For an urban horror and suspense manga, death in the story was as common as could be; only deaths that were not horrific enough, perfunctorily brushed off, would draw ridicule from readers.
After all, with so many keywords and buffs stacked onto this title, readers who could keep up had long developed iron stomachs and steady hearts; they probably couldn't even remember the names or faces of the deceased.
There were simply too many killers and suspects, making those lying dead all over the place even less worth mentioning. The killers treated the lives slipping through their fingers as trophies—stepping stones to climb the leaderboards and most-wanted lists.
Enamored by the characters' personal charisma, readers even established a character points leaderboard, viewing the blood on their hands as mere highlights of their unique personalities. Worship of the strong only made them adore these characters even more.
With devils fighting all across the entire world, who would care about one extra corpse turning up in a dark corner?
Nobody was curious about the deceased's past or identity, completely devoid of interest in his life or dreams; their sole amusement was guessing which killer's masterpiece it was.
【Whose head is this? Whose head rolled?】
【Does it even matter? Looking at his face, he's just an extra. Killing him doesn't add to anyone's stats.】
【It's not like this is a game, what a weird way to put it.】
【The killer just dumped the head on the ground like that and walked off aloofly without a word.】
【It's gotta be Tourist's work, right? The red clay is an obvious trademark. Ugh, still so uncreative. Can we stop giving him screen time? He's my least favorite character in the whole series.】
【Wait, Tourist didn't get any points added? The framing is as clear as day. Of course, I'm not defending him—killing for a cult belief is way too cliché a motive anyway.】
【Then who was it? A copycat crime or a setup? But there's no motive. The law enforcement in this manga's world are totally useless, and criminals remain at large indefinitely. What's the point of pulling this stunt other than drawing Tourist's aggro and attention?】
【A new catcher must have appeared. The author probably wants to introduce him, so they provoked the catcher to give him screen time.】
...
Hiss—
Just what were these guys talking about? Even the tiniest thing could generate so much discussion. More than a dozen replies had stacked up in just a few minutes; how truly boring.
Still, this merely proved just how ridiculously popular this manga was.
In a pitch-black space, an animal plushie resembling a red panda scratched its chin with a paw.
As half an administrator of this world, it had an obligation to be responsible for the manga's content and quality.
There were many world administrators, but the Li City area happened to be within its jurisdiction. Therefore, if this chapter's manga content was a bit strange, it definitely had to share the blame.
It wracked its brain, trying to recall.
First of all, it hadn't received any notice from above, nor had anyone told it about adding a new character. What could possibly be kept from a model employee like itself?
Speaking of the deceased, however, it did remember something.
—Not long ago, it had pulled someone who was on the verge of dying in an explosion from another world to serve as a victim.
This was because a vacancy had opened in the plot for a bottom-rung woman who, after having her daily routines figured out, would be stalked and murdered.
The solution for a missing role like this was simple: just pull someone in. The victim's role wasn't like a hacker or a doctor; it required no technical skill whatsoever. As long as she could die, it was fine.
Come to think of it, two months had passed; shouldn't she be dead by now?
By the way, what was her name again?
Eh, not important.
According to the predetermined plot, the killer who murdered her was supposed to be a nameless nobody whose face wasn't even fully drawn. The murder was merely meant to lure Tourist to the vicinity of Li City to facilitate the progression of the subsequent plot.
Readers nowadays had a high threshold, and the buzz generated by deaths had long since dwindled significantly; today's updated chapter could at most be considered routine filler.
In high spirits, it clicked into the newly released chapter. But upon seeing the deceased's unfamiliar face, its mood instantly plummeted to rock bottom.
Wasn't this a character who had already died as dead as can be two chapters ago, leaving behind only an afterimage?
Who drew his face in! A death closeup isn't something minor characters get to have!
Wait...
Catching a glimpse out of the corner of its eye, it immediately discovered an even more terrifying fact.
Why was this woman still alive?
With a keen eye recognizing its own handiwork, it rummaged through the manga panels with its clumsy paws, painstakingly fishing out a silhouette tucked away in the corner of a single frame.
Ordinarily, in scenes featuring multiple people, characters in the background would be blurred by the artist.
Yet, for this woman whose face was hidden among the crowd, it could clearly see her terror-stricken expression.
It had thought that the second time it saw her face would be her corpse, never expecting her to still be breathing.
She perfectly matched the mindset of an ordinary person stumbling across a corpse; fear was vividly written all over her face. Forget basic disguise—she didn't know how to conceal her expression in the slightest.
It snorted, devoid of any guilt, thinking with hypocritical sympathy.
What a pity. Ending up in this world truly was rotten luck across eight lifetimes. Her failure to adapt was entirely within its expectations; not everyone possessed the ability to stay calm under pressure, able to blend in without batting an eye after realizing they had completely transmigrated into an unknown world.
Someone from a normal world was naturally easier to frighten than the natives who had weathered great storms.
In her world, some people might never see a crime scene in their entire lives.
None of that mattered, however. Floating in midair, it felt a creeping dissatisfaction.
Why hasn't she died yet? That's not how the script was written!
What on earth went wrong!
Could it be good luck, that the killer who decided to act on a whim didn't fancy her as a target?
A discrepancy outside the plot had cropped up, making its professional competence look terrible.
It had to correct the plot without altering too much. In that case, this kill would just have to be handed over to Tourist; he was much cleaner and quicker with his hands.
...
The abruptly appearing character caused only a tiny ripple.
The manga artist would never draw a passerby in detail, but this character was a bit peculiar. Readers pausing on that panel would cast a few curious glances at the figure standing in the corner.
