He counted on his fingers, listing them one by one.
"Outer Gods;
Outer God kin;
Asian Hunters who target Outer God kin;
Certain Great Ones existing only in legends who have blood feuds with Asian Hunters... Names nobody even dares to mention!
And many, many more ghastly things I've never seen or heard of before!"
"All these things drilled into Yharnam at once, and the moment they entered, they blended into society and vanished without a trace!"
"Who knows what kind of chaos Yharnam has devolved into?!"
After listening to him, Klein took a deep breath.
He decided there was no need to continue tonight's conversation.
So his tone gradually grew cold.
"First, I didn't ask you here today to bicker with you."
"Second, the Empire has its order. Any private executions are strictly prohibited.
Now that a citizen is dead, someone must be held responsible for his death.
Even if that citizen was a thief.
The crime of theft does not warrant the death penalty."
The figure in the darkness didn't react much, except that his vertical pupils with black patterns narrowed.
Protected by his left and right eyelids, even from up close, no one would notice the change in his eyes.
Klein continued:
"Third, since you are cooperating with me, follow our agreement—you will handle this case involving supernaturals."
The man's vertical pupils narrowed into slits.
But for some reason, he didn't show any emotion.
Klein pressed on.
"You're very disdainful, aren't you, Croc Daemon."
He called out the man's name, which instantly made the man bristle.
"We had an agreement! As long as I do things for you, you're not allowed to call my real name! Damn it! You said it again! What if someone heard?! I don't want a second master!"
Klein ignored his breakdown of a yell.
"The citizens of the Empire deserve protection; it is their inherent right.
I am a police officer.
Protecting Imperial citizens and upholding justice is my sacred duty."
He looked at the man in the darkness, who could no longer be called "human."
"Even you."
"You are a citizen of the Empire, so I am protecting you as much as possible, instead of using my authority as a master."
"Go. Find the killer."
——
——
Chen Yan looked at the wall clock. It was already 2:34 AM.
2:34 in the morning.
The scheduled guest still hadn't arrived.
At this moment, Chen Yan was no longer worried about his own safety.
He had called the police and was certain that Klein Justus would handle the murder case.
He had dealt with that tall, pale-skinned man and knew exactly what kind of person he was—
Officer Klein Justus was a self-proclaimed "justice" fanatic.
He possessed a unique, self-contained set of life creeds and values, and handled everything according to them, sometimes even overcorrecting.
On Chen Yan's very first day arriving at Walker Street, when he couldn't even speak Imperial fluently,
he saw Officer Klein smash a drunkard's jaw with a single punch. The reason was simply: "Drunkenness threatens the life and safety of the community's residents."
Officer Klein had received a massive amount of complaints because of this, but it didn't affect his firm footing on Walker Street.
Because the executive officials of Yharnam City weren't stupid—the crime rate in the blocks and communities managed by Officer Klein Justus was consistently half that of other areas year-round. This already said a lot.
There were many such obsessed individuals in the Empire.
Having been here for over a month, Chen Yan had deeply experienced this.
——
The good news was that the window of the third-floor bedroom had been blocked by a cabinet.
Although the gaps around the cabinet still let the wind through, at least it wouldn't sap away all the heat provided by the radiator.
For new immigrants, heating was a luxury.
The heating fee of up to 10 shillings per square meter deterred almost all lower-class new immigrants.
Chen Yan had turned on the heating entirely because he was duped by the real estate agent,
who claimed that heating could increase the rental rate,
could raise the base rent,
and that 5 months of heating would give his old apartment a second spring...
Total bullshit.
Even the workers from the chemical plant's dust workshops—those poor bastards who could contract pneumoconiosis at any moment—wouldn't dare rent a dilapidated, dangerous building like this!
And Chen Yan himself was clearly not a qualified investor.
All his money had been sunk into this apartment; he was completely tied up.
If there was no income in the short term, he would definitely starve to death before his salary was issued next month...
Therefore, he was desperately looking forward to tonight's visitor.
That was his lifeline.
After dealing with the bedroom, he turned around and went to the first-floor lobby.
His eyes subconsciously avoided the scratched-out group photo as he sat on the sofa covered in plastic wrap.
In a few hours, he had to go to work. Although he didn't know the exact time he was supposed to clock in, arriving a bit early wouldn't hurt.
The scratched-out note said: [Before your shift, please enter the park exactly within XX minutes of your scheduled start time.]
XX minutes was obviously a two-digit number.
Let's assume it's 99 minutes.
If I wait at the zoo entrance 1 hour and 39 minutes early, I surely won't be late!
Thinking of this, Chen Yan's heart finally relaxed a little.
Lying on the sofa, pulling his collar tight, he silently waited for tonight's guest.
An unknown amount of time passed. Just before he drifted off into a groggy sleep, a knock came from the door.
Knock, knock.
The knocking was very soft, almost inaudible unless one listened carefully.
Chen Yan snapped his eyes open. In his grogginess, the thought of the impending rent injected him with adrenaline. He stood up and opened the lobby door.
The moment the lock clicked open, a gust of cold wind blew in from outside, instantly freezing him awake.
In that same instant, a thought flashed through Chen Yan's mind, and cold sweat ran down his spine.
'Is it the guest outside, or the returning killer?'
It was too late to pull back his sluggish hand.
The door opened.
Under the flickering, dim streetlight, the tall figure outside stiffly bowed 90 degrees toward him:
"こんにちは!はじめまして,よろしくお願いします!" (Hello! Nice to meet you, please take care of me!)
Chen Yan was dumbfounded.
Why the hell is it a Sakura Country guy?!
The tall man, who looked to be in his thirties, had his hair tied in a topknot. The topknot was covered in snowflakes, making it look like he was wearing a white pineapple hat.
He was wearing what seemed to be a ragged cotton robe, torn into strips. Heaven knows how much suffering he endured to get here.
The filthy white scarf wrapped around his neck had long frozen stiff, packed with snow on the inside.
The most glaring thing about the man was his left arm—it was a clearly modified wooden shinobi prosthetic, about the same size as a normal arm, looking like fleshless bone.