From the end of the world

Chapter 4 Picking up the Doomsday Girl 4
From the moment I came into contact with a real gun, I knew that I might have to deal with official forces in the future, and I secretly hoped for this development.

But I didn't expect the police to come so quickly, and it was even more unbelievable that the reality would develop so similar to the previous nightmare.

Is it true that that girl is a serial killer?
Fear and excitement were pounding in my chest at the same time.

Perhaps I had lost control of my facial muscles, and the policeman in front of me raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's wrong? Do you recognize this face?"

"It's nothing, I just feel..."

"feel?"

"Such a young girl... could actually be a serial killer?" I transferred part of my previous disbelief to my tone at this moment.

"Oh, you mean this..." He nodded in agreement. "Someone asked this before. Actually, she found a gun from somewhere. Little girls in their rebellious period tend to be extreme in their thinking. Sometimes they don't take their own lives or the lives of others seriously. They also have resentment towards adults and society. And they happened to get a real gun. It's easy for them to accidentally discharge the gun both psychologically and physically."

"Can she also be classified as a murderer?" I asked probingly.

"If the circumstances are particularly serious, then yes... You can find out by searching the Internet later." He didn't seem to want to say anything more on the extended topic, and asked again, "So, have you seen her? Do you have any impression of her face? She has appeared in this area before, and will pose a serious threat to the lives of nearby residents. It's good to catch her as early as possible. There will be cash rewards for active reporting."

I know very well that reporting is rewarded, but covering up is punishable by heavy criminal liability. Although it won't lead to life imprisonment as described in the nightmare, it will definitely make my future dark.

I consciously avoided pedestrians and road surveillance during the first half of moving the girl last night, and in the second half I put the girl in a large suitcase, so it shouldn't be easy to be exposed. But the problem is that I am not a dangerous person who is actively preparing for crimes, so I can't say with certainty that I really avoided all surveillance cameras. Maybe there are surveillance cameras in some blind spots that I haven't noticed? The possibility of being caught by official forces is objectively there.

Maybe the policeman in front of me has already obtained evidence against me and is giving me the last chance to confess. I'd better admit that I was confused for a moment and quickly hand over the girl before there is no turning back.

However, after finally encountering such an out-of-the-ordinary event and having come to this point, am I going to end this mysterious encounter as an enthusiastic spectator with a whimper? I haven't heard any stories yet!
There were still a few elusive points about the girl, and the explanation of "a rebellious girl who somehow found a real gun" was far from satisfying. If I let her go, I was afraid that I would lose my position to continue to participate in this bizarre incident forever.

I can't hand over that child until I'm satisfied.

When the police asked me about it, I pretended to recall it, and then I answered, "I probably haven't seen it."

"Okay... sorry for taking up your time." The police officer didn't show any surprise or disappointment. He just took the photo back and closed the door for me skillfully. "If you see her later, remember to call the police immediately."

"I see."

I responded in a normal tone, closed the door, and then eavesdropped on the noise outside.

The policeman's footsteps moved to the next door to my house, and the knock on the door sounded again. It seemed that he went to the neighbors' houses to continue asking for clues. He should be planning to visit each house one by one.

I seem to have heard somewhere before that in modern times, more than 90% of solved cases are actually solved by this kind of simple and unpretentious visit work and checking surveillance videos.

Just in case, I didn't go back to the bedroom to talk to the girl immediately. Instead, I picked up my phone beside the sofa and returned to the entrance. While silently eavesdropping on the movements of the police outside the door, I took out my phone to check the recent serial killing cases in my city - Saltwater City.

Upon checking, it turned out to be true.

In the past two or three months, five bodies with horrific deaths were found in the urban area of ​​Xianshui City. The deceased were all officials and wealthy people with high social status.

The media reports seem to be regulated to a certain extent. The news I could find did not record their causes of death in detail, nor did they have photos or specific descriptions of their "horrible deaths". I only know that the official forces collected fibers and skin tissues that did not belong to the five bodies from the gaps between their fingernails, which were suspected to be scratched from the murderer's clothes and body during their death struggle. It can be confirmed that the murderer of the five crimes is the same person.

At present, the true identity of the murderer has not been solved yet, and the upper class is in a panic, fearing that they will be the next corpse.

I have some impression of this news. When I saw it last month, I thought about whether I should join in the fun and investigate it. However, because I was concentrating on investigating other strange stories and urban legends at the time, I did not pay more attention to this bizarre serial murder case that happened locally.

I thought it was just another perverted serial killer who hated the rich and would be caught by the powerful government soon. But after so much time, there was still no progress in the case.

Is that mysterious girl the murderer of this case?
I don't think it's right. If the victims were killed by handgun, they wouldn't be described as "horrible deaths".

