Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
In the vast, empty corridor, the air hung heavy as if saturated with mercury. Multiple gazes—shocked, probing, utterly incredulous—acted like invisible probes, converging sharply on the insulated bag bearing the "Sunrise" logo clutched in Dawn Xiang's hand, and... the long-fingered hand reaching steadily towards it.
Ethan Yan's movement held no hesitation, as calm as accepting an ordinary document. His slender fingers grasped the bag's handle firmly, then withdrew naturally.
This seemingly simple action detonated like a depth charge in a placid lake!
Luna Yue's pupils contracted violently, her breath catching in her throat! She felt her jaw might literally drop, her eyes wide as saucers, fixed unwaveringly on that incongruous bubble tea bag now held in her master's hand! Severe mysophobia?! The master who recoiled if anyone approached within three meters, whose desk had to be immaculate?! He had... he had actually accepted a bag containing a human beverage from this little vampire?! This utterly shattered centuries of ingrained understanding!
Standing behind Ethan, Silas Nan and Julian Li maintained their usual statuesque composure on the surface. Yet, their tightly pressed lips and the razor-sharp glint flashing deep within their eyes betrayed the tempest raging within them. River Jiang felt his mind go momentarily blank. His earlier assertion that "the Master would never drink such things" now felt like a silent, stinging slap across his own face.
Dawn remained completely oblivious to the magnitude twelve earthquake shaking the foundations of the high-ranking vampires around him. His heart was pounding so hard it threatened to leap out of his throat! Ethan took it! He really took it! Immense joy exploded like fireworks in his chest, making him almost bounce on the spot. Yet, beneath this elation, a small knot of anxiety and uncertainty remained.
He stole a furtive glance at the imposing "spectators" surrounding him, then back at Ethan's impassive face. His fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of his shirt. That question... the one he'd been bottling up... was it appropriate to ask now? With so many people watching...?
Dawn's hesitation and inner conflict were written plainly across his face. Ethan's deep, dark crimson eyes swept over his furrowed brow and flickering gaze, finally breaking the suffocating silence. His voice was low and even, devoid of inflection. "Say what you wish to say."
The words acted like a pardon! Dawn instantly brightened, like a student granted permission, immediately dismissing the oppressive gazes around him. Summoning his courage, he lifted his face, his clear eyes meeting Ethan's directly. A touch of grievance and a glimmer of hope mingled in his expression as he spoke, his voice soft yet distinct:
"I... I wanted to say... why don't you come to see me?" He paused, a subtle hint of pleading in his tone. "If you want bubble tea, you can come over anytime! The tea at my shop is really delicious! I promise!"
The corner of Ethan's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. He very much wanted to tell this bright-eyed creature: I have zero interest in such cloying human concoctions. But looking into Dawn's eyes, brimming with such earnest expectation that they seemed ready to spill starlight, the icy refusal caught on his tongue and was ultimately swallowed.
Unable to respond verbally, he could only offer another slight nod.
This tiny gesture was enough for Dawn! He exhaled in relief, his face blossoming into a smile once more. But then, River Jiang's earlier words resurfaced, planting a seed of doubt.
"Then... this isn't your office?" he ventured cautiously, his gaze flickering between River Jiang and Ethan before settling back on Ethan's face, filled with hopeful anticipation.
"Not here," Ethan replied succinctly.
"Oh..." Dawn's face instantly fell. His long lashes fluttered like the wings of a slightly wronged butterfly, his eyes clouded with unmistakable disappointment and a touch of sadness. He blinked up at Ethan, as if silently accusing: You made me come to the wrong place...
But this disappointment lasted only seconds. Dawn's mind leaped ahead with its characteristic agility. He immediately envisioned a solution, his eyes lighting up again. "Then... then which floor is your office on? Next time I can bring it directly to you!" His tone was light, almost playful, as if he'd found a new game.
However, no sooner had the words left his mouth than a more "serious" problem struck him! He smacked his forehead in annoyance and hastily added, "Oh! And... if it's convenient... could we add each other as friends?" He pulled out his phone, plastered with adorable stickers, and waved it hopefully. "Next time you want bubble tea, or... or if there's anything, you can just message me directly! I promise I'll come running, really, really fast!" As he spoke, his voice unconsciously softened, tinged with shyness and apprehension, like a small animal fearing rejection, his eyes wide and beseeching as he stared at Ethan.
He didn't know that Ethan's mind was weathering a minor internal storm. Add friends? Friends? What was this? A new form of contract? Some social ritual invented by humans? The ancient being, having lived through eons, felt a flicker of unfamiliar confusion regarding modern communication technology. However... seeing Dawn's "world-ending" expression of pathetic hopefulness, Ethan decided to table the question for now.
"Twenty-sixth floor," he stated tersely, offering a different answer.
Boom! Dawn felt another colossal firework detonate in his head! Twenty-sixth floor! He told me! Ethan actually told me! This felt more thrilling than winning the lottery! Immense joy instantly washed away the awkwardness of the rejected friend request (as he perceived it), making him almost bounce again. He clenched his fists tightly, forcing himself to suppress the urge to dance.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Looking around, Silas, Julian, Luna, and River Jiang stood like silent, imposing statues, their gazes profound. Dawn belatedly realized that Ethan probably had important matters to attend to, and he might have overstayed his welcome.
He quickly reined in his exuberance, offering Ethan a well-behaved, slightly apologetic smile. "Then I won't disturb you any longer! I'll go now!" He turned to leave.
