American Zombie Detective

Chapter 222 Death Has Arrived

Qin Jin, along with Constanze and the bear cub Yuanxiao, entered the house and, together with Alessa, began to remove all the books, notebooks, instruction manuals, and computers from the house.

All of them were gathered together for inspection.

They acted quickly, piling all the paper materials from the study, living room, and even bedroom into the center of the garden.

After careful examination, sure enough, the draft book with "The Visitor" (Part 1) and (Part 2) was still there, but the third part of "The Visitor" was not found.

This discovery further solidified Qin Jin's suspicions, so he simply set everything on fire, burning everything that could be burned.

During this process, Constantine skillfully located the safe, pulled out two or three stacks of banknotes, and gave one stack to each of Qin Jin and Alessa.

Qin Jin's cheek twitched involuntarily, but he didn't say anything, simply accepting the money silently.

Even if Constantine was led astray, it was by him! That guy! He learns way too fast!

Looking at the burning fire, Alessa asked, "Qin, what's next?"

"I have a rough idea of ​​what it's going to do, but I can't guess its purpose or reason," Qin Jin smiled and shrugged. "However, that doesn't stop us from finding out what it's up to tonight, taking it down, and then we don't need to worry about its purpose."

"Should we stay here?" Constantine asked casually.

"Let's stay here," Qin Jin decided. "Everything here has been cleared out, and your exorcism seal is still outside. It's better than going back to the safe house—however, this thing might attack other people and disrupt us—John, call Catherine—"

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Jin's phone rang sharply; it was Catherine calling.

Qin Jin pressed the answer button, but before he could speak, Catherine's anxious and fearful voice came through the receiver: "Qin! Mark is dead! He's in the safe house! Just now, he went to the door to get takeout—a flying rock shot out and pierced Mark's head, going in through his eye—Emily's gone crazy! I—what should I do? Qin—what should I do—"

They've arrived!

Under Constanze's admiring gaze, Qin Jin calmly reassured Catherine: "Catherine, calm down! Listen to me!"

His voice seemed to possess a magical power, instantly suppressing Catherine's panic.

"Now, pack your things and leave the safe house immediately. Come to the home of the writer Lana Winters; we're all here."

"Okay—okay! I'm coming right away!" Catherine agreed immediately, as if grasping at a straw, but then hesitated for a moment: "But—Qin, what about Emily? She's going crazy with fear."

Qin Jin remained silent for a moment.

Deep down, whether Emily, a person of little importance, lived or died was of no concern to Qin Jin; he genuinely couldn't be bothered to care. But what Catherine said was also true. As a police officer, Qin Jin couldn't directly tell her that he planned to give up, after all, Catherine and Constanze had completely different moral bottom lines.

"Okay," he quickly compromised, "you have two colleagues from group one take charge. Prepare an empty room, nothing but a mattress, and let her have 24 hours of work there."

They were to stay inside for 48 hours, and the only food they could eat was pizza and donuts; fried chicken was not allowed. We told them to hold out for 48 hours and wait for our news.

"Okay! I'll arrange it right away!" Catherine had absolute trust in Qin Jin, and although she didn't understand the deeper meaning, she immediately carried it out.

After hanging up the phone, Constantine frowned and asked, "Qin, you're not planning to get involved with that Emily anymore?"

"It's not that we don't care, it's just that this is all we can do. We don't have enough manpower or time to waste on her."

Qin Jin calmly analyzed, "She has completely become a character in the story, fully triggering its rules. We don't have the extra energy and resources to fight her. I've put her in an empty room with almost no story to write, reducing variables. Whether she lives or dies depends on her own luck."

"If she behaves herself and doesn't come out, she'll most likely survive. But if she doesn't listen and comes out—then why should I care about her? Our priority now is to find the root of this problem and eradicate it completely, otherwise everyone will be in danger."

Qin Jin deliberately exaggerated the thing's abilities. Based on his judgment, this thing might not be able to do anything to him and Alessa. The real danger lay with Constantine and Catherine.

Constantine thought about it and had to admit that this was the most rational, yet also the most ruthless, approach at the moment, and ultimately expressed his approval.

About fifty minutes later, Catherine's car sped up and came to a sudden stop outside the garden.

