Smells of Evil

A small apartment building in the corner of the city of Vellas looks grim with peeling paint here and there, the emergency stairs have rusted in the voracious seasons that have rolled over time, they look the same, among similar buildings on either side of which are also aged. In one of the small apartments there, with sliding windows that seemed always dark as if they had no master, a young man deliberately locked himself.  Disappears from the view of the world because for him the world is the same as hell.

The living room is crowded with wilted items, a sign that it has been untouched for several days and even weeks, let alone in the trash can.  The rest of the packaged instant food still filled the apartment kitchen, with dirty dishes that decorated in the middle of the empty room painted faded white, water droplets from the old tap could be heard filling the air.  There are only 6 plates and 6 pairs of cutlery, 3 glasses of glass as well as a box of cereal which only remains the last crumb.

The young man was in one of the rooms with a computer unit displaying a row of coding, busy typing with his fingers that were adept at dancing on the keyboard, his eyes could not be separated from the black screen decorated with a series of green matrices in it.

The owner of the grayish bead seems undisturbed by the condition of his mother's narrow homestead, he often drowns himself in the algorithmic strands on a square screen in his dim room, that's how he greets the world, seeing how the world goes by being a hacker without anybody knows. 

At first, he was just trying to tinker with his father's old computer unit, gradually self-taught, through trial-and-error repeatedly making it to this point where people in the virtual world call him GOD CERBERUZ.

Yes!  that's him, Alexander Vernon aka CERBERUZ, a top gamer as well as a reliable hacker who is slippery like a sea snake, he is the mastermind of the uncovering of the rotten lies of the ruler, becoming an idol without a real identity to the world.  He is the one who is staying as GOD CERBERUZ sniffing out the rottenness of the tyrants.

Lex (his mother's nickname) has the same ability as Cerberus in ancient Greek mythology, if Cerberus the guardian of the underworld can sniff and track the spirits that escape from the world of the dead and drag him back to hell, then Lex is a little different, his ability is  Smelling lies and emotions from people he meets, his gray bead can pick up on the color of human emotions, it will radiate behind them to reveal his true identity to Lex.

No matter how small the lie, it will still sting his nose like smelling a carcass in a small room without air ventilation, and this is torture for him who feels every place is hell, except home.

There is no one in his house except him, so there will be no smell of lies there.

When Lex was a teenager, he couldn't get out of the house at all, even just to go buy a loaf of bread at the Bermount St. junction shop,  200 m from his house.  With Lex's condition like that, his loving mother painstakingly made several masks as protection for him so he could face the world and no longer sob because of the smell that no one in the world could catch but him.

Lex hates his condition being born like this, if this is a film then he'll be a superhero to be hailed, but in reality, this is ruining his life.  He couldn't have friends, couldn't go to school, couldn't go to the playground just to set foot in the sandbox.

The mask made by his late mother had been very helpful, no matter what material was used, he was able to ward off the unpleasant smell. To remember, those annoying smells never smelled into his house as if there was an antidote that made they are unable to enter to tickle Lex's nose.

This is why Lex was devastated by his mother's departure 2 years ago, as a result, every day he only plays games and eats instant food because of his poor cooking skills.  In 2 years, he managed to become a professional gamer who was counted by the world, from which he made money for himself.  And yes, Lex's money issue is nothing to worry about.

***

A messy work desk is a common sight in this room, in a 2x4 m room with the aroma of coffee that pours your nose every day, scattered paper, a whiteboard full of red markers, a map of the area with marker pins attached, profile photos victims of violence or murder are scattered with circular markers on them.

A long black sofa perched on the side of the room quietly becomes a substitute for a comfortable bed for the owner of the room.

Melva Jane O'Connor (Mel); occupants of a small room within the Vellas city police station building.  Turned into a zombie who often spent his sleep working on cases that were very heavy and made her head dizzy.  She is in charge of a department unit handling cases of violence and special crimes VCPD at a relatively young age, 28 years.

Her brilliant achievements during her education as a police candidate had a big impact on her career after graduation, being trusted to hold a team that handles sensitive cases is tiring. And of course, the envious glances of seniors who feel defeated by the young one must also be faced by her every day with a big smile pretending to be innocent.

Mel is a simple person with a slightly stiff personality, a girl who only has a monochrome suit in her wardrobe.  She is a person who is serious about what she does to the last point of hope, this also applies to cases currently being faced by the police, to be precise cases that are the responsibility of the department she leads.

Mel massaged her tired temples by occasionally sipping black coffee with the smoke still steaming, it was already morning and she still struggling with the files of the murder case that was in the public spotlight, putting additional burdens on his tiny shoulders.

Luckily Mel has 4 solid members and respects her, this is a little comfort for her.

This case is a little different from the previous cases that Mel has faced, the suspicion arises when the second victim was found last night by a cafe waiter who was about to throw garbage in the back of the building. Mel suspected this was a serial murder.

The suspicion is not without reason, the 2 victims who were found had a similar pattern both in terms of injuries, cause of death, and where the bodies were found, the history and occupation of the two victims were the same, namely female commercial sex workers with a record of severe alcoholism. But this is just an uncertain hypothesis due to the lack of evidence her team has.

The beautiful woman with bluish eyes snorted in frustration, she pulled the rope of her long hair that has been tied low using her right hand and then leaned her body on her proud chair with her head tilted to inhale as much oxygen as possible to get to her brain, who knows, it could make his brain run a little, she thought.

The search for the perpetrator still found a dead end, there were no witnesses, even the CCTV installed at the back of the building was successfully tricked, the evidence is still nil, there is not a trace there, in the cold body of the victim even though an autopsy and DNA extract has been carried out. There is only the DNA of the victim, it can be ascertained that the perpetrator is a very caring person.

Mel was still racking her brains, looking for a gap between the narrow possibilities.

Okay, she needs help!