Blame the Villain – Chapter 254

Pseudo-Vampire World 1

The rain in the southern March rainy season dripped continuously, seemingly endless.

The office door opened, and the wind brought in the cool, damp air as colleague Guo Mei rushed in breathlessly like a gust of wind.

“Xuyi, I just saw an incredibly beautiful girl!”

Guo Mei sat back in her seat, hastily took a sip of water, her expression filled with amazement: “I heard she’s the new surgical intern, from a very wealthy family, and she’s even the daughter of some famous company’s chairman!”

“I just happened to bump into her face-to-face. Xuyi, I’m not exaggerating, I’ve never seen such an exquisitely beautiful girl in all my life! I was stunned for several seconds before I could move again! Though that young lady seemed cold and aloof, appearing somewhat unfriendly, I didn’t dare approach her casually. I heard she’s been in poor health these past years, staying abroad for treatment and studies, only recently returned to the country, but she hasn’t neglected her studies, attending prestigious schools all the way…”

Others didn’t know, but Guo Mei knew Song Xuyi had a small weakness for looking at beautiful women, which was why she chose to share this news with Song Xuyi. However, Song Xuyi seemed not to have heard her words at all, staring at the screen until Guo Mei called out “Xuyi” two or three times before she blinked awake as if from a dream and responded with an “Oh, oh, that’s nice!”

Song Xuyi was clearly distracted.

Remembering that rumor, Guo Mei blinked and looked at the report title on Song Xuyi’s computer screen, which was exactly as she had expected.

“Ah, was that girl from yesterday the one you tried to save?” Thinking of those victimized young girls in the prime of their lives, Guo Mei instantly lost interest in sharing gossip and sighed: “How many is that this month?”

“The third one,” Song Xuyi unconsciously bit her lower lip.

Recently, there had been frequent cases of women being attacked in the city. Many women died, and some were still alive when found, but couldn’t be saved after being sent to the hospital.

These deceased women all shared one commonality: bite marks on their necks, their blood seemingly completely drained, and their blood vessels becoming extremely rigid, making it impossible to perform blood transfusions even if attempted.

Song Xuyi was on duty at the outpatient clinic last night, and this third victim was the one she tried to save.

The woman’s appearance before death was extremely strange – her face was as white as paper, pupils dilated, and her lips even carried a slight eerie smile, as if she had fallen into a beautiful dream, already unable to perceive the outside world…

The girl died with a smile.

Song Xuyi recalled the girl’s appearance at death, feeling chills down her spine, everything about it seemed bizarre—

But the next day left no time for Song Xuyi to think too much about it. With the director’s arrival, there followed the hospital’s routine meetings, outpatient clinic, surgeries…

The whole day was so busy she barely touched the ground, Song Xuyi could only squeeze in extra time to eat, naturally neither of them had the mind to think further about the new colleague or the cases of attacked women.

By the time Song Xuyi got off work, it was already past ten in the evening as usual.

Song Xuyi first made a round of the wards, most of her patients had already fallen asleep. As she walked past the hospital’s blood bank, she happened to see someone walking out with their head down, seemingly a girl with a tall figure. Song Xuyi didn’t pay much attention to the unfamiliar silhouette and was about to head home when she ran into Guo Mei again.

Guo Mei was on night shift today, and seeing the dual-use parasol in Song Xuyi’s hand, she immediately thrust a large umbrella into Song Xuyi’s hands, then stuffed a bottle of anti-wolf spray into her hand, warning: “That killer specifically targets young girls like you, Xuyi, you must be extremely careful…”

Song Xuyi lived in the hospital’s public rental housing, not far from the hospital. Being busy year-round, she hadn’t had time to get her driver’s license, so she usually walked home, taking only about ten minutes to reach.

Song Xuyi thanked Guo Mei for her kindness and agreed to leave.

Due to the heavy rain, there weren’t many pedestrians on the road. The few people out were all hurrying along with umbrellas, the air was damp and cold, but there were street lights all the way, so Song Xuyi didn’t feel afraid walking among them.

Song Xuyi hadn’t eaten dinner, so she went to buy oden [關東煮 | guāndōngzhǔ | Japanese-style hot pot] at the convenience store on the street corner. She happened to look up and through the transparent glass window, saw a girl wearing a black long dress getting drenched in the rain, walking into the alley behind the store.

The wet long hair clung to the girl’s cheeks, and in that fleeting glance, Song Xuyi couldn’t make out her features clearly, only seeing her pointed chin and graceful figure.

Song Xuyi inexplicably felt this silhouette seemed somewhat familiar, and unconsciously gripped the other small umbrella in her hand, but before she could offer the umbrella, the girl had already turned the corner.

Song Xuyi hesitated for a moment, abandoned the thought of delivering the umbrella, and paid for the oden. When she looked up again, she saw a man walking past the storefront window.

