Chapter 21: Federal Bureau of Investigation (Please Favorite, Recommend, and Follow)

Selena raised her head, looking puzzled at He Ao who had picked up the handgun.

He Ao's gaze, however, was directed behind Selena.

A corpse, still dripping with fresh blood, slumped onto the hotel floor. He stared wide-eyed, clutching a small handgun tightly in his hand, with a tiny bullet hole visible in the center of his forehead.

The bullet entered through his forehead, burst out the back of his skull, and blew away half of his head.

A shot to the head, without any hesitation.

He actually wanted to appear more composed, but that didn't fit the image of a 'rookie investigator' committing their first murder. So, he could only try to appear a bit stunned, like a novice responding instinctively in an emergency.

Of course, using firearms wasn't He Ao's skill but Ande's talent.

Ande himself had a high talent for firearms, which is why he had been brought in as Selena's assistant. Over the past half-hour, He Ao had been adjusting to Ande's physical habits.

Selena glanced at He Ao with a slight shock. She had originally brought this rookie to 'see the world', but she hadn't expected He Ao to bring her an 'unexpected surprise'.

He Ao maintained his dazed look, turning his gaze toward the bodyguards in silvery suits holding guns.

These men had never lowered their guns from the start, and He Ao didn't know why Selena didn't take action against them, but them holding guns was always a threat.

Under the watchful eyes of He Ao, these men slowly set down their weapons and crouched down, hugging their heads.

Although Selena was experienced, she didn't kill people. The young and seemingly simple-minded guy in front of her, however, actually killed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation had the authority to kill any resistant individuals during missions.

It's not that these people were unafraid, but rather they were brazen.

Bang—

The door to the suite was suddenly kicked open and police officers, dressed in black uniforms, filed in, "Dawn City Police Department, everyone get down on your knees and put your heads in your hands."

——

After half an hour of commotion, He Ao and Selena finally left the hotel.

The vest-wearing thug and his still-living henchmen were taken away by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation who rushed over, while the group of men in silver suits were taken away by the Dawn City police.

He Ao and Selena sat side by side in the back seat of a vehicle specially designated for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, falling into a brief silence.

He Ao still had to continue pretending to be a 'newbie' who had just killed someone.

He knew what the emotions of a person who killed for the first time should be; first, it was a thick sense of loss, a void of emptiness, followed by fear and dread. If this fear reached a climax, it might even trigger a physical response, such as nausea and vomiting.

As a trainee investigator trained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ande naturally wouldn't have too strong of a physical reaction, but a hint of emptiness and fear was still needed.

He Ao hadn't undergone specialized acting training, but he understood the feelings of killing someone for the first time, so his performance was quite convincing.

"Your mental resilience is better than I expected," Selena thought for a moment, patted He Ao's shoulder, and smiled, "It's okay,"

As a superior, she needed to be attentive to He Ao's mental state, and He Ao's performance was actually quite good among the rookies.

Her hand flipped lightly, and a small glass bottle with a pale green liquid inside appeared in her palm—it was the very item the two gangs had traded, "Do you know what this is?"

He Ao shook his head.

"IB-II, a potent and highly addictive hallucinogen. It will make anyone who injects it become insanely infatuated, even to the point of squandering fortunes, wrecking homes, and causing deaths."

Selena looked out the window. At the moment, the vehicle seemed to be passing by a small park filled with mechanical toys, where young children were playing around the toys, "If these substances were to spread throughout Dawn City, countless children would lose their parents and homes, becoming displaced and many dying unnatural deaths. So you didn't just kill a person, you saved countless families."

Selena turned back, looked into He Ao's eyes, and said emphatically, "So, what you did was just."

"Just?"

He Ao pondered the word.

He turned his head to look out the car window on his side, across the mechanical park where children were playing, was an old building. Below the building, in the corner of the street, some ragged homeless people sat in front of triangular tents, biting into cold bread while watching the children play in the park.

Above their heads, a huge monitor was embedded in the center of the building.

The monitor seemed to be playing a program.

The host, dressed in a neat white shirt and black pencil skirt, with exquisite makeup, was sitting on a pink sofa, looking properly at the camera,

"Dear viewers, welcome to today's 'Fifteen Minutes.' Our guest today is the most popular candidate in the mayoral election, Mr. Kristos."

