Chapter 44: The Task (Part Two)

In the dimly-lit basement, near the well opening, Becker held his phone with a gloomy expression as he looked at the body severed in two. He knew that if their assumed breakthrough was lost, the entire case investigation would be back to square one.

"Set up a quarantine zone, lock down this area."

Silence followed his command as Becker instructed the nearby officers to secure the area and then returned, his expression growing more solemn. He realized that this murder case was becoming increasingly complicated and elusive.

Meanwhile, upon receiving this information, Jeffrey also frowned and looked at the security guards Adolf and Ronald with suspicion.

"Can you tell me about the movements of your maintenance worker before this."

"Of course, officer."

Adolf and Ronald exchanged glances, a bit puzzled but still obediently nodded. They explained their interaction with the maintenance worker, Gene, his repair procedures, and what he planned to do.

As Jeffrey listened, his expression remained unreadable, but his heart sank further. According to these guards, the maintenance worker was methodical throughout the entire process, with each step carefully checked, leaving no room for suspicion.

Then why did he die?

Jeffrey couldn't understand and continued watching the surveillance screen. The four people still alive in the elevator remained distinctly separate, each huddled in a corner, wary of each other.

He knew that to further investigate this murder case, they had to rely on the background checks that had yet to come from the station.

"Officer, what happened to Gene?"

Adolf, the head of security, always knew how to avoid trouble and was quite savvy in workplace politics. Only Ronald noticed something had happened to Gene, the maintenance worker. He looked seriously at Jeffrey, whose face was calm.

"Officer, please believe me, Gene couldn't be the murderer. He has always been hardworking for many years and has a family..."

Ronald's words were cut off by Adolf pulling him back. "Ronald, don't interfere with the officer's investigation."

Jeffrey glanced at them, still focusing on the surveillance screen.

"Your assurance can't be taken as evidence, but what I can tell you is that Gene is dead. He died in the well of the basement."

Shocked, Adolf and Ronald were stunned.

Ronald couldn't believe it. "How? Gene, how could he die? He just said he was going to check the roof!"

Jeffrey calmly said, "I know it's hard to believe, but unfortunately, it's true."

As he spoke, Jeffrey looked towards the last waiting officer.

"Call the firefighters over."

"Right away."

The officer quickly left, followed soon by Becker who came in hastily and stood next to Jeffrey, somewhat agitated.

"Buddy, this lead is gone."

Jeffrey continued to stare at the surveillance screen.

"Let's wait for the news from the station."

Becker glanced at the two guards who were still shocked by Gene's death and shrugged helplessly.

However, the situation was not set in stone. Jeffrey suddenly noticed the lights in the elevator flickering faster than before. This sudden change also caught the attention of the people in the elevator, their expressions uneasy.

"What's happening now!" Vic, wearing a grey suit, said anxiously.

"Hope the lights don't go out again."

Abigail cursed, "Shut up!"

Ralph, the black man, turned to Max, who was in plain clothes, and suggested, "How about we hold hands?"

Max was puzzled.

Ralph continued, "Right now, we two are the most suspicious. If one of us is the murderer, the other can prevent him from acting."

"Okay."

Hearing this, Max thought seriously. He wasn't the murderer, so this plan was also beneficial to him. If Ralph was the murderer, it was better than waiting to be attacked in the dark.

Max agreed, and Ralph extended his hands.

"Let's do it."

Max understood and walked over. Their hands clasped together, creating a mutually restraining situation.

Jeffrey, an experienced officer, immediately understood their intention. If there was a murderer among these two, they wouldn't dare to kill again to avoid exposure.

If neither of them was the murderer, and someone else died, then the remaining person would become a suspect.

As Jeffrey pondered this, an officer reported.

"Officer Jeffrey, the fire brigade has arrived."

Jeffrey nodded, then looked at Becker.

"How about you take charge of this? I'll keep watch here."

"Fine by me, I'm not cut out for thinking anyway. Good luck." Becker patted Jeffrey on the shoulder and followed the officer out of the monitoring room.

Jeffrey continued to watch the surveillance screen as the lights flickered more intensely, the periods of darkness growing longer. To calm the people, he picked up the intercom and pressed the button.

"The fire brigade is here, just hang in there a bit longer."

As his voice echoed in the elevator, the four people inside looked at each other and sighed with relief, especially Vic, who relaxed a bit. He was originally squatting in a corner but now slowly stood up.

"We're finally getting out of here. I hope the light stays on."

Just as he spoke, the lights in the elevator suddenly went out.

"Ah!!!"

"NO!!!"

There was a loud commotion in the elevator, but the surveillance screen showed only darkness, followed by silence. Jeffrey pressed the intercom button again.

"Everyone, stay calm and don't move. If you're attacked, yell for help and cooperate with the person next to you!"

However, seconds later, the lights in the elevator turned on again, revealing a changed scene.

"My God!"

Ronald and Adolf, who had just recovered, covered their mouths in shock at the scene on the screen.

Not just them, Jeffrey himself was taken aback.

In his eyes, two more people in the elevator were dead.

Vic, wearing a grey suit, lay on the ground, apparently dead from a broken neck, as if someone had twisted his head with brute force.

