Ark Chess Player

Swire gently shook her head. She didn't answer Charlotte's question immediately, but instead walked directly around Edward Wenger's body.

She turned to examine the deceased's injuries, and the next moment, her stomach felt a spasm as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand.

Edward Wenger's head was empty, without eyes, nose, ears, or mouth; it was just skin covering bones. All his flesh and blood had vanished, leaving only skin and bones.

Swire then realized that even his clothes weren't originally red.

really……

My guess was correct.

"Search the scene immediately, and try not to destroy any traces," Swire ordered. She put away her chain hammer, took out white gloves from her bag and put them on. "Notify the Guard Bureau's technicians to come and conduct a thorough search. Find even the smallest hair."

"Yes, Missy!"

Swire's direct staff quickly carried out the task.

“Superintendent Swire, you still haven’t explained why the intruders left,” Charlotte pressed.

Swire glanced at him, pointed to Edward Wenger on the ground, and replied, "His target was him; this was a retaliatory attack. After the intruder accomplished what he wanted, he left this message to remind us that there are other clues in this room."

"Then..." Charlotte asked, voicing her doubts, "how did the intruders escape from here?"

"I'm sure there's an escape route in this office."

Swire's gaze lingered on Wenger's corpse. She narrowed her eyes slightly and said coldly, "A cunning rabbit has three burrows. How could someone like him, who is used to a life of luxury and wealth, not plan his own escape route?"

"Report! Missy, we've found a secret room and an elevator here." At that moment, a police officer arrived and reported.

Swire turned and glanced at Charlotte, the meaning in his eyes was self-evident.

"Take me there."

"Yes!"

Thank you so much, Thornfire, for the treasure chest!!

Dear readers, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day!

May our great motherland prosper and become strong, and may everyone enjoy good health and peace!

Here's a big thank you to the player "荆棘火" for the golden treasure chest!!

Thank you, boss! You're so generous! You've achieved great success in your studies! And you're in good health!

I was writing until 5:30 last night, and after finishing the update I went straight to bed and didn't get up until after 1 a.m. When I woke up and looked through the group chat, I thought I had misread it.

That's wonderful, that's wonderful.

Hehe~ I also want to thank the other readers for their support.

I wasn't feeling well last month, and I'm very grateful for everyone's understanding and concern.

According to the bounty, 4K cat cookies will add 1 chapter, 40 blades will add 1 chapter, and a gold treasure chest will add 30 chapters.

I currently owe 37 chapters, but I'll try my best to update them!

Go for it! Good luck!

Chapter 268 The Smoke of War at Longmen (5K)

"..."

Swire quietly looked at the dark room in front of him.

Countless long female hairs, and specimens made with preservatives and other ingredients.

The rusty torture instruments still bore traces of dried blood and fragments of remains.

This sealed room is enough to silence anyone with criminal investigation experience. Even a novice, with a focused examination, could tell it was no makeshift forgery. A seasoned criminal investigator could discern from it the horrific and gruesome tragedy that had occurred at the scene.

Swire unconsciously clenched her fists, turned around, and walked to the elevator.

Compared to the locked room, the traces left by this elevator are more obvious.

Judging from the signs of blood clotting and its color, it could not have been left within three hours.

These numerous traces left in the elevator may have been there for three days, three months... or even day and night.

As for the number of people, Swire was certain that it was definitely more than all the corpses she had seen today.

"Heh, heh heh..."

Swire let out a self-deprecating laugh.

Even she herself was surprised; the voice she made sounded completely unlike her own, which was incredibly tragic.

Swire couldn't help but recall the missing persons cases he had searched for time and time again without success. Because the missing people were often powerless and insignificant, once the case processing time exceeded the limit, it would be marked as an unsolved case and thrown into the archives to be downplayed.

Incidentally, if a wealthy person disappears, it's not called a missing person, it's called a kidnapping.

These missing persons include both men and women, and even if the Guard Bureau were to deploy all its personnel for a thorough search of Lungmen, they might not be found. Moreover, some members of the Guard Bureau are lurking in the shadows, deliberately obstructing the search, making their efforts thankless and futile. No one will blame them if they can't find the missing persons, but if they are found, they might even face retaliation from certain individuals. This is why handling missing persons cases has become the Guard Bureau's most passive task.

"I see, I see... Heh, hehe."

Swire suddenly realized that he now understood many things that he couldn't understand before.

In the glamorous city of Longmen, the hidden dark side is equally present.

Because humans have desires.

I want many things, and I get quite a lot, but I'm never satisfied.

Even within the Lungmen Guard, which stands at the forefront of order, there are those who fall into corruption, blinded by the power in their hands, and whose behavior changes as a result.

Perhaps at first these people are approachable and willing to listen to advice. But gradually, they will enjoy the flattery of those with ulterior motives, only like to hear what they want to hear, stop listening to advice, and turn around and remove these people who are in their way, so that they will never appear in front of them again.

The more prosperous Longmen became, the more dark things it bred, because these developments were all allowed to continue by Wei Yanwu.

Wei Yanwu understood better than anyone how to transform an unknown mobile city into a world-renowned trading hub.

—Longmen has its own pride.

Swire suddenly felt a bit disgusted with his own motto.

"Really, it's so annoying..."

Swire murmured to herself, her voice echoing within the secret room.

"Did the intruders leave from here?"

Charlotte asked, his expression calm, seemingly unaffected by the horrific scene.

Perhaps the sheer impact of the path strewn with mercenary corpses was so overwhelming that everything else seemed dull to him. Or perhaps his life experience rendered him insensitive to such things.

