Chapter 11

The plan seemed pretty good at first, but in the end, Hao Ren still didn't have the heart to drive Vivian away like that.

As he had mentioned before, he was a good person—when he couldn't help, he wouldn't meddle, but when he could lend a hand, he couldn't just stand by. What would happen if he just drove Vivian away? This seemingly down-on-her-luck vampire girl would probably have to sleep on the streets, and as she said, she would have to find ruins or graveyards in the wilderness to spend the night, with no food, no home, no job. She would likely cause a stir at any train station, either being forcibly detained or deported... How pitiful.

Seeing such a pretty young girl fall to such a state, most people would feel sorry.

Although Hao Ren thought that a vampire's true abilities probably wouldn't let her fall to such a level... but who knows, the one he met didn't seem to be a normal vampire. After all, no novels or movies had ever mentioned a vampire being so stubborn, poor, and pretentious, and yet still being a good girl who loves humans.

But he didn't directly say that Vivian could stay for free either. Good intentions have their limits, and he wasn't a saint. He also had to consider Lili's feelings, who pays rent regularly. So he could only compromise and let Vivian owe the rent, to be paid back when she found her wallet (which was unlikely) or got a job (which had some chance).

"Is this really okay?" Vivian seemed to doubt that such a good thing could happen, looking at Hao Ren in disbelief. "It might take me a long time to pay you back. My luck with money isn't good..."

Hao Ren's eyebrows twitched: looking at the expression on this vampire girl's face and hearing her resigned tone, how bad must her life usually be?

"Just stay here for now, don't think about anything else," Hao Ren waved his hand and glanced at Lili, who looked unhappy. "It's decided! This is my home, and I have the final say on renting."

Then he looked at Vivian. "There's an empty room upstairs. I'll show you. But what about your luggage?"

He should have asked this earlier: Lili had dragged a large suitcase from another city, so this vampire girl couldn't possibly be so poor that she only had the clothes on her back, right?

"Oh, oh, it's outside!" Vivian finally remembered her luggage and hurriedly went out to bring in an old travel bag. Fortunately, her bad luck with money hadn't extended to her belongings; the bag had been left at the door for a long time but hadn't been lost.

Seeing Vivian's luggage, Hao Ren couldn't help but sigh. He vaguely remembered his father, who had often carried a similar bag on business trips, which had been passed down from his grandfather...

He would never watch vampire movies again in his life.

Just as he was about to go upstairs to help Vivian settle in, a loud "rumble" suddenly came from the side. Lili, embarrassed, rubbed her stomach and stood up. "Landlord, let's eat?"

Hao Ren looked at the clock in the living room; it was already 10 a.m. The commotion this morning had almost made him forget about breakfast. The only one who had eaten was "Roll"!

"Damn, this life is worse than a cat's." He muttered to himself, then heard Vivian's surprised voice. "Ah? You provide meals here? Do I need to pay extra for meals?"

The vampire girl's face was full of surprise. Hao Ren really wanted to tell her the truth—that they didn't usually provide meals, but this was a special period. But seeing her almost blissful expression, he couldn't say a word: This... it just feels so pitiful for a vampire to be in such a state!

Breakfast had been delayed to this point, so it was more like lunch. So Hao Ren decided to make what he was best at—noodles. Lili seemed to be a non-picky omnivorous werewolf, and with Vivian being so poor, she probably wouldn't be picky about food either. A simple meal would do. Before going to the kitchen, he turned to the vampire girl and asked, "Vivian, do you... eat normal human food? I heard vampires can only drink blood and can't digest normal food."

As he said this, he felt a chill down his neck!

"I am a bloodline, not a low-level vampire," Vivian corrected him seriously, then scratched her face awkwardly. "Other bloodlines can only digest blood, but I can eat normal food. Nowadays, both humans and animals have all sorts of strange diseases. If you drink unclean blood, you'll have stomach trouble for days. You have to check if the target has a health certificate before biting, and sometimes even those with certificates are fake... I can't stand it, so I haven't touched blood for years."

Hao Ren: "..."

But just as he was about to go into the kitchen, a loud ringtone suddenly came from the armrest of the sofa. Lili pounced over, looked at the phone, and shouted, "Landlord! A call! From a very strange number!"

Hao Ren ran over and took the phone, wondering what number could be considered "very strange." When he saw the number, he was dumbfounded: the caller ID showed 00000012345!

Is there such a number in the world?

The monotonous ringtone continued, and the strange caller ID was clearly visible. Hao Ren pinched his face to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The ringtone seemed to get louder, and it felt like it was coming from all directions. The phone in his hand was gradually getting warm, and the ringing was getting faster. His sixth sense, which had always been a bit odd, started to stir. He instinctively felt that this call was not ordinary.

Almost in a trance, he pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear. "Hello? Who is this?"

A pleasant but somewhat loud female voice came from the phone. "Hello? Hello? Is this Hao Ren?"

"Um, yes," Hao Ren replied, trying to remember when he had given out his phone number and when he had met a woman with a similar voice, but he couldn't recall anything. "Who are you?"

"Never mind for now," the woman on the other end said loudly. From the background noise, it sounded like she was in a very noisy place, and there was a strange whistling sound. Perhaps she was at a construction site. "I'm from... oh, the import-export company. You submitted a resume for a job a few days ago, right? I'm calling to notify you to come for an interview this afternoon."

Import-export company? Hao Ren was taken aback, then remembered that he had indeed done this. When he decided to look for a job, he had submitted several resumes, but mostly just to try his luck. He had no work experience and wasn't a graduate of a prestigious university, so he had faced rejection after rejection. He hadn't expected anyone to call him for an interview, especially from what sounded like a significant company—an import-export company?

Was he about to get lucky?

But he glanced at the two new tenants in the living room. He had decided to look for a job because the rental business wasn't going well and he wasn't making any money. But now he had tenants...

Well, these tenants weren't very reliable. One was a silly werewolf, and the other was a stubborn vampire who was almost starving. Not to mention, it was already surprising to him that they could pay rent honestly. He felt he couldn't continue to rely on the rental business for his livelihood.

At this moment, the woman on the phone sounded impatient. "Hello! Are you still there? I'm notifying you to come for an interview this afternoon!"

Hao Ren thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay, I'll come this afternoon."

The woman gave him an address that didn't seem too far away and hung up.

Hao Ren stared at the phone, which showed "Call Duration: 0 minutes 0 seconds," and switched to the call log.

It was blank. The number 00000012345 seemed to have never existed.

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