The door opened again. Chu Tianjiao walked in.
"It's broad daylight. You keep the windows shut and the lights off—what are you doing in here?"
"Mixed-blood life. Also stop getting friendly and pay up." Ashen One held out his hand.
"Mixed-bloods aren't vampires. And I don't have cash. But I can give you this." Chu Tianjiao handed Ashen One a card.
"What's this?" Ashen One squinted.
He saw a World Tree emblem, then acted like he'd spotted something filthy and threw it away, wiping his hand in disgust.
"Ungrateful, huh? Chu Tianjiao, so this is who you are!" Ashen One yelled.
Let's be clear: Ashen One was a hardcore otaku.
World Tree badge? What else could it be?
Cassell—the dragon-slaying academy. The "Party's" school. A place built for one purpose: killing dragons.
Chu Tianjiao, you traitor!
Ashen One wanted nothing to do with dragon-slaying. Once the chat group finished updating, they'd be able to leave this world anyway.
Or maybe he wouldn't leave. Modern happy life sounded nice.
"What did I do?" Chu Tianjiao bent down, dusted off the card.
"I'm just telling you to register somewhere. Because…" He lifted his head, serious, meeting their four golden-lit eyes. "You're mixed-bloods."
Mixed-bloods—children of humans and dragons.
Humans with dragon power. Also dangerous existences that could lose control any time.
"I'm grateful you saved me and my son. But your bloodline strength means you can't live ordinary lives. I don't want to wake up one day to a report from the Execution Department about handling rampaging mixed-bloods… with your names on it."
He looked at Ashen One again.
"So I hope you'll register. For your sake, and everyone else's."
Ashen One went quiet for a long moment.
Then said firmly:
"Nope."
Chu Tianjiao wasn't wrong. They'd likely been exposed to the Party already. If they didn't want to be enemies of this world, registering as mixed-bloods was the smart move.
But were they mixed-bloods?
Hell no.
They were not mixed-bloods.
They were purebloods.
System products are premium by default.
Thanks to the compensation draw, the four of them hadn't just gained dragon blood and Word Spirits—
They'd basically turned from human into dragons.
Mixed-blood?
Try second-generation dragons.
Kevin could easily imagine what would happen if they registered.
A bunch of dudes with machine guns would show up and mow them down.
Ashen One figured it'd be worse.
Imagine Angers—the lunatic dragon-slayer—showing up with Time Zero and stabbing them to paste before they even knew what happened.
So they were absolutely not going.
Absolutely.
—
Three days had passed since the rainy night. Stelle had hauled the unconscious Ashen One away before he got run over by fate again.
Broke and homeless, they temporarily stayed in a place Chu Tianjiao arranged.
Chu Tianjiao didn't press after Ashen One refused. He'd said it was only a suggestion.
Of course, if they caused trouble, he wouldn't hold back.
Once everyone sat on the couch, Ashen One held out a hand to Chu Tianjiao.
"Saving your life deserves a reward. Toss me a few million to spend."
"Don't tell me you're broke. If you do, I'll box you."
Chu Tianjiao: "…No cash on me."
Ashen One beamed. "Then slap a black card in my face. I don't mind."
"Do I mind?"
"Saving your life is priceless, but—"
"Stop, stop." Chu Tianjiao cut him off.
"Fine, fine. I'll bring it later."
A few million was nothing. S-rank dragon-slayers didn't worry about money.
When Chu Tianjiao agreed, Ashen One clapped excitedly.
"We're rich!"
"I think we should squeeze him for more." Stelle was dead serious. "He didn't even blink at millions."
Making money wasn't shameful. Today she was going to earn it standing tall.
Kevin: "…Millions. I've never seen that much in my life."
Doctor: "How much is 'millions'?"
Ashen One gave him a thumbs-up. "Remember that luxury feast I made Chu Zihang treat us to yesterday? That amount covers thousands of meals like that."
The Doctor's eyes lit up.
Chu Tianjiao cracked. "You guys robbed my middle-school son's allowance?!"
"No no no." Ashen One waggled a finger.
"Mixed-blood world works like that."
"Don't use mixed-bloods as an excuse!" Chu Tianjiao snapped.
Chu Zihang: "…"
He suddenly felt like today was a huge waste of time. He could've memorized two more words.
"So you really won't register?" Chu Tianjiao tried again—third time. He truly didn't want to see their names on the Party's purge list someday.
Spending these days with them felt… different. Like he'd gotten younger.
"Old man, how many times do I need to say no?" Ashen One threw him the middle finger.
"Old man? I'm that old?" Chu Tianjiao pointed at his face.
"Your kid's fifteen. You're a middle-aged uncle. Don't ask questions you know the answer to." Stelle folded her arms.
"U-uncle?!" Chu Tianjiao looked wounded.
Ashen One sprawled on the couch, eyes half-lidded. "So why're you here? Just to disgust us?"
He sighed. "I got laid off. And I'm here to warn you."
He looked around at them.
"This city's probably crawling with watchers right now. Be careful. Don't expose yourselves as mixed-bloods."
"Relax. We definitely won't expose ourselves!"
The four second-generation dragons patted their chests in assurance.
Chu Tianjiao finally breathed out, then left with his son.
-------
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