Chapter 13: Murder Next Door

The actual situation was close to what Chen Zhao had guessed. The injured police officer had lost his gun and did not dare to report it, so he had decided to investigate himself.

In the end, he met the person who had stolen the gun from him and was wounded by his own gun.

His colleagues clearly did not want him to get into trouble. Hence, they had invited Chen Zhao to the place.

The situation was not complicated, but it would be better kept as a secret.

Of course, this kind of incident could be either serious or minor. If his colleagues helped him to cover everything up and find the lost gun, he would be just fine.

On the other hand, if his gun appeared at some crime scene, or caused any casualties, it would be a serious problem.

That was why the police who had lost his gun was so anxious and investigated everything himself.

Nevertheless, Chen Zhao was pleased that he could expand his social network, especially when it was with the police.

“Do you have anything else later?”

“Have you decided where we’re going to eat at?”

“Let’s find a place that allows pets.”

The two found a Chinese restaurant. After their meal, they went directly to the motel.

However, just when the two were getting into the mood, a gunshot interrupted their happy moments.

“It’s from next door!” Chen Zhao’s expression changed. “I remember it’s a couple.”

Gerlyn put her clothes back on. Then, she dashed to the adjacent room and kicked the door open at once.

“Freeze! Drop your weapons!” Gerlyn did not charge into the room right away. Instead, she pointed her gun at the room.

Chen Zhao stood at the door to his own room. Gerlyn signaled Chen Zhao to not move any closer.

Chen Zhao felt as if he was living in a movie. In the past ten days, he had already met four people wounded by guns, in addition to a sinful murderer.

Now another shooting incident occurred right beside his room.

In the twenty-odd years Chen Zhao had spent in China, he had never witnessed any shooting incident around him.

He had only seen gunshot wounds on two cops, which happened very rarely.

There was no movement inside the room. Gerlyn walked inside cautiously.

Just like most crime films, when Gerlyn entered the room, she pointed her gun carefully at the corners. Her actions were all filled with alertness.

However, very soon, Gerlyn lowered her weapon. The room was not big in the first place, so there was no hiding place available.

There was a corpse on the ground, and the window was open.

Chen Zhao also entered the room. He immediately recognized the male corpse as the man in the couple that he had seen.

“That woman is missing,” Chen Zhao said.

“What’s she like?”

“Around twenty, brunette, 5’7”, D… D cup.”

Suddenly, a black shadow appeared. Blackie?

Why is Blackie here?

Then, Blackie struck the corpse with his sickle, drawing the man’s soul out.

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“Blackie, why are you here? This isn’t your territory, right?”

“I came here to chat with you. There hasn’t been many targets in my region recently, so I dropped in here. Then I end up seeing this guy. I always earn something by following you. Great.”

“Save me… Save me… Save me… I don’t wanna die… Is he the Grim Reaper?”

The deceased man was already in his soul state. He struggled wildly in an attempt to break free from Blackie’s hand as he called at Chen Zhao and Gerlyn for help.

However, he could not hear the dialogue between Chen Zhao and Blackie. Chen Zhao glanced at the soul.

Noticing Chen Zhao’s look, the soul started grasping at straws.

“Can you see me? Save me… Save me… Please save me… I have money. I can give all to you, as long as you save me.”

If he was still alive, Chen Zhao would not mind helping him. However, his brain was scattered everywhere from the gunshot. Chen Zhao could not bring a dead person back alive. Even Blackie could not achieve this, so there was nothing he could do.

“Do you want to ask him anything? I can let him tell you some information, but you have to be quick. The longer he is dead for, the more memories he will lose.”

“Help me ask him who killed him. Is it the female that has been with him?”

“Yes, yes… That damn bitch.”

“Why did she kill you? What’s your relationship? And, who are you?”

“I’m a bounty hunter. She’s not my girlfriend, but my prey. She lied… She lied to me!” The soul looked very agitated and his face was distorted with ferocity.

He clearly could not accept the fact that he was dead.

Therefore, as he was answering the questions, his words seemed somewhat incoherent.

However, very quickly, Chen Zhao managed to know the truth from the dead man.

The woman was a wanted criminal, but she had found the dead man willingly. However, the dead man was planning to hand her over not to the police, but rather to the leader of a gang. Hence, the woman killed him and then escaped herself.

There were several suspicious points in his answers. Why would the woman find him willingly? If she was going to surrender herself, why would she find a bounty hunter instead of going to the police station directly?

Bounty hunters were a common existence in America. They were not cops, but they had more powers than cops, or rather less restrictions.

Their job was to capture criminals and then claim bounties.

They would earn more than the police, but similarly they faced higher risks.

Although Chen Zhao managed to learn a lot of useful information from the soul, he was unable to explain anything to Gerlyn directly.

After all, if he told Gerlyn about this, she would probably start to suspect him.

Most importantly, the dead man was not planning to hand the female criminal over to the police. Instead, he wanted to give her to a gang leader who was willing to pay more. He did not say who the gang leader was, or perhaps he had already forgotten about it.

After leaving their bodies, souls would gradually lose their memories. After a while, they would only remember the things which had left the deepest impressions or those they were most obsessed with.

In other words, after questioning the soul this time, he would probably only remember what’s the worst meal he had had in his life the next time he was asked a question.

Soon, the police arrived. Gerlyn started talking with her colleagues.

The burly black policeman whom Chen Zhao had met earlier walked up to him. “Buddy, nice to see you again. My name’s Melson. I’m the head of the crime investigation department.”

“I’m Chen Zhao. You can call me Chen. I seem to have offended God. Recently I keep running into this sort of stuff.”

“This is America. You have to get used to these.”

“Maybe I’ll never get used to them.”

“You and Gerlyn are the first to arrive at the scene. Have you found anything useful?”

“Not really. I’m not a cop, only a doctor, and an unofficial one.”