Chapter 2: No Victims

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Dusk was falling, and the slanting sunlight spread from the edge of the city, leaking faint golden rays through the towering skyscrapers like a forest. Yet deep within the old city, surrounded by these tall buildings, the sunlight struggled to reach, leaving the narrow alleys shrouded in early gloom.

The lingering dampness and slight chill in the air felt out of place compared to the dry air outside the alley. Ice shards swiftly melting in the cracks between bricks served as a kind of “evidence,” proving that something unusual had recently occurred in this quiet street.

Several swift black shadows darted between the buildings, seemingly weightless as they leapt down from above, landing in a corner of the alley. Their edges flickered before quickly solidifying into wolf-like forms. These indistinct figures prowled and sniffed the alley for a moment before gradually gathering together. The leader raised its head and let out a piercing howl toward the sky:

“Awwooo…”

“Bang!”

A stone struck the wolf’s head with precision, cutting off the howl midway. Then a sharp voice came from the shadows of a building, scolding: “Shut up! No howling in the city — and adding ‘woof’ at the end is not allowed either! Humans aren’t fools; no one would believe you’re dogs!”

The wolf-formed phantoms grunted softly in response and obediently backed away. A slightly smaller figure then approached from nearby.

She was a short-haired girl wearing a black skirt and a dark red jacket. A strand of hair curled slightly at her forehead, and though she appeared no older than sixteen or seventeen, her expression was unusually calm and mature. Stepping out from the shadows, she passed through the lowered heads of the wolves and soon spotted the lifeless body of a man collapsed by the roadside.

A fleeting shadow crossed her face as she crouched down to examine something beside the corpse. A wolf moved close, muttering in a low, indistinct growl, conveying some information.

“…Smell of rain?” The girl frowned, glancing up at the sky, which had been clear these past days. Though dusk was approaching, the patch of sky visible between the skyscrapers remained crisp and cloudless, with only the sunlight gradually dimming.

After a pause, she seemed to realize something, lowering her gaze to confirm the horrifying wound on the man’s body. She murmured softly, “…rain, heart, and the stench of frogs…”

At that moment, a sudden ringtone from a small pouch at her waist interrupted her muttering — the opening theme of the 1986 version of Journey to the West.

The short-haired girl answered before the monkey could complete his fourth somersault.

“Hello? Oh, yes, it’s me.” She held the phone to her ear while motioning with one hand to the wolves to guard the scene, then stood and moved aside. “I’ve arrived. My wolves sensed something unusual here first… but no catch, it was a miss.”

She sighed as her gaze fell back on the unlucky corpse.

“It’s ‘Rain,’ accompanied by the entity ‘Rain Frog.’ But this rain must have been a localized projection, affecting only one person… Yes, quite unlucky, rain falling for just one person. It had stopped by the time I arrived. The area’s depth has returned to L0, and the rain has separated from the boundary.”

She paused. The voice on the other end seemed to be giving instructions and asking questions. She listened patiently for a while, then glanced again at the corpse nearby.

“…Medical personnel? Send a retrieval team. An ordinary person encountering a ‘Rain Frog’ alone can’t survive — the heart’s missing… Tsk. I’ll stay here. Don’t forget to charge extra for overtime.”

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The phone continued with a middle-aged leader’s rambling, but the girl’s patience had worn thin. She gave a few perfunctory replies before hanging up.

Sighing again, she stepped back and beckoned a wolf standing guard nearby to lie down. She sat directly on the wolf’s back, resting her chin in her hands as she looked at the body of Yu Sheng.

“Unfortunate fellow. Don’t know if he had family, dying alone here… Sigh, I’ll keep you company for a while… It must be cold to die in the rain, huh? Too bad I’m not that girl selling matches, otherwise I could have warmed you on your way…”

She murmured quietly, patiently waiting for the cleanup crew. After a short while, the roar of an engine sounded from the road some tens of meters away — a noise so thunderous it seemed like a heavy armored vehicle pulling a container fueled by burning wood barreling over a series of speed bumps. Even the wolf beneath her startled, nearly jumping — but she stayed still.

Following the sound, the girl saw a large van creaking and groaning as it passed the junction, trembling as it crossed the speed bumps like a Soviet vehicle from 1991.

