Blood Neon

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I'm the One Who's Really the Outsider

Staring at the scene before her, Lin Ying frowned.

Come on, officer, really? She didn’t know what kind of deep-seated grudge was going on here, but why the sneak attack from behind? Just because they couldn’t get along didn’t mean things had to go down like this.

And this poor kid—he clearly had that clueless, innocent look about him. The other side had him surrounded. Did he seriously think they were just there to have a friendly chat?

Judging by how the boy walked up, full of righteous energy, did he actually believe he could stand his ground and take them on? Had he been tricked into coming here? Either way, if he really understood that half the guys across from him were already armed and waiting, yet still dared walk into this alley… wasn’t he just a full-blown idiot?

If it had been a standoff between two groups, maybe there was still a chance for some kind of negotiation. In fact, since coming to this world, Lin Ying had once seen a group of street punks settle things peacefully after just a few minutes of talking. But tonight, this gang had surrounded a single person. If they didn’t beat him half to death, it would feel like they were wasting all that effort they’d put into forming this lineup.

Lin Ying, who’d originally intended to enjoy the show, suddenly found herself at a bit of a loss.

At first, she had only ducked into hiding because she’d seen this shady group gathering in the alley, sensing that something was about to go down. Right now, she had wrapped her physical body inside her true form's black shadow and was crouching in the corner of the alley, fully merged with the environment.

Initially, Lin Ying thought this might be a planned fight between two rival groups. In that case, she could probably pick off the most aggressive punk of the bunch and swallow him without too much trouble.

But who would've guessed that only one person would show up? And not just anyone—a kid in a school uniform, looking like nothing more than a high schooler.

Barely two or three words had been exchanged before fists started flying. The poor boy didn’t even have time to lift his arms before a beer bottle smacked him on the back of the head, knocking him silly. Now, watching him curled up on the ground being stomped and kicked by a gang of thugs, Lin Ying felt a little stuck.

—This situation was… a bit tricky.

Sure, they were being pretty vicious. That first sneak attack hadn’t held back at all. Young guys always had a hard time controlling their strength. Judging by what she saw, that blow from behind might’ve already caused a mild concussion.

But on the other hand, if you said they’d gone too far, deserved to be deep-fried in breadcrumbs and tossed into a vat of oil—well, maybe not quite that far.

From the looks of it, they weren’t trying to kill him. The goal seemed to be nothing more than beating some sense into this naïve boy. In other words, just teaching him a lesson.

Which made it hard to pass judgment. These guys clearly weren’t good people, but they weren’t quite evil enough to deserve death either. This left Lin Ying feeling troubled.

After all, once she made a move, it usually meant killing. Being dragged into the shadows and chewed up by black tendrils was no joke. What was she supposed to do, chew them only half to pieces? Call it “disciplinary nibbling”? Okay… maybe that was a concept worth exploring for future practice.

So, what if she didn’t use the power of her shadow form? What if she relied only on her outer human body, which, aside from being tough, didn’t really have any advantages? Was she supposed to charge in and be a walking heater, spreading warmth like a blunt weapon? She wasn’t some reincarnated succubus—was she supposed to drain them to death as a combat method?

Forget it. If things really got to that point, she’d probably lose control and end up slaughtering everyone.

So, Lin Ying now faced two options.

First, she could maintain her current form—as an ominous-looking mass of shadow on the ground—charge out and swallow the guy in the leather jacket who looked particularly appetizing, then scare off the rest of the gang, thus resolving the situation.

The idea of eating him wasn’t just about appetite—there was strategy in it: take down the boss first to send a message to the lackeys. The fact that she thought he looked like he deserved a beating, or that she saw him tucking an iPhone X and several red bills back into his coat earlier, had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Absolutely nothing.

The biggest problem with this plan was that, although her true form wouldn’t be seen, news of a “monster eating people” might still get out—and who knew what kind of chaos that would bring.

The second option: she could appear in her human form, step in with the reliable aura of a mature adult, and see if she could handle this bunch of kids—who had an average age of maybe twenty—through conversation. If that worked, great, crisis resolved. If not, well, she could always fall back on plan one. At least she'd get a snack out of it.

This, of course, had to do with her appearance. After all, at this age, young men full of hormones could easily get... stirred up. That kind of unstable factor needed to be taken into account.

