American Zombie Detective

Several townspeople armed with weapons rushed over quickly.

Tong Jiye and the surviving gunman were trapped in the deformed carriage, their heads bleeding and groaning in pain. The townspeople roughly dragged them out of the vehicle, tied them up like dumplings with the strongest rope, and threw them by the roadside.

"Keep an eye on them! Also, continue the search of the entire town!" Qin Jin ordered.

Just as the townspeople continued their tense cleanup work, a siren pierced the last darkness before dawn.

Several black Chevrolet Suburbans with "FBI" printed on them and a command vehicle, flashing red and blue police lights, sped into the ravaged town of San Simeon and stopped in front of the crowd and the bonfire.

The car door opened, and seven or eight agents wearing FBI jackets and armed with guns quickly got out, cautiously observing the surrounding situation and glancing at the townspeople who were cleaning up the scene.

The leader was a white man in his thirties with a solemn face. When he saw Qin Jin strolling over from a distance, he was taken aback at first, then greeted him with a smile.

"Hey! Qin! You're here? What happened?"

Qin Jin looked at the white man's face, which he vaguely recognized, hesitated for a moment, and the man immediately explained:

"I'm Fox! X Special Team! We met at the cabin, the Five Elements Formation, the Corpse-Raising Ground... remember?"

Qin Jin then remembered that this was one of the two agents who had appeared at the cadaver farm. He immediately shook hands with Fox and greeted him familiarly.

"You...are you here to track down Luke who has turned into a zombie?"

"Yes! What happened here...is related to it?" Fox's gaze lingered on the corpses in the fire, his voice lowered:

"It looks like there's quite a bit of trouble!"

"Yes, quite a few people have died, about ten or so. The infection spread from the mountain all the way to the town, but I've managed to calm things down for now, so you don't need to worry too much," Qin Jin said, regaining his usual composure.

"I found Luke on the mountain; he's been killed and burned. Follow the river upstream; you'll find him near the cave. As for the others..."

Qin Jin pointed to the bonfires:

"I just led a team to deal with the outbreak in town. Now you'll take over—remember, for those scratched by the corpses, don't worry about infection or anything. Just apply glutinous rice to the wound to draw out the poison, then soak in glutinous rice water, drink glutinous rice porridge, and if there's no change after three days, they won't turn into monsters!"

At this point, Qin Jin lowered his voice even further: "The town's sheriff is at the community hospital. Go talk to him and say a few words. Also, Uncle Carl, they'll cooperate with you... Have people thoroughly search the area around the town, don't miss anything!"

Jack nodded. "Thank you for reminding me. I'll arrange a full search!"

"Alright then," Qin Jin yawned lazily.

"I have other things to do, so I won't delay you any longer—Uncle Carl, I'll leave this to the FBI. You take me to get those two men out of here, and then come over to cooperate with them."

Uncle Carl nodded in agreement and led Qin Jin to the place where Tong Jiye and the gunman were being held. Qin Jin gently lifted the two into the car, had Alessa watch over them, and then took the sleeping little bear cub with him before starting the return journey.

With a deep roar from the engine, the Dodge turned and drove onto California Highway 1, which leads to Los Angeles.

Outside the car window, the town of San Simeon gradually receded into the twilight, the burning bonfires sending up their last plumes of black smoke, and FBI agents busily setting up police tape and questioning witnesses.

The terror and chaos of the past few days seem to be slowly subsiding as the night recedes.

Three or four hours later, the black Dodge turned onto a secluded road leading to the Westham Mine. The dense forest once again fragmented the sunlight, scattering it across the leaf-strewn road.

Qin Jin drove straight to the entrance of the mining area and stopped. This time, he did not go through the trouble of following the mountain road to the location of the deep pool. Instead, he entered the abandoned mine shaft and walked along the original mine cart passage for a short distance before seeing the pool below, which was now connected to the underground river.

