Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 307 Abnormal Sound
Law enforcement headquarters.

Nero was alone in his office.

He received countless phone calls in the first half of the night.

It should be noted that there are currently no more than twenty telephone lines in the entire city of Nanwei, serving communication between various government agencies, while inter-regional telephone lines require transfer stations.

Nero probably answered every single phone call.

Whether it was inquiries from high-ranking municipal government departments, high-ranking officials from the law enforcement system, or even high-ranking officials from the county government, they were all extremely concerned about this series of murders.

Ironically, some of the callers were unaware of the case that had occurred just hours earlier; they were calling to inquire about the Derby family's murder case, which was reported in today's newspaper.

……

But reporting back was essential, and Nero spent most of the night at his typewriter, typing out the general information on the 23 murder cases and the next steps in the operation. By the time he finished organizing and binding them, it was already getting light.

He habitually lit a cigar, but before the lighter had even burned through the tip, a heavy sense of exhaustion overwhelmed the middle-aged man, and he fell asleep on his desk.

He was awakened by strange noises coming from the hallway.

……

"Knock...knock..."

Like footsteps.

It sounded like a heavy object slowly dragging across a wooden floor.

Not only that, Nero also heard a low, deep breath.

...

The law enforcement headquarters is a brand new building.

Of course, the term "brand new" here refers only to buildings like the Chengnan Law Enforcement Office, which were rebuilt.

With all the fussy decorative styles abandoned, only straight and rigid geometric lines remain in every corner here. The black and gray main color scheme means that no matter how many kerosene lamps are lit at night, they cannot support the dimness of the environment, because the light is basically absorbed by the dark colors of the walls, and very little light is reflected to the naked eye.

At 6 a.m., Nero's office door looked like a rectangular black hole. If there were no unusual noises coming from outside, everything seemed normal.

However, eerie noises always manage to evoke feelings of unease and fear in people to the greatest extent possible.

If anyone were woken up like this, their first reaction would be to light another kerosene lamp or call for the law enforcement officers on the floor below to come up and check on the situation.

But Nero did not.

He was ultimately not the kind of mediocre character.

How could someone who, with only ordinary flesh and blood, single-handedly carved a bloody path through the cursed Ikham be afraid of some minor strange noises?

After brushing aside the coarse, black and white hair that fell across her forehead, Nero grasped the cane leaning against the table and stood up, supporting herself on her weak left leg.

……

In the dimly lit stairwell, the strange noises gradually faded into the distance.

Nero did not experience any fear, but he did not lower his guard because he was in the headquarters of law enforcement.

He opened a drawer, took out a pistol, put it under his coat, and then walked straight out of the room.

The heavy fatigue did not lessen even after he had been slumped over the desk for half an hour. As Nero walked out of the room, his boots accidentally bumped against the door frame, causing him to stumble.

He was indeed getting old, especially during his years in Nanwei City, where he seemed to be aging faster than he had anticipated.

Perhaps in two years, a cane will no longer be enough for him to walk alone.

But as he himself said, every day he lived after leaving Ikham was an extra bonus, so what did he have to complain about?

What may have been tiring him was not his work, but the increasingly rampant crime in the city.

……

The kerosene lamps hanging on the corridor walls had run out of kerosene added the night before. In the dim light, Nero calmly followed the direction of the strange noise.

Just as he had grown accustomed to walking alone in the darkness over the past few decades. Nero himself had no concept of SAN (Sanity) value.

In fact, very few souls could maintain a clear sense of self after enduring what Nero went through.

Carl is no good, and Rebecca, Charles, and others are even less so.

As Investigator C said, very few people in their line of work live to old age, and the same is true for law enforcement officers. In contrast, investigators have a clearer understanding of occult events, but law enforcement officers do not; they are often more prone to getting lost.

……

Nero was not without fear.

For example, for more than 20 years, he dared not set foot on that cursed homeland in his memory.

This led to the death of his most prized student.

The heaviest burden he carried throughout his life was not the mental pressure inflicted by those mysterious events, but the countless regrets.

Rather than fighting against evil, Nero believed himself to be the same when he was young, but he increasingly felt that he was just one of the many beings being mocked, and that he had no power to change anything.

On this point, the raven seems to be right—

"A weak soul is simply no match for seduction."

No matter how hard Nero tried to maintain it, all sorts of evil deeds would continue to emerge in the city, like a spring that could never be stopped.

……

"Knock...knock...knock".

The heavy footsteps continued to echo at the end of the corridor.

Nero followed closely behind.

His hand, which was in his pocket, gripped the pistol.

The source of the sound was like the source of evil he had been chasing for decades; he could not see its form, but could only vaguely hear its voice.

Of course, realistically speaking, the worst-case scenario is nothing more than an assassin infiltrating law enforcement headquarters.

After all, Milo and Theon had already confirmed that the assassins who infiltrated Nanwei City did not hesitate to kill the law enforcement officers.

If they intend to create widespread chaos, then killing a law enforcement inspector and task force commander would be a good option.

Of course, Nero didn't think he was that easy to kill.

……

“Knock…knock…”

Even as Nero reached the end of the corridor on this floor, the slow, heavy footsteps continued to echo.

Nero is now unsure of which direction it came from.

He turned around, leaning on his cane, and stared into the dark corridor behind him.

Suddenly, he noticed the sound of his cane hitting the wooden floor.

"knock……"

The sound was almost identical to the first noise he heard when he woke up from his sleep.

……

"Was that my own footsteps...?"

Nero's breathing gradually became heavy.

He began to realize that his breathing sounded like the breathing of the thing that was passing by the office door.

An old, weary soul.

(End of this chapter)