Chapter 2: No Victims

Dusk was approaching. The slanting sunlight spilled from the edge of the city, casting streaks of pale golden radiance between the forest-like skyscrapers—but deep in the old city, surrounded by those high-rises, the sunlight struggled to reach, and the alleys had already fallen into dimness.

The lingering dampness and slight chill in the air felt completely out of place with the dry air outside the alley, and the ice crystals rapidly melting and disappearing between the cracks of the bricks served as "evidence" that something unusual had occurred in this quiet street.

Several black shadows darted across the gaps between the buildings, leaping from the air as if weightless before landing in a corner of the alley. The edges of these shadows shimmered, quickly coalescing into wolf-like forms. These faceless shadows prowled and sniffed around the alley for a while before slowly gathering together. The lead shadow raised its head and let out a loud howl toward the sky

"Awoo..."

"Bang!"

A stone struck the wolf-shadow’s head with precision, abruptly cutting the howl in half. Immediately after, a scolding voice came from the shadows of a building: "Shut up! No howling in the urban area—and adding a 'woof' at the end doesn't help! Humans aren't stupid; nobody is going to believe you're dogs!"

The wolves formed from phantoms let out a few soft whimpers and sensibly retreated to the side. A somewhat petite figure then walked over from not far away.

It was a short-haired girl wearing a black skirt and a dark red jacket. A lock of hair on her forehead curled slightly upward. She looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, but her expression was exceptionally calm and mature. She stepped out of the shadows, walked straight past the wolves with their heads bowed, and saw the male corpse lying by the side of the road.

A trace of gloom flashed across the girl's face, barely perceptible. She crouched beside the corpse to inspect it, while one of the wolves approached from the side, conveying information with low, chaotic grunts.

"...The scent of rain?" The girl frowned, looking up at the sky, which had been clear for the past two days. Although it was near dusk, the sky visible between the high-rises remained clear and bright, without a hint of haze, save for the sunlight gradually fading.

After a moment, she seemed to understand something. She lowered her head again to confirm the horrifying wound on the male corpse and muttered, "...Rain, heart, the stench of a frog..."

Just then, a cell phone ringtone coming from the small bag at her waist interrupted her self-talk—the ringtone was the opening theme of the 1986 *Journey to the West*.

The short-haired girl answered the phone before the monkey finished his fourth somersault.

"Hello, who is... Oh, right, it's me," she said, holding the phone to her ear. She waved a hand at the surrounding wolves, signaling them to guard the scene, while she stood up and walked to the side. "I've arrived. My wolves detected the anomaly here first... Didn't catch it, it got away."

As she spoke, the girl sighed, her gaze falling on the unfortunate corpse.

"It was 'Rain,' accompanied by the generation of a physical 'Rain Frog,' but this rain must have been a localized projection; the scope of influence was only one person... Yes, very unlucky. A 'rain' that fell for only one person. It had already stopped by the time I arrived. The depth here has returned to L0, and the 'Rain' has detached from the boundary."

The girl paused. The voice coming from the receiver seemed to be giving instructions or asking questions. She listened patiently for a while, then glanced at the corpse not far away.

"...Medical personnel? Just send someone to collect the body. How could an ordinary person survive a direct encounter with a 'Rain Frog'? Their heart is gone... Tsk, I'll stay here and guard it. Don't forget to calculate the overtime fees separately."

The nagging voice of a middle-aged superior came from the phone, but the girl had lost patience and hung up after a few perfunctory responses.

She sighed again, walked back, and gestured for one of the wolves standing guard to lie down. She sat directly on the wolf and rested her chin on her hands, looking at the corpse of Yu Sheng.

"Poor guy. Don't know if you have any family, dying here all alone... Sigh, I'll keep you company for a while... It must be cold dying in the 'Rain,' right? Too bad I'm not the Little Match Girl, or I could have kept you warm on your way out..."

The girl muttered to herself, patiently waiting for the cleanup crew to arrive. After a short while, she heard the roar of an engine coming from the intersection a few dozen meters away—a sound so earth-shaking it was as if a heavy armored vehicle, dragging a shipping container and burning firewood, had just driven over ten consecutive speed bumps. Even the wolf beneath her was startled by the commotion and nearly jumped up—but it didn't, because someone was sitting on it.

The girl looked toward the sound and saw a large van creaking and groaning as it drove from the intersection, shivering like a 1991 Soviet vehicle as it crossed the speed bumps.

