When they returned to Jotun's house, it seed as if Jotun had completely forgotten about the unpleasantness earlier. Seeing Shiller and the others return, he quickly stepped up to greet them.
"I thought you all had already left."
"How could we? I just took Aisha out for a walk. She is convinced that aliens might be hiding in the wheat field," Shiller shook his head gently and said, "She was a bit noisy on the plane, which made it difficult for to sleep. I'd like to go up and catch so sleep first. Can you keep an eye on her for ?"
"No problem." Jotun imdiately agreed, saying, "I'll keep a close watch on her. Maybe I can also take her for a walk in the field."
"I don't mind as long as you don't find her too noisy." When Shiller turned to go upstairs, there was an almost imperceptible smile on his face.
Jotun was still too eager for quick success. Perhaps because he had never left the town, his vision was sowhat limited.
He had never considered, how could a truly loving single father hand over his daughter to soone he just t less than a day ago?
But without a doubt, he took the bait. He didn't bother to notice Shiller, who was about to go upstairs to sleep, but instead went downstairs to find Aisha.
"Mr. Jotun, I want to go to the fields to look for aliens! My dad actually didn't want to go just now. He didn't walk with at all. Will you go with ?"
"Sure, let's go catch so aliens together," Jotun happily agreed, "You can walk as long as you want."
He did not notice the cold glimr in Aisha's eyes at all. Walk as long as you want? If I don't show you my power, you'll really think taking care of a child is easy!
After the two had left, Shiller, who had originally said he was going to sleep, imdiately left his room. He began to examine the structure of the entire house.
If Jotun was involved in the town's missing persons cases, then the likelihood of the missing still being alive was not very high. At the very least, it was unlikely for adults to have survived.
What kind of person was Jotun, or rather, what kind of people was soone like him?
Simply put, they needed to feel "unique."
Analyzing soone like him didn't require the Psychoanalysis thod at all because his behavior was full of flaws.
First, when Shiller t him, he introduced himself as the "baby of the family." This term is gender-neutral and similar to "the youngest" in Chinese, indicating the youngest child in the family.
However, after entering the house, it beca clear that there was also a younger daughter in the family. This ant Jotun was not actually the youngest; his sister was.
Although his sister had passed away at a young age, if he really loved his family that much, would he refer to himself as the youngest after such a short ti since her death? This was entirely contradictory.
Moreover, in English, it's quite odd to tell a stranger that you are the youngest child. In everyday speech, it's more common and normal to directly say "the third" rather than expressing it in a more complex way such as "the youngest."
Saying "baby" was sowhat akin to boasting about being the family's most cherished mber, carrying an implication of pride.
It was evident that being "the youngest" was very important to Jotun, signifying he was special in his family. His sister's birth ant this special status was lost.
So might think, what importance does the birth order have? Would anyone kill their own family over this?
In reality, yes, and this logic is very common in life.
Once soone emphasizes sothing natural, almost completely unaffected by external forces, and not of their own choosing—such as birthplace, gender, or birth order—it indicates they are otherwise entirely ordinary.
For if this person had money, status, experiences, or even just a stable personality, they would certainly talk about it. If they don't, it ans they lack it.
The less they have in other areas, the more they cling desperately to these natural straws of salvation, often to the point of obsession, believing that being granted these things by nature must be a blessing from God.
If it is God's will and soone defies God, then it is only natural for them to take God's place and punish the defier, right?
According to Shiller's observations, Jotun was soone relatively diocre, even in his antisocial behavior.
His thod of attracting prey was to display friendliness. His manipulation tactics were simply unthreatening intimidation. For soone to fall into his hands, they either had unstable emotions or possibly so issues with their intelligence.
Even if Shiller had not co, after a while, the police would have certainly brought him to justice.
Shiller didn't really care about Jotun. When he realized Jotun might target tourists, Jotun's role was to bring in the police. After all, Shiller needed a legitimate reason to contact the Martian Manhunter, right?
Although a car breakdown or Aisha falling ill would draw police attention, it wouldn't be enough to make the Martian Manhunter notice him. A murder case, however, was different.
Shiller paced back and forth in the house, not at all worried about Jotun returning. With Aisha's energy, she would tire Jotun out before he could co back.
After a round of exploration, Shiller finally found the entrance to the cellar in the corner of the warehouse. The dust distribution was noticeably different from other places, indicating frequent recent comings and goings.
As soon as Shiller opened the cellar door, he slled the distinctive odor of a rotting corpse.
He sighed softly, having a premonition about what he was about to see.
Climbing down the cellar ladder, the sound of weak crying reached him even before the sll did.
Shiller gasped and, disregarding the surroundings, hurriedly followed the sound of the crying.
In the darkness, he vaguely saw a small figure. Shiller looked around and spotted a light switch hanging from the ceiling.
Click!
