American Zombie Detective

Constantin's words clearly had an effect; that night, no vampires were seen in Green Grass Community, and the atmosphere was unusually calm.

Constanze Dante had already sent him the information about the vampire seeking revenge via mobile phone.

The next morning, when Qin Jin drove Alessa to school, she insisted on bringing the Frankenstein's monster doll with her, and Qin Jin could only remind her several times:

"Listen, my little darling! You can bring the doll, but absolutely, positively, you can't take anything out of the doll at school. Can you promise that?"

Alessa blinked her grey-blue eyes in response, which barely reassured Qin Jin.

Watching the small figure in the black gothic dress disappear behind the teaching building, Qin Jin drove towards the Pan American Loft on South Broadway to check on Willie and Herman's situation.

A faint aroma of glutinous rice filled Constantine's attic apartment. Willie and Herman looked somewhat haggard, but their spirits were still high.

Qin Jin carefully examined their wounds:

The scratches on their shoulders and legs had turned a normal pink, the stiffness around them had completely disappeared, and both of them cried out in pain when pressed.

He pried open their mouths to look at their teeth and then examined their fingernails, finding no signs of them growing longer or becoming abnormal.

"The recovery is going well."

Qin Jin lazily praised, "The corpse poison has been removed very thoroughly. Just hold on for one more day, soak for the required time, drink enough porridge, and warm up. By this time tomorrow, you will be completely safe."

Upon hearing this, Willie and Herman smiled with relief and thanked Qin Jin repeatedly.

As Qin Jin left, he reached the elevator. Constantin, a cigarette dangling from his lips, followed him out and handed him a bundle of $50,000 wrapped in thick duct tape.

"Hey, it's a deal... wait for me, I'll go to the police station with you."

Qin Jin casually took it, glancing at him sideways: "The police station isn't the point, OK? The point is, we're starting today, we need to take down Teacher Kate. If we can't handle her, we can't talk about anything else."

Constantine's face fell instantly, and he almost dropped the cigarette he was holding.

"Hey, Qin! Let's discuss this again..."

"No discussion, this is an order!" Qin Jin stepped into the elevator, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"Win her over, or our friendship will truly be over. The choice is yours!"

As the elevator doors slowly closed, in that final glance, Constanze's face revealed a resolute expression; it seemed he was truly going to fight to the death...

When Qin Jin arrived at the Homicide and Major Crimes Division of the Canyon Precinct, the office of the second team had already been basically cleaned up, and the items that bore the personal imprint of the fallen police officers had been taken away or moved to the reception room downstairs.

The empty desk silently recounted yesterday's tragedy, and a lingering scent of sorrow remained in the air.

His main purpose for this trip was to find out what happened to Luke's zombie, so after wandering around the second group's office, he came to Supervisor Frank's room.

"You've come at the right time! They just called this morning!"

Frank's voice was hoarse, a lingering effect of accompanying his colleagues' families to identify the bodies and belongings:

"They tracked it a long way and found traces of the zombie in the underground river, but unfortunately they couldn't catch it. That thing was just too fast underwater."

Frank lit a cigarette and took a deep drag:

"Judging from the last traces, that thing most likely followed the complex underground river network northward into the mountains. Team X will continue to track it and contact us if there is any news. For now, this is all for now."

Upon hearing that the zombies had escaped, Qin Jin finally relaxed, the tension in his heart finally eased. At least in the short term, the direct threat caused by the cabin incident was temporarily away from Los Angeles.

He refined a few details in his final report on the paper doll murder case and its aftermath, printed it out, and handed it to Frank, thus officially bringing the case to a close.

Qin Jin's phone suddenly vibrated at that moment, and the screen flashed Alessa's name.

He answered the phone: "What's wrong?"

Alessa's clear, emotionless plea came from the other end of the phone: "Qin, I want to go home."

Qin Jin glanced at the time on his phone, somewhat exasperated: "Now? You've only been playing for two hours!"

He remembered his promise from yesterday, allowing Alessa to feign illness when she couldn't stand it anymore, but this illness came on a bit too quickly.

"Um."

Aresa's answer consisted of only one syllable.

Qin Jin sighed and conceded:

"Okay. Then come back today. But you have to go again tomorrow." He emphasized this last point: even if you come back today, the journey will still continue.

"Now, are you waiting for me to pick you up at school, or...?"

Qin Jin stood up, ready to go and meet her.

Qingcao Community is very close to the school, which was the reason Qin Jin chose to rent the apartment. However, the school's main gate and the community entrance are on opposite sides of two parallel streets, so Qin Jin was a little worried about going back alone for the first time.

