Chapter Text
Verdant green eyes behind clear thick framed glasses stare at a text covered phone screen with growing irritation, a furious sneer curving pale chapped lips.
Each sentence he reads makes Shen yuan’s head hurt and his face grow hot with fury. There’s still no new world building or new fantastical creatures, just another inane wife plot. Not to mention he had to skim most of the chapter again due to the near immediate papapa. Airplane barely waited eight hundred words before adding a poorly written sex scene!
He was so, so hoping that airplane would finally get back to the damn plot. that he’d finally get back to the amazing monsters and devious villains the story started out with. the only actually good part of the whole damn story.
Every new chapter he has hope that he’ll see something about a new location or creature and every new chapter he’s disappointed once again.
four hundred and five chapters in and despite the awful wife plots starting over three hundred and fifty chapters ago he’s still buying each chapter hoping for the creative genius he found three years ago when looking for something to read.
His annoyance at that sell out author almost drowns out the constant familiar beeping of medical equipment in the sterile chemical scented room. Almost distracts him from the iv-needle sitting in his arm once again pumping him full of fluids.
The moment he’s finished the chapter he’s already straight into the review section tearing apart that sellout’s newest piece of trash, bottling his anger into every hostile well founded word. His heart rate picks up from the excitement of cursing out that stupid author, airplane.
Once more he says he’s never buying another chapter. Once more he knows he’s lying. He finishes his review, ‘Shitty author, shitty novel’ (it’s practically a sign off at this point) and his anger at the hack is at an all-time high. He wants to throw his damn phone across the hospital room he’s so freaking pissed!
Instead of throwing his phone though, it drops into his lap and slides off the bed, clattering to the floor as he clasps at the hospital gown over his heart. A dull but extreme pain is suddenly spreading through his chest and arm, his throat suddenly feeling tight as if someone is choking him in an unbearably strong grip. His right-hand scrambles for the emergency button as he gasps desperately for each breath, though he’s sure the machine connected to him has already alerted someone to his declining condition.
His vision is darkening when nurses finally rush in, their voices muffled to his ears as they call out orders to each other, scrambling around the hospital bed to help him. He’s struggling to breath as they place an oxygen mask on his face and lay him down proper.
His short twenty years of life flashes through his mind as he feels the doctors and nurses move around him frantically.
His beloved parents that took such good loving care of him, spoiling him his whole childhood. His big brothers who played video games with him, sometimes even letting him win. His sweet adorable little sister who he doted on whenever he wasn’t stuck in the godforsaken hospital, braiding her hair and buying her stuffed animals. Hospital stay after hospital stay from the age of six, when his heart had already started to fail him. He sees it all as the world starts to fade around him.
It feels like it was all a damn waste. If he weren’t always sick, maybe he could have been something! Could have done something with his life! He could have made them proud!
Instead, he’s pretty sure the only mark he’ll leave behind to prove he existed at all, is the pain he’s causing his family by dying and a name of a gravestone.
The last thing he registers before everything disappears from around him, everything going black, is the harrowing sound of the EKG machine flatlining and the horrified cry of his er-ge.
Oh yeah, his er-ge was visiting today…
~~~~~~
[Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Welcome to the system user 001!]
An even mechanical voice speaks through the thick fog clouding his mind. The voice almost sounds like google translate? What is that?
[As the biggest supporter of the web-novel series ‘Proud immortal demon way’, you have been granted a once in a reincarnation cycle opportunity!!!]
The voice says with a little fireworks gif showing up in his vision beside the words. wait… once in a reincarnation cycle?
[you have been given the role of OC within your favourite story!! Congratulations on your second chance at life! Memory download initiated; 1% downloaded. 5% downloaded]
… second chance… at life? I… actually died… and I’m being shoved into that sad excuse of a web-novel?!?!
[memory download 18%... error! Memory download failed! Reinitiating]
Indignant fury fills him at the thought, similar to the anger he felt at reading that last chapter. Literally any other story he’d read would have been better, hell he might have even been willing to give ‘star wars’ a shot despite the absolute chaos that occurs there. Anything but that wife plot filled, plot hole ridden bullshit that he wasted the last three years of his life on.
