American Zombie Detective

The Dodge had just stopped on the side of the road in front of the Blue Parrot when Constance Dante climbed into the passenger seat. The scent of cigarettes on his fingers mingled with the smell of cheap shower gel on his body, and his temples were still slightly damp.

"Tell me more." The Dodge merged into the traffic.

Constantin exhaled a long plume of smoke and rubbed his slightly drowsy temples:

"I just finished talking to you when an agent from the Western Division called Jenny. He picked up the phone and asked about Luke. I took the call and asked a couple of questions, and that's when I found out that Luke hadn't gone home that night at all, and his family had called the police last night."

Jenny? Qin Jin thought for a moment. This should be the name of a waitress at the Big Guy Club. He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time.

"How much did they find out?" He completely ignored the issue of Jenny and Constantine's relationship and focused on the key question.

"Not much," Constantin flicked his cigarette butt out the window and glanced at Qin Jin.

"They asked the tour guide from that day, who said that Luke came back in their car, but he didn't go home. He seemed to have received a phone call from someone on the way, got off the car halfway, and then... disappeared, vanished into thin air."

"What's going on with the phone?"

"The phone is off, I can't find it, and it's the first time it's appeared in the call log."

Qin Jin's fingers twitched on the steering wheel as an ominous premonition crept into his mind:

"This...something's definitely not right! It's too much of a coincidence!"

"Yes," Constantin took out another cigarette and lit it. "I don't know why you suspect Chen Bonian, but I think this matter is related to him."

"It's most likely him," Qin Jin thought, feeling that his casually made-up explanation of the Five Elements was becoming increasingly plausible. He even gave it a serious analysis:

"Chen Bonian awakens the paper bride and uses her to kill. The targets are likely carefully chosen, with specific requirements based on their birth charts or destiny. Luke... is the fourth in his plan. Since he wasn't killed by the paper bride, he has to do it himself..."

"If that's the case, then his plan must be coming very soon, maybe even today!" Constantine immediately added:

"Chen Bonian has bound him, and may have already killed him. Now he might be preparing to kill the fifth one!"

"That's right!" Qin Jin turned the Dodge onto the community road and sped up.

"I'll go pick up my sister now, and then we'll go to the cabin! Chen Bonian is likely there!"

The car stopped abruptly in front of his own house.

Qin Jin jumped out of the car, rushed to the door, and knocked: "Alessa! Come on, let's go play!"

The door opened almost instantly, and Alessa appeared barefoot in the doorway, clutching her Frankenstein doll. Her grey-blue eyes shone brightly, as if she had been waiting for this summons.

The oppressive, silent aura emanating from her vanished, replaced by a cold, pent-up excitement.

"Let's go," Qin Jin said succinctly, "we might have to kill someone."

Aresa nodded vigorously, a barely perceptible, almost cruel smile curving her lips.

She didn't need to know who the target was; as long as she could work with Qin Jin to solve the problem, that was enough.

She quickly put on her shoes, picked up the huge Frankenstein's monster, and walked towards Dodge, but Qin Jin gently nudged her.

"Wait a minute," Qin Jin gestured with his lips:

"I had a friend in the car, um... the one we met on the way to the mine the other day, so please be careful."

Aresa followed his gaze and glanced at the man in the passenger seat who exuded a complex aura. The excitement in her eyes subsided slightly, replaced by scrutiny and wariness.

She nodded again to indicate that she understood.

The two walked quickly toward Dodge. Alessa opened the back door, hugged the doll, and sat down. Her small body sank into the seat, her gaze calmly fixed straight ahead, as if the little monster who was about to go on a killing spree was just an illusion.

The car started again and drove deeper into the Santa Monica Mountains.

As night deepened, the mountain road wound its way through the darkness, the headlights cutting through the thick gloom. Inside the car, all was silent except for the low growl of the engine.

Qin Jin focused on driving, Alessa sat quietly in the back seat like a doll, while Constanze seemed somewhat uneasy.

He frequently glanced at Alessa in the back seat through the rearview mirror, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper, his fingers unconsciously twirling as if trying to catch something invisible in the air.

Just as Qin Jin was pondering how to change the subject, Jack suddenly spoke up, his voice not loud:

"Qin, we... need to talk!"

"Hmm? Go ahead," Qin Jin replied.

Jack's gaze briefly met Qin Jin's in the rearview mirror, then quickly swept over Alessa's delicate yet lifeless face, a mixture of confusion and certainty in his eyes:

"You... your aura is very peculiar, unlike that of humans... but it's not like those things from hell that I'm familiar with either."

