Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 10 The Small Cigarette Box

Carrying a backpack full of exam materials to a pub to drown one's sorrows—only Yan could come up with such an outrageous idea.

In the tavern.

The girls from the art academy are indeed youthful and beautiful, especially the dance students, who are impeccable in appearance, temperament and figure.

But Milo wasn't particularly interested in that type of girl, because a girl who learned to sneak out of school at night to drink with people from the streets during her school days—who knows, she might meet her again in a pleasure house in a couple of years, and besides…

……

Yan, with women on his left and right, chatted about his "adventures."

The so-called adventure is actually going to a mistress's house for a rendezvous, only to have her husband suddenly return home. According to the classic plot, Yan can only hide in the closet.

Even in the middle of the night, after the man with the green grass on his head was fast asleep, Yan would secretly crawl out to continue his affair with his mistress.

They didn't leave the crime scene until the next day.

……

Milo had heard Yan's lewd stories countless times. He walked alone to the bar with his glass.

"Why don't you play with those younger girls? Do you think young girls don't know how to serve people?"

A mature woman, sitting with her legs crossed on the inside of the bar, smiled as she watched Milo leave Yan's drinking party.

The woman, around thirty years old, dressed very casually. The loose men's shirt did not completely conceal her curvaceous figure. The top few buttons were completely open, and the collar was hanging precariously on her left shoulder, as if it would slip off at any moment. The lace straps that tightly bound her collarbone were covered by her loose curly hair, appearing and disappearing.

Milo sat on the outside of the bar, leisurely swirling the whiskey in his glass:

"That's one of the reasons, I suppose."

The woman in front of you, smoking a cigarette with such elegance, is Evelyn, the owner of this "Hunter's Tavern".

Lazy, intellectual, mature... Hmm... alluring. Milo can't think of any other suitable adjectives.

This woman was the second person Milo met after moving into Nanwei City. The first person he met was Yan, and then she came right after. The whole sequence of events only took a few minutes.

When they first met, it was near the end of the Great Plague. On the first day Evelyn's tavern opened, Yan and Milo started arguing in the tavern.

Two drunk men inexplicably made eye contact, disliked each other, and started fighting.

When Milo first arrived in this unfamiliar city, or rather, this unfamiliar world, his thoughts were in disarray and his emotions were extremely unstable. He even resorted to alcohol to numb himself.

According to Yan's later recollection, he couldn't remember exactly how many over-the-shoulder throws he received from Milo that day.

Oh yeah, it's the kind that Big Dick ate today.

The final outcome that night was that Milo and Yan, those two drunkards, got beaten to a pulp by Evelyn.

From then on, this woman left an indelible mark on their minds.

……

"Sure enough, brats your age always get hooked on older women. When you're in your thirties or forties, you'll be back to chasing after eighteen-year-old girls. Men, huh?"

Evelyn blew a puff of secondhand smoke toward Milo.

Milo glanced at the other customers at the tavern's tables and scoffed:
"Not entirely. There are still older men who like your type."

"Are you saying I'm an old woman?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow.

“You said it yourself.” Milo grinned.

"Hmph." Evelyn rolled her eyes. She skillfully pulled out the bottle, uncorked it, filled Milo's glass, then examined Milo's face for a moment, and said with a hint of realization:
"I was wondering why I always felt like something was missing from your face. Turns out it was the cigarette in your mouth."

“I’ve quit.” Milo took a sip of his drink.

"Bullshit, how can you quit something like that so easily... Oh~ which little girl made that request?"

Evelyn's enigmatic smile, illuminated by the dim lights of the tavern and tinged with a hint of intoxication, was incredibly alluring.

Milo's mind conjured up the expressionless face of his zombie-faced older sister.

"What's wrong? Why can't it be an older woman making the request?"

“Well… I, an old maid, also have a request for you.” Evelyn smiled and slipped her fingers into her shirt collar, pulling out a cigarette from the cramped space and placing it between Milo’s lips.

"Please take a smoke, will you or won't you?"

……

Milo felt the lingering warmth from the cigarette holder and was momentarily dazed.

Good heavens, this woman is a real vixen; she'll do anything.

Although I was saying that in my heart, my hands were still behaving quite honestly:
"Chou, since you've said that, I'm definitely going to give you face."

He paused mid-sentence, then added, still holding a cigarette in his mouth:
"I'm quite curious how many cigarettes you can fit in that little cigarette case."

“Small?” Evelyn puffed out her chest and gave Milo a warning look.

Milo immediately changed his tune: "Big cigarette box, big cigarette box."

……

Just as Evelyn took out her kerosene lighter to light Milo's fire, a tall, slender figure appeared beside the bar.

She tapped the wooden bar counter with her fingers and coldly uttered:
"Come out and see me after you're done flirting."

