Troublesome, A New Case

To be fair.

There was something about killing the other party and then farming another wave of obsession from them afterward.

It really felt damn good.

He just did not know what the obsession in this Obsession Orb was.

Brian sped up on his crutches.

As if he had heard the noise.

The staff member who had been piecing together the broken corpse stood and looked up, then showed a surprised expression. "Brian?"

"Tom?"

Brian was a little surprised too.

Because the other man was actually a colleague he had gotten along with fairly well back at the Forensic Bureau: Tom.

Speaking of which.

The fact that Vadim, the leader of A1 Team, had been blown up by Brian this time was also connected to Tom.

If Tom had not called Brian to the Forensic Bureau in the middle of the night to work overtime.

Brian would not have killed that animal Andreas for the sake of obsession.

If he had not killed that animal Andreas.

Agent Galan would not have pointed the target of his coercion and recruitment straight at Brian.

Unexpectedly, in the end.

Tom was still the one responsible for collecting Vadim's body.

He had to admit.

It was dark humor.

The two of them had not seen each other for almost a month.

Now, it seemed.

Tom had joined B1 Team.

Seeing Brian's leg bound up, Tom hurriedly put down the scraps of flesh in his hands and asked with concern, "Brian, man, what happened to your leg?"

Brian shrugged. "Got hit by a kid on a motorcycle who was high on weed. Is this the victim's body?"

Tom knew Brian had also joined B6 Team, and since Brian could enter the homicide scene, he could not be bothered to keep it secret. He nodded.

"The victim was the leader of A1 Team.

This guy seemed to have stolen someone else's wife and even caused that unlucky man's death. In the end, he provoked a vicious Butcher, who blew him straight to pieces while he was asleep."

"Butcher?"

"Yes. The surveillance cameras caught the killer's appearance.

The other party was very tall.

Compared against the support pillar in front of the gate, he was nearly one meter ninety. He was draped in a butcher's leather apron and wore a Pig Head Mask.

The look was very much like the Butcher from a gore film.

Team Leader Aiden also thought it was fitting, so he used Butcher as the killer's codename.

The other party was extremely arrogant. He first wrote the cause on the door, left behind a little pig-head toy, and only after doing all that did he yank out the detonator cord and throw it into the second floor.

There was a strong sense of ritual to the execution!

I feel like this wasn't his first crime!"

After hearing Tom's words.

Brian nodded noncommittally. "Then it looks like he's very confident and isn't afraid of you gaining useful clues from the surveillance footage."

Tom gave a disdainful laugh.

"You're wrong.

Brian, for laymen, maybe that's true.

But for agents like us who deal with cases all the time, there are too many flaws.

For example, his shoes looked like they had at least five or six centimeters of height boost, and when he walked, his posture was a little uncoordinated. He was obviously standing on lifts.

Then subtract the thickness of that Pig Head Mask.

I estimate the Butcher's actual barefoot height is roughly between one meter eighty and one meter eighty-three.

Also, though the Butcher seemed bulky, his exposed hands gave away his approximate build.

And—"

"Wait!"

Susan, who had not spoken this whole time, interrupted Tom's endless analysis. "Buddy, what did you say earlier was the reason the killer attacked?"

Tom looked at Brian.

Brian shrugged. "This is the team leader of our B6 Team, Miss Susan. Miss Susan and the male victim didn't have a very good relationship before."

"Oh, I see!" Tom quickly changed the subject, lowered his voice, and started gossiping. "I heard from Team Leader Aiden that the leader of this A1 Team isn't a good person."

As he watched the two people huddle together to gossip...

Brian chuckled inwardly.

He was not worried in the slightest about Tom's analysis.

This had been intentional on his part from the very beginning.

For example, there had been no padding in the shoes at all, and the soles had even been thinned.

And the exposed hands seemed fine at a glance, but in reality, they were wearing thick flesh-colored rubber gloves.

If Aiden and the others really believed his "voice of experience"...

Then in the end, they would only be misled.

This was the disgusting part about crimes committed by professionals: you simply could not tell whether the clues in your hands had been left behind by the killer unintentionally, or deliberately.

While the two of them were not paying attention...

Brian went over to the mortuary cart holding Vadim's body.

Because Vadim had tried to get up and dodge before he died, more of his body had been exposed, so the damage was even slightly worse than that of the female corpse beside him.

