This World Is So Ugly

As the second point of light shattered.

A new scene appeared before Brian.

For the first time, he saw what the single mother Emmaline Keller had truly looked like.

This twenty-seven-year-old single mother was not exactly beautiful, but her gentle features and the faint smile that always lingered on her lips made people instinctively like her and believe she was a kind woman.

And she was.

In the scene.

Emmaline Keller, dressed in pajamas, looked worriedly at her drunken neighbor Andreas, who stood swaying before her.

She hesitated and glanced toward the second floor. In the end, she helped Andreas into the house, thoughtfully poured him a glass of water, and fed it to him. Only then did she put on a coat, seemingly intending to go next door and fetch Andreas's wife to take the drunk neighbor home.

She did not notice that the moment she turned around, Andreas's seemingly drunken, bleary eyes became filled with greed.

The first scene shattered.

Brian clenched his fists.

He had already guessed what would happen next.

Damn it!

Did kind people deserve to suffer misfortune?

What had happened to her reminded Brian of his own circumstances, stirring up a powerful sense of empathy within him!

Look at what life had turned a good person like him, someone who treated others well, into!

With rising anger.

Brian looked at the newly formed second scene:

This seemed to be a bathroom.

Everything had changed.

Gentle and kind Emmaline Keller now had bruises and swelling all over the face that had once always worn a smile. The coat draped around her and the tightly wrapped pajamas beneath it were gone as well.

She lay facedown on the cold floor, tears at the corners of her eyes, naked as she repeatedly kowtowed toward the shadow blocking the bathroom door. Her lips moved, as though she were begging him for something.

The shadow was Andreas, bare-chested.

He tilted his head and leaned against the bathroom door, his expression mocking and his gaze savage. He seemed to enjoy the feeling of standing above someone else and controlling their life.

Only when a vehicle passed outside.

Did Andreas nod reluctantly.

Seeing that.

Emmaline Keller wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, looked reluctantly toward the second floor, bit down hard on the towel in her mouth, then lay flat with her trembling, terrified body and closed her eyes.

The second scene ended there.

After watching the scene vanish, Brian stared silently at the empty void before him for a long time.

Only after a long while.

Did he let out a long sigh.

He had vaguely formed some guesses about the course of events and details of this case.

But Brian did not dare think too deeply about them.

Because the details were too cruel!

If it really was as he suspected.

Then ending that beast Andreas's life so easily had truly been letting him off too lightly!

"Aaaah!!!"

The suppressed emotions made Brian unable to stop himself from screaming madly in the White Space.

Damn it!

He could not accept this!

Only when he was completely exhausted.

Did Brian float in midair, panting heavily as he cursed at the White Space, "Fuck you. Don't you know I've got mental problems? You're still using scenes like these to provoke me? Get me out of here already!"

As soon as he spoke.

The White Space rapidly collapsed.

At the moment Brian's body dissipated, two points of light too faint to see with the naked eye merged into his spiritual body.

Ring-ring-ring~

The noisy alarm rang.

Brian sprang up from the bed and looked around wildly. Only after seeing the familiar surroundings did he let out a sigh of relief.

He seemed to have had a dream last night.

No!

Feeling the clear memories in his mind, Brian realized that last night's White Space and the deceased's memories had not been a dream!

If he remembered correctly.

Before leaving.

Two icy-cold points of light had merged into his spiritual body.

Feeling that his mind seemed much clearer than usual.

Brian's spirits lifted.

He understood.

Those must have been Gifts of the Dead as well.

They simply worked on the mind.

The enhancement was not obvious, though.

Brian was not even sure whether his mental strength had truly been enhanced.

He did not dwell on it too much.

He could not be bothered to think about it.

Once he experienced more of it in the future, he would know whether it was real.

But Brian clearly felt that perhaps the heaviness that had always weighed on his heart had dissipated with the arrival of his cheat. His emotions were noticeably more active than before, and he was no longer as oppressed and gloomy.

He had become livelier.

His numb heart had become animated too.

As if he had been reborn.

Perhaps this was what he had originally been like.

A little after nine in the morning.

After washing up.

Brian got dressed, kicked open the apartment door that still had not been repaired, and headed downstairs in high spirits.

In Los Angeles, traffic peaked every day from 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning and from 16:00 to 18:00 in the afternoon.

To save time and make effective use of resources.

The Forensic Bureau had designed a work schedule suited to Los Angeles.

It operated on an early-start, early-finish system.

For example, under an eight-hour workday, employees could start work at 6:00 in the morning and finish at 14:00, or start at 10:00 and finish at 18:00.

They worked five fixed days per week under the same rules.

