Doug's body fell limply to the ground. Blood dyed Zane's left shoulder a dark red, looking bizarrely like a totem under the setting sun.
The remaining four thugs looked at each other, their legs turning to jelly. They didn't even have the courage to turn and run; they could only freeze in place, like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Zane was not a bloodthirsty person, so he didn't crush their heads too. He merely reached out his four arms and gently snapped their left arms and right legs.
After the crisp sounds of bone fracturing, Zane looked at the four thugs wailing on the ground and wiped his fists. "The Viper Gang has been getting more and more annoying lately. Take Doug's body, and his head, and tell your boss to dial it back a little!"
"Otherwise..." Zane leaned down, his massive body like a hill on flat ground. "I will personally, one by one, crush the heads of everyone in your Viper Gang."
His tone was very calm, but the four thugs were so terrified that their blood almost froze. They nodded frantically and, at Zane's gesture, used their unbroken legs to slowly hop back to their hideout.
"What a cancerous gang," Zane turned around and sighed helplessly.
The reason he went out of his way to threaten the entire Viper Gang was actually very simple. It wasn't that he suddenly wanted to cosplay as a superhero, but rather that the Viper Gang was, just as he said, a very annoying gang.
When other gangs wanted to rob, the ambitious ones robbed banks, and the smaller ones robbed jewelry or luxury stores.
But the Viper Gang... sometimes when you just went out to eat fried chicken, you'd get robbed by members of the Viper Gang!
Back to the matter at hand. Because he intervened in time, although the mission target, Sean, was beaten black and blue, his life was fortunately not in danger.
Zane picked Sean up and said, "Hello, Sean."
"He... llo?" Sean looked terrified.
"I'm actually a very amiable person." Zane smiled, dropping his previous cold-blooded killer demeanor. "Just call me Four Arms."
What a fitting name!
Sean complained in his heart, then suddenly realized the current situation. "You, saved me?"
"That's right." Zane nodded. "And now I'm going to take you home."
As soon as he finished speaking, before Sean could say anything, the muscles in his legs tensed up. In the next second, with a boom, he leaped up, jumping a hundred meters high and landing on the roof of a nearby building.
Zane naturally remembered the employer's address. He planned the route in his mind and then continued to make massive leaps, each one spanning hundreds of meters.
"Looking at Gotham from this angle, the city is actually quite beautiful." In mid-air, Zane couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
However, Sean, who was being carried in his arms, didn't think so. He didn't have the heaven-defying physique of a Tetramand, and he usually even got carsick.
Experiencing such extreme speed for the first time, his head instantly spun, and he saw stars.
With the wind howling in their ears, after a few more massive leaps, the two finally arrived at their destination.
Landing safely on the ground, the Omnitrix's time limit had two and a half minutes left.
This was a relatively quiet neighborhood in the East End, meaning only gunshots could be heard at night, not bomb explosions. Walking up to the employer Mary's door, Zane knocked.
The door opened a crack, and upon seeing Zane transformed into Four Arms, it unsurprisingly closed again.
"Ms. Mary, remember me? I'm the private detective you hired." Zane spoke to the door. "I've brought your husband, Sean, back."
After he finished speaking, Sean beside him took a few deep breaths to ease his dizziness, and then consciously shouted, "Beth! I'm back! Mary Beth, it's me, Sean. This big red guy next to me is my friend... He's a metahuman. Although he looks scary, he has a heart of gold!"
Hearing the incredibly familiar voice, Mary opened the door in surprise and then saw Sean standing next to Zane.
"You bastard! Where the hell did you go? I've been looking everywhere for you..." Mary ran out the door, not even paying attention to Zane, and hugged Sean.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. The two couldn't hold back and immediately started exchanging saliva.
"Ahem." Zane coughed awkwardly. The scene was really a bit hard to watch. He rubbed his hands together and reminded them, "Uh, Ms. Mary, your commission has been completed."
"Oh, right." Parting their lips, Mary jogged back into the house. When she returned, she held three green Franklins in her hand and handed them to Zane.
With the three hundred dollar reward in hand, Zane was in a good mood. Before leaving, he said one last thing: "If nothing unexpected happens, the Viper Gang won't have the guts to bother you again."
Sean was equally grateful to the point of tears, but he didn't have any secret stash of money, so he finally just found a fried chicken discount coupon and gave it to Zane.
Meanwhile, a luxury car stopped in front of a wooden building on St. Pris Street in the East End.
A middle-aged man in a suit got out of the car and looked towards the second floor, where the office Zane rented was located.
...
The transformation time ended, and the Omnitrix entered its ten-minute cooldown. Zane hailed a taxi, planning to go back to the office to pack his things.
A light, pattering rain began to fall. The taxi drove through the rainy Gotham night. The colorful lights of neon signs stretched into the darkness, constantly melting into blurred halos.
A dozen minutes later, Zane arrived at St. Pris Street. He went up to the second floor, used his key to open the wooden office door, and walked in.
He had just sat down and hadn't even taken the files out of the cabinet when the door suddenly opened again. A man in a suit walked in carrying a briefcase and said, "Hello, Mr. Zane."
"I am Crisson Gene. I have a matter I would like to entrust to you..."
"Sorry." Zane refused directly. "I don't plan on being a private detective anymore. In fact, I came back to the office this time just to pack my things."
Wandering around all day looking for people or catching cats and dogs, he didn't want to be this crappy private detective for even one more day!
As for how to make dollars after quitting as a private detective, Zane had already figured it out. Once he transformed into the extremely highly-developed-brained Grey Matter, he would thoroughly study that necromancy magic book.
Then, he would summon a bunch of undead tools to work for him and make a massive fortune!
After being rejected without hesitation, Gene didn't back down. Instead, he took a few steps forward with the briefcase. "Mr. Zane, I really have no other choice."
"The Gotham City Police Department can't comprehend what I've encountered, and the other private detectives besides you are all just ordinary people... I remember your list of services includes exorcism... You are the only one who can help me."
"No." Zane said resolutely. "I am a man who takes responsibility for his words. I said before I came here that I would never be a private detective again, and that means never again!"
Hearing this, Gene frowned so hard he could crush a fly. Helpless, he could only lift the briefcase in his hand and pop the locks open with a click.
The briefcase opened, packed to the brim with neat, green dollars that seemed to be shimmering with light.
"Hiss..." Zane drew in a sharp breath. There had to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in there!
"Ahem." Scratching his chin, he coughed a few times, then suddenly put on a serious face and said, "Sir, your previous words were logically rigorous, well-founded, and convincing!"
"Since I am the only one who can help you, then upholding the conscience of a private detective, I absolutely cannot refuse you."
"I'll take this case!"