Empire of Shadows

“… … Sorry, we will investigate as soon as possible!” The operator hung up the phone with a smile and sighed.

Her colleague next to her was a little curious, “Another complaint about the sewer problem?”

The operator nodded and recorded the complaint in her notebook. When she finished writing the last word, she found that there were no less than twenty complaints written on this page.

She felt a little strange, answering her colleague as if she was talking to herself, “Yes, although there are these complaints every year, but…”

“These past two days have been too frequent, and they are all concentrated on Berlingken Road in the Imperial District.”

Her colleague curled her lips, “Maybe some cats and dogs died in the sewer. This kind of thing has happened before.”

The operator nodded, acknowledging this possibility.

It is mid-to-late September, the hottest time of the year. Not only can people not stand it, but animals can't stand it either.

The sewers in King's Gold City are very cool. Cats and dogs will not choose abandoned and dry culverts like humans. They will directly drill into the nearest sewer.

Some cats and dogs will be caught by something in the sewer, such as some iron wires, hooks, etc., and then die in the sewer.

The weather is so hot, coupled with the humid air, the microbial population in the sewer explodes, and it will start to decay in a day.

In at most two or three days, a stench will come out.

They have encountered this kind of situation before, and then asked the municipal workers to take out the dead cats and dogs and throw them away.

According to the requirements in the work manual, a public problem complaint event with no more than five complainants can be ignored.

If there are no more than ten, you can consider writing it into the work report and submitting it to your superiors.

If there are more than ten, you need to write it separately in a report and place it at the top of the report, and send it to the office.

And if there are more than twenty, you need to call the competent authority.

She counted, and it had exceeded twenty. Then she made a silencing gesture to her colleague, and then dialed a number corresponding to a phone list on her desk.

“This is the City Service Complaint Office of the City Hall. I have a complaint event here that needs to be dealt with immediately. It is at 72 Berlingken Avenue. More than twenty people have complained that there is a stench nearby. It should be the decay of some animal's body…”

A very rude scolding came from the receiver. It was not necessarily really scolding anyone, it was just like a verbal tic, a way to vent emotions.

“Okay, madam, I understand, I will go over to check immediately.” The operator heard some more scolding before the receiver fell. She shook her head.

“They are scolding people again?” Her colleague leaned back and looked at her, “Actually, you can tell him to shut up.”

The operator smiled, “It's so hot, and they still have to go out to work in the sewers. If it were me, I would also scold people.”

“But you can't say such nasty things. I heard them…”

The two operators agreed to go shopping together after get off work, and soon forgot about it. This is their job. Every day, every month, every year is roughly the same.

Two municipal workers wiped their sweat and drove away from the cool office in a pickup truck, cursing.

Since the Secretary of State publicly stated that “decent clothing is the most basic respect a person has for society,” the entire federal government system has been required to dress decently.

Even when it is deadly hot in summer, they must wear summer uniforms and not expose their bodies, otherwise they will be fined.

If they were not "civil servants", they would have quit long ago, but it is precisely because they are civil servants that they must follow the rules.

Civil servants are very comfortable, no matter when, what world, or what country.

The salaries of federal government civil servants are very high, there are many subsidies, and they will enjoy all the benefits they should, such as social security, medical insurance, accident insurance, and various benefits. These are not available to ordinary people.

The two drove on the hot road. The wind blowing in from the car window carried the salty smell of the sea, which not only made people feel hot from the inside out, but also made their skin ache.

The exposed skin of these working class people is almost red, which is actually an injured state, but no one cares about it.

Because people who care about this will not work outdoors, and people who work outdoors are already numb.

The car quickly arrived at 72 Berlingken Avenue. Before getting out of the car, they smelled the stench. They were very familiar with it and had dealt with it many times.

According to the work manual, they need to put on some clothes and wear rubber gloves, but they don't care about it at all.

The two found the place where the stench was the strongest, put up a no-entry sign, and then recorded the operation time in their notebooks.

