42 “we didn't call you”
The game system continued to display new prompts.
"[Mission Content]: Investigate the cultist murder case."
"Detection of the investigation target's death; your mission is considered completed."
"[Investigation Progress]: 100％."
"You remained calm and collected in the face of a murderer with super abilities, turning a passive situation into an active one and executing the mission target on the spot. Throughout the mission, you have demonstrated an extraordinary level of perception, calmness, and intelligence, and your tactical abilities are beyond the reach of ordinary people."
"You have excellently completed the mission. As a lone wolf without any teammates, you are the only winner of this mission."
"Based on your mission performance, you have been awarded the title [Pursuer]."
"[Pursuer]: You are a hunter with a keen intuition, and no prey can escape your tracking and hunting once targeted. You can use this title when speaking in the forum. If you use the title, your forum nickname will be prefixed with 'Pursuer.'"
Jonathan took a deep breath. The decision to personally kill Semanuick was one he had made, and so far, it seemed to be an exceedingly correct choice.
Once a player dies, their information will be reported in the forum. From the moment Jonathan decided to remove the pollution around him, he had contemplated how to kill while avoiding being reported in the forum.
He thought for a long time, planning to take a little risk and try to create an accidental death. He couldn't kill someone with his own hands but could use something else to kill his prey, like drowning or falling from a height. However, Jonathan didn't know the game system's judgment criteria. If the system considered human factors in causing death, his plan would be ineffective.
So Jonathan needed to take a risk and test the game system's judgment criteria to see if he could avoid the death reports.
However, Semanuick's super ability thwarted Jonathan's plan. If his ability was related to loading and saving progress, then it was worth stripping him of his superpower.
With such a super ability, Jonathan would have even greater security for survival.
He valued his life immensely. He had no way to properly protect himself in a dangerous situation like the Second World. Life is a game with no second chances, and he doesn't want to risk his own life. But Semanuick's Death Reincarnation could give him another chance, increase his fault tolerance, and provide an opportunity for a desperate counterattack and restart in extreme situations.
Jonathan hoped he would never trigger Death Reincarnation. He hated death, and if he ever triggered Death Reincarnation, it meant he was cornered and facing an unprecedented crisis. Jonathan wanted his life to go smoothly and keep any threats to him at bay.
Jonathan could imagine that after Semanuick's death was reported, the forum would undoubtedly experience another wave of commotion. But before checking the forum on his phone, he needed to deal with the corpse.
After visiting the Xenobiotics creature specimen gallery in the basement of the investigation building, looking at a human corpse didn't disturb him much.
Just as Jonathan reached out to move the corpse, a blood bubble emerged from Semanuick's skin. Sensing something was wrong, he suddenly pulled his hand back and retreated to a considerable distance.
The corpse's skin continued to bubble with blood, and in a short time, the corpse melted into a pool of blood. A few blood-soaked clothes lay silently on the ground.
"Is this... the natural disintegration that occurs after Heterobloods is killed?" Jonathan was stunned.
Martin had mentioned this to him: only Heterobloods who had highly assimilated the divine blood would experience automatic disintegration after death. However, these Heterobloods still couldn't escape the curse of bodily mutation and death.
Semanuick was an exception; he not only highly assimilated the god's blood, but his body also did not suffer from any deformity.
Jonathan remained silent. Not having to deal with the corpse was good, saving him a lot of effort. All he needed to do next was to clean up the clothes and bloodstains left by Semanuick on the ground, and he wouldn't have to do much since the corpse had already disappeared.
There was a strict process for determining death, and one important criterion was the presence of a corpse. Without a corpse or fragments of a corpse, it was impossible to determine death. Who could have thought the body would dissolve into blood? Even dissolving a body in sulfuric acid wouldn't leave such clean traces.
If there were indeed people investigating the scene later, they would only be able to deduce from the bloodstains that there had been an intense fight, but they wouldn't be able to determine whether someone had died.
Jonathan squatted down and used Semanuick's remaining clothes to wipe the blood off the knife. However, blood was difficult to clean completely. Jonathan left the tobacco factory and found a puddle to wash the knife. Once the knife's surface showed no traces of blood, he attached it to his lower waist.
The knife couldn't be discarded carelessly. Although it appeared clean, there would still be a lot of genetic information the human eye couldn't detect. The knife handle was engraved with the brand of kitchenware, and if someone found the knife, they might be able to trace it back to him.
For added security, he decided not to take the subway home. Jonathan cleaned up the scene, and, taking advantage of the heavy rain and overcast weather, he used the shadows to make his way back home.
