Blood Shadow

"And this place... isn't a police station."

Although it looks similar, this place shouldn't be the prison of the Canghai City police station. When they came in, Lin remembered that Himeko reported something to the communicator and mentioned the word "branch".

"Even the most careless officer should follow procedures, show their identification, and arrest a suspect, instead of making an arrest based on a vague judgment, especially when the suspect hasn't resisted." Lin pointed at the stunned red-haired girl. "Your right to interrogate someone alone is not something a junior officer should have, which means you can't be a novice. So, this can only mean that this is an organization with near-official authority, and you're pretending to be a member of it."

"The place we were in at the time was, according to you, a sparsely populated area. It's possible that you happened to be patrolling that place, but you only approached after I came out of the alley. In other words, you were 'lying in ambush' there. There had recently been an incident that needed to be investigated, and you were investigating it."

After Lin finished speaking in one breath, he looked up at the girl and said softly, "Can you tell me who you are and what has happened to you recently?"

"My name is Himeko." The red-haired girl named Himeko looked at the composed Lin with great interest. "I have already asked someone to help check your identity. If you are really innocent, and the interrogation just now was also flawless, then you can clear your name. But I am really curious about your opinion on that matter. Your analysis is very insightful, like that of a repeat offender."

"..."

"Before that, I have to ask you this: Do you really not know what's been happening in Canghai City lately?"

"I just got here today."

"All right."

Himeko left the interrogation room and returned a while later with two cups of hot coffee. She placed one cup in front of Lin, who shook his handcuffs. Himeko simply picked up the coffee, took a sip, and said contentedly, "You're still a suspect in the 'serial bloodsucking case,' so don't ask for too much."

"A series of bloodsucking cases?"

Lin lowered his head and took a sip of coffee from the rim of his cup, his movements suddenly stiffening.

This coffee...

Completely oblivious to Lin's reaction, Himeko continued, "All the victims were tall, young women with no obvious external injuries, but they had marks on the back of their necks where canine teeth had pierced blood vessels. The attacks all occurred at night, either in sparsely populated areas or in alleys in busy urban areas."

Sparsely populated areas make it easier to target lone individuals, while alleyways in bustling city centers allow for a quick escape if discovered.

"Given the special nature of this case, the time, the place, and the suspicious stranger, you fit all three points, which is why I suspect you."

I see.

"If I were the criminal, then you would fit the characteristics of a victim, and you would have been attacked by me at that time."

After all, Himeko is a tall and slender young woman.

"Hmm? Is this a veiled compliment? But don't try that on me. There's a high chance you're a criminal, so you wouldn't be stupid enough to openly attack a police officer," Himeko said with a smile.

"However, this method of attack..."

Lin frowned. Judging from Himeko's description, the other party fit the characteristics of a fantasy creature.

Nocturnal activity, canine tooth marks, bloodsucking...

"Isn't this a vampire?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Imitating vampires to commit crimes, it's not surprising that some psychopathic criminals would do such a thing." The red-haired girl tightened her coat and tapped her fingers on the outside of the cup, making a soft sound.

There are indeed many psychopaths and highly intelligent criminals in serial murder cases, and there are quite a few cases of people drinking blood and eating human flesh.

But Lin sensed something unusual about it.

"Alright, I've finished speaking, it's your turn now." Himeko smiled brightly, placed her hands on the table, and stared into Lin's eyes. "Putting aside your name, which sounds no different from a pseudonym, why don't you introduce yourself and tell me where you're from?"

"... Actually, I am a time traveler, traveling to many worlds."

Himeko's smile was captivating, brimming with youthful energy as she laughed, "Hmm, will you transform and claim to be a Kamen Rider who's just passing by?"

"It's great that you understand it that way." Lin said the truth without any expression. "However, I can't transform, and I'm not a Kamen Rider. I'm the captain of a warship called the Hyperion, and I plan to write a book called 'Twenty Thousand Miles in the Quantum Sea' after my trip."

"Wait, the Hyperion? Isn't that a newly built airship? Do you know about Schicksal and the Hyperion?"

Himeko's eyes turned slightly dangerous, and this time it was Lin's turn to be stunned. He remembered that there was indeed information about "Schicksal" on the Hyperion. He didn't expect that Schicksal also existed in this World Bubble.

Are the Hyperion products of Schicksal?

Lin noted down this information, and then nodded calmly. "Yes, actually I am the captain of the Schicksal Hyperion."

"That's quite a coincidence." Himeko crossed her arms expressionlessly. "Should I call you 'Sir'?"

"Then there's no need for formalities... Are you a member of Schicksal?"

"Aren't you the same? Don't be surprised."

"..."

Isn't this a complete self-destruction?

Himeko smiled charmingly, like an ordinary young girl, and said to Lin, "Sir~ then I'll trouble you to make do with spending the night in the interrogation room until the results are out~"

Chapter Five: Blood Shadow

"Go and find the murderer."

"I?"

The black-haired man stood at the alley entrance in the middle of the night, feeling the cold wind, looking at the red-haired girl with a carefree smile in front of him.

He spent a day and a night in the interrogation room, and was pulled out at midnight. The first thing he heard after his handcuffs were removed was the sentence above.

"Hmm... on thought about it, your analytical skills are pretty good. You could be an assistant." Himeko rubbed her smooth chin with her fingers, patted Lin's back with a mischievous smile, and said, "Alright, if you don't want to stay in this stuffy and hot interrogation room, then 'Sir' would better get to work."

"Aren't you afraid I'll run away?"

"If you run away, you'll be confirmed as a criminal, and it will be much easier to catch you then. You can't possibly not understand such a simple thing, can you?"

"..."

