Chapter 57: Rewind
"Logically speaking, no matter how many cannon fodder puppets like this came, they couldn't threaten me. But a faint, ineffable feeling tells me that it will profoundly affect me tomorrow. What exactly is going on?" Bai Mo clutched his head, deep in thought.
Half an hour later.
"Such empty speculation is still useless. For now, I'll just examine the pattern on that piece of concrete I brought back."
"It's just a very ordinary graffiti, a circle with a cross inside..."
In the alley. After hearing the explosion, the surrounding residents quickly notified the police. Upon arriving at the scene, the police found the alley in a chaotic mess, with ruptured flesh and blood everywhere.
"Did someone stuff a bunch of bombs into their body and self-detonate?!" one of the police officers on the scene exclaimed in surprise.
"First, notify other colleagues to seal off the area. This isn't something a few of us can handle. Let's report it to higher-ups," another old police officer said to the young officer beside him.
Fifteen minutes later, a large squad of fully armed special police arrived at the scene. As Rome was the host city for this Ability User conference, the local authorities were particularly sensitive to such cases, so a SWAT team was immediately dispatched to investigate.
"There were no explosives or metal fragments from a bomb blast left at the scene. The victim did not die from an explosion of internal ordnance. We initially suspect the perpetrator is an Ability User," the SWAT captain concluded after surveying the surroundings.
"This is...?" the young police officer who arrived first quietly asked the old police officer.
"This guy is an Ability User in the SWAT team. I heard his ability allows him to see events that happened in a place within the past six hours," the old police officer whispered to the young officer.
"Having an ability like that for police work is too much! What use are we regular police then? He could just rewind everything at the crime scene and solve it all," the young police officer said to the old one with a hint of jealousy.
"Don't think too much about it. How many major cases we usually encounter actually allow us to reach the scene within six hours of the incident? How many murder cases are only reported the next day, or even after the body has started to rot? This time is an exception," the old police officer said.
"True... but it still feels a bit unfair."
The young man called De Bu Luo Yi stepped forward, closed his eyes, and began to use his ability.
One minute, two minutes, five minutes... The images in his mind rapidly rewound until he saw a figure's back.
"Why do I feel like someone's peeking at me?" Bai Mo, who was studying the pattern in the hotel, suddenly felt a sensation of being spied upon, but his divine sense scan of the surroundings revealed nothing.
"Pffft!" The young man using his ability spat out a mouthful of blood after seeing that figure's back, then collapsed to the ground, his body limp.
"De Bu Luo Yi, what's wrong? Why are you suddenly injured?" the SWAT captain asked, perplexed.
After a few seconds, De Bu Luo Yi caught his breath and said to the others, "I only saw a figure's back, and then my entire vision was covered by an endless, blinding light, and then I collapsed, my body completely weak."
"I suspect the other party was too powerful, and I suffered a backlash for trying to forcefully pry into them."
"Is there really someone that strong?" the SWAT captain muttered to himself. "De Bu Luo Yi, what characteristics did you observe about that person?"
"He appeared to be an East Asian man, wearing white clothes. That's the only thing I could discern."
"De Bu Luo Yi, get in the car and rest for a bit." The captain waved his hand, instructing his team members to help De Bu Luo Yi into the police car.
"What exactly does a circle with a cross inside it mean...?" Bai Mo stared at the excavated piece of concrete, lost in deep thought.
"Captain Lun Qin, look over there. The walls are covered in many strange patterns like this. Could they be related to the case?" A subordinate pointed at the walls and the ground, which were covered in numerous circle-and-cross patterns.
"This isn't some Sherlock Holmes novel where the victim leaves a clue about the killer before dying. Just looking at this messy scene, it's clear the victim was crushed to death by a powerful Ability User. How could such a perpetrator leave the victim a chance to draw signs? It's probably just some hooligan's graffiti," Captain Lun Qin said.
"But Captain, look here. Among a pile of these patterns, one piece has been dug out. Could the perpetrator have taken it?" the subordinate continued to explain.
"To forcefully dig out a piece from the ground like this, it's almost impossible for a machine to remove just a small piece of concrete without damaging the surrounding ground. So, it's highly probable the culprit used an ability to dig it out. Not bad, Xiao Luo Yi, your observation is quite meticulous," the captain said after a moment of thought. RANO_B0еS
"De Bu Luo Yi, I wanted to ask if you can still use your ability now?" Lun Qin asked De Bu Luo Yi, who was resting in the police car.
"As long as I don't try to pry into that person, yes, I can. Captain, is there anything you need my help with?"
"Come and look at these patterns. See if they're related to this case. If you see that person again, try to avoid looking at them."
"Alright, I'll try."
De Bu Luo Yi stood before the graffiti and began to rewind.
Ten minutes later, the exhausted De Bu Luo Yi slowly said, "Captain, these graffiti definitely are related to this case."
"Continue."
"These graffiti were drawn by the victim. According to what I saw, the victim seemed to have been continuously drawing these patterns before being killed, their eyes completely lifeless, as if being remotely controlled. The moment that person appeared, I immediately exited the rewind state, which is why I didn't suffer another backlash."
"You did very well, De Bu Luo Yi. So, these patterns really are markings left by the victim. I just don't know how much they relate to the person who killed him. Wait, De Bu Luo Yi, you said the victim was already remotely controlled before he died?"
"Yes, I saw the victim drawing these patterns with lifeless eyes, his movements very mechanical, completely unlike a living person. More like a puppet, a remotely controlled corpse," De Bu Luo Yi said, with a hint of lingering fear.
"The victim became a puppet before dying... This means that person might not even be the murderer. The victim could have been killed much earlier. That person might have simply passed by and dug out a pattern just to take it for study. Of course, the truth might not be as I imagine," Lun Qin thought to herself.
"A circle with a cross in the middle, what could it possibly mean...? It can't be cutting a cake, can it? What everyday objects are shaped like this? Wait, a sniper scope seems to be a circle with a crosshair! Plus the faint spirit energy reaction on the pattern, could this be a targeting symbol?" Bai Mo suddenly connected some dots.
"If this conjecture is correct, then what sort of things will be thrown based on this targeting tomorrow, things that could significantly impact my safety?"
"Also, how can this small, net-like structure be interrogated for information? I've already figured out its basic function: it simply acts as a small neural hub, controlling the host to complete simple tasks. However, more complex behaviors couldn't be carried out by something so limited."
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