Lin Ying had once been male too. Though some memories and impressions of her past self were vague and blurry, she could still understand how men thought. It wasn’t hard for her to relate.

And since her reincarnation, she had looked in the mirror more than once. Objectively speaking, her current appearance was extremely beautiful. It was just that, due to the lingering absence of deeper emotional response, her reactions remained somewhat muted. So Lin Ying could only rely on logic and memory to make judgments. This had nothing to do with “equipment” or physical gender—it was purely that her brain didn’t respond naturally anymore.

Because of that, she had a very clear understanding that her appearance now could be considered a classic case of "a beauty who brings disaster." It was far too easy to attract people with ill intent. After all, out of the three people she’d eaten so far, two of them—more or less—had died because of a physiological reaction triggered by her appearance.

With that in mind, the best approach for Lin Ying would clearly be to go out in human form and act as bait. In a way, she couldn’t help but complain—was she given this face specifically by some monster just so she could lure people in?

But it wasn’t like she went around eating everyone she saw. Lin Ying was quite picky when it came to feeding—she did it to protect what was left of her humanity. If someone’s crime wasn’t grave enough, they simply didn’t deserve to end up in her stomach.

Young people made mistakes—it was part of growing up. And besides, she didn’t fully understand the full context here. All she’d heard were some heavily processed fragments from the gang’s casual chatter. If she just killed all of them in one go, it would also mean destroying their chance to change in the future.

What was that saying? "By executing an evil person of the past, you may also be killing a good person of the future."

In a sense, certain provisions in juvenile law—those lighter sentences for underage offenders—carried a similar logic. The younger they were, the more potential they had for change. So Lin Ying really didn’t want to crudely and prematurely pass judgment on all of them, declaring them irredeemable.

Not that this had anything to do with legal codes or juvenile protection laws—Lin Ying wasn’t the type to consult the penal code before making a move. Let’s be real: eating people was already illegal. If the law came knocking, she’d be the first one arrested.

Wait, no—she wouldn’t just be arrested. She’d probably end up in some secret containment facility run by a mysterious organization, dissected piece by piece in a sealed laboratory.

This was exactly why Lin Ying leaned toward handling things as a human. Since she had no intention of killing everyone present, there was absolutely no benefit in letting them see her true form—only endless risk.

What she feared most was the possible existence of some organization or individuals in this world who dealt with supernatural incidents.

So far, this world seemed almost identical to the Earth she knew—identical in language, daily life, and all the little details. If not for the fact that she knew for certain there had never been a city called Pingyang in her previous life, she’d have thought she’d simply reincarnated somewhere else on Earth.

But just like in her old world—where debates about UFOs, aliens, time travelers, and psychics had never truly stopped—now that she herself had become a monster, she couldn't help but believe that the supernatural might be real. With that line of thinking, maybe there had been a Secure, Contain, Protect-type organization in her past life.

If those were only suspicions and guesses about her former world, then at least in this one, there was undeniably one supernatural being—and that was Lin Ying herself.

And if there was one, there could be more. And if there were more, then the existence of a supernatural organization became all the more likely.

Even though she hadn’t yet seen another supernatural entity or incident with her own eyes, Lin Ying still didn’t dare let her guard down. She feared one day she might black out, only to wake up strapped to a table in a lab.

That’s why, as a precaution, anyone who saw her true form had to be someone she could trust—or they had to be dead.

Which was why, unless absolutely necessary, she would never reveal her true form in front of others.

…

“You were pretty cocky back at school, weren’t you?”

“…”

“What, you dared to laugh at me and say I had no balls? Let me show you today what having balls really means.”

The grand beatdown had come to an end. A lot of people had just come along to join in on the fun—kicking a few times for show, like several girls in school uniforms dressed up flamboyantly.

Now, only a few who'd been holding in their rage still stood at the front. The rest were either chatting off to the side or taking photos, laughing loudly. If you ignored the mess in the middle, the whole scene could almost be mistaken for a school field trip.

The boy lying in the middle was already slipping in and out of consciousness. All he could feel was pain—everywhere. He couldn’t focus, couldn’t think, couldn’t even move.