Although there were some deviations along the way, Lin did intend to investigate this vampire incident that seemed to exist in both urban legends and real cases. Now that he had "official" support, it made things easier for him.

"Okay, which do you choose, left or right?"

Standing at the crossroads, gazing at the two paths leading to the unknown, his heart suddenly raced. An indescribable feeling, carried by the night wind, blew into his heart from the alleyway.

Left or right?

Such a simple multiple-choice question, you can just pick any one.

Lin glanced at Himeko, who was yawning. She was obviously just waiting for him to choose one and then go in another direction, not caring at all what he chose.

It's just a perfectly normal choice between two options.

Yes, there's absolutely no need to worry about it...

"... Left side, please."

In the dark alley, tiny "things" crawled through unseen corners, as if something was gently wriggling behind you or on your feet, touching you only to leave in an instant.

The moment he stepped into this place, some unknown "eyes" had been watching him, their bloodshot eyes silently following him.

Lin walked slowly along this unfamiliar path, indifferently observing his surroundings, searching for any suspicious traces.

Lin didn't know who he was before. There were no traces left on his body, no calluses on his hands, and although he was physically strong, he wasn't the type with particularly developed muscles. There were no scars on his body either. He looked as if he had been this big since birth.

However, he could still find some clues from some subconscious habits, such as his infrequent obvious emotional fluctuations, his first thing to do when arriving at a new place was to survey it, and his observation of other people's physique and behavior when communicating with them...

Assassin?

The word popped into his head.

Even though Lin had tried his best to act like a normal person, he felt that there was a cold-blooded ghost lurking within him, coldly watching everything outside and then subtly assimilating him.

Was he a bad person before...?

He couldn't bear to think about it; a suffocating feeling, as if his breath was being slowly taken away, would surge up and stop him whenever he tried to explore the past.

Lin looked up at the white moon, which was familiar to him yet caused him heartache.

Like Delta, he also suffered from allergic symptoms, and it was even an allergy to memory...

"Whoosh—"

The moonlight is cruel, like a merciless gaze, overlooking the city's hustle and bustle and its silence.

The man stopped, his pupils, frozen solid, slowly contracted as he turned toward the indistinct fork in the road.

"..."

"Call..."

His fingers touched the wall behind him, and he pressed himself against the dirty wall, slowly lowering his upper body.

When did he come to a crossroads where there was no light in any direction?

The lights in the distance were swallowed up by the invisible darkness, as if isolating this place into another world.

The last remaining light source hanging in the sky was eroded by the clouds, and its dim light disappeared from the man's face.

The moment the sight disappeared, Lin's senses were amplified to the maximum.

What does this feel like?

Suppressed?

Fear?

Excited?

Where?

Lin lowered his body again, his sharp eyes constantly scanning the surroundings for any possible attack. The surge of adrenaline brought his body to its peak.

Danger.

Danger!

The moment the predator spotted him, he suddenly looked up at the top of the wall behind him, where a ferocious phantom cleaved through the clouds and lunged at him with sharp claws!

Pupil, constriction, dilation.

Just as the blood-stained claws were about to touch his nose, Lin lightly turned to the side, leaving a shallow bloodstain on the tip of his nose with the sharp claws, and then the indistinct strange shadow crashed to the ground!

"Bang!"

It was a power that no human could possess. Upon landing, the impact even blew Lin, who hadn't yet found his footing, away!

The pebbles hit his face, causing pain, but they didn't make Lin close his eyes. Instead, he stared wide-eyed at the creature that had launched the attack!

You must not close your eyes. The more dangerous the situation, the more you must pay close attention to everything around you. Closing your eyes is tantamount to suicide.

The alarm bells in his head were ringing so loudly that he could barely think straight, but he still managed to quickly take in all the information.

"Howl!"

Without any hesitation, the blood-red-eyed monster lunged at Lin again the instant it landed.

Barely adjusting to the darkness, Lin saw the gleaming fangs in the strange figure's mouth. His hair stood on end. The creature was so fast that even his dynamic vision could barely catch a fleeting afterimage. Lin instinctively raised his hands to protect his vital areas, and the next second—

"Bass!"

The sensation from his arm lasted less than half a second, and the feedback of the opponent's sharp claws piercing his arm muscles instantly relaxed Lin's extremely tense heart.

He was strangely calm, and his thought process was so fast that he could even consider the extent of his arm injury at this moment.

Before the other party could completely pierce his arm, Lin grabbed the other party's throat with his other hand, making it impossible for him to move forward any further. Then he raised his knee and pressed it into the other party's soft abdomen!

"Bang!"

"Vomit--"

A large amount of foul-smelling blood was vomited onto Lin's face.

Hot, scarlet, cold.

The wound on his arm didn't even give him a chance to frown or pause. He stepped forward again, grabbed the ankle of the strange figure that was still in mid-air, and slammed it hard onto the ground!

"Bang!"

The strange shadow twitched on the ground, vomited a large pool of blood, and then lay still.

"..."

Lin, who looked like a corpse crawling out of a pool of blood, wiped the sticky, scarlet liquid from his face and coldly glanced at the blood on his hands.

Given this amount of bleeding, it's impossible that it was just vomiting blood; the other party... must have just drunk blood.

Ignoring his own still-bleeding arm, Lin knelt down to examine the unconscious figure lying on the ground. He turned the figure over and checked its arm and mouth.

Its nails were sharp and long, its canines were even sharper, and there were even blood grooves from bleeding. Its gums were full of blood streaks, and its body smelled extremely bloody.

Faced with this strange man who looked similar to a human but differed from humans in many details, Lin Pin frowned and rummaged through his pockets, trying to find his identification.

The moonlight had appeared without us even noticing.