The Reason, Kill!

When people weren't facing true despair, it was hard for them not to cling to a bit of luck.

Karen was the same.

He took a deep breath of earth-scented air and forced his panicked heart to calm down. "If I tell you why, will you let me go? I know a lot of things too. They'll definitely be useful to you!"

Brian's tone was indifferent. "Tell me why first."

"It was the idea of Vadim, the leader of our A1 Team. At first, he wanted Galan to deal with one of the members of your team, whether by bribery or coercion, and turn them into one of us."

Hm?

Brian looked even more puzzled. "You're saying you weren't specifically targeting me?"

At that, Karen's heart stirred, and he nodded.

"Yes."

"Actually, I don't know why Galan picked you either."

"After he disappeared."

"Team Leader Vadim handed the task to me."

"He told me to turn someone on your team, then find chances to keep sabotaging the cases you took over."

"I was worried Galan's death had something to do with this task, so I spent some time investigating."

"I found out that Galan had once investigated a guy named Andreas, and that guy was already dead. You were also the one responsible for collecting his body, so I deliberately used Andreas's name to test you."

After hearing Karen's words.

Brian understood.

No wonder that Galan had learned that he was the one who killed Andreas, yet hadn't reported it. Instead, he had chosen to follow him, and only suddenly showed himself after Brian went out to the suburbs.

Thinking about it now.

The man must have wanted to use that matter to get a hold over him and threaten him.

His death hadn't been unjust.

After experiencing the threat of being buried alive by his uncle Billy.

Brian had become somewhat reactive toward threats.

Anyone who wanted to threaten him.

Deserved to die!

As for that Vadim.

Brian suspected the man's real target was Susan.

He had simply been caught up in it.

Thinking of this.

Brian chuckled. "You mean your team leader, Vadim, still doesn't know why Agent Galan disappeared?"

Karen nodded.

"Right."

"People like us generally don't report back before we've finished something."

"But I'm different."

"Mr. Brian!"

"If I disappear too."

"Then Vadim will definitely suspect this has something to do with the task he assigned."

"Your B6 Team only had five people in total before."

"No matter how cleanly you do it, you won't escape suspicion!"

"That makes sense." Brian nodded.

It seemed this Vadim.

Couldn't be left alive today either!

Seeing that Brian's tone was no longer as cold as before, Karen thought his killing intent was no longer that strong.

He hurriedly said, "Mr. Brian!"

"There's no real grudge between the two of us."

"After I realized you had no reaction at all to my probing, I sensed something was wrong and thought about giving up this task."

"We're all just small fry working for others. Why don't we shake hands and make peace, then deal with the crisis we may face next together?"

"Crisis?"

Brian looked up at the sky. "No rush on that. First tell me where your team leader lives, and whether your team has been involved in any tricky cases lately."

To stay alive.

Karen cooperated fully.

He not only told Brian where his team leader lived, he also revealed something secret.

It turned out that Vadim, the leader of A1 Team, back when he was still a captain at the detective bureau, had once fallen for a married woman. For her sake, he had Karen—who had been following Vadim for a long time—frame and set up the woman's husband, not only getting the man killed, but now even living in the man's house.

Whoa.

He slept with the man's wife, took the man's life, and helped himself to the man's family property while he was at it.

This Vadim was no good thing either.

He already had a way to death!

Brian memorized the address before continuing to ask, "What were those secrets you mentioned earlier?"

The mountain forest before dawn carried a chill, sinister air.

Karen had no time to care about shivering from the cold and went on:

"I know a lot of secrets!

Aren't you curious about one thing?

Since the Blood Moon anomaly has already happened three times...

Then there should have been organizations similar to the NW Department before, right?

What about those predecessors?

How many have you heard of?

And the bounties on those Aberrants!

A low-level Aberrant is worth a hundred thousand dollars!

A mid-level one is two hundred thousand dollars!

A high-level one is one million dollars!

Why are those greedy people up top so generous when it comes to this?

You're so smart. Don't you find it strange?

Mr. Brian!

Killing me...

Will only hurt you!

Let's shake hands and make peace!