Of course, if all five bodies had their heads blown up by a pistol, that would be another matter, but in that case, would there really be room for the victim to scratch the murderer in his dying struggle, and more than once? After all, with the range of a pistol, it is not realistic for the victim to have zero-distance contact with the murderer.

But... we can't be so sure. Maybe the girl's shooting skills are terrible, and she can only hit the target when the victim is within her reach; or maybe the girl used fists and feet to commit the crime, just like she used joint skills to fight me before.

Moreover, the policeman had indeed accused the girl of being the murderer. Moreover, although the girl was dressed like a victim, she herself had not suffered any harm at all.

If she is really the murderer, then what I am doing now...

No, stop for a moment. There are still too few clues. It would be too hasty to draw conclusions now. It is better to ask her directly and see how she reacts.
-
After the police outside the door finished their visit on this floor, I turned around to take out the pistol hidden behind the sofa, unlocked the safety device again, then walked to the bedroom and pushed the door open.

The girl was sitting cross-legged on the bed, hugging her arms as if in meditation, not caring at all about her naked appearance.

She seemed to have stayed where she was, but I noticed subtle signs of movement throughout the room. It seemed that she had been tiptoeing around the bedroom while I was talking to the police, trying to find out more about me.

When she heard the door open, she immediately raised her head, first quickly glanced behind me, then looked at me, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Why are you hiding me?" She frowned deeply, her tone revealing strong suspicion. "You heard it just now, right? I'm a vicious serial killer. Since you're just an ordinary citizen, shouldn't you report me?"

"So are you a murderer?" I asked her in return.

"I'm not." She denied it firmly at first, then paused, and became unsure herself, "... Am I not?"

"Yes or no, I hope you can give a definite answer."

“Yes and no.” Her wording was still unclear this time, but her tone was certain. “At least, I haven’t killed anyone in this era.”

"I don't understand." I said, "Are you trying to say that you are from the future?"

"Answer my initial question first." Her tone became tough, intending to regain control of the conversation. "Why are you hiding me?"

I had no intention of arguing with her for dominance, and I had already prepared a script, so I answered fluently: "Because you are not the murderer."

"Why do you say that?" she asked suspiciously.

"None of the victims died of gunshot wounds." I threw the phone with the web page to her, and then continued, "Besides, I don't think the murderer in this case would be like the victims, lying in the ruins in the middle of the night covered in blood."

This is a lie. Although I have not seen direct evidence to prove that she is the murderer, I have already prepared myself mentally for the possibility that she is the murderer, and even to a certain extent, I am mentally prepared to deal with her secretly.

She pressed on, "Even if you don't believe I'm the murderer, there's no reason to hide me. Regardless of whether I'm the murderer or not, it's a fact that I violated the laws of this era by possessing guns and ammunition. Telling the police about my situation is what you should do."

"Didn't I tell you before that you were the one who told me not to call the police?" As I spoke, I slowly walked to the desk, put the gun on the table, and then turned to face her. "I don't know if you have any secrets, but since it's related to guns and ammunition, it means that your secrets are life-threatening.

"To me, you're just a ragged girl lying in the night. I want to stand up and protect you. Is this really that strange?"

I don’t know if the “lines” I carefully prepared were too powerful, but she backed away to the corner of the bed with her hands and feet as if she was burned. Then she swallowed her saliva and asked in amazement, “Just…just because of this reason?”

Now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to play this play to the end.

"Isn't this enough?"

"How could this be possible? Could it be that people in this era really..." She was unexpectedly shaken.

I originally thought that I would need to spend more time talking to her, but she seemed to believe it so easily.

But what exactly does she mean by this era or that era? Is she suffering from Chuunibyou? Or does she really have a secret that I can't imagine?

I was about to express my confusion again, but she calmed down first, looked at me for a long time, then relaxed her guard a little and introduced herself: "My name is Ma Zao, Ma for sesame, and Zao for breakfast. What's your name?"

"My name is Zhuang Cheng, Zhuang means solemn and Cheng means successful," I replied.

Ma Zao seemed to have made some important decision in his mind.

She sat upright on the bed with her hands on her knees.

"Okay, Zhuang Cheng. ... Next, I'm going to tell you my true identity and origins. I know you probably won't believe me, but I hope you can listen to me first."

Is she finally going to confess?
Is it too soon? Is she telling the truth, or is she going to lie to me?
I nodded expectantly, "Go ahead."

"As you said before, I don't belong to this era. I am a person who traveled from the future to the present." She spoke in a shocking manner, "In the future, human civilization has been destroyed and the world has entered the era of doomsday."

(End of this chapter)