I Am Tired Of Being A Hero-Chapter 221: Autopsy report

Ravi had no intention of starting a question that had plagued countless philosophers and students of human behavior. He was just worried that this dark world would affect this bright soul next to him.

His body temperature was cold. He was not a human but a Sentinel, he did not have the warmth humans do so he held the hand a little tighter.

The manager was so pale that when she stood up, his legs were shaking. He had identified the 13 victims out of 21 and had even called the two other notorious clubs in Davenport to identify the other victims.

Arlen had pressured and the two managers, one, shouted with a round belly and another tall one that looked more like a bouncer than a manager had hurried over. Each one’s attitude was worse than the other but they successfully identified 6 out of the eleven victims..

After advising them to tell their workers to be more cautious, Arlen went upstairs to report the development to the Chief. Arlen did not bother being proud at this time and when the Chief suggested that they should contact the Alstria Police Bureau, he had agreed without any protest.

He could not wait for them to come even faster. When he came down and saw all the eyes on him, Arlen who had been in a leadership position all his life felt his heart skip a beat.

The always lively police room was quiet, it was as if the oxygen had been drained away, the pressure pressed against everyone’s chest. Arlen could feel it, the weight of the pictures in his hand, in this small town that seemed so far away from the madness of city life.

His eyes searched for calm hazel orbs and Arlen could find comfort and draw strength from Ravi’s calm eyes.

Those eyes visibly softened when they saw him and the owner gave him a single nod.

"We would wait for forensics to confirm the similarities between the cases." He started and he could reply to them. There was no need, anyone who sees the pictures would feel that cold dread of how similar the pictures are.

"This is horrible, extremely so but it is still just a case. We would approach it the same way we approach every case, carefully, and meticulously, if anything, we should be even more careful. All the teams would commence full-time today. Each officer would be assigned two or three victims, we would search every nook and cranny of their lives, find their similarities, and retrace their steps. We would find this killer and we would put an end to this."

"Everyone should get a seat. We would need to have a meeting." He looked at them, quiet for a second before he said, "I would order some coffee. This is a rare time and there is no limit. Officer Brown, get a pen and a paper and take down everyone’s order. With a choice of pastry. You can get their best sellers for Sergeant Tom and Doctor Korra."

Lisa’s eyes glowed, "Really? Then I want a coffee cake, not an almond croissant with a vanilla latte. No..."

"I would get you a bottle of water." Draco threatened and the two of them glared at each other.

As usual, Sarah stepped in to mediate, "I would have shortbread with a caramel macchiato."

Draco then stepped towards him to take his order and Ravi took his eyes off Arlen to look at Draco, "Coffee cake with black coffee. No milk, no sugar."

"Old man." Lisa murmured and Arlene chuckled, after he gave his order. Draco ordered and the beverages were here in less than twenty minutes. Just from their luxury packages, there was no doubt that they were a branch office for some popular coffee brands in the bigger cities.

Everyone had their drinks and the indescribable heaviness rose from the depth of everyone’s heart and faded somewhat. freёwebnoѵel.com

=From a seemingly simple murder on the sidewalk, the case was becoming increasingly complex and bizarre, beyond their prediction.

The meeting was scheduled for 2 p.m, which was an hour away. Before that, they shared the names and pictures of the victims and asked to do a preliminary investigation. If they had families, they would have to break the news of the death to the families.

Everyone was on their desk, making calls and their fingers flying across the keyboard.

Arlen stood up to look for Korra to break the new development to her and ask her if she could investigate the other bodies. She knew that she would not be able to do it alone, If indeed they had to ask for help from Alstria, he would prefer if they sent their forensic experts and medical examiners than detectives that would disrupt the case and make everything worse.

He had the number of the regional superintendent, he would think to call him in the evening. 21 victims? Was he out of his depth with this case, when he was in the Capital, the cases he worked on were almost always mutant-related? The Bureau had used his combat skills to the extreme, sometimes making Arlen feel like he had not escaped the Heroes Association and his mother but had just fallen into a similar pot.

The only thing that made him smile was the amount of people that they had saved on a weekly basis. The number was in the thousands but somehow, these 21 victims turned in a whole different way.

The scent of chemicals, decaying flesh, and blood was nearly overpowering, but not unfamiliar. A room of steel walls, and labeled drawers was full of refrigerator corpses kept slotted away until the forensics teams were ready to process them and perform an autopsy, that was the forensic room.

He knocked and opened the door, the harsh light made him squint and he looked at both Tom who was carrying a cart full of tools, and Korra who looked barely recognizable at the side of the autopsy table, shrouded in a blue hospital apron and cap that hid her hair, a splash guard over her face. She leaned over the table, prodding and palpitating, only stopping when she heard Arlen’s voice.

She removed the splash guard and took off her bloody gloves, going to wash her hands, "Thank you for the coffee."

Arlen nodded and looked at Tom who just nodded at him. He was quiet which was very unlike the older sergeant.

"He is scared that if he opens his mouth, he might just throw up. It is fine. There is something more critical." Korra said.

"More critical."

"I am afraid you have been investigating wrongly. This was not an ordinary murder, Captain Arlen." Korrra said, as she drank a cup of water.

Arlen nodded, this was also what he had come around to let her know but he did not interrupt her.

"First, a preliminary toxicology report indicated the presence of an unknown substance in the victim’s blood. It would take at least a week for us to find out what substances they are and that is because I am using my connections at the National Forensic Center but if I am to guess, the first one is some kind of tranquilizer, used to render the victim numb and immobile.

"So they can easily control them and move them."

"Yes. Which means they had to get close enough. The second drug seems to be an accelerated healing drug. The tissue samples already show an extraordinary cellular activity."

Arlen blinked, "Healing drug?"

"Yes." She walked to the corpse, her expression was solemn, "The victim indeed died of hemorrhagic shock resulting from rapid blood loss. The surface of the victim’s body was completely without any injury or scar but I surmise that the victim was held with the killer for a while. Before the victim’s death they had endured prolonged torture for several days or even a week. The content of the stomach was empty, indicating that the victim hadn’t eaten for a long time."

"When I opened the body, I discovered the evidence of severe internal injuries, indicating prolonged torture. The organs showed signs of blunt force injury with hemorrhaging and lacerations in the liver, spleen, and kidney. The lungs revealed severe bruising and edema, consistent with prolonged respiratory distress. While the skin was healed extremely well, the internal organs are a mess. If she did not die from the blood loss, she would not have survived without a Level 6 healer. This killer used techniques that are designed to minimize visible signs of trauma while inflicting severe pain and damage."

They reached the corpse of Emily Wilson. The body had already undergone basic dissection, with the chest and abdomen opened and the head shaved.

"Captain, it is best if you don’t..." Tom tried to caution him but Arlen moved even closer.

Under the bright light, the eyes of the corpse were slightly open. It was very red, with a heavy redness in the whites like the blood vessels were inflamed. The eyes reminded Arlen of a movie he had watched when he was much younger with dead people, walking and growling for human flesh.

But even in the eerie forensic room with the red eyes, it was not the strangest thing that Arlen had ever seen.

In the middle of the victim’s stomach was a red rose.