Chapter 2 – No Victims

Dusk was approaching. Slanted rays of sunlight spread from the edge of the city, seeping through the forest of skyscrapers and casting pale golden beams of light between the towering buildings — but deep within the old city, surrounded by those high-rises, in places the sun could barely reach, the narrow alleys had already fallen into darkness ahead of everything else.

The lingering dampness in the air and the faint chill felt completely out of place compared to the dry air outside the alley. The tiny shards of ice rapidly melting away in the cracks between the bricks and stones served as a kind of ‘evidence’ that something out of the ordinary had taken place in this quiet little lane.

Several dark shadows darted swiftly through the gaps between the buildings along the alley, dropping from above as if weightless, and landed in a corner of the lane. The edges of the shadows trembled and quickly solidified into wolf-like forms. These faceless silhouettes prowled and sniffed around the alley for a moment, then slowly gathered together. The lead shadow raised its head toward the sky and let out a resounding howl:

“Awooo~……”

“Thwack!”

A stone struck the wolf-shadow squarely on the head, cutting off the howl halfway through, followed immediately by a sharp scolding from within the shadow of a building: “Shut up! No howling in the city — and adding a ‘woof’ at the end doesn’t make it better either! Humans aren’t idiots; no one is going to believe you’re dogs!”

The several wolves conjured from phantom shadows let out a few soft, subdued whimpers and obediently retreated to the side. A somewhat petite figure then walked over from not far away.

It was a short-haired girl dressed in a black skirt and a dark red coat, with a small strand of hair curling upward at her forehead. She looked no older than sixteen or seventeen, yet her expression was remarkably calm and composed beyond her years. She walked out from the shadows, passed straight through the wolves hanging their heads low, and then caught sight of the male corpse lying by the roadside.

A barely perceptible shadow of gloom flickered across the girl’s face. She crouched down beside the body to examine it, while one of the wolves approached from the side, conveying certain information through low, muddled growls.

“……The scent of rain that has already fallen?” The girl furrowed her brow and looked up at the sky, which had been clear for the past two days. Even as dusk drew near, the patches of sky visible between the skyscrapers still appeared clean and bright, with no sign of clouds — only the sunlight gradually dimming.

After a moment, she seemed to understand something, and lowered her head again to confirm the horrifying wound on the male corpse, murmuring softly: “……Rain, the heart, the stench of a frog……”

Just then, the ringtone of a phone suddenly sounded from the small pouch at her waist, interrupting her mutterings — the ringtone was the opening theme of the 1986 edition of Journey to the West.

The short-haired girl answered the call before the monkey had completed his fourth somersault.

“Hello, who is — oh, right, it’s me,” she pressed the phone to her ear and waved a hand at the surrounding wolves to signal them to guard the scene, then stood up and moved to one side. “I’m already here. My wolves sensed the anomaly first…… Didn’t catch it, missed completely.”

As she spoke, she let out a sigh, her gaze falling on the unfortunate corpse.

“It was ‘Rain,’ and it manifested a physical ‘Rain Frog,’ but this rain should have been only a localized projection, affecting the range of just one person…… Yes, very unlucky. A ‘Rain’ that fell for only one person. By the time I arrived it had already stopped. The depth here has now returned to L0, and the ‘Rain’ has already separated from the boundary zone.”

The girl paused. The voice from the phone’s speaker seemed to be issuing instructions and asking questions. She listened patiently for a while, then glanced once more at the corpse nearby.

“……Medical personnel? Just send someone to collect the body. What chance does an ordinary person have of surviving a solo encounter with a ‘Rain Frog’ — the heart is already gone…… Tch, I’ll stay here and keep watch. Don’t forget to charge the overtime fee separately.”

The phone emitted the rambling voice of some middle-aged superior, but the girl had already run out of patience. She gave a few perfunctory acknowledgments and hung up.

Then she let out another sigh, stepped back, raised her hand to beckon one of the wolves standing guard nearby, and had it lie down so she could sit directly on its back. She propped her chin in both hands and stared at Yu Sheng’s corpse.

“Unlucky fellow — who knows if he had any family, dying all alone here…… Sigh, I’ll keep you company for a while…… It must have been cold, dying in the ‘Rain,’ right? Too bad I’m not the little match girl, or I could have sent you off a little warmer……”

The girl murmured softly to herself, patiently waiting for the cleanup personnel to arrive. After a short while, she heard the roar of an engine coming from the direction of an intersection dozens of meters away — the sound was earth-shaking, as if a heavy armored vehicle was hauling a container behind it, burning firewood as it rumbled over ten consecutive speed bumps. Even the wolf she was sitting on was startled by the noise and nearly jumped up — but it didn’t, because someone was sitting on its back.

The girl looked toward the sound and saw a large van creaking and rattling its way from the intersection, shuddering as it went over the speed bump like the Soviet Union in 1991.

