Chapter 4

This assignment was a bit tricky.

One was a high-altitude fall that hit a glass canopy, then fell again.

The other had been in water too long and had become a highly decomposed corpse with adipocere formation.

By the time I finished processing these two bodies, it was already dawn.

A thunderstorm had started outside. Fat raindrops hammered against the car windows with a pattering sound.

I drove home, dragging my exhausted body back to the Harper mansion.

The living room lights were still blazing.

The moment I pushed open the door, a heavy smell of formalin mixed with a faint odor of decay instantly dispersed the luxurious living room's original aromatherapy scent.

On the sofa, the Harper family members sat in a neat row. They'd clearly been waiting for me.

The adopted daughter Violet saw me and immediately covered her nose dramatically, a flash of undisguised disgust in her eyes.

But the next second, she switched to a concerned, worried expression and hurried over. "Raven, why are you back so late? What's that smell on you?"

Without waiting for my answer, she reached out to grab the evidence case I was carrying. "Let me help you with that. You look really tired."

Her movements were quick and urgent. I didn't react in time, and she actually snatched it from me.

Then, she "accidentally" stumbled. "Ah!" "Crash!"

The metal evidence case hit the polished marble floor hard. The lock popped open, and the case sprang wide.

Several organ specimens preserved in formalin rolled out.

Among them, a section of intestine with uncleaned matter still attached fell wetly onto the carpet.

"Raven, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." The instant she saw what was on the floor, her pretty face went deathly pale. The rest of her sentence stuck in her throat. Her stomach churned. She bent over and vomited on the spot.

[Serves you right for playing tricks. Serves you right for being nosy.]

[Happy now? I wasn't planning to expose this, but you forced my hand.]

[Since you like looking so much, take a good look.]

[Now... I need to figure out how to deal with all of you.]

I put on the latex gloves I always carried and bent down expressionlessly to pick up the slippery section of intestine.

Then I straightened up, walked over to Violet who was vomiting her guts out, and held that section of intestine directly in front of her face. "Didn't you want to see?"

She looked up in horror, met my eyes, then saw that thing right in front of her. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted from fright.

[Such a small courage, yet she dares to cause trouble. She brought this on herself!]

I held the intestine and slowly turned around.

"Boom!" Outside the window, lightning split the night sky. The living room chandelier flickered in response, alternating between light and dark.

In the shifting shadows, my father, mother, and brother saw me holding an intestine, standing next to Violet's collapsed body.

That image---the horror factor was off the charts.

The three of them didn't even manage to scream before their eyes rolled back simultaneously and they fainted together.

The entire living room was littered with collapsed bodies.

I shook my head. "Well, a family should be together."

I expended some effort first carefully cleaning up the traces on the floor and putting my "treasures" back in the case.

Then I dragged them one by one back to their respective rooms and arranged them neatly on their beds.

After finishing all this, I returned to my storage room and went to sleep, completely satisfied.