After one step, he remembered something and stopped awkwardly. He turned slightly and gave a small, respectful bow towards the four "statues." "Sorry for disturbing everyone," he murmured softly. Then, turning back to Ethan, he waved vigorously, enthusiastically, his face radiant with a brilliant smile. "Goodbye, Ethan!"
Before the words fully faded, he was already bounding down the corridor towards the elevator lobby like a young deer released from its tether. The sound of his light, quick footsteps echoed briefly before disappearing around the corner.
As Dawn vanished completely from sight, the corridor, already silent enough to hear a pin drop, plunged into an even deeper, more eerie stillness. The air seemed to solidify into ice, making even breathing feel cautious.
Ultimately, it was Silas Nan who shattered the suffocating silence. His voice was like ten-thousand-year-old ice, devoid of inflection. "The meeting. Shall we continue?"
Ethan didn't answer. His form merely flickered, dissolving like ink into water, vanishing instantly from the spot.
The remaining four exchanged glances, their eyes meeting in silent communication, conveying shared shock, bewilderment, and disbelief. Moments later, space rippled successively as Silas, Julian, Luna, and River Jiang also vanished via teleportation, leaving the corridor in utter, profound silence.
Later that day, after the core leadership meeting concluded, an indescribable atmosphere lingered in River Jiang's office. Silas, Julian, Luna, and River Jiang remained, an unusual occurrence.
"Can someone please explain to me what the hell that was?" River Jiang demanded, breaking the silence, his brow furrowed deeply. He had just returned from a month-long overseas M&A project, completely missing the preceding events. Now, he felt utterly bewildered, his worldview profoundly shaken.
Silas Nan leaned against the tall window, arms crossed. His stern face showed no expression, but complex emotions churned deep within his eyes. He had served Ethan the longest, so long he couldn't recall the exact years, but it was definitely over five millennia. In that vast expanse of time, he had witnessed countless facets of his master—majestic, ruthless, inscrutable, a deity controlling all. Yet, calmly accepting a "tribute" from an unknown fledgling vampire, even revealing his office floor location...? This was unprecedented! He, too, couldn't comprehend it.
Julian Li and Luna Yue exchanged a look. They were "in the know," but only to a limited extent.
"That little vampire is Dawn Xiang, the owner of the bubble tea shop across the street," Julian stated, his voice measured, striving for objectivity. "About a month ago, he accidentally intruded on the top floor. It seems... he committed a minor offense against the Master." He chose his words carefully, omitting the earth-shattering detail of "licking the wound." "The Master chose not to pursue it at the time. Since then, he has been persistently observing the Master entering and leaving the building from his shop."
Luna added, "I observed him for a while. That child... his mind is very simple. He seems to harbor only a certain... abnormal obsession and curiosity towards the Master. He attempted to deliver bubble tea to the Master before, but you intercepted him, River. Today... was the first time the Master manifested to accept it." Recalling Ethan's utterly impassive expression as he took the bag still struck her as unbelievable.
The four of them pieced together their fragments of information. Yet, the core of the puzzle—Ethan Yan's true intentions—remained a vast, blank void. They couldn't understand it, nor could they speculate.
Finally, Silas Nan delivered a cold summation. "The Master's will is beyond our comprehension. Since he has tacitly permitted his existence..." His sharp gaze swept over the other three. "...then not violating the Master's will is our bottom line."
This small "internal meeting" concluded. Though no definitive answers emerged, a consensus had formed: that fledgling vampire named Dawn Xiang seemed to occupy a "special position" with the Master—one they couldn't fathom but were obligated to acknowledge.
From then on, when Silas, Julian, or River Jiang occasionally passed through the main entrance of Twilight Tower, their gazes would inevitably drift towards the brightly lit bubble tea shop across the street, lingering on the young figure leaning against the window, his eyes shining as he gazed at the top floor.
Luna Yue became a regular at Sunrise Bubble Tea. She often dragged her colleagues from the secretarial pool, Selina Zhong and Violet Liang, along for a "relaxing break." The more she interacted with Dawn, the more she found him endearing. In online parlance, Dawn was "Adorable with a capital A"—clean, pure, a bit clumsy but full of vitality, smiling like a little sun, a stark contrast to the many scheming, ambitious vampires navigating the city's cold underbelly.
However, despite the thriving business at Dawn's shop, and despite Luna and her colleagues becoming regulars, the guest Dawn most yearned for—Ethan Yan—never made an appearance.
This didn't extinguish Dawn's enthusiasm. Armed with the crucial information of the "twenty-sixth floor," he mustered his courage and made several more trips to Twilight Tower. Each time, he meticulously crafted what he believed was the best cup of bubble tea. He would then ride the elevator straight to the twenty-sixth floor and place the tea on the gleaming assistant's desk outside Ethan's office (he didn't dare knock), accompanied by a small card adorned with a hand-drawn smiley face.
What delighted Dawn even more was the discovery that he seemed to have been granted a "privilege." The security personnel at Twilight Tower's grand entrance no longer subjected him to detailed questioning or registration. When he appeared carrying that familiar "Sunrise" bag, the stern-faced guards in black uniforms would merely give a slight nod of acknowledgment, a silent signal, and wave him through, as if he were already a recognized regular.
This silent permission filled Dawn with joy for a long time. He interpreted it as recognition from a friend, a precious, hard-won trust that bridged a vast chasm. Though Ethan never responded to his cards, nor appeared when he delivered the tea, this "access" was enough to make a blossoming garden of happiness bloom within Dawn's heart.