[memory download failed. Manual memory recovery required. No matter! User is a newly turned vampire. To lock in your position in this world and start your life- PLEASE FEED TO COMPLETE YOUR TRANSITION!]
Shen Yuan startles awake at the loud blaring of the system in his mind. Bolting upright, he gasps for breath though it feels like it’s not doing much for him.
Transmigration? He really transmigrated? Or was it reincarnated? He’s read plenty of stories on it but to have it happen to him… though don’t people normally wake up as a little kid for reincarnation?
As he tries to calm down, he casts his eyes to the area now surrounding him, trying to figure out where the fuck he might be in this world he knows a lot about but also almost nothing.
Instead of the hospital, he’s awoken on top of soft sweet-smelling grass, surrounded by little closed yellow flowers that sway gently in the wind. A tall canopy of trees hangs high over his head, with light orange and yellow autumn leaves occasionally sprinkling down around him as they cast the area in abyss like shadows. A bright full moon peeks through the gaps in the branches and leaves from high above, illuminating where he’s seated with a pale silver beams.
To his left is what he thinks is a dirt road, two distinctly packed lines from what was probably years of carriages and carts passing through the dense forest.
To his right, less than a metre away, lies a shattered sword, its undecorated sheath discarded just a bit further and the leather wrapped hilt right next to where he now sits.
He can hear small animals skittering between bushes and up into the trees, can hear their little heartbeats race as if they’re right next to his ear. He can even smell the blood of something that’s been killed nearby drifting lightly through the gentle breeze.
Frowning at that disturbing realisation, he stumbles to his feet, pressing his palm to the rough bark of the nearest tree to hold himself up.
His skin feels like it’s on fire and his stomach is twisting in sudden and gnawing hunger. His upper gums are aching in his mouth and his ears are filled with high pitched ringing. He can see perfectly into the deep darkness of the forest surrounding him despite having spent his whole previous life needing glasses to see even in the best of lighting.
Confusion runs through his mind as he tries to recall what the system thing had said.
What did it say I was again? I’m a….
[Answer: you are a newly turned vampire]
That hack put vampires in this stupid story?! Fucking when? Why are there vampires?!
[vampires in ‘Proud Immortal Demon Way’ are an almost extinct attempt by demons at forcing humans into their numbers during a war centuries ago. the curse it began as has been lost to time but humans can still be turned by existing vampires]
Why’d you make me a vampire?! Why not a cultivator?! He screeches in his mind glaring at the screen that’s been floating before his face.
[Answer: Cultivator path locked.]
What about a proper demon? He argues.
[demonic path locked]
What the fuck do I do now then??!!
[PLEASE FEED TO COMPLETE TRANSITION AND LOCK YOUR PLACE INTO THE STORY. YOU HAVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS] the system says before the screen disappears from his view.
Wait, what do you mean? He asks but receives no response. Don’t just disappear after saying something like that!
He presses his forehead against the tree he’s been leaning on, feeling sick from nerves and ravenous hunger, his annoyance at the system causing the ringing in his ears to grow louder. Though that might be overstimulation from all the damn noses!
He groans in pain and irritation, ignoring the rough bark against his skin in favour of pretending he doesn’t exist for a bit.
What’s he supposed to do now? Find a conveniently placed squirrel? He can’t just go searching for the nearest town, he doesn’t want to hurt a person… maybe he can…
“Gongzi, are you alright?”
He freezes as all sound seems to stop to his ears, his hearing now focusing solely on the man standing on the road behind him and his fast-beating heart. He didn’t even hear him coming. But now that he’s noticed him, he’s all he can hear… and smell.
“Gongzi?” the man asks again, his voice wavering and feet shuffling nervously. Probably a good idea to be nervous, coming across some random guy in the middle of the forest late at night.
“I’m ok” Shen Yuan says quietly, turning slowly toward the man on the road.