The guy in the leather jacket, seeing that everyone had gotten their fill, stepped out from the crowd and patted a fellow student in uniform who still looked reluctant to stop.

“Little Wang, that’s enough. After getting beaten like this, I don’t think he’ll be trying anything in front of you guys again.”

Little Wang raised his head, gave another kick, then licked his dry lips with excitement, nodding several times eagerly.

"Yeah, thanks to you, Brother Liu, we finally got to vent today."

"Yeah, much appreciated, Brother Liu." A nearby buzz-cut youth with a monkey-rat face quickly gave a bow.

"Mm, helping out my brothers—that's a given. With no one standing in your way anymore, making money should be a lot easier from now on, huh?"

The one called Brother Liu narrowed his small eyes. Though his mouth was full of brotherhood and loyalty, every word that came out was about profit.

"Of course! Didn’t we agree on this from the start? Brother Liu, you're being too polite!"

Little Wang rushed over, wearing a flattering grin.

"Hahaha, my bad, my bad. I just wanted to congratulate you, but I guess I sounded too distant. How about this—let’s go eat later, then hit up a karaoke bar. It’s on me tonight, everyone here gets a share. If you don’t show up, you're just disrespecting me."

Although he put on a hearty, boisterous act, his expression gave off nothing but sleaze. Still, everyone present—both male and female—returned his smile with the same air of forced camaraderie.

The ones who’d joined in the beating most enthusiastically, especially the school-uniform-wearing kids, laughed the loudest.

"Too bad this guy's just a broke-ass loser. Otherwise, we could’ve made him pay for the meal."

Brother Liu lightly nudged the boy’s leg with the tip of his leather shoe, letting out a sigh full of fake pity and real contempt.

"Brother Liu, actually I think this guy probably has some money. He lives alone, so he must get a decent allowance. He just didn’t bring any today. Maybe we can hit him up again later?"

"Haha, that’s your business then. I won’t get involved in that part."

"Alright, no problem! In a bit, when the school starts collecting fees for textbooks, us little brothers are definitely gonna cash in big. When the time comes, Brother Liu, you better join us for a feast, alright?"

"Of course, hahaha…"

"Hahaha…"

"All together…"

"With your skills? Big money? Don’t kid yourself."

"Yeah right…"

…

"Alright, finally—hey, kid, I know you're still breathing. Quit faking it."

Brother Liu squatted down, pressed a few times on the boy’s skull, then twisted his face to the side.

"You realize your mistake now, don’t you? I’m not gonna make this hard for you. Let’s just keep it simple."

He waved over a few students.

"You ticked off my brothers. So today, you just call them ‘grandpa’ once, and we’ll be square. Got it?"

"…Go f*ck your mother."

"What did you say?"

The man paused for a moment, not quite hearing it clearly. Then, reacting instinctively, he threw a punch.

As if he’d just been playing dead all this time, the boy suddenly sprang to life.

"I said—go f*ck your mother!"

Unfortunately, his punch was far too slow. Brother Liu simply raised his hand and caught the boy’s arm.

The boy's desperate attack had failed to even break through the enemy’s guard.

"Good, good, kid. At first, when they told me you had something wrong in the head, I didn’t believe them."

Brother Liu's grip on the boy’s arm tightened with every word he spoke.

"Looks like… we didn’t teach you enough of a lesson earlier."

The “peacekeeper” act he’d been putting on a moment ago completely vanished as his expression twisted into something much more vicious.

"Er Liuzi, Old Zhu—get over here. We’re about to give this little—"

But before he could finish his sentence, a crisp, sharp female voice cut through the night.

"You bastards! What do you think you’re doing to my brother?!"

Everyone froze at the sudden voice. One by one, they turned to look.

Under the dim streetlights, the girl’s figure emerged, step by step. The soft yellow glow lit her up from the feet upward as she walked forward, finally landing just beneath her face when she came to a stop.

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ps.

From Lin Ying’s perspective, this man is referred to as "the guy in the leather jacket" (夹克小哥), as she is observing and deciding how best to intervene. From Zhang Qiming’s perspective, however, he’s seen as "the leather jacket big brother" (夹克大哥), likely due to fear or recognition of his status. The difference in naming reflects each character’s viewpoint—Lin Ying’s being more detached and critical.

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