Chapter 59: Chapter 59 – Starving Ghost
“Demons?”
Apart from the members of Team 2, Ren Suo, Chen Kun, and Wu Jianming were stunned.
“You all know that in this world there is Reiki, there are those who are Awakened, and there are Practitioners, then…it is not so shocking to know that there are non-human beings in this world, is it?” Yao Fei said.
Yao Fei pointed to a corner of the room. Everyone turned to look in the direction she pointed at to see a refrigerator with three doors. There were five clear and distinct claw marks on it.
The five claw marks were of varying depths, but it was obvious that it was done with the same one hand. The force had been so great that the inner material of the doors of the refrigerator could be seen.
Yao Fei said, “Usually, only large cats like tigers and lions can cause such massive damage. However, after comparison with the mitochondrial DNA of the fur left behind in the claw marks and in other parts of the house, as well as that of the nail shavings in the claw marks, we discovered that they did not belong to the cats, but…”
She looked at them intensely before confidently finishing her sentence, “Humans.”
Turning to look at Wu Jianming, she said, “As much as you want to find the murderer, we, too, want to get to the bottom of this. We allowed you to come home at this time but we hope that you can provide us with some information as well. We want to know what valuable items the murderer had destroyed and from that information deduce his motive, his identity, and his next move.”
Wu Jianming remained silent and his eyes were still red. He nodded his head.
Yao Fei led Wu Jianming further into the house. Ren Suo and Chen Kun subconsciously followed suit but were stopped by Li Shuanghe and Fang Jun.
“Don’t worry, with our Team Leader around, even someone who is Awakened cannot defeat her so easily,” Li Shuanghe said with a laugh.
Ren Suo and Chen Kun understood what he meant—they did not want those from Team 3 to be involved any deeper into the matter.
In fact, in the short amount of time Ren Suo had been at work, he understood the general differences between the different teams within the Countermeasure Division. To be exact, it was the difference between Teams 1 and 2, and the rest of the teams.
Teams 1 and 2 of the Countermeasure Division were responsible for all matters regarding Extraordinaire Criminals and could be called the true “Commissioned Officials in Countermeasures Against Extraordinaire Criminals”. In contrast, the rest of the teams could be better seen as preventive measures against Extraordinaires—they collected information of all possible Practitioners and those who were likely to be Awakened throughout the entire city so that they could be observed secretly. If those people turned out to be Awakened who possessed hidden abilities but still lived peacefully, they would then dispatch people to keep watch on them so that they would be able to stop them in time if the Awakened encountered conflicts with other people.
In addition, those in the other teams had to clear any problems created by Teams 1 and 2 as well as oversee other logistics matters, including such “runner” and escort tasks.
That was also why You Xulong was previously responsible for the mass training of civil servants—the mass training for civil servants was considered a logistic task.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo and Chen Kun did not mind and took a short rest leaning against the wall. Ren Suo naturally took out his mobile phone to play, while a curious Chen Kun asked, “Your Team Leader mentioned Demons just now…That is not a joke, right?”
“That claw mark seems impressive but an Awakened person is also capable of doing so. Why is she so sure it was not a human, but suspect it was a…Demon?”
Li Shuanghe and Fang Jun exchanged eye contact. Li Shuanghe smiled and said, “You guys are curious?”
Ren Suo and Chen Kun nodded their heads.
“Well, we are all colleagues and by right we can disclose such confidential information to you… but…” Li Shuanghe said with a shrug.
Chen Kun took the hint and asked, “Buddy, what’s your request?”
“I heard that there’s a pretty lady in Team 3, shall we have a bonding session someday?” Li Shuanghe asked without hesitation.
Chen Kun replied immediately, “In that case, will your Team Leader turn up?”
“Definitely!” Li Shuanghe said.
“Alright then, leave it to me!” Chen Kun agreed.
Li Shuanghe and Chen Kun exchanged a momentous clap. It signified a great and noble agreement sealed in the passage of time, beginning a new page in history…
Fang Jun was speechless. He said, “If Team Leader finds out about this, I’m going to say that I don’t know anything.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Li Shuanghe as he waved his hand. He calmed down and said, “Anyway, don’t tell anyone about what I will tell you. This is supposed to be kept secret and if this leaks out…Heh, at the most I would be scolded by Team Leader, but I don’t know what will happen to the two of you.”