The man is older than him, streaks of grey mixing with his dark near black hair, tied back in a practical but messy bun. The man’s dark eyes watch him in the shadows anxiously, holding up a lantern, and his feet shifting as if ready to run if necessary. Shen Yuan has a strong feeling that would be the worst thing for him to do.
“I… I think I was attacked by something. I don’t remember…” he lies, though going by the small numb pain on his neck and the stickiness on the collar of his robes as his fingers press to it, it might be true to some extent.
“Oh gods! Do you need help?” the man startles, dropping the big basket from his back and racing to Shen Yuan’s side.
He tries to speak but he’s too busy trying to breathe through the sudden onslaught of feral instincts that drove through his mind at the approach of the older man. The scent of the blood hidden just beneath his skin. The sound of his heart pounding in his chest. Breathing isn’t helping!
I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t…
“I think you were bitten by something, gongzi. Come, my farm is just the other side of this forest, about a half hour walk there” the man offers, a kind concerned smile completely replacing the fearful nervous look he’d had before.
Don’t fucking relax are you mad?
“I don’t know” Shen Yuan mumbles, glancing nervously into the forest, unsure if he can trust himself to hold back as his very body demands what this man has. He has no idea to what extent these new instincts go but they already feel overbearing to his terrified and confused mind.
Why do I have to be a vampire?! I don’t want to hurt people!
“I just want to help you, gongzi. I promise I’m not a danger to you.” the kind man assures “we are rather close to the northern border of the demon realm; you are lucky to have survived whatever attacked you”.
That’s great man but I’m not worried about me!!! Wait demon realm…
“How close to the demon realm are we?” he asks the kind stranger, glancing at the forest that surrounds them. He desperately wishes there was something to draw his attention away from the blood running in the man’s veins. It’s so loud and smells so sweet.
Just a little taste. No!! no, no, no! no little tastes! I’m getting a bunny!
“Just over three hundred li in that direction, gongzi” he explains with a furrowed brow pointing in the direction the man came from, his other hand gently coaxing Shen Yuan toward the road where his giant basket still sits.
“Do you see demonic beasts often then?” he asks, his love of monsters finally distracting him from the instinctual bloodlust that had been consuming him from the moment he heard the man’s voice, if only for a moment. He’s so freaking hungry.
“We see demons more often than the beasts, too warm on this side of the rift they say. But cultivators pass through regularly, so there’s rarely any actual danger. Come, come, you can clean up and bandage your wound when we reach my farm.”
“I’ll be in your care then, shūshu” he smiles and though hesitant he starts to follow the older man toward his farm.
“Does gongzi need help walking? You may have lost a lot of blood”.
“I’ll be alright.”
This is a terrible idea. I should just disappear into the forest, eat my bunny and never show up in front of a person again… I definitely shouldn’t follow this man back to his home. I feel like I could lose control any minute. Why a fucking vampire?! Of all the humanoid beings in this world?
For the whole thirty-minute walk to the man’s home, Shen Yuan argues with himself, wracking his brain to decide the best course of action here.
He doesn’t want to hurt anyone but there’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to catch an animal within the twenty-four-hour window. But this man has a farm which might mean tame animals that won’t flee when he approaches.
There’s also the other issue that’s nagging at his mind. What if feeding on an animal doesn’t even work? What if it has to be human? What then?
He really doesn’t want to die again. He’d barely even started university when he was forced into the hospital once more. He’d never been able to travel or find a girlfriend for longer than a month, barely even had friends outside of the internet. He can’t just let his second chance at a life slip through his fingers by risking finding an alternative… but can he really choose his survival over someone else’s?
He doesn’t think he’d need to kill to complete the transition, but would he be able to control himself enough to stop once he starts? Just the mere thought of sinking fangs into this person is driving him wild with predatory hunger….