She jumped out of the car, her face pale, and practically ran into the garden. She only breathed a slight sigh of relief when she saw Qin Jin and the other two, but the fear in her eyes did not diminish at all.

She hurriedly handed her phone to Qin Jin, her fingers trembling slightly: "Qin! This is a text message I received just before I arrived! I glanced at it—look!"

Qin Jin took the phone; the screen displayed a text message he had received just a few minutes earlier, titled "The Mysterious Death of Policewoman Catherine."

The story has just begun, describing her phone call to Qin Jin after Ma Ke's death, up to the time she was driving.

Qin Jin astutely noticed that when he was mentioned above, he was referred to as "still a monster policeman," and no one seemed to perceive his zombie form through his powers. This meant—

This thing may have originated in the East, but the entity that controls it has now become completely Westernized and has little memory or understanding of the monsters from the East.

As for its targeting of Catherine, it seems terrifying, but it actually shows that it has run out of options. Fortunately, she has almost reached her destination, and the story has only just begun.

"Alright, don't be afraid anymore." He handed the phone back to Catherine. "Come in now, it's safe in here for now."

He let Catherine into the house and have her stay with Alessa and Constantine.

The four of them stayed in the living room. Catherine and Constantine both looked anxiously at Qin Jin: "What do we do now?"

Qin Jin glanced at the setting sun outside the window: "Wait. Wait until nightfall, after the subway stops running. Then we need to enter the subway tunnel."

"You already know what that thing is?" Catherine asked eagerly.

"No, I don't care what it is," Qin Jin shook his head. "I've just deduced how it works, like—when doing a multiple-choice question, I might guess the answer, but I haven't fully figured out the solution process yet."

Constantine, upon hearing this, nonchalantly exhaled a smoke ring: "Dealing with demons and evil spirits is often like this. First, find it, then beat it! Once it reveals its true form, many problems will naturally become clear! Having results makes things much easier to resolve!"

The atmosphere eased a little.

However, just then, Qin Jin's phone rang again. The caller ID showed a name that surprised him: Supervisor Sean of the Western Police Department.

"Detective Qin," came Supervisor Sean's voice from the other end of the phone, "There's something I need to verify with you. We handled a death case today and arrested a suspect who claims to be your informant."

"9

"What's your name?"

Johnny.

Hey, news about a lucky koi!

Qin Jin immediately asked, "What case?"

"At a subway blue line platform, a homeless man fell onto the tracks and was run over by a train. At the time, only your informant was with the deceased—he insists that you sent him to find the homeless man and ask for information, and insists that he didn't push the man. I don't know if this incident actually happened?"

Qin Jin thought for a moment, then told Sean with certainty, "Supervisor Sean, he wasn't wrong. There was indeed a case he asked me to help find someone for. I can vouch for him—what else did he say?"

"Well, besides insisting that the homeless man jumped down on his own, he just wants to talk to you. What do you think?"

"Excuse me, Manager Sean, I need information about him."

There was static on the other end of the phone, followed by Johnny's panicked voice: "Boss! Boss! I really didn't kill him! I just squatted down and said a few words to him, gave him $20, and he suddenly shoved an earpiece into my hand and said something about it being my turn," and then he just fell down! I really didn't touch him!

Earplugs? Your turn?

Qin Jin immediately picked up on the key information: "Where's the earpiece? Did you listen to it?"

"No, sir!" Johnny was almost in tears. "I just wanted to see what that thing was, and then the police came after me, and I don't know where I threw it! You have to believe me, sir!"

Qin Jin understood instantly.

That eerie entity did indeed try to incorporate Johnny into its story, and the earpiece was likely the medium.

Once Johnny puts it on, he'll probably hear terrifying stories about himself.

However, Johnny's ridiculously lucky streak came into play once again.

By a twist of fate, he lost his earplugs, the police arrived, and he was taken away from the scene of the "story." Ironically, this misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as he was temporarily safe.

Thinking about this, Qin Jin felt that it might be safer for Johnny to stay at the police station for the time being.

"Alright, just stay put. I'll help you prove it once I'm done here," Qin Jin reassured Johnny, then asked...

What did the homeless man say?

"Ah! By the way, boss, this guy told me something. He said..."

Johnny thought for a moment before hesitantly saying, "He said that all deaths are retribution for those who drive living stakes—"