Chapter 681: Chinatown Riot |
Liu Xing thought for a moment and gave up on the idea of asking Miss Wang to find Dio.
Because if Dio could escape from under the nose of a Formless Offspring, it meant that Dio still had some tricks up his sleeve. Now, wanting to find him back wouldn't be easy, especially since this was a typical Plot Encounter, and Liu Xing couldn't change the outcome.
Of course, Miss Wang had also mentioned in her text message that she hadn't given the order to the Formless Offspring to ensure Dio wouldn't leave the room, and that her subordinates were keeping watch outside, which was why Dio could escape so easily.
Liu Xing shook his head and sent a text message back to Miss Wang before going to sleep.
The next morning, Liu Xing was woken up by Leon.
"Chris, there's been another body found at the subway station, and from the wounds, it looks like the work of those Ghouls. Allen has arranged for the team leader to take us to the crime scene for investigation, since the crime scene is at the same subway station we were monitoring before," Leon said.
Liu Xing nodded, getting dressed while asking, "By the way, Leon, do you know what's going on with the subway murder case from yesterday?"
Leon thought for a moment, hesitating before saying, "I only heard about the subway murder case from others, and it's been confirmed that the victim was killed by those Ghouls, but no useful evidence was found at the scene. After all, these killers aren't human, so the clues they left behind are worthless to us. Yesterday's subway murder case can be said to have made no progress, but the pressure on Allen is already very high. Although there was some progress in the previous attack case, it was only a group of small fries that were caught, and the real mastermind is still at large. Now, with another serial murder case happening at a subway station, which is a public transportation hub, the nature of the crime is even more heinous."
Liu Xing furrowed his brow, suddenly unable to understand why the Ghouls would suddenly go on a rampage and start committing crimes frequently.
Could it be that these Ghouls were also Erwuzi?
Liu Xing was really confused about the current situation.
However, Liu Xing suddenly thought of a possibility - that the Cult of the Cadaver was trying to boost Allen's reputation, because if they could solve this case quickly, Allen's position as police chief would become more stable, and he wouldn't be forced to resign due to not catching Ithaqua.
Of course, this possibility existed, but the Cult of the Cadaver might not really do such a thing, as it required a very precise grasp of public opinion, and public opinion was unpredictable and could suddenly explode, making it easy to play with fire.
After getting dressed, Liu Xing went to the crime scene with Leon and Jill.
On the way, Jill suddenly asked Liu Xing, "Chris, do you have a habit of sleepwalking? I woke up around 1 or 2 am to go to the bathroom and heard you knocking on the desk nonstop in your room. I called out to you, but you didn't respond, so I was worried that you were sleepwalking. However, I heard that you shouldn't wake someone who's sleepwalking, so I didn't come in to check on you."
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow, first checking "Chris"'s memories before shaking his head and saying, "No, I've never sleepwalked since I was a kid, at least no one around me has ever said that I do, so could it be that you, Jill, made a mistake?"
Leon nodded beside him, saying, "That's right, I've lived with Chris in school for many years, and I've never seen Chris sleepwalk, so maybe you, Jill, were just half-asleep and misheard?"
Jill shrugged and nodded, "Maybe, I wasn't fully awake at the time, so I just called out to Chris and went back to sleep."
Although Jill gave up pursuing the matter, her words did give Liu Xing a wake-up call, as Liu Xing didn't think it was just a mishearing, and Liu Xing could confirm that he hadn't sleepwalked, because if he had, KP Time would definitely have reminded him, and there was no mention of sleepwalking in "Chris"'s character background.
So, how to explain the knocking sound coming from his room? Or, who was knocking on the desk?
Could it be the wooden puppet?
Liu Xing carefully recalled that the puppet had been in the same position and posture since he brought it back to his room, and he had also checked it thoroughly without finding anything strange.
Moreover, the puppet was a gift from Leon's parents, so if the puppet had a problem, then Leon's parents would have a problem, and even Leon would be implicated... But why would Leon and his parents target him?
After all, since entering this module, Liu Xing's actions had been normal, and he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, following Wesker and others' lead, so it shouldn't be that he was being targeted.
Liu Xing couldn't understand why this was happening.
Before Liu Xing could think it through, they had already arrived at the crime scene, and Wesker was already there, understanding the situation.
Wesker saw Liu Xing and others and called them over, "Today's victim is a homeless person who was trying to find a place to rest in the subway station after it stopped operating. He hid in the toilet before being killed by the Ghouls in the lobby. The staff found him when they came to work this morning... However, since his body has already been partially eaten, I don't recommend that you, Jill, go in to take a look."
Liu Xing and others turned pale, as they could imagine the state of the body, which was indeed terrifying, and Liu Xing even doubted whether he would lose sanity points.
"Captain, can I go in with Jill?" Leon asked with a bitter smile.
Wesker shook his head, saying, "Leon, you and Chris need to come in with me to investigate the body, because we need to finish the initial investigation as soon as possible. Otherwise, those damned reporters will arrive soon, and you don't want to see your faces in the newspaper with a few big words - incompetent police officers, right?"
