American Zombie Detective

More than half an hour later, Qin Jin and Kang Shidanding each drove to a remote, old community in Los Angeles.

The air was thick with the strange smell of old newspapers, dust, and rust. It was clearly a converted factory building, and although simple, it was quite large.

They stopped in front of a three-story apartment building that looked like it might fall apart at any moment, and climbed the creaking iron stairs directly to the top floor, the residence of Constantine's friend, Beaman.

Constantine knocked on the door, three long knocks followed by two short ones.

A clanging sound came from inside the door, along with the rattling of the lock turning.

The door opened a crack, revealing Beaman's wrinkled face with deep-set eyes and a pair of thick-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He glanced warily down the corridor before quickly stepping aside.

"Come in!"

Inside the door was a veritable sea of ​​books, with the spacious room filled with all kinds of books, and in the middle of the room there was a piece of machinery that had not yet been dismantled, which he regarded as a unique decoration.

All sorts of books, scrolls, and parchments were piled from floor to ceiling, and the air was thick with the smell of mildew.

"Beaman, this is Detective Qin," Constable Dante introduced first, then got straight to the point:

"You say you've found the answer to what I asked you to look up?"

"This is amazing, I'm telling you, this is very unusual..." Beaman said, leading the two to his desk. He quickly sat back down, moved the thick book next to him to his face, and began to flip through it.

Qin Jin looked around and realized there were no chairs available opposite the desk, so he and Constanze each pulled out a chair and sat down in front of him.

At this moment, Beaman also found what he wanted, opened it, and showed it to the two of them:

"Look here—" He pointed to a line of text, next to which was an illustration depicting a fetus surrounded by countless demons, emitting a faint glow. He quickly explained:

"This is Seth, Adam's third son! In the doctrines of many small cults, he will descend to earth at some point, nominally as the savior of the end times, but they believe he should actually be called the 'sacrificial savior.' His existence is different from Jesus' because..."

"His death could usher in the end times, shattering the final barrier between heaven and hell, which means..."

"Whoever can kill Seth before he awakens will hold the key to freely travel between the human world and hell, and can also usher in the end of the human world, or lead the demons of hell to rush towards the human world and heaven! Marduk... the woman he's chasing is very likely the one who is pregnant with Seth!"

Beaman was panting heavily, his face pale.

"That's why Marduk was so insane, even sacrificing himself to reach the human world to hunt her down—using the key to pass through the barrier allows it to exert its full power in the human world, instead of descending as a projection through sacrifice, which at most only allows less than half of its power to be unleashed!"

Qin Jin and Constantine were completely frozen in place.

The reason behind this was something Qin Jin could never have imagined or understood: why would a key from the West end up inside the belly of a great demon from the East?!

Why is that?

He immediately asked Biman, concealing information about Qingyin's identity, only wanting to know how Seth chose his mother, or who helped Seth choose whose body to gestate in.

Unfortunately, Beaman was unaware of this, and to his knowledge, no book had ever mentioned it.

The air in the room seemed to have solidified into lead, so heavy it was suffocating.

Under the dim light, the mountains of ancient forbidden books seemed to be silently telling the story of an apocalyptic chapter that was about to be bloodily opened.

Everything seemed to be getting more complicated.

…………

The school corridors were bright and spacious, carrying a unique smell of disinfectant mixed with chalk dust.

The counselor's office had a new nameplate. Instead of Kate's cold face, a smiling, blonde woman in her thirties with a name tag that read "Lian Parker" was standing in the doorway.

"Mr. Qin? Please come in!"

Ms. Lian clearly already knew Qin Jin's identity. She opened a drawer, took out a printed report card, and her face beamed with genuine admiration:

"I must say, Alessa's performance was simply amazing! A+ in all subjects! Especially math and science, although a little..." A strange embarrassment flashed across her face, then she quickly added:

"But regardless, the exam results were top-notch!"

Qin Jin took the report card. The black ink on the white paper, rows of neat A+ grades like medals, seemed like only yesterday that they had discussed the ransom and the manhunt in the office.

He hadn't expected Alessa to do so well after changing her approach. Qin Jin raised his eyes, maintaining his usual languid tone:

"Thank you! Aresa... that was quite a surprise."

As they walked out of the teaching building, Qin Jin gently patted Alessa's head, his tone relaxed:

"You... have you changed your approach?"

"Yes," Alessa replied in her usual tone.

"Change your mindset; these questions are very simple."

Looking at the little girl in front of him, who was forever nine years old but whose heart contained the endless darkness of Silent Hill, Qin Jin felt a deeper sense of absurdity and a faint sense of pride.

Back at the police station, I parked my car and ran into Cruise coming out of the building. I waved to him from a distance.

"Hey Qin! I heard you went to get Alessa's results, how was it?"

Cruise's second child was about the same age as Alessa, so he was very familiar with the school schedule.

Qin Jin stopped, unfolded the report card in his hand, and handed it to him, lightly tapping the rows of A+ with his fingertip.

Cruise leaned closer and his eyes widened instantly:

"Wow! All A+! My goodness! Aresa, you're a genius! Dude, this deserves a big celebration!"

He patted Qin Jin's shoulder exaggeratedly.

Qin Jin simply nodded slightly, took back the report card, and the faint smile on his lips seemed to deepen a little more: "Hmm."

He took Alessa's hand and walked towards the "Squirrel's Chestnut" café outside the police station. Yuanxiao followed, swaying her bottom on the ground, while the head of the Frankenstein doll bobbed with each step.

Pushing open the door of the "Acorn" café next to the police station, a rich aroma of coffee and the sweet scent of roasting wafts out.

Catherine was already seated in a booth by the window, a half-finished latte in front of her, and then waved to them.

"How did it go? The grades?"

Everyone's asking this question, and that will be the main topic today.

Qin Jin didn't say anything, but simply spread the report card out on the table.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Catherine exclaimed in surprise, looking at Alessa with a bright smile.

"I knew it! All A+! You're amazing!" She was genuinely happy.

"Hmm." Alessa sat down next to Qin Jin, put down the huge Frankenstein doll, and then took out a bag of pet cookies. Yuanxiao wiggled its butt and climbed onto the sofa, tilted its head back, made whimpering noises, and started chewing.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in a shirt hurriedly pushed open the door, followed by an assistant carrying a tablet computer and a folder. He glanced around and immediately approached.

"Sorry, sorry, there was a bit of traffic. Officer Catherine, this... is Detective Qin?" He handed over his business card and exchanged polite greetings.

"I'm Roger, and I'm in charge of the entire renovation and decorating project."