As soon as the light turned on, the figure behind the shower curtain visibly flinched. Shiller walked over and pulled back the shower curtain, revealing a little girl covered in dirt.
Despite her disheveled appearance and terrified expression, she was at least alive.
Behind the bathtub lay a corpse, a middle-aged woman with her skull smashed in. Based on the corpse's condition, she had likely been dead for two to three days.
Shiller quickly lifted the girl out of the bathtub and checked her exposed arms, neck, and back, then sighed in relief.
The girl had not been sexually assaulted. The dirt seed to co from rolling around while escaping in the mud, and most of the wounds were likely from being scratched by stones or shrubs.
"Thank God." It was a relief for him, knowing Jotun did not exhibit tendencies of sexual violence or pedophilia in his personality or psyche; otherwise, he wouldn't have let Aisha distract him.
"Are you here to rescue ?" The girl stared at Shiller and asked.
Seeing that the girl could still speak, Shiller was thrilled. "Yes, I'm here to save you. I will hand you over to the police shortly..."
At this point, he paused. He suddenly realized he couldn't hand the girl over to the police because he didn't know who the real police were.
The policeman he had t could be Ron, but it could also be Malafax, and so far he couldn't make an accurate judgnt. If he made a mistake, it could spell trouble.
Malafax's personality included elents of sexual psychopathology; otherwise, he would never have tried to rape his sister-in-law. Handing this little victim over to him would be disastrous.
Shiller took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, but the police station in the town is currently experiencing so issues and I can't take you there right now. But I hope you believe I'm a good person, and I'll find a safe place for you."
Though the girl was still visibly shaken, she nodded. Shiller glanced at the nearby corpse and said, "You saw the murderer, didn't you?"
"That person called Jotun." The girl spoke clearly, "He tricked us into coming to his house. My mom fainted after dinner, and he killed her and locked in here."
"Okay, what's your na?"
"Betty, I'm from Englewood."
"Alright, Betty, you've done excellently. Your mom would be proud of you."
Shiller hugged her tightly, patting her on the head. The girl, groping, hugged his waist and began to cry softly, then sobbed loudly.
After a short while, the girl, exhausted, fainted. Shiller carried her out of the cellar, but he couldn't imdiately decide where to take her.
He brought Betty to his bedroom upstairs and took the box that Aisha had previously brought for him.
As he descended the stairs, he happened to see Jotun returning.
It appeared Jotun wasn't stupid; he had likely sensed sothing odd about Aisha. But he realized it too late.
"Thank you very much for hosting us. Here's a gift for you," Shiller handed over the box.
Jotun's face was grim and he did not take the box; he seed to want to say sothing to Shiller.
Shiller sighed and opened the box himself. Inside was no bomb or spray, just a finely carved white chess piece.
It was the king from a chess set, ticulously crafted. Judging by its color and texture, it appeared to be made of ivory, smooth and beautiful.
Shiller handed the open box to Jotun. Jotun reached out and picked up the exquisite chess piece, but as soon as his fingers touched the surface, his legs buckled and he collapsed.
Aisha, who had been following, looked startled and asked, "What is this? Why did he suddenly faint?"
"Carfentanil," Shiller shook his head, "and he's probably not just fainted."
Aisha gasped. She looked at Jotun and saw that in a matter of seconds, his heart had stopped, and he was practically confird dead.
"He got off easy," Aisha said.
She knew Shiller would not strike at Jotun without reason. If he had only suspicion, he would have investigated further and procured concrete evidence before abruptly halting previous plans to eliminate Jotun.
Moreover, judging by the swift and decisive way he did it, Jotun must have committed so outrageously heinous act.
Shiller went to the kitchen to get a pair of plastic gloves. After putting them on, he picked up the chess piece and put it back in the black box.
This brought up the question—did Shiller lose all ans of self-preservation after giving up Gray mist?
Before thinking about this, one must think about how he navigated through Arican power dynamics in his previous life without Gray mist.
One could say that the truth was quite the opposite; it was because of Gray mist that he hadn't had to use the thods from his previous life, thus appearing much gentler.
This piece was one of Shiller's trump cards in his previous life—not everyone could disguise highly toxic Carfentanil as an ivory craft so delicately engraved.
Arica's Fentanyl crisis was a recurrent topic. Many people who had no contact with Fentanyl were unaware of its terrifying potency.
Standard Fentanyl was 50-100 tis more potent than morphine, while Carfentanil was 10,000 tis more potent; a lethal dose for an adult required only 2 milligrams.
The scariest part was its ability to be absorbed through the skin. Adults could absorb a lethal dose in just 2-3 seconds, leading to respiratory arrest, circulatory depression, and cardiac failure, with no chance of recovery.
In the realm of chemistry, the Fear venom from the super villain Scarecrow was just for entertainnt. Bruce's tendency to use Chemistry on Psychology exams wasn't unfounded.
After all, so people in this world need dicinal treatnt far more than psychological healing.
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