Next, besides disposing of the corpse, he still had to doctor the autopsy report.
Even if the Security Bureau was useless, it was still a specialized armed organization spread across the entire country. If they hadn't hired him, Forsiman wouldn't have been able to meddle even if he grew eight hands.
...
Licheng's Security Bureau was divided into twelve patrol districts. The Fifth Patrol District lay in the northeastern corner of the city, encompassing three subdistricts: Lingang, Tiexi, and Jiujia. It was dominated by warehousing logistics and old industrial zones.
Meanwhile, Licheng's GDP ranked third from the bottom, while its crime rate consistently held strong in the top three. It could be said that even among do-nothing Security Bureaus, they were top-tier slackers.
Due to high personnel turnover, out of the standard quota of twenty-five staff, only nineteen were actually on duty. Their daily duties were limited to answering dispatch calls, patrolling, handling cases, and filing reports; their incident handling capabilities were poor.
Yet however poor they were, they weren't idiots. Pressed for time, Forsiman hadn't had the chance to clean up the blood spatter on the ground. Fortunately, the killer hadn't left many clues behind.
However, the corpse he had specially treated had been transported from out of town overnight, which might leave behind clues instead.
What was that killer thinking, and what was her motive? Provoking the Security Bureau? Even so, one would need to make the crime scene gruesome to amplify the impact, instilling fear and stirring public outrage.
What was the point of dumping it right on the street? Did she really expect him to wipe her ass completely? If he hadn't used the "Tourist" to draw attention and swapped the corpses, the Security Bureau would have already begun a dragnet search. Did she think someone who had a quarrel with the deceased the night before could actually escape?
Whatever. He was already here.
Help where he could. If she really got caught by the police, wouldn't his trip be in vain?
...
Manga updates were slow, but the amount of information they packed was immense.
When the red panda entered the manga world, it kept an eye on external intel as well. It noticed at a glance that the weather outside had changed, and right below the page it had just finished reading, the Tourist's identity was exposed.
Its entire world collapsed.
Replacing the shadowy silhouette was a distinct face. Set apart from the other black-and-white panels, it had been specially colored, rendered with the texture of a photograph, and the person in it looked quite a bit younger.
He had brown hair and emerald eyes, with a chilling smile playing at the corners of his lips.
The character took up an entire panel of the manga, his title, age, and background information all exposed down to the last detail.
The Tourist: because he committed crimes all over the world, he was once thought to be a travel enthusiast.
This "Tourist"—who caused massive panic, was a thorn in the Security Bureau's side, carried out serial killings across the globe, and acted with outrageous arrogance—was none other than the forensic doctor they had hired: Forsiman.
What the hell is this? What on earth is being drawn here?!
In manga stories, the later information is revealed, the cooler and more imposing the character is.
It thought he was a major late-game character! Wasn't he supposed to be a planted foreshadowing character? It had looked forward to him keeping readers on the edge of their seats!
Forsiman! Does Forsiman deserve the plot threads laid out for him in the manga? Does he deserve the organization that nurtured him behind the scenes? Does he deserve me, who placed such high hopes on him?!
An important character had finally arrived in its jurisdiction, yet before even meeting the protagonist, what was the rush? In a hurry to reincarnate?!
—Having his identity exposed meant he went straight from a strong contender for the mid-game shadow boss to a nobody on the roadside.
Driven mad, the red panda first threw a flurry of punches in the air.
Its name was A9. It didn't know where it came from, because from the moment of its birth, it had existed to serve the entire manga world—correcting and guiding the plot's rational progression; altering and concealing the world's plot holes.
It had done plenty of shady things like pulling people into this world to fill missing character vacancies, but the person chosen this time not dying was outside its expectations, and dragging out a long chain of bugs was even more unexpected.
Now, never mind the Tourist losing all mystique; he could only serve as a stepping stone to build up subsequent plotlines and exhaust his remaining utility.
At any rate, the contrast between a forensic doctor on the surface and a serial killer in secret was also a selling point.
It no longer expected him to be some mastermind boss tripping up the protagonist's group. With his identity revealed so quickly, he had no future.
A9 quickly skimmed Forsiman's internal monologue in the manga.
The man's tall figure blocked the body on the table whose chest had been opened, his thoughts rendered in bold font.
【Troublesome...】
【A novice after all, dumping corpses all over the place...】
"Dumping carelessly"—what kind of verb was that to appear here?!
Fine, it understood now.
Years of work experience and the clues revealed in the manga told it:
The killer it had prepared was killed in self-defense. Not only was he dumped in an alley, he was also disposed of—and the person disposing of him was a forensic doctor, leaving not a single hair behind.
Once the test results were altered, he would truly have died without a trace.
Forsiman had even dragged in another body to cover it up.
...Useless, an absolute piece of trash. Having a trope as bottom-tier trashy as stalking, yet getting counter-killed during a sneak attack!
He couldn't even beat a student(?).
It recalled the frail NPC it had pulled in.
...Are students nowadays in such a terrible state of mind?
Even if she had crossed into another world, the underlying framework of society hadn't changed much. How did she dare to counter-kill him?!
After venting, A9 began to analyze calmly.
