Glancing up at the gloomy, drowsy sky, Amamiya Rin felt an ominous premonition.
It was as if, somewhere in this city, something unfortunate was happening.
"Isn't that just to be expected?"
The moment this thought popped up, Amamiya Rin couldn't help but laugh. A self-deprecating smile surfaced on his face.
In a worldview where settings involving ghosts, various strange tales, and curses existed, it would be the strange thing if no one encountered misfortune.
More than half an hour later, leaning on his cane, Amamiya Rin got off the bus at the stop just one li away from Toto General Hospital.
By now, the sky had turned completely dark. Streetlights lit up, outlining the massive silhouette of the hospital building.
Amamiya Rin leaned on his canes, walking slowly along the small path leading to the hospital.
To one side of the sidewalk was the road with sparse traffic; on the other side was a design of dense green woodland. Tree branches cast large, deep shadows, and only a few widely spaced streetlights provided dim yellow light, illuminating the road beneath his feet.
Compared to the main road, it was much quieter here. One could only hear the rustling of wind blowing through leaves and the light tapping of the canes on the ground.
Suddenly, Amamiya Rin's ears twitched slightly, keenly capturing a trace of discordant sound mixed in the wind.
"...Save... Save me! Someone..."
The voice was intermittent, carrying a panicked sobbing tone and heavy panting. Mixed with the rustling of leaves and the noise of distant vehicles, it drilled into Amamiya Rin's ears.
Amamiya Rin stopped immediately, his brows knitting together.
He concentrated, tilting his ear to listen.
Thanks to his five senses sharpened by the cultivation of the [Gate of Contemplation], he confirmed this was not an auditory hallucination.
Although the cry for help was faint, it definitely existed, and it was becoming more urgent and closer.
Locking onto the direction, it was precisely that patch of green woodland to the front right.
Amamiya Rin hesitated almost not at all; he immediately left the sidewalk and turned into the dimly lit gravel path within the woods from the front.
The woods were paved with a small gravel path for people to stroll on, winding and turning. The light from the streetlamps was cut into fragmented pieces by the dense foliage, casting mottled, swaying shadows on the ground; visibility was not good.
Amamiya Rin stabilized his breathing rhythm, gradually entering the [Gate of Contemplation], raising his perception to the maximum. The rustling of the wind and grass around him manifested in his brain as incomparably clear surveillance.
His steps were small and fast, moving quickly in the direction the sound came from. Leaving the gravel path, the ground became uneven, but Amamiya Rin's pace remained stable at a constant rhythm.
Rounding a cluster of dense flowerbeds, the scene before him suddenly opened up. He saw a young woman wearing a light-colored dress stumbling and fleeing. She had smooth long brown hair and wore a white wide-brimmed hat. Her facial lines were soft, and her light brown eyes were filled with terror. She had no shoes on her feet, wearing only stockings; her stumbling body looked as if it would fall at any moment.
In fact, she had already fallen; Amamiya Rin could see dirty grass and dust stained on her body.
A few steps behind her, another woman was chasing her.
That woman wore a fashionable dress, her figure thin and gaunt. Her face appeared extremely grotesque in the dim light; her skin color was a sickly blue-gray, her cheeks deeply sunken. Most terrifying was her mouth, which could not fully close, revealing several sharp canine teeth. Viscous saliva dripped constantly from the corners of her mouth, and strange sounds issued from her throat.
"Vampire?"
Amamiya Rin's pupils constricted.
Although this appearance wasn't quite like the vampires drawn by Junji Ito, it fit the image of a common vampire very well.
"Help—!"
The direction the brown-haired girl was fleeing was precisely towards the sidewalk, which happened to make her meet the eyes of Amamiya Rin, who had walked in from the sidewalk.
The moment she saw Amamiya Rin, a strong light suddenly erupted in the brown-haired girl's eyes. Her lips parted, about to cry out to Amamiya Rin for help.
However, the cry for help stopped abruptly just as it reached her mouth.
Her gaze swept over the two canes in Amamiya Rin's hands. That fire of hope that had just ignited dimmed rapidly, as if doused by cold water.
"Quick! Run away! There's a monster!"
She shouted loudly to Amamiya Rin and immediately changed direction, avoiding the location where Amamiya Rin was standing.
Watching the brown-haired girl's subconscious action to avoid him, Amamiya Rin understood her thoughts.
(She is a good person.)
Amamiya Rin made a conclusion in his heart.
A person unwilling to implicate the innocent could already be considered a good person.
Then, since he had already come, since he had already seen it, there was no reason to stand by and watch!
(Not a human criminal like a robber or rapist, but a vampire? I didn't expect the first enemy after coming out of the mountains to be a monster of this level, but... a vampire that can't kill a human female in a short time shouldn't be too difficult to kill.)
"Run towards me!"
Amamiya Rin said calmly. His voice wasn't loud, yet it possessed a strange penetrating power, ringing in the brown-haired girl's ears.
"I won't be in trouble."
The brown-haired girl was stunned upon hearing this, a trace of hesitation appearing amidst her panic.
"Quick!"
Amamiya Rin urged, while simultaneously taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
In an instant, he entered a deep state of [Dhyana]—the [Gate of Contemplation].
His chest rose and fell slowly but powerfully. His mind sank into the [Tomie Network] composed of thirty-two consciousnesses. Through those invisible neural connections, his will forcibly dragged all the [Tomie]s into the same realm.
The [Tomie]s scattered all over the city, no matter what they were doing, experienced a momentary stagnation in their movements.
Their breathing involuntarily followed Amamiya Rin's rhythm, becoming long and unified. A weak but definitely existing energy fed back along those invisible nerve lines, surging into Amamiya Rin's brain.
Amamiya Rin's sympathetic nervous system activated instantly. His body secreted a large amount of adrenaline. The increase in blood oxygen content provided more sufficient energy for his neurons, while quickly expelling excess carbon dioxide, making his nerve signal transmission more efficient, more lucid, and more agile.
Amamiya Rin's temples bulged slightly, feeling as if the world had been pressed on the slow-motion button.
The sound of the wind, the friction of leaves, the footsteps of the vampire, and even the rapid heartbeat of the brown-haired girl all became unusually clear.
His neural reaction speed was boosted to the limit at this moment, practically twice that of normal times!
The brown-haired girl looked at Amamiya Rin's calm expression and his composed posture of closing his eyes to rest his mind. She glanced again at the ferocious monster getting closer and closer behind her. She steeled her heart, as if smashing a cracked pot, gritted her teeth, and charged towards Amamiya Rin's position.
This turn of hers naturally led the relentlessly chasing vampire towards Amamiya Rin as well.
That monster didn't seem to put the cane-wielding Amamiya Rin in its eyes at all. Its attention was completely focused on the prey before it. Roaring, it pounced closer, extending its long, slender arms to grab at the back of the brown-haired girl's neck.
The moment the brown-haired girl and the vampire entered within 1.5 meters in front of Amamiya Rin.
Amamiya Rin moved!
____
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