More than two hours after Qin Siyang left the dumpster at Safe Zone Exit No. 89757, numerous uniformed police officers received orders to cordon off the area.
Many Sequence Ability Users stood outside the cordon, discussing what had happened with confusion and disbelief written across their faces. God Remains stolen from a dumpster-it really was an absurd story. Some things were like that: no one cared about them under normal circumstances, but once they disappeared, they raised all sorts of questions and drew everyone's attention. God Remains undoubtedly fell into that category.
A White-Haired Inspector wearing an overcoat and a scarf, with a cigar clenched between his teeth, circled the dumpster. The officers around him stood ramrod straight and treated him with great respect, as though the old man were more than an ordinary inspector.
He asked, "Roylena, your sequence has advanced. I heard you now have far stronger tracking abilities, ten times better than the chief's police dogs. Can you distinguish any scents here?"
He looked like someone from the European Nation, yet spoke the language of Huaguo. Since most people inside the Safe Zone were from Huaguo, their language served as the official common tongue.
The Blonde Policewoman beside him shook her head. "No. There are too many scents from Gods here. They've completely masked the human scents. Even now, I still can't distinguish any human scent among them. If I activated my skill here, the overpowering scent of the Gods would probably make me pass out."
Olof looked disappointed. "Fine. What a damned skill. Being unable to use it around Gods will cause us plenty of trouble!"
"Yes, I agree. Unfortunately, the sequence I awakened was [Scent Seeker], and there's no way to change it. Sequence Ability Users like me are destined from birth to operate only inside the Safe Zone."
Olof impatiently took two drags from his cigar, flicked the ash into the dumpster, then turned toward the watching Sequence Ability Users. "Who first noticed something wrong with this dumpster?"
"Me! Inspector Olof, it was me! I'm Hans Van, a Sequence User who hunts Gods at Safe Zone Exit No. 89757."
A man in a grayish-brown jacket approached, his hair somewhat disheveled and a faint smell of alcohol still clinging to him.
He was the drunk who had run into Qin Siyang.
Now, however, he was completely sober, without the slightest trace of drunkenness, and his expression was full of anxiety.
After sobering up, Hans had realized that someone had stolen the God Remains from the dumpster, leaving him utterly shocked.
He had initially wanted nothing to do with it.
Anyone who stole God Remains definitely wasn't normal, and he didn't dare provoke someone like that. After awakening his sequence, all he wanted was to coast through life in the Safe Zone on his status as a Sequence Ability User.
Unfortunately, he just couldn't keep his hands to himself and had thrown a liquor bottle into the dumpster.
The bottle carried his scent. That was an indisputable fact, one he couldn't deny. If a [Scent Seeker] activated their skill, they could quickly identify him, and then he would never be able to clear his name.
So, to avoid having the police come knocking, he reported the incident first, hoping for leniency.
"Tell me how you discovered it."
"Inspector Olof, I'd just had some drinks with Blue at a bar, and then we each headed home. When I left the bar, I took another bottle to drink on the way. By the time I finished it, I happened to spot a dumpster here, so I thought I'd toss the bottle inside."
Upon hearing this, Roylena sharply rebuked him. "Hans, you're a Sequence Ability User too. Don't you know the dumpsters beside Safe Zone exits are only for God Remains?! Those remains are all collected for centralized disposal! You're interfering with the United Government's work!"
"I... I'd had too much to drink. I didn't think that far..."
Qin Siyang's gamble had paid off. It was precisely Hans's muddled mind that had given him time to escape. Otherwise, this might have been a completely different story.
Olof seemed accustomed to such aimless Sequence Ability Users. Rather than getting angry at Hans's words as Roylena had, he waved a hand. "Roylena, don't interrupt him. Let him continue."
"Yes, Inspector." The blonde Roylena regarded Hans with a cold gaze.
"At the time, I vaguely thought I saw someone rummaging around in front of the dumpster, but they disappeared very quickly. Of course, I'm not sure there was anyone there... because I was drunk."
"And then?"
"Then I threw the bottle inside. I heard it hit the empty dumpster, and I thought it was already midnight and the cleaners had collected the God Remains, so I went home."
"What time would that have been?"
"I... I was drunk. I don't know. After I got home, I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep. My sequence is [Sleepless], so I usually don't need to sleep. Even when I'm drunk, I wake up after two hours at most. When I woke up and saw it was only afternoon, I remembered the empty dumpster and felt something was wrong."
"And then you called the police?"
"Yes. Inspector Olof, since I voluntarily reported it and admitted my mistake, could you please not punish me for throwing a bottle into this dumpster and delaying the investigation?"
Olof took another drag from his cigar and pondered for a long time.
While he thought, Hans fretted, deeply worried about whether he would be punished.
"Roylena, remember to inform the managers at the other Safe Zone exits. Tell them to keep a close eye on the dumpsters."
"Yes."
"Inspector Olof, what about me?" Hans asked anxiously again.
Only then did Olof realize Hans was still there. "Oh, I was thinking about the case. What did you want to say?"
"I wanted to ask whether voluntarily reporting this could make up for my mistakes here, so I wouldn't be punished. I really do understand what I did wrong. I promise it won't happen again. Please give me a chance!"
Olof couldn't even be bothered to glance at him. "We'll handle this by the book. The Police Bureau's scales of justice will never tip in anyone's favor. You'll receive whatever reward you're due, and none of your punishment will be waived either."
