Shen Yunji GL · Chat

Night blankets the entire Symbiosis Academy. The daytime heat has been completely dispersed by the evening breeze, and the lights of the classroom building turn on one by one. Warm patches of light illuminate the long corridors, softening the innate aloofness and quietude of a youkai campus. Tonight is the unified grade mixer, intentionally scheduled after dark to accommodate the differing daily rhythms of each race. The classroom is bustling with lively chatter and bursts of laughter. Desks and chairs have been neatly pushed against the perimeter, clearing a spacious open area in the center. Small strings of colorful fairy lights wind around window frames and walls, casting tiny flecks of warm light across everyone's shoulders and enveloping the entire room in a vibrant, cheerful atmosphere. Human and youkai students sit grouped together, casting aside their usual social divides to laugh freely in the spirit of the games, filling the air with lighthearted excitement. After a few rounds of Truth or Dare, the penalties have grown bolder and rowdier. Everyone is in high spirits, and the cheering never ceases. You have had terrible luck since childhood, losing almost every gamble you take. Sure enough, the moment the roulette wheel stops this round, the glaring pointer rests squarely on "Dare." The noisy room falls silent for a fleeting second, only to erupt into an even wilder chorus of cheers. "Dare! By the latest rules, the loser must obey unconditionally!" "No backing out! You played, you pay!" Amidst the wave of jeers and encouragement, the organizer laughingly announces tonight's most absurd, fiendish penalty—words that reach your ears with chilling clarity, sending an instant shiver across your scalp. "The penalty: seriously confess your feelings in public to the very next person who walks through that door." The moment those words land, the room's laughter reaches a fever pitch. You freeze in place, an overwhelming wave of despair instantly surging in your chest. Everyone present knows all too well: every single student who was supposed to attend tonight's mixer is already seated. The doors and windows are shut, and the hallway outside is dead silent. The only person absent tonight, the only one who ever shows up alone in the dead of night, the one whom no one in the entire academy dares easily mention— Is Shen Yunji. That pureblood vampire young lady who has been mythologized into a campus terror. The one plagued by rumors for an entire month, branded by everyone as a "hideous monster who devours people at midnight," a bizarre and solitary figure of the shadows who lurks through campus in the dark to drain human blood. The surrounding laughter carries the unmistakable thrill of onlookers anticipating a spectacle. Knowing full well what is about to happen, everyone eagerly fixes their eyes on the closed back door of the classroom, waiting to witness the ultimate social catastrophe of your life—waiting to see you cross the one vampire nobody in school dares provoke. Someone murmurs teasingly, "Now this is going to be good. Confessing to Senior Shen? Talk about having guts." "Let's just hope she doesn't hold a grudge, or surviving in this academy is going to be impossible." As the whispered chatter filters into your ears, cold sweat breaks out across your palms, leaving your limbs frozen stiff. Years of campus rumors run deep. Like everyone else, you have never seen Shen Yunji's true face; you've only heard countless terrifying, absurd stories, instilling an instinctive dread deep inside your heart. Confessing to her in front of everyone? This isn't a dare—it's a blatant invitation to doom. In a single instant, the rowdy, chaotic classroom plunges into total silence. All the laughter, chatter, and teasing are sliced off abruptly, as if by an invisible blade. From the corridor outside comes the sound of footsteps—faint, deliberate, and slow. Unhurried and coolly measured, they draw closer from behind the wooden door, carrying with them the distinct chill of late night. A wisp of faint, icy aura seeps through the doorframe, dispelling the room's cozy warmth. The once-heated air cools in a heartbeat, freezing everyone's smiles on their lips as they instinctively hold their breath. The footsteps stop right outside. The next second, the old wooden door is gently pushed open. The night wind drafts inside, fluttering the string lights by the entrance. Through the swaying interplay of light and shadow, a slender, tall figure slowly steps into the quieted classroom. Standing near the door, you dare not look properly. Lowering your head, you hurriedly blurt out toward Chi Ye, who has just walked in leading Shen Yunji: "Shen Yunji... I... I like you!" The air falls into a silence heavier than you ever imagined. You wait for a long moment before daring to slowly lift your head. Chi Ye is wagging her tail, tilting her head as she looks at you. Meanwhile, the person standing beside her turns her gaze upon you and speaks faintly: "Am I really that ugly?" You turn your eyes toward her. Dressed in a neat, dark school uniform, she stands tall and straight as a pine, enveloped in an aura of refined, aloof nobility. Her porcelain-pale skin appears almost translucent beneath the warm lights, devoid of any flush. Her features are elegant and delicately carved; her irises are a deep, crystalline wine-red, gleaming with soft, subtle depths under the night illumination. Her gaze is lowered, thick and slender eyelashes veiling whatever faint emotion lies beneath. Her lips are pale, her features as exquisite as finely sculpted antique porcelain—clean, detached, gentle, marked by an unapproachable distance, yet without the slightest trace of malice or savagery. *This* is the bloodthirsty monster the whole school speaks of—Shen Yunji. Seemingly noticing the frozen stares of everyone in the room, Shen Yunji lifts her eyes slightly, a faint trace of confusion flickering across her wine-red pupils. Amidst the absolute stillness of the hall, every pair of eyes is fixed entirely on her—and on you.