The words spoken by the severed head at this moment were practically the doctrine of the Mount Luo faction Patrol Lu belonged to.

Zhu Shi glanced at Patrol Lu, who remained expressionless, as if the head’s words had nothing to do with his faction.

"If it weren’t for hypocrites like you people from Mount Luo, I would kill whenever I wanted, violate whenever I pleased, living freely... if not for you!" The head continued to rant.

Zhu Shi said with intense disgust, "You call yourself superior, yet you must devour the souls of countless mortals; otherwise, you’ll eventually lose control and go mad. What kind of transcendent being are you? You’re nothing more than a parasitic vampire leeching off humanity!"

"It’s just a matter of perspective. This is the food chain, a predatory relationship. If lions and tigers can’t hunt prey, they’ll starve to death. Yet, despite that, they remain prouder than their prey because they are higher on the food chain," the head sneered.

"Besides, isn’t this the nature of our world? It’s not just animals preying on animals—humans prey on humans too. The only difference is the method, the 'civilized' facade."

"Comparing yourself to animals? At least you have the self-awareness of being a savage beast," Zhu Shi retorted sharply.

"The civilization you scorn was built by countless ordinary people. The technology you enjoy in your daily life was developed by those same ordinary people."

"In comparison, what have you—someone who calls themselves 'superior'—actually accomplished? Can you single-handedly build a civilization? Can you single-handedly develop technology? You’re capable of nothing."

"Those dressed in finery are not the ones who rear the silkworms. In the end, those who wield greater violence are always more noble. Do you not understand even this basic truth?" the head said coldly.

"I used to be the one who was devoured, crushed underfoot, exploited like an animal. Now, I’m stronger than them. I’ll devour whoever I please."

"Judging by your demonstrated strength and the documented descriptions of your kind, this isn’t your first time killing, is it?" Zhu Shi asked icily.

"How many people have you killed before this?"

"Not many, less than ten. Those who oppressed me, those who lorded over me, those who saw me as nothing but an easy mark… their souls have all become my nourishment," the head said with a cruel smile.

"So many have died, yet there haven’t been any reports… did you dispose of all the bodies?" Zhu Shi asked.

"That's right. I sank all those corpses into the Shadow Realm," the head replied calmly.

"As long as the bodies can't be found, they can only be temporarily classified as missing persons."

"You cowardly criminal who dares act but won’t admit responsibility…" Zhu Shi seemed unable to find harsher words and turned to me instead.

"Senior Brother Zhuang, say something!"

Huh, me? You’re asking me, an attempted imprisonment offender?

I thought for a moment, then pulled out photos from the crime scene.

"Then… what about the family of three you killed not long ago? Did you have some kind of grudge against them too?"

The photos showed a middle-aged man, his body completely torn apart in a brutal fashion, with the mother and child lying not far away, both killed instantly with a single strike.

"I didn’t know them before. They were just prey," the head said.

"If they had no prior grudge with you, why did you kill them?" I asked.

"I’m not saying you shouldn’t kill innocent people—words like that are pointless with someone like you. But from my observation, your strength doesn’t seem to match up to Agent Kong’s, meaning you haven’t reached your limit yet. So why target such high-risk individuals—local elites—instead of, say, some random homeless people on the street?"

The head replied in a deep voice, "Because I needed to test myself."

"Test yourself?" I repeated.

"I’m already beyond ordinary people, yet when I see police officers and officials, I still feel an instinctive sense of fear. I know exactly why—it’s the societal conditioning and so-called 'morality and law' instilled in me since childhood, binding me like chains. How pathetic is that?" the head said coldly.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I needed to kill at least one person with authority to prove that I have truly transcended societal constraints."

"Well, it seems your test failed," I said.

The head’s expression darkened. "What did you say?"

"You meticulously investigated that family beforehand. You waited patiently until the wife and child were supposed to leave home before acting. That was your plan, wasn’t it? To avoid involving the mother and child," I said, recalling the previous case analysis.

"But the mother and child didn’t go on their planned trip, and when you arrived, you realized the entire family was home…"

"No, at first, you must have thought only your target was home. If you had realized from the start that the entire family of three was present, you likely would have waited for the target to be alone before making your move—just like you did before.

"After brutally killing your target, the sickly mother and child, who had been resting in another room, appeared before you. Only then did you realize something was wrong, and you immediately killed them… I’m not wrong, am I? Why did you change your mind at that moment? Was it because they saw your true face?"

My deduction seemed to hit the mark, but this time, the head couldn’t respond.