He carefully chose his words, his gaze fixed intently on Qin Jin's reaction.

"Your sister... gives me the feeling of... emptiness, or rather, nothing at all..."

Qin Jin's grip on the steering wheel remained unchanged, and his face still wore that expression of indifference.

He didn't even answer immediately, but waited a few seconds before slowly speaking:

"Really? And then? -- Hey, Alessa, don't move for now!"

In the back seat, Alessa's Gru Red Eagle was already pointed steadily at Constanze's back through the seat back, seemingly ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

The entire movement was completely silent, and even Qin Jin only noticed it because of his understanding of her. Constanze, on the other hand, was startled, and only then did he feel the threat coming from behind him.

Constantine immediately raised his hand in a reassuring gesture:

"Hey! Hey! Relax, okay, dear angel? Don't get excited! Let me finish!"

At Qin Jin's signal, Aresa did not fire, but she also did not move the gun away.

Constantine turned his head, trying to make his expression appear sincere and harmless, his gaze quickly shifting between Qin Jin and Alessa:

"Hey! I don't care who you are! Really! Your aura may be strange, but it's clean. You're not demons, not fallen angels, not those filthy things that feed on human souls that I have to deal with!"

He emphasized his principles:

"The things I deal with are all bad, and obviously you're not..."

He took a deep breath, looked at Qin Jin, his eyes filled with a complex yet strange sense of trust:

"And more importantly, Qin, I feel... we're friends? At least, that night in the mine, you saved me and Luke, right?"

He forced a somewhat helpless smile:

"Look, we have similar goals, we're both saving people, so..." He pointed to himself, "we're in this together, right?"

A brief silence fell over the carriage.

Qin Jin looked into Jack's tired yet unusually bright eyes. There was no pretense in them, only a pragmatism born from having seen so much of the bizarre and wonderful, and a hint of expectation for recognition.

A genuine, lazy smile finally appeared on his lips.

"Alessa, put the gun away." Qin Jin's voice returned to its usual calm.

Without any hesitation, Alessa hugged Frankenstein's monster tightly again, and Gru Red Hawk disappeared as if nothing had ever happened.

"You're right, Jack."

Qin Jin gazed at the winding mountain road ahead, his tone relaxed.

"We both have secrets, but since our goal is the same—to solve this problem—let's be friends for now." He paused, then added:

"However, keep your curiosity in check, and also keep your Bible and knuckle duster in check. Alessa doesn't like being tempted."

Jack let out a sigh of relief and leaned back heavily in his chair.

"Deal! As long as you don't suddenly turn into giant bats or grow tails, I promise my curiosity will stay locked in the closet." He tried to lighten the mood with a joke.

Qin Jin just chuckled and didn't reply. Alessa was in the back seat, and the wariness towards Jack in the depths of her gray-blue eyes hadn't completely disappeared, but at least, the cold muzzle of the gun wouldn't be raised for the time being.

A delicate, fragile alliance, built on shared secrets and temporary goals, was forged inside the speeding Dodge.

The mountain road became increasingly rugged, and the powerful engine of the Dodge emitted a labored growl. As midnight approached, they arrived at Chen Bonian's cabin.

The cabin was situated on a relatively open flat area halfway up the mountain, far smaller than one might imagine a hunter's cabin to be.

It was a two-story wooden house with a distinctly American country style, rounded in shape, quite spacious, and with a wide porch.

Not far from the house, there is a small pool of water, about twenty square meters in size, simply built of stones. It was probably used by rock climbers to fetch water or cool down in the past.

At this moment, the wooden house was pitch black, without a single light shining through, and looked like a cold, lonely tomb under the pale moonlight.

The surrounding area was a dense pine forest. The night wind blew through the pines, creating a rustling sound. The calls of deer echoed from behind the house, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Qin Jin parked the Dodge on a forest path a few dozen meters away from the cabin, turned off the engine, and the three of them got out of the car quietly.

The three slowly approached the wooden house and the pool. As they drew closer, the scene in the middle of the pool became clearer.

In the center of the pool, filled with rotten branches and fallen leaves, floated a person!

The man floated face down on the water, his limbs limply outstretched, swaying slightly with the ripples. He was wearing the same windbreaker he had worn on his hike that night!

It's Luke!

His body lay there quietly and eerily in the center of the cold mountain spring pool, like a lifeless fallen leaf.

They were ultimately too late. The offerings for the water element were already in place.