"I can be alone."

Alessa's Chinese remained concise and clear; she even hung up the phone before Qin Jin could speak again.

Hearing the busy tone on his phone, Qin Jin shook his head helplessly. This idiom... he got it wrong again.

This little devil... He grabbed his car keys, deciding it would be safer to pick her up.

Just as he stood up, Bruce, the team leader, and several other team leaders came over, each carrying some files. Upon seeing Qin Jin, they immediately said:

"Hey Qin. The boss wants us to pick out the more unusual cases and take a look, see if there are any traces of supernatural phenomena... Thanks for your hard work!"

I see...

Qin Jin sat down again. Since that's the case, he could only help take a look.

…………

Alessa walked out of the school gate carrying her Frankenstein doll, her gray-blue eyes slightly narrowed, and headed towards home.

An assistant teacher chased after her, trying to stop her:

"Alessa! Wait! Aren't you going to wait for your guardian to arrive...?"

Alessa seemed not to hear, her small figure turning onto the sidewalk, while the assistant teacher looked helplessly at Kate Morris, who followed her out.

Kate crossed her arms, her eyes behind her frameless glasses cold and distant, her tone flat and devoid of any emotion:

"Her brother clearly agreed to let her go back on her own over the phone, and the conversation was recorded by surveillance cameras. Since even the guardians don't care, why should we interfere? Let her go."

Her words carried an air of indifference that kept strangers at bay. After speaking, she turned and went back to the teaching building, leaving her assistant standing there looking embarrassed.

As soon as Alessa stepped out of the school, she was noticed by the ice cream truck parked across the street.

One of the men in the striped shirt on the bus glanced at the note in his hand, then at Alessa, and whispered:

"Hey, Bob! It's her! Wearing a black gothic dress, holding a Frankenstein doll, not very tall, with a pale face—she's the girl the woman in the leather jacket was talking about!"

Bob, dressed as a clown, quickly checked himself off, a broad, excited smile spreading across his face:

"What luck! She actually got out. I thought we'd have to sneak into the school to kidnap her!"

After saying that, he immediately climbed from the passenger seat to the back of the car, while the man in the striped shirt started the car, quickly circled around, and stopped about ten meters in front of Alessa.

Bob, dressed as a clown and carrying a huge ice cream cone adorned with colorful candy figures, got out of the car and rushed to Alessa, blocking her path.

"Hey, cute little girl!"

The clown's voice was sickeningly sweet, like a kind soul from a fairy tale: "It's so hot, this ice cream is free for you!"

Aresa walked past him without stopping, her expressionless face showing no sign of stopping, her grey-blue eyes not even lingering on the ice cream for a second.

Bob the Clown paused for a moment, then, unwilling to give up, chased after him a few more steps, changing his angle:

"Hey, don't be shy! Uncle isn't a bad guy. Look how pretty this ice cream is! It's super sweet! You can have it!"

Aresa remained unresponsive, as if he were invisible, her footsteps unchanged.

At this moment, the striped shirt had already started the ice cream truck and was slowly following behind Alessa.

Bob was getting impatient and approached a third time, this time with a slightly forceful, coaxing tone:

"Little girl, why don't you get in the car and take a look? Uncle has lots of delicious food in the car, and you can watch cartoons too! Wherever you want to go, Uncle will take you!"

Alessa finally responded.

She stopped, turned her head slightly, and gave the tall, thin man a cold look with her gray-blue eyes.

There was no fear or curiosity in his eyes, only an inorganic indifference that sent a chill down the spine of the tall, thin man.

The next second, she continued walking forward and entered a narrower alley, just wide enough for pedestrians to pass through, but not wide enough for an ice cream truck.

"Damn it!" Bob the Clown spat, sullenly running back to the ice cream truck and getting into the passenger seat.

"What should I do? The little one is completely ignoring me!"

The man in the striped shirt gritted his teeth, shuddering at the thought of the ruthless way the woman in the leather jacket had attacked, and said fiercely:

"Go around that path, go straight ahead and wait. When you come out, tow it into the car!"

The man in the striped shirt turned the key to start the engine, the ice cream cart wobbled twice, and he was about to shift gears—

Bang!Bang!Bang!

A clear and forceful knocking sound came from the refrigerated compartment door at the back of the ice cream truck.

Both of them were startled and turned around abruptly.

Alessa had silently appeared at the back of the car, and from the driver's seat, only half of her head was visible.

She calmly watched their backs through the rear window, her free hand tapping on the back door of the carriage.