American Zombie Detective

Just before four o'clock, Qin Jin and his group had arrived at the edge of Los Angeles when Bruce called Qin Jin's cell phone directly—

"Qin!" Bruce's voice was weary and filled with a sense of loss.

"We found her, her name is Barbara Collins! Ryan really didn't know her; we... well, we used some persuasion techniques to get her to make a bunch of calls and find out. Barbara and her boyfriend did go to get their hair done with Amy and the others, saying they were going to a vacation home, but actually..."

"They had planned it all along. They used this as an excuse to go out, but they actually went to Las Vegas! They only told Amy and the others right before they left."

"Where is she now?" Bruce's investigation confirmed Qin Jin's guess; she was the seventh missing person.

"Dead!" Bruce's answer was crisp:

"When we got to her boyfriend's apartment, they were both dead, and their noses had been...cut off!"

"Hmm..." Qin Jin pondered for a moment. Barbara's death was reasonable, but the timing of her death was worth investigating. He needed to determine whether it occurred before or after Sarah and the others in order to ascertain Herman's movements.

"I took his liver temperature around 8 p.m.," Bruceston said, immediately raising his question:

"Qin, something's not right! Around 8 o'clock, Herman, Curry, and Dimi were at the bar... Could there be another killer?"

"Not Hermann?"

Qin Jin's brows furrowed for the first time. This was different from his initial guess. He had always believed that Herman was controlled because he touched Zhan Mapeng's remnants. Now it seemed that Zhan Mapeng had more tricks up his sleeve than he had imagined!

"Send the body back to the station and get a mobile incinerator," Qin Jin said in a low voice. "I'll deal with these things when I get back."

After the pandemic, cities across the United States also deployed this simple cremation equipment.

After hanging up the phone, Qin Jin floored the accelerator and sped towards Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The atmosphere outside the special ward was oppressive and tense.

Congressman Michael paced back and forth, his face grim, surrounded by several heavily armed bodyguards; Supervisor Frank, with six officers, guarded the corridor and doorway, vigilantly surveying their surroundings…

Everyone was serious and tense; Herman's sudden act of violence had put many people in the spotlight.

Ding!

As the elevator whirred, Qin Jin and the others appeared before everyone like saviors, and everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Qin!" Congressman Michael rushed forward immediately, his eyes filled with hope and deep fear: "Amy is inside, one of our people..."

"Calm down, Mr. Councilor!" Qin Jin didn't exchange pleasantries and directly pushed open the door—

Amy lay on the bed, pale-faced, in a deep sleep maintained by medication, but her vital signs were stable. Qin Jin's gaze swept over the furnishings in the room, and finally he looked at Amy a few more times before nodding.

He briefly addressed Congressman Michael, Supervisor Frank, and others following behind him:

"What happened to Herman is unusual; it's some kind of supernatural black magic I call 'curse.' Therefore, to ensure Amy's safety, I'll be in charge of this ward now..."

He asked Congressman Michael solemnly and cautiously, "Mr. Congressman, if you agree, we will continue."

"Good! Good! Detective Qin," Congressman Michael took a deep breath and raised his voice:

"I'm entrusting Amy's safety to you! Please, you absolutely must, keep her alive!"

"Don't worry." Qin Jin gave a confident and reassuring smile, adding the final piece of leverage to gain Congressman Michael's trust. Then, his gaze fell on Alessa:

"Alessa, this ward is now yours."

The little girl, carrying Yuanxiao (sweet rice balls) and her rag doll, walked into the ward and quietly sat on the sofa next to her. Her gray-blue eyes fell on Amy without any emotion.

"You stay here and keep watch," Qin Jin continued with his instructions.

"There is only one requirement: anyone except me—remember, anyone, including Congressman Michael and our Director Frank—whoever tries to get into the ward,"

He deliberately emphasized his words, his gaze indifferent:

"Open fire! No matter who it is, no matter what their reason!"

Alessa, holding Yuanxiao, looked up, her childlike voice calm and cold, indifferent as still water: "May I... kill him?"

Qin Jin nodded and emphasized again to everyone: "Kill them directly, without mercy."

Alessa nodded emphatically, and for a moment, many people were surprised to see a flicker of excitement on her face, which vanished instantly...

This cold order made Congressman Michael's face change, the bodyguards instinctively reached for their waists, and Frank and the police officers gasped.

