming then took out that item.

Xu Qianqian witnessed Su Ming retrieving an item out of thin air but wasn’t surprised.

This wasn’t her first time seeing Su Ming do this. She had been surprised earlier but was now somewhat accustomed to it.

However, when Su Ming took out the useful item from his Golden Finger backpack, Xu Qianqian still couldn’t help but freeze momentarily.

“A whip?”

Xu Qianqian’s expression immediately turned strange.

Yes.

The item Su Ming retrieved from his Golden Finger backpack was indeed a whip.

Moreover, it was one with a black leather-wrapped handle, not too long, giving the impression that it needed to be used at close range – not for injuring people, but rather serving some particular interest.

This made Xu Qianqian unconsciously take a subtle step back, and her gaze toward Su Ming changed meaning.

Noticing this, Su Ming showed an awkward expression.

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want to use it either.”

Su Ming felt so embarrassed he wanted to dig a three-bedroom apartment out of the ground with his toes.

“I believe you,” Xu Qianqian nodded, but then added, “As long as you don’t come near me for now.”

Su Ming: “…”

Indeed, women all seem to have an indescribable fear of this thing.

Unless the other party isn’t a woman but a Queen, then they might actually be interested in this…

“What? What?” Yun Langyue on the other end sounded completely confused, asking over the phone, “What did you take out?”

As the companion not present at the scene, Yun Langyue genuinely didn’t know what item Su Ming had produced.

Naturally, Su Ming wouldn’t explain too much.

“Let me first try if my method can achieve our goal,” Su Ming quickly said. “I’ll hang up now. Remember to rest, don’t overwork yourself.”

“Wait…” Yun Langyue wanted to say something more, but Su Ming, not wanting to be questioned further, immediately hung up.

The scene was now left with only Su Ming and Xu Qianqian.

Seeing this, Xu Qianqian subtly took another small step back.

The action wasn’t particularly harmful, but it was extremely insulting.

“Don’t be like this. I’m not the kind of person you think I am.”

Su Ming said helplessly.

“I said I believe you,” Xu Qianqian still maintained, “It’s just that doesn’t prevent me from wanting to keep my distance from you for now.”

That statement was damn reasonable.

Su Ming was left speechless, ultimately giving up on explaining further.

“Let’s go,” Su Ming could only say. “Let’s test whether this thing works or not.”

After saying this, Su Ming left Xu Qianqian behind and walked back to the backyard.Xu Qianqian instinctively followed but maintained a subtly deliberate distance from Su Ming.

Su Ming: “ε(┬┬﹏┬┬)3.”

He couldn’t shake the feeling that his reputation had been inexplicably tarnished.

……

The aftermath in the villa’s backyard remained untouched.

With all the maids and servants now deceased, even if Xu Qianqian wanted someone to tidy up the villa, it was no longer possible.

Consequently, several unfamiliar corpses still lay by the backyard swimming pool.

Su Ming approached the bodies and spoke to Xu Qianqian who had followed him.

“These corpses don’t belong to your household—they’re from the Mo Family, aren’t they?”

This was easy to deduce.

First, their attire differed significantly.

These corpses were neither dressed as servants nor wore the standardized combat uniforms of Xu Qianqian’s private soldiers, clearly identifying them as outsiders.

Moreover, the bodies were either drenched in water or covered with frost and ice residue—clear evidence of the Mermaid Girl Little Hai’er’s handiwork.

Given this, the corpses were unmistakably enemies, specifically members of the Mo Family.

Xu Qianqian glanced at the corpses and nodded.

“I don’t recognize any of these individuals.”

Her confirmation put Su Ming at ease.

“Then let’s give it a try.”

Su Ming gripped the leather whip in his hand, his expression conflicted. After wrestling with hesitation, he finally hardened his resolve and lashed it fiercely at one of the corpses on the ground.

Crack!

A sharp, crisp sound of the whip echoed through the air.

Genuine corpse-whipping.

Yet Su Ming’s act of genuine corpse-whipping triggered an utterly horrifying phenomenon the very next second.

“Awooo!”

The corpse, which had completely lost all signs of life, suddenly let out a cry. Strangely, the sound carried a subtle, indescribable note of pleasure.

Then, the corpse abruptly scrambled to its feet.

“!!!”

The terrifying scene made even the typically aloof Xu Qianqian widen her eyes in shock and retreat several steps hastily.

Clearly, even Xu Qianqian was frightened by what she witnessed.

“…Are you scared?”

Su Ming hadn’t expected such a reaction from Xu Qianqian and looked slightly bewildered.

“…I’m not.”

Xu Qianqian quickly regained her composure and denied it, though a faint blush tinged her cheeks.

