Chapter 3 : Investigation

What’s the point of deciphering the gaze of the dead?

Before looting the corpses, Huo You ignored Zhang Ke’s resentment. 

She first picked up Li Tom’s communicator and examined it for a while. 

Then, she glanced at the body on the ground, dazed for a second.

Oh, she had still taken three years to accept that she was no longer the esteemed barrister from the harbor city of the real world.

Killing and looting had become a habit.

She quickly cleaned up the scene. 

The seven scavengers had little value—what mattered was Li Tom and the Electromechanical Python.

Of course, Li Tom wouldn’t have carried all his wealth on him. 

His bank card was useless for withdrawals, and all she managed to scavenge was 64 Federal copper coins. 

What she really wanted was the combat supplies in his action backpack—besides a vial of cell activation fluid, there was also an anonymous grain card linked to a private granary.

Not a public one, but private. 

Since it was anonymous, it had no legal standing. 

It was purely a food savings account. 

The storage fees were much cheaper than banks, making it a go-to choice for lower-class individuals who had some food reserves but not enough prestige for banks to serve them.

Of course, among this group, it was common to murder each other to seize grain cards.

Anonymous—whoever held the card owned the food. 

Neither the granary nor the authorities would investigate. 

It was a silent, accepted dark rule.

“The person who invented this thing is truly wicked and cunning.”

Letting resources circulate among the lower classes through bloodshed, preventing their survival conflicts from shifting upwards…

This was exactly the kind of ruthless rule her old world had also used.

But this world was even crueler—even if conflicts didn’t shift, the collective aggression of the Third and Fourth human races posed no real threat to the top two races.

“A Cthulhu-esque, transcendent human-dominated Battle Royale world…”

Huo You let the thought pass and moved swiftly. 

Soon, she reached the Electromechanical Python’s body and quickly cut open its abdomen to retrieve the parasitic organism inside.

About the size of a duck egg, with a glowing blue electric pattern.

Also F-rank, but slightly larger than the mass-produced F-rank parasite embryos from the human world. 

Wild ones were always superior to artificial tech.

This one alone was worth about 700 Federal copper coins.

Next, she used a knife to extract the Electromechanical Python’s poison sac.

Once she had everything, she was ready to leave. 

But after a moment of thought, she forcefully kicked open her wooden hut, scanning the previously dismantled reactor and refining marks inside. 

Then, she deliberately rummaged through the place, creating signs of a male intruder wearing boots.

For three months, she had meticulously used pizza shop food waste and bacterial resources to mix a special metallic electronic fluid, luring the Electromechanical Python into a predictable hunting pattern.

This route connected the landfill’s outskirts to its core. 

The dangerous creatures that once roamed it had all been cleared out by the python.

Now that it was dead, this path would become her direct road to the Snake Pit—the treasure trove she had been eyeing.

Ten minutes later, backpack secured, Huo You moved at top speed.

She absorbed worm parasite fluid she had saved earlier to replenish her energy and reached the Snake Pit entrance. 

The stench of snake musk was overwhelming, but she endured it and dove into the half-human-high burrow.

After just two steps, her flashlight beam landed on something.

A pile of dead people’s bank cards and relics—worthless junk.

Huo You was after something else.

The learning device she had seen once mentioned that Electromechanical Pythons primarily consumed metallic and electronic materials, which, after digestion, produced a special metal with high electrical compatibility—Thunder Chrome.

She searched carefully.

Suddenly, her flashlight froze on something.

She pushed aside the filthy garbage, pinched a marble-sized blue crystal between her fingers.

The moment she touched it, a tingling sensation spread through her fingertips.

“So there really is some.”

“Thunder Chrome.”

Even a fingernail-sized piece of Thunder Chrome was worth 5,000 Federal copper coins—an enormous fortune for someone in the lower class.

Once a super-competitive workaholic who had earned a villa halfway up the harbor city’s hill, Huo You now had much lower standards.

She estimated the weight of the marble-sized piece in her hand.

About 10,000 Federal copper coins.

She took it without hesitation.

Then, within ten minutes, she reached her second hidden raft location. 

Before boarding, she restored the communication log on Li Tom’s device with Huo Xirou , then casually tossed the communicator into the water.

Its chip was waterproof, so data would be preserved—but after some time, it would soak and break, cutting the signal.

Three hours later—4 AM.

Li Tom’s Little Sheep Food Company management team noticed his communicator wasn’t working. 

They immediately sent people to find him.

First, they discovered the soaked communicator.

Then, they followed the footprints to the crime scene.

Electromechanical Python carcass.

Scavenger corpses.

Li Tom’s corpse.

The ransacked wooden hut.

The Little Sheep investigators didn’t need much thinking to connect the dots.

Wooden hut owner.

Murder.

Chaotic battle.

Revenge kill.

Final winner escaping freely…

“The owner of the hut is Huo You Brook. Her identity is a bit special—she’s a Decliner. What’s worth coveting about her?”

“Why was Li Tom here? Was he targeting Huo You? He didn’t lack women, and he could afford breeding fees—why go through all this trouble?”

“Communication logs… This Huo You’s identity is strange. I’ll upload it to the boss.”

Soon, the investigator received a call from Xu Yao, a middle manager at Little Sheep.

Inside an office.