【The one in the corner of panel 16 must be the new character, right? The artist gave her a frontal view of her face. Criminals always return to the scene of the crime to admire their work—is the author not even going to let the readers guess? Where's the suspense in that?】
【She's practically turning into the world-famous painting The Scream. But because of the artist's art style, it's impossible to tell what type she falls under. Still, judging by her vibe alone, she should just be an ordinary person. It's unlikely she'd kill someone.】
【It's definitely far more likely that she's the next victim. That debunks the theory about the killer being a new catcher. The guy on the ground was definitely killed by some familiar old face.】
【The new character looks pretty frail. Of course, I'm not ruling out the possibility that she's a psychopath, but we have to be realistic here—she doesn't look like she could take down a grown man.】
【How did you guys even spot her? It's drawn so small, you'd need a microscope.】
【This manga is practically showing off technical skill. The art is super detailed, the visual tension is incredible. Sure, some scenes are a bit scary, but that's art! Artists can really study a lot of these details.】
【Kinda hilarious how so many people from the Public Security Bureau showed up, yet the only one actually working is a hired forensic doctor. The inspection system in fictional worlds never ceases to blow my mind.】
...
The air was slightly damp.
"Relax. It's quite a coincidence; the cordon hasn't been set up yet. If you had arrived any earlier, you would've run right into the corpse. Looking at it another way, running into us is pretty lucky, isn't it?" Forsiman began with some polite platitudes, joking to ease the tension. "You know, the first person to discover the scene is often treated as a suspect."
"What are you trying to say?" Lin Nan asked.
"Do you live nearby?" Forsiman stood with them outside the designated white line, wearing the white work uniform representing an expert.
Lin Mo vaguely caught the disconnected characters for "Duty," "Expert," and "Forensic" on his badge. The lettering was too small, and the rest flashed past before her eyes.
"Pretty far. Over hills and valleys. But what does that have to do with the case?" Lin Nan retorted.
A contrarian personality?
Forsiman was not fooled by the other's intentional playing dumb. Strictly business, he pointed toward the road they had come from. "Aside from this main road, are there any other paths leading into this alley?"
"This place is far from the city center to begin with. According to others, road renovations started three months ago in response to municipal policies, making road conditions even worse than before," Lin Nan said. "You could ask anyone on the street for that kind of information."
"Don't take that tone," a previously silent staff member interjected sharply, unable to stomach his disrespectful attitude. "Just tell us what you know. Or would you rather go down to the bureau to talk?"
As the atmosphere stiffened, the tense expression on Forsiman's face relaxed instead. He waved his hand toward the people behind him and laughed.
Whatever had crossed his mind, he let the two off easily, saying, "Thank you for cooperating. In that case, we won't keep you from your work. The killer can't have run far anyway, so a day or two won't make a difference."
Whether it was an illusion or not, those emerald-green eyes drifted forward, sweeping right across her. Lin Mo lowered her head, evading his gaze.
How awful...
A hint?
A warning or a provocation?
Lin Mo felt herself becoming abnormal again. She told herself: she couldn't assume someone wanted to hurt her just because they glanced at her; perhaps his gaze had no deeper meaning at all.
Making unauthorized assumptions about others was going too far, an act that only added a burden to her own psyche.
Yet his final sentence felt as though it had been spoken directly to her.
Her keen sixth sense told her that the forensic doctor before her was not as kind and easygoing as he appeared. He definitely knew something.
Then what did he know?
Lin Mo hurried her steps. Before her wild thoughts could spiral further, they arrived at the food stall where she worked, the familiar smell of cooking fumes filling her nostrils.
It was still early, so hardly anyone was around at this hour.
Beside her, Lin Nan said, "Then I'll head to class first. I'll come pick you up tonight."
Snapping back to reality, Lin Mo replied, "Okay..."
...
"The object the deceased last came into contact with was to his right," Forsiman said as he stepped inside the white line. "Even after the rain, there are things that cannot be covered up. The new reagent can detect them. Just looking at the blood spatter pattern reveals something is off.
"Although he is faceup, if he really suffered a frontal assault, the blood would have pooled in a single direction after he collapsed. Right now, the positioning is wrong."
"This guy was manipulated after death. Whether it was done by the killer remains unknown." He put on gloves and briefly inspected the condition. "Let's carry him back first. I'll perform an autopsy."
Public Security Bureau.
The body was carried into the autopsy room.
"Don't we need to notify the deceased's family?" Seeing the human body placed onto the autopsy table, the assistant was surprised by Forsiman's decisiveness. "I thought his cause of death was already fairly obvious."
"Without a forensic doctor, you couldn't convict a killer even if they murdered someone right in front of your eyes. You only rushed over last night, so go get some rest." Forsiman walked past the assistant, going alone to fetch the instruments. "I'll need you tomorrow, so there's no need to be so diligent today. Leave the rest to me."
The assistant was indeed exhausted, but she still said dutifully, "Let me assist you."
"Thank you, but as I said, that won't be necessary—" Forsiman's eyes above his mask curved into a smile as he drew out his words, shutting the door right in front of her.
Shut outside the door, the assistant blinked blankly, yawning from drowsiness.
...
A pungent chemical odor permeated the pristine white room, the air ominously still.
The blade sliced through flesh, opening the chest.
Yet the degree of decay inside the thoracic cavity was severely inconsistent with the exterior, making it almost unimaginable that the stench had not seeped through the skin.
Confronted with this bizarre sight, Forsiman not only showed no surprise, but raised his eyebrows instead.
"Sigh, I said we should have swapped in a fresher one."
It was just that results had been scarce lately, making it rather difficult for him to even find a relatively intact one.
Rate on N.U.
