The detective is dead, I did it.

Chapter 17 Detective Appointment

"By the way, are you sure you want to follow?"

As Li Ang walked down the street, he glanced back at the woman behind him, dressed in a light blue dress, who seemed completely out of place in this dirty alley.

"Of course." Charlotte's steps were light and quick, her skirt swaying in a seductive arc. "I also want to see what you're up to, Pochi."

Seeing that it was just the two of them, she reverted to that threatening tone that made people's fists clench.

"If a fight breaks out, I won't have time to protect you."

"Don't worry, I'll find a corner to hide in," Charlotte said. "Besides, only if I'm there will your actions not be considered intentional homicide."

Li Ang immediately understood what she meant.

Although the people he wants to kill are all scum, if things get out of hand, the police won't care who you kill.

With so many lives lost, the scene will inevitably be taken seriously, and it's not impossible that detectives will be sent to investigate.

However, he would soon be exposed by the methods of detectives with special abilities.

But if Charlotte were there, the situation would be different.

At least the two of them now had the pretext of "detectives handling a case," and the dead person was not an ordinary civilian, but someone the detective identified as a "criminal."

Legal and compliant.

Li Ang was silent for a moment, then continued walking forward. "...Then be careful later. Remember to stay behind me."

"Then you'd better protect me."

The two walked one after the other through several narrow alleys and stopped in front of a dilapidated two-story building.

Several windows on the second floor still had lights on, the dim yellow light shining through the dirty glass, while a dozen or so empty wine bottles were piled up at the entrance on the first floor.

This is the hideout of that gang.

Instead of going through the main entrance, Li Ang chose to go around to the back of the house, where there was a side door. These people usually came out through this door when they went out.

Over the past two years, he has walked this road countless times at night and is extremely familiar with the house. He has even figured out what time these people would come out to collect protection money every night.

He just hadn't made up his mind to take action.

"It seems you've been planning this for a long time, Poch," Charlotte said in a low voice as she followed behind him.

Please don't make it sound like I'm committing a crime.

"Actually, it's a crime," Charlotte said casually, arms crossed. "After all, basic human rights must be guaranteed for ordinary criminals who are not cult members."

London law categorizes offenders into three groups.

The first type is cult members. They have the lowest status and are the kind of people who can be killed on the spot without even having to write a report afterwards.

After all, they believe in those evil gods in hell, and they are related to demons. They have even signed a contract to gain power. If the armed detectives are soft-hearted, it could trigger an extraordinary disaster.

Therefore, we cannot be lenient with cult members.

Just like the woman Li Ang killed earlier and Hughes, they both belong to this category, except that the deaths of these two were arranged to be Charlotte's doing.

This incident even led to some minor disagreements within the armed detectives, who felt that Charlotte shouldn't have attacked the cultists before the armed detectives arrived.

After all, if it's the armed detectives who capture and even kill criminals, what's the point of you, a detective specializing in deduction, doing this?

As for how Charlotte killed a Sequence 9 criminal, the armed detective stated that the gun in the other party's hand was not a fire poker.

At least before entering Sequence 6, both criminals and armed detectives are just mortal beings.

They belong to the type of people who would die if they were killed.

The second type is criminals with superpowers.

Because these criminals possess complex and formidable abilities, armed detectives typically employ ruthless tactics to ensure that their targets are rendered unable to use their powers again.

Losing hands and feet is common, and occasionally someone might accidentally kill someone.

But the treatment is much better than that of cult members; at least as long as they obediently surrender, their lives will not be in danger.

The third type is ordinary criminals who enjoy normal human rights.

According to the rules of the Detective Association, detectives cannot use torture, deliberately withhold food, or interrogate for more than 24 hours at a time.

They were among the best-treated, and even after entering prison, they were provided with a meal every day, and occasionally, if they were lucky, they would even get meat.

As a result, some homeless people deliberately commit crimes just to get into prison and make a living, and these cases usually occur most frequently in winter.

After all, London winters are hell for these homeless people. And it's the same for the impoverished people in the slums.

After listening to the detective's detailed explanation, Li Ang gave a thumbs up and said, "You guys are quite humane."

Seeing this, Charlotte's lips curled into a meaningful smile. "Poch, that's what the law says. But how it's actually done, we'll never know."

"But that's not something I should be thinking about." Li Ang withdrew his gaze and stared back at the back door. "At least I'm not indiscriminately killing innocent people right now."

"Of course you're not indiscriminately killing innocent people," Charlotte patted him on the shoulder. "You're helping me clean up London's mess. Just improving your own strength in the process."

"...Why does what you're saying sound like you're using PUA tactics on me?"

"PUA? What does that mean?"

"It's nothing." Li Ang took a deep breath. "They'll come out in a little while. We'll follow them quietly."

He remembered clearly that every Thursday night around nine o'clock, this group would go out, split into two groups, and collect protection money from house to house.

They also took the last bit of food from the residents who were so poor they couldn't even afford to eat.

After collecting protection money, they would go to a tavern on the corner for a drink and not return until one or two in the morning. Their journey to collect protection money was the perfect opportunity to take them down one by one.

Sure enough, not long after, the back door creaked open.

The six people filed out.

They were dressed in dirty, coarse cloth clothes, carrying wooden sticks and short knives, laughing and telling vulgar jokes, and then split into two groups and walked in opposite directions.

Seeing this, Li Ang quickly and quietly followed, with Charlotte close behind.

After the other party entered a small alley, Li Ang decisively approached and, after confirming that there were no other passersby around, made his move!

The black blade instantly materialized in his palm. Before they could react, he quickly took a few steps, and the blade flashed.

The last thug didn't even make a sound before collapsing to the ground.

The two people in front heard the noise and turned around, but Li Ang had already rushed in front of them.

He plunged a knife into the abdomen of the man on his left, dodged the attack coming from the right, and with a backhand slash, the blade sliced ​​across the man's throat.

The whole process took less than five seconds, clean and efficient. Li Ang had imagined this scene countless times in his mind, and now it had finally become a reality.

Charlotte emerged from around the corner and praised, "You acted decisively."

She crouched down, extended her right hand, and hovered her palm above a corpse.

A faint silver light seeped from her palm, flowing like mercury onto the corpse.

A few seconds later, a palm-sized silver card emerged from the light, with the corpse's face and some incomprehensible runes printed on it.

"What is this?" Li Ang asked, leaning closer.

"A unique ability of detective detectives is generally called culprit designation." Charlotte took the card and gently slid her finger across it. "It can generate an identity card on a corpse and then identify the person as a 'culprit,' making it easier for detectives to confirm their identity later."