"Maybe so."

Swire raised her right hand, gloved in white, to avoid disturbing the fingerprints at the scene, and carefully examined the elevator's control mechanism. The existence of this elevator was not registered in Lungmen's records. Normally, the construction of every building in Lungmen must be fully registered and monitored by the relevant departments to prevent illegal construction.

It seems that the relevant departments embezzled money and concealed the truth.

Swire's eyes dimmed slightly, but she quickly rallied and carefully observed the scene.

She is no longer the young girl with ideals in her mind. Having risen from the lowest level of the security guard to where she is today, she has seen a lot more.

One of Swire's former bosses told her that if she didn't want to associate with those people, the best way was to resign.

Her boss said earnestly, "I know who you are, and I know how terrifying your family background is. The heiress of the Swire Group, the richest of the rich, the apple of Longmen's eye. Sigh, I'm not afraid to tell you, but I'm being so nice to you for my own selfish reasons. If you hold a high position in the Guard Bureau in the future, as your mentor, even if I never get promoted, I won't have to worry about my superiors finding fault with me. As long as you're in this position, I can happily hold onto my secure civil servant job. Your reputation is my best resume."

"I finally crawled out of the slums and got a slightly more capable position in the Guard Bureau. To be honest, when I first became an official, I also wanted to be an upright official who could clear the sky and restore order, but I was wrong. This officialdom is even more rotten than the slums, rotten to the core. In the slums, you just couldn't get enough to eat, but here, you can only eat people. Even after all this, you still won't let this go? Fine, fine! Miss, if you insist on making these incriminating facts public, fine, very well! I'm willing to use my life to let you see clearly whether this world is truly pure or corrupt!"

"I hope you can still stay true to yourself by then, but this path will definitely be more difficult than you imagine."

"I only wish that you, Miss, may live a life of solitude and purity forever."

…Swire’s words of advice remained in her heart; she never forgot them.

This was the opportunity for Swire to be promoted from a reserve police officer to a full-fledged police officer. Despite numerous obstacles, she persevered and solved a case involving the theft of Originium psychoactive drugs, ruining a scheme between a high-ranking member of the Guard Bureau and the Lungmen underworld.

Originium psychoactive drugs are not good things.

On the contrary, this is a poison that is extremely harmful to human physical and mental health.

People who take Originium psychoactive drugs will experience hallucinations, and their nervous system will be damaged by the strong effects of the drugs. After taking them several times, they will become disabled.

Generally speaking, these two points alone are enough to make people keep their distance and feel disgusted. This kind of thing is a double-edged sword, bringing considerable energy while also bringing diseases with a 100% fatality rate.

What's more, this Originium-based psychoactive drug is harmful in every way.

Unfortunately, some capitalists are willing to exploit even Originium for money, forcing others to risk their lives in dangerous mines.

Naturally, some people will spread this toxic and addictive Originium drug for profit, reaping people's lives and souls.

Lungmen, this emerging mobile city, has been recognized as one of Terra's model cities. With its high employment rate, abundant business opportunities, and one of the world's largest populations enjoying a comfortable standard of living, this city always inspires hope. Lies or illusions may be true, but it's so close, seemingly within reach, that it makes people willing to risk everything.

People flocked to and from Longmen, all hoping to rise through the ranks and amass wealth in this financial metropolis brimming with opportunities. But reality often differed from their ideals. Caught between opportunities and pitfalls, many of these outsiders gravitated towards the latter, becoming the city's breadbasket.

Living in this rapidly developing city, everyone needs something to rely on to escape the bitterness of reality.

After all, people want to rely on something to live.

Most people choose cigarettes, even though repeated use of nicotine can increase heart rate and blood pressure, reduce appetite, cause nausea, and even lead to death when overdose... But if life is really unbearable, if you don't know how to live and are afraid to die, you can only try your best to deceive yourself for the rest of your life.

Even the former king of mercenaries would light a cigar in the dead of night and rest alone in the wisps of smoke.

The underground forces of Longmen saw this opportunity.

They don't just intend to plunder the rich; they also intend to plunder the poor.

The underground forces in Lungmen obtained supply channels for Originium psychotropic drugs from other cities, and distributed these drugs after diluting them to a level that would not kill people.

In the early stages of Longmen's development, venues similar to Zuiyuelou (醉月楼), nightclubs, and other establishments providing karaoke equipment and spaces for singing and dancing emerged in large numbers. These entertainment venues attracted a large number of people and satisfied their desires, which were hidden beneath moral constraints and the suppression of public opinion.

The underground forces of Lungmen set their sights on these establishments. Initially, they distributed these pills for free to the wealthy and those struggling financially through shopkeepers, playboys, hostesses, and street thugs. Even the poor, as long as they had a house, a wife, and daughters, were within their hunting grounds.

These drugs are so hallucinogenic and highly addictive that once people become addicted, it is almost impossible for them to quit.

Free things are always the most expensive.

Once you do it the first time, you'll want to do it again, but the second time will require expensive Lungmen Dollars.

The wealthy can afford to purchase Originium-based psychoactive drugs regularly, carefully controlling the dosage and frequency. Even knowing their bodies are gradually heading towards the abyss, they willingly succumb to this false pleasure.

Those without money cannot resist this desire and impulse. To obtain Originium psychoactive drugs, they are willing to pay any price, selling their houses, cars, wives, daughters, and even their organs. But the money they can obtain is limited, and ultimately, they suffer a fate worse than death without the drugs, meeting a tragic end.