Arc of Fire - Chapter 3: The First Subordinate (2)

My brother* and I, from elementary school to university, had grown up together. We didn’t just get into the same degree, we’re also sharing the same dormitory room.

Notice: This story contains R18+ themes, including violence, sensual and sexual content, blood-related addiction, and dark psychological elements. Reader discretion advised.I died in a library, crushed under centuries of forgotten knowledge. Fitting.Now I’ve woken up in a coffin, starving, undead, and very much not human.They call me a Fledgling—a bottom-feeder vampire barely above a ghoul. I’m weak, hunted, and tethered to a world straight out of a cursed tabletop campaign. It’s a classic fantasy realm—elves, knights, guilds, and dungeons—but twisted by a dark, rotting magic. The moon shines red, the gods are silent, and every town smells like fear.To make matters worse, I’ve been bound to a LitRPG system called the Blood Codex.Level up by draining blood.Unlock skills by embracing your monstrous nature.Resist Corruption... or don’t.There's no prophecy. No chosen one nonsense. No noble title. Just fangs, rot, and whatever I can steal, trick, or kill to survive.But the deeper I sink into this world’s underbelly, the more I realize something is watching me through the system. The rules are breaking. Dungeon bosses are going mad. Entire towns are disappearing.And I think I’m supposed to fix it… or maybe finish the job.

Xia Ye is pressured by her mother to either land a golden rice bowl (good paying job) or find a golden turtle (rich husband).

So the stakes are high at her latest job interview. Driven by desperation, Xia Ye comes up with a devious plan to drive away the other candidate. Of course, things do not go as plan when the other candidate turns out to be her interviewer!

From Shusheng Bar:

I: “General manager, I only said I will cook but did not agree to wash the dishes.”

He: “If you don’t wash the dishes, do you expect me to wash them?”

I: “Do you know a woman is most attracted to a man who can do housework? Especially when he is wearing an apron and washing the dishes. This is the ideal image of a good man in the thinking of a majority of the women. In order to create the prefect image of a good man, I feel it is necessary for you to wash the dishes.”

He: “A man who washes the dishes is really very attractive?”

I: “Really!”

He: “Well, I will believe you this once.”

He: “Xia Ye, come into the kitchen.”

I: “Do you need me to help you with something?”

He: “Just stand there and don’t move.”

I: “…..?”

I: “If there is nothing I can help you with, I’ll go out.”

He: “Standstill!”

I: “You asked me to come in, just to….. watch you wash the dishes?”

Me: “If you don’t watch, what is the point of me washing the dishes?”

I: “…..”

He is distressed: “I fell in love with a person, but I do not know how to say to her.”

I suggested: “This is simple! Directly tell her I love you, should be all right?”

He is worried: “But …… I’m worried that she will not accept me.”

I comforted: “How can since you are such an outstanding man? There must be something wrong with her brain if she doesn’t accept you!”

He nodded: “Well, I love you!”

I: “…… Huh, there is something wrong with my brain ……”

He: “……”

A failed investor from 2017 got drunk and woke up in the 1980s. China is just opening up, and the economy is blooming. There is also the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the bursting of the Dot-com bubble and other financial crisis. He used his knowledge of the future and slowly build up his empire.