The short-haired girl rose unhurriedly from the wolf’s back and watched the large van cross the speed bump with an expressionless face. It stalled. Then several burly men in full black tactical gear, laden with state-of-the-art equipment and armed to the back teeth, jumped out and began pushing the vehicle from behind……

A middle-aged man in a coffee-colored coat, slightly dark-skinned and powerfully built, also stepped down from the van. Behind him followed a young woman in a white dress with brown shoulder-length hair. The two turned to look at the team members pushing the van with a somewhat helpless expression, then turned and walked over.

Once the two approached, the short-haired girl couldn’t help but mutter: “Honestly, can’t Team Two apply to headquarters for a vehicle replacement? The Special Operations Bureau can’t possibly be that strapped for cash…… I feel like the equipment on any one of your team members alone would be enough to replace this wreck.”

“Shh!” The powerfully built middle-aged man immediately waved his hand urgently and lowered his voice, glancing back at the stalled vehicle and the subordinates pushing it. “Don’t say that carelessly…… You don’t understand the situation. Our Special Operations Bureau has its own special circumstances. This vehicle is just not in great shape today. Replacing it is absolutely out of the question……”

“Big organizations really do have a lot of headaches,” the short-haired girl pursed her lips, clearly not very interested in this topic, and immediately turned her gaze toward the petite woman in the white dress who had come along, “Good afternoon, Dr. Lin. Long time no see.”

“It should be good evening by now, ‘Little Red Riding Hood,'” the white-dressed woman addressed as Dr. Lin smiled faintly. Her lips were thin, giving her an air of restraint and reserve. “How is the injury from last time?”

“Almost fully healed,” the short-haired girl known as Little Red Riding Hood flexed her right wrist. “You know how it is — wolves tend to recover pretty well……”

“The human body’s recovery ability is actually the strongest of all — it’s just that humans are remarkably averse to getting injured in the first place.” Dr. Lin corrected her in all seriousness.

“……Oh,” the short-haired girl replied dismissively, and shifted the subject back to the corpse on the ground. “Let’s take a look at this first. The victim is male, looks to be in his mid-twenties. His heart was taken by the Rain Frog. Time of death was approximately two hours ago. I haven’t searched him yet — not sure if he had any ID on him…… Yes, to preserve the scene.”

As she spoke, she looked at Dr. Lin with a puzzled expression: “You came all this way…… don’t tell me you’re planning to treat even something like this? Can this even be treated?”

“No, I’m not a deity,” Dr. Lin shook her head, bending down toward Yu Sheng’s corpse as she spoke. “I just came to have a look. My home is very close to here……”

She examined the body for a moment, confirmed the wound, and also checked the deceased’s personal belongings, finding an identification document.

“The deceased’s name is ‘Yu Sheng,’ twenty-four years old, registered address at No. 66 Wutong Road, Old City District,” she said, looking at the thin card representing his identity and comparing it against the deceased’s appearance. “Captain Song, when you get back, run this through the bureau’s equipment and see if you can contact his family.”

The powerfully built middle-aged man nearby gave a grunt of acknowledgment and leaned over to glance at the ID in Dr. Lin’s hand, unable to help frowning: “Why is the photo on this so blurry?”

“Little Red Riding Hood” also grew curious and leaned in to look at the ID found on the deceased.

The photo section of the document appeared as though a layer of gray-black grime had been smeared over it — the entire face was obscured, and no details could be made out at all.

Dr. Lin rubbed at the grime with her fingertip and found it completely impossible to remove. The smudging was more stubborn than expected and had covered nearly the entire document.

“Can’t even make out the name clearly,” Little Red Riding Hood muttered. “The ID number is illegible too. You’ll have to take it back and read the chip with a machine……”

The powerfully built middle-aged man addressed as “Captain Song” let out a rather helpless sigh and nodded, looking at the remains on the ground with a touch of regret: “What a shame. If only we could find the victim’s ID documents…… We have far too few leads now like this.”

Dr. Lin also nodded with regret, gazing at the bloodstains on the ground that had been almost entirely washed away by the rain: “……Not even a body left behind. It’s going to be very difficult to piece together what happened here.”

Little Red Riding Hood listened to the two of them talking, seeming to quietly turn something over in her mind, then suddenly raised her head and looked at the white-dressed woman beside her: “Good evening, Dr. Lin.”

“Good evening, Little Red Riding Hood,” Dr. Lin smiled and greeted the short-haired girl. “How has the patrol been going?”

Little Red Riding Hood looked around and reached out to stroke the head of the wolf closest to her: “It rained here — ‘Rain’ fell — and a physical ‘Rain Frog’ may have manifested, but there appear to have been no victims.”

Dr. Lin visibly relaxed: “That’s a relief then.”

The sound of an engine starting came from not far away. The battered large van chugged and wheezed back to life, and the engine gradually evened out — the several armed operatives who had been pushing it walked around from behind the vehicle, breathing hard. The one in the lead came over: “Captain Song, the van’s running again. Should we……”

The powerfully built middle-aged man known as Captain Song nodded and strode toward his team members.

“Alright, let’s head back to the bureau. Oh, and don’t forget to bring Dr. Lin along.”

(End of Chapter)