They only needed to submit their schedule for the following month in advance at the end of each month. It was very flexible.

Because of his poor health.

Brian had always chosen to work from 10:00 in the morning to 18:00 in the afternoon, taking two weekdays off to avoid peak visiting hours at medical institutions and make it easier to visit his adoptive parents.

Half an hour later.

At the Forensic Bureau.

After clocking in, Brian warmly greeted his colleagues, then went to his workstation, leisurely sipped the coffee that had been poured for him, and browsed today's newspaper.

At 10:10.

The supervisor gathered everyone from the Forensic Department to begin the meeting and assign work.

Brian sat directly in the back and skillfully slacked off.

It was necessary to explain the structure of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office here.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office had five divisions: the Forensic Department, Forensic Chemistry Division, Operations Division, Administrative Services Division, and Public Services Division.

There was only one core division: the Forensic Department.

The other four divisions existed to serve the Forensic Department.

The Forensic Department also received the best treatment.

Brian was a technician in the Forensic Department.

He rarely went out into the field.

As for Tom, his colleague from last night, he belonged to the Operations Division and was specifically responsible for fieldwork.

The backbone of the Forensic Department was its forensic pathologists.

There were seventeen regular forensic pathologists, four senior forensic pathologists, one forensic supervisor, and one chief forensic pathologist.

Twenty-three forensic pathologists in total.

Los Angeles had originally also had a highly senior medical examiner whose status was equivalent to that of the chief forensic pathologist.

But he had grown old and could no longer keep up with the rapidly advancing instruments of the present day.

So he retired last year.

Back to the point.

Among the twenty-three forensic pathologists.

The chief forensic pathologist held a rank comparable to the director of the Los Angeles Police Department. His status was very high, and he basically did not participate in frontline work.

The Forensic Bureau's routine workload was usually handled by the forensic supervisor and several senior forensic pathologists, who assigned cases to the bureau's forensic pathologists.

These people also rarely took part in ordinary frontline work.

In other words.

The enormous workload of all Los Angeles County was basically handled by the seventeen regular forensic pathologists at the bottom.

Los Angeles County had a population of over ten million, yet the Forensic Bureau had so few forensic pathologists because the requirements for becoming one were too demanding.

They first had to complete four years of undergraduate science studies, then attend medical school for four to five years. After graduation, they still had to spend another four to five years in hospitals as residents in autopsy pathology and clinical pathology.

By the time they reached that stage.

These doctors in their thirties, aside from having less status and academic authority, already earned far more than ordinary forensic pathologists.

In other words.

Many talented people would not choose to change careers once they reached that point.

Only a small number, for various reasons, would resign from hospitals and take a nationwide professional examination.

After passing the exam.

They still had to work at the Forensic Bureau for a year as forensic pathology interns and complete more than 250 autopsies without issue before they could become professional forensic pathologists.

What did that mean?

It meant that even if everything went smoothly from the time they graduated high school, it would still take them at least thirteen or fourteen years. They could only become ordinary forensic pathologists in their thirties, earning a monthly salary of just over ten thousand dollars.

Even an idiot knew which option to choose.

Out of ten talented people capable of reaching that point.

Nine would choose to become doctors.

Only the remaining one would switch careers and become a forensic pathologist, earning less money but gaining greater academic authority and status.

So those ordinary-looking people in white coats sitting in front of Brian, most of them somewhat balding, were all top talents in Los Angeles County if you picked any one of them at random.

The meeting lasted around half an hour.

In truth, it was mostly just a formality.

The key was the work sheet distributed by the secretary at the end.

With the work sheet in hand, Brian changed into a full set of surgical clothes resembling a Butcher's outfit in advance, then went to the morgue and pushed the two victims' bodies delivered last night into the designated autopsy room to wait.

About ten minutes later.

A bald, middle-aged white man entered Brian's autopsy room while yawning.

The moment he saw Brian.

The previously listless bald forensic pathologist perked up:

"Brian, you're assisting me today? That's fantastic! The used car you introduced me to last time was nice, but I'm getting tired of it. Buddy, got any new connections?"

Brian's mouth twitched beneath his mask. "Dr. Henry, let's deal with today's work first."

Bald Henry nodded somewhat disappointedly.

Compared with the cold corpses on the morgue carts.

He preferred those warm, enthusiastic used cars.

"All right, Brian. I trust you won't disappoint me. As for today's work..."

Dr. Henry yawned. "We received notice from above that a new department will be established in Los Angeles, and the benefits are quite good. Brian, you need more practice. You'll complete all of today's work independently. I'll watch from the side."

This was clearly against the rules.

