Search for the tracks of that person

Just over two hours after Qin Siyang left the trash can at Exit [X4], many police officers in uniforms received an order and surrounded the area.

Many sequence ability users were also discussing what had happened on the periphery, looking utterly confused. The theft of god remains from the trash can was truly an absurd story.

An old white - haired man in a long coat, with a scarf around his neck and a cigar in his mouth, walked around the trash can.

He asked, "Roylena, your sequence has been promoted. I heard that you now have a more powerful tracking ability, ten times better than the chief's police dog. Can you identify the smells here now?"

He had a European appearance but spoke Chinese. This was because there were mostly Chinese people in the safe zone, and Chinese was the official common language.

The blonde policewoman beside him shook her head. "No, there are too many godly auras here. The human smells have been completely masked. Even with my current ability, I still can't distinguish the human scent from them. If I were to activate my skill here, I'm afraid I'd faint because of the strong godly smell."

Olov was a bit disappointed. "Well, this damn skill. Not being able to use it around gods will cause us a lot of trouble!"

"Yes, I think so too. Unfortunately, I awakened the [Fragrance Sniffer] sequence and can't change it. Sequence ability users like me are doomed to only be able to operate within the safe zone from birth."

Olov impatiently took two puffs of his cigar, flicked the ash into the trash can, and then turned to the surrounding sequence ability users and asked, "Who was the first to notice the problem with this trash can?"

"Me! Detective Olov, it's me! I'm Hans Van, a sequence user who hunts gods at Exit [X4]."

At this time, a man in a gray - brown jacket walked over. His hair was a bit messy, and there was still a faint smell of alcohol on him.

It was the drunkard who had bumped into Qin Siyang.

But now he was completely sober and looked extremely nervous.

After sobering up, Hans realized that someone had stolen the god remains from the trash can and was extremely shocked.

He originally didn't want to get involved in this matter.

The person who stole the god remains was definitely not a normal person, and he didn't dare to provoke them. After awakening his sequence, he just wanted to live an easy life in the safe zone as a sequence ability user.

However, he just had to be so meddlesome and throw a wine bottle into the trash can.

There was no denying the fact that there was his smell in the wine bottle. If a [Fragrance Sniffer] activated their skill, they could quickly identify him, and then he'd be in big trouble.

So, to avoid the police coming to his door, he reported the incident to the police station first in the hope of getting a lenient treatment.

"Tell me how you noticed it."

"Detective Olov, I had just had some drinks with Bru at the bar and then we went home separately. When I left the bar, I took another bottle of wine and planned to drink it on my way home. After finishing it, I saw this trash can here and wanted to throw the bottle in."

After hearing this, Roylena sternly scolded, "Hans, you're also a sequence ability user. Don't you know that the trash cans beside the safe - zone exits can only be used to put god remains?!! The god remains in the trash cans will all be centrally processed!! You're interfering with the work of the United Government!"

"I... I was drunk and didn't think about it..."

Qin Siyang had guessed right. It was Hans' muddled mind that gave him time to escape. Otherwise, things might have been completely different.

Olov seemed to be used to seeing such idle sequence ability users. He wasn't as angry as Roylena about Hans' words. Instead, he waved his hand. "Roylena, don't interrupt him. Let him continue."

"Yes, detective." The blonde Roylena looked at Hans with cold eyes.

"I vaguely saw a figure rummaging around in front of the trash can at that time, but it disappeared quickly. Of course, I'm not sure if there was really someone... because I was drunk."

"And then?"

"Then I threw the wine bottle in. At that time, I heard the sound of the wine bottle hitting the empty trash can. I thought it was already midnight and the cleaners had taken away the god remains, so I went home."

"What time should that have been?"

"I... I was drunk and don't know. After getting home, I fell into bed and fell asleep. I'm a [Sleepless One] sequence user, so I usually don't need to sleep. Even when drunk, I'll wake up after at most two hours. When I woke up, I found that it was only afternoon. Remembering the empty trash can, I felt something was wrong."

"And then you called the police?"

"Yes. Detective Olov, considering that I reported the incident and admitted my mistake voluntarily, can you not punish me for throwing the wine bottle into this trash can and delaying the solving of the case?"

Olov took another puff of his cigar and thought for a long time.

While he was thinking, Hans was extremely nervous, worried about whether he would be punished.

"Roylena, remember to tell the managers at the other safe - zone exits about this and ask them to keep an eye on the trash cans."

"Yes."

"Detective Olov, what about me?" Hans asked anxiously again.

Only then did Olov realize that Hans was still there. "Oh, I was just thinking about the case. What did you want to say?"

"I was wondering if I can make up for my mistake by reporting the incident voluntarily and not be punished for what I did here? I really realize my problem now. I won't make the same mistake again. Please give me a chance!"

