Just over two hours after Qin Siyang left the garbage bins near Safe Zone Exit 89757, many uniformed police officers received orders and cordoned off the area.
Many Sequence Ability users were also discussing the incident on the periphery, faces full of confusion and incomprehension. The theft of godly remains from garbage bins was truly an absurd story. Some things are like that—unnoticed when all is well, but once lost, they cause many problems and attract attention. Without a doubt, godly remains were such an existence.
An old man with white hair, wearing a long coat, a scarf wrapped around his neck, and puffing on a cigar, circled the bins.
He asked, "Luo Yilianna, your Sequence has ascended. I heard you possess stronger tracking abilities now, ten times better than the Chief's police dogs. Can you distinguish any scents here now?"
He had the appearance of a European but spoke Chinese. This was because Chinese people were the majority in the Safe Zone, and Chinese was the official common language.
The golden-haired policewoman beside him shook her head. "No. There are too many godly auras here. The human scent is completely overwhelmed. Even with my current level, I still can't pick out a human scent from this. If I activated my skill here, I'm afraid I'd faint from the intense godly气味 (odor)."
Olof was disappointed. "Alright, damn this skill. Being unusable around gods adds a lot of trouble for us!"
"Yes, I think so too. Unfortunately, I awakened the «Scent Tracker» Sequence; there's no changing it. Sequence Ability users like me are destined to operate only within the Safe Zone from birth."
Olof impatiently took two puffs of his cigar, flicked the ash into the bin, then turned to the surrounding Sequence Ability users. "Who first discovered the problem with these bins?"
"Me! Inspector Olof, it was me! I'm Hans Fan, a Sequence user who hunts gods at Exit 89757."
A man in a grayish-brown jacket stepped forward, his hair somewhat disheveled, still carrying a faint smell of alcohol.
It was the drunkard who had encountered Qin Siyang.
But now he showed no signs of drunkenness; he was utterly sober and filled with nervousness.
After sobering up, Hans, realizing someone had stolen the godly remains from the bins, was utterly shocked.
He hadn't wanted to get involved.
Whoever stole the godly remains was definitely not normal, and he didn't dare provoke them. After awakening his Sequence, he just wanted to coast by on his status as a Sequence Ability user within the Safe Zone.
But he had been careless, throwing that liquor bottle into the bin.
The bottle had his scent on it; it was hard evidence he couldn't deny. If a «Scent Tracker» used their skill, they could quickly pinpoint him, and then he'd be in deep trouble.
So, to avoid the police showing up at his door, he reported the incident first, hoping for leniency.
"Tell me how you discovered it."
"Inspector Olof, I had just had some drinks with Bru at the bar, then we went our separate ways home. When I left the bar, I took another bottle, planning to drink it on the way home. I drank as I walked, finished it, and saw this bin, so I wanted to throw the bottle in."
Luo Yilianna, hearing this, reprimanded him sternly. "Hans, you're a Sequence Ability user! Don't you know the bins near Safe Zone exits are only for godly remains?! The godly remains in these bins are to be processed centrally!! You're interfering with Unified Government work!"
"I... I was drunk, didn't think that much..."
Qin Siyang had gambled correctly. Hans's不清醒的头脑 (unclear mind) had given him time to escape. Otherwise, it might have been a completely different story.
Olof, seemingly accustomed to this type of unprofessional Sequence Ability user, wasn't as angry as Luo Yilianna. He waved his hand. "Luo Yilianna, no need to interrupt him. Let him continue."
"Yes, Inspector." The golden-haired Luo Yilianna looked at Hans with冷漠 (indifference) in her eyes.
"I vaguely saw a figure rummaging in front of the bin, but it disappeared very quickly. Of course, I wasn't sure if anyone was really there... because I was drunk."
"And then?"
"Then I threw the bottle in. At that time, I heard the sound of the bottle hitting the empty bin. I thought it was already midnight and the cleaners had collected the remains, so I went home."
"When was it supposed to be collected?"
"I... I was drunk, I don't know. I went home and passed out on the bed. I'm of the «Sleepless» Sequence, so I usually don't need to sleep. Even when drunk, I wake up after two hours at most. When I woke up and found it was still afternoon, I remembered the empty bin and felt something was wrong."
"Then you called the police?"
"Yes. Inspector Olof, considering I reported it voluntarily and admitted my mistake, could you not punish me for throwing the bottle in the bin and delaying the investigation?"
Olof took another drag of his cigar,沉思了许久 (pondered for a long time).
As he thought, Hans felt忐忑不安 (uneasy), very worried about potential punishment.
"Luo Yilianna, remember to inform the management at other Safe Zone exits to keep a close watch on their bins."
"Yes."
"Inspector Olof, what about me?" Hans asked急切地 (anxiously).
Olof seemed to realize Hans was still there. "Oh, I was thinking about the case. What did you want to say?"
"I wanted to ask, since I reported it voluntarily, can it offset my fault? Can you not punish me for the mistakes I made here? I've truly realized my problem. I promise I won't do it again! Please give me a chance!"
