Why are you forcing me?

"Brian, thank God you're okay!"

When Ivan saw Brian following behind Susan, he immediately rushed up, wanting to give him a warm hug.

Brian decisively rejected the clinginess. "Don't, Ivan. I'm very weak right now. I can't handle your roughness."

As for everyone backing down earlier.

Brian did not feel all that awkward about it.

It was only human nature.

Feelings were something that needed time to brew.

The fact that everyone had stepped forward at the time had already been far beyond his expectations.

Susan also briefly explained Brian's situation.

She did not want the squad she had just formed to develop a rift over some trivial nonsense.

After returning to Los Angeles.

Because Sixth Squad's new office was still being renovated on a rush schedule, many pieces of equipment still had to be added, and they also needed to recruit some support staff, Sixth Squad entered a period of rest and reorganization for the time being.

After Brian sent the news that he had successfully joined the job to his uncle, he borrowed a sum of money from Susan and spent his days soaking in the shooting range partnered with the police department, beginning to train his marksmanship.

In truth, marksmanship, aside from the few freaks with extraordinary talent, was basically fed out with bullets.

Unfortunately.

Brian's Super-Calculation Perception talent was exactly the sort of talent that fit shooting extremely well.

Hidden weapons would work too, and were more suited to assassination.

But if he had a gun and did not use it, choosing martial arts instead, how was he supposed to become a grandmaster of his generation?

Mad Dog Ike had developed it into the Precision Throwing skill, which was far too limited. It was completely like taking a priceless night pearl and using it as a glass marble to play marbles—an utter waste of a treasure!

Brian suspected this had something to do with Ike's mental state.

That kind of guy.

Could not be understood by common sense.

Relying on his strengthened physique, which was comparable to that of a longtime exercise and fitness enthusiast.

In just two short weeks.

Brian's marksmanship improved rapidly.

At the very least, within twenty meters, when shooting fixed targets, he could basically hit wherever he aimed.

Moving targets...

He was much stronger than before, but there had not been any especially exaggerated qualitative change.

There was no way around it.

Although after firing a few hundred rounds, Brian could tell roughly what kind of wind speed required what kind of aim in order to hit the target, every time he fired, it was still very difficult for him to precisely control the position of his muzzle.

If it deviated even a tiny bit.

The bullet's point of impact would be worlds apart.

Brian's talent in this area was honestly average. He could only rely on feeding himself a large number of bullets, forming muscle memory, before he could make a major breakthrough.

That required more bullets and more time.

What surprised Brian was.

Ever since he sent that text message to his uncle, not only had he received no reply, even his cousin had gone out of contact.

Because of Susan's words.

After Brian returned, he had kept restraining his contact with members of the Camo Family.

But after two weeks passed.

He was starting to lose patience.

Just as Brian was thinking of going to find Ivan and the others, wanting to use the informant networks in their hands to investigate the movements of the Blood Bath Gang, Susan, who had not appeared for many days, brought a refined-looking white man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses to the shooting range and found him.

"Chief, are we returning to the team?"

Brian greeted Susan warmly.

The bonus from the NW Department still had not been issued.

The money for the bullets he had used to practice marksmanship during this period, as well as his adoptive parents' medical expenses for this month, had all been borrowed from Susan.

This squad leader really did have his back.

Susan shook her head and did not speak, instead signaling for the bespectacled man beside her to speak.

The bespectacled white man politely extended his hand toward Brian. "Medical Examiner Brian, I'm Agent Karen from A Team First Squad. I came here this time because there are some things I'd like to ask you about."

By now, Brian also understood why he had not seen his forensic doctor colleagues from the Forensic Bureau when he had gone to Ace Base for the interview back then.

Because those who wanted to join went straight into A Team.

There was no need for a probationary assessment.

As for the reserve squad formed by second-generation types like Susan, once they became full members, they would also be assigned to B Team.

In terms of status within the NW Department, an A Team squad ranked higher than a B Team squad.

A member of an A Team squad had come looking for him...

Brian's heart tightened, and he realized why the other man had come.

He picked up the towel on his shoulder and wiped his sweat away, covering the instant change in his expression. "No problem. If there's anything you want to ask, just ask."

Karen nodded, the mild expression on his face turning serious. "Do you still remember Shaina?"

