CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 59 STARVED GHOST

EDITOR: DRAGON BOAT TRANSLATION

"Demons?"

Apart from the members of Tactical Team Two, Ren Suo, Chen Kun, and Wu Jianming were all taken aback.

"You know this world has Spiritual Energy, Awakeners, and Cultivators, so... is it really surprising that there are non-human strange creatures?"

Yao Fei pointed to a spot in the room. All eyes followed her gesture, landing on a three-door refrigerator with five very distinct claw marks etched upon it.

The five claw marks varied in depth, but it was clear they were made by a single hand. The refrigerator door had been scratched to the point of curling back, evidencing the immense force behind the blow.

"Typically, damage of this nature and pattern is only caused by large felines, such as lions or tigers. However, after analyzing the hairs found in the claw marks and elsewhere in the house, as well as the nail clippings within the scratches, and comparing their mitochondrial DNA, we discovered it wasn’t a feline, but rather..."

Yao Fei looked at them and stated confidently, "A human."

She then turned to Wu Jianming. "You want to find the culprit, and so do we. We allowed you to return because we hope you can assist us by identifying what possessions were damaged in your home. This will help us infer the culprit’s motive, identity, and whereabouts."

Wu Jianming didn’t speak, merely nodding, his eyes red.

Ren Suo and Chen Kun instinctively moved to follow as Yao Fei led Wu Jianming deeper into the room, but Li Shuanghe and Fang Jun stopped them.

"Don’t worry," Li Shuanghe said with a smile. "With the captain here, even an Awakener wouldn’t get off easy."

Ren Suo and Chen Kun understood. So, they didn’t want Tactical Team Three to meddle in this.

In fact, over the past few days, Ren Suo had gained a basic understanding of the differences between the various teams in the Tactical Bureau—specifically, the distinction between Tactical Teams One and Two and the other units.

Tactical Teams One and Two focused on crimes involving supernatural powers; they were the true ’Special Crime Countermeasure Commissioners.’ The other teams, rather than reacting to incidents, were more preventative. Their duties included compiling city-wide statistics on potential Cultivators and Awakeners, archiving their files for covert observation, and assigning dedicated personnel to monitor any Awakeners who concealed their abilities and maintained a low profile, ready to intervene promptly if conflicts arose.

Additionally, they were responsible for cleaning up messes left by Teams One and Two and providing logistical support. For instance, errand work like this current task had been offloaded by Tactical Team Two onto Tactical Team Three.

You Jilong’s previous assignment to oversee civil servant training was for the same reason, as such training fell under logistical matters.

However, Ren Suo and the others didn’t particularly mind. They leaned against the wall inside the room to rest. Ren Suo instinctively reached for his phone to play a game, while Chen Kun asked curiously, "Your captain mentioned Demons earlier... she wasn’t joking, was she?"

"Those claw marks look nasty, but an Awakener could do something similar, right? Why suspect some... Demon, instead of a person?"

Li Shuanghe and Fang Jun exchanged a look. Li Shuanghe grinned. "You guys really want to know?"

Ren Suo and Chen Kun nodded.

"Well, we’re all colleagues. Theoretically, confidential matters don’t need to be kept from you... but..." Li Shuanghe shrugged.

Chen Kun caught on immediately. "Bro, what’s the catch?"

"I hear Tactical Team Three has some beauties. How about a mixer sometime?" Li Shuanghe blurted out.

Chen Kun shot back, "If we have a mixer, will your captain come?"

"Definitely!"

"Then leave it to me!"

The two men solemnly high-fived, a sacred pact sealing a momentous promise, as if inscribing it into the annals of time. History had turned a new page...

Fang Jun was exasperated. "When the captain blames us later, I’ll just say I didn’t know anything."

"No worries." Li Shuanghe waved his hand dismissively, his expression calming. "But don’t you dare spread this around. This is confidential. If word gets out... heh, I’ll just get an earful from the captain. For you two, though, it could be a different story."

"We’re all in the Tactical Bureau. Who’d dare leak anything?" Chen Kun laughed. "Stop keeping us in suspense."