Wait… holy shit I have fangs right now! He hadn’t noticed when the pain in his gums eased, but now, discretely brushing his tongue against his upper teeth he can feel the two sharp extended points of fangs. Both canines are ready to just… bite…
He wishes he knew the lore for vampires in PIDW, he’d feel a lot less stressed about it. weaknesses, strengths, did he base them on another story’s vampires?
fuck you airplane! I swear if you added that shit after I fucking died…
The whole way the other man has been chatting away, his voice low to not draw attention of potentially dangerous wildlife, though Shen Yuan can hear him as clear as if he were shouting in his ear.
Not that he’s registered a single word. His eyes have been locked on the other man’s back nearly the entire walk. Though back might be the wrong word. More like the back of his neck that his practical and messy bun is doing absolutely nothing to hide. Damn it. fucking vampire.
Finally, the forest opens up to vast farming fields and hills either side of the road, lit bright as day by the full moon hanging directly overhead. He can’t tell what the plants lined neatly along the fields are but there’s definitely a lot. Perhaps a tea farm? Wine orchard?
To the left at the end of a stone path that branches from the dirt road sits a decently sized homestead, a carefully tended flower garden lining its front porch.
The two-story house is lit like a warm welcoming beacon, candles and lanterns in most of the windows.
To the right of the stone path sits an old looking well, the stones on its rim worn in a dip from years of hands being placed there for leverage.
Some distance behind the house sits a large wooden barn and going by the lack of noise inside, it holds no animals. What he can hear nearby though is coming from inside the house.
He can hear voices coming from within and he feels his thoughts and planning all stutter to a stop. He can’t let himself be pulled into there! If being around a single person for a short walk out in the open air is enough to drive him mad with gnawing and painful hunger, what would being surrounded by four people in an enclosed space do to him? especially since the others sound much weaker…
“I never got your name shūshu” Shen Yuan points out, slowing his step and smiling when the man glances back at him.
“Apologies, gongzi. This one is Xi Fengxie.”
“Then this one apologises, Xi Fengxie.”
“wha-“
His question is cut off as Shen Yuan slams into him at inhuman speed, pressing his back against the nearest tree and crushing the produce filled basket between the man and the three trunk. His hands grasp onto the man’s left wrist and the bun atop his head, yanking his head to the side to reveal his tanned neck where a pulsing vein lies in wait for his fangs.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Shen Yuan mumbles as he prepares to sink his sharp fangs into this kind trusting man. The farmer can’t escape from the vampire’s overbearing grip, his struggles and shouts in vain as all it does is stir the embers of predatory bloodlust coming back to life on Shen Yuan’s tongue. “I don’t want to hurt you… but I don’t want to die”. With those words whispered into the man’s neck, Shen Yuan sinks his fangs into skin, bodily pinning his victim to the tree as he fights.
He ignores as the man’s free arm smacks and pulls at his back and braided hair, trying to free himself from the vampire holding him in place. He ignores his shouts and begging to be let go. His attempts at bargaining with the creature feeding on his blood. He ignores it all, because he’s putting all his will power into not taking too much. His sole focus is not killing a father.
[Congratulations!! Congratulations!! Congratulations!! Important things must be said three times!]
With the sound of the mechanical voice he yanks himself away, putting distance between himself and the human as he wipes the divine tasting blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
[you have completed your transition and are now fully a fully turned vampire. You are now free to interact with the universe however you wish. Keep up the good work and enjoy your life. Just don’t forget to look out for the sun ;p] it drones on in his head. [system now disconnecting from user 001 in: 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Good luck!]
Shen Yuan barely registers what sounds like a USB being unplugged before the system falls completely silent in his head and the translucent blue screen disappears. He can’t focus on any of what it said anyway. Only the sweet scent of blood matters now.
He feels like he’s buzzing, his whole-body humming in excitement and euphoria. The blood tastes sweet in his mouth like the best tanghulu or dragons beard candy, and it leaves him wanting. More, more, more. His mind whispers, demanding and desperate, but instead he takes more steps away, shaking his head. I won’t!
He can see the man moving slowly in the corner of his eye, preparing to make a mad dash for the house to get away from him.