He carried Tong Jiye and the gunman by the arm, one in each hand, seemingly without any effort. Since they were both about to die, Qin Jin had no need to hide anything from them.

The lake water here is a deeper, darker color, deathly still, sending chills down your spine.

Tong Jiye and the gunman were casually thrown onto the edge of the pool. Almost simultaneously, water seeped from their crotches, as they were both terrified and wet themselves.

Alessa, who was following behind, threw the bag containing the human heads aside without saying a word.

As the blood jade was thrown into the water, ripples spread, shattering the tranquility of the pool. As the water churned, the red-roofed wedding sedan chair and the paper figures of the wedding procession emerged from the water and floated on the surface of the pool.

The paper bride slowly opened her eyes, her attention immediately drawn to the wriggling figure by the pool. The paper figure's numb face turned towards Qin Jin.

"Something went wrong on the way; they didn't come, and they turned into zombies halfway there, which I killed!"

Qin Jin's voice was calm, and as he spoke, he pointed to the pocket beside him:

"Two of the heads are here, the third-generation crown prince and his brother, and as for these two—"

He pointed to Tong Jiye beside him: "A fourth-generation brat, this one next to me is just an extra!"

His tone was as if he were introducing two items of goods.

The paper bride's reflection trembled violently, and the cold resentment and hatred spread out as if they were real, causing the air temperature by the lake to drop sharply.

The paper bride's bright red wedding dress became even more intense, almost like congealed blood.

"Good...very good..." The voice carried a twisted satisfaction and a deep-seated hatred.

"Thank you! I will...enjoy the gift you sent..."

"Simply saying thank you isn't enough. I've already arranged three people for you. What are you going to do now?" Qin Jin stated his demand directly.

"Can you tell me the whereabouts of Jesus' blood?"

"Qin! You possess the virtue of keeping your promises, that's admirable..." The paper bride's voice was broken, yet exceptionally clear:

"But our agreement doesn't mean that you can just grab a few people and I'll tell you the information, right?"

Qin Jin naturally wouldn't forget that he only asked the question to test the waters, so he simply shrugged in response to the paper bride's rejection.

"OK! In that case, I'll continue, but—"

At this point, Qin Jin paused deliberately, then laughed: "After all, I helped you catch that person, shouldn't I get some kind of reward?"

The paper bride was silent for a moment before speaking:

"I will keep our agreement and kill someone outside of Los Angeles, on your territory..."

"Not enough!" Qin Jin made no attempt to hide his thoughts: "This was agreed upon long ago, it doesn't count as a reward!"

"Then, what do you want?" Faced with Qin Jin's relentless questioning, the paper bride seemed somewhat overwhelmed, so she simply threw the question back at him:

"you say."

Tong Jiye and the gunman were taking advantage of the time to move outside, trying to find a chance to escape, but they were quickly knocked unconscious by Alessa's kicks!

"So, when I need it, help me fight or kill someone or something, just like last time!" Qin Jin said directly.

"After all, things aren't going well in San Francisco. You can't just watch me die, can you?"

"Fine... then!" The paper bride's voice carried a hint of anger, seemingly quite displeased with Qin Jin's extortion, before she coldly began to shoo him away:

"That's it! Nothing else, you can go now."

As soon as he finished speaking, the blood jade that had sunk to the bottom of the lake was lifted by an invisible force and flew steadily into Qin Jin's hand.

Upon hearing this promise, Qin Jin's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile, and he nodded: "OK."

With the powerful Paper Bride once again on his chariot, he was in a very good mood. Without saying any more nonsense, he took Alessa and left the mine.

Soon, behind them came the heart-wrenching screams of Tong Jiye and the gunman... mixed with the paper bride's sinister laughter filled with resentment and malice!

When they got in the car, the bear cub, which had been locked inside, whimpered and snuggled into Alessa's arms, chattering away.

Qin Jin smiled and started the car. The black Dodge turned around and drove over the fallen leaves in the woods toward downtown Los Angeles.