American forensics, but the gourmet system

When Russell returned to his lodgings, it was already broad daylight.

He took out his keys, opened the apartment door, and went inside.

Aina, dressed in pajamas, had her legs curled up on the sofa, her dark red hair casually draped over her shoulders, still holding her tablet and writing and drawing.

Hearing Russell open the door, she looked up in slight surprise.

Perhaps sensing Russell's heavy fatigue and strong odor, Aina frowned her pretty eyebrows:

"You wouldn't... be working overtime until now, would you?"

"It's obvious..."

Russell shrugged, suddenly understanding Diaz's taciturn nature.

When a person is too tired, even speaking becomes a form of exhaustion.

"There's toast and milk in the kitchen; you can heat it up," Aina suggested kindly. "Or you could have a cup of hot chocolate..."

"Thank you, Aina... I ate something outside. I need to go to sleep now... Goodnight."

Russell, who had been holding on because of his involvement in solving the case, finally let his breath out as he entered the familiar and cozy environment. He didn't want to do anything now, he just wanted to crawl into bed and get a good night's sleep.

"Goodnight then." Aina smiled at Russell. "Sweet dreams."

Russell's last memory was throwing his head onto the pillow, and after that, he knew nothing more.

……

Meanwhile, Jesse, still half-asleep, emerged from his Ford Explorer parked on the street, straightened his somewhat disheveled uniform, and went into Clarkson's residence.

Last night, Jesse was clearly the one who did the most work in digging the pit. When Russell was collecting the bones in the early morning, Captain Hansen told Jesse to rest in the police car.

Now, the work in the backyard is basically in its final stages. Two on-site survey technicians are using tweezers to pick up the last few pieces of clothing from the pit, and their faces look a little pale.

Captain Hansen was also pale-faced.

Marty and Diaz both managed to catch a short nap, but Captain Hansen stayed at the excavation site the entire time, having worked continuously for 24 hours.

"I think you should go and take a break, boss."

As Jesse walked into the backyard, he heard Marty say to Captain Hansen.

"The work here is almost finished," Captain Hansen said wearily. "I can take a nap in the car on the way back to the Criminal Investigation Center..."

  

"You're going back to the Criminal Investigation Center?" Jesse was taken aback. "You can just go home after get off work, Captain. We're not useless idiots; leave the cleanup to us."

"I need to go back and write an application to interrogate Carey Rupert," Captain Hansen said, wiping a yawn. "There's clearly more to Carey Rupert's murder of Joey Cruz than meets the eye. Whatever the reason, we have to find out his motive this time... We must handle this case flawlessly..."

"Without a doubt."

Diaz nodded in approval.

"We thoroughly re-examined Joey Cruz and Carey Rupert's place," Marty said through gritted teeth. "Once all the evidence comparisons are in, I refuse to believe we can't get that kid to talk..."

"I hope so..." Captain Hansen watched as the two pale-faced technicians climbed out of the pit. He turned to his three subordinates and said, "That's a wrap, everyone."

……

When Russell woke up again, for a few seconds he even forgot why he was lying in bed.

He sat up, covered his face with his hands, and fragments of memories flooded back into his mind like a tide...

I picked up my phone and glanced at it; it was already 5 PM. There were no missed calls, only a text message from Dr. Beckman:

Captain Hansen told me about the progress of the case. He said I did a good job and should get some rest.

Russell let out a breath, feeling a strange sense of relief.

In this case, as a forensic pathologist, his job was limited to issuing forensic reports on the severed leg and bones as part of the case closure report.

Although it was tedious and tiring enough, at least we saw hope.

What's more, there's a $30,000 reward...

Russell certainly wouldn't keep the $30,000 for himself; the members of the Major Crimes Unit, Dr. Beckman, and Aina, who helped him with the image enhancement, should all be rewarded.

Russell plans to consult an experienced person about how to allocate the prize money once he receives it.

He got out of bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

The advantage of this apartment is that both bedrooms have their own bathrooms, so there won't be any awkwardness or conflict among roommates due to shared bathrooms.

Russell, feeling refreshed, changed into a clean set of clothes, then, carrying his dirty clothes, planned to wash them in the public washing machine in the hallway.

As soon as Russell entered the living room, he saw a gray yoga mat on the floor.

Wearing light pink tight yoga pants and a black tight crop top, Aina stretched her long legs to the accompaniment of soothing music, bent over on the yoga mat, and struck an amazingly flexible pose.

She is 172 centimeters tall, but she used to always wear loose pajamas and nightgowns, which didn't show off her curvaceous figure.

But this yoga outfit I'm wearing today...

Russell couldn't help but secretly swallow.

Aina, on the other hand, seemed quite at ease. Seeing Russell emerge from the bedroom, she greeted him cheerfully.

"Ah, I thought you were about to wake up... How were you? Did you sleep well?"

"not bad……"

Russell tried to look away from Aina, but the young man's inner code kicked in, and his mind was filled with the deep image of Aina bending over.

I really didn't look at it on purpose...

Russell attempted to change the subject:

"Have you ever practiced yoga, Aina?"

"I think I told you before, my previous roommate was an Indian girl." Aina tucked her long legs in and said to Russell, "Although she wasn't very hygienic, she was very good at yoga, and I really liked the sport, so I learned a few poses from her."

"A little exercise is good..." Russell nodded dismissively. "I'll go do some laundry first... What would you like to eat tonight?"

"Can we order more food?"

Aina's eyes lit up.

"Of course," Russell smiled. "As long as it's a dish I know how to cook."

"My grandpa used to make me a dish called... Sweet and Sour Pork!" Aina's blue eyes sparkled with reminiscence. "I really loved that sweet and sour taste..."

The system never provided Russell with a recipe for sweet and sour pork, but Russell possessed elite-level butchering skills and master-level heat control techniques, and the system recognized his cooking level as surpassing 84% of people who could cook.

Therefore, Russell felt that even if he found a tutorial video for sweet and sour pork online, he should be able to replicate the taste to a high degree.

"No problem," Russell readily agreed. "Wait here, I'll go downstairs to buy the groceries."

As Russell walked out of the apartment carrying the dirty clothes, the semi-transparent light screen belonging to the system suddenly popped up again.

[The host has been detected to have agreed to the diner's order.]

[Task: Complete the preparation of sweet and sour pork and gain the approval of diners]

[Task Reward: Wok Tossing and Holding Technique (Elite Level)]

Oh! The system has another task!