Chapter 11: Professional Killer

Although Zaolin District was a remote development zone in Fuzhou, Officer Xiong arrived very quickly this time. In just about six minutes, he was in front of Lan Mu.

Seeing Lan Mu dressed in patient clothes, looking pitiful as he crouched by the roadside, Officer Xiong quickly got out of the car to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Lan, that was my oversight. Please get in the car.”

Lan Mu knew he was now an important witness, which was why the other party was being so polite.

“It’s nothing, nothing happened to me. Um… Officer Xiong, was Wang Jinghu caught?”

After getting in the car, Officer Xiong did not tell the driver to turn around and head to the station. Instead, they first drove into the villa area.

At the same time, he answered: “Wang Jinghu has been detained. However, we checked the car’s dashcam and the intersection surveillance footage. There were no issues; he never came to Zaolin District at all! Mr. Lan, with only your testimony alone, I’m afraid…”

Lan Mu took out his phone, played a recording, and sent it to Officer Xiong via Bluetooth.

Then he said: “This is a short recording I made after I was tricked into Boss Zhao’s villa… As for the issue with Wang Jinghu, I think the hospital can definitely provide many people who saw him pick me up. He picked me up right at the hospital’s main entrance in a police car. This is enough to prove he picked me up from the hospital, yet he reported to you that I wasn’t at the hospital and he didn’t get me? Hah, doesn’t that speak for itself?”

Officer Xiong nodded and made a call to arrange for someone to go to the hospital to look for witnesses. He was a cautious person; after all, he couldn’t just distrust his long-time subordinate based on a stranger’s one-sided story. However, deep down, he already believed Lan Mu. Because regarding this matter, Wang Jinghu offered no defense and remained completely silent.

Then he opened the recording on his phone. The recording was short. After listening to the dialogue inside, he believed Lan Mu.

“If the recording is real, the information mentioned in it is very useful. But unfortunately, this cannot be used as evidence.”

Officer Xiong added: “Although it can’t serve as evidence, it’s enough to make the four captured men confess. Not a single Poacher will escape. But as for Boss Zhao… this…”

Officer Xiong was fairly tight-lipped and didn’t say much more, but his meaning was clear: just a recording couldn’t touch Boss Zhao.

Lan Mu understood. He actually hadn’t expected much anyway.

“Hiss!” Officer Xiong looked out the window and suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. Then the police car stopped, he ran out of the car, and stood there dumbfounded.

Lan Mu looked over. They had already entered the villa area. Now, outside a barrier of yellow tape, Officer Xiong’s colleagues had cordoned off the area. After collecting clues at the scene, they began to remove the bodies.

Lan Mu took a deep breath, also got out of the car, and then pretended to look shocked as he said: “That’s one of the Poachers! How did he die?”

Officer Xiong had initially planned to cross the tape alone, but upon hearing Lan Mu’s words, he pulled him along. The two of them walked inside the yellow tape to get a close look at the body being removed.

“Are you sure?”

Lan Mu nodded and said: “I’m sure! He is one of the Poachers!”

“Good, come with me to identify them!”

Officer Xiong brought Lan Mu further inside. Soon they arrived at the back door of a villa, where another body lay face down.

The police seemed to have finished collecting clues and were already having people lift the body to take it away.

“That’s right! This is also one of the Poachers!” Lan Mu glanced at the body and said directly.

Officer Xiong nodded and took Lan Mu to see each body. Lan Mu identified every single one.

“These are all Poachers. The older one is their leader. As for these four, I remember they seemed to be Boss Zhao’s men. They were the ones who dragged me out of the car.”

“What on earth happened? How did they all die?”

Lan Mu spoke with a grave expression, instinctively taking out his phone to start taking pictures.

“Hey! Don’t take pictures! I remember you’re a reporter from Metropolis, right? Please don’t report on this incident.” Officer Xiong said seriously.

Lan Mu licked his lips, put away his phone, and nodded, saying: “Alright.”

Many police personnel arrived. They removed all the bodies from inside and outside the villa for autopsy.

A man who looked like a leader walked over. Several police officers who were collecting clues immediately reported to him.

“Director Fan, there are no signs of secondary disturbance at the scene. It’s as if the perpetrator did no cleanup work after the act, just like an ordinary person’s crime. However, everyone was killed with a single, fatal strike. The method was extremely ruthless. Preliminary judgment suggests the killer was likely just one person…”

The officers present, including the director, all widened their eyes. There were twelve deceased, and the murders were actually committed by a single person!

“Can you be sure? Only one killer?” Director Fan said incredulously.

The junior officers looked at each other. One of them thought for a moment and confirmed again: “Indeed, only one person. The killing methods were largely similar—all were sharp weapon thrusts, and the wounds were extremely deep. The killer must have been very strong!”

Another officer added: “However, no murder weapon was found at the scene, nor any traces left by the killer during the act. It was as if the attack came out of nowhere. We suspect the killer is an extremely professional assassin who cleaned up his own traces but deliberately left the victims’ bodies untouched.”

Yet after he finished, another officer raised a doubt: “But judging from what was discovered in the villa’s Basement, that appears to be the starting point of this whole chain of killings. The killer most likely was originally hiding in the Basement, then committed the murders one by one, chasing down the victims. This also explains why three of the deceased were scattered in three different directions outside the villa.”