The man was holding a black umbrella, walking hurriedly, with a tall build, wearing a black baseball cap. Song Xuyi couldn’t see his face either, but she noticed his unusually bright lips visible under the brim of the umbrella…

Song Xuyi froze for a moment.

—The man also walked toward the alley behind the store.

That alley was rarely frequented by people, with a dead end at the back. There had been talk of demolition recently, and there weren’t any surveillance cameras around…

The time interval between the two was too close…

Remembering the appearance of that girl when she died last night, Song Xuyi hesitated for a moment, put down the oden, and hurriedly bought a flashlight from the convenience store, opened her phone and entered the emergency number in the call screen.

After making preparations, Song Xuyi said goodbye to the familiar store owner, tucked the umbrella under her arm, held the anti-wolf spray in one hand, gripped the flashlight between her teeth, and held her phone in the other hand as she pushed open the door and followed into the alley.

Only one dim yellow street light remained in the alley.

Walking down, everything was very quiet, with only the “pong pong” sound of rain hitting the umbrella.

The alley wasn’t deep, and after walking hurriedly for a minute or two, Song Xuyi saw the girl and man at the end of the alley.

The man’s umbrella had been tossed aside. His tall figure blocked the girl who was standing against the wall, Song Xuyi could only see the hem of the girl’s black dress and half of her slender, fair calf.

The man had lowered his head, and since he was facing away, Song Xuyi didn’t know if he was planning to kiss the girl or commit a crime…

But having already come this far—

Song Xuyi still gritted her teeth, raised the flashlight in her hand and waved it at the two people in the corner:

“Hey!” Song Xuyi tried to speak fiercely, putting on the most intimidating look of her life, shouting out: “In this heavy rain, what are you two doing skulking around in the alley? Don’t you know it’s not safe in the city recently?”

Song Xuyi thought her voice was quite loud, but once the words came out, she realized her voice clearly sounded somewhat harsh on the outside but weak inside, even the end of her words trembled slightly and cracked.

Song Xuyi felt extremely ashamed of her own cowardice, couldn’t help but bite her lower lip, and gripped her phone tightly.

Hearing Song Xuyi’s voice, the man in the alley turned his head.

As the flashlight shone on the man’s face, Song Xuyi wasn’t sure if it was an illusion created by the strong light, but in that fleeting glimpse, the man’s face was excessively pale, and his eyes seemed to have turned red.

But when she looked again, the man’s face had returned to normal.

It was a face that could be called handsome, likely very attractive to girls, and didn’t match Song Xuyi’s imagined image of a creepy man who would stalk women [女□□情 | censored term].

After seeing this face clearly, Song Xuyi, being naturally drawn to good looks, couldn’t help but start to doubt herself: perhaps these two were a couple, and she was overthinking…

Thinking this way, Song Xuyi suddenly felt even more embarrassed, caught between advancing and retreating, she couldn’t help but shift her gaze away, and thus didn’t notice the movements of the two people in the corner—··

When the man looked at Song Xuyi, his eyes instantly turned red, tiny fangs protruded from his lips, his entire back arched like a predator ready to strike, capable of taking Song Xuyi’s life in an instant. However, just as he was about to move, the girl who had been leaning against the wall with her head down, looking weak and helpless, seemingly already in the man’s grasp without any sign of aggression, suddenly raised her head…

“Jiejie, save me!”

The girl suddenly called out loudly to Song Xuyi!

The man was startled, frowning as he looked at the girl: logically, the girl should have been under his confusion spell and unable to speak, how could she suddenly regain consciousness?

At that moment, the man noticed a small red crystal pendant hanging from the girl’s neck.

He didn’t know what was strange about this pendant, but the moment he saw it, he instinctively felt an enormous pressure, as if something had suddenly struck his chest, causing him such pain that he unconsciously retracted his fangs and bent over, suddenly unable to exert any strength!

This is—

He slowly narrowed his eyes, subconsciously realizing there was something eerie about this unusually beautiful, seemingly fragile girl. Just as he was about to kill her to eliminate future troubles, Song Xuyi had already rushed forward, spraying wildly with her anti-wolf spray…

The man instinctively became angry, reaching out to strangle Song Xuyi’s throat, but upon raising his hand, he discovered the power within his body was still rapidly draining away. He looked at the red crystal pendant in terror, thinking of some possibility, a flash of both greed and fear crossing his eyes, but feeling the strength leaving his body, the man dared not linger any longer and could only bite his lip as he stumbled out of the alley…

Song Xuyi didn’t chase after him.

If the man was truly a criminal, chasing after him would be futile. Song Xuyi had called the police while pressing the anti-wolf spray, and quickly took several photos of the man’s retreating figure.

Before the police arrived, the most important thing was to get this girl out of this deserted alley, preventing the man from returning.

