"Pierce, you think killing us means no one will find you? Besides us two, the He family and the entire Chinese police force consider you public enemies. You can't escape!"
"Mr. Pierce, the 'Judge of Sin' investigator, your words are eloquent. In this world, other than you two, all other police are useless. Do you think their kindergarten-level investigative skills can catch me?"
"Pierce, one day, you'll regret your arrogance. You're underestimating them."
"No matter what, you two are going to say goodbye today!"
*Crack*, Pierce's lips twisted hard, a look of extreme disdain contorting his face. Like a madman, he deliberately pretended to pull the trigger, tilting his neck and stepping back. He repeated this action back and forth. Anyone else would have been scared to death in such a situation, but your father stared directly at him, his eyes filled with hatred, never shifting even in death.
With a *bang*, he fell to the ground first, and then it was my turn...
The novel ended there. I almost believed it, but then I slammed my fist on the table. No!
If my mother had truly been shot dead, then who wrote this chapter of the novel?!
How could she...
Could it be that she wasn't dead at all?
But recently, my "father" has mysteriously reappeared. And that old man... although these events seem unrelated, I can vaguely feel a strange tide surging towards my world.
Within it, a shocking conspiracy seems to be inching closer to my feet.
I closed the work. I had already photographed all the crucial passages.
When I returned to the Provincial Department, I rushed straight to the archives to investigate my father's case. Fortunately, an archivist helped me, and I quickly found the case file from that year.
It stated that after my parents were shot dead, the perpetrator fled with his accomplices. However, the file contained no information about Pierce. But that novel mentioned his name, and with such realism that only someone who had personally experienced it could describe those details. She had even mentioned my uncle being nearby at the time.
I pondered deeply but couldn't reach a conclusion. However, having found new clues in my mother's work, I felt that the truth about my parents' deaths should be suspicious. I picked up my phone, intending to call my uncle. This time, I had to ask him again what exactly had happened back then. However, when I dialed the number, the automated message indicated, "The number you have dialed has been disconnected."
Damn it, how could this happen? I punched the table, realizing how angry I was, the archivist beside me dared not speak.
I returned the case file to him and went to the lounge. After a cup of coffee, my spirits improved slightly. It was already 7 PM. Not long after I sat down on the sofa, an urgent call came in. Seeing it was Liu Yuning, I knew another case had come up.
"He Sheng, a male corpse has been discovered at Pinghe Beach. The body is covered in strange scales, and the situation is rather terrifying. Come over and see for yourself!"
"Alright, I'm on my way!"
Leaving the office, I called for the members of the Sin Punishers unit, and we all left the Provincial Department together.
Upon arriving at the edge of the beach, I heard the sounds of police officers moving around. The area was cordoned off by the police. This Pinghe Beach, originally a tourist spot in our Guangming City, would normally attract many tourists for swimming, barbecues, and sightseeing during the transition from summer to autumn. Nearby the beach were a vast museum and a gymnasium, but I had only heard about these, as I hadn't had the time to visit before.
At this hour, many places nearby were closed, and with the departure time for boats being before 6 PM, there were only a few individuals out for a stroll after dinner on the beach. I wondered, wouldn't it be easy to notice a body in such a situation? Moreover, wouldn't it be difficult to dump a body in such a public place? Even without surveillance, this place was under everyone's watchful eyes.
Approaching Liu Yuning, I found Xie Chuchu and Zhang Keying already beside the body. A police officer was questioning someone nearby. As I got closer, I learned that this person claimed to have found the body.
"I'm a staff member here. I didn't know it was a body at first. Two bored fishermen found something and asked me to push it aside. At first, I thought it was... a rock, but then I realized it was curled up. When I turned it over, I discovered it was a male corpse. The guy was curled up like a child, and the visibility was very low. If I hadn't been holding a flashlight, I wouldn't have been able to see clearly."
The person speaking to us had been working in management here for over 20 years and looked like a man in his forties. I didn't question him further and went to Xie Chuchu's side. Looking at the curled-up corpse, the scaled skin, the cracked marks, and the uneven facial features, the clothes seemed to have rotted away, but the skin remained intact.
"The body hasn't decomposed, but the clothes have rotted? That's a bit strange, isn't it?" Zhang Keying asked doubtfully.
"Exactly. There might be some strange substance on the body's surface, but with the constant washing of seawater, we don't know if we'll be able to analyze it later. Based on the degree of tooth wear and skull marks, the person's age is between 35 and 40. The specific time of death..."
Looking at this corpse, I wasn't entirely sure at the time. We would likely have to go back and use the coroner's bone-setting technique. After all, the body was covered in an excessive amount of scales, even obscuring the lividity.
Speaking of these scales, as I carefully observed each small square, I noticed their texture was purplish-green, and there were bumps connected together. Some of them looked a bit like...
I dared not voice my thoughts, or everyone would think I was crazy.
If I were to speak of those scales, they would likely come from an animal – a Stegosaurus.
I examined the scales closely with a shadowless reflector tube and confirmed they weren't embedded after death, but had grown on the deceased.
Too bizarre. Could this be a skin disease?!
I couldn't help but voice my thoughts, but Zhang Keying wasn't surprised. Instead, she said with great interest, "It seems we've encountered an interesting and bizarre case again."