The bat wings, adorned with what looked like colorful diamond-shaped crystals, slowly unfurled. In an instant, the noisy crowd fell silent.
"B-Blood Demon!"
Someone reflexively swallowed their saliva. The people below quickly scattered and fled upon seeing this. The woman's face turned deathly pale the moment she saw those bat wings, but behind her, the chubby little boy was still shouting at Flandre Scarlet.
"What ugly wings! But the things hanging underneath are quite pretty. If you're willing to give them to me as compensation, I might forgive you for now."
Just then, the amusement park manager came running over. "Eldest Miss, what happened?!" He saw the bat wings behind the little girl standing next to Beatrice, reflexively swallowed his saliva, and then asked.
"Throw this mother and son out, then record their appearance. All projects under the Swire Family are to be completely closed to their family," Beatrice's green eyes were full of anger as she pointed at the pair and spoke in an icy tone.
"Do I really not need to kill them? Flandre is very fast!" Seeing Beatrice's angry expression, Flandre Scarlet opened her mouth to reveal her fangs, staring at the pair.
"No need, Flandre. Attacking trash like this will only get you dirty." Beatrice reached out and pressed down on Flandre Scarlet's shoulder.
"Oh!" Seeing this, Flandre Scarlet didn't speak further. The manager immediately called over several burly men to escort the mother and son away.
Beatrice looked around. Because of the appearance of the Blood Demon, many people had already run away, and the place that was just bustling had become deserted. "I'm so sorry, Flandre. I brought you out to have fun, but then this happened."
"It's okay. But can we still play?" Flandre Scarlet indicated that she wouldn't have unnecessary emotions because of unimportant people. She was more concerned about what other attractions there were; she had promised Alina that she would tell her about every single ride she went on.
"Of course. As I said, this is Swire Family territory. I have the final say." Beatrice picked up the cloak that had fallen on the ground, flicked off the dust, and held it in her hand. "Since we're going to play, let's play openly. So what if you're a Blood Demon? Flandre, you're a good girl; you should have fun together with everyone else."
After saying that, Beatrice took Flandre Scarlet's hand and walked toward another amusement facility nearby. The amusement park manager nearby wiped away his sweat upon seeing this, and while following them, he ordered his subordinates to notify the head of the family.
Perhaps because Lungmen was indeed a sufficiently inclusive place, and because Beatrice was constantly holding Flandre Scarlet's hand, during the subsequent attractions—even though people stayed a bit further away, such as when they rode the pirate ship and no one sat around them—the situation where people ran away just from seeing Flandre didn't occur again.
The message the amusement park manager received from above was: "The decisions of the Swire Family are not to be questioned by outsiders. If someone does not allow them to play, send that person out."
Seeing this, the manager's back was completely drenched in cold sweat. Fortunately, he hadn't stopped the two "great ancestors" from having their fun, otherwise he would have been among those invited to leave. The two played until the sun began to set in the afternoon. After trying out all the facilities, they finally walked out together reluctantly.
"Did you have fun today?" Beatrice asked while driving, her face still a bit flushed with excitement.
"I'm very happy! Flandre saw many things she had never seen before!" Flandre Scarlet hummed a song happily.
"That's good. By the way, let's go to your place and play games together in a bit. I recently found a very interesting game called 'Happy Kitchen.' It's said to be a small game suitable for two people to play together, so it's perfect for us," Beatrice said.
"Okay, okay!" Playing games wouldn't affect her chatting with Alina, so Flandre Scarlet did not refuse.
A short while later, the two arrived at Flandre Scarlet's home with the game disc. They started the game, and ten minutes later, voices could be heard.
"Hurry, hurry! I'm cutting carrots here, Flandre, you go watch the stove!" "Oh, don't block the way!" "Oh no, the pot's on fire!" "What do you mean the ingredients weren't added?!" "Total failure!"
Beatrice lay on Flandre Scarlet's lap like a salted fish, her eyes lifeless. "Whatever happened to that simple and relaxing little game?" Beatrice looked at Flandre Scarlet, who had a calm face beside her. "Aren't you even a little bit sad that we failed?"
Flandre Scarlet looked at her curiously. "Since it's a game, why should I be sad?" Flandre Scarlet indicated that the only thing she would be sad about was having no one to play games with her, but she wouldn't be sad over winning or losing a game.
Beatrice thought that made a lot of sense, so she picked up the controller to start another round. At that moment, someone suddenly rang the doorbell. The two went out and saw it was Ch'en Huijie.
"Pink Sausage Dragon, what are you doing here?!" Beatrice's hair stood on end the moment she saw her.
"You're playing here?" Hearing the game sounds from inside the house, Ch'en Huijie was somewhat startled.
"So what? You're a busy person with no time to accompany Flandre. I'm not as busy as you." Beatrice crossed her arms and looked at Ch'en Huijie.
