Chapter 2541: Rustling Down (Part 36)

When Shiler returned to the forest, the person he had knocked out hadn't woken up yet. He put the clothes he had changed out of back on the other person and turned the pockets, which were already empty, inside out.

This would make the other person mistakenly believe that he was just a robber whose purpose was to turn out pockets rather than change clothes. Nowadays, this kind of robbery is the mainstream—not hurting people, not stealing large amounts of property. Most people will consider themselves unlucky because reporting to the police and cooperating with the investigation doesn't necessarily lead to results, and it will also delay their work. Nowadays, nothing is more precious than a job.

Perhaps after this person wakes up, he will even rejoice that he was very cautious and didn't put any valuable property in his work clothes, letting this clumsy thief come up empty-handed.

Besides, ordinary people don't have the ability to check whether their clothing has been taken off through the folds of the clothes.

When Shiler returned to the clothing section, Raven had already picked out three sets of clothes. It seemed she had completely forgotten about the things in the trunk, and only remembered when she saw Shiler.

She immediately became a bit awkward, casting her gaze into the empty space to the side, not looking at the dress she was wearing at all.

The sales assistant picked out a dress with light-colored floral patterns for her, paired with a beige knit cardigan. It would be a bit cold to wear outside this season, but it was just right in the office.

The other two sets were a formal dress and a more casual sportswear set. One could tell that Raven had good taste; both sets of clothes were very suitable for her.

Shiler was going to swipe his card, but Raven stopped him and said, "I think I can pay for it myself, or I can pay you back later."

"Wait until you pay your rent." Shiler said.

The price of the clothes was much lower than Shiler thought, or rather, the clothes weren't that expensive to begin with; it was Shiler's custom-made suits that were ridiculously expensive.

After buying the clothes and walking downstairs, Raven was still uneasy. She was wearing the newly bought sportswear, which should have been a very youthful and energetic outfit, but because there was no smile on her face, and she was either worried or cold and serious, she looked very awkward.

"I've already handled it." Shiler said. "Later, I'll make a call to Pamela and ask her to help handle the remaining parts."

Raven knew what Shiler meant by the remaining parts. At that time, they had gotten several boxes, but they didn't move all the boxes into the car; there were still two small boxes left in the room.

After the two arrived home, Shiler opened those two small boxes. Inside were fingers, toes, genitals, and hair.

Seeing these things now, Raven's heart couldn't stir up any waves. She looked at Shiler and asked, "Why are these kept separately?"

"Because they are relatively small and fragmented, and their characteristics are too obvious." Shiler said. "This is the part that differs most from ungulates, which are the livestock we often eat. Many careless murderers are discovered because of finger joints or strands of hair."

Raven nodded. In the programs she watched before, there were reports of major cases over the years. She often heard that someone's finger was found in a sewer, or hair was found near someone's bathroom sink. She really hadn't heard of a murderer being caught because a thigh bone was found somewhere.

She thought it made sense. Even the most panicked murderer would remember to cut off the whole leg when dismembering a body, because under normal circumstances, you can't carry something as big as a leg and parade through the street.

But small things like fingers or hair can be thrown away in a bag, and many people are too lazy to deal with them, just packing them together and throwing them away.

But fingers are actually the most important part for identifying human bodies, significantly different from any other animal. Experienced criminal police can immediately judge that this is human tissue, not livestock tissue, just by seeing a finger or part of a finger joint.

Pamela came quickly. As soon as Shiler opened the box for her, Pamela didn't even have half a look of surprise.

She sat on the sofa, looked up at Shiler, and said, "So where will I see your artwork tomorrow?"

"There is no artwork, Miss. I have already handled the corpse."

Pamela frowned slightly, looked at Shiler, and asked, "Handled? How did you handle it? You actually use the word 'handle'?"

Shiler seemed a bit helpless and had to give Raven a look to let her explain. Raven was holding back a stomach full of words.

She had received a huge mental shock this morning. If she didn't find someone to talk to, she would go crazy.

So, with a speed she had never had in her life and an extremely excited, even manic emotion, she started telling Pamela what she had experienced from last night to this morning.

Raven no longer wanted to hide the fact that she wanted to look at the refrigerator, and upon hearing that she didn't sleep in the middle of the night and wanted to look at the freezer layer, Pamela showed a strange expression.

Upon hearing that they later took the human fragments in pieces to the fresh food supermarket, and Raven was extremely worried and almost scared crazy about it, her expression became even stranger.

Hope this little girl won't find her father in pieces in the freezer layer of the refrigerator, Pamela thought to herself. Oh, my god, she must have heard too many hell jokes that day; it's too hellish.