“Don’t run, walk slowly. Running triggers a prey drive and I won’t be able to stop myself” the new vampire warns, breathing a sigh of relief as the man seems to listen to his words. He barely has a grasp upon the thin tethers of his humanity, instincts roaring like they are the only things with a right to his undead body. He still has an understanding of how predatory creatures work though.
Each measured step backwards the man takes is agony on the hungry vampire’s self-control, but he holds himself in place. The urge to take more is burning through his body. It makes his fangs itch and pools saliva on his tongue.
The sound of a heart racing in his ears is driving him wild. The scent and taste of blood in the air, making his stomach ache for more. He’s trying so hard not to look up at the bleeding man, worried that focusing another of his senses onto him will only break the last thread of barely existing control.
Instead, the snap of a stick beneath the farmer’s foot breaks his concentration on keeping eyes lowered though, and his attention snaps straight onto the man now frozen in place, now unable to tear his eyes away.
“Keep going, slowly.” Shen Yuan says as he takes a step toward the man. “Once you’re inside I won’t be able to get you.” he really hopes this works, that the little bits he thinks he understands are right.
He hates this. Is this really going to be his life now?
“Why are you doing this?” the man whimpers, his hand pressed against the punctures on his neck, blood leaking between his fingers.
I want more. For every step backward the man takes now, Shen Yuan matches it, using all his will to not gain on the man. I don’t want to do this!
“I don’t have a choice” he frowns, staring at the blood pooling on the man’s bared collar bone with unconcealed hunger. “Something turned me into this, and I I-I can’t control myself… I’m so… hungry… I’m sorry”
The farmer is maybe eight steps from the door when it starts to rattle, the man’s eyes widening in horror.
“Don’t! Don’t come out!” his prey shouts toward the house, keeping his fearful wide eyes locked on Shen Yuan. His prey’s stance shifts ever so slightly however, and the vampire barely catches it, going from the self defence of prey to the protection of a father. How does he recognise that?
“Few more steps, I won’t be able to do anything once you’re past the threshold” he’s not sure why he knows that, but he does. Like another much quieter instinct telling him that once his prey steps past that line he won’t be able to feed anymore, it will be out of his reach.
Five steps, the door continues to rattle.
Four steps, the door slams open.
“Stay inside!”
Three steps, a small child comes barrelling out, calling to her A-die with a big bright smile on her face.
Without his will, Shen Yuan’s attention snaps to the moving target.
“Get back inside!” the farmer shouts, spinning on his heel diving to get the child back inside.
In an instant Shen Yuan’s instincts kick in and he’s launching himself toward his bleeding prey. Instead of his prey though he slams face first into an invisible barrier, clawing at the door frame for the blood just out of his reach. He feels like a feral ravenous beast, like he’s barely even there as he claws at the barrier. He hates this. He hates this!
The little girl and a slightly older boy scream and cry at the sight of the blood covered monster before them. Their A-die, stares in horror at the feral man he led to his door, now lit up by the lanterns and candles around the entry way. His wife screams at the sight of her husband bloody on the ground and the man with a blood covered mouth and bared fangs standing in the doorway above him.
Despite a deep part of him raging at letting his prey get way, Shen Yuan sighs in relief, once the rush of hunger calms again. the man managed to get to safety, managed to get away from him.
He presses his forehead to the smooth painted wood on the door frame, mumbling assurances both to himself and to the man. He thinks for a moment that beside the fear and horror in the man’s eyes, he also sees pity. Maybe some part of him is truly registering that Shen Yuan hadn’t wanted to harm him, that it’s something completely out of his control.
Many a time a normal person has had their lives changed permanently by the whims of demons, usually Binghe after his blackening.
Stumbling backward, he glances to the moon up above, trying to guess how long he has to find somewhere to stay before the sun comes up. He… really can’t fucking tell from that… when was the last time he even saw the moon in his previous life let alone knew the time when he had? He sure as hell can’t remember.
With one last look at the terrified man now standing in the doorway watching him, Shen Yuan mumbles one last apology before sprinting full speed back into the forest toward the demon realms border.