Universe Infinite Canteen

"When you're free, let's go to the beach, and you can take more bikini shots, I have a friend who loves that stuff."

As Ma Lu spoke, he opened the 2.4-second video clip, but before he could take a closer look, it was already over.

He had to play it again, and this time he kept his eyes on the second-floor window, finally noticing the corner of the curtain move slightly, lifted by someone before being quickly dropped back into place.

It wasn't until he played it at 0.25x speed that he could clearly see the thing behind the curtain—a pair of blood-red eyes, quite sinister.

"Vampire?"

Ma Lu had already encountered werewolves, so bumping into a vampire didn't faze him as much.

However, Old Wang said, "No."

"Not? Then whose eyes could be so red except for a vampire's?"

"Her eyes are red because of the abundance of blood vessels, probably due to a lack of sleep."

"Really? How long must one go without sleep to end up looking like a ghost?"

Ma Lu took another close look and said, "Putting aside that guy's race, it's a bit impolite to not come down and check when you hear the doorbell, especially when you're at home."

"I believe the emotion she displayed in that footage is closer to fear," said Old Wang.

Ma Lu thought about it, and two strangers showing up in the middle of the night to knock on your door is indeed a bit terrifying; no wonder the person upstairs was scared.

"Then we'll come back during the day tomorrow."

Having said that, Ma Lu didn't linger there any longer and turned around to go home to sleep.

The next day, after Old Wang had prepared the ingredients, the two of them rode the tricycle back to the hotpot restaurant.

Ma Lu noticed Ms. Chen's white GLC parked by the curb again, and Director Zhang's Lexus RX was also present.

This wasn't a good sign; it suggested that the two might have had a further exchange after going back, and Director Zhang's interest in this place was much greater than he showed the first night he visited the shop.

Ma Lu found a place to park the tricycle. He had planned to have Old Wang come with him, but after thinking it over, he decided against it.

The person on the second floor was quite timid and might play dead again if they saw two people approaching.

Ma Lu once again used the resident's entrance code to get into the community, arrived at the iron door, and bent down to press the doorbell three times.

As before, there was no response from the inside.

Ma Lu looked up and noticed that even during the day, the second-floor curtains were still not drawn, completely hiding the inside.

"Still saying it's not a vampire?" Ma Lu muttered. He scanned the surroundings and finally fixed his gaze on the trash bin.

He walked over, picked a relatively clean cardboard box from inside, inverted it in front of the iron gate as a disguised delivery package, then quickly pressed the doorbell twice and hid in the shadows below waist level.

This spot was a blind angle for the second floor's windows.

Ma Lu stood there for about a quarter of an hour and finally won this round of the patience contest.

He saw the iron door quietly open a crack.

Then a pale small hand reached out, grabbing toward the cardboard box outside.

"Hey, let's talk."

Ma Lu walked out from the shadows.

Startled by his voice, the person behind the door jumped, grabbed the box from the ground, and desperately dragged it inside.

Probably hoping to retrieve their delivery and lock the door before Ma Lu could react, but they misjudged the weight of the box and ended up on their backside.

"Are you okay?"

Seeing this, Ma Lu also stepped forward, extending his hand.

However, the person on the ground did not utter a word and turned to run up the stairs, scrambling so frantically that they even banged their knee.

"I'm not a bad person, I just want to talk to you about renting out the first floor."

Ma Lu continued, but the person didn't stop their steps and had already rushed up the stairs; soon after, another loud clang echoed from above.

Ma Lu walked up to the second floor at a leisurely pace along the narrow steps, and there stood a door at the end.

Even through the door panel, one could hear the rapid panting and pounding heartbeat from the other side.

"I don't know what your relationship is with Ms. Chen and Mr. Zhou, but as far as I know, they plan to rent out the first floor to open a mahjong parlor.

"You know about mahjong parlors, right? The kind of place where a lot of people play mahjong day and night. It's going to get really noisy, and the upstairs won't be suitable for living anymore. It would be best for you to move somewhere else to live.

"Alright, I've said what I wanted to say. If you don't want to meet me, that's fine."

After Ma Lu finished speaking, he truly turned and left. It wasn't a strategic retreat; although he was somewhat interested in this storefront, it was only a mild interest, far from a must-rent situation.

Since the other party did not intend to talk with him, he didn't want to waste more time.

However, Ma Lu had only walked halfway when the door behind him cracked open again.

"You... you also want to rent... the first floor?"

The person's speech was somewhat hesitant, as if a tape had gotten stuck.

"Mhm." Ma Lu stopped, "Shall we talk?"

The person fell silent for several seconds, apparently engaged in a fierce internal battle, before finally saying, "Okay... come up."

Ma Lu went back up to the second floor.

He hadn't even entered when he was shocked by the scene behind the door.

Although it was already ten o'clock in the morning, the living room was as dim as if night had fallen.

All over the floor were drink bottles and empty snack bags, leaving hardly any room to step. Clothes and socks of all sorts, including underwear, were strewn everywhere.

The coffee table was piled high with instant noodles and takeout containers, and not just one of each; it looked like a week's worth of food was there, uncleaned, some of it half-eaten and gone sour, filling the room with a strange odor.

Ma Lu looked toward the room's occupant—
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A girl wearing an oversized sweatshirt and pajama pants, her skin pale and eyes bloodshot.

She was also looking at him, but as soon as Ma Lu looked her way, she immediately turned her head away, averting her gaze.

As the host, she didn't invite Ma Lu to sit on the couch, nor did she offer any drinks.

She just stood there in silence, her small hands unsure where to rest.

One moment behind her back, the next crossed in front, then one hand hugging an arm, but less than two seconds later hanging down again in a stance of attention, soon unconsciously reaching up to touch her messy hair...

Severe social anxiety?

Seeing her like this, Ma Lu had a good idea of what was going on. He didn't purposefully initiate conversation but stepped over the trash piled up in the living room and moved to the French windows.

First he drew back the tightly closed curtains, dispersing the darkness inside the room.

But with the warm sunlight that streamed in, a scream also filled the room.

"Ah! No, quick! Close it!" The girl covered her blood-red eyes, crying out in pain.

Though Ma Lu had never encountered a real vampire, he imagined their reaction to bright light would be much the same.

And the girl before him had probably lived in darkness for too long, causing her eyes to become sensitive to light.

Ma Lu didn't continue to provoke her. After opening the window to air it out, he drew the curtains closed again, leaving only a sliver open to keep the living room from being too dark.