Monster

Seriously? Now we've gone from a horror movie to a monster movie!

As he watched the bat monster charging at him, its body easily the size of a small car, Li Wei couldn't help grumbling inwardly. Then he lunged sideways on unsteady feet and grabbed Katie, who was staggering as if she were drunk. The two of them tumbled awkwardly across the ground, dodging the monster's attack.

"Open fire! Open fire!"

The soldiers on the surrounding rooftops had recovered from the bat monster's piercing shriek. They hurriedly raised their weapons, aimed at the monster below, and pulled their triggers.

Rat-a-tat-tat!!!

Gunfire erupted, and bullets rained down on the bat monster, bursting into sprays of blood across its body. Yet its flesh seemed remarkably tough. Though it was bleeding all over, none of the shots seemed to have done any serious damage.

The bat monster opened its mouth again, aiming at the soldiers on the rooftops.

An invisible wave of sound erupted. Li Wei felt his head buzzing, as though some high-frequency sound had burrowed into his brain and was boiling it inside his skull. The gunfire stopped as well. Clearly, the soldiers were suffering just as badly.

"Ugh... I feel awful. What is that sound...?"

Katie had barely come back to her senses. She shook her head and slapped hard at her ears. Li Wei knew exactly how she felt. That tinnitus-like buzzing still rang in his ears, making him miserable. But this was no time to dwell on it!

After clearing away the obstacles with that unexpected attack, the bat monster began climbing a nearby building on all fours. From the look of it, it was clearly trying to escape!

Li Wei raised his gun, aimed at the monster, and pulled the trigger. His bullets struck its body, but they clearly did nothing to stop it. The bat monster frantically swung its claws, gripping the windows in the wall and using them to haul itself upward. As for the soldiers who had been on the rooftops, there was no movement from them now.

He couldn't tell whether they were dead or unconscious.

Damn it, at this rate, that thing's going to get away!

Li Wei gritted his teeth and scanned his surroundings. Then his eyes lit up, and he hurried over to Katie.

"Katie! Katie!"

"Ugh... my head's buzzing... What is it?"

"Throw that at the monster's head! Hurry!"

As he spoke, Li Wei pointed toward the mouth of an alley a short distance away. Several soldiers lay there, carrying flamethrowers and fuel tanks on their backs. They had been assigned to block off that route, but perhaps because of the monster's attack, those flamethrower troops had also lost consciousness.

Fortunately, that alley was so narrow that only one person could pass through at a time. The monster couldn't squeeze into it at all, or it probably would have escaped already.

Katie didn't seem to have heard what Li Wei said, but she followed his finger toward the fuel tanks, then looked at the bat monster climbing the building. She immediately understood what he meant.

"Leave it to me!"

Katie shouted and rushed over to an unconscious flamethrower soldier, swaying with every step as though she were on the deck of a ship tossed by surging waves. She reached out and tore the fuel tank straight off his back. Then she held the tank, which looked slightly smaller than a gasoline can, fixed her eyes on the bat monster, and hurled it upward like a softball!

Whoosh!

The tank, packed with combustible fuel, whistled through the air and slammed into the bat monster's head. The blow didn't hurt it much. After all, it could withstand machine-gun fire, and perhaps because she was still dizzy, Katie hadn't been able to put her full strength into the throw.

But that was enough for Li Wei.

The instant the tank struck the bat monster's head, Li Wei aimed at it and pulled the trigger.

Bang!!

The fuel tank burst apart like fireworks suddenly blooming in midair. Flames surged out, completely engulfing the bat monster's head.

The bat monster let out a hoarse shriek. Instinctively, it pulled its claws away from the windows and tried to beat out the flames raging around its head. That cost it its last hold on the building. Its massive body tumbled down and slammed into the ground.

"Give it another one!"

Li Wei quickly deactivated Death's Eye and shouted. His head was in terrible shape too. The bat monster's strange cry had left him with a splitting headache, worse than seasickness. Only while Death's Eye was active did the pain ease for a moment.

Katie wasn't doing much better. She caught her breath, pulled off another fuel tank, and aimed at the monster. But the bat monster was now rolling around with its claws over its head, seemingly determined not to give them a better opening. Katie narrowed her eyes at it. When it rolled over again, she hurled the fuel tank at it with all her strength.