While many people know that Alessa has good reasoning skills, having her carry a gun as her last line of defense... that's still too crazy!

However, the powerful confidence and unwavering aura emanating from Qin Jin at this moment made no one dare to question him.

Only Constantine could roughly guess the meaning behind Qin and Jin—

Alessa must possess some kind of ability to avoid being possessed by the hair monster, so he chose her, which frustrated Constantine somewhat.

He wanted to become an exorcist to rid the world of demons and atone for his past suicide, but he didn't even have the ability to prevent evil spirits from possessing him. It was indeed a bit shameful!

Suddenly, he seemed to recall seeing an alchemical symbol called the "Red King's Seal" somewhere. It seemed that getting it tattooed on one's body would be useful... He silently made a note of it.

At this moment, Qin Jin seemed not to notice their reaction. He bent down and whispered a few words in Alessa's ear in a very low voice that only the two of them could hear.

Aresa's pupils seemed to contract slightly as she glanced at Amy on the hospital bed, then quickly looked away, nodding with her eyes lowered.

"Alright, now, everyone else can leave, or stay in the hallway and lobby," Qin Jin straightened up, facing Congressman Michael and Supervisor Frank:

"Please communicate with the hospital and clear this floor as quickly as possible so that no other patients remain."

Although Michael and Frank did not know the purpose of Qin Jin's arrangement, they had no choice but to comply under the current circumstances.

"Catherine, contact Ryan and have him bring Barbara's body back immediately. Then arrange for someone to bring Sophia over and put her in the ward across the street. Jack, go to Chinatown. I need cinnabar and realgar. Buy a lot and send the bill to the congressman later."

"Okay!" Catherine and Constantine responded immediately. Catherine started making a phone call, while Constantine took the Chevrolet keys from her and quickly went downstairs.

"Detective Qin, this..." Congressman Michael wanted to say something.

"Mr. Congressman, time is of the essence, I don't have time to explain to you, just do as I say!" Qin Jin said as he pulled Catherine along, and the two headed towards the elevator. At almost the same time, Alessa closed the door to the ward, locking herself and Amy inside.

The corridor returned to its previous silence, but unlike the initial fear and tension, everyone was now much calmer, as if they had found their anchor...

Back at the branch office, Qin Jin instructed the officers on duty to move all the items from the office, followed by Zhan Mapeng's body and Barbara's body, and stuff them all into the incinerator.

When Constanze returned, Johnny had also been released. Qin Jin instructed them to sprinkle cinnabar and realgar into the mixture and then set it on fire.

"boom--!"

Orange-red flames shot into the sky, instantly engulfing the pile of evil artifacts and the two body bags. The flames burned fiercely with the aid of cinnabar and realgar, crackling and popping.

Even more bizarrely, the hair soaked in the corpse oil twisted and curled wildly in the flames, emitting a sizzling sound that sounded like countless tiny screams!

Thick smoke billowed out, mixed with an indescribable stench. The burnt smell was mixed with the scent of hair, grease, and a kind of rotten, sweet aroma that made one want to vomit.

Flames twisted and rose, swirling within the cinnabar circle. Suddenly, a distorted ghost face appeared in the flames, its mouth wide open, about to roar, or perhaps about to say something!

but!

Constanze was faster. The moment the ghost face appeared, he threw the cinnabar in his hand. At the instant of contact, the ghost face quickly twisted, deformed, broke, and shattered, then disappeared without a trace.

The firelight illuminated Qin Jin's expressionless face, as well as Constantine's solemn and focused gaze, and the horrified expressions of Catherine, Johnny, and the others.

"Qin, will this work?" Constantine was quite calm, only asking about the effect of doing so.

"It's hard to say," Qin Jin said slowly, staring at the charred objects, hair, and corpses in the flames.

"The main reason is to prevent her from having other tricks up her sleeve. Burning it first might not be effective, but it's definitely the right thing to do."

Constantin thought about it and found it made a lot of sense, so he didn't ask any more questions.

Just as Qin Jin breathed a sigh of relief as the things inside slowly stopped twisting and moving, his phone rang.

As soon as Catherine answered the phone, Bruce's hoarse, pained voice came through:

"Catherine! Herman, it's Herman! He...he crashed into our car...on the way...Sophia had an accident..."