CRASH!

Lovette's porcelain tea cup shattered as it fell on her tiled floor. Her face hit the table, and she immediately went to sleep. Harker didn't waste any time and went rummaging around her house.

He first checks Lovette's pocket, of course. He checked everything she could have in her person. When there was nothing, he opened every cupboard and every drawboard. He even checked under the table, the light switches, the living room, and eventually the bedrooms upstairs.

Yan appeared by his side. "You're looking for the half of the Shard, right?"

"Yes. But not just that. I'm looking for a key or some remote. Anything to open up a room." Harker said.

Yan blinked. "A key? Why?"

"I need to know where she's hiding them." Harker went to the bedroom that seemed to be Lovette's, and checked it thoroughly.

"Them?"

"This is a family of 3 we're talking about. Roland also told me Xi Hua was an only child. They had no helpers, the husband wasn't around, and the daughter was gone too. And yet look at how many plates piled up on her sink. Or the few cookies were left on the box, when she didn't even eat a single one."

Yan's eyes widened. "So you mean—"

"Yes, It's very obvious. She has some boys as hostages." Harker said. "Shouldn't you know this by now, Oh-Being-That-Transcends-Time-And-Space?"

"I only pay attention to what you pay attention to. And even when I did notice them, I'm not good at deducing clues and solving mysteries, hehe." Yan said apologetically. "I'm not Surelock Homes, Master."

"Then just watch, my dear Catson." Harker peered between the gaps of several books in Lovette's desk. "I'll find those boys in no time. Then we can call that constable over so he brings back-up as we burn this house down with Lovette."

"You'll burn her?"

"No. I'll eat her." He said without hesitation. "I'll let some parts burn for evidence to leave behind to the cops. Then I'll keep most of her body intact until I have space in my belly to eat her up. There's places in my university where I could store those body parts, I just need to be discreet."

Yan blinked. "Wow.. You're pretty ruthless when it comes to monsters, Mas— Harker."

"Ugh, whatever. Just call me Master if you're never going to drop it." Harker relented. "As for the ruthless thing..."

"If they're monsters just 'coz of their species or whatnot, I wouldn't bother. But they're bringing trouble to us humans so I'd call it even."

He gritted his teeth. "If I leave Lady Aixiang here to burn, she might escape somehow. I can't let her escape. The police won't be able to bring her or her husband to justice for their crimes. They can simply use their wealth to not get imprisoned if they do the human route. Much worse stuff will happen if they go the demonic route. This is the best option, at least the police know it was her as the boys tell them what happened."

He finally found a flower-shaped key hidden in her straw hat collection. His intuition told him this was the one he was looking for. He looked for where to use it..

And noticed a slight bump on the floral wallpaper of the bedroom.

historical

He tore the wallpaper and found the keyhole. Xi Hua's mom must have mastered the key hole's location so she didn't have to tear the wallpaper every time she opened it. But Harker couldn't care any less about some ruined wallpaper.

He inserted the key and opened the hidden door...

Leading to another, slightly bigger room. This room looked like a boarding school's shared bedroom, filled with thin bunk beds to fit all of them in such a cramped space.

The boys stirred awake once they saw the light coming out from the door. There were no lights or windows in this room. Only boys in white shirts and pants, with plain white beds, and white walls imprisoning them.

"Hmm? Who are you?" They said weakly asked.

All of them looked healthy, but also tired and pale. There were heavy bags under their eyes and rope marks on their arms and legs. It seemed that unless someone opened their door, they were stuck doing nothing but lay on their beds and sleep.

"One, two, three...." Harker counted them all. "There's 22 of them. Even more than the reported missing people."

The oldest one was 18 who stood up and went out of bed. "Are you Miss Lovette's new boy, Sir?"

"Huh?" Harker was stunned by their reaction.

They weren't even scrambling towards him for help. They weren't trying to get out of this white cage, and instead acted like meek chickens in a farm or rabbits in a dim kennel. And they only asked someone they met if he was just like them....

The minds of these boys were broken, no doubt.

"It's okay." Harker held out his hands to them. "You're free now. Miss Lovette is asleep, we can all go outside now."

He tried to coax them, but none of them budged. Instead, they all went back to their beds, covered themselves in their blankets, and pretended to sleep, shivering.

The eldest one gripped Harker's wrist seriously. "No... What did you do to Miss Lovette, Sir!? You should say sorry to her now before it's too late, Sir!"

Harker took his hand away and shook his head. There's something more than these boys being broken mentally that's why they're scared. Something—

Harker heard humming coming closer and closer.

"Hmm-mm~ Mmm~ Hmm-mmm~ Oh, sweetheart." Miss Lovette came, stretching her limbs and neck. "I never had such a nice sleep in ages! It's stressful to take care of all the boys on my own, you know."

The hair on Harker's arm raised. "Shit..."

"You know my daughter tried to pull the same thing all the time. But her abilities never got as strong as mine. Because she doesn't want to go under the path of dual cultivation, she only wants to get stronger through eating and consumption." Lovette sighed. "She's so stubborn and barbaric. I suppose she got that from her father."

She added: "But I suppose the Bai Clan can also be barbaric. It was common for us to try and overpower the other. They're no match for the clan's leader, of course."

Harker gritted his teeth. "That leader must be you, huh? You have high Resistance to this ability."

"No. You have low resistance to my ability." She chuckled. "I'm sorry that I lied when I said I got a good sleep earlier..."

Harker's heart was filled of dread when she said:

"I was never asleep, sweetheart. I wanted to know what you're looking for in my house. And it seemed that you're interested in my boys, hm? Too bad you can't steal them, but I'd be glad to add you to my little garden! Hahaha!"

"HISSSS!!!!" Harker quickly revealed his fangs and forked tongue, and his hair extended to capture her and strangle her neck—

Only for it to go back and strangle him instead!

Harker was dragged and suffocated by his own hair, and his fists moved on their own to punch himself over and over!

He landed into Lovette's bed. The peach blossom scent surrounding him was 100x even more powerful than Xi Hua's, and he would soon pass out.

"Ah, I love it. Someone with the same abilities as my daughter? And a handsome virgin man too...." Lovette straddled him as he slowly lost conscience.

"We're going to have so much fun, you and I."