The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 142: Suspect

“They are all...” Gray Bear sucked in a breath. “Wanderers.”

“Correct.” Gao Yang nodded. “I checked the eyes and the fingers of the victims in particular. I’ve seen all three types of wrath monsters, slaughterers, devourers, and summoners. While they revert back to their human forms after death, monstrous traits remain, such as the size of pupils and the color and glossiness of the eyes, as well as the color, length, and hardiness of the nails.”

“There are differences.” Lithe Snake nodded. He had killed his fair share of wrath monsters.

Gao Yang continued with his analysis. “Judging from the crime scene, the victims must have undergone terrible tortures both physically and mentally. No matter what wrath monsters they are, they should have shown signs of losing control and transformation. These victims, however, have turned completely back to their human forms after death, and it doesn’t seem from the signs of resistance that they were particularly strong. Thus, I conclude that the victims were wanderers.”

“What about this?” Xiran proposed another possibility. “What if the killer was an awakener?”

“I’ve considered it,” said Gao Yang. “But it’s unlikely.”

“Why?” Can didn’t hesitate to ask.

“Awakeners kill monsters to level up their Talents. There’s no reason to go through the trouble of making the crime scenes look like those of a psychotic serial killer.” Gao Yang paused. “Besides, to level up a Talent, an awakener has to use said Talent to kill monsters.”

“There are no signs on the body indicating the uses of Talents.” Gray Bear smiled. “That’s why I excluded that as a possibility early.”

He slowly turned the driving wheel. “And this is the Feiyang District. No awakener with a sound mind would pull something like this under the watch of the Qilin Guild.”

“But, but but but...” Can stuttered as emotions overcame her. “Don’t monsters follow the Heavenly Way as well? Why would they break the rules?”

“I encountered a monster that broke the rules back in a Rune Cave.” Gao Yang was talking about the Gu Family’s Village. “After mutating, a half-human went against the Heavenly Way and killed regular humans, so it isn’t impossible that a monster would kill their own kind for some unknown reason.”

The others fell silent. The conclusion was challenging their preconceived notions of the world.

“Have you figured out the culprit?” Gray Bear believed Gao Yang must have an answer given how confident he sounded.

“I’m not certain yet.” And Gao Yang wasn’t. But he did believe that it was worth a shot to follow up on his speculation.

“Who?”

“Someone we met yesterday.”

“The owner?” Gray Bear blurted out.

Gao Yang nodded.

“True. The victim died in her establishment, and she was the first to find the body. She is a prime suspect.” Gray Bear spoke as he thought. “But we’ve interrogated her, and we found no evidence related to her.”

“Evidence is for people. We treat monsters the awakener way.”

“Alright.” Gray Bear nodded. Then he looked up at Gao Yang through the rearview mirror. “But how did you come to suspect her, Captain?”

“Did you notice something about the pattern?” asked Gao Yang.

“What about it?”

“The circle at the center.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“The stroke was made clockwise from the top.”

Gray Bear narrowed his eyes in thoughts before breaking into a smile. “Do you mean for the majority, the circle would be drawn counterclockwise?”

“Is that so?” Can had been listening with rapt attention. She quickly drew a circle on the palm of her left hand with her right. “Oh! That’s true. I did it counterclockwise.”

“That’s usually the case for a right-hander,” Xiran chimed in. “It’s the case for me.”

“And the circle of the pattern is drawn clockwise!” Gray Bear grinned in pleasant surprise. “The culprit is very likely a leftie.”

Gao Yang smiled. “Yeah. I wasn’t too sure, but I took a chance and asked the owner for the account book. It’s usually the case for small businesses like hers to keep handwritten records.”

He turned slightly and said, “I looked at the dates in the account book. The zeros are all done clockwise.”

Gray Bear was satisfied. Their new captain proved his competence.

“That’s not enough to guarantee that she’s the culprit.” Lithe Snake cut in. “Lefties are common.”

“It’s alright. I’ll know as soon as I ask her.”

And Lie Detection is meant for times like this.

He took his whole team with him just in case.

Although he now had an eighty percent chance of defeating a wrath monster on his own, accidents happened, and as the team captain, he could call on his team to come with him for safer leveling up. He would be a fool to not take advantage of his position.

Two o’clock in the morning, they arrived at the White Apricot Alley.

On their way here, Gray Bear had ordered Officer Liu to block off the alleys and empty all establishments of employees and customers.

That was something Gao Yang had requested. While it wasn’t likely, Sister Luo could be a summoner.

“Wait a moment in the car,” Gray Bear said as he opened the door. “It’ll attract too much attention for six awakeners to show up together.”

Gao Yang nodded.

Gray Bear went up to the alleyway and shared a few words with Officer Liu. Officer Liu nodded and said something into his radio. Then a few more officers walked out from the alleyway, gathering their teams and departing.

Once they made sure there wasn’t anyone around, Gao Yang and the others got out of the car.

With all the shops closed and the neon sign boards turned off, the White Apricot Alley looked dark and oppressive.

Gao Yang paused when he stepped into the alleyway.

“What is it?” asked Gray Bear.

Gao Yang extended a hand. “Come on. Put your hand on mine.”

“What for?” Lithe Snake looked confused.

“This is our rule,” Gao Yang ordered. “Just do it.”

“Whoa! It’s getting me pumped up!” Can was the first to oblige.

Xiran and Ronnie didn’t say anything before joining in.

Gray Bear put his hand on theirs and silently laughed. At the end of the day, their captain was young, and while he might be mature in other ways, he had a chuni side.

Lithe Snake reluctantly offered his hand, his expression icy.

Once Gao Yang was sure that everyone was touching part of his hand, he made a conscious thought.

[Detected 5 replicable Talents]

[Disorientation (Level 3), Serial Number 68, Rune Type: Psyche]

[Mute (Level 3), Serial Number 63, Rune Type: Support]

[Beastly (Level 4), Serial Number 59, Rune Type: Buff]

[Gecko (Level 4), Serial Number 42, Rune Type: Life]

[Invisibility (Level 3), Serial Number 37, Rune Type: Support]

Gao Yang was surprised to find out that when he detected multiple Talents, he could match a Talent to their owner.

And it caught him off guard that the one with the most high-ranking Talent wasn’t Gray Bear.