The real hunt was only just beginning

3:30 a.m. The technical room of the Criminal Investigation Detachment at the City Public Security Bureau.

Chen Lei stared at the internal network terminal's screen. It displayed the underlying shipping data for the online order Kannazuki had placed six months earlier.

Order number ending in 7742.

Item name: Hunter × Hunter, volumes 1-12.

Chen Lei tapped at the keyboard, pulling up the courier distribution center's automated weighing and sorting records.

Billable weight: 0.3 kilograms.

Dimensions: 25 centimeters long, 18 centimeters wide, 2 centimeters thick.

Chen Lei grabbed his car keys from the desk and strode out of the technical room.

An hour later, he returned to the office carrying a stack of books wrapped in kraft paper. He had knocked on the door of a secondhand bookstore owner in the Old City District in the middle of the night and insisted on buying the same Taiwanese editions of the manga.

An electronic scale sat in the center of the desk.

Chen Lei unwrapped the kraft paper and neatly stacked all twelve manga volumes on the weighing platform.

The red digits flickered rapidly. Finally, they settled.

2.4 kilograms.

Chen Lei removed all the books, then placed only the first volume on the scale.

The display read: 0.2 kilograms.

Including the shipping carton and bubble wrap, 0.3 kilograms was just enough for a single book.

But Kannazuki's order details clearly listed twelve.

Chen Lei picked up a tape measure and extended it.

25 centimeters long, 18 centimeters wide, 2 centimeters thick.

Those were the dimensions of the most standard B5 notebook on the market.

The laws of physics did not lie.

What Kannazuki had bought six months earlier was not manga at all. He had bought a Black Notebook.

7:00 a.m. The bureau chief's office.

A thin report was tossed onto the broad solid-wood desk.

"Based on nothing but the weight of a package from six months ago?"

The chief leaned back in his chair, his brows drawn together. "Chen Lei, did staying up all night scramble your brain?"

Chen Lei stood ramrod straight, his hands pressed against the seams of his trousers.

"Physical data can't be falsified. He's concealing the true nature of this item."

Chen Lei's voice was hoarse, heavy with the exhaustion of a sleepless night. "Zhou Hai died inside a vault locked from within. Lin Yaodong shot himself in the mouth in front of dozens of executives. There were no murder weapons or fingerprints at either scene. Conventional investigative methods don't work on this man."

The chief lifted his insulated cup and took a sip of strong tea.

"No opportunity, no motive, no murder weapon.

And now you're telling me the suspect kills people with a notebook he bought six months ago?"

The chief slammed his cup onto the desk. "The city is under enormous pressure.

Dongding Capital has collapsed, and every gang in the city is fighting over territory.

I need you to focus on maintaining order, not on some Delivery Worker's shipping receipt!"

"If we keep watching him, he'll slip up." Chen Lei planted both hands on the desk and leaned forward. "I'm requesting a warrant for round-the-clock surveillance and searches."

The chief stared at Chen Lei for a full ten seconds.

"No warrant. No judge would approve such an absurd request."

The chief opened a drawer, took out a document, and signed it. "I can give you three people at most. Covert surveillance from outside.

You absolutely cannot cause a disturbance, much less interfere with ordinary citizens' lives."

"Understood." Chen Lei snatched up the document, turned, and walked out.

9:00 a.m.

Across from the Happy Home residential complex.

An unfinished mixed-use building where construction had stopped two years earlier.

The seventh floor. Dried chunks of cement and rusty rebar littered the ground.

Chen Lei and Xiao Li crouched behind a load-bearing wall.

A high-powered pair of military binoculars stood on a tripod, its black lenses protruding through a gap in the wall, aimed precisely at entrance three of building four, where Kannazuki lived.

"Captain Chen, the Technical Section has it taken care of."

Xiao Li reported in a low voice, holding a tablet. "A miniature GPS tracker has been installed in spare battery number four at the battery-swap station he frequents.

As soon as he swaps batteries, the tracker will automatically attach itself to the inside of his bike frame."

Chen Lei kept his eyes against the eyepieces.

In his field of view, the curtains of Kannazuki's Rental Apartment were tightly drawn. Not a trace of light shone through.

"Teams of two, rotating every four hours." Chen Lei adjusted the focus knob. "He'll definitely go out today."

10:00 a.m. Inside the Rental Apartment.

Kannazuki sat on the edge of the bed. He had just finished a fifteen-yuan serving of braised chicken rice.

Ryuk crouched on top of the wardrobe, holding a green apple and biting into it, sending juice flying.

"Aren't you going out to deliver food today?"

Ryuk swallowed the mouthful of apple, his red eyes shifting.

"Taking a day off." Kannazuki stood and put the plastic food container on the table into a garbage bag.

He walked over to the door and changed into a pair of black sneakers.

The evolution brought on by killing was not limited to the synapses in his brain.

His optic nerves had become extraordinarily sensitive, and his retinas' ability to capture light far surpassed that of an ordinary person.

He could see the paths of dust particles floating in the air.

He pushed open the building's iron door.

The morning sunlight struck him full in the face.

Carrying the black garbage bag, Kannazuki walked toward the green trash bin beside the flower bed in the complex.

The unfinished building, two hundred meters away. The seventh floor.

Sunlight passed through the binoculars' objective lenses, producing an extremely brief refraction on the glass.

Kannazuki's pupils instantly contracted.

Light pierced his eyes. 0.2 seconds.

Basic physics told him that a flash at that height and angle could not possibly be a reflection from window glass.

It was a halo produced by light focused through a convex lens.

He did not stop walking.

His pace remained at 1.5 steps per second. His heart rate stayed steady at 65 beats per minute. His breathing did not change.

His brain finished processing the information in 0.1 seconds.

Chen Lei hadn't given up.

He had uncovered something deeper.

Last night's probing had only been a smokescreen. The real hunt was only just beginning.

Kannazuki reached the trash bin. He raised his right hand.

The black plastic bag traced a parabola through the air and landed squarely inside the bin.

He turned around, looking straight ahead. He did not lift his head or glance around. He did not so much as spare another look in the direction of the unfinished building.

An utterly ordinary Delivery Worker, ready to go home after taking out the trash.

Inside the unfinished building.

Chen Lei kept his eyes glued to the binoculars.

Kannazuki's expression was natural. His motion as he threw away the trash was fluid. The angle of his turn was consistent with normal body mechanics.

The iron door gave a dull clang. It closed.

Only a green plastic trash bin remained in Chen Lei's field of view.

A gust of wind swept past, stirring a few dry leaves on the ground.

Chen Lei pulled away from the eyepieces and rubbed the aching corners of his eyes.

He had a feeling.

At the instant Kannazuki had turned around, although he had not looked this way at all, he had already known Chen Lei was there.

Chen Lei stared at the deserted trash bin, a sheen of cold sweat forming on his back.