Brian nodded. "Of course I do. She was a poor woman. I was the one who helped deliver the receipt for her boyfriend's insurance payout."

"Was there anything unusual about her at the time?"

Brian rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"How should I put it?"

"After Shaina heard that her boyfriend had left her a huge insurance payout, she lowered her head and cried like she was heartbroken."

"But actually..."

"I didn't see any tears on her face. I mean, I could feel that she was pretending to cry, so I left right away."

Hearing this, Karen adjusted his glasses. "You're saying she wasn't sad about her boyfriend's death?"

"I'm not sure, but I felt like maybe she wasn't as heartbroken as she'd acted before." Brian changed the subject. "Agent Karen, what happened to Shaina?"

"She's dead."

Karen did not keep it confidential.

"A few days ago, when a thief broke into her house to steal, he found her rotting corpse collapsed on the floor."

"After the autopsy..."

"The medical examiner found that Shaina died of cardiac arrest caused by a drug injection into the carotid artery."

"We found a large number of needle marks on her flesh."

"She had a severe drug addiction."

Hearing this, Brian shook his head. "What a pity for Kenneth's child."

Only then did Susan speak. "Agent Karen, Brian and Shaina had no conflict of interest and didn't know each other before. This was just a simple accident. I hope in the future you'll spend more time on your cases instead of on colleagues like us!"

Karen shrugged and extended his hand to Brian with some apology. "Sorry. I'm just following procedure."

Brian breathed a sigh of relief, reached out, and smiled. "I understand..."

Suddenly.

Brian's expression changed slightly, and he looked at Karen in confusion.

Karen, however, only smiled and nodded at him, withdrew his hand, said goodbye to Susan, and left alone.

Brian withdrew his hand without a change in expression and looked at Susan. "Team leader, why do I get the feeling you don't like this guy?"

Susan rolled her eyes.

"Because their team leader is someone I really hate."

"Actually, it was because of their team leader that I applied to be the leader of B Team."

"Otherwise, by now I'd probably already be a somewhat famous bounty hunter."

As she spoke...

She seemed to think of something amusing, and a smile appeared on her face. "Oh right, not long ago, another agent who had just joined A Team First Squad disappeared. They didn't even find his body. It made the leader of A Team First Squad lose a lot of face."

Hearing this, Brian's heart sank.

He thought of the white police detective he had returned to nature.

Good grief.

This visitor had definitely not come with good intentions.

After Susan asked a few more concerned questions, she hurriedly left.

During this period...

She had been worked to the bone.

After seeing Susan off...

Brian went to the shooting range restroom, stretched out his hand, and looked at the gift that Karen had just left him.

It was a slip of paper.

On the paper was a name: Andreas.

This was the very first beast Brian had executed.

The detective who had come to him on his own before had also come because of Andreas.

So this was a warning?

Brian laughed disdainfully and tossed the note into the toilet, flushing it away.

Although he wasn't sure why Karen and that previous detective were targeting him, since the other side had not brought people straight over to arrest him, that meant Karen

had no evidence to accuse him!

The other man was probably wary of his status as an official NW Department employee, so he wanted to beat the grass and startle the snake!

In Brian's eyes, the afterimage of the Blood Moon flashed and vanished.

"I just want to live my own life. Why do you have to push me?"

"Can't you just stay alive?"

He took a deep breath and temporarily suppressed the killing intent in his heart.

Karen could not be touched yet.

He had killed too many people recently.

And the key was that these people, strictly speaking, had all had contact with him.

The reason it had not been completely exposed

was only because the sample size was too small, there were no real connections between the dead, and the bodies had all been dealt with.

But if someone fixed their gaze on him, they would easily discover something was wrong.

Brian silently lit a cigarette.

For the gifts from the dead, people—

if they deserved to die, he still had to kill them.

But he also could not expose himself.

Then how was he supposed to solve this problem?

Here are two chapters, five thousand words.

Good night.

Note:

Chapter 41 is just a transitional chapter. I used the protagonist's Super-Calculation Perception ability to add a panel for readers to look at, but it's not very useful. If it appears later, it'll also be placed in the author's notes so readers can understand the protagonist's abilities more easily. No need to dwell on it; ignoring it won't affect later reading.