Then they opened the manhole cover of the sewer, but to their surprise, the expected stench did not appear.

The two looked at each other and felt that this matter was not normal, and then one of them went down into the sewer.

About ten minutes later, he climbed out, “There is nothing else inside except dead rats.”

There are always some dead rats in the sewer. Every time it rains, it may only be a small shower on the ground, but for the rats in the sewer, it is a flood disaster.

But the stench emitted by a few dead rats is far less pungent than what they can smell now.

“This stench… it doesn't seem to be coming from the sewer.” Although this is the strongest place, and there is a sewer manhole cover, the sewer is really not that smelly.

This is their job. They must figure out whether it is their responsibility. The two ignored the severe stench and sniffed everywhere. Finally, they found that the smell was coming from the window cracks in the basement of the old building in front of them.

For the sake of lighting and ventilation, the basement will have a window facing the main street, about ten to fifteen centimeters high. People can't get in anyway. With small windows, it can also take into account the lighting.

After the two found the source of the smell, they put things back in the car, patted their butts and prepared to leave. This matter has nothing to do with them.

Soon the matter was transferred to the branch office. The branch office notified the patrol police through the radio. A police car suddenly drove out from the shade of the alley and drove towards this side.

Seven or eight minutes later, two policemen got out of the car and immediately covered their mouths and noses.

They didn't curse, but their expressions were a little serious.

One of them lay on the ground and looked inside through the gray glass, but he didn't see anything.

Just being so close to the glass, the pungent stench became even more smelly, and he had already determined that it was the smell of corpses.

Another police officer knocked on the door of the house on the first floor. This was the old-fashioned house, and the doors all faced the street. An old woman opened the door.

The old woman looked like she was in a bad mood, “Did you guys get rid of those stenches?”

The police officer's thumb pressed against the police badge and pointed forward. The old woman turned her head and waved her hand, “I'm not blind, so what do you want to do?”

“… Uh, madam, can I ask if you know who lives in the basement?”

“Is it possible to contact the landlord now?”

The old woman seemed to realize something. She gave the police officer a phone number. Soon the police officer found the landlord and opened the door.

The strong stench rushed out through the door at once, and it was a bit spicy to the eyes.

The two directly called for support. Twenty minutes later, four police cars and a mortuary van arrived here. The forensic doctor of the Municipal Bureau was used to seeing all kinds of corpses, but he was still overwhelmed by the smell!

Half an hour later, the support from the Municipal Bureau arrived. They brought a full set of biohazard suits before entering the scene.

Eight corpses were lying on the ground in disarray. Seven of them were shot to death, but one person's death was very strange.

After the scene was photographed, all the corpses were taken away, and some police officers had to wait for the smell here to dissipate before entering to collect evidence.

The forensic doctor said that it had been stored in a closed and high-temperature space for at least four days. The whole house was full of bacteria, so it was best to wait for the smell to dissipate before entering.

After returning to the police station, the case was directly handed over to the Criminal Investigation Team. Today was Officer Lucar's day shift, and this case was assigned to him.

He came directly to the forensic doctor's side. Looking at so many highly decomposed corpses, even though he was used to seeing all kinds of corpses, he still felt sick and wanted to vomit.

“Seven people died from gunshot wounds, and one of them was shot six times.”

“And one person… he was stuffed to death.”

“Stuffed to death?” Lucar stood outside the autopsy room, not wanting to go in again. He held the autopsy report in his hand, but his eyes stayed on the forensic doctor's face, “Are you saying he was stuffed to death by eating something?”

“Yes, his stomach ruptured, leading to hemorrhagic shock.”

Officer Lucar curled his lips, “Do you know what the most interesting thing about being a criminal police officer is?”

He asked and answered himself, “It's being able to witness all kinds of bizarre deaths.”

Only then did he begin to look through the report, “Is there any information about their identities?”

The forensic doctor shook his head, “That's not my job, but judging from the scene, there are some gambling tables. There should be an underground casino there…”