Olof couldn't be bothered to look at him. "Official business follows official procedures. The scales of justice in the police department will not tilt for anyone. Rewards you deserve, you'll get. Punishments you deserve, you won't avoid."
"Ah, this..." Hans was懊恼 (annoyed). He had reported it voluntarily and cooperated fully, yet still faced punishment. Really unlucky.
"Take him back to the station." Luo Yilianna, having received her superior's indication, immediately had officers take Hans away.
"Yes."
Hans looked utterly dejected, cursing the damned thief in his heart.
After dispatching Hans, Olof continued frowning in thought. "A single perpetrator? Why would someone steal godly remains from bins? Stealing such useless things is worse than stealing moldy wood from a warehouse to burn for heat!"
Luo Yilianna added, "A similar scene occurred yesterday at Exit 114514. I reported it to the Chief, but it didn't receive enough attention. We only set up defenses near Exit 114514. As a result, he struck again slightly farther away."
Just then, Luo Yilianna's pager beeped.
"Hello, please go ahead. What? Okay, tell me. Mhmm, mhmm, mhmm. Okay, I understand. I'll inform Inspector Olof right away."
Olof, hearing his name, knew another case had probably occurred. "What is it now?"
"Inspector, in an alley two stops from here, a burnt-out warehouse was discovered. There are three charred corpses inside."
"Corpses? Charred?"
"Correct. Moreover, the heads of all three corpses are completely shattered, their faces utterly deformed. Two also had other fatal injuries. Because of the fire, I cannot track the killer's scent."
"Can you start from the scene of the incident to find the killer's scent?"
"恐怕也不行 (I'm afraid not). The officers on site said the place sees a lot of foot traffic. The footprints are mixed, and the scents are probably very chaotic."
"Was the primary scene found?"
"No. There are no signs of a struggle anywhere near that warehouse."
Olof smoked his cigar without speaking.
Luo Yilianna continued, "Inspector, there are some issues with this."
"Go on."
"Who were these people with smashed skulls? Why did the killer hide their identities? I feel it's full of古怪 (peculiarities)."
Luo Yilianna's rapid-fire questions didn't stump Olof. As an experienced police inspector, he had already figured most of this out moments after hearing the details.
"The identities of those three will probably be hard to determine. But the one who killed them was definitely a Sequence Ability user."
"Otherwise, it would be impossible to kill all three without leaving signs of a struggle. The weapon used to smash their skulls was likely that person's fist."
Olof looked at the empty bins again and blew a smoke ring. "In my opinion, the timing of the alley incident coincides perfectly with the theft of the godly remains. It's highly likely it's the work of the same person."
Luo Yilianna frowned. "The same person? After stealing the godly remains here, he went to a place two stops away to kill and set a fire?"
"Yes. The timing of these two events fits together as perfectly as a key and lock. It's too much of a coincidence."
"Secondly, I believe this person is not very familiar with Sequence abilities."
"Why do you think that, Inspector?"
"Besides the heads, the bodies had other fatal injuries. The heads were likely smashed post-mortem. After smashing the heads, he also chose to burn the bodies."
"I suspect the reason he smashed their heads was concern that a Sequence user with a «Necromancer»-type ability could use a skill to read the corpses' memories. However, he didn't know the memory-reading skills of such Sequence users have limitations."
"Once the brain undergoes pathological changes or loses its original biological structure, the skills of «Necromancer» Sequence users fail."
"In other words, regardless of whether he smashed their heads or not, simply burning the bodies to a char would have blocked «Necromancer» Sequence users' investigation."
Luo Yilianna asked疑惑地 (puzzled), "Inspector, are you saying he doesn't even know such basic Sequence knowledge?"
"Other than that, I can't think of another reason for him to make this unnecessary move."
Luo Yilianna nodded, finding the Inspector's analysis reasonable, then said, "This thief who steals godly remains doesn't understand Sequence information, probably because he recently awakened his Sequence ability and hasn't done his homework yet. We just need to stake out the Sequence Management Bureau, and we should find the culprit!"
"No, that's not it. Your premise about him not doing his homework doesn't hold."
Olof shook his head. "This person's mind is incredibly meticulous. He knew to pick a place with confused scents to干扰 (interfere with) you, and he knew to use fire to destroy evidence."
"Luo Yilianna, you need to understand, he wasn't a calm perpetrator who prepared to kill these three. He did all this while慌慌张张地跑路 (fleeing in panic) right after stealing the godly remains. I have to say, although this culprit is ignorant, he is definitely not a careless person."
"A mind finer than a needle's eye wouldn't let him steal the godly remains unprepared, exposing himself. Him doing this indicates he lacks the channels to obtain more information."
Luo Yilianna smoothed her slightly messy golden hair, a look of incomprehension on her face. "How is that possible? The descriptions of Sequence Ability users' powers are publicly available on the «God-Slayer Camp». Anyone can check using a phone or computer!"
"No, you're wrong. There is one kind of person who can't check."
"Who?"
"The poor."