Chapter 117: Chapter 86: Jin Xueli: An Unexpected Trap
’What trick had he fallen for?’
The one who’d really been duped was her, thinking she could get a good price for the "Vulture" message.
It seemed Mercury was right. Whoever got close to Chaisi was doomed to bad luck. Jin Xueli’s fortunes had taken a nosedive ever since she’d met him that morning. Here she was in Blackmoor City, about to face a death usually reserved for the Nests: being killed by the residents.
"What kind of person is he..."
Her rage toward Chaisi was enough to fuel a whole tirade. But as Jin Xueli fled for her life, every breath came in ragged gasps, forcing the rest of her complaint to manifest as a bold, heavy line of text in her mind—’You think I need you to save me?’
If she didn’t show him what a professional Hunter was capable of, he’d think she was just a piece of dough he could mold however he liked.
An idea struck. As she sprinted down the aisle between two rows of shelves, Jin Xueli held the flashlight in one hand and used the other to sweep every box, case, and bag she could reach off the shelves. An untold number of assorted evidence items went tumbling to the floor behind her.
But it barely slowed Fley’s advance.
If anything, it only sent the half-man, half-resident creature into a greater frenzy.
"You have contaminated the evidence! You have broken the chain of custody! Must execute, execute, execute—"
It shrieked, stomping on the evidence bags as it remained hot on Jin Xueli’s heels.
Her frantic footsteps made the flashlight beam bounce and sway, slicing the darkness into a myriad of dizzying light spots.
She had to watch her step, keep up her speed, and desperately knock evidence boxes to the floor all at once. For a moment, she felt like screaming just like a resident. Fortunately, it seemed her luck hadn’t been completely drained away, because at that exact moment, she knocked over a box that could save her life.
Jin Xueli’s eyes lit up. She instantly dropped into a crouch, scooped up the newly fallen piece of evidence, and ripped away its transparent evidence bag.
This time, she sprinted down another aisle at full speed. The moment she turned into it, she screeched to a halt and spun around.
She slapped her phone onto a nearby evidence shelf with a CLACK. At almost the same instant, Fley’s inhuman face appeared from the darkness between the shelves in hot pursuit.
Jin Xueli raised the Crane-beak Shovel high.
’I was in such a hurry, I almost forgot.’...
’In a city as chaotic and dangerous as Blackmoor City, how could the Central Police Station possibly be short on murder cases? And with murder cases come murder weapons. And murder weapons are one of the most important types of evidence.’
’So why was I worried about finding a weapon in an evidence room?’
On the shelves all around her, inside box after box, were countless murder weapons; there was likely no shortage of even the most bizarre and powerful ones. To protect herself, she just needed to get her hands on one.
Jin Xueli was confident in her speed.
Fley clearly hadn’t expected her to suddenly produce a weapon. When the sharp, heavy iron tip of the Crane-beak Shovel plunged precisely and deeply into a large, dangling cluster of eyeballs, he let out a howl that could have ruptured eardrums.
"That’s enough."
Before she could pull out the Crane-beak Shovel for another strike, Jin Xueli heard a low voice cut through Fley’s piercing shriek.
The large, bulky form of Fley seemed to suddenly become weightless as his feet left the ground.
The Crane-beak Shovel was still embedded precariously in his face. As his body traced an arc through the air and was slammed hard onto the floor, the shovel fell out with a CLANG, spattering viscous, bloody filaments.
Chaisi stood behind Fley, a tall tower emerging from the shadows.
"Getting your kicks toying with a single resident?"
Jin Xueli stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
Chaisi planted a foot on Fley’s neck, his gaze lowered. He looked down at the man, who was making gurgling noises but couldn’t break free, and said, "This might be hard to explain to Mercury... but if you can’t control this man, you can’t blame me."
That... seemed to be addressed to the resident that had invaded Fley.
"Why—why can’t it control this man?" The question flew from Jin Xueli’s lips.
Chaisi shot her a glance.
"It’s normal. They just extend their tendrils into the human psyche through the ’Nest communication network’ to control their bodies and minds."
He let out a soft laugh, one that could make the hairs on your arm stand up. "The purer, softer, and more sensitive a person’s mind, the easier they are to invade. Police officers witness so much darkness, gore, and violence... if you could dissect their psyches, you’d find they’re not all that different from the residents. It’s perfectly normal for one to slip out of their control every now and then."