Olov didn't even bother to look at him. "We'll handle it according to the rules. The scale of justice in the police station will never tilt. You'll get the rewards you deserve, and you'll also get the punishments you deserve."

"Ah... this..." Hans was a bit annoyed. He had reported the case voluntarily and cooperated fully in solving the case, but he still had to be punished. How unlucky.

"Take him back to the police station." After getting the order from her superior, Roylena immediately asked the police officers to take Hans away.

"Yes."

Hans looked extremely gloomy, cursing the damned person who stole the god remains in his heart.

After sending Hans away, Olov continued to frown and think. "Was it a single person's doing? Why on earth would someone steal the god remains from the trash can? Stealing these useless things is even less worthwhile than going to the warehouse to steal some moldy wood for a fire!"

Roylena added, "A similar thing happened at Exit [X] yesterday. I reported it to the chief, but unfortunately, it didn't receive enough attention. We only deployed defenses at the safe - zone exits near Exit [X]. As a result, the culprit went to a slightly farther place to commit the crime."

At this time, Roylena's pager rang.

"Hello, go ahead. What? Okay, tell me. Mm, mm, mm, okay, I know. I'll tell Detective Olov right away."

Hearing Roylena mention his name, Olov knew that there must be a new case. He asked, "What's going on?"

"Detective, in an alley two stops away from here, a burning warehouse was found with three charred bodies inside."

"Bodies? Charred?"

"Yes. Moreover, the heads of all three bodies were smashed, and their entire faces were completely deformed. And two of them had fatal injuries. Because of the fire, I can't track the killer's smell."

"Can we start from the crime scene to find the killer's smell?"

"Probably not. The police officer just said that there were a lot of people coming and going there, and the footprints were mixed. The smell must be very chaotic."

"Have you found the first - crime scene?"

"No. There were no signs of a fight anywhere near that warehouse."

Olov puffed on his cigar without saying a word.

Roylena continued, "Detective, there are some problems here."

"Go ahead."

"Who were the people whose heads were smashed? And why did the killer hide their identity? I always feel that there's something very strange about it."

Roylena's series of questions didn't stump Olov. As an experienced police detective, he had already figured out most of these questions the moment he heard about the case.

"It'll probably be very difficult to find out the identities of those three people. But the one who killed them must be a sequence ability user."

"Otherwise, it's impossible to kill all three people without leaving any signs of a fight. The weapon used to smash the three people's heads was probably the killer's fist."

Olov looked at the empty trash can again and blew out a smoke ring. "In my opinion, the time of the crime in that alley was right after the theft of the god remains from the trash can. There's a high probability that it was the same person's doing."

Roylena frowned. "The same person? After stealing the god remains here, he went two stops away to kill people and set fire?"

"Yes. The timing of these two events fits together perfectly, like a key in a lock. It's just too much of a coincidence."

"Secondly, I think this person isn't very familiar with sequence abilities."

"Why do you think so, detective?"

"Besides the head injuries, the bodies had other fatal wounds. It's very likely that the heads were smashed after the people were dead. After smashing the three people's heads, he also chose to burn the bodies."

"I guess the reason he smashed the three people's heads was that he was worried that a [Undying] sequence ability user could use their skill to read the memories of the dead bodies. But he doesn't know that the memory - reading skill of [Undying] sequence users has limitations."

"Once the brain is damaged or loses its original biological structure, the skill of [Undying] sequence users will fail."

"In other words, whether he smashed the three people's heads or not, as long as he burned the bodies to char, he could prevent the [Undying] sequence users from tracing him."

Roylena asked doubtfully, "Detective, are you saying that he doesn't even know such basic sequence knowledge?"

"Other than that, I can't think of any other reason for him to do such an unnecessary thing."

Roylena nodded, thinking that the detective's analysis made a lot of sense. Then she said, "The person who stole the god remains doesn't know much about sequence information. Maybe it's because he suddenly awakened his sequence ability and didn't do enough research. If we just stake out at the Sequence Management Bureau, we should be able to find the culprit!"

"No, that's not right. The premise you mentioned about not doing enough research doesn't hold."

Olov shook his head. "This person has an extremely delicate mind. He knew to choose a place with a chaotic smell to interfere with you, and he also knew to burn the bodies to destroy the evidence."

"Roylena, you have to understand that he wasn't a calm criminal who planned to kill these three people in advance. He did all this while panicking and running away after stealing the god remains. I have to say that although this criminal is ignorant, he's definitely not a careless person."

"A mind as delicate as the eye of a sewing needle wouldn't allow him to steal the god remains and expose himself without being well - prepared. The fact that he did so means that he doesn't have access to more information."

Roylena tidied up her slightly messy blonde hair and showed a puzzled look. "How is that possible? The descriptions of sequence abilities are all publicly available on [Godslaying Camp]. Everyone can look them up on their phones or computers."

"No, you're wrong. There's one type of person who can't look them up."

"Who?"

"The poor."