Jill didn't force herself, nodding in agreement with Wesker's idea.
As a result, Jill was left at the subway station entrance to maintain order and hand over to her colleagues who would arrive later.
Meanwhile, Liu Xing and others entered the subway station.
As soon as they entered the subway station, Liu Xing smelled a strong bloody odor, as well as a distinctive vomit smell, indicating that the subway station staff who had seen the corpse couldn't hold back their emotions.
Of course, Liu Xing almost lost control when he saw the corpse too. Fortunately, he had just arrived in a hurry and hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
The corpse was just as Wesker had described, with most of the avatar's body missing, and it seemed to have been torn open directly, with internal organs scattered all over the place, and a large amount of fresh blood staining the ground red.
In addition, there was a very conspicuous blood trail from the corpse's location to the subway platform, with two rows of bloody footprints next to it.
It seemed that the ones who killed the vagrant were indeed the Ghoul couple.
After Liu Xing and others briefly examined the corpse, they didn't find any useful clues, because everyone already knew that the culprits were the Ghouls, and these clues couldn't help the London police determine the Ghouls' specific location, unless the London police could shut down the entire London subway system and follow the blood trail to catch the Ghouls.
This was unrealistic, as the London subway had a huge daily passenger flow, and even a one-hour shutdown would cause inconvenience to many people.
Moreover, even if the London subway was shut down, the London police might not be able to catch the Ghouls.
After Sergei and his team finished collecting the corpse, Liu Xing and others returned to the police station.
On the way, Sergei told Liu Xing and others, "Yesterday's subway murder case and today's case are very similar, with the victims' deaths being extremely terrifying, and the clues found at the scene can be used to deal with the reporters, but they're useless for catching the Ghouls."
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and asked, "So, what's Allen's move now?"
Sergei shrugged and smiled, "Allen is now being overwhelmed by these events, because the previous subway murder case has been reopened, and Allen is being criticized by various newspapers for choosing to abandon the investigation, leading to the current two subway murder cases, so many people are demanding Allen's resignation. However, Allen's public relations skills are not bad, so he made a promise at yesterday's press conference to catch the culprit within three days, so Allen's position is still stable for now."
Liu Xing was somewhat surprised that Allen would make such a promise, because even if the real culprits were caught, it would be impossible to make them public, since they were Ghouls after all!
So, Liu Xing suspected that Allen was preparing to find a scapegoat.
Liu Xing expressed his thoughts, "From the current situation, it's highly likely that Allen will find someone to take the fall, because this case definitely needs someone to take the blame, but Allen's pressure is still quite high, as it's difficult to solve the case within three days, unless the Ghouls are on the same side as Allen."
Wesker frowned, "It's possible that Allen will find someone to take the fall, but I think the Ghouls shouldn't be on the same side as Allen, as they don't need to sabotage Allen's reputation now, but where did Allen get this confidence from?"
Just then, the walkie-talkie in the police car suddenly went off, "All units, be aware that a large-scale riot has broken out in Chinatown, please rush to Chinatown to maintain order!"
Liu Xing and others furrowed their brows.
"This was bound to happen," Wesker sighed.
Liu Xing nodded, as it was reasonable that a large-scale riot would break out in Chinatown, since the perpetrators of the attack had been identified as members of the Chinatown mafia, and all it took was someone to instigate and arrange for a group of people to take action at the right time, and a riot would be inevitable.
After all, ordinary people were easily incited.
As for the instigator of this riot, Liu Xing guessed it was either the Cult of the Cadaver or Ithaqua.
Because Liu Xing and others needed to rush to Chinatown, Sergei returned to the police station to autopsy the corpse.
Not long after, Liu Xing and others arrived in Chinatown, where people were everywhere, smashing, looting, and burning.
Liu Xing and others exchanged a glance and then took out their batons to maintain order.
After three hours, Chinatown finally returned to peace.
Liu Xing looked at Leon, who was bandaged all over his head, and laughed, "Leon, you're really something, getting hurt like this."
Leon had slipped and fallen on the stairs while dodging a flying rock, resulting in a bloody face.
Leon sighed and didn't say anything.
Just then, KP Time suddenly said, "Now, player, please pass a 50% success rate Judgment!"
Liu Xing, 43/50, succeeded.
As soon as the Judgment result ended, Liu Xing saw a familiar figure - Ithaqua.
At that time, Ithaqua was walking out of a nearby store, holding a thread-bound book.
It turned out that Ithaqua was the one who instigated the riot, and it did so for the book in its hand.
Liu Xing didn't think twice and directly rushed towards Ithaqua.
Ithaqua also noticed Liu Xing, but it just smiled slightly and walked into a nearby alley.
By the time Liu Xing reached the alley entrance, Ithaqua's figure had disappeared.
Because Liu Xing was unfamiliar with the area and didn't know if Ithaqua had any accomplices, he gave up on entering the alley.
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