Its mouth opened slightly, and a confused expression crossed its face. "I… don’t know."

Hearing this unexpected answer, Patrol Lu raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Of course, it wasn’t because they saw your true face—because at that time, you were in your transformed state," I said as I studied the head carefully.

"But… you felt seen, didn’t you?"

"What does that mean?" Zhu Shi asked, puzzled.

I had thought carefully from the perspective of this criminal.

Suppose I were this Oddities: I intended to kill my target without involving their family, yet at the last moment, I changed my mind.

Why would that happen?

It wouldn’t be out of fear of retaliation—revenge from the victims would mean nothing to someone like this.

Nor would it be because they saw his true face—after all, his face and even his body had transformed beyond recognition.

However, before any rational judgment like "there’s no need to worry about being recognized" could surface, a more primal emotion must have struck first.

He had just brutally murdered a husband, a father—and at that moment, the man’s wife and child unexpectedly appeared before him.

In their eyes, filled with confusion, fear, and hatred, his blood-soaked, monstrous figure was reflected.

In such a moment, what would he think? What would he do?

Perhaps the truth isn’t all that complicated.

"You didn’t have time to think about why you had to kill them. Your body moved on its own… isn’t that right?"

"I…" The confusion on the head's face deepened, gradually twisting into something that looked like pain.

Unlike Zhu Shi, I didn’t feel compelled to condemn him from the perspective of morality or law.

I had little reverence for either myself.

I’ve always thought that people who proudly proclaim their disregard for morality and law tend to be a little rebelliously immature.

True defiance doesn’t need to be worn on one’s sleeve.

But even immaturity can be acceptable—if a person fully understands the consequences of their actions and is willing to bear them without flinching, then whatever they choose to do is valid.

Whether it’s saving or killing, helping or violating, even recklessly diving into a pit from which there’s no return—if they can still laugh boldly in their final moments, there’s a certain raw grandeur to that.

But… I don’t think he’s someone who can laugh in the end.

He can’t become a good person, nor can he fully become an irredeemable villain.

Most likely, he’s just an ordinary person—one he himself despises.

"Do you regret it?"

I really wanted to know his answer.

"..."

The head shut its eyes tightly in pain, its expression trembling, but no answer came. Only silence.

A moment later, the head dropped from the air and hit the ground with a dull thud.

Patrol Lu bent down, picked it up, and examined it carefully.

After a brief moment, he said, "Time’s up. He’s completely dead now."

Hearing this, I felt a sudden wave of disinterest wash over me.

"I’m not entirely sure what you were talking about, but Zhuang Cheng, it seems like you managed to shut him down somehow?" Zhu Shi still looked puzzled but couldn’t hide her satisfaction.

"Whatever, seeing him suffer like that just now was pretty satisfying!"

Patrol Lu also glanced at me with a sigh.

"Your reasoning about his actions had a lot of assumptions, but in the end, you managed to touch on something that truly struck a nerve. Maybe that’s a talent in itself. Who knows, you might have the potential to become a criminal—uh, I mean, a detective."

You definitely said criminal just now, didn’t you?

"Well then, I’ll take this head back with me. He mentioned meeting another Oddities, and I want to see if I can divine the location where they met or predict where the other Oddities might act next." Patrol Lu continued, "However… there might be some complications with that."

"Is there some kind of problem?" Zhu Shi asked with concern.

"We tracked this place using a series of past incidents involving local elites being targeted, and this Oddities only killed that family of three. The main culprit of those incidents is actually the other Oddities," Patrol Lu explained. "So from a cause-and-effect standpoint, the one we should have divined should have been the other Oddities. But that wasn’t the case."

"The other Oddities likely has some ability to interfere with divination. Even if I manage to track it, it’ll probably take considerable time. It definitely won’t be tonight."

"Will it be possible tomorrow?" Zhu Shi asked.

"I’ll let you know as soon as I have results," Patrol Lu replied.

"For now, let’s all head home and rest."

"Alright… you two can go ahead," Zhu Shi said with a sigh.

"I need to stay here and take care of some things."

"What are you planning to do?" I asked curiously.

"It’s… just some stuff, okay?" Zhu Shi tried to dodge the question but then seemed to realize something.

"Wait, no! Lu Chan, you’re staying here too. You can only leave after Zhuang Cheng is long gone."

"And why is that?" Patrol Lu asked, just as puzzled.

Zhu Shi raised her voice dramatically: "Obviously, to prevent the two of you from being alone together!"