Both it and the readers who had read this far understood that Forsiman was hardly a hunter who had tender feelings for the fairer sex. Helping an NPC certainly wasn't out of mutual appreciation between kindred spirits or a sudden burst of pity.
It was entirely because the "Tourist" had his own unique code of conduct.
He killed only "the guilty," and anyone with blood on their hands was on his hit list. Purifying the world was his lifelong goal.
Forsiman simply didn't want his kill stolen by the Security Bureau; he wanted to judge the killer himself.
Sure enough, such a chuunibyou, childish, yet terrifying character premise had already spread throughout the discussion forum, and someone had posted a comprehensive analysis.
A9 didn't even need to rack its brain; it could simply harvest the fruits of others' labor by reading the comments.
【Holy crap, why did so much info drop all at once?】
【Come to think of it, everything comes full circle. Deducing the Tourist's trajectory from Forsiman's character profile fits seamlessly. So isn't Forsiman basically abandoning medicine to become a hitman? Giving up medicine really does make everything else turn out great.】
【He hasn't abandoned it yet, it's just a side gig at most.】
【According to previous intel, both of Forsiman's parents worked for an international aid organization, but both died in a war. Growing up in a morgue, he believed that warfare and human greed could never be stopped, and that forgiveness is the privilege of the living—the dead cannot forgive.
Oh, I get it! That's why he wants to claim justice on behalf of the dead, using the convenience of his job to carry out killings all over the world.】
【The character design instantly popped. With this morally gray antihero vibe, I wonder how much his popularity will skyrocket.】
【Popped where? He's completely unhinged.】
【I only see a serial killer. Where's the 'righteous' part?】
【How did the commenter above even read this far? In this manga, he's actually one of the rare normal people.】
【It's just a manga. Lighten up a bit when reading.】
【Wait, I'm confused. If Forsiman is the "Tourist," then the clue of red clay on the victim's eyes isn't a copycat crime after all—he killed the guy!】
【Got any brain cells? They literally said the bodies were swapped! The guy lying on the ground definitely wasn't the one who died originally! Forsiman complaining about someone causing him trouble proves he didn't kill him, right? He just went through all that trouble to cover for someone else.】
【True love arrives. Can we ship this?】
【Are you nuts?】
【In short, poisoned by cult ideology. So the new character in panel 16 is the case's killer?
As for why her face looked so strange, she must have been terrified because Forsiman locked onto her—fear welling up from the depths of her heart toward a stronger peer, fear of being targeted by a stronger hunter. That makes sense now.】
【So the new character is a prospective victim? Dang, I was already ready to stan and vote for her! She has this spooky, eerie vibe that totally hits my strike zone. If she were a hunter, she'd have crazy charismatic appeal just from looks alone.】
【Agreed. As long as she makes the leaderboard, I can switch biases once more.】
【I get you guys; some people just love niche characters. But being targeted by Forsiman, she'll become a literal ghost soon enough—so in another sense, you're not wrong.】
【Get outta here!】
【See? Called it!】
【What a pity. Why not let her develop a bit longer? Just stepping out of the beginner village only to run headfirst into the Tourist who's already made a name for himself—talk about rotten luck.】
The comment section had all sorts of people. A9 paid no further mind to a Tourist who wouldn't have much screentime later, turning around to look for the bug it had dragged in.
By the time it found the new NPC's workplace, Lin Mo was already unloading goods.
Just watching this scene, A9 could only feel that her strength was truly weak—perhaps due to acclimatization issues, she lagged far behind the native inhabitants of this world.
Unfortunately, the manga was no longer giving her screentime, so A9 had no way to see her internal monologue.
Still, having been targeted by the "Tourist," she definitely had a premonition; she was bound to be flustered.
Becoming the new prey meant she didn't have many days left to live. Under the circumstances, not dissolving into panic like a headless fly and being able to work normally was already quite remarkable.
It circled Lin Mo twice, watching the dense beads of sweat already seeping from her forehead, and recalled Forsiman on the other side, itching to strike.
Hmm... actually, it didn't make much difference whose hands she died by.
Whether it was the stalker who killed her or she who counter-killed the stalker, both fell within Forsiman's hunting range.
It only had to sit back and wait for Forsiman to take action.
Put this way, it hadn't turned into too much of a blunder after all.
A9 observed for a while, saw nothing special about her, and left satisfied.
...
Foam was sliced open by a small knife. Lin Mo sat on a chair, unpacking ingredients box by box, her heart rate abnormally fast.
She didn't think her methods were particularly clever. Any diligent investigation would reveal that the construction site could be traversed by pedestrians, even though it had rained last night.
As for work on the construction site, under layer upon layer of pressure from upper management, it could not stop. As long as construction teams moved in and out, the trail of clues would be severed this morning.
Yet the sudden appearance of the forensic doctor made her feel a pressing sense of urgency.
Urgency...
In the past... during planning and construction that desperately needed to boost the economy quickly, the Security Bureau would simply rush through the motions to avoid inconveniencing leadership.
Even if she became a suspect, they wouldn't be able to convict her. But now a strange character had appeared—did he have the ability and authority to halt the construction? Would he disrupt her plans?
Rate on N.U.
