Chapter 361 - 235: Vampire Army Parade
"Snap out of it, Anya, watch the road!"
Li Wei said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts. "It’s snowing, and the road is slick. Focus on driving!"
Anya jumped, snapping her gaze back to the road. She gripped the steering wheel guiltily, her eyes fixed on the pavement ahead.
"I... I wasn’t looking at you," she mumbled. "What are your plans for tonight?"
"Not sure yet," Li Wei said, leaning back against the leather seat. The warm air from the vents made him a little drowsy. "Maybe I’ll head home and rest, or I might go chat with Arthur about some commercial real estate."
Anya’s eyes shifted, her fingers tapping lightly against the steering wheel’s leather trim. "Want to come over to my place?"
Li Wei glanced at her.
She hesitated, her voice dropping unconsciously. "Auntie Kaja went back to Moscow a couple of days ago. She won’t be back for a few days, so it’s just me at home right now."
An apology was out of the question; women always had to be indirect.
Li Wei raised an eyebrow. He glanced at her flushed cheeks and earlobes and said teasingly, "Nah, forget it. You should get some rest tonight. I’ll give you the day off."
Hearing his blunt refusal, Anya felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of disappointment.
"Oh..." she mumbled, sounding dejected.
The car fell silent for a moment. Anya’s throat suddenly felt dry, and she reached for her cup of iced water in the center console.
As she bit the tab on the lid open, an idea suddenly sparked.
"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!"
She let out a sudden, loud cough, grabbing Li Wei’s attention.
Then, right in front of him, she took a long, hard sip of the iced water. When she was done, she released the straw, her crimson tongue darting out to gently lick around it.
"Although," Li Wei said suddenly, "now that I think about it, it has been a while since I’ve been to Riverdale."
"Hmph. You’d better behave yourself when we get there," Anya said, placing the cup back in its holder with a satisfied smile. "No... touching me."
She deliberately stressed the last two words.
The small talk continued inside as the car sped on.
Soon, they arrived at the old campus.
Instead of taking the main road, Anya consulted a map and drove around to a building on elevated ground at the edge of the old campus.
They got out of the car and followed a set of outdoor stone steps up to a spacious second-floor terrace.
The terrace was already crowded with several dozen people.
Looking down from this vantage point, Li Wei was taken aback by the scene before him.
The central courtyard of the old campus, which should have been silent on this morning of the first snow, was now swarming with a dark mass of at least a thousand people.
They all appeared to be Yale undergraduates.
Some were bundled in thick down jackets, while others were wearing nothing but pajamas, all of them constantly checking their watches and shifting from foot to foot to stay warm.
"Is this some kind of cult gathering?" Li Wei asked, baffled.
Anya chuckled, glancing at the Bvlgari high-jewelry watch on her wrist. "Just wait. It’s almost 10 AM."
Just then, another dialog box appeared in Li Wei’s vision:
[You have encountered a special event: Vampire Army Parade]
[You have witnessed an Abyssal Rift. The vampire army within is gathering for a wicked parade and sacrifice in the ice and snow.]
He looked down at the students with their dark circles and bags under their eyes. ’Calling them vampires isn’t that far-fetched,’ he thought.
The moment the system prompt appeared, Li Wei noticed that nearly everyone in the crowd below simultaneously pulled out their phones. A few others were watching the clock towers on the surrounding buildings, waiting for the stroke of 10 AM.
9:59:58
9:59:59
10:00:00
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH---!!!"
Without warning, in perfect unison, hundreds of Yale’s finest opened their mouths and unleashed a heart-rending, heaven-shattering scream.
Another prompt flashed across Li Wei’s vision:
[You have faced the collective Spell of the vampire army: Abyssal Howl.]
[You passed the check. Your soul has not collapsed!]
[You have survived the Abyssal Howl of a ten-thousand-strong vampire army.]
[You have upheld one of the Eight Knightly Virtues: Courage!]
[You have gained: Free Attribute Points +0.1]
[Your renown among Dark Creatures and the Abyssal Faction has increased!]
Li Wei suddenly felt the urge to laugh.
「A full minute later.」
The screaming stopped as abruptly as it began, as if an invisible hand had suddenly choked the sound from everyone’s throats.
The students, who had been screaming like madmen just a moment before, instantly fell silent. With blank expressions, they pulled their coats tighter, rubbed their raw throats, and dispersed as quickly and silently as a receding tide.
"I heard about it from a classmate," Anya said with a smile, putting her phone away and linking her arm with Li Wei’s. "It’s Yale’s most famous finals tradition—the Midnight Scream."
"But it’s only 10 in the morning."
"Exactly. A few years ago, a student got so scared during the Midnight Scream that they had a heart attack and had to be hospitalized," Anya explained, her voice muffled as she rubbed her reddened nose. "So they moved it to 10 AM. The spirit of it is still the same, though."
"To survive the final exams before Christmas break, they pick one day during finals week in early December to just scream and let it all out. Once they’re done, it’s back to battling the books."
"Only once a year?" Li Wei clicked his tongue, disappointed. "Can’t they do this once a month?"
’If it were a regular monthly event, he’d have another place to farm attribute points.’
’That’s 1.2 attribute points a year. Every little bit helps.’
"Are you crazy?" Anya laughed, giving him a light punch on the arm. "Finals week once a year is already deadly enough. If it happened every month, people would actually go insane."
"A lot of my classmates have already started taking Modafinil or Adderall," she said with a sigh. "You know, those ’smart drugs’ that give you an artificial boost just to get through exams."
"I’ve heard of them," Li Wei said, rubbing his smooth chin. "Never needed them myself, though."
"...."
"What’s wrong?"
"This is exhausting. I think you should just go home by yourself tonight."
...
「The next morning, Li Wei drove home from Riverdale.」
Anya was sleeping like a log. She was even letting out little snores as Li Wei carried her from the sofa to the bed.
Luckily, with finals week just around the corner, most of their classes were already over, so they could afford to sleep in.
When Li Wei got back home, he happened to see Chen Haisheng sending Lily out the door.
"Good morning, Brother Li Wei," Lily said, looking troubled. "There’s something I wanted to ask you."
"What’s up?" Li Wei asked, looking at Lily, who was already nearly a meter and a half tall. "Need my help with something? Delivering a love letter? Or should I go beat up some little punk who’s been bullying you?"
"Neither of those," Lily said, bursting into laughter. "There’s a winter parent-child event at school, but my dad said he has a business trip tomorrow night. I was wondering if you’d have time to go with me."