The Unsent Teddy Bear

The first day back at school was peaceful, and classes ended quickly.

Luo Wei took a steam bus near the school and stopped at an intersection in the west district.

The old house was quite far from school, so he needed to transfer buses midway to get home.

While waiting for the bus, Luo Wei looked around idly when something suddenly caught his attention.

In the glass window of a corner shop, a teddy bear half his height sat quietly on display.

As if possessed, Luo Wei went over and bought the plush toy.

On the bus, young men and women kept stealing glances at Luo Wei holding the large plush toy, teasing each other and laughing.

Luo Wei glared at them.

What are you looking at? Can't a boy buy a plush toy?

Besides, it's not for himself...

Luo Wei had actually wanted to buy such a toy for Helena for a long time, and seeing it now, he just bought it on impulse.

However... their trust had probably shattered after that battle three days ago...

Helena probably only wants to kill him now, so buying this was pointless...

Luo Wei silently stared into the teddy bear's eyes and sighed helplessly.

A gift that can't be given, might as well just satisfy his own guilt...

Back at the old house, Luo Wei placed the teddy bear on the sofa.

He prepared dinner alone.

Of course, there was no legendary feast - that was just a lie he told his teacher. Luo Wei chewed his vegetable salad mechanically, tasting nothing.

However, while eating, he suddenly felt something off about the atmosphere in the room.

Luo Wei stood up suspiciously and observed the room's layout.

The chair... was it originally placed here?

The curtains seemed to have been pulled too.

The window was half-open, with a cool breeze ruffling Luo Wei's hair.

Someone had been here.

It was Helena!

Luo Wei immediately tensed up, his hand reaching into his ever-present shoulder bag, feeling bottle after bottle of potions.

"Helena?"

His voice echoed through the empty old house, perhaps lacking confidence, carrying a slight tremor.

"Come out, brother sees you."

"Stop hiding!"

The old house remained deathly silent, with only his own voice.

Luo Wei frowned slightly, and just as he was beginning to doubt his memory, thinking he might be scaring himself...

A strange rustling sound suddenly came from a room on the second floor.

Luo Wei immediately pulled out an antique revolver from his bag and ran upstairs.

"Helena? Is that you?"

He raised his gun, cautiously searching the corridor.

The gun in his hand was bought from the black market two days ago, because he had developed something called [Mithril Bullet].

But actually, [Mithril Bullet] had no effect on creatures like Helena, so carrying this gun felt somewhat self-deceptive.

However, having a gun in hand at least gave him some courage.

Luo Wei checked the rooms one by one, and soon discovered the noise was coming from the bedroom where he and Helena had slept.

He took a deep breath, gripped the revolver tightly, and kicked open the bedroom door.

Several eerie black tentacles disappeared through the window.

Luo Wei rushed to the window, and saw a twisted black shadow quickly vanishing into the distant bushes.

Though it was just a glimpse before it disappeared.

But Luo Wei still saw her current horrifying state.

Filthy twisted flesh and exposed broken organs combined in a way that made one's scalp crawl, black tentacles and tendrils, large and small, intertwined and writhing on the bloated body. Except for her vaguely recognizable human upper body, or rather from the chest up, Luo Wei could hardly recognize that this was his sister, Helena.

Helena's contamination had deepened...

There were even signs that she might completely abandon her human appearance and fully degenerate into a twisted monster.

It seems that battle three days ago really affected her greatly.

Luo Wei stared at the distant woods until the last trace of movement completely disappeared before slowly closing the window.

He placed the revolver on the table, his palms completely sweaty.

The old house returned to its initial quiet and safety.

A question suddenly emerged.

Helena didn't attack him this time, nor did she try to kill him.

In fact... she quickly fled when discovered.

"Helena... what exactly are you trying to do? What... what's going through your mind?"

"Could she have another sinister plan?"

Like a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder unable to get answers, Luo Wei anxiously searched through the old house.

He had plenty of dangerous items at home, like the drug used to knock out Teacher Evelyn a few days ago, but no matter how much he searched, all the dangerous items were accounted for and clearly hadn't been touched.

Even the food was untouched, despite Helena's known love for eating.

"Could it be... she just wanted to see me?"

This conclusion seemed absurd to Luo Wei. He looked at himself in the mirror and shook his head violently, trying to dismiss such thoughts.

How could that be possible? After how she treated him, using every method to torture him, how could her intentions be so simple and pure?

Luo Wei admitted his emotions were complicated earlier.

Especially when he saw her horrific state and how she fled without looking back...

Three whole days, hiding in the wild, she probably couldn't find food, or maybe she ate rats, rabbits, or even wild dogs?

Living rough outdoors, would it remind her of those childhood times? Early spring in Saint Callen was still quite cold, would she curl up shivering from the cold...

No! What am I thinking?

Luo Wei stared at himself in the mirror, wanting to slap himself back to his senses.

She's a monster who has killed him before!!

Are you a masochist, Luo Wei?

He absolutely cannot show any sympathy, absolutely cannot view her with human logic!

Otherwise, one careless moment could lead to irreversible consequences.

Life is precious.

Luo Wei worked hard on his psychological construction until he finally calmed down after a long while.

That's right, I am the man behind legendary Sheriff Raymond, a mysterious investigator walking in darkness, a man determined to save the world.

No emotions.

Back to the dining room, eating the remaining salad alone.

Reading the newspaper.

Turning off the lights and going to bed.

The vast empty old house once again fell into dead silence.

Only a faint sense of loneliness lingered within.

...

"Eh? Little Wei, didn't you sleep well yesterday? Why such dark circles under your eyes?"

In the office, Evelyn looked worriedly at the listless Luo Wei.

"It's nothing... probably stayed up too late researching." Luo Wei smiled bitterly and shook his head.

As he spoke, he closed his notebook filled with densely written information and tucked the newspaper inside.

"You're really starting to look like a detective." Evelyn smiled and handed Luo Wei a cup of hot water, "How's it going, has our little detective found any clues?"

"Teacher, you said you've had some dealings with the external members of that cult?" Luo Wei looked at her curiously, "Do you know where they hold their secret meetings?"

"Those rats in the slum sewers, they know nothing..." Evelyn narrowed her eyes in thought, "Finding the cult's meeting place isn't easy, hasn't the police department been investigating for a long time?"

Suddenly, her tone changed, "However..."

"However what?" Luo Wei quickly asked: "Do you have another way?"

"Teacher's house is right there, didn't you know?" Evelyn looked at him amusedly.

"You actually live in that kind of place?" Luo Wei was shocked.

He looked Evelyn up and down. His teacher's dress and manners were impeccable; he never imagined such an elegant and proper woman would live in such a place.

"You're always talking about making money... are you short on money?" Luo Wei looked at her strangely, "You haven't borrowed from loan sharks, have you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Evelyn shot him an annoyed glance.

After chatting idly for a while, the two returned to their main topic.

"The teacher knows more about Saint Callen's dark side than you might imagine~" She winked, "Having lived there for so many years, I know several places that would perfectly suit those guys' needs to stay under the radar and avoid police detection."

Luo Wei slammed his hands on the table and stood up, "What are we waiting for then?"