Song Xuyi hurriedly stepped forward to shield the rain-soaked girl with her umbrella, supporting her as they walked forward while discreetly checking the girl’s condition. Although the girl seemed shocked and kept her head down, fortunately, despite being wet from the rain and cold to the touch, she showed no signs of having been harmed.

“Are you alright?” Song Xuyi sighed in relief, tilting most of the umbrella to the girl’s side, gently comforting her while trying to distract her: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have hesitated back there, I should have followed immediately…”

“I should be the one thanking Jiejie!”

The girl who had been keeping her head down finally raised it to look at Song Xuyi. Her beautiful face was filled with gratitude, and her eyes seemed to have flowing halos of light, so dazzling it made one dizzy: “Jiejie saved me…”

“You don’t know how scared I was at that time. I don’t know why, but suddenly I couldn’t move, wandered dazedly into this dark alley, I was so terrified, fortunately Jiejie appeared in time…”

As Song Xuyi listened to the girl’s words, she unconsciously froze for a moment, never imagining this girl could be so stunningly beautiful: the girl’s face was wet from the rain, without makeup, showing a slight paleness, yet in this setting it only enhanced her beauty—like a rose dampened by dew, so vibrant it made one’s heart skip a beat.

Meeting the girl’s autumn water-like eyes, Song Xuyi didn’t know what came over her, her heart beating faster than ever before, almost jumping out of her chest. Only when the girl stopped speaking did Song Xuyi snap out of her trance, her face reddening as she spoke: “Sorry, you’re just so beautiful, I was a bit dazed…”

The girl lowered her head and smiled.

“Jiejie saved me, yet keeps apologizing to me…”

She seemed to be in poor health, after laughing she coughed softly several times. Song Xuyi was already supporting her, and with this coughing fit, she seemed to lose her strength, most of her body leaning against Song Xuyi. Looking at the girl’s slender, fair arms and feeling her soft breathing near her ear, Song Xuyi’s face flushed red, not even remembering how she managed to help the girl back to the convenience store.

After entering the convenience store, Song Xuyi felt relieved. Under the store’s bright lights, the girl looked even more beautiful, Song Xuyi had never seen someone so stunning in her life.

Especially the red mole at the corner of the girl’s eye, like the finishing touch of a painting, adding a distinct touch of allure to her entire being.

She couldn’t help stealing several more glances at the girl, noticing a dark mark near the girl’s trouser leg that looked like blood stains. Just as she was about to mention it, she met the girl’s gaze, who spoke candidly: “That’s not my blood, probably got smeared from somewhere.”

Song Xuyi nodded, feeling somewhat uncomfortable after being caught looking, went to the counter to hand the earlier oden to the girl, and ordered another portion for herself.

“Eat something to warm your stomach first.” Song Xuyi spoke softly: “When the police come later, don’t be afraid, just tell them what you remember.”

The girl curved her eyes and nodded, eating the oden methodically. She seemed unable to eat spicy food, taking small bites like a lazy kitten. Sensing Song Xuyi’s gaze, she looked up again, curving her lips at Song Xuyi…

“Jiejie, I’m Rong Yu.”

Song Xuyi’s heart skipped a beat, pretending to be composed as she nodded, trying to eat her oden calmly, and only after feeling she had regained her composure did she reply: “I’m Song Xuyi.”

The police arrived quickly, before Rong Yu had eaten much.

They both went to the police station to give statements. Like before, Rong Yu seemed unable to remember clearly what had happened, only recalling that she suddenly felt dizzy while walking, and when she came to, she was in the alley with an unfamiliar man standing before her.

Because Rong Yu was exceptionally beautiful, had no injuries, and couldn’t remember the details of the incident, the police weren’t sure if that man was connected to the recent cases of female deaths. They kept Rong Yu for statements and blood tests to check for drugs, and by the time everything was finished, it was nearly dawn.

Song Xuyi decided not to sleep, planning to go home for a shower before work. After the night’s ordeal, and with Rong Yu being a victim, it wasn’t convenient to get a taxi near dawn, so the police decided to drive them both home. Rong Yu insisted on seeing Song Xuyi home first. When they reached the public rental housing complex where Song Xuyi lived, Rong Yu smiled at her again, but Song Xuyi didn’t notice her smile. Seeing the rain starting again outside, after some thought, Song Xuyi still handed her remaining small umbrella to Rong Yu, advising: “Remember to bring an umbrella when you go out in the future.”

Rong Yu took the umbrella with a bright smile: “Then I’ll find a chance to return it to Jiejie.”

Song Xuyi didn’t take it seriously. She didn’t like drawing attention, and saving the girl was just instinct, so besides names, she hadn’t even gotten the girl’s phone number. The girl wouldn’t know any of her information, and their interaction would likely end here.

However, Song Xuyi didn’t expect to see this girl again so soon.

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LP: Re-translated on February 12, 2025

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