Dr. Henry was obviously taking the initiative to curry favor in order to gain access to Brian's high-quality connections.

Brian did not refuse.

Two hours later.

Brian glanced at the female corpse that had been cut open in a standard Y-shaped incision and said expressionlessly:

"Deceased Emmaline Keller, twenty-seven years old, white female."

There were lacerations on the lower body, with no semen residue.

The victim was likely assaulted before death.

There were multiple fracture marks on the teeth, with force directed inward and no obvious wear. They were likely caused by biting down on some soft object.

There was a large accumulation of bruising nearby.

Before her death, the victim must have endured immense pain. Yet she did not scream; instead, she bit down on something and forcibly endured it, using so much strength that she shattered her own teeth.

There were thread-like fibers caught between her teeth.

The exact composition still needed testing...

But combined with the previous analysis, I guessed it was a towel.

The cause of death was repeated heavy blows to the face with a blunt instrument, resulting in a skull fracture and the airway—"

Forensic examiner Henry stared at Brian in astonishment. "Man, your improvement is incredible. At the very least, I can't find any problems with your autopsy analysis. You might really have a chance to join that newly formed department."

There was more he did not say, such as the trace analysis.

Brian's analysis of the wounds just now.

Even he, an old forensic examiner with more than a decade in the field, had been amazed.

It was too professional.

It was as though Brian had witnessed the crime scene with his own eyes!

"Forensic examiner Henry, I heard about it from Tom in the Operations Division yesterday. Can you tell me anything about the new department?"

Brian briefly handled the scene, removed his gloves, and asked casually.

He showed no excitement at Henry's praise.

Making those deductions...

Was nothing more than cheating—he knew the outcome and worked backward from it.

Henry nodded. "All I know is that the department falls under the city government. It has both autopsy and investigative authority. Its name was modeled after New York's CSI. You can call it the Criminal Experiment Team."

"When?"

Brian wrote down several numbers on a sheet of paper and handed it to the bald forensic examiner, Henry.

Henry accepted the paper with a smile. Without keeping him in suspense, he readily said, "At the end of September. Someone will come to the Forensic Bureau to recruit people then. I heard the chief forensic examiner has been in a terrible mood lately because of this."

Brian nodded thoughtfully.

It seemed he still had more than two weeks of breathing room.

That afternoon.

After eating.

Brian went up to the deserted rooftop, lit a cigarette, and gazed deeply at the distant high-rises.

After that morning's autopsy.

Combined with the death-memory scenes he had seen the previous night.

He had basically determined what had happened last night:

The killer, Andreas, had gotten into a conflict with his wife and gone out drinking.

Perhaps under the influence of alcohol.

Andreas, who was not actually drunk, had gone to his neighbor Emmaline Keller's door to vent the dissatisfaction he had been bottling up. Pretending to be drunk and to have gone to the wrong house, he had used Emmaline Keller's sympathy to get inside, then assaulted her.

At the time, Emmaline Keller's three-year-old daughter had been asleep upstairs.

Perhaps because of that.

Andreas had succeeded easily.

After committing his crime.

Andreas had not chosen to spare the poor single mother, Emmaline Keller.

He wanted to silence her forever.

Emmaline Keller had feared that after Andreas killed her, he would also go upstairs and kill her daughter.

She had knelt on the floor and desperately begged the pervert who had just raped her. To keep her screams from waking her sleeping daughter and provoking Andreas's murderous intent.

Emmaline Keller had willingly bitten down on a towel and lain on the floor, allowing the pervert Andreas to beat her to death with a hammer.

Even when the pain made her shatter her own teeth.

Until her death, the woman had not let out a single scream...

The long ash drifted away in midair.

Brian let the burned-out cigarette scorch the skin of his fingertips. His breathing grew heavy, and the phantom image of a Blood Moon flickered in his eyes.

Even after death.

Emmaline Keller's obsession was not revenge.

She only wanted to protect her child.

Brian flicked away the cigarette butt and murmured at the blue sky overhead, "This world is so ugly..."

He found himself missing the exhilaration of that screwdriver piercing flesh and blood that night.

A massive four-thousand-word chapter. Happy Lantern Festival.

Oh, right, a reminder.

After the protagonist consumed the crystal gifted to him by the death memories, when he woke up, he felt his numb heart become alive again, as though it had been reborn.

That part was actually foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing was not supposed to be revealed in advance.

But to keep some readers who skim through everything from thinking that the protagonist later lost that cold, sinister edge, I should mention it.

After all, this is about a bloodthirsty forensic examiner, not a serial killer psychopath.

As for what plot the foreshadowing relates to, I will not spoil it.

Good night.