American Zombie Detective

Chapter 209 Mr. K's Recruitment

Upon hearing the news of Sheila's death, Qin Jin's opinion was completely opposite to Catherine's; in his view, it might actually be good news.

If this death cycle is truly a seven-year cycle, where a group of people are eliminated and then silence prevails, then why bother to dig into the root cause?

As long as we ensure that this round of "deaths" goes smoothly and without any mishaps, then everything will be fine!

Seven years! Not seven days, not seven months!

This amount of time is enough for Qin Jin to resolve the threat posed by the Celestial Master's successor, or to find the Buddha's blood relic and further evolve.

After all, Qin Jin became a policeman to solidify his identity and solve Alessa's problem of not growing up, not to wholeheartedly dedicate himself to serving the American people!

"Catherine, here's what we'll do," Qin Jin adjusted his approach, instructing Catherine to continue: "Go directly to Sheila and Danielle's house, find any excuse, get their phones, and extract the selfies—I need you to reconstruct the passengers on the bus that day from the photos as accurately as possible, and create a list—"

He paused, then added the key point: "The most important thing is to determine their current situation, whether they have been in an accident or are still alive. This is very important and must be 100% accurate."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

Catherine greatly admired Qin Jin's quick thinking; it had to be said that only in this way could they determine everyone's identities and try to save them.

"Jack, I'm leaving the old cop's case to you," Qin Jin said, turning to Constantine. "Contact him and visit him as soon as possible. Although he hasn't found the truth, I want to know if he has any suspects or if he has uncovered anything."

"Leave it to me." Constantine stubbed out his cigarette; he liked missions shrouded in history and secrets. "Hopefully, he can provide some useful information."

After the two left, the office returned to silence.

Qin Jin leaned back in his chair, his mind already made up his mind. If most of the people were dead, he would be happy to see it happen; if quite a few were still alive, he wouldn't mind helping that thing accelerate the process in order to completely end this cycle.

His primary task now is survival, and anything that might drain his energy must be dealt with in the simplest and most direct way.

Just then, his phone rang; it was Qingyin.

"I'm back." Qingyin's voice came through the receiver, still not fully regaining its usual alluring charm.

"I'm going home right away. Come to my house to talk," Qin Jin said succinctly.

When Qin Jin arrived at Qingcao Community with Alessa, Qingyin appeared at his doorstep on time. Without a word of pleasantries, she went straight to the point: "I've thought it over. We have absolutely no leads on Jiang Chen and the Black Mountain Demon. I can't waste all my time on them."

Qingyin had clearly already done her analysis, and now she was explaining it to Qin Jin to seek his approval and ask him to check for any oversights: "I plan to take a two-pronged approach. While investigating them, I will continue the search for Peng Sheng. At least—we can still think of something on his end."

Qin Jin raised his eyes, signaling her to continue.

"I've studied what he left behind, and I'm 70% certain he's already in California."

Qingyin said gravely, "His appetite has grown. He's no longer interested in small sects with a few thousand or tens of thousands of followers. I think he's set his sights on some sects that operate in the gray area. There are two in California right now: the Gate of Destiny and the Dawn Brotherhood. Each has around a hundred thousand followers."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I intend to join the Gate of Destiny. If Peng Sheng wants to quickly acquire a large amount of faith, this is one of the best options."

Qingyin looked at Qin Jin: "I need you to know about my actions, and also to consider how to make Peng Sheng the target of becoming the successor of the Celestial Master after we find him."

"Okay." Qin Jin nodded in agreement. "Keep in touch. Notify me in advance if you make any discoveries or if action is needed."

"Also," Qingyin seemed to remember something, "I've conveniently used my pregnancy leave as an excuse to leave the police station, making things easier. I've already had my uncle and Chief Edward speak to them, and I'm just letting you know."

"Yes, as long as it's handled properly." Qin Jin had no objection to this.

After exchanging information, Qingyin got up and left without any hesitation.

After Qingyin left, only Qin Jin, Alessa, and Yuanxiao, who was rolling around on the floor, remained in the room.

The little guy grew very quickly, visibly becoming much rounder and gaining at least ten pounds in weight. Alessa was feeding it a large piece of specially made meat patty mixed with honey and animal blood.

Qin Jin watched this scene, but his mind was still on the case.

He sat back on the sofa, carefully considering the current problem: If the survivors of the subway deaths were found, how could he be sure that after these people died, the thing would subside and not cause even more trouble?

This is a prerequisite for murder. If it cannot be confirmed, Qin Jin will not take action.