“We are already in the Countermeasure Division, how would we dare to leak such information out? Stopped keeping us in suspense already,” Chen Kun laughed.
Li Shuanghe took a look around the messy house and said softly, “Actually, when we first discovered this place, we also thought that it was done by someone who had Awakened.”
“But as soon as we reported this up, there was a problem.”
Li Shuanghe looked at them intensely and continued, “There had been over twenty of such cases in just half a month in the entire nation, with the same method of crime! Furthermore, it was not only humans who were targeted but also poultry animals like cows and sheep.”
Ren Suo and Chen Kun’s hearts skipped a beat.
Chen Kun fell silent for a moment before asking, “Does that mean that… =someone created a new type of Reiki technique and circulated it? Some Practitioners then learned it and started the mass killing of people?”
Li Shuanghe said, “It’s not so simple. If the murderer killed only humans, it would not be so complicated. After all, humans do kill other humans. But, the fact is that the murderer killed not just humans, but also…”
Li Shuanghe paused for a moment as if he could not think of a word. Fang Jun completed the sentence for him and said, “Crunched them.”
“Yes, crunch them!” Li Shuanghe said as he very confidently nodded his head.
Chen Kun was confused. He asked, “Chewed them!”
Li Shuanghe opened his mouth and pointed to his neat row of teeth. He said, “Chewed. You guys are lucky that you don’t need to take on policeman responsibilities like us. When we saw the dead bodies…Argh, I vomited out my entire supper.”
Ren Suo asked, “So he ate humans?”
Li Shuanghe shook his head and said, “No, he chewed on them. Almost all of the victims appeared to have been ‘chewed’ once and then spat out again. When we saw the corpses of the victims they had already been reassembled, but it is said that every piece of meat had bite marks left behind by teeth. The body was simply a meat filling, not a corpse…”
Ren Suo and Chen Kun gulped. They felt as if they would never eat meatballs or any food with meat fillings in it ever again.
Li Shuanghe continued, “More importantly, it was found from the examination that the meat contained traces of enzymes like salivary amylase and pepsin, but not aminopeptidase, α-glucosidase, and β-glucosidase…”
Chen Kun scratched his head. He said, “What does that mean…What enzymes? I think I heard those words in senior high school…”
Li Shuanghe explained, “Well, I don’t know the details either. I just know the conclusion.”
“In simple terms, the murderer would have had chewed and swallowed the meat, and it passed through the esophagus and the stomach, but not the intestines.”
“Usually, even if the murderer purged the meat out, it would still contain traces of enzymes found in the intestines. Furthermore, although the chewed, swallowed and then purged meat only contained enzymes from the stomach, it still remained undigested…”
By this time, Ren Suo’s blood had turned cold, but Chen Kun still did not fully understand. He asked, “So what does that mean?”
Li Shuanghe said, “That means that the murderer did not have intestines, and it was also highly possible he did not have a stomach either. After he finished chewing a person, the masticated meat then fell out of his stomach…This is why the method of murder is so peculiar, leaving behind corpses which looked more like minced meat.”
“Wow…”
Chen Kun was shocked and said softly, “It is no wonder she said it was a Demon…This is truly… non-human.”
Indeed, even though the murderer resembled a human genetically, he was able to devour a live person, did not have any intestines, and was perhaps not even sane—why would any sane person commit such an energy-consuming crime?
If such incidents took place anywhere else in the world, they would have labeled the murderer as the presence of a “Demon” as well.
And that meant that this “Demon” presence could not be left to propagate in the world. It was something humans need, and must, kill.
When Ren Suo heard about such a thing, he was naturally shocked as well.
It did not come as a shock to Li Shuanghe and Fang Jun for even they had no appetite when they first received the information. Instead, they took pity for the two members of Team 3 standing in front of them, for eating would become their most hated activity of the day for the few days to come.
However, the reason why Ren Suo was shocked was different from Chen Kun.
When Ren Suo heard the word “Demon” previously, he already had a strange premonition.
After listening to Li Shuanghe’s description, he was even surer of the link between the “Demon” and that in his memory—to be exact, he linked it to a specific monster in the game!
Sharp, clawed hands;
Craving for human meat;
Without an abdomen;
And consequently any eaten meat would fall out;
Turned into minced meat;
This monster was a common enemy that Ren Suo encountered in the game [Over My Dead Body], which appeared through all of its time periods—
The Starving Ghost!