"But..." Hans felt frustrated. He had voluntarily reported the case and fully cooperated with the investigation, yet he still had to be punished. What rotten luck.
"Take him back to the Police Bureau." Having received her superior's instructions, Roylena immediately ordered the officers to escort Hans back.
"Yes."
Hans looked thoroughly miserable, inwardly cursing that damned thief who had stolen the God Remains.
After sending Hans away, Olof continued thinking with a frown. "One person acting alone? Why on earth would someone steal God Remains from a dumpster? If they wanted to steal something that useless, they'd be better off taking some moldy wood from a warehouse for firewood!"
Roylena added, "Something similar happened yesterday at the Exit of Safe Zone 114514. I reported it to the chief, but unfortunately, it wasn't taken seriously enough. They only stationed officers at the Safe Zone exits near No. 114514. As a result, he moved farther away to strike again."
Just then, Roylena's pager sounded.
"Hello, go ahead. What? All right, tell me. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Okay, understood. I'll tell Inspector Olof right away."
Hearing Roylena mention him, Olof knew another case must have cropped up. He asked, "What happened now?"
"Inspector, a warehouse that caught fire was found in an alley two stops away from here. There are three charred bodies inside."
"Bodies? Charred?"
"That's right. All three bodies suffered severe blows to the head, leaving their faces completely deformed. An officer with the [Forensic Examiner] sequence said the shape of the wounds suggested they were inflicted bare-handed by someone with tremendous strength. Because of the fire, I can't track the killer's scent."
"Then can you start at the crime scene and search for the killer's scent?"
"Probably not. The officer just said that people come and go there constantly. The footprints are mixed together, and the scents are probably a complete mess."
"Have they found the original crime scene?"
"No. There's no sign of a struggle anywhere near that warehouse."
Olof smoked his cigar without saying a word.
Roylena continued, "Inspector, I have a question."
"Go ahead."
"Who were the people whose skulls were smashed?"
Roylena was an experienced policewoman herself, yet in front of Inspector Olof, she openly displayed her ignorance without reservation. It was as though, besides being an inspector, Olof held some other status far beyond her reach.
"It'll probably be difficult to establish those three people's identities. But whoever killed them was definitely a Sequence Ability User."
"Otherwise, they couldn't have killed all three without leaving signs of a struggle. The fatal injuries support that too. Smashing three people's skulls with their fists? An ordinary person would find that very difficult."
Olof glanced at the empty dumpster again and blew a smoke ring. "The incident in that alley happened right after the God Remains were stolen from the dumpster. Given the distance, a strength-type Sequence Ability User running flat out could have reached it. So perhaps one person committed both crimes."
Roylena frowned. "The same person? After stealing the God Remains here, he went two stops away to kill people and set a fire?"
"In neither case did the culprit leave any useful clues. We might as well make a bold assumption first, then verify it carefully. For now, let's analyze these cases on the assumption that the culprit was the same person."
Olof stroked his white beard. "I believe this person isn't familiar with Sequence Abilities."
"Why do you think that, Inspector?"
"Besides the head injuries, the bodies had other fatal wounds. Most likely, their skulls were smashed after they died. After smashing all three skulls, he still chose to burn the bodies."
"My guess is that he smashed their skulls because he feared a Sequence Ability User with the [Undying] sequence could use a skill to read the corpses' memories. But he didn't know that the memory-reading skill of an [Undying] Sequence Ability User has limitations."
"Once the brain develops pathological changes or loses its original biological structure, an [Undying] Sequence User's skill stops working."
"In other words, whether or not he smashed their skulls, burning the bodies would have been enough to prevent an [Undying] Sequence Ability User from tracing him."
Roylena asked in confusion, "Inspector, are you saying he didn't even know something that basic about sequences?"
"Other than that, I can't think of a reason for him to take such an unnecessary step. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that he was throwing up a smokescreen, trying to make me believe the culprit was a newly awakened Sequence Ability User. But I don't think a criminal of that caliber is likely to turn up in the 14121 Region."
Roylena nodded, finding the inspector's analysis quite reasonable, then said, "His lack of knowledge about sequences might be because he suddenly awakened a Sequence Ability and hasn't done enough research yet. If we stake out the Sequence Administration Bureau, we should be able to find him!"
"Your premise that he hasn't done enough research doesn't hold up."
Olof shook his head. "He knew to choose a place with muddled scents to interfere with your tracking, and he knew to burn the bodies to destroy evidence."
"Roylena, you need to understand that he wasn't calmly committing a planned crime, going there prepared to kill those three people. He had just stolen God Remains and did all this while fleeing in a panic. I have to say, although this culprit is ignorant, he definitely isn't careless."
"Someone whose thinking is finer than the eye of a needle in a tailor's shop wouldn't steal God Remains and expose himself without adequate preparation. His actions tell us he has no way to obtain more information."
Roylena smoothed her slightly disheveled blonde hair, looking puzzled. "How is that possible? Descriptions of Sequence Ability Users' abilities are all publicly available in [Godslayer Camp]. Anyone can look them up on a phone or computer."
"No, you're wrong. If all these assumptions hold true, then there's one kind of person who fits perfectly and can't look up that information."
"What kind?"
"A poor person."
Before you continue