Chapter 739: Radiation Mutants
A tall figure stepped onto the third floor. It was a burly man nearly two meters tall, with a clean buzz cut and dressed in a full black leather outfit.
Seeing Lin Ye and the others, the burly man was clearly startled. He quickly scanned Lin Ye’s right hand, which was gripping the kitchen knife in a reverse hold.
“Are you here for Simon too?”
Lin Ye adjusted to a more comfortable grip, bringing the kitchen knife he’d swiped from the crime scene into plain view.
“That’s right. Who are you people?”
Colt hadn’t planned on wasting words with Lin Ye, but after spotting Ephesus and Susie, he changed his mind.
“I’m a detective. They’re my employers. I’m helping them look for a black cat named Little Black.”
This time, Lin Ye didn’t pretend to be a teacher. No teacher would show up in a place like this wielding a kitchen knife.
“A black cat? I suggest you leave the Old City District as soon as possible. This isn’t a place for playing house. If you want a black cat, I can buy you one.”
Colt stared at Ephesus with a deadly serious expression.
“...I just want Little Black back. I don’t want any other black cat.”
Ephesus locked eyes with Colt and replied stubbornly.
“Are you sure they’ll be fine if they leave the Old City District? They’re already caught up in this. Only by resolving this whole incident can they completely escape danger.”
Lin Ye stared at Colt, taking a small step forward.
“...Fine, you’ve got a point. I need to check Room 309 first. After that, maybe we can work together.”
Colt decided to look out for the two young girls while he was at it.
“Don’t move!”
Lin Ye suddenly hurled the kitchen knife at Colt. At the same time, Colt drew his pistol from his waist and fired a shot at Lin Ye.
Bang!
The kitchen knife and the bullet struck something that had appeared behind both of them almost simultaneously. Lin Ye scooped up Ephesus and Susie and retreated to Colt’s side.
Colt spun around to look behind him. The two of them pressed their backs against the corridor wall, each covering one side of the hallway, shielding the two middle school students.
The apartment corridor had a semi-open design. Just moments ago, two strange figures had vaulted over the railing from outside and landed in the hallway, appearing behind them.
They were hunched, deformed creatures that looked like humans who’d been exposed to nuclear radiation.
Colt handed his short knife to Lin Ye. At that moment, several more radiation mutants leaped into the corridor, surrounding them.
Lin Ye and Colt struck at the same time. Colt’s aim was deadly accurate; every bullet found its mark in a mutant’s head. Lin Ye, relying on his deep understanding of body structure, swiftly disabled the mutants that got close, leaving them crawling on the ground as crippled wrecks.
Soon, they had killed all the mutants that had jumped into the corridor. While taking down the others, Lin Ye also finished off the ones still writhing on the floor by stomping them.
“What the hell are these things?”
Colt crouched down to examine the mutants’ corpses. He’d been living in the Old City District all along, but he’d never seen anything like this.
“Some kind of experimental creature, probably... That’s not important.”
Lin Ye looked down at the apartment building’s entrance. A bread van had just driven off that street.
“Someone’s trying to kill us?”
Colt saw the bread van too, but it had no special markings, not even a license plate.
“Maybe they wanted to use us to test these creatures.”
Lin Ye used the short knife to cut open the radiation mutant’s chest and began dissecting the corpse.
“Can’t you do that somewhere else? Plus, I just fired a shot. We need to get out of here before the cops show up.”
Colt didn’t want to end up in the police station.
Even though the place was full of monster corpses, it would be nearly impossible to explain what had happened here.
“Just one look.”
Lin Ye performed the dissection with the most streamlined technique possible, finishing in less than half a minute.
Colt took the opportunity to check Room 309, but he came right back out.
“Let’s go. We need to leave first.”
Lin Ye took the kitchen knife with him and returned the short knife to Colt.
The four of them left the crime scene in Colt’s beat-up, four-door clunker.
“Detective, did you pick up any clues?”
Colt brought Lin Ye and the others to his place in the Old City District.
It was an old apartment with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a kitchen. But it was spotless, filled with the feel of everyday life.
“I’ve got plenty of clues, but I think we should hit that underground arcade first.”
Lin Ye pulled a brown wallet from his pocket and then took out a white business card from inside.
“Who’s this? The arcade owner?”
Colt took the card and glanced at it.
The card had only one name on it: Zel.
“I don’t know who that is either, but I found an identical card in Simon’s apartment. Simon had hidden it behind the mirror.”
Lin Ye pulled out another card from his pocket.
“Looks like we’ll have to go ask the arcade owner about this.”
Colt stared at the card as he pressed bullets into the magazine.
“Wait! I’m already completely lost here! We came to find a cat, not to get into a firefight, and I definitely don’t want to fight those weird things!”
Susie suddenly spoke up, her voice loud.
When those monsters had appeared, her legs had gone weak with fear. If it weren’t for Ephesus, she would have called the police long ago.
“What now? How about we drop them off at the police station? That should be safe enough.”
Colt didn’t want to take two middle schoolers into a fight against enemies either.
“No need. I’ll take care of them.”
Lin Ye didn’t trust anyone. Every person was an independent individual with their own thoughts. Trusting others was like handing your own fate over to someone else.
“Can you take Susie home? This has nothing to do with her anyway. I didn’t expect it to be this dangerous.”
Ephesus was scared too, but she wasn’t about to give up on finding Little Black.
“...If she agrees to it, I can take her home.”
Lin Ye wasn’t sure if the enemy would target Susie either.
“Sigh, fine. Please take me along.”
Susie didn’t actually care whether they found Little Black or not, but she couldn’t leave Ephesus here alone.
“Then shall we head out? Do you know how to use this?”
Colt pulled a spare pistol out from under the drawer and handed it to Lin Ye.
“Of course. How could a detective not know how to use a gun?”
Lin Ye ejected the magazine to check it. The magazine held eight bullets.
“That’s reassuring.”
Colt grabbed a few cartons of milk for the two middle schoolers before leading them out of the apartment.
Lin Ye sat in the passenger seat, giving Colt directions. The car stopped smoothly at the entrance to the underground arcade.
“I’ll go in alone. You all wait in the car.”
Colt got out by himself. In just a few minutes, he had stuffed the unconscious arcade owner into the car’s trunk.