Body Enhancement Again, Memories of Death (Happy Lantern Festival)

He went downstairs.

Brian put the key to room 304 back where it belonged.

He did not leave right away. Instead, he gripped a screwdriver, lifted the front desk clerk's eyelid, and only slipped away quietly after confirming from the movement of the man's eyeballs that he was not pretending to sleep.

Back in the car.

Brian took off everything he was wearing and packed it into a bag.

As he recalled every action he had just taken, making sure nothing had been overlooked.

He waited for the cheat's feedback.

This was also an experiment for him.

The wound from earlier looked simple.

But even if Andreas were on an operating table in a hospital right now, he would almost certainly be beyond saving.

He was as good as dead!

Yet when Brian left, the man had still been alive.

He could not know the exact time of Andreas's death.

If the cheat still gave feedback immediately this time, it would mean that the mechanism for determining whether an obsession had been fulfilled was rule-based, rather than based on Brian's own understanding.

That also meant Brian could not exploit a bug through methods like deceiving himself with self-suggestion.

As for killing people.

Brian did not feel particularly uncomfortable about it.

On the contrary.

When he had driven the screwdriver into the target's carotid artery, Brian had felt a strange rush of pleasure surge from his head to his toes, nearly making him tremble with bliss.

The feeling was wonderful.

But it was not the kind of pleasure brought by the Gift of the Dead.

It was more like the satisfaction of a person made irritable by quitting smoking suddenly being flooded with nicotine again after suppressing the craving for far too long.

It was bizarre.

In truth, this was not Brian's first time killing someone.

He had killed people when he was eight.

More than one, at that.

But afterward, he had felt sick, terrified, and plagued by nightmares for a long time.

This time, though, it was an entirely new sensation.

Killing someone felt satisfying.

"Could I be a born psychopath?"

Brian smiled and pushed the thought aside. He took out his phone and calmly estimated the approximate time of the target's death.

As for the reaction when Andreas was found dead in the motel tomorrow.

Brian did not care.

Without an all-seeing surveillance system and solid evidence, the police generally investigated cases by working through motives, the victim's relationships, and so on.

Between Brian and the target.

They neither knew each other nor had any apparent indirect interests or grudges.

Even if those officers racked their brains, they would never suspect him.

That was why the hardest cases to solve were random crimes without cause, motive, connections, or witnesses.

"Almost time."

Brian murmured softly.

A few more seconds passed.

A familiar sensation spread through his body.

This was the Gift of the Dead after an obsession had been fulfilled!

Andreas was dead!

Brian was happy, but also somewhat disappointed.

It meant the standard for determining whether an obsession had been fulfilled was most likely something rule-like.

He could not exploit any bugs.

This gift was another physical enhancement.

However, it was much weaker than the previous gift.

Brian guessed it might be related to the strength of the deceased's obsession before death.

A mother could be strong for her child.

In this case, it was normal for the single mother's obsession with protecting her child before death to exceed the other victim's obsession with revenge.

Since he had been mentally prepared this time.

Brian felt wonderful, but he did not lose focus.

That made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Otherwise, if he were ever in danger when a gift arrived.

Losing focus for a few seconds could be fatal.

Now Brian no longer had to worry about that.

A few seconds later.

The gift ended.

Brian sat in the driver's seat and casually moved his body around.

After two consecutive physical enhancements.

Brian felt as though his once battered body had cast off a crushing burden. Not only did he feel light all over, he was overflowing with energy, as if he had returned to the eighteen-year-old he had been before taking on part-time jobs.

Besides that.

His body, which had been somewhat tired from keeping his nerves taut, had also returned to its best condition after the enhancement.

This meant the gift's physical enhancement also came with restorative effects.

Brian's imagination immediately ran wild.

Did that mean that if he were seriously injured someday, or even suffered bodily mutilation, he could recover through this miraculous ability?

If so, that would be incredible!

After calming down.

Brian first drove out to the suburbs, dug a hole, tossed in everything he had used that day, including the clothes wrapped around the bag, and set it all on fire. Only after everything had turned into ash and residue and been buried did he head back home.

After returning home.

Brian took another shower, changed into pajamas, and began testing his current body.

The result was somewhat disappointing.

There had been a qualitative change from before.

But he had not truly returned to the state he had been in at eighteen.

It could only be said.

He had gone from being severely depleted at the root, riddled with problems, and liable to suddenly die at any moment to being an unhealthy but otherwise normal twenty-three-year-old man.

"Looks like what I felt before was only an illusion of strength caused by my body recovering."

Brian felt a little disappointed.

But not too strongly.

What did the Forensic Bureau have the most of?

Corpses!

There were great terrors between life and death.

Brian was not worried that he would lack obsessions in the future.

As long as he had time to grow.

Brian did not even dare imagine how strong he would become.

When that time came.

Threaten me?

He still had work tomorrow.

Too much had happened today.

Although Brian's body had become much healthier, his mind had long since been exhausted.

He set an alarm and, carrying expectations for his new life ahead, quickly fell asleep.

"Where is this?"

Brian stared somewhat blankly at the White Space before him.

Wasn't he supposed to be asleep?

Just as Brian was wondering.

Two specks of light appeared out of thin air before him.

Along with the specks of light came an understanding: he was now in his spiritual form within his own mental space, and the two specks of light were fragmented memories from the two deceased before death, left behind after their obsessions had been fulfilled.

Brian casually crushed one of the specks of light.

The next moment.

Several fragmented scenes appeared before him like a movie:

A woman with decent features but a sloppy, overweight appearance held a cigarette in one hand and yanked a man's hair with the other, roaring at him with an agitated expression.

The man was forced to tilt his head back. His eyes were closed, his fists clenched, and he said nothing.

Brian's heart stirred.

The man was Andreas, whom he had just killed.

The woman was Andreas's wife, one of tonight's victims.

Unfortunately, the memory had only images and no sound.

One-star review!

As the first scene shattered.

A new scene appeared:

A soap opera was playing on the television. Andreas's wife was draped in a blanket, clutching unfinished late-night food, her head tilted back as she slept soundly on the sofa.

Andreas entered from outside wearing a pair of white gloves and carrying a small hammer dripping with blood. His flushed, drunken face wore a gloomy expression.

He walked straight behind the sofa. His eyes were faintly red as he leaned his head forward and stared down at the wife with whom he had once shared so many beautiful memories.

Andreas's wife seemed to sense something and opened her eyes in confusion.

The next moment.

Andreas raised the arm holding the hammer high and smashed it down viciously.

The scene ended there.

Brian sucked in a breath through his teeth.

The killer really was Andreas!

From the two scenes.

Andreas had been the one oppressed in the marriage.

The couple had apparently argued over something tonight.

In a fit of anger, Andreas had gone out drinking, then committed a crime of passion under the influence of alcohol.

But why had he killed the neighboring single mother?

From Andreas entering the room carrying a bloodstained hammer, it was clear that he had probably killed the neighbor first, then returned home and killed his own wife.

With curiosity.

Brian crushed the remaining speck of light.

Thanks to reader Biluohai Feng for the five-thousand book coin donation. Thanks, boss!

Brian: "Thanks to xin Crystal xin for the two-thousand book coin character donation. Thanks, boss!"

Thanks to You Yueyi and Sui Kong for the donations. Thanks to both bosses!

There will be another chapter later.