“Originally in the Basement?” Officer Xiong thought to himself, suddenly looking at Lan Mu. He couldn’t help but say: “Mr. Lan, did you enter the Basement?”

Lan Mu shook his head and said: “No.”

Of course he couldn’t admit it; otherwise, there would be no way to explain. After all, the police already knew the killer started the whole slaughter from the Basement.

The bodies of Huang Sheng and another Poacher were found in the Basement.

As long as Lan Mu didn’t admit it, the police had no evidence. Even if they psychologically suspected him a little, it would be useless. They simply couldn’t deduce the truth of the whole case.

After all, the one who ended these people was the White-maned Lion. Let alone leaving nothing behind, even if something related to the killer was left, it wouldn’t be his own traces, but those of a monster.

“Who is this?” Director Fan only now noticed there was an outsider at the scene.

Officer Xiong quickly introduced Lan Mu. After learning he was a reporter and also a witness in the poaching case, Director Fan immediately said: “Xiong Hui, wrap up the poaching case quickly first. Escort Mr. Lan back to the station for identification.”

Xiong Hui understood immediately. This meant Lan Mu, an outsider, should not be at the scene, especially given his sensitive identity as a reporter.

Moreover, the poaching case really should be closed as soon as possible. The biggest matter now was the newly occurred major homicide case.

With the order from the leader, Xiong Hui quickly took Lan Mu away from the scene. Lan Mu didn’t cause trouble either; he himself was eager to have this matter concluded quickly.

Lan Mu was taken to the city police station. After identifying the four captured Poachers, he then entered the tedious procedures. After signing the testimony, he could go wherever he wanted in the near future, but he had to keep his phone line open because the police might need to reach him at any time. In the future, he would also have to return to Fuzhou to testify in court.

Troublesome as it was, these were things he couldn’t avoid.

By the time he walked out of the police station, it was already 8 PM. Xiong Hui treated him to dinner.

And due to Lan Mu’s special circumstances, Xiong Hui even arranged accommodation and a train ticket back to Metropolis for him. However, the ticket for returning to testify in court later would be at his own expense.

After checking into the guesthouse, Lan Mu locked the door from the inside, charged his phone, and checked the room briefly. There were no issues.

Lan Mu breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the police hadn’t suspected him yet.

Although he had no absolute proof that he wasn’t at the crime scene, obviously, no one thought he was the killer who took down twelve people single-handedly.

He had deliberately not cleaned up the scene. First, time didn’t allow it. He had to call Xiong Hui from a conspicuous location as quickly as possible to somewhat prove he had escaped before the murders occurred.

Secondly, the more information exposed at the scene, the more it would rule out Lan Mu the human as a suspect.

Because the one who actually committed the acts was the White-maned Lion.

When transformed into the White-maned Lion, if he wanted, he wouldn’t even leave footprints.

Lan Mu was just a reporter, not a professional killer. Even if Xiong Hui suspected him a little, he would probably dismiss it immediately, right?

“This case will probably become an unsolved mystery. There shouldn’t be any further trouble.”

Lan Mu happily took a shower, comfortably lay on the bed, and the heavy stone in his heart finally fell. He was solely thinking about returning to Metropolis as soon as possible.

However, before sleeping, there was one thing he still hadn’t figured out. He really couldn’t sleep without properly studying his ability.

While thinking about it, with a single thought, he transformed into the White-maned Lion. Weakness and pain washed over him.

The White-maned Lion had been shot twice, both by the Old Hunter. No matter how much time passed in human form, once he turned back into the white lion, the wounds remained as they were before he turned back human.

Conversely, no matter how severe the injuries in human form, once he transformed into the White-maned Lion and then changed back, the injuries would be healed.

After much thought, he could only guess that during the transformation, the small white orb merging into his body provided the energy for the transformation. And this energy could repair the fragile human body. As for the much stronger White-maned Lion, because it was too powerful, the energy did not perform repairs.

However, it wasn’t completely ignored. The White-maned Lion itself had extremely strong self-healing ability. The wounds had stopped bleeding on their own immediately. By maintaining the transformed state and lying still for about an hour, the wounds basically healed.

After repeated tests, he also confirmed that he could transform into the White-maned Lion anytime, anywhere.

But this raised a question. Back on Fanli Mountain, he had remained transformed for a full seven days. He had thought about turning back human countless times during that period. Why couldn’t he change back then? Why did he have to wait until seven days later to automatically revert?

After much thought, Lan Mu could only helplessly attribute it to a side effect of the transformation: the initial transformation forcibly lasted seven days to fully master this transformation ability.

“Born Predator. This transformation ability counts as a superpower, right?”

“But, what’s the use? Besides saving my own life in critical moments, it doesn’t seem to have much practical use!”

“There aren’t that many life-and-death crises involving fighting and killing in a person’s lifetime.”

Lan Mu scratched his head. After much thought, this ability probably only meant he would never get sick and any injuries could be repaired immediately.

Regarding the matter of superpowers, Lan Mu’s feelings were actually quite indifferent, especially towards such a mediocre ability.

He had already decided that transforming into the White-maned Lion was something he would absolutely not do lightly unless absolutely necessary.

Otherwise, if someone saw him during the transformation, his life would probably be completely shattered.

It was all messed up.