However, after much thought, Qin Jin couldn't come up with a better solution for the time being. He could only suppress the idea and see if he could gain anything from talking to the old policeman tomorrow.

As night deepened, the villa area fell silent.

Suddenly, Qin Jin, who was resting with his eyes closed, and Alessa, who was intently stroking Yuanxiao's hair, opened their eyes almost simultaneously.

A bloody scent appeared at the doorway.

Qin Jin stood up, silently walked to the entrance hall, and looked out through the peephole:

A black Ford F-150 pickup truck was parked in his driveway. Next to the truck stood a tall man in a black trench coat, with a cold and hard expression. He stared directly at the door without any attempt to hide his gaze, as if he knew that Qin Jin was watching from behind.

Qin Jin pushed open the door and went out. Alessa was already holding the Gru Super Red Eagle in her hand, ready to give it a good whack at any moment.

"Detective Qin," the man outside the door spoke, his voice deep and direct, with a professional crispness: "I'm here on behalf of Mr. K to apologize to you and to have a talk with you."

Although his voice was calm, Qin Jin could clearly sense his frantic heartbeat and the faint cold sweat on his forehead. This showed that the guy was well aware of his record and was just being forced into this situation. In fact, he was already panicking inside!

Hmm, very good! It's much easier to use intimidation, enticement, or even deception against someone with this kind of mentality.

It's not surprising that they came to our door; after all, they knew their police identity and had registered their passports in Romania, which is no secret.

The only thing I didn't expect was that they weren't there to assassinate me, but to discuss something. That's quite interesting.

"Apologize? How?" Qin Jin stood under the porch, his voice filled with oppressive force: "Beheading, boiling in oil, or disembowelment—he gets to choose?"

The man's facial muscles twitched slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and bowed slightly: "Mr. Qin, we are here to express our apologies. What happened last time was entirely a serious mistake and a huge oversight on the part of our staff. Mr. K hopes that this matter can be let go."

He paused, observing Qin Jin's expression, and continued, "Mr. K is willing to pay you a satisfactory compensation, which will definitely not disappoint you. Furthermore, if you are interested, he sincerely invites you to become the guardian of the next Hell Hunt and participate in the profit sharing of the entire competition."

"Guardians?" Qin Jin raised an eyebrow.

"To handle some—well, some particularly strong, unexpected individuals—for Mr. K's hunting competition."

The man explained, "In return, Mr. K will take 10% of the total profits and distribute them equally among the Guardians. The previous Guardian drove everyone else away and monopolized the profits, but he later participated in a higher-level Dark Hunt," and was severely injured. That's why we had to temporarily find the Fat Brothers and the Mighty Golden Fleshman to replace them, and then—we met you."

At this point, he immediately added, "Of course, even if he were here this time, he probably wouldn't be a match for you. After all, you're the strongest our boss has ever seen!"

"10%————" Qin Jin ignored his flattery and simply calculated the scale of the bets he had learned about before: "Each time it's at least 3000 million US dollars or more."

“Even more than that, Officer Qin,” the man stated confidently. “Mr. K believes you are fully qualified for this position.”

Qin Jin was silent for a moment, then quickly came up with a plan, and calmly said, "Okay! But now—" He emphasized deliberately, "Let's settle this debt first!"

The man immediately replied, "Please name a number."

"You captured me like prey, caused all that trouble, and I even cleaned up the mess for you, making you a fortune."

Qin Jin said coldly, "Without 1000 million US dollars, this is not up for discussion."

The man barely hesitated before pulling out an encrypted communicator, whispering a few words, then looking up: "Mr. K agrees. Please provide your bank account number; the funds will be transferred within 24 hours—"

"No," Qin Jin interrupted him, "I'm a policeman, large, unauthorized transfers are too much trouble. I need cash. Clean and simple."

Old banknotes, cash that is not consecutively numbered.

The man paused for a moment, then nodded: "Okay. You can specify the time and place, and I will deliver it personally."

Qin Jin thought for a moment: "Tomorrow night, at the same time. Right here." He pointed to the ground.

"No problem." The man readily agreed. "Ten million in cash will be delivered precisely at this time tomorrow night. Welcome to the team. Please come up with a code name; I'll bring the communicator and instruction manual tomorrow."

After the man finished speaking, he turned around and got into the car briskly. The pickup truck roared and quickly drove away from the quiet street.

Qin Jin stood at the door, looking in the direction where the car's taillights disappeared, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

Then let's join first, and then find an opportunity to kill him!