At this thought, a chill suddenly rose in his heart.

Because, what flashed through his mind in an instant were the following possibilities:

First, the murderer wanted the first person to arrive at the scene to immediately understand that what was on the ground were dead bodies, not spilled soy sauce or something else.

Second, the murderer might have wanted to make it easier for the police to identify the victims, which is why the heads were left behind; combined with the previous point, this suggests that the murderer is not only unafraid of police involvement, but even has a tendency to play a game of wits with them.

Third, it’s also possible... the murderer had planned from the very beginning that “someone who knows about ability users” would eventually get involved in this case, so he used this method to directly tell investigators like Logan Carter—the perpetrator is a seasoned ability user.

Chapter Two: Threat

November 21st, 15:10, Linyi, Sunshine Youth Behavior Correction Center.

After a twenty-minute-long “preliminary treatment,” Ethan Logan said a tearful goodbye to his “parents,” and was then dragged by two burly men and thrown into a single room that was probably a solitary confinement cell.

This room was completely empty, except for a squat toilet in the corner and a roll of toilet paper on the floor; there wasn’t even a light bulb, nor any windows to the outside. The only source of light in the room was a small window above the door, through the iron bars of which a bit of corridor light could be seen.

Ethan Logan was locked up in this single room for several hours, completely ignored; he had undoubtedly missed dinner, and whether he had missed the late-night snack was anyone’s guess.

In any case, it wasn’t until that night, when the corridor lights outside automatically switched to “night mode,” that a “dorm supervisor” who had clearly eaten and drunk his fill, and still reeked of alcohol, finally opened the door to the room.

He was a burly man, dressed in a white uniform with the center’s name printed on it; he didn’t knock or announce himself, but simply used his fingerprint to open the electronic door and swaggered in.

His demeanor and actions made it clear... he brought neither courtesy nor respect.

However, he did bring something.

“Put this on.” The Warden said as he casually tossed a set of camouflage clothes onto the floor.

His words were undoubtedly a command, not a request.

After hearing this, Ethan Logan didn’t say anything either, because the impression he wanted to give others at the moment was that of an ordinary teenager who had already been “tamed by electricity” earlier in the day. So, as soon as the words fell, he obediently picked up the clothes from the floor and began changing without a word.

As I said, the room was completely empty, so naturally there was no privacy to speak of; Ethan Logan could only change in front of the Warden, stripping down to just his underwear before putting on the clothes provided.

As for the Warden, he stared at Ethan Logan without the slightest attempt to look away, watching him finish changing; his gaze was tinged with a bit of disdain and impatience.

Clearly, this Warden wasn’t particularly interested in watching boys change clothes—if it were a girl, that would be another matter... but that’s not the point. The point is, even if he didn’t want to watch, he still had to, because there had been more than one incident here where “someone attacked the Warden from behind when he turned his back.” For his own safety, in this kind of “one-on-one” situation, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.

“Give me your clothes and stand outside.” Once Ethan Logan had changed into the camouflage uniform, the Warden issued the next command.

Ethan Logan heard this and still said nothing, just lowered his head slightly, handed over the clothes he had taken off, and then stepped out into the corridor.

At this point, the Warden’s vigilance finally eased a little; while they wouldn’t consider far-fetched scenarios like “he hid something inside his body” or “he tattooed a bunch of information on his skin,” they were still wary of things like “hiding razor blades or other sharp objects in the clothes”—for good reason, as similar incidents had happened before.

“Your clothes will be kept with your personal belongings and returned to you when you’re discharged.” After Ethan Logan stood still, the Warden stood behind him and said this in a routine tone. As he spoke, he shook out the clothes in his hand a few times to check if anything was hidden inside.

To be honest, it was Ethan Logan who was actually impatient with these trivial matters; as for these “controllable details,” Ethan Logan had already arranged everything perfectly before taking action.

The personal items that were confiscated when he was “admitted” that afternoon, including the set of clothes just taken away, were all things he had prepared two weeks in advance: cheap clothes and a wallet bought from an online store, a new model smartphone, a low-end I-PEN, and so on...

Not only had he bought these things in advance, he had also deliberately made them look “used”; and by hacking into the e-commerce platform’s database, he had altered the “purchase dates” and “recipients” of those items.