I can go with you and randomly kill someone.

You can record a video and use it as leverage."

Karen's words piqued Brian's interest. "Tell me why."

This time, however, Karen did not comply. "This is a secret that concerns life and death. Unless you let me go, otherwise—"

Splash, clatter~

Before he could finish speaking...

A plastic bucket was kicked down.

Countless cold, slippery, wriggling, slender creatures scrambled over one another as they squirmed through the pit, startling Karen into a shriek as explosive as a pig being slaughtered. "God! Fuck, what the hell are these things?!"

The moment he moved...

The mass of snakes, hungry for a long time, showed no mercy. Following Karen's body heat, they climbed onto him and began tearing into him viciously.

That made Karen scream even harder.

Fear of snakes was branded into human genes.

"I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Karen could no longer keep up his tough act.

Brian merely shrugged.

"Sorry, buddy, I can't separate them.

But these are all nonvenomous snakes.

You don't need to worry about dying.

But if you keep being stubborn, I'll light gasoline around the pit. When that happens, they'll go crazy and burrow desperately toward colder places.

Where do you think they'll burrow?"

This was an interrogation method Brian had come up with based on a dish from his previous life—loaches burrowing into tofu.

Karen was the first lucky one.

Brian believed that no matter how hard someone's mouth was, when a swarm of snakes started burrowing through every hole they could find, they would soften.

Karen was exactly that kind of man.

He caved fast. "Let me up, and I'll tell you everything!"

Brian was curious too, and with confidence in his own abilities, he hesitated for a moment before switching on the light and tossing a rope down.

In truth, this pit had originally been an abandoned trap left behind from before.

Otherwise, with Brian alone, he really might not have been able to dig it this quickly.

The moment he saw the rope, Karen lunged at it as if he had seen his own mother. Covered in tiny bleeding holes, he burst out with unprecedented agility, like a nimble monkey, scrambling back up to the ground in a few quick moves and gasping for breath.

"My patience isn't great."

Brian put some distance between them and lifted the pistol in his hand. "Keep talking."

Karen tried to speak, but suddenly retched, vomiting up a large amount of foul, fishy filth.

The disgusting sight made Brian instinctively frown and look away.

The next instant, a huge handful of dirt mixed with sticky vomit flew toward Brian.

Karen, who had looked as if he were half-kneeling but had actually taken the stance of a sprinter at the starting line, did not hesitate in the slightest. He charged in an S-shaped evasive run, pouring everything he had into pouncing at Brian.

"Fuck!"

Brian was enraged by Karen's sudden attack.

He actually threw away the pistol in his hand outright, letting the filthy mess splash onto him. Every muscle in his body tensed as he seized Karen's arms with speed, precision, and brutality the instant Karen reached him. "Wrath!"

Endless power surged through Brian's body.

Karen, who weighed well over a hundred pounds and still carried the force of his charge, was forcibly pinned in midair by Brian's two hands.

"Ah!"

Agony hit him.

Karen's expression changed drastically, and he screamed, "Aberrant! You're an Aberrant! I was wrong, spare me, I was wrong, I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Brian had no intention of indulging him.

He raised Karen, who weighed well over a hundred pounds, high into the air, then smashed him hard onto the ground like a dead dog.

There was a dull bang.

Karen's eyes bulged, his whole body bent into an upside-down U, his mouth stretched open to its limit, the pain so intense he could not make a sound or draw breath.

"Huff..."

Brian looked at the foul grime on his body and exhaled a scorching breath.

He walked over to Karen, who lay there like a dead dog, grabbed him by the foot, and dragged him toward the pit.

Not talking, huh?

Talk or don't. See if I care.

With a thud, Karen was thrown back into the pit.

As flames rose, a heart-rending, hoarse scream rang out from inside the pit.

Brian crouched above the pit and watched curiously for a while, then shook his head.

Imagination and reality were still somewhat different after all.

He stripped off his clothes, tossed them in, poured in gasoline and thermite, and under the illumination of the blazing fire, began cleaning up the scene.

Dawn was coming soon.

Brian had to hurry and make it to the next round.