Another Attack

That night, Li Wei dreamed again.

It was Fog City as always, with nightfall, the strange man, and the blood moon.

He was still running around rescuing people, exhausted as a dog. By now, Li Wei was extremely wary. Everything was far too strange, and he had no desire to fail even once, only to wake up the next morning and discover that someone had been disemboweled.

Could this be the mastermind's plan? To work me to death?

Of course, Li Wei knew that was impossible. He was practically invincible in his dreams. A few times, he had even stood in front of the strange man to protect the girls. The man's blade couldn't so much as break his skin, giving Li Wei a proper taste of being Superman.

Of course, in reality, that single slash would have put him straight on the ground.

Fortunately, even after an entire night of this, Li Wei felt only a little tired when he woke the next morning. It was like dreaming that he had run a ten-kilometer marathon; he recovered after a while.

By the time Li Wei got dressed and reached the dining room, Erin had already laid out breakfast and brought in the day's newspaper.

Her expression, however, was uneasy.

"Sir..."

"What is it, Erin?"

"Please take a look..."

"Hmm?"

Li Wei took the newspaper and immediately saw the front-page headline in the Daily Mail.

"Vampire strikes again! A second victim!"

As Li Wei stared silently at the newspaper, the Telephone on the wall began screaming at the top of its lungs.

He didn't need to guess who was calling.

An hour later, Li Wei arrived at the crime scene by carriage.

"I never expected reporters to be faster than the police these days. At this rate, I won't need to visit crime scenes anymore. I can just read the newspaper."

The moment he stepped out of the carriage, Li Wei began complaining to Inspector Lestrade, who was equally helpless.

"There was nothing I could do, Mr. Li Wei. This case wasn't in my jurisdiction. The local Police Station was a little slow to respond, and it wasn't passed on to me until they reported it up the chain."

"Forget it... that's not important."

Li Wei sighed quietly.

"I've already read the details in the paper. Is anything different from what it said?"

"It's essentially accurate."

Inspector Lestrade was just as frustrated. The police had needed a newspaper to learn about a crime. They weren't politicians; this was utterly humiliating.

Li Wei stopped complaining and turned to study the house before him, his expression grave.

He had already read the details in the newspaper. The victim's name was Rogers Blanco, a painter of little renown. Of course, that was putting it nicely. To be blunt, he was an ignorant, idle rich kid who used the artist label to play around with women.

He lived with his parents. Early that morning, a servant had called him to get up, but he hadn't answered. When she opened the door and went inside, she found Rogers dead in bed, completely naked and deathly pale.

They had first reported it to the neighborhood Police Station, which sent officers over to investigate. However, they soon realized the situation was complicated and passed the case up the chain.

Only then had Inspector Lestrade learned about the case, while the freshly printed morning papers had already spread through the distribution network to countless homes...

Looking at the crowd outside the police cordon and the reporters holding cameras, Li Wei's mouth twitched. Without a word, he strode forward alongside Inspector Lestrade. As soon as the reporters saw him, they swarmed over like sharks scenting blood.

"Mr. Li Wei, was this another vampire attack?"

"When will you be able to catch this vicious criminal?"

"Do you have any leads yet?"

"The public is deeply disturbed by these rumors. Do you have anything to say about that?"

I'm not the mayor. What am I supposed to say?

Li Wei rolled his eyes inwardly without saying a word. Wearing a serious expression, he followed Inspector Lestrade through the crowd and into the house.

Inside, Li Wei saw a middle-aged couple. The wife was sitting on the sofa, sobbing, while her husband comforted her. There were also two servants, a man and a woman, both pale-faced. Officers were already gathering evidence at the scene, and one stepped forward to salute Inspector Lestrade when he arrived.

"Tell me what happened."

"Yes, sir. The details are..."

The officer's report differed little from the newspaper account. After hearing him out, Li Wei nodded and turned to the two servants.

"Who went to wake Mr. Rogers?"

"I did."

An elderly woman who looked close to sixty stepped forward and spoke softly.

"I never imagined the young master would die so horribly..."

"Could you tell me what happened this morning? I'd like to verify a few things."

Li Wei walked up to the elderly woman and asked gently, looking at her with a kindly gaze. Under his gaze, she gradually grew calmer. After a moment's silence, she began to speak.

"There wasn't really anything unusual. As always, my husband..."

At that, she glanced at the elderly man standing beside her.

"We got up together. Then I went to prepare breakfast, while my husband went to trim and tend the garden. Once breakfast was ready, I went to wake the master and mistress, then the young master. I knocked on his bedroom door, but he didn't answer. At first, I thought he'd had too much to drink and hadn't woken up. So I went in to check on him, but I never expected... oh, heavens..."