After saying that, she turned and walked out of the tavern.

The figure moved like the wind, and the breeze from the long black trench coat extinguished the flame of the lighter.

Milo recognized the other person just by their voice. Slightly puzzled, he got up and followed, but after taking a couple of steps, he turned back to Evelyn and said:
"Let's talk again next time, my little cigarette case." "Hmph, caught red-handed, you brat."

Evelyn rolled her eyes.

……

The street was shrouded in thick fog.

Milo looked at the woman in front of him with a curious expression:
"Hey, you've changed your look."

He remembered clearly that the last time Rebecca had her hair tied up in thick, scarlet strands.

The image of Rebecca in my mind was still that of her covered in blood, disheveled, and with a thin scar on her pretty face.

The scene in the containment facility where Rebecca single-handedly fought the monster was so visually striking that she practically embodied the word "cool" perfectly as a woman.

Now, Rebecca has cut off her long, flowing hair, replacing it with a clean, sharp short hairstyle.

This look further diminishes her already limited feminine charm. Coupled with her naturally cool and refined features and innate resolute aura, Milo is confident that if she went to the Black Rose Pleasure House, plenty of girls would flock to her. It's an attraction that transcends gender.

……

"Long hair is a disadvantage in combat."

Rebecca offered her explanation calmly.

Indeed, her red hair caused her a lot of trouble during the battle with the monsters in the abandoned shelter in the valley last week.

But for a woman to cut off such a beautiful head of long hair so easily, you can imagine how "cruel" that person is.

"Your injury is healed?" Milo noticed that Rebecca still had gauze on her brow bone, but apart from that, she seemed to be able to move around freely and didn't look like she was seriously injured at all.

You know, when she came back from the valley, she was so badly injured that she fainted and was covered in blood. Milo thought she would be bedridden for at least a month or two before she could move, but she was back to her lively self after only a week.

But Rebecca didn't seem to intend to respond to Milo's greeting, only glancing indifferently at Evelyn, who was busy in the tavern:

"Do you have plans tonight?"

This question caught Milo off guard: "What arrangements?"

"I saw you practically bury your head in someone's chest just now. Aren't you planning to find a room and get down to business later?" Rebecca said calmly.

You saw it all, why did you interrupt my good time?

Milo muttered to himself.

But on the surface, he still shook his head seriously: "You're overthinking it. I'm not that kind of person."

Rebecca stared intently at Milo, her gaze mirroring hers when she interrogated him in the small, dark room that day:
"The code of conduct for law enforcement officers has clear provisions regarding their personal conduct. I hope you will pay attention to your private life and not disappoint the inspector."

Milo wore an expression that suggested he wanted to laugh but didn't dare.

So law enforcement officers have these kinds of lifestyle requirements? And who are those guys in the pleasure house who put tricorn hats on girls' heads...?

Of course, these are just thoughts in my mind.

If Milo dared to say that to his face, he'd probably be the one getting a shoulder throw.

"I didn't make any plans, I'm just going to have a couple of drinks with some friends. What do you want from me?"

Rebecca said:

"I've come to tell you that the case is closed. The body of the murderer, the coachman, was found yesterday in the suburbs. He committed suicide out of guilt."

"That's it?" Milo genuinely laughed out loud this time.

The plot of this hastily concluded case seems unreliable no matter how you look at it.

Even if he hadn't encountered that strange man in the valley, Milo wouldn't have believed that the murderer was the missing coachman.

Ultimately, however, how a case is resolved is up to the big shots; if they say it's closed, then it's closed.

As previously mentioned, the higher authorities are paying close attention to this series of serial murders and have issued a strict order that the case must be closed in the short term.

For mid-level leaders, the best option is to close the case as soon as possible, regardless of whether the real culprit can be caught.

……

"You didn't come to see me just to talk about this, did you?"

Milo narrowed his eyes.

"of course not."

Rebecca took out a file folder and slapped it against Milo's chest:
“I want to continue the investigation, but neither the law enforcement agency nor the church will allow me to do so. From the law enforcement agency's perspective, the case is closed and there is no need to go to great lengths. As for the church, you and I share the same view: they have been trying every means to cover up the truth.”

"But you still want to investigate."

Milo chuckled.

Rebecca looked at Milo with unwavering determination:

“You are the only person besides me who has fought that monster. Only the two of us know how dangerous it is. I don’t care what those big shots up there are thinking. From my perspective as an enforcer, I cannot allow such a creature to roam around outside.”

"I see, so you want to drag me onto your ship of justice, right?" Milo feigned a look of sudden realization. "With so many people in your law enforcement agency, isn't there anyone willing to play along with you?"

"Don't forget that you are also someone who will be wearing a tricorn hat. I hope you can show some basic sense of justice."

Rebecca's gaze was intense and extremely serious.

(End of this chapter)