Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

Luckily, Zion was on the phone, and Violette thought that what I said wasn’t harsh enough.

"She doesn’t even deserve to be dumped in a stinking ditch. Her body should be thrown into a septic tank," she spat.

Violette’s ferocity managed to cover up my earlier slip of the tongue.

I watched as the suspicion in Eason’s eyes slowly cleared away.

Zion hung up the call and looked at Eason. "The case with the mutilated corpses has been closed."

Eason was taken aback by that. "It has?"

"Well, the superiors called to say that the aid I provided to make the arrest was

commendable since I got injured in the line of duty. I’ve apparently contributed to the

closure of the case with the mutilated corpses"

"They said that they want to award me with a medal of honor at the Traffic Enforcement Unit," Zion said with a small smirk. He thought that they were going to finally reinstate him. But the truth was far from it.

"Is that all?" Eason asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, they’ve also given me a long vacation. They said to only come back to work once my arm heals," Zion replied.

Eason scratched his head. "So, the case is closed just like that? Huh..."

It was clear that someone from above was pushing for the case’s closure. The serial murder case had dragged on for quite a long while without any closure being given, after all.

The case involved the mutilation of corpses, after all. Seeing as the supposed culprit had been caught, the case needed to be closed promptly. Otherwise, it would incite widespread Panic.

"You guys should head back first. I’ll check out the situation," Eason said, then spun on his heel to seek the superiors out.

I looked at Dexter. He was still holding onto me and seemed unwilling to let go.

Damien scoffed and turned to leave.

"Mr. Coleman, you’ve lost..." Dexter couldn’t help but remind him mockingly. His tone was cautious, as if he was afraid that I’d get angry.

Damien’s expression darkened with anger as he barked out, "You’re so childish!"

Dexter snorted and tightened his grip on my hand. Then, he scolded Damien loudly enough for everyone around us to hear, "You so shameless. She’s my wife, you

registered our marriage and everything, so we’re protected by the law."

Damien was enraged to hear that. He wanted to charge forward but was stopped by Juliet who was crying. "Damien, let’s just go..."

Damien angrily pushed Juliet away and turned to leave.

Juliet glanced back at me with a barely perceptible smirk in her eyes.

It looked like she was planning something. And whatever it was, it seemed as if everything was going to her plan.

I scoffed. I was ready to find out what sort of plans she had cooked up.

"Let go," I said in a deep voice. I lifted my head to glance at Dexter.

Dexter hugged me with an aggrieved look on his face. He wouldn’t let go of my hand.

"Let go," I said once more.

Dexter cautiously released his hold on my hand.

"Violet, I’m going to head back home if there’s nothing else," I said softly.

I must have still looked rather pale. I caught a glimpse of my ghostly reflection in the glass: It hadn’t been long since the miscarriage, after all. My body couldn’t handle too much stress.

"You should head home and rest for now. If I get any information related to the serial murder case, I’ll let you know right away," Violette said, looking at me with concern in her eyes as she held my hand.

She seemed to have something more to say. But in the end, all she did was choke out the words, "You can go now.’

My eyes welled up with tears as well. I wondered if she had recognized me.

I didn’t say anything more and quickly walked away.

Violette knew that ever since I was reborn, I had been obsessed with looking for the culprit of the serial murder case.

I was the serial killer’s victim. I had been brutally murdered, so I had the right to seek out the truth.

"That guy confessed. He admitted to intentionally killing a bunch of people. He’s also from the demolition area at No. 37 Bridgeway Route. It’s said that he and the one who jumped off the building before went bankrupt trying to find their children. A case of human trafficking was even brought up."

"Yeah, the case of the mutilated corpses has finally been closed. But now, nasty businesses like human trafficking and kidnapping cases are coming up again."

I had only just left the office area when I heard two police officers discussing the mutilated corpse case.

"If you ask me, those two should die. Human traffickers and kidnappers deserve to die." I stood in place and looked at Zion.

It turned out that both of the deceased were related to missing persons cases.

The man who had jumped off the building was related to the missing 18–year–old girl and the murdered victims.

"No. 37 Bridgeway Route..." I murmured softly to myself, feeling dizzy all of a sudden.

No. 37 Bridgeway Route was one of the last standing slums in Huma.

It was inhabited by either migrant workers from out of town or homeless nomads with no money. These people were considered the rock bottom of society.

