Detective Wilfred Blackthorn of Neon District knelt down by the remains of a woman, his assistant Charlize Avery looking over his shoulder nervously with a yellow notepad in her hand.
The thirty-two year old victim’s body was mangled, two sets of bite marks clearly visible on the sides of her neck. She wore designer clothing that had been ripped apart viciously, blood soaked into the seams of her white attire. The body had been discovered three hours ago, after a passerby gave a frantic call to the police department. Given the unusualness of the incident, Blackhorn was dispatched alongside a squadron of police to uncover the truth behind the matter.
“Judging by the state of the body and the advanced state of rigor mortis, I’d say that this woman was killed last night,” the gray mustached Blackthorn said, moving his Victorian detective’s cap as he fixed his monocle. “And these marks… I’m not sure what sort of animal did this. Charlize, inform the squad to contact the exotic animals registry as I look a bit closer at the scene of the incident.”
“Yes, sir,” Charlize replied with overenthusiasm. The short blonde haired girl of middling height and an exceptionally skinny frame had just recently graduated from the detective academy and was eager to please the detective. She headed to the police and began relaying the detective’s instructions.
This entire incident was certainly curious, Blackthorn noted. Animal attacks did occur in Vermillion City, but the only previous ones to occur in the bustling Neon District were related to the zoo. Isolated incidents like this were exceedingly rare.
And something else bothered him. The animal’s prints leading away from the body were far too large for any exotic animal that he knew of. If that was the case, then it was possible that the beast was an especially rare species from another country, perhaps from the tropics or the Tasmanian rainforest.
If that was the case, then they’d be dealing with an illegal exotic animal smuggler, someone whose clientele was particularly elite and wealthy. They’d need to proceed cautiously.
However logical this theory about illegal exotic animal smuggling felt, something felt particularly off about this whole exercise. Blackthorn had many years of experience under his belt, and his intuition told him that something was off here, he just didn’t know what.
Charlize came back from speaking with the squad. “Detective Blackthorn, there aren’t any matches on the exotic animals registry for large feline quadrupeds.”
Blackthorn did not look up, his eyes catching something on the dead woman’s coat. “Charlize,” he said finally after a moment’s pause. He produced a pair of tweezers from within his jacket, separating a strand of beige fur from the woman’s coat, placing it into an evidence bag. “Send this to the lab. I’m very interested in knowing what sort of animal this is. And make sure that we track the animal before it can make another attack.”
Before Charlize could respond, two vans approached from nearby. On the sides of the vans were the words AIR NEWS and THE CHRONICLE HERALD. Shortly after that, even more vans appeared.
“How did the press catch wind of this so fast?” Blackthorn asked.
“Um, I believe that our original contact who discovered the body went to the news offices right after. They offer a cash reward for anyone that has any juicy gossip, and…well… there aren’t many incidents like this,” Charlize stumbled on her words.
“I see,” the detective replied.
“Detective, detective!” shouted a well dressed female news anchor who had just climbed out of the Chronicle Herald van. She had a cameraman trained on her and another assistant holding her microphone in front of her. Her sharp featured face was a familiar one, since she was frequently on air.
“What do you know about this incident?” she said quickly, beginning to rapidfire questions. “Have you located the suspect? Are there any leads? And are these rumors about a wild animal killing pedestrians true?”
—
Zack’s phone buzzed. He lifted it, and saw that it was a text from Grace. They had gone their separate ways through the department store after exchanging contact cards.
Yoga class starts at 8pm tonight, don’t be late!!
Her contact card picture was an upside down selfie of herself with her cleavage nearly spilling out of a night dress while laying in bed. Actually, this pose was very popular among internet celebrities these days.
Zack quietly thanked these new trends for treating him nicely. He thanked god up there on behalf of men all around the world.
He ended up replying to her message with an animated nodding emoji, then noticed that Grace had a LIVETUBE account underneath her contact card. He tapped it curiously, launching the app on his phone. He was instantly greeted by an animated background of her profile.
Username: 45.67kg
Followers: 1.3m
His eyes nearly popped out. She had more than a million followers?? He quickly scrolled down and checked her content, seeing that it was mostly workout content with a sexy angle and sponsored product placement for yogurt and other miscellaneous brands. Her online popularity explained a lot about how she managed to attract such a robust clientele.
