False Tenderness

"If you discover any new leads, please make sure to notify me immediately."

After saying this, Inspector Raymond gave Luo Wei a glance before leaving the office with his assistant.

Luo Wei blinked, briefly surveying his surroundings, and realized he was back in the office from two days ago.

His thoughts were hazy, and this time he didn't wave goodbye to the Inspector like before, as his mind was flooded with images of what had happened just seconds ago.

The dark night, the alley, the strange odors permeating the lower city...

And that ghostly blood-red shadow...

Luo Wei slowly turned around; the perpetrator behind all this was silently watching him with a slightly puzzled gaze.

[

[Save Point: Magic Engineering Class A Advisor's Office]

[Available Reloads: 4/5]

Luo Wei smiled bitterly as he touched his left temple, thinking that shooting himself was indeed the least painful way to reload.

"Little Wei? What's wrong?"

Evelyn approached him with concern, reaching out her hand.

"Are you feeling unwell again?"

Staring at her pale, delicate hand, Luo Wei instinctively wanted to dodge.

But he suppressed his aversion and allowed Evelyn to touch his forehead.

"I'm fine," Luo Wei smiled.

His gaze moved past Evelyn to the half-drawn curtains and the dimly lit office.

He should have realized it sooner...

Unnaturally pale skin, aversion to sunlight, terrifying healing abilities - all typical vampire characteristics.

However... Teacher Evelyn's beautiful and gentle facade made it hard to believe she could be the killer...

Until the irrefutable evidence was right before his eyes...

Looking at Teacher Evelyn again, Luo Wei's heart was filled with complex emotions.

It was a feeling difficult to describe, mixed with disappointment and loss.

When Helena had killed him several times, Luo Wei's world had turned dark, and that's when Teacher Evelyn appeared before him.

She was gentle, her dark green eyes always gazing at him softly, showing concern for his health, making him feel a long-lost warmth...

But.

It was all fake.

All the gentleness she showed had ulterior motives; she was deceiving him.

"You're not fine at all," Evelyn looked at him reproachfully, "You look terrible and you're breaking into cold sweats."

"If you're not feeling well, stop helping that Inspector with the case. Your health comes first."

She was still lying to him even now.

At this moment, Luo Wei finally truly understood Helena's sense of loss back then.

Indeed... until something happens to oneself, one never truly empathizes...

"Teacher, I'm really fine, it's just my old condition... You know about it."

He covered the bitterness in his heart with a fake smile and walked to the desk.

Once again, he emphasized his determination to investigate this case thoroughly.

He didn't need false kindness; he needed power.

"You're so stubborn, child..." Evelyn's expression was helpless, but she returned to her position and began searching through her cabinet.

She took out that stack of old newspapers again, meant to divert attention.

"Since you want to investigate this case, I do have some leads."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Teacher, I've been following this case recently too. The student disappearances reminded me of this cultist case - the methods are similar, both involving kidnapping lone victims with weak resistance. What do you think?"

Luo Wei pretended to browse through the newspapers, his expression growing increasingly grave as he read.

Then, as if suddenly enlightened, he displayed a look of surprise that seemed to say "so that's how it is."

His expression didn't escape Evelyn's notice, and this time, perhaps because he already knew the truth, her smile seemed to carry a hint of triumphant satisfaction.

A chill ran through Luo Wei's heart.

After he helped redirect suspicion back to the cult organizations, Luo Wei proactively suggested investigating the lower city and arranged to meet her at the school gate after classes the next day.

Then he bid her farewell with a smile and left her office.

...

The next day, during the last class before school ended.

Luo Wei asked the male teacher for leave and hurriedly left the classroom.

Instead of waiting for Evelyn at the school gate as agreed, he passed through the school gates and entered a coffee shop at the street corner.

It wasn't dismissal time yet, so the coffee shop was relatively empty. Luo Wei went straight to the second floor.

On the empty second floor, in the farthest corner, Inspector Raymond had been waiting for him for quite some time.

"Finally here..." Inspector Raymond cautiously glanced out the window, and seeing no one following Luo Wei, he got straight to the point:

"Are you absolutely certain that your Teacher Evelyn is the perpetrator behind the campus disappearances?"

"Of course I'm certain." Luo Wei sat opposite him, noticing two mysterious figures seated behind Inspector Raymond.

These two had very strange attire and demeanor, which immediately caught his attention.

"But I checked her records, her background is clean, and..." Inspector Raymond said in confusion: "How could someone like her - young, beautiful, popular, and even somewhat renowned in academic circles - do something like this? I find it really hard to understand..."

"There are many things you can't understand."

Luo Wei thought to himself while looking at him, "If you could identify villains just by looking at their surface, why would you still be working as an overworked, underpaid East District Inspector who risks his life daily? You could be the Chief Commissioner already..."

"You have a point..." Inspector Raymond looked at him somewhat embarrassedly, "After all, she's a different species, we can't use normal human logic to understand them..."

Faced with this young but trusted old friend, Inspector Raymond chose to believe him.

"Aren't you going to introduce these new friends?" Luo Wei glanced at the two people behind him.

These two were clearly brought by Inspector Raymond, and he had already guessed their identities.

"Oh, right." Inspector Raymond quickly said: "Since this involves those evil creatures, normal police forces won't be of much use. After you contacted me, I urgently reached out to the Special Affairs Department..."

He began introducing them to Luo Wei.

"These two agents - one you can call 'Wizard', and the other is Gerald..."

"I prefer people to call me Monster Hunter."

The man named Gerald smiled as he looked over, correcting Inspector Raymond's introduction.