The elderly woman covered her face with her hands, trembling uncontrollably.

"He was just lying there, so terribly, terribly pitiful, on the bed. Almighty Holy Lord, it was horrifying!"

Li Wei said nothing. He simply stood beside her and comforted her softly for a while. Only then did she continue.

"Th-then I screamed, and the master heard me and came upstairs. He was shocked too, and immediately told me to find someone to report it... I ran to the door and happened to see the postman, so I asked him to help..."

No wonder news of the case got out so quickly. I thought there was a mole in the Police Station.

Li Wei grumbled inwardly. In truth, he knew it made little difference whether there was a mole. Newspapers in this era had offices inside police stations, practically eating, living, and working alongside the police. Whenever the police received a case, the reporters effectively received it too.

Still, Fog City was enormous, with a population of several million. Naturally, it couldn't have only one police station. Information wasn't as readily accessible as it would be in later years, either, so something like this wasn't impossible... after all, reporters only had to print the story, while the police had far more to consider.

"Had Mr. Rogers been acting unusually before this?"

"There was nothing unusual about the young master..."

"Then what did he do yesterday?"

The elderly woman thought for a moment at Li Wei's question.

"The young master was out all day yesterday and didn't return until evening. He was very excited and said he'd met an incomparable beauty and wanted to paint an incomparable masterpiece of her. He was very excited at the time and reeked of alcohol. He seemed to have drunk quite a lot..."

"Did he come home alone?"

"Yes, he came home alone."

"Do you know which bar he usually drank at?"

"The Gold and Elephant Bar."

"Thank you."

Li Wei asked a few more questions before ending the interview. Then he went upstairs to the bedroom to investigate.

He had to admit that an artist's room was different. Canvases and oil paintings were scattered everywhere, along with a large bed and an easel set a short distance across from it.

Isn't this the same routine modern photographers use?

Li Wei was hardly surprised. Didn't those cosplay photographers do the same thing these days? They kept taking pictures until they photographed you right into bed.

This rich kid had probably done the same, painting women right into bed. One look at the paintings on the nearby canvases told the story. Didn't movies do it too? In How Do You Like It, Mrs.?, wasn't Jack a poor painter who sketched Rose, only for the sketching to end with them climbing into a car?

Still, rich kid or not, he at least had some skill. Li Wei looked over the oil paintings. He didn't know much about appreciating art, but even he could tell the technique was fairly good.

Fair enough. How could he pick up girls without a little skill?

Withdrawing his gaze, Li Wei finally examined the body lying on the bed.

Edwards's corpse hadn't been a pleasant sight after falling from upstairs. This painter's body was different. Frankly, at first glance, Li Wei had thought it was some kind of wax figure. He lay naked on the bed, his limbs spread wide and the corners of his mouth lifted in a blissful, intoxicated smile.

But on a dead man's face, that smile was nothing but eerie.

Li Wei stepped forward, put on his gloves, and turned the man's neck. Sure enough, he found two small holes.

Apart from that, there was nothing on the bed, not even bloodstains.

"Did you find anything?"

Li Wei looked toward the officer handling the investigation, who shook his head.

"No. We haven't found anything unusual. The hairs and footprints all belong to the victim. There are no traces of anyone else."

Li Wei made a circuit of the scene. Just as the officers had said, there was nothing in the room that particularly warranted attention.

There was no helping it. He would have to go back and continue investigating.

Afterward, Li Wei visited the bar to make inquiries. He learned that Rogers hadn't gone home alone the previous night, but had left with a woman.

However, neither the bar staff nor his disreputable friends could provide any specific details about the woman. All they said was that she was "very beautiful."

This is a real headache.

After a full day of running around, Li Wei returned home with his brow furrowed, still unable to make sense of it. He had made a point of investigating the painter's connections, but this ignorant, idle rich kid had no ties to either the Royal Academy of Medicine or Edwards. They moved in different circles and didn't know each other.

The only thing they had in common was that a "very beautiful" woman had appeared around each of them.

"Sir, here's your letter."

Li Wei had just stepped out of the elevator after returning home when Erin came up to him. She took his coat and handed him a letter. Li Wei glanced at it. The sender was none other than Betty-as he had told her before, she sent him a letter after school each day to report what had happened.

This letter was naturally no exception.

Li Wei opened the envelope, took out the paper, and began to read.

[...Today at school, I heard that another crime had occurred. There was also a rumor going around that both crimes were committed by a female vampire. She prowls late at night, using her beauty to lure handsome men before drinking their blood. I don't know where this rumor came from, but everyone is talking about it eagerly... Please be careful, Mr. Detective.]

Li Wei narrowed his eyes as he read.

A female vampire? Drinking handsome men's blood?

Is this aimed at me?