The heavy rain washed the graffiti on the apartment's exterior into blurred blocks of color. When Elvira kicked off her soaked canvas shoes at the entrance, she found that the shoelaces had jagged tears on their ends, as if they had been bitten off by the sharp teeth of some creature. The sound of the bathtub running could not cover the roar of the engine downstairs. It was a Mercedes with black windows that had been parked next to the trash can for three consecutive days.
The phone vibrated seven times as the cold water reached her ankles. A strange number sent her a bird's-eye view photo: the book "Ancient European Wolf Totem" that she borrowed from the library yesterday. There was half a fingerprint on the edge of the page, and after zooming in, you could see fluorescent blue powder left between the threads.
"Soaking in hot water will speed up your metabolism." Lila's voice was muffled through the bathroom door. "You're shaking like a washing machine."
Elvira sank her phone into the water, watching the bubbles ooze out from the edge of the broken screen protector. The bite mark on her collarbone was burning, and the skin reflected in the water had golden veins, like a young dragon. When she reached out to grab the towel, the whole tub of water suddenly froze.
The shadow came in from the gap of the ventilator and gathered into the outline of a wolf on the ceiling. Elvira touched the silver leaf bookmark under the non-slip mat. The moment the metal edge cut her thumb, the crisp sound of canine teeth rubbing against each other was heard amidst the cracking of the ice.
"Lucas?" she called into the mist. The showerhead suddenly sprayed scalding hot water, and a countdown written in blood appeared on the mirror: 03:17:26.
When the towel was wrapped on the third floor, the Mercedes-Benz downstairs started playing a symphony. The bass notes made the water pipes buzz. Elvira counted the swing amplitude of the living room chandelier and found that it was completely synchronized with the burning frequency of the bite marks. The antipyretic medicine box was placed in the water on the windowsill, and the dents on the tin cardboard formed a miniature wolf head.
"You should see this." Lila flipped open her laptop. "This is the surveillance footage from 3:17 in the morning."
In the convenience store surveillance footage, a man in a gray sweatshirt was wandering between the shelves. He put twelve boxes of tuna rice balls into the incubator, and when he paid, the coins left burn marks on the cash register. When he zoomed in for the fifth time, Elvira saw that his little finger on his left hand was missing - the same place where Lucas was injured last week.
Thunder exploded at 2:19 in the morning. When Elvira counted to the seventh lightning, the smell of cedar mixed with rust wafted from the air-conditioning vent. She gripped the plaster knife tightly and turned over to get out of bed, and found a bloody silver leaf stuck in the window gap, and the veins of the leaf were changed into a maze pattern.
"I know you're there," she said into the shadow of the fire escape. "The purple potion from Eric's lab—"
The second half of the sentence was strangled in her throat. Lucas's hands came around from behind to cover her mouth and nose, and the circuit board on the inside of the leather gloves hurt her cheeks. He was soaked, and the water dripping from the ends of his hair formed a crescent shape on the floor. The silver lines on the back of his neck glowed blue as if it was electrified.
"You shouldn't have touched Eric." His breath hit the icy window. "Selena's wedding ring has a bug in it—"
The alarm suddenly shrieked. When Lucas broke through the screen window and climbed out, Ivy pulled off half of his gloves. The mechanical skeleton under the artificial skin glowed coldly, and a miniature camera was embedded in the joint of the ring finger, and the lens was still recording red light.
The sunroof of the Mercedes-Benz was open, and Selena's blonde hair shone like a sword in the rain. She spoke something in German to her phone, and the bite marks on Elvira's palm suddenly burst into a fluorescent blue flame. Before the pain swept through her body, she saw Lucas tearing open the skin of his left arm on the roof of the opposite building - silver-blue liquid flowed in the mechanical blood vessels.
The antipyretic box melted in her palm, revealing the metal chip inside. When Elvira touched it with her bleeding fingers, the holographic projection exploded in the air: fifteen-year-old Lucas was chained to the altar, and Lady Audrey was branding a crescent-shaped pendant into his collarbone. The last three seconds of the video flashed through a laboratory log interface, with her birthday marked in the date column.
Rain suddenly poured in through the window. When Elvira rushed to the desk, she found that the silver leaf bookmark was absorbing water and swelling, with fine metal roots growing on the edge. They wrapped around the lamp wire and plugged into the socket. In the flickering of unstable voltage, the water stains on the wall revealed a bloody star map - a photo of her mother was pinned to the position of the North Star.
The phone received a new message at this time. In the video sent by the anonymous number, Lila, who was immersed in the incubator, suddenly opened her eyes, and her pupils were cloudy silver.