’Then... what happens to a resident if its host attacks someone?’
She wasn’t concerned. She just wanted to know.
But before Jin Xueli could ask, a sharp CRACK echoed out. Chaisi’s black leather shoe had sunk deep into the space between the man’s head and shoulder. Bones ground together inside the flesh. The neck that should have connected the two seemed to suddenly turn into a thin sheet of rubber.
She couldn’t help but flinch and squint, taking two steps back as if she were the one being crushed.
Yet even with his neck bones shattered and white splinters poking through the twisted skin, "Fley" seemed to still be alive. When its one intact cluster of eyes turned toward Jin Xueli, she nearly gagged with revulsion.
"Wha-what happens to it now?" Jin Xueli asked in a low voice. "The residents can’t die, right?"
"It’s incapacitated," Chaisi said, clearly having no intention of explaining further. He turned and walked away.
"Where are you going?"
Jin Xueli’s mouth ran away from her. The moment the words were out, she wanted to slap herself.
’Just let him leave! Wouldn’t it be better if he left? Why did I have to ask such a nosy question—great, now he’s stopped.’
"You’re coming too," Chaisi said, his tone making it sound as if she were one of his own Household Hunters. "At least you have a pair of eyes. You can still be useful."
...It didn’t sound sarcastic, nor was there any hint of passive-aggression. It was hard to tell if he genuinely thought he was paying her a compliment.
Jin Xueli gave Fley’s body on the floor a wide berth and asked quietly, "You mentioned being tricked earlier... What was that about?"
She asked the question with a hint of caution.
Surprisingly, Chaisi didn’t seem to think that admitting he’d been "tricked" was any great loss of face, nor did he become angry or defensive.
He gave a casual "mm," and said, "That chief almost had me fooled. Come with me and you’ll find out."
"You know where the chief is?"
"No," Chaisi said, walking out the door and taking the stairs with long strides. "But I know who he is."
Jin Xueli froze.
"Didn’t you already know? You even saw the photograph." She knew she shouldn’t be curious, but her body had already made up her mind for her, her feet pattering as she followed him. "What do you mean? I don’t get it."
Chaisi wasn’t the type for idle chitchat, just as he never acted without purpose. She rephrased her questions a dozen different ways, but he ignored them all without a change in expression. It wasn’t until they reached the second floor that he suddenly barked down into the atrium, "Mercury!"
The sudden shout made Jin Xueli jump.
Inside the Central Police Station, where communication devices were useless, the Mercenaries had apparently already designated positions. The moment he spoke, Mercury’s reply echoed up from the first-floor lobby. "What’s wrong? I’m here."
"I think we’ve been tricked," Chaisi called down to the first floor. "Bring one of the men out of the cells. I have some questions for him."
Since there was no way out and her luck felt just about drained, Jin Xueli decided she might as well watch the show. She followed Chaisi down to the first floor, stopping in front of a cell.
Mercury led a man over. She shot Xueli a knowing smile before turning to Chaisi. "This one’s very fond of living. Super cooperative. Didn’t give me an excuse to have any fun."
Jin Xueli didn’t ask what kind of "fun" she meant.
"What do you want to ask him?" It seemed Mercury had grown curious as well. "How were we tricked?"
"You remember where the chief’s portrait was hanging, right?" Chaisi asked.
Mercury glanced toward the center of the first-floor lobby. "Of course. Hung up in such a prominent place, you’d think it was a personality cult."
"The chief’s name, you remember it?"
"You’re asking the weirdest questions," Mercury said with a laugh. "Isn’t it Ashley?"
Chaisi nodded. He turned to the young police officer who’d just been brought from the cell and made a request that Jin Xueli never saw coming. "Describe your chief, Ashley, for me."
But her surprise was only just beginning.
The young officer’s answer left even Mercury stunned.
"She’s in her forties, with a long, thin face and a dark complexion," he answered, carefully watching Chaisi’s expression. "Long black hair, always tied in a bun. Thin lips..."
"Then who is this person?" Chaisi flipped open his phone, pulled up the same photo Jin Xueli had seen, and asked.
"That’s... our previous chief," the young officer said. "The photo was changed when Chief Ashley took office."
