The Vampire Princess of the Apocalypse

Chapter 5: A World Transformed

Zhou Lan's classroom was on the fourth floor, so few people had climbed that high. Everyone fleeing from above, however, had to pass through the lower three floors. The stairs between the third and fourth were already jammed. Only a handful in the crowd were Awakened. Most were mutants.

Zhou Lan made a rough count. Several dozen people packed the stairwell. One fifth were Awakened, while the other four fifths had become mutants.

"Damn. This is trouble." He grabbed Yan Xin and ran back toward the fourth floor.

"Um... who are you?" Yan Xin asked after being dragged along all this way.

The entire school had lost power, and the night was already dark. Aside from Zhou Lan, whose vampire ability let him see, no one could make out much. The tangled mass on the stairs proved it. Mutants still relied on sight, and though mutation had sharpened their vision, even they could not see clearly in this darkness.

Zhou Lan glanced at his flowing silver hair. With his entire body changed, he had no idea how to answer. "The person saving you."

Yan Xin froze. Before she could react, Zhou Lan scooped her into a bridal carry and shouted, "Hold on. We're taking off!"

On the fourth-floor landing, a pair of bloodred wings spread from his back. Holding Yan Xin, he leaped over the edge.

It was Zhou Lan's first time using this ability, and carrying another person made it worse. The flight was a wild, wobbling descent. They nearly fell several times before finally reaching the ground safely.

After landing, Zhou Lan found Yan Xin clinging tightly to him, trembling from head to toe. The leap had clearly terrified her.

He looked at the girl in his arms. Fear had flushed her face, making her seem especially adorable. Unable to resist, he brushed aside her hair and said softly, "We're down. You can let go now."

Only then did Yan Xin release him. Her legs shook so badly that she almost stumbled without his support.

Under the residential complex's lights near the first floor, Yan Xin finally saw Zhou Lan clearly.

Long silver-white hair. Bloodred eyes. A slender young woman's body with supple legs, though she stood under five foot seven. Her face was pale and delicate, her lips faintly rosy, her skin flawless as snow over jade. She looked like a princess from a fairy tale.

Yan Xin stared, utterly mesmerized. Zhou Lan's new form truly was beautiful, but confusion also gnawed at her. She had never met anyone who looked like this, so why had this stranger risked her life to save her?

"Who... are you?" After staring for a long time, Yan Xin remained certain she had never known anyone like her.

"Uh... well..." Zhou Lan went blank. Between the panic and struggling to learn how to fly, he had forgotten to invent an explanation.

His mind raced until it nearly overheated, yet no plausible answer came. With no other choice, he told the truth. "Would you believe me if I said I'm Zhou Lan?"

Yan Xin tilted her head, confusion plain on her face.

"Yeah. She doesn't believe me..." Zhou Lan muttered inwardly.

He tried to undo the transformation and prove his identity, only to discover that nothing changed. Panic tightened his chest. "Holy s**t. Don't tell me I'm stuck like this... I'm a man, damn it!"

His thoughts descended into chaos. So consumed by the problem, he failed to notice the mutants gathering around them.

Yan Xin reacted quickly. She grabbed Zhou Lan and pulled him into a meeting room on the first floor.

No one held meetings at this hour, so the room had been empty when the transformation began. That meant no mutants waited inside.

They hurried in, barricaded the door, then collapsed against the floor in exhaustion.

"What were you thinking? How could you zone out now?" Yan Xin gave the despondent Zhou Lan an exasperated look.

"I don't think... I can change back." Grief filled Zhou Lan's voice. He still could not accept reality.

"Um... don't be so negative. You're much cuter this way." Yan Xin studied the pitiful silver-haired girl beside her. Moonlight seemed woven through those pale locks, and the huge crimson eyes looked so innocent that she wanted to pinch Zhou Lan's soft cheeks.

"Well... as long as you like it." With no other solution, Zhou Lan could only console himself.

Silence settled over the meeting room, and awkwardness crept in.

"What's happening outside?" Zhou Lan asked first.

"Total chaos, probably." Yan Xin listened to the jumble beyond the door—running feet, screams, and objects shattering as they fell.

Together, they peered through the window.

Countless mutants wandered across the open first floor, faces twisted and legs bowed inward like monsters from an apocalyptic nightmare. Cries and pleas echoed through the teaching building, punctuated by breaking glass. Yan Xin could see little in the darkness, but Zhou Lan saw everything.

Outside, the road held almost nothing but mutants and corpses. Small groups of students fought desperately, spraying fire, stone, and water through the air. Weeping, shouting, and desperate cries for help never stopped.

"If this isn't the apocalypse, what is?" Zhou Lan thought...