Chapter 385: Chapter 384: Sense of Familiarity

"Junior, don’t go."

Seeing that Lv Bai was about to leave, Li Shan quickly called out to stop him: "After all, you’re a part of Cheng Wu Zhi too, come with us and take a look."

Lv Bai turned his head and glanced at him.

It seemed like he saw something in his eyes, thought about it, and decided to go with them to the crime scene.

The reason wasn’t complicated.

Don’t forget, in that previous crisis involving the Heavy Element Reactor, to intercept that missile, Lv Bai casually plucked away Li Shan’s [Wind Manipulation] ability.

As a result, Li Shan’s strength has significantly decreased now.

But out of a desire to keep Lv Bai’s secret, Li Shan didn’t report losing his ability.

And Cheng Wu Zhi still judged Li Shan’s job abilities based on past experience. In this situation, the tasks assigned to him sometimes exceeded what he could handle.

Since he was partly responsible, if he ran into the situation, he might as well go and see.

...

Under the Habitable Tower where the crime occurred.

The officers outside the security line saluted quickly when they saw Li Shan: "Li Sanxi, Feng Liu."

Apparently, the notice had been sent out from Cheng Wu Zhi, and these security officers knew who was coming. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

At the same time, a middle-aged man with a balding head and dressed like an officer walked out, followed by two armed security personnel.

"Li Sanxi, Feng Liu, you finally came."

The balding middle-aged man was very enthusiastic, hastily coming over to shake hands: "If you hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have known what to do."

After Li Shan politely responded, he didn’t bother to introduce Lv Bai, getting straight to the point: "What’s the situation now?"

Understanding Li Shan’s work attitude, the balding man swallowed the words of relationship-building and led the way: "Let’s go directly to the crime scene, I’ll explain on the way."

"Based on the information we have, there are supernatural powers involved in this case. That means it involves a Death Fighter, which is why we invited you."

"So far, we’ve only found one victim, but we suspect there might be others yet undiscovered."

Upon hearing this, Li Shan paused: "Reason?"

"Though it sounds bizarre, the perpetrator’s method is evidently skilled, it couldn’t have been their first crime, nor would it be their only one."

"Once you see the body, you’ll understand. The blood within the victim was drained in a short time by some ability. The autopsy revealed that before all their blood was drained, the victim did not lose vital signs—after the blood was completely drained, they were still alive."

The group entered the elevator, and after pressing the floor button, the balding man continued: "According to evidence collected by the forensic technicians, this is the primary crime scene. However, even after searching the entire Habitable Tower, we found no trace of the victim’s blood."

"Is the killer collecting blood?" The abilities of Death Fighters were strange and varied, so Li Shan was not too surprised.

Abilities that require blood for activation, or growth-type abilities, are possible.

Feng Yixuan suddenly spoke: "Have you checked the victim’s personal relationships?"

"We did, just an ordinary white-collar worker, unmarried, single. The victim’s social circle was simple. Colleagues said he was kind and never argued with anyone. After work, he would just go home and play games, never heard of any conflicts."

As they spoke, the elevator opened, and there was no strange smell, not even a hint of blood.

Li Shan stepped out, scanning the area before his gaze settled on a camera at the end of the hallway: "What about the hallway camera footage?"

"Uh... well."

At this question, the balding man looked awkward, speaking in a slightly lower tone: "The camera is still under repair. Li Sanxi, you know, the maintenance of cameras in general Habitable Towers can be tricky."

Li Shan acknowledged with an ’oh’.

In reality, each major Habitable City had a batch of cameras reported for repairs monthly, contingent on the City Council’s funding mood.

It’s not that they aren’t responsible or unwilling to maintain control, but the tenants in Habitable Towers are just ordinary citizens, and managing these places doesn’t yield any extra benefits, so there’s a tacit rule to deduct where possible.

Hence the City Council, when receiving such maintenance requests, defaults to treating it as extra pay for administrators, sometimes neglecting to follow through since it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Li Shan didn’t dwell further on it and quickly headed into the victim’s room.

The apartment was clean; it was apparent the victim took pride in cleanliness.

Passing through the entrance, a dessicated corpse lay stiffly in the roughly ten square meter living room.

Recording equipment on a tripod blinked with a green light, indicating normal operation, as technicians crowded the room, collecting evidence as best as they could.

Lv Bai, who had been silent until now, raised an eyebrow upon seeing the mummified corpse.

This corpse...

It sparked a sense of familiarity in him.

It wasn’t that he knew the victim, nor did the M.O. seem reminiscent. He just felt an indescribably familiar sensation from the corpse, yet couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

Li Shan wandered around the room, casually picking up a box of game cartridges from in front of the television: "I don’t even have these official cartridges."

"Tsk tsk tsk."

Feng Yixuan, lacking typical feminine delicacy, crouched beside the corpse with interest, even daring to poke it with her index finger: "If this isn’t a vendetta, just casually killing someone with such a brutal ability is over the top. There isn’t a single intact bone left."

"Over the top? Isn’t it just blood extraction?"

Lv Bai looked at the position of the corpse and then at the entrance; there was nothing obstructing them.

Li Shan noticed Lv Bai’s gaze, his expression shifting: "Looks like the killer knocked, led the victim to open the door, then drained him right there in the entrance, tossed the body into the living room, and left—random killing?"

The method was too neat, leaving no trace in the room.

"No, it should be called random feeding," Lv Bai’s voice was soft.

He had figured out what the sense of familiarity was, which left him incredulous.

Feng Yixuan stood, hands on her hips: "Not a single clue, what do we do?"

Just then, a commotion at the other end of the hallway caught everyone’s attention.