The night was far from quiet.
The distant shouts of quarreling couples and the roaring traffic on the streets blended perfectly into the darkness, numbing the ears and lulling the senses.
In a shadowy alley, a petite girl wearing a mask walked forward with one hand in her skirt pocket, humming a tune, utterly unaware.
Behind her, a head-shaped object slowly emerged from the darkness.
It was called a head-shaped object rather than a human head because it had been so grotesquely modified it was unrecognizable.
The nose was shaved down to a mere dot, blood pooling around it, festering and crawling with maggots.
Where the eyes should have been, the sockets were gouged out to an absurd size, with two large, deep brown glass beads rotating in place of eyeballs, staring intently at the girl’s back as if they could see.
The jaw showed signs of surgical alteration, narrowed to a deadly point that could kill with a stab—so much ‘modification’ that the whole face was a tattered mess of reddish-brown, more revolting than a zombie from a horror film, enough to make one nauseous and shiver with fear.
It was like a terrifying cosplay mask, a rough attempt to mimic an anime character by force, but so poorly done that the original appearance was indiscernible—just pure horror.
Even the limbs had been modified.
A body that should have been chubby was whittled down, with not a single patch of intact skin left. Yellowish, decayed, blackened fat oozed silently from its body.
Yet it moved with eerie agility, tiptoeing on half a foot like a cat, silently trailing behind Jiang Yin.
Its stride was so exaggeratedly large that any human would have dislocated their hips, yet it moved faster than the girl.
There was no smell whatsoever—so clean it was as if the very concept of ‘odor’ had been forcibly erased.
Silent and invisible.
Just as Jiang Yin was about to exit the alley—
Two hands landed on her shoulders.
The rotten, blackened blood and fat on its hands instantly stained the girl’s light blue uniform, releasing a stench so foul it assaulted her senses, making her stomach churn and forcing her to the brink of gagging.
“A-da~!”
Then, Qv Si Nan landed a flying kick, knocking it to the ground.
Jiang Yin was momentarily stunned, unsure how this thing had suddenly appeared, but the next second, she was yanked forward.
“What are you spacing out for! Run!”
Jiang Yin: “…..”
Is it possible that if you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t need to run at all?
Listening to Ning Rong’s voice in her head, Jiang Yin couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated.
In fact, when her wristband heated up as she entered the alley, she had already secretly pressed the emergency call for help to Ning Rong using the Bureau-issued phone in her skirt pocket.
Ning Rong had just happened to transform into a Magical Girl and flown to the area above the alley, ready to intervene at any moment.
If Qv Si Nan hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, she would probably be riding back to the Bureau now, unharmed, ready to change out of her stinky clothes, shower, and sleep—instead of being dragged down the street at full speed by Qv Si Nan.
[Don’t reveal your identity. I’ll handle that Monster.]
Ning Rong’s instruction was simple: Jiang Yin should keep up the act and not expose herself.
“Huff… Huff… Huff… We should be safe here.”
After about fifteen minutes of running, the two finally stopped in the crowded Commercial District three blocks away.
Qv Si Nan braced her hands on her knees, breathing heavily, sweat beading on her forehead, her hair plastered to her cheeks.
Looking back, she saw Jiang Yin standing behind her, completely unfazed, breathing steadily, looking as if she’d just finished a light warm-up.
“You…aren’t tired?”
“Maybe it’s because you spend every night in bed with girls—you’re physically weak.”
Jiang Yin rolled her eyes.
“It’s only two kilometers, and we weren’t even running fast.”
Qv Si Nan: “….”
Why did this kid suddenly turn so sharp-tongued?
She wanted to retort, but the adrenaline and fear left her breathless. She could only stare helplessly, gesturing wildly.
“Let’s rest here. I’ll get you some water.”
Jiang Yin helped her sit on a large stone by the roadside, then jogged to a nearby store, returning with two bottles of sports drink.
She tore open the foil, handed one over, hooked her mask aside with her left hand, and took a small sip with her right.
The movement was casual and cool.
Qv Si Nan caught her breath, and after drinking, felt better.
Though her voice was still weak, her stamina gradually returned.
“You really don’t seem scared at all.”
“Terrified. I’m absolutely terrified.”
Jiang Yin wasn’t lying.
She had only seemed calm because she knew Ning Rong was nearby and she was safe, but in the alley, the moment she sensed the Monster, her nerves almost snapped.
A lifetime as an ordinary person, suddenly encountering a Monster—how could anyone not be afraid?
Remembering to call for help was already impressive.
Looking back, if she’d just turned and run out the way she came, nothing would have happened—there was no need to risk herself.
‘Still, that was dumb.’
She shook her head, vowing to remember this lesson.
Only after stopping did she notice the sickening corpse smell on her shoulder, making her wrinkle her nose.
Qv Si Nan seemed to notice too.
She immediately spoke up, seeing Jiang Yin’s discomfort.
“Do you want to come to my place and change clothes? It’s close—just nearby.”
“If you try taking a cab back like that, the driver might misunderstand…”
Jiang Yin: “….”
This person definitely has ulterior motives.
This is no different from, ‘My cat can do a backflip—come to my place tonight and I’ll show you.’
But Ning Rong was busy—the Monster that attacked Jiang Yin was probably linked to the vicious criminal case Auntie Zhang mentioned this afternoon, likely a low-level Monster created by the high-risk Monster behind the incident.
Its appearance matched the records in the case files too well.
So Ning Rong had to pursue it, leaving Jiang Yin to find her own way back to the Bureau.
Considering the possibility of being flagged by a rideshare driver for reeking of death and getting hauled to the police station, Jiang Yin thought that letting this trash t drag her home wasn’t entirely unacceptable.
Besides, Qv Si Nan couldn’t beat her anyway.
And Qv Si Nan’s place really was nearby—Jiang Yin had even helped her move in back then. She remembered it was just a street away in a commercial rental building.
“Fine.”
Jiang Yin finally agreed, though a bit curious.
“But do you even have clothes in my size?”
She recalled Qv Si Nan’s girlfriend was cute, but definitely not short.
“I do.”
Qv Si Nan answered too quickly, sounding a bit too happy.
“My friend is about your size.”
“Trash t! A one-night friend, huh?”
Qv Si Nan: “….”
Is something wrong here?
Why does this pretty girl act like she knows me so well?