But judging from what remained of his face...

This guy had not been bad-looking when he was alive.

Brian put on an act, drawing a cross in the air over the corpse. Without making any move to touch the body, he simply turned and left. Pretending to be tired from standing, he found a step, sat down, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.

In the distance...

B1 Team leader Aiden silently withdrew his gaze and looked back at the surveillance playback.

It was not that he suspected Susan or Brian. It was simply his nature.

Aside from himself...

He trusted no one!

Brian still did not know that his caution had saved him trouble.

As the red Obsession Orb shattered...

A message also appeared in his mind: I want to feel Susan Adams's worship and gratitude!

Hm?

Susan Adams?

Brian subconsciously looked toward Susan's back.

Susan, who had been chatting and laughing with her hand over her mouth, seemed to sense something. She abruptly turned back and happened to meet Brian's unblinking stare.

She lowered her head and glanced at her jeans, which had been stretched into the shape of yoga pants. Shame and anger flashed across her face as she glared at Brian. "If you want to look, then look. Sneaking around like that—how pathetic!"

Seeing this, amusement flashed through Tom's sunken eyes.

Brian, this team leader, was kind of interesting.

Brian:

He turned his head away awkwardly and uneasily.

Damn it!

What a public execution!

Susan still had work to do.

After finishing the gossip...

She took Brian back with her.

On the way...

Whether it was because Brian had been secretly looking earlier or not...

Susan kept her face tense the whole way, showing no intention of talking to Brian at all.

Brian sighed. "Team Leader, you misunderstood. I wasn't sneaking a look, I was just—"

"Misunderstood!"

"Wasn't sneaking a look?"

Susan suddenly jerked the steering wheel, making an extreme swerve and flinging the car to the side of the road before stopping it. She looked at Brian with an unfriendly expression. "Are you saying my figure isn't attractive enough, then?"

Brian:

So am I supposed to look or not?

To be fair.

If Susan wasn't so violent and terrifying, that was.

Whether it was her face or her figure, she was exactly his type!

Seeing Brian play dead, Susan's eyes flashed with disappointment. She tossed him a cigarette. "Are you really curious about the grudge between me and that Vadim?"

Brian very obsequiously helped Susan light the cigarette and nodded. "Yes. And I've noticed that the team leaders in NW Department all seem to be very rich, including you, Chief."

Susan nodded.

"You're not wrong.

"My full name is Susan Adams. Almost all the high-end hotels in Los Angeles belong to the Adams Family.

"Vadim's family background is very good too.

"We've known each other since we were kids."

As she spoke, Susan blew out a smoke ring, a trace of disgust flashing through her eyes.

"Actually, "Vadim was a childhood playmate I beat up all the way into adulthood.

"Although I thought he was too soft, I didn't dislike him, until his family came to mine and wanted a marriage alliance.

"I only like people stronger than me.

"So I refused.

"My father was very angry.

"Vadim also felt that he had been humiliated, so he cut off contact with me.

"But looking at it now, my choice was right.

"Vadim is hypocritical, and disgusting too.

"In any case, that's all in the past."

After she finished, Susan lost the desire to chat. She threw away the cigarette in her hand, started the car again, and drove toward the city.

Susan Adams really was the team leader!

After hearing Susan's explanation, Brian also felt a little enlightened.

No wonder Vadim's obsession was to feel Susan Adams's admiration and gratitude!

Vadim had probably had that obsession ever since Susan beat him up throughout their childhood.

The problem was, how was he supposed to make a one-track-minded person like Susan admire and feel grateful to him?

Stage something himself and play the hero saving the beauty?

Brian glanced at the two big revolvers at Susan's waist and sighed inwardly.

The beauty saving the hero was more like it.

This obsession was hard to handle!

As they neared Brian's apartment, a phone call interrupted Susan's route.

The caller was Old Harden. "Chief, the dispatch center sent an emergency page. A female corpse was found in the suburbs, skinned and hung upside down. We need to end our break early and head to the murder scene. But I can't get in touch with Ivan or Glenn..."

"It's fine.

"Brian is right beside me.

"He's very capable!"

After Susan asked for the general location, she didn't even ask Brian's opinion. She turned the car around and headed for the suburbs once again.

Two chapters, five thousand words, delivered.

Good night.