Hearing her words, Ch'en Huijie looked at Flandre Scarlet with an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry, I really have been quite busy lately..." Then she pointed to a sealed box next to the car. "This is the... food that Madam asked me to bring you."
"Food?" Beatrice remembered that she had invited Flandre to eat more than once, but the other girl would only take a tiny taste.
"It's blood, fresh." Flandre Scarlet only spoke when Ch'en Huijie picked up the box and walked inside. Hearing Flandre Scarlet's words, Beatrice froze for a second before remembering that the harmless-looking girl in front of her was actually a Blood Demon.
"So you can only eat fresh blood?" She realized she seemed to have never asked this question.
"Yes. But in the past, Sakuya would make the blood into various small pastries." Flandre Scarlet said after opening the box and smelling the blood inside.
"Sakuya?" Ch'en asked with a questioning tone.
"My sister's butler, the Head Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She is a very serious, gentle, and loyal person," Flandre Scarlet answered, recalling the person who kept a straight face most of the time—someone who would speak and chat with her softly, but wouldn't play with her.
"This is fresh blood that just arrived at the blood donation station today. Governor Wei arranged for someone to intercept fifty catties and had me deliver it to you." Just as Beatrice was about to ask Ch'en Huijie where so much blood had come from, Ch'en's words made her eyes widen. She immediately grabbed Ch'en's arm and pointed at the box.
"Wait, this is all human blood?"
Ch'en Huijie nodded.
"No way, those voluntary blood donation vans running all over the city these past few days were to get food for Flandre?" Beatrice felt her worldview crumbling a bit.
"We inquired, and Flandre Scarlet needs to consume at least this much blood every month. Moreover, non-human blood is very hard to drink. But Lungmen cannot allow her to go out and feed on her own, so Governor Wei made such an arrangement," Ch'en Huijie answered very calmly.
Beatrice was no fool; even if Ch'en Huijie didn't say it, she could guess the reason, but it still made her feel a bit deceived. However, seeing Flandre Scarlet's indifferent appearance, she let out a sigh. "Then, Flandre, how are you going to eat it..."
Before she could finish, she saw Flandre pick up the opened box and start gulping it down. Fifty catties of fresh blood quickly entered her stomach, and her belly didn't even bulge in the slightest.
"You finished it just like that?" Beatrice hesitated for a second before picking up some tissue nearby to wipe Flandre Scarlet's mouth.
"Mhm!" Flandre Scarlet squinted her eyes, enjoying Beatrice's wiping.
"Such a large box... won't you get a stomach ache?" Beatrice looked at the little tot in front of her; that basin was almost as heavy as Flandre herself. The fact that her belly didn't bulge at all after drinking it caused Beatrice's curiosity to override her previous gloom.
"I won't. But so many different types of blood mixed together feels a bit strange; it's not that tasty," Flandre Scarlet gave a serious evaluation.
"There's no other way. Governor Wei cannot ignore the laws of Lungmen and send a person for you to suck on." Ch'en Huijie indicated that Wei Yenwu had already done his best.
"I understand." Flandre Scarlet also knew that from a human perspective, what Wei Yenwu had done was already close to the limit of what could be tolerated.
"Hmph, Pink Sausage Dragon, are you planning to leave already?" Seeing Ch'en Huijie look like she was about to depart, Beatrice spoke sarcastically.
"Char Siu Cat, I've tolerated you for a long time!" Ch'en Huijie looked at Beatrice.
"Hmph, you've had a cold face since we were kids, and after coming back from your advanced studies at the Victoria Royal Guard Academy, you've become even more cold-blooded." Beatrice didn't give Ch'en Huijie any quarter.
"Char Siu Cat, what exactly do you want?" Ch'en Huijie looked at Beatrice, gritting her teeth.
Beatrice rolled her eyes. "What do you mean, what do I want? Flandre has been living here for so long, have you ever come by except for today? Now that you're here, can't you stay a bit longer? What are you rushing back for? Is there gold in your toilet?!"
With every sentence Beatrice spoke, Ch'en Huijie's expression grew worse. Finally, just as the two were at each other's throats, Ch'en Huijie suddenly deflated. "Fine, I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'll stay here and keep little Flandre company."
After saying that, Ch'en Huijie walked into the house.
"Hey, Pink Sausage Dragon, why are you coming in? Did anyone invite you?" Seeing Ch'en Huijie look like she was planning to stay, Swire wasn't happy again. The two began their back-and-forth bickering at the door.
Flandre Scarlet reported the fierce battle here to Alina in real-time while happily sipping a cup of hot water. Speaking of which, the habit of drinking hot water was formed at Alina's place; every time Flandre returned from going out, Alina would prepare a cup, fearing Flandre might be cold. Although Blood Demons don't eat ordinary food because it has no taste, drinking water was no problem; after all, water originally has no taste anyway.