Pamela prayed twice in her heart and then shifted her attention to this matter. She looked at Shiler and said, "I have to say, Professor, what are you doing? You actually killed and dismembered someone?!"

"What? So he wasn't this kind of person before?!" Raven was even more surprised than Pamela. She stood up with a 'swoosh' and rushed to Shiler's side, looking left and right, as if she wanted to see if he had been bewitched by a demon.

"I mean, you wouldn't cherish a corpse like those clumsy murderers. How did you kill him?"

Shiler pointed to the statue placed on the plastic sheet next to him.

"Just like this?" Pamela was even more incredulous. She looked at Shiler from head to toe as if she didn't recognize him.

Shiler briefly explained the cause and effect and added the reason why he did so. He said, "I said I wanted to be an ordinary person. Isn't this how ordinary people kill and dismember bodies?"

"How would ordinary people kill and dismember bodies?!" Raven raised her voice and said.

"Ordinary people wouldn't, but ordinary Gothamites would." Pamela stroked her chin and said, "If he wanted to make a move on you, then it's completely understandable out of self-defense. And if he really was a drug dealer with a purpose, then it's also hard to judge whether he wanted to kill you to silence you because he was afraid of exposure or if he was aiming at you. Looking at it this way, this murder case doesn't exceed the scope of ordinary people."

Raven's shocked gaze shifted to Pamela's face.

Pamela signaled her to calm down and said, "Don't look at me with those eyes, little girl. If someone with bad intentions came to your house, and you had long ago noticed that he was carrying a weapon, what would you do?"

"Um, call the police?"

"But it's the middle of the night now, and the community police station won't send people over so quickly, and he's about to make a move."

Raven struggled for a while before saying, "I have magic, so I can completely avoid hurting him and knock him out. But I know ordinary people might not be able to do that. They might have to go through a fight before one person survives."

"Exactly." Shiler nodded and said, "He was too careless, thinking that carrying tools for work hours would make me let down my guard, and at the same time, he was too arrogant, thinking that he could subdue me with the cold weapon he was carrying alone. He bet wrong."

"Alright." Pamela said, "Such things are considered normal in Cat Getan, but since it involves a drug dealer from a transnational organization, we still need to be cautious. I guess it won't be long before the Penitence Cartel and the Cat Getan Police Department take action."

"That's why I asked you to come and help." Shiler looked at Pamela and said, "I don't know if the process is correct, but ordinary people should do it this way. If you help me handle these things, you don't have to pay back your money."

Pamela's eyes immediately lit up. She gave Shiler a thumbs up and said, "That's right, human interaction is like this. Don't worry, I'll find a good flower pot for them."

Pamela happily hugged the box and left. Raven always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't say where it was wrong. She felt that the problem might be in the things in the box.

If it were a box of ordinary trash, the whole process would be too warm—a professor, in order to help a good student with poor economic conditions, specially asked her to help with a not-so-difficult small favor to waive the previous debt, so that she could study hard.

But once she thought that the box contained human fragments, the whole process seemed strange, absurd, and eerie. A professor killed and dismembered a body, and a student handled the corpse, but they insisted on expressing all this in the social way of ordinary people.

Raven felt her brain was about to smoke again.

She didn't sleep well last night, and she experienced too much during the day, so Shiler urged her to go upstairs for a nap. After all, they still had to make the final preparations for the housewarming party in the afternoon, and they were going to have a party tomorrow night.

And as Pamela speculated, a series of reactions came faster than Shiler imagined.

First, colleagues at the post office soon discovered that the postman was missing. This was discovered by Shiler when he went to collect the invitation receipts. This young man named Hernandez sounded like a model employee who had never been late or left early. He didn't come to work this morning, and his colleagues were talking about it.

Shiler pretended to be casual and started chatting with the staff at the window about his housewarming party. The other party was also free, so he told Shiler about his previous moving experience.

For this reason, Shiler was able to stay at the post office for a while longer. Not long after, he saw the flashing police lights outside the window.

It seems that this guy named Hernandez had quite a good popularity. Usually, no one would call the police if he was missing for such a short time. Of course, it is also possible that the Cat Getan police now have high prestige, and residents think that they should call the police to try regardless of the size of the matter.

Sure enough, after the police came, they didn't rush to find him, but first recorded it and told them to call them again if the young man hadn't returned by dark.

If they waited until dark to start looking, they definitely wouldn't find any clues before he finished his housewarming party. It might cause some commotion, but this just enriched the topics at his party.

But Shiler, who was driving home, heard the piercing siren before he even got home.

He turned a corner and only saw the brightly colored blockade line, police cars, and police officers swimming by like a school of fish. ===== CHAPTER 2542 =====