The camera then switched to another angle, where a tall, handsome, and reliable-looking man with silver hair in a neat white suit appeared on the monitor. "Hello everyone, I'm glad to be invited to 'Fifteen Minutes' today to explain my campaign ideals. If I am elected mayor, I will implement universal healthcare, increase taxes on conglomerates, and create more job opportunities..."

The homeless sitting under the building seemed to hear the speech on the TV, lifting their heads to look at the screen.

"Mr. Kristos, sorry to interrupt, but this is an interview show, not your live election speech."

The host quickly cut off Mr. Kristos's words.

"Oh, oh, oh, that's great, I thought 'Fifteen Minutes' meant I had to prepare a fifteen-minute speech. I've already prepared a fifteen-minute speech," Kristos, not knowing where he pulled it from, took out a thick stack of notes, folded it, and tucked it into his pocket,

"In order to fill fifteen minutes, I even added a few jokes. Now it seems I don't need to stretch it to fifteen minutes, which is really good news..."

He Ao could no longer hear the rest of the conversation because the vehicle he was riding had left the TV that was playing the program, turning into a narrow street and finally stopping in front of a somewhat secluded building.

"Let's go, let's take a look at your new office." Selena led He Ao through the main entrance, towards the elevator,

"The entire building is property of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but currently, only floors forty to sixty-nine and levels one to three underground are being used by the Bureau, the rest is rented out, subsidizing the finances."

Selena pressed the button for the 52nd floor, smiling at He Ao.

"Rented out?"

He Ao recalled that the building looked to have at least a hundred floors above ground, but only thirty floors seemed to be actually in use, indicating that most of it was rented out.

"Yes, and the rent isn't cheap," Selena smiled, "Some chain hotels, apartments, and some businesses are very happy to be with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We can offer them a great sense of security."

Ding—

As they were talking, the elevator reached the 52nd floor; the entire ascent taking less than two minutes, smooth and silent.

As the elevator doors automatically opened, what came into He Ao's view were small compartments separated by frosted glass.

"The 52nd floor is where the Criminal Investigation Department is located," Selena led He Ao past various small compartments, doors of which some were open and some were tightly closed. The people in the compartments were all busy, and few looked up to notice their arrival. Eventually, they stopped in front of a cubicle in a corner.

A piece of white paper was taped to the door of the cubicle with clear tape, with the words: [Criminal Investigation Team 2] written on it.

Selena's hand rested on the cubicle door, and with a 'screech' sound, the door unlocked, and Selena pushed the door open and walked in.

"Criminal Investigation Team 2 is a newly established team. Although we are on the 52nd floor, we are not under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Investigation Department, but of the Wilderness Field Work Department, and our supervisor is a bald man named Smith... You'll see him soon."

The entire cubicle was quite simply decorated, with two desks, two stools, and two ultra-thin monitors.

"Criminal Investigation Team 2 currently has just us two," Selena casually closed the door and leaned against the desk, "Although you interned quite early at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, you should be clear about our responsibilities. But I still need to explain to you.

The main duty of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is to investigate cases related to the wilderness or across cities, while local cases that do not involve crossing cities fall under the jurisdiction of Dawn City's police department. Of course, there are sometimes overlapping situations, and we will cooperate to solve them.

For example, the two groups we just caught, the big, silly one is a wanderer from the wilderness, which is our responsibility, and the one in the silver suit is from the local gang, the Money Rat Gang, they are the responsibility of Dawn City's police department. Sometimes when the police cannot solve a problem, they also seek our help."

She looked at He Ao, who still seemed a bit confused, and smiled, "The federal system is indeed troublesome; you'll gradually understand it. Let's talk about something more cheerful,"

She took out a silver bracelet and handed it to He Ao, "I linked your bracelet to Dawn City Federal Bureau of Investigation's system while you were unconscious.

I don't know how they calculate it in your original city, but here in Dawn City, wages are paid weekly. Your weekly salary is eight hundred federal coins, and your wages for the previous week will be deposited in your account on time every Wednesday. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has purchased complete social insurance and commercial health insurance for you..."

As Selena spoke, the monitor on the desk suddenly lit up, and a somewhat balding middle-aged man appeared on the screen,

"Selena, some bad news, a dangerous guy may have sneaked into Dawn City."

"Who?"

Selena stopped talking and looked at the monitor.

"The Evil God Priest Mu Xiu, a rational Evil God Priest."

Smith said calmly.