Demonic Human

“Lunch isn’t the priority right now.”

After a brief inspection to confirm the situation, Jiang Xun stood up and looked at the girl with the bun hairstyle who called herself Paper Kite. He said flatly, “This was your prey? Even so, you shouldn’t have opened fire in broad daylight. I recall the regulations state quite clearly: unless absolutely necessary, you must avoid alarming civilians at all costs.”

“The situation was urgent, after all…”

Paper Kite pouted. “The way you talk is exactly like our captain. Also, this wasn’t my ‘prey.'”

“Not your prey?”

“Exactly!” Seeing Jiang Xun’s confusion, the girl nodded as if it were obvious, then pointed at the restaurant behind her. “I just came here for food. My best friend said this new place was good, so I came to try it. I smelled the stench of a demon from far away, and then I saw this Fiend attacking people, so I gave him a shot.”

“…”

Jiang Xun was momentarily speechless. Just then, the police arrived in force. He left the girl behind, flashed his credentials, and began interviewing witnesses and ordering the owner to pull the surveillance footage.

The ambulances arrived simultaneously. There were many injuries on the scene. Curiously, the most severely injured weren’t the owner or the student who was tackled, but the brave man who had been flung into the road and the driver of the car he hit.

The man had been half-killed by the impact, while the driver had been so startled that he swerved instinctively, causing his car to flip over on the curb. The restaurant owner, whose neck had been bitten and appeared to be in the most danger, had been saved by the girl’s quick intervention and was now out of harm’s way.

While the police confiscated recording devices and gathered relevant personnel, Jiang Xun managed to piece together the sequence of events using witness accounts and the footage.

The footage provided by the shop was comprehensive. Because they had planned to edit the video for social media promotion, they had recorded the entire event, even capturing the specific expressions and states of each contestant during the competition.

This was an immense help to Jiang Xun. To him, the case was straightforward.

“This person was contaminated by a demon and turned into a Fiend, but he was in a latent stage. Participating in this eating contest and consuming a massive amount of food stimulated his hidden desires, eventually causing him to lose control and go berserk.”

Paper Kite, who had somehow procured another portion of fried rice from somewhere, walked over to Jiang Xun while eating. The man looked up at her but didn’t disagree. Because that was exactly what happened.

The only question was…

“Why did he become a Fiend in the first place?”

A “Fiend” was a human who had been tainted or mutated by demonic power. Although the corpse had already been taken back to the bureau in a specialized vehicle, Jiang Xun had touched it; based on his experience, the infection time shouldn’t have been long.

This meant there was likely a demon lurking nearby!

Jiang Xun looked at the girl eating her fried rice. He felt her behavior was a bit strange—too calm, as if this were a daily occurrence. But demon-related cases were never simple; even a Fiend usually required a high response level.

In his view, Paper Kite’s clean, decisive shot in the middle of a crowd was a total violation of protocol. Even with the excuse of saving a victim, it was far too crude and aggressive.

The primary issue was the fallout. Blowing someone’s head off in a crowd created a sensational scene that was a nightmare to contain. With so many witnesses, keeping them quiet would be a massive headache. A single shot might have been “simple,” but it created far more trouble than it solved.

It might have even been unnecessary. The middle-aged man was only crazed from contamination; he hadn’t even fully mutated yet. Even if he bit someone, he wouldn’t necessarily kill them.

In Jiang Xun’s opinion, the proper way to handle it would have been to rush in, subdue him, tie him up, and work with the police to disperse the crowd. Afterward, they could issue a statement saying the man suffered from a severe mental breakdown or mania.

Why choose the messy way over the simple one? Was it really a concern for the victim’s safety, or was there a hidden motive?

Jiang Xun watched Paper Kite, but the bun-haired girl just lazily finished her rice. She wiped her mouth, stood up, and said sincerely, “I’m sorry for giving you extra trouble, Captain Jiang. But you can leave the handling of this area to us; it’s our job, anyway. If there’s something we really can’t handle, we’ll come find you for help, okay?”

“…”

The man remained silent for a long time before shaking the recorder in his hand. “Fine. But I need a copy of this footage.”

“Of course.”

Seeing that Paper Kite clearly didn’t want to talk further, Jiang Xun didn’t push. Although they were colleagues, everyone in this field had strong personalities. It wasn’t strange for different teams to have secrets or even friction.

Besides, Jiang’s team didn’t belong to Jade Capital. They had been brought in as emergency support because the local team was shorthanded. To these local squads, they were likely seen as outsiders. If they didn’t want them meddling in local affairs, that was perfectly normal.

Jiang Xun wasn’t one to complain. If they didn’t want him to help, he wouldn’t. He was busy enough as it was. Once the footage was copied, he left decisively.

Paper Kite stood still, watching him walk away. After a while, she turned and walked toward a black car parked nearby. She opened the back door and sat inside. A woman was already there.

The woman looked to be around 28 or 29, with short, capable hair. She wore sunglasses and a leather jacket, legs crossed, scrolling through a tablet.

Without looking up, she spoke as Paper Kite sat down. “I gave you a break less than half an hour ago, and you’ve already caused this kind of mess?”

“Sorry, Captain.”

The bun-haired girl slumped into the seat like a deflated ball. The captain looked up at her and frowned slightly. “I know that incident hit you hard, and you want to avenge your friend, so it’s understandable you’d be impulsive when seeing a Fiend. But as members of the Administration, we must consider the impact of our actions!”

“Sorry…”

“Is that the only thing you can say?” The woman tapped the girl on the head with her tablet. Seeing Paper Kite’s pitiful eyes, the icy expression on the captain’s face finally softened into a sigh. She shook her head. “Forget it. This is my fault too; I didn’t expect there to be one that slipped through the net. Tell you what… your vacation is postponed for a few hours. Come with me and help me sweep the entire area one more time.”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Don’t look so excited. Figuring out how to handle all those terrified witnesses is going to be a nightmare. If you act without thinking about the consequences again, you’re going into solitary confinement.”