The man who had jumped off the building was called George Zucker. He was a primary school teacher. His wife was a nurse at the county hospital.

They were a diligent and hardworking couple. They weren’t wealthy, but they lived a comfortable and happy life.

Their daughter was born with Asperger’s syndrome, yet they had never complained. The couple had even actively encouraged and nurtured her talents and strengths to help her integrate into society better. She shone in her areas of expertise.

They weren’t at fault for doing that.

It wasn’t their fault that their daughter was so outstanding. Perhaps she had become so outstanding that she had caught someone’s unwanted attention.

I leaned against the wall and stiffened suddenly. I turned back to the room and looked at Zion.

"In what area was George Zucker’s daughter exceptionally gifted?" I asked.

"I heard she’s particularly gifted in areas related to numbers. She has a hundred times more spatial imagination than the average human being.

"She can count the number of wells a city has just by overlooking it. She can even vividly depict the entire city and its underground structures with very high accuracy."

Her accuracy could rival computer–generated information.

"What about the person we caught this time? Did his child go missing too?" I asked anxiously while looking at Zion.

Zion nodded. "Yes. His son is missing. He was born autistic, but he’s obsessed with various insects and poisonous plants. He seems to have a natural interest in such things, and he’s a genius in chemistry."

"He once injected a toxin he had extracted from toads into the water bottles of some classmates who bullied him. It caused them to hallucinate, urinate, and defecate in class..." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

I rubbed my forehead. "A toxin from toads?" I asked.

Dexter explained quietly, "Yeah, from Bufonidae. Bufonidae can secrete mucus or release toxins through their skin. One type of toxin is called bufotenine, and the other one is called 5 -Methoxy– alpha–methyltryptamine."

"These substances combined can induce strong hallucinogenic effects in people and cause significant harm to the human body..."

"He’s got a gift, that’s for sure," I muttered under my breath.

"They’re both outstanding and talented teenagers with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. I suspect they’re still alive, at least they will be until their value to the kidnapper gets exhausted. Is it possible that someone is intentionally targeting these gifted children?"

"They might be trafficking and selling them to someone. Maybe even..." I trailed off. There might be an even more sinister conspiracy behind this.

Zion nodded. He had clearly considered that a possibility as well.

"Other than their conditions, what else do these two teenagers have in common?" I looked at Zion.

"Well, they both went missing five years ago. They also participated in a genius competition" Zion said, then looked at me with a shrug.

He continued softly, "I investigated the competition before. It was organized informally by an unknown association. Two competitions with generous prizes were held, so it was well- known at the time. But after the disappearance of the two teenagers, the organizers of the competition vanished as well.

"I’m looking into this association and the genius competition from back then."

But because Zion did not have much authority at this moment, his ability to investigate was limited. As such, he had to ask for Eason’s help.

I bit my finger.

I kept getting the feeling that there had to be a larger conspiracy behind everything that happened. Something connected the disappearance of these gifted teenagers, the parents being manipulated into committing murders, and their attempts to destroy all evidence.

"Sophia, you should head home to rest now. You’re getting terribly pale," Violette said.

"There’s actually another thing that these teenagers had in common," Zion said. He remained silent for a long moment before speaking again, "And that’s Sophia."

He continued to explain, "Before the two teenagers went missing, their parents had hired a private tutor for them. Sophia was their private tutor. She was the winner of the first genius competition."

Zion took a deep breath and continued, "I thought I was mistaken when I heard it at first. I figured their private tutor just had the same name as her, but I was wrong. Their privatę tutor was really Sophia."

I stiffened and stilled while staring at Zion.

Eason had also mentioned that the disappearances of the two teenagers were related to Sophia.

Yet I hadn’t believed him then.

But Zion was telling me the same thing at this moment.

I felt weak all of a sudden. I took a step back and bumped into Dexter.

He wrapped his arms around me and whispered softly, "Sophia..."

My voice was hoarse. I looked up at Dexter, knowing he knew whether what they were saying was true or not.

"Tell me, is it true? Was Sophia really the winner of the first genius competition?" I

asked him.

I couldn’t believe I didn’t know that about myself.

"How is that possible?" Violette exclaimed in astonishment as well.

Dexter lowered his head and remained silent for a long while. Eventually, he said, "It’s true."