The Girl in the Corner

“Strange…”

Having swiftly dealt with the remaining vampires in the alley, Amber was now crouching in the stairwell, extending a delicate hand towards the nose of a pale, limp girl lying nearby, a bewildered expression gracing her pretty face.

“She’s still breathing?”

She had distinctly witnessed these monsters plunge their fangs directly into the necks of these very people.

Could they actually still be alive?

Moreover, why was there not a single wound on this girl’s neck?

Amber had previously handled similar incidents involving vampiric monsters.

The victims were invariably drained into desiccated husks.

Yet now…

Was it because the vampires she encountered this time were generally weak?

But even if they were weak, they wouldn’t fail to leave a single wound, would they?

Amber then examined a middle-aged woman lying beside the girl.

There were no traces of blood being drawn from her either.

“Something’s wrong…”

Amber, lost in thought, instinctively gazed towards the pitch-black stairwell.

Despite the considerable commotion she had just caused downstairs, an eerie silence pervaded the stairwell, as if completely cut off from the outside world’s clamor.

Was it a trap?

Or perhaps…

“What, do you imagine this young lady would be afraid?”

After a moment of hesitation, Amber adjusted the brim of her hat, a smile gracing her lips, and began ascending the stairs.

No lights illuminated the upper reaches of the stairwell, plunging the surroundings into deeper gloom.

The air hung heavy with the scent of dampness and decay.

The girl’s footsteps echoed through the empty stairwell, the paint on the walls on either side already peeling.

Thick layers of dust coated the stair railings, as if untouched by human hands for an age.

A gentle breeze subtly stirred Amber’s hair, yet brought no sound.

The doors of the adjacent residences remained tightly shut, not a single ray of light escaping through their window cracks.

An unsettling silence permeated the entire vicinity.

No weeping, no cries for help, no human voices whatsoever.

Amber’s gaze ceaselessly swept over the doors and windows on both sides, yet yielded no discoveries.

Were people truly still living inside?

Or had they all…

Unsettling conjectures began to surface in her mind, causing the girl’s brow to furrow subtly.

Suddenly, as if sensing something amiss, Amber, who had been intending to continue upstairs, stiffened slightly and slowly turned her head.

****

At the end of this floor’s corridor, a door that had been tightly shut was now, inexplicably, ajar.

This open doorway appeared exceptionally conspicuous amidst the deathly stillness, as if deliberately inviting Amber inside.

“This is too strange.

I’ve had this feeling ever since I arrived, as if someone is deliberately trying to lure this young lady in.”

Uncharacteristically, a hint of hesitation flickered across Amber’s usually confident, pretty face.

While she was always forthright in her actions, this didn’t mean she would foolishly step into an enemy’s trap without a second thought.

‘Tsk, what a bother!

If there’s truly a mastermind behind this, they should have the guts to step out and face this young lady in a one-on-one solo battle, damn it!’

Facing the darkness beyond the door, Amber showed not a trace of fear, but rather grumbled and gnashed her teeth.

‘At a time like this… if only Xiaoxue were here.’

Suddenly, Amber thought of someone who, despite being utterly adorable, always insisted on acting mature.

‘If she were here, she would have surely noticed the anomalies long ago, perhaps even unmasking the mastermind already!’

‘Xiaoxue handles the brains, this young lady handles the brawn – what a perfect partnership!’

‘Ah, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!’

Snapping back to reality, Amber vigorously shook her head, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks.

‘This young lady has dealt with countless calamity beasts and monsters on her own before; is she really helpless without Xiaoxue now?’

‘Mustn’t think of her, mustn’t think of her, hmph!’

‘And besides… though she didn’t know why, Xiaoxue seemed quite worried about the amusement park’s mastermind at the time.

If this young lady were to handle this matter all by herself, then…!’

“Oh, it would be too late to fall in love with this young lady then, eh-heh!”

As Bai Muxue’s awkward expression – clearly adoring yet still trying to maintain a poker face – began to form in her mind, a triumphant smile involuntarily spread across Amber’s face.

Even the overtly eerie, open doorway before her seemed utterly insignificant.

“Well, since there are no other clues, I suppose I’ll reluctantly venture inside to investigate!”

Amber took a deep breath, her right hand silently resting on the holster at her waist.

She gently pushed the door open, and the old hinges let out a shrill screech.

The door slowly swung inward, yet what met the girl’s eyes was not some twisted monster lurking in the shadows, but a scene of utter chaos.

Furniture lay violently overturned, items from the table were scattered across the floor, and the wall clock had been smashed to pieces.

Terrifying claw marks marred the walls everywhere.

Bloodstains on the living room sofa were particularly striking, their dried, dark red hue appearing ominously sinister in the dim light.

“In this state… those monsters must have been here.

This family has likely already…”

Amber’s heart sank after a fruitless search for clues in the living room.

Her gaze, sweeping the area, fell upon a bookshelf in a corner of the room.

Books and files on the shelf were strewn in disarray, and documents from several file folders had been torn into shreds, scattered across the floor.

‘Strange… Didn’t these dim-witted vampires only have eyes for fresh blood?

Why would they be interested in documents?’

Clearly, since it was improbable that these monsters had suddenly realized the importance of reading, it could only mean…

“There’s some unspeakable secret here that absolutely had to be destroyed!”

Amber smugly raised an eyebrow, then bent down to pick up a few torn pages, attempting to piece together some useful information from the fragments.

“What’s written here… Wangdu Emotional Disorder Sanatorium…?”

‘What is an emotional disorder sanatorium?

Does Wangdu even have such a place?’

Amber tilted her head slightly in confusion.

Unfortunately, the subsequent text was too fragmented to form a complete sentence.

“Never mind, I’ll find someone later to ask about this sanatorium…”

The girl, slowly rising, was just about to search the other rooms when a faint sound suddenly reached her ears.

‘Someone?’

As a magical girl, Amber’s hearing far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Yet, upon entering this doorway, she hadn’t detected any unusual sounds!

‘In the next room?’

In an instant, Amber’s figure vanished from her spot, reappearing directly inside the adjacent room from which the sound had emanated.

“Heh heh, you thought this young lady wouldn’t notice your little tricks next door… Huh?”

Her hands, clutching the revolver, slowly lowered as a look of astonishment spread across Amber’s pretty face.

****

In the corner of the room, a small girl lay weakly on the floor, her face streaked with blood, her body trembling slightly, and soft sobs escaping her lips.

“Big sister, are you… a Magical Girl?”