Xu Yao tapped his fingers on the armrest, reviewing information on Huo You and her family.

This wasn’t someone he could deal with directly—their status didn’t match.

But the upper capital behind Little Sheep might be able to have a conversation with the Huo family.

This “small incident” could be a way to probe for scandals—something he could leverage for personal gain.

It was his golden opportunity for promotion.

No need to explain that to his subordinates.

“Where is Huo You Brook? Is she dead? Do we have the body?”

“No, she’s not home. The final winner also searched for her but couldn’t find her.”

“We traced her through the employees of Big Tomato Pizza… She’s in town, studying.”

“Studying?”

“Yes, right now she’s at the Brook Education Department’s Regulated Learning Center—prepping for the college entrance exam. She offended someone today and feared for her life… so she hid there.”

Xu Yao: “Bribe security and education officials. Check her learning device records. Also, do those footprints match her?”

“No. They belong to a male. Different height and weight. Should we arrest her? She’s a Decliner—we don’t need to be polite.”

Xu Yao: “No. Just monitor her. Don’t let anyone disrupt her college prep.”

…Huh?

The subordinate didn’t understand.

Xu Yao smiled.

The fact that a mere mid-level manager could be bribed to assassinate Huo You Brook—and that her surname bore the Brook Star suffix—meant only one thing to Xu Yao:

The Huo family had abandoned her.

That meant she herself was insignificant.

But for that Huo family member who wanted her dead, there had to be a reason. 

And since they deemed it necessary to assassinate her, they definitely wouldn’t want her taking the college entrance exam.

In that case…

This was worth negotiating.

It all depended on how much leverage he could squeeze out.

But why were they so insistent on killing her?

This woman must be exceptional.

Xu Yao was cunning. 

Just before hanging up, a sudden thought struck him. 

A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

“When you investigate her, make sure to—”

Knock, knock, knock.

At 4:30 AM, at Room 305 of the Intermediate Study Hall in the Brooke Education Center—

The door was knocked on.

When it opened, the investigators from Little Sheep’s Third Factory Management Department found themselves face-to-face with a visibly exhausted college entrance exam candidate—without a cap on her head.

Their hearts skipped a beat.

No wonder so many people were after her.

Even without the Huo family’s involvement, this person was bound to be devoured sooner or later.

The investigator stated his purpose, and from the girl’s youthful, pretty face, he saw both shock and fear.

Her dry lips trembled slightly, and she asked in a shaky, nervous voice:

“At my home? Are you investigating me?”

“Because the victim was an employee of our company, and since Brook Star belongs to Little Sheep Corporation, we hold first-order jurisdiction. With authorization from the Federation’s stationed government officials, we have full authority over this investigation. So…”

“Hand over your learning device, and provide truthful answers to all questions. Any objections?”

Honestly, that was already a polite way to put it.

Huo You caught the underlying power dynamics in his words and immediately judged the attitude of Little Sheep’s management—

The leaked communicator records had proven useful.

Just as expected, Little Sheep was planning to use her situation to negotiate benefits with Huo Xirou ’s side.

She thought this internally, but on the surface, she cooperated fully.

The first thing she handed over was her learning device.

The investigator glanced at it and quickly estimated her mistake rate.

“Still using it? You don’t sleep?”

“I… I’m afraid I won’t pass the exam, so I’m working harder… You know, slow birds must fly early.”

Huo You forced a sheepish smile, her dark eye circles evident.

No one doubted her excuse.

They opened her learning device, checked all activity records, and calculated her movement times.

No issues.

But the investigator copied her entire study data, particularly her problem-solving performance.

The moment Huo You saw this, she understood.

Someone at Little Sheep was also probing her abilities—testing her academic level and whether she had a chance of passing the entrance exam.

She pretended not to notice and obediently answered all questions, meticulously and seriously.

The investigator’s palm twitched slightly—a half-formed dog nose briefly appeared.

“You’ve eaten?”

“Mm, I was afraid I’d pass out from hunger, so I ate some cornbread… You know, long night ahead.”

On the table behind her, there was still half a cornbread left.

The investigator maintained a fake, insincere smile.

“Very hardworking. Good luck.”

“Thank you.”

“Show us your bank card. Also, your body data—parasite status. Open it.”

Huo You’s heart skipped a beat.

She lifted her head slightly.

She was tall, thanks to growing up in the Huo family and on a high-class star, where she had received proper nutrition.

These past three years had been tough on her, but without that hardship, she would have grown even better.

Still, she was definitely superior to the people standing in front of her.

Her eyes and her posture—when she focused her gaze—made the investigator feel an illusion of offense.

As if he were being disrespectful toward her.

Of course, he quickly suppressed the thought and maintained his false, unfriendly smirk.

“What’s wrong? Finding this difficult, Third Miss Huo?”

“This isn’t Iser.”

They had already found the Snake Pit and identified the male footprints.

Even though they didn’t know what had been scavenged, they estimated the total gains were significant.

But another possibility remained—the very possibility Xu Yao wanted to confirm.

Someone who had survived the Huo family and struggled in Brook Star for three years without dying—

Was someone valuable enough to assassinate.

But also…

Someone who might turn the tables.

That meant—

This matter deserved deeper scrutiny.

“What if?”

They would start by investigating the benefactor—

Her bank card.

And—

Her physical condition.

Straight to the core.