The girl rose from the wolf's back unhurriedly, watching with a blank expression as the van crossed the speed bumps, killed its engine, and several burly men in black tactical suits and full high-tech gear jumped out to push the vehicle from behind...

Another middle-aged man with a dark complexion and a sturdy build, wearing a tan jacket, stepped out of the car, followed by a young woman in a white dress with brown hair draped over her shoulders. The two looked back at their pushing team members with a helpless expression before turning to walk over.

Once they were close, the short-haired girl couldn't help but mutter, "Seriously, can't your Second Team apply for a new vehicle? The Special Investigation Bureau shouldn't be that strapped for cash... I feel like the gear on any one of your team members is worth more than this piece of junk."

"Shh!" The sturdy middle-aged man waved his hands hurriedly upon hearing this, lowered his voice, and glanced back at the stalled car and his subordinates. "Don't talk nonsense... You don't understand the situation. Our Bureau has special circumstances. This car is just having a bad day; we absolutely cannot replace it..."

"Big organizations sure have a lot of trouble," the short-haired girl pouted, clearly uninterested in the topic. She then turned her gaze to the petite lady in the white dress who had come along. "Good afternoon, Dr. Lin. Long time no see."

"It should be good evening, 'Little Red Riding Hood,'" the woman in the white dress, addressed as Dr. Lin, smiled faintly. Her lips were thin, giving her a restrained and reserved look. "How was your last injury?"

"Mostly healed," the short-haired girl, Little Red Riding Hood, flexed her right wrist. "You know, wolves generally have strong recovery abilities..."

"Human recovery ability is the strongest—it's just that humans are always quite resistant to being injured," Dr. Lin corrected her with a serious expression.

"...Oh," the girl replied perfunctorily, shifting the topic back to the corpse on the ground. "Let's look at this first. Victim, male, looks to be in his twenties. His heart was plucked out by a Rain Frog. Time of death is about two hours ago. I haven't searched the body yet, not sure if he has any identification on him... Right, to preserve the scene."

As she spoke, she looked at Dr. Lin with confusion: "You came all this way... Don't tell me you're planning to treat this too? Can this even be treated?"

"No, I'm not a god," Dr. Lin shook her head, bending down toward Yu Sheng's corpse. "I just came to take a look. It's very close to my home..."

She inspected the corpse for a while, confirming the wound and checking the deceased's personal belongings, eventually finding an ID card.

"The deceased's name is 'Yu Sheng,' twenty-four years old. The registered address is 66 Wutong Road, Old City District," she said, looking at the thin card representing his identity while comparing it to the deceased's appearance. "Captain Song, check this with the Bureau's equipment later and see if you can contact his family."

The sturdy middle-aged man beside her grunted, leaning in to look at the ID in Dr. Lin's hand, and couldn't help but frown: "Why is the photo on this so blurry?"

"Little Red Riding Hood" also curiously leaned in to look at the ID found on the deceased.

She saw that the portrait on the document looked as if it had been smeared with a layer of dark gray grime; the entire face was obscured, and no details could be seen at all.

Dr. Lin rubbed the stains with her finger, only to find they wouldn't come off. The stains were tougher than expected and covered almost the entire document.

"Can't even see the name," Little Red Riding Hood muttered. "Can't see the ID number either. You'll have to take it back and use the machine to read the chip..."

Captain Song sighed helplessly, nodded, and looked at the remains on the ground, saying with some regret: "A pity. If only we could find the victim's ID... There are too few clues now."

Dr. Lin nodded in agreement, looking at the bloodstains on the ground that had been washed away by the rain until they were barely visible: "...Even the body is gone; it's hard to figure out what happened at the time."

Little Red Riding Hood listened to their conversation, seemingly lost in thought, before suddenly looking up at the woman in the white dress: "Dr. Lin, good evening."

"Good evening, Little Red Riding Hood," Dr. Lin smiled, greeting the short-haired girl. "How is the patrol going?"

Little Red Riding Hood looked around and reached out to stroke the head of the wolf closest to her: "There was 'Rain' here, and a physical 'Rain Frog' might have been generated, but there shouldn't be any victims."

Dr. Lin looked relieved: "That's good."

The sound of an engine starting came from not far away. The dilapidated van started up with a chugging sound, and then the engine noise gradually stabilized. The armed agents who had been pushing the car walked around from the back, panting. The leader walked toward them: "Captain Song, the car is started. Shall we..."

Captain Song nodded and walked toward his team members.

"Alright, let's head back to the Bureau. Oh, and don't forget to take Dr. Lin with us."

(End of chapter)