Calmly, she rose from the wolf’s back, expressionless as she watched the van stall and then several burly men clad in black tactical suits, fully equipped with high-tech gear and armed to the teeth, jump out and start pushing the vehicle from behind.

A sturdy middle-aged man dressed in a brown jacket and with slightly dark skin stepped down from the van. Behind him followed a young woman in a white dress with brown shoulder-length hair. The two glanced back at the men pushing the van with some helplessness, then turned and walked toward the girl.

As they drew near, the short-haired girl couldn’t help but mutter, “Honestly, can your second squad apply for a different vehicle? The Special Operations Bureau can’t be that strapped for cash… I think any one of your team members’ gear could replace this junker.”

“Shh!” The sturdy man quickly waved his hand, lowering his voice as he glanced at the stalled van and the men pushing it. “Don’t say that… You don’t understand the situation. Our Special Operations Bureau is unique. This van’s just having a bad day. Replacing it is absolutely impossible…”

“Big organizations always have so many headaches.” The girl pursed her lips, clearly uninterested in the topic, then turned to the petite woman in the white dress. “Good afternoon, Doctor Lin. Long time no see.”

“Good evening would be more appropriate, ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’” the woman called Doctor Lin smiled faintly. Her thin lips conveyed restraint and composure. “How’s your injury from last time?”

“Almost healed,” the girl called Little Red Riding Hood twisted her right wrist. “You know, wolves usually recover pretty fast…”

“Humans have the strongest healing ability — it’s just that we’re very resistant to being injured,” Doctor Lin corrected earnestly.

“Oh,” Little Red Riding Hood replied perfunctorily, then shifted the topic back to the body on the ground. “Let’s take a look here first. Victim is male, probably in his twenties. Heart was taken by the Rain Frog. Time of death about two hours ago. I haven’t searched him yet, so I’m not sure if he had ID… Yes, to preserve the scene.”

She glanced at Doctor Lin with a hint of puzzlement. “You came all this way… Are you planning to treat him? Can this even be treated?”

“No, I’m not a god,” Doctor Lin shook her head, bending over Yu Sheng’s body. “Just came to take a look. This place is very close to my home…”

She examined the body for a moment, confirming the wound and the victim’s belongings, eventually finding an ID card.

“The victim’s name is Yu Sheng, twenty-four years old, registered address at 66 Wutong Road in the old city,” she said, comparing the ID photo with the dead man’s face. “Captain Song, you should check with the bureau’s equipment later to see if we can contact his family.”

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The sturdy middle-aged man nodded, leaning in to look at the ID card in Doctor Lin’s hands, frowning slightly. “Why does the photo look so blurry?”

Little Red Riding Hood leaned over curiously to see the ID found on the victim.

The photo was obscured by a layer of gray-black grime, the face completely smudged so no details were discernible.

Doctor Lin rubbed the grime with her finger but couldn’t clean it off. It was more stubborn than expected, almost covering the entire card.

“Can’t even make out the name,” Little Red Riding Hood muttered. “The ID number’s unreadable too. You’ll have to scan the chip with a machine back at the bureau…”

Captain Song sighed helplessly, nodding as he looked at the scattered remains on the ground with regret. “It’s a pity. If only we could find the victim’s ID… There’s too little to go on like this.”

Doctor Lin nodded in agreement, staring at the bloodstains almost entirely washed away by rain. “…No body left behind. It’ll be hard to figure out what really happened.”

Little Red Riding Hood listened quietly, seemingly deep in thought. Suddenly, she looked up at Doctor Lin. “Good evening, Doctor Lin.”

“Good evening, Little Red Riding Hood,” Doctor Lin smiled and greeted the short-haired girl. “How’s the patrol?”

Little Red Riding Hood looked around and petted the nearest wolf’s head. “There was rain, and possibly a manifestation of the Rain Frog, but no victims appeared.”

Doctor Lin seemed relieved. “That’s good.”

The sound of an engine starting came from nearby. The battered van coughed and spluttered to life, then the engine smoothed out. The armed men who had been pushing it now circled around the back. Their leader stepped forward. “Captain Song, the van’s started, we’re ready to…”

Captain Song nodded and strode toward his team.

“Alright, let’s head back to the bureau. And don’t forget to bring Doctor Lin.”