“You… you’re blushing?”

Su Ming stared as if he’d witnessed something truly unbelievable.

“No!”

This time, Xu Qianqian firmly denied it.

Unconvinced, Su Ming fixed his gaze on her, trying to discern any telltale signs on her face.

Xu Qianqian couldn’t maintain her composure under his scrutiny.

“Awooo!”

Another cry rang out in the villa’s backyard.

This time, however, it didn’t come from a corpse—but from Su Ming.

“You… you bit me again!?”

Su Ming pulled back his hand, looking utterly aggrieved.

It turned out that in her flustered embarrassment, Xu Qianqian had grabbed Su Ming’s hand and bitten down hard.

Provoking an angry female vampire had severe consequences.

But as she bit him and ingested a trace of Su Ming’s blood, Xu Qianqian suddenly froze, her expression turning inexplicably strange.

“Your blood…”

Xu Qianqian stared blankly at Su Ming.

“What about my blood?”

Su Ming rolled his eyes impatiently.

“…N-Nothing. It’s nothing.”Xu Qianqian thought for a moment, then gave up on asking.

Actually, she wanted to ask Su Ming why his blood had become even more delicious than before.

But these words were clearly something Xu Qianqian couldn’t bring herself to say.

What was even more unspeakable was that this small taste of blood seemed to have awakened her craving, making Xu Qianqian feel her body growing feverish.

Xu Qianqian knew this was her body once again yearning for Su Ming’s blood.

She could only suppress the restlessness in her heart and the heat in her body, brushing it off with an evasive response.

“So mysterious.”

Though Su Ming glanced at Xu Qianqian with some suspicion, he didn’t press further.

If he had known about Xu Qianqian’s condition, he would have understood that the reason she found his blood more delicious was definitely because he had undergone Demonization Awakening and entered the Domain of an upper-class Hunter.

Now that his Bloodline concentration had broken through its previous limits and entered another Realm, Su Ming’s blood naturally became even more irresistible to Xu Qianqian.

Unfortunately, Su Ming didn’t know about this.

Otherwise… otherwise… he would definitely find a way to escape!

Cherish life, stay away from female vampires.

He really didn’t want to experience that weak-in-the-knees feeling from being drained again.

After this interaction between the two, they finally returned to the main topic.

“What exactly is going on here?”

Xu Qianqian looked at the suddenly reanimated corpse and finally voiced the question in her heart.

At this moment, the corpse was wandering through the villa like a sleepwalker, swaying unsteadily, doing who knows what.

Only then did Su Ming raise the leather whip in his hand and explain.

“This is called the Falling Leaves Return to Roots Whip. As the name suggests, it’s a magical tool used to make the deceased return to their roots and go back to where they belong on their own.”

Yes, it was indeed quite magical.

At the very least, after learning about the function of this Falling Leaves Return to Roots Whip, Xu Qianqian found it quite extraordinary.

“…Does such an item really exist in this world?”

Xu Qianqian remained speechless for a long time before finally asking this question.

“Probably?” Su Ming looked somewhat embarrassed but could only brace himself and say, “There are so many Extraordinary Items and alchemical tools in the world. Who knows if some Alchemist might have a sudden inspiration and decide to create such an item?”

That Alchemist must have had something wrong with them.

Xu Qianqian didn’t voice this thought.

Su Ming couldn’t tell Xu Qianqian that this “magical tool” was something he had obtained from his Golden Finger package, so he began to beat around the bush.

“Generally speaking, after using this item, the whipped deceased will perform two actions under its influence.”

“One is to return to their hometown on their own, the other is to find their family members on their own.”

“This person is from the Mo Family. If we follow the ‘falling leaves return to roots’ setting, then if he wants to return to his hometown, he can only wander back to the Base City where the Mo Family was originally located.”

“But that Base City is too far away. The effect of the Falling Leaves Return to Roots Whip isn’t strong enough to cover that distance.”

“So…”

Su Ming didn’t need to finish his sentence for Xu Qianqian to understand.

“So he can only choose the second option – to find his family members on his own, right?”

Xu Qianqian roughly understood what Su Ming was trying to do.”Correct.” Su Ming suddenly smiled and said, “Although I haven’t tried it myself, it’s said that under the influence of the whip, the deceased being whipped will inevitably complete one of the two actions mentioned.”

Given this, the corpse would definitely find its own family.

And who its family was—did that even need explanation?

The corpse wandering nearby seemed to sense something, abruptly turned, and left the backyard.

“Let’s go.” Su Ming put away the whip and said without hesitation, “We’ll follow.”

Xu Qianqian nodded firmly.

(End of Chapter)