At the same time, Ralph, who was previously the prime suspect along with Max, had his head severed and stuck in a vent, blood slowly dripping down.

"Damn it!!!"

Max, who was still holding Ralph's headless body, cursed and quickly let go, his face and clothes covered in blood.

Shocked, he looked at Vic's twisted neck and Ralph's headless body, then at Abigail, cowering in the corner.

"Was it you?"

Equally shocked, Abigail screamed in panic.

"No! It wasn't me!!!"

"It's not you! Then who?!" Max clenched his teeth and approached Abigail.

"No! It really wasn't me!" Abigail, sensing danger, screamed, fixating on Max.

"Is it you! Are you going to kill me next?"

"No!" Instead, Max approached the old woman, tearing off the rope hanging above and then approaching Abigail.

"NO! It's not me! Really, it's not me!!" Abigail collapsed in the corner, tears streaming down her face.

Max didn't respond but coldly tied Abigail up with the rope and left her in another corner before returning to his spot, processing what had just happened.

Jeffrey sighed with relief at the sight, but his earlier deductions were once again shattered.

In just a few seconds, under the mutual restraint of Max and Ralph, even if Max could break free from Ralph's grip, he wouldn't have been able to behead Ralph and place his head in the vent, and simultaneously twist Vic's neck, all in a matter of seconds. Moreover, Ralph's arms and body remained in the same position as before.

As for Abigail, her inherent physical limitations made it impossible for her to commit such acts.

So, who was the murderer?

It was as if someone was playing a cruel joke on Jeffrey. He reluctantly picked up the intercom again.

"Max! Did you see any weapon?"

The question echoed in the elevator. Max looked around blankly and then shook his head.

The scene was clean, eerily devoid of anything but the stark red of blood and the lifeless bodies.

Seeing Max's response, Jeffrey started to feel a headache coming on. This case seemed to lead to a dead end no matter how he approached it.

At that moment, an officer rushed in with a file.

"Officer Jeffrey, we've got the investigation results from the station."

Jeffrey's spirit lifted as he quickly grabbed the file and scanned through it. The information inside made his expression grow even more uncertain.

The data revealed that none of the five people in the elevator were ordinary.

Mae Biller, the old woman who hanged herself, had been married thirteen times, and all her spouses had died under mysterious circumstances. As her thirteen partners were all lonely old men, she inherited all their assets, making her a billionaire.

Ralph, who lost his head, had a history of domestic violence and robbery and had just been released from prison this year.

Vic, who had his neck twisted, was suspected of several financial frauds, some of which led to families being destroyed and suicides.

Max, who survived, was a military veteran but suspected of committing atrocities in the battlefield.

As for Abigail, she was suspected of involvement in a murder case but was released due to lack of evidence.

These five people had no apparent connection to each other.

Jeffrey put away the file, his face solemn. He remembered a story he had heard as a child.

"The devil in human form! The devil who judges sinners!" he murmured, recalling his mother's words.

If there was something logically inexplicable, attributing it to something nonexistent made everything make sense.

"Officer, what are you talking about? The devil?"

While Adolf was completely puzzled, Ronald reacted to Jeffrey's whisper. He quickly mentioned the skull he had seen.

"Officer, look at this."

He operated the control panel under Jeffrey's watchful eye, trying to replay the shadowy figure he had seen before.

Unfortunately, the shadowy figure was no longer visible in the playback.

"It can't be; I saw it with my own eyes!" Ronald exclaimed.

Jeffrey grabbed Ronald's hand.

"Are you sure?"

Ronald nodded but then shook his head looking at the playback screen.

"I did see a skull made of shadows, but I don't know why it's not on the screen now..."

Jeffrey released Ronald's hand, staring at the elevator surveillance screen.

As if to prove something, the lights in the elevator began to flicker incessantly.

Jeffrey felt something was wrong and kept his eyes glued to the screen.

Sure enough, after about ten seconds, the lights in the elevator suddenly went out, plunging the screen into darkness.

Seconds later, when the lights came back on, there was another body hanging in the air - it was Max, dead in the same manner as the old woman, hung from the vent as if the rope had not been moved.

Abigail, tied up in the corner of the elevator, screamed in utter breakdown.

"Someone save me, please!!!"

At this point, Jeffrey's suspicions were confirmed. As everyone stared at the screen in disbelief, he decisively picked up his phone and silently dialed Becker's number.

Meanwhile, at a simple house adorned with crosses...

York, just back from church, was putting a stack of bills into a box - $1,503 collected from the faithful, to be donated at a charity event the next day. This box alone contained around $150,000, accumulated from long-term trust and admiration from his followers.

These funds would also earn points in a charity event, as determined by the system.

After handling this, York moved to the living room, picked up his backpack, and headed to the basement to store freshly made holy water and bullets and maintain his arsenal.

As he opened the secret door to the basement, his phone buzzed continuously. York, somewhat distracted, entered the basement while answering the call.

To his surprise, a mechanical voice sounded in his ear upon connecting.

[Random Mission Triggered] [Save more innocents from the wrathful demon] [Reward: +20 points]

[Accept?] [...]