“Tsk tsk tsk, that’s not something you should be saying. Besides, the people we killed—legally speaking, maybe they shouldn’t have been sentenced to death, but they weren’t exactly good people either. Killing them, well, I don’t feel any guilt about it. As for you, haven’t you already gotten that hobby of yours ingrained in your bones? If the club shuts down in the future, it’ll be hard for you to get your fix again.”

Henry Grant, true to his role as a cop, suddenly seemed to think of something after saying this. “Did you find something even more exciting for yourself again?”

William Clark smiled. “Maybe…”

Just as William Clark was about to continue, Henry Grant’s phone rang.

“Hello, Captain, I’m investigating in the dorm building. Oh, okay, regroup, I’m coming.”

Henry Grant raised his phone to William Clark. “I’m heading out. We’ll get the four of us together in a couple of days to talk about the club. If we’re disbanding, so be it.”

……

That night, William Clark was studying alone in a classroom, working on a paper. He didn’t really like going to the library for this kind of thing. Sometimes, a nearly empty self-study room with just a few people made it easier to sink into a solitary, focused state.

After finalizing his paper, William Clark planned to buy a drink from the vending machine outside, have a cigarette, and then come back to revise the paper one more time before settling on a draft.

At that moment, there were two other students in the classroom, a guy and a girl, sitting at the front desks of the far left and far right rows, respectively. William Clark had been sitting in the back, in the middle.

He walked out of the classroom, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took some cash from his wallet to feed into the vending machine.

“Ding dong.”

William Clark bent down and took a hot canned coffee from the bottom of the vending machine.

Just then, a waft of perfume drifted by.

“Brother Su, buy me a drink, I didn’t bring any money.”

William Clark stood up. “The change just came out, it’s inside. Take it yourself and put it in the machine.”

With that, William Clark walked back to his classroom with his coffee.

The girl left standing there looked a bit embarrassed.

When William Clark sat back down in the classroom, ready to revise his paper again, the same girl came in with her bag. Apparently dissatisfied with how William Clark had treated her earlier, she didn’t greet him this time, nor did she choose to sit near him. Instead, she picked a seat in the middle, toward the front.

She put down her bag, took out her headphones, snacks, makeup mirror, book, and pen, making a constant racket, causing the other two students in the classroom to frown. Some people come to the classroom to read for a bit, but their prep work takes forever.

But then, a piercing scream burst from the girl’s mouth:

“Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

William Clark stood up and saw that the girl was holding a bloody piece of human skin!

Chapter Six: The Dismemberment Case!

Henry Grant and William Clark were squatting together by the flowerbed next to the teaching building, staring at each other.

“I just asked you at noon what you thought about the anatomy teacher going missing, and you give me the answer tonight.” Henry Grant grumbled, as if William Clark had known all along but only told him at night, making him crawl out of bed to come over—full of that deep, resentful vibe.

William Clark rolled his eyes at Henry Grant. “Didn’t you see what that scalp looked like?”

“I get queasy at the sight of blood, I’m a coward, I didn’t look,” Henry Grant replied.

“And you’re still a cop?”

“You know I got this job through connections.” Henry Grant stood up and stretched.

“That wasn’t the anatomy teacher’s scalp. Those teachers have been soaked in formalin for ages, and who knows how many times students have messed with them. How could their scalps still have fresh blood? Plus, the scalp tissue was very delicate and soft—the person probably died not long ago, or it was carefully preserved for a while.”

Henry Grant stared at William Clark like he was a freak. “Damn, you actually took it out and looked at it?”

“I was at the scene when the scalp was found. I’m one of the witnesses. Of course I’d take a look before the police arrived.”

“Sigh, so it’s fresh human skin. Does that mean—?” Henry Grant absentmindedly pulled out another cigarette, trying to light it, but the wind kept blowing out his lighter.

“Fresh human skin, and no one’s reported any assault or injuries. Nine times out of ten, it’s a murder case.”

Frustrated at not being able to light his cigarette, Henry Grant threw both the cigarette and the lighter on the ground and stomped on them.

“So this means I’m not going home tonight?”

William Clark gave Henry Grant a look that said, “What do you think?” But honestly, Henry Grant was a pretty odd cop—when a murder happened, all he could think about was not being able to get a good night’s sleep.

“Henry Grant, what are you doing over there?” A middle-aged man stood at the main entrance of the teaching building, shouting in their direction.

“That’s him, my brother-in-law, captain of the criminal police squad. Other people’s brothers-in-law can’t wait to suck up to their wife’s little brother, but all he knows is how to work me to death. Damn.”