Igwinte in the afternoon, the lower district, White Pearl Street.
In an alley, four or five street hooligans were sitting casually on a set of steps. Idle all day, they were bragging to each other as usual, and at this moment, the one speaking animatedly among them was a middle-aged man wearing overalls.
"Really? Of course it's real. My cousin saw and heard it with his own eyes and ears. He was right outside Ke Li's shop at the time. What that man pawned to Ke Li was definitely the stolen goods from the Bo Dun. Wei Er case. At first, Ke Li didn't notice, but later he was shocked! He directly shouted out Bo Dun. Wei Er's name!"
Sitting in the middle of the group, the bald man bragged directly. Listening to his words, the people nearby conversed in astonishment.
"Is that really true... So, the murderer who killed Bo Dun. Wei Er might be on White Pearl Street right now?"
"Another formidable character has come here... It's said that guy took down seven or eight people by himself. If he's really here, even the bosses probably wouldn't dare to provoke him..."
"So Ke Li was willing to fence the stolen goods for that murderer? Could it be that they are in league?"
The hooligans on the scene started talking back and forth. The Burton case had already been quite a hot topic in Igwinte recently, so such a topic was naturally discussed. As the discussion became deeper and more heated, the original initiator of the topic, the bald man in overalls, quietly left the scene.
Standing on a rooftop, Dorothy manipulated her Corpse Puppet to wander through White Pearl Street, spreading similar rumors everywhere.
Under Dorothy's deliberate manipulation, news like "Ke Li, the usurer, received stolen goods from the Burton case in his pawn shop and had contact with the suspected murderer of the Burton case" gradually spread on White Pearl Street. According to Dorothy's estimation, such news would spread throughout the entire street in no time and then reach the ears of those who needed to hear it.
"So... when exactly will you take action?"
Looking at the sun gradually setting on the horizon, Dorothy murmured. When she went out this morning, Grego told her he needed to work overtime all night, and coincidentally, Dorothy was also planning to work a little overtime tonight.
...
Daylight gradually faded, and night arrived.
Dark shadows gradually enveloped Igwinte, and also enveloped White Pearl Street.
Due to the unexpected situation that occurred today, Ke Li was in a terrible mood. After scolding his unproductive employees again, he announced that the shop would close early today and told the employees to go home first.
"Damn... damn... So many people and they still managed to lose him, what a bunch of useless good-for-nothings!"
Inside the shop, Ke Li locked the door while grumbling complaints. Filled with rage, he had nowhere to vent and could only complain non-stop.
"Huff... Wait until tomorrow, wait until tomorrow to meet Hakson and let his subordinates help out a bit. I refuse to believe I can't dig that guy out!
"When I catch that guy, I'll definitely chop off his limbs, put them in a coffin, and sink it to the bottom of the Iron Mud River! Just like I did to those ungrateful bastards before!"
Complaining, Ke Li considered using his underworld connections to find help. Just as he finished locking the door and turned to do other things, a black-gloved hand reached out from behind him, holding a dagger against his throat.
"Don't move, Ke Li. Cross..."
Hearing the low whisper from behind, Ke Li's heart tightened abruptly. His eyes widened, and the anger in his heart turned into uneasy panic.
How, how again! When did he get into my shop!
Ke Li, being threatened for the second time today,'s heart churned rapidly. Finally, he forced himself to calm down, thinking of speaking to the threatener behind him with a forced smile.
"This, this Mr., let's talk properly. If you want money, I don't have any on me right now. Please let me go first, and I'll get it for Captain."
"I don't need money. I just want to ask you, did you receive the stolen goods from the Bo Dun. Wei Er case around noon today?"
Standing behind Ke Li, a tall man in black clothes, hooded and masked, holding a knife, said slowly to Ke Li. After hearing this, Ke Li quickly nodded in response.
"Yes, yes, yes! I did receive something from Bo Dun. Wei Er here!"
"What was it? Where is it?" the man in black continued to threaten, and Ke Li responded without daring to slacken.
"It's in the pocket on the right side of my clothes. It's a pocket watch. Let, let me get it for Captain..."
"No need... I'll do it myself..."
While speaking, the man in black reached his free hand into Ke Li's pocket and fumbled out a pocket watch. The man in black opened it with one hand and quickly saw the name engraved on it.
"Who pawned this watch here? Do you know each other?"
Looking at the pocket watch in his hand, the man in black asked directly. Hearing his words, Ke Li also answered directly in a panic.
"Yes, it was a man. He was a bit tall, wearing a black trench coat and a hat. He had a gun and was masked. I couldn't see his appearance clearly. I don't know him at all!"
"Tell the truth..."
"I, I am telling the truth, Mr.! That, that guy even forced me to take this watch at gunpoint! I really have nothing to do with him, and I couldn't see what he looked like either! Please let Captain go!"
Ke Li said pleadingly. Hearing his words, the man in black slowly nodded. After putting the pocket watch into his pocket, he lowered the knife from Ke Li's neck and pushed him forward.
"Stand there and don't move. Don't look back."
"Yes, yes, yes, I won't look back!"
Ke Li quickly promised. The man in black nodded after hearing Ke Li's promise and then turned and walked away. However, Ke Li, who had been humiliated for the second time today, would not just listen to him. He stood there, his resentful eyes fixed on the drawer of the cabinet in front of him.
Without a word, Ke Li immediately stepped forward two steps, pulled out the drawer, and took out a revolver from it. He immediately turned his head, pointed the gun at the man in black who was about to leave, and prepared to pull the trigger.
"Go to hell... Ah..."
Before Ke Li could finish speaking, a throwing knife shot out from a dark corner of the room and directly stabbed into Ke Li's neck, hitting its mark. Ke Li, who hadn't had time to fire the gun, fell down with his eyes wide open.
The notorious big usurer of White Pearl Street, Ke Li. Cross, died in his own shop like this.
Then, from the dark corner where the throwing knife flew out, another masked man in black walked out. He stood beside Ke Li's corpse with the man who was about to leave and said with a cold laugh.
"Everyone on White Pearl Street knows that Ke Li. Cross's promises are worth less than dog shit..."
After speaking, a man in black took out a palm-sized piece of coarse paper from his body, squatted down, and patted it onto the forehead of Ke Li's corpse with the wide-open mouth. Then the coarse paper quickly burned, leaving a faint mark of a "cup" on Ke Li's forehead.
Then every inch of flesh and blood on Ke Li's corpse strangely evaporated automatically, rapidly decaying and dispersing. From the skin to the muscles to the internal organs, every bit of blood and flesh was evaporating, turning into green smoke.
In a short amount of time, only bones and clothing remained at the location where Ke Li's corpse had been lying.
"Hurry up and deal with it, Mr. Clifford is still waiting for us..."
A man in black took out a bag from his body, put all the bones and clothing left by Ke Li into it, and then the two of them took the bag and climbed out through a side window, disappearing into an empty alley under the cover of night.
However, what they didn't know was that everything they had done in the shop earlier had been seen by a gecko that had been clinging to the ceiling. And while they were collecting the bones, an even smaller gecko had unknowingly crawled into Ke Li's trouser leg and was taken away packaged with them.
And at this moment, in a dark corner on the street, Dorothy slowly opened her eyes.
"Finally... I've caught your tail..."