At the same time when Jonathan received the task completion notification, players in the California area who had also taken the task to investigate the cult killings received notifications from the game system.
"Detecting the investigation target is dead."
"A player in your area has completed the task before you, and your task is considered a failure."
"..."
California
"Who is it?" The composed man looked thoughtfully out the window at the pouring rain.
"Has someone killed Semanuick?" murmured the pale-skinned youth, his head bowed. "They have beaten me to the punch... I haven't had the opportunity to put my super abilities to the test."
San Diego
Diema nervously bites her lip and murmurs, "Has the subject of the investigation died... Semanuick is dead, and the forum will surely report it... Yes, let me check." She opens the forum and sees a new red-topped death notice at the top. The first post only has one line - "Walker 1286 was killed by Dispossessor 331 on July 29th."
"Oh my goodness!" Diema is stunned. She took on this task out of curiosity, as the game system did not mention any penalties for failing the task or rewards for completing it. In fact, she never intended to complete the task, and she just wanted to join in the fun...
If Walker 1286 is Semanuick and Semanuick is in San Diego, then Dispossessor 331, the person who killed him, is also in San Diego?!
Diema hugs her arms tightly and rubs the goosebumps that have risen on her skin. She mutters with a pale face, "Don't panic, don't panic. Dispossessor 331 must have come for Semanuick. He doesn't know me, doesn't know I'm a player... Wait, what if he knows Diema, the celebrity from the second world?"
She almost cries out of fear and decides to stay home and study for the whole summer.
Diema refreshes the forum page, and dozens or even hundreds of new posts pop up.
The post with the most replies is titled "Beware of Dispossessor 331!!! The first time he kills someone, you can perhaps explain it as an accident or coincidence, but the second time? I have reason to believe that he is selectively hunting players!"
...
After returning home, Jonathan takes off his clothes and takes a shower. He then boils a pot of water, throws in the clothes he wore when he killed someone today, and the knives he used, and boils them in hot water.
In various horror movies and crime dramas, killers often dismember and boil their victims to prevent the victim's genetic information from being identified by the police using technology, thus determining the victim's identity.
16:00
Jonathan is now doing the same thing, boiling the clothes and knives with bloodstains or human tissue, completely destroying any remaining material.
After boiling the clothes, he will air dry them and tear a few holes to make it look like they accidentally got damaged and can no longer be worn, then throw them in the garbage can downstairs. As for the knife, he will leave it open in the kitchen. Of course, he won't use this knife to cut vegetables.
He finds the pot used to boil the clothes and knife repulsive, and in the future, he will keep it unused on the bottom shelf of the cabinet. Several spare cooking utensils are at home, which are enough for cooking.
While waiting for the clothes to boil, Jonathan checks the forum to see what's going on. However, his phone suddenly buzzes a few times, and a call comes in.
As soon as he sees the caller ID, his heart skips a beat.
"Hello, is this Mr. Jonathan? This is..." The male operator on the other end of the phone gives the address of the police station on the street where Jonathan lives.
"Hello, do you need something?" Jonathan politely asks.
"Well, we found through the city surveillance system that you followed a man for a long distance behind him when you passed Broadway this morning. The man is about 1.8 meters tall, muscular and sturdy, wearing a gray shirt, black pants, and a sun hat... Do you remember him?"
"...Yes," Jonathan chooses his words carefully and says, "I thought that man was suspicious. He looked a bit like the killer reported on the news, so I followed him for a while to observe him. But he turned around and questioned me why I was following him. I saw he was confident and didn't look like a killer, so I stopped following him... He's not really a killer, is he?"
"He is," the operator confirms. "Please try to recall the suspect's direction after he left and tell us. This will be a significant breakthrough for our case."
"I only remember that he went south," Jonathan says.
"Is there any other information?" the operator asks.
"No," Jonathan lies without changing his expression.
The operator asks a few more questions, and Jonathan answers each one vaguely and indistinctly, seeming confused.
"Thank you for providing this information. If there is any other situation that requires further questioning, we will continue to call you," the operator says.
The call ends, and Jonathan falls into contemplation. Before he can think for three seconds, another call comes in.
To Jonathan's surprise, it is still the local police station number. He answers the phone curiously and hears a female voice saying, "Hello, we are from the Broadway police station, and this morning you ..."
"Um." Jonathan pauses, "Didn't your colleagues just call me?"
The female on the phone confusedly responds, "Wait, sir, our police station didn't call you."
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