The Bribed Mole

At night, most of the Los Angeles Police Department's Canyon Precinct building is shrouded in silence and darkness.

Even the homicide and serious crimes division, which is known as the busiest unit, has no major cases lately, and no one is staying to work overtime.

A figure, like a gecko blending into the shadows, silently vaulted out of the first group's window, swiftly moved to the second group's window, and then slid in—it was Hermann.

The group of police officers who were once tormented by the corpse poison but were eventually rescued by Qin Jin.

His face was devoid of its usual expression, filled only with tension, anxiety, and a hint of gloom. His reason for climbing through the window was clear:

He wanted to find something, but he had to avoid the surveillance cameras in the corridor.

Like a wild beast searching for prey in unfamiliar territory, he swiftly and cautiously entered the detective's office, gently put it on behind his back, then took out a pen-shaped flashlight, put it in his mouth, and began to quickly search through it.

He checked all the files and documents, including the desktop, drawers, and filing cabinets, and even turned on the computer, but he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"Damn it!" Herman cursed under his breath, sweat beading on his forehead!

Absolutely not! There is absolutely no mention of the name 'Tong Jiye' in any of the materials and files, including computer folders!

Qin Jin handled everything flawlessly, or... he didn't bring it back at all?

Unwilling to give up, Herman expanded his search area and sneaked to Catherine's desk.

The place was indeed piled high with documents, but most of them were backlogged expense reports, local security weekly reports, and photocopies of some unresolved case files.

He flipped through the papers quickly, the soft rustling sound particularly jarring in the deathly silent office.

However, nothing was found.

A sense of frustration welled up in Herman's heart. He straightened up, wiped his face in annoyance, and looked at Jack's seat.

As the laziest guy in the entire second group, would he really leave these things there?

Herman was about to go over when his gaze swept over the pile of things next to Jack's desk—various sinister artifacts he and Inspector Bruce had scavenged from the lair of the deceased sorcerer "Zhanmapeng":

Twisted metal artifacts, shriveled animal skeletons, strange powders, various herbs, and glass jars filled with unidentified liquids and other odds and ends...

These things looked like pairs of eyes in the darkness, seemingly staring at his back.

Herman felt a strange palpitation. As he walked toward Constanze's desk, he looked back twice, but saw nothing.

The beam of light from the pen-shaped flashlight shone on the dusty objects.

The light flickered, and the shadows twisted and distorted accordingly, as if something was wriggling, but upon closer inspection, there were only the outlines of inanimate objects, lying quietly in the dust.

"You're scaring yourself..."

Herman spat, his tense nerves relaxing slightly. It was probably the eerie aura emanating from the pile of things that made him uncomfortable.

Finally, finding nothing on Jack's desk, he made a decision: he quickly checked the window again, returned to the office, and left.

He didn't see it, but just as he pulled his foot over, a layer of gray hair suddenly emerged from one of the jars full of hair, fell to the ground, and then quickly darted out through the crack in the door into the hallway.

As Herman left the corridor, he didn't even notice the slight snagging on his trouser leg.

Driving away from the police station, Herman stopped at a dark street corner and dialed a number:

"Mr. Tong." His voice was low and his tone was respectful.

"How is it? Did you find it?" The voice on the other end of the phone was cold and authoritative, without any nonsense. It was Tong Zhenjiang, the younger brother of the current head of Wushengtang.

"I've already searched the desks in Group Two," Herman swallowed, his tone unhurried.

"I've searched Qin Jin's office, Catherine's desk, everywhere I could reach. Nothing! Absolutely no clue about Tong Jiye! Not a single document! Detention records, operation reports... none of them!"

His tone was full of honesty and sincerity: "As I reported to you, our bureau has absolutely not received any bribes from Young Master Tong Jiye or the gunman Billy, and Team Two has no relevant leads either... Is your source of information truly conclusive?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, a brief silence that made Herman's heart leap into his throat.

"The source is absolutely certain," Mr. Tong's voice carried an undeniable chill, each word striking Hermann's heart:

"More than one person witnessed Qin Jin personally taking Tong Jiye and Billy away in St. Simon."

Hermann's back was instantly soaked with cold sweat:

"Then...then...I really don't know the reason! I swear, all the evidence I found points to two things: First, the Los Angeles Police Department's Canyon Precinct Homicide Division absolutely did not take these two people in! Second, Qin Jin left no written record of handling this matter! It's all clean, as if nothing ever happened!"

Mr. Tong on the other end of the phone fell silent again, this time for an even longer time.

Herman held his breath, as if he could hear his own heart pounding in the empty fire escape.

"Alright," Mr. Tong's voice finally rang out again, his tone unreadable, yet it sent chills down one's spine. "I understand."

The call was abruptly ended, leaving only a busy tone.

Herman felt as if he had been granted a pardon, but also felt immense confusion and unease, and let out a long sigh.

He leaned back in his seat, trying to calm his racing heart and tense nerves.

Is the task I assigned... complete?

Mr. Ke Tong's last words, "I understand," weighed heavily on his heart, more unsettling than a direct reprimand.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the heaviness, and prepared to drive away.

Just then—

"Ugh—!"

A short, suppressed cry of pain suddenly escaped his throat!

It felt as if a red-hot steel needle had suddenly and violently pierced the back of his head without warning!

The excruciating pain came on so violently that it instantly tore his consciousness apart!

His vision went black, and his body swayed violently. The excruciating pain was not fleeting, but rather a continuous, deep drilling sensation, accompanied by a strange wriggling feeling!

Herman instinctively reached for the source of the excruciating pain—the back of his head!

The moment his fingers touched her, it felt as if all the blood in his body had frozen!

His fingers clearly touched something cold, slippery, and tough!

It was like a venomous snake that had just awakened from hibernation, clinging tightly to his scalp and desperately trying to burrow inside!

He could feel the thing writhing with immense force, trying to break through his skin, burrow into his flesh, and even... his skull!

It was hair! A strand of wet hair that didn't belong to him!

His mind went blank, leaving only primal fear and excruciating pain.

He tried to tear the thing off, but the slippery hair and its immense strength made it impossible for him to grip it firmly. He managed to get some hair wrapped around his fingers and then pulled hard—

A sharp pain swept over him. Herman's body convulsed violently as if struck by a high-voltage electric current. His eyeballs bulged out from the pain and fear, and everything went black before his eyes. His consciousness also fell into darkness in an instant!

He twitched twice before collapsing completely inside the car, motionless.

Several minutes passed before Herman opened his eyes again.

All the pain and fear had vanished from the face that once belonged to Herman, replaced by an extremely distorted stiffness.

His lips parted in a completely inhuman arc, as if mimicking a smile, yet filled with an inhuman eeriness.

He raised his hand, his movements hesitant, like a puppet on strings, and gently stroked the back of his head.

The spot where the foreign object had just burrowed in left a bloody hole, the tentacles sticky. He then grabbed a hat from the side, put it on, and started the car.

The car made a quick U-turn on the road and drove off into the distance, quickly disappearing into the Los Angeles night...