The spinning tank flew through the air. At that moment, the world before Li Wei slowed once more. He watched the tank rotate toward the monster in slow motion, luckily pass between its flailing claws, and strike its furry belly...

Now.

Li Wei pulled the trigger again, firing a bullet.

Then came a flash of fire.

The exploding fuel tank mercilessly tore open the bat monster's seemingly soft, vulnerable abdomen. The shock wave and fragments ripped through its body. The bat monster let out another piercing shriek and violently flapped its arms, trying to take flight. But this was its final struggle. Its body rose only a few centimeters off the ground before collapsing again.

Its howls gradually weakened, then faded away.

"Phew..."

Li Wei dropped onto his backside and gasped for breath. He felt awful: dizzy, light-headed, and nauseated. He watched the monster's body slowly melt and feed the flames, as though its corpse were itself some kind of combustible material.

But none of that mattered now.

Li Wei closed his eyes and heard sirens in the distance.

At least tonight's trouble was over.

If he could, Li Wei would have liked to rest in the hospital for a few days. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time.

Although Betty was dead, she hadn't left them without any clues. At the very least, she had said the word "teacher" before she died. If they investigated its literal meaning, the person connected to Betty was clearly likely to be one of her teachers. Since Betty hadn't hired a private tutor, it could only be a teacher at the academy.

In fact, the police quickly identified a suspect.

Franz Rebecca.

A visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Medicine, specializing in psychology and folklore.

Of course, they hadn't singled out Professor Franz so quickly because they had already obtained evidence. It was because... the professor had disappeared.

Yes, when the police went to the academy the following day under the pretext of investigating Betty's case, they learned that Professor Franz was missing. They immediately began investigating him.

They discovered that Professor Franz had privately organized an Occult Research Society, and Betty had been one of its members. Not only that, but he was also connected to Lady Claytie. Part of the society's funding had come from her private sponsorship.

The police immediately went to his residence, only to discover that Professor Franz's rooms were deserted and everything inside had been cleared out.

The academy knew nothing about any of it.

Clearly, Professor Franz Rebecca was very likely the mastermind behind this string of incidents, so the police naturally issued a warrant for his arrest. Of course, the warrant described Professor Franz as the mastermind behind the vampire incidents and portrayed him as a mad scientist. The two victims had both been carefully selected by him and murdered in the pursuit of his insane, evil experiments.

That was only natural. After all, they couldn't very well say that two young women had turned into vampires. This wasn't some cheap rumor rag...

As for the explosions and flames caused by the battle in the alley, the official explanation was a gas explosion caused by a leaking pipe. Well, that really was a handy excuse.

During this time, Li Wei was busy writing his case report, including the course of his investigation, his conjectures, and his thoughts. It would be submitted to the elderly butler through Katie. Who the butler would then pass it to wasn't something Li Wei needed to worry about.

Naturally, Katie would read through the report first.

"Um... I don't really understand, Mr. Li Wei. Are you saying the enemy was controlling people by invading their dreams?"

"That's only my theory, but I think it's probably close to the truth."

Li Wei explained to Katie as he tapped away at the typewriter.

"When I was attacked at the theater, I knew perfectly well that I was dreaming. That meant everything followed the rules of dreams, not reality. We tested it before: your badge did nothing to the monster Mr. Rogers had become. Yet in the dream, it could burn Maggie's hand and even seriously injure her. The reason is simple. As you said, everyone believes the All-Seeing Eye can purify vampires, so it can purify vampires, even if only in dreams."

"So, Mr. Detective, do you mean that as long as everyone believes a certain god exists, it will exist?"

"Isn't that the very nature of gods?"

Li Wei glanced at Katie.

"People long for the sun, worship the moon, fear the darkness, and yearn for the light. The feelings and emotions that arise from those things coalesce into the concept of a god... Of course, I'm no expert, so my suggestion is to find a few psychologists or historians to investigate this. Oh, and preferably some occultists too."

Li Wei glanced at the sheet emerging from the typewriter, then pulled it back into its original position.

"Still, you've made a name for yourself again."

Katie grinned as she took out a newspaper and waved it in front of Li Wei.

"The hero who vanquished the evil nightmare! The occult detective who protects our citizens!"

"The press loves to exaggerate."

Li Wei stared at the typewriter without even lifting his head, silently sighing.

With that reputation spreading, he feared his troubles would only keep growing.