Li Shuanghe glanced at the disheveled room and said in a low voice, "Actually, when this scene was first discovered, we also thought it might be the work of an Awakener."

"But when we reported it up the chain, we realized there was a problem."

Li Shuanghe looked intently at them. "Cases with this MO... there have been over twenty of them nationwide in just the last half-month! Besides humans, victims include livestock like cattle and sheep, as well as poultry."

A chill ran down Ren Suo and Chen Kun’s spines.

Chen Kun pondered for a moment. "Could it be... someone created a new Spiritual Energy Technique and is spreading it privately? And after some Cultivators learned it, they went on a killing spree?"

"It’s not that simple," Li Shuanghe said. "If it were just killing, that would be one thing; after all, humans kill too. But this perpetrator doesn’t just kill. They also..."

Li Shuanghe paused, seemingly searching for the right word. Fang Jun supplied, "Chews people."

"Exactly, chews people!" Li Shuanghe affirmed with a nod.

Chen Kun was bewildered. "What do you mean, ’chews people’?"

Li Shuanghe opened his mouth, pointing to his neat teeth. "Chew. You guys are lucky you don’t have to do part-time police work like us. When we saw the victim’s body... ugh, it was enough to make you puke up last night’s dinner."

Ren Suo asked, "Is it cannibalism?"

Li Shuanghe shook his head. "No, it’s chewing people. Almost all the victims looked like they’d been ’chewed up’ by someone and then spat back out. The bodies were already pieced together when we saw them. Apparently, every piece of flesh had bite marks, like it had been thoroughly chewed. It looked less like a corpse and more like... minced meat."

Ren Suo and Chen Kun swallowed hard. I’m never eating meatballs or anything minced again.

Li Shuanghe continued, "More importantly, the examination revealed that the flesh contained salivary amylase and pepsin, but no aminopeptidase, α-glucosidase, or β-glucosidase..."

Chen Kun scratched his head. "What does that mean? What enzymes? I think I remember something about them from high school..."

Li Shuanghe said, "Well, I don’t get all the details either. The conclusion is what matters."

"Simply put, the perpetrator chewed the flesh, swallowed it, and it passed through the esophagus and stomach, but not the intestines."

"Normally, even if the perpetrator forced themselves to vomit up the swallowed flesh, it would still be contaminated with intestinal enzymes. Besides, even with stomach enzymes present, the chewed flesh wasn’t broken down into chyme..."

Hmm... A thought struck Ren Suo at this point, but Chen Kun still looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Li Shuanghe explained, "It means the perpetrator has no intestines, and quite possibly no stomach either. After they chew up and ’eat’ a person, the flesh just... falls out from where their stomach would be. That’s why the method is so bizarre, leaving behind remains that look like minced meat."

"Whoa..."

Chen Kun whispered in awe, "No wonder they call it a Demon... That’s just too... inhuman."

Indeed. Even if this perpetrator looked human, the fact that it could devour a living person raw, had no stomach, and possibly lacked all reason—otherwise, why engage in such a pointless act?—marked it as something else.

In any country, such a perpetrator would undoubtedly be classified as a ’Demon.’

An existence intolerable to society, one that humanity was compelled to destroy.

When Ren Suo heard this, surprise naturally flickered across his face.

Li Shuanghe and Fang Jun weren’t surprised by his reaction. Even they had been so horrified when they first heard about it that they’d lost their appetites. They now pitied these two from Tactical Team Three; eating was about to become an ordeal for them for the next few days.

But the reason for Ren Suo’s surprise was different from Chen Kun’s.

When he’d first heard the term ’Demons,’ a strange, vague premonition had stirred within him.

Now, after Li Shuanghe’s description, he connected this Demon to a creature from his memory—more precisely, a monster from a game!

Sharp claws for hands,

delights in eating human flesh,

has no abdomen,

so any flesh consumed just falls out,

turning into a pile of gore...

This monster... it’s an enemy from ’Over My Dead Body,’ one I encountered throughout the early, middle, and late stages of the game—

The Starved Ghost!