Zack had no idea that she was this popular on LT.
Actually, streaming and making LT videos was a good way of making money. Zack had been thinking of making a LIVETUBE account himself for a while now.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
After a bit of deliberation, he made an account.
Username: King of Friday
Followers: 0
Zack wasn’t sure what kind of content he’d make yet. For now, he made his username something dungeon related, since that was on his mind. Maybe he’d change it later. He tapped on follow for 45.67kg, then closed the app.
His phone buzzed again, and this time it was Hugo.
Where are you? Hurry up, there aren’t any weapons in the tools section, just a bunch of drills and hammers that won’t do anything in a fight.
Zack paused for a second, thinking. Then, he typed a quick reply back.
Meet me in the gardening section. Gardening tools should be a bit bigger.
Hugo’s reply back was quick.
Smartass.
Typical Hugo.
The problem with looking for melee weaponry in a department store or anywhere really was, well, nobody used swords or spears or the like anymore. The only modern equivalents of handed melee weapons readily available for sale were those used for more primitive applications, like gardening.
Zack got to the gardening section first, and instantly had his eyes glued on a sturdy metal gardening shovel. Checking that nobody was looking, he quickly deposited the shovel into his inventory, and lifted up another one to examine more closely.
He then checked the feel and grip of the shovel, noting that it was actually quite heavy and could be a bit hard to use in a fight. The steel pipe he used previously wasn’t exactly a proper weapon, but it actually had a nice balance of weight and deadly thrust and swing, making it a versatile weapon to use at short range.
He wanted to use the shovel as a more long ranged option for poking, but it was a bit too heavy for that. Still, it would have to make do until he replaced it with something better.
He suddenly saw an alternative–a long, metal rake. If he broke the rake portion off, it would make for an incredible long spear. But before he could investigate any further, one of the giant television screens playing daily news on the department store’s walls suddenly burst into a breaking news segment.
There was no volume and the store’s elevator jingle played over it, but the graphics were still there and subtitles played underneath.
Breaking news–Wild animal is loose on the streets, killing pedestrians in Vermillion City!
The Chronicle Herald news segment was covered by a female anchor in a red dress interviewing a police officer as a blurred image appeared in the background.
Zack frowned. He’d heard about muggings and even a stabbing on one occasion, but this was something totally new to him. Still, this was nothing that the police couldn’t take care of. He had other things to worry about.
“There you are,” Hugo said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, I’ve tracked down a bunch of stuff that might be useful for us. Once we’re done here let’s go back and throw it all in your inventory, alright?”
“Yeah, sure.”
They picked out a few more garden instruments, then headed back where Zack quickly deposited a bunch of items that Hugo had marked. Then they made a final sweep for any miscellaneous useful stuff, but Zack hit his inventory weight limit.
“I can’t carry any more,” he said, heaving from the sudden surge of weight.
“That’s alright, we covered mostly everything,” Hugo replied.
A few hours had passed, and they completed as much as they could at La Minot Department Store. Only time would tell if they had prepared well enough.
—
As they left the department store during the late afternoon, a certain cop named Gerald Manson returned to his shift in front of Central Plaza right across from where Zack and Hugo just passed.
Central Plaza was a cozy gig that he got by buttering up the right people at city hall. Less than ten minutes after relieving the previous cop, Gerald Manson briefly stepped into an unmarked building, where he conversed with a councilman he’d become friendly with after doing him a few favors here and there, including a particularly big favor last night.
—
Zack stopped by Hugo’s apartment to drop off everything that he needed. Hugo lived on the third floor above a lounge near the bar that he worked at. Apparently he got a good deal because he knew the owner some way or another, because rent in the Neon District was ludicrous even for a crummy place like his.
After taking out everything Hugo would need from his inventory, Zack decided to call his parents before heading over to yoga class.
“Hey, mom?” he said. “How’s dad?”
“Oh, the same as usual. Have you been eating well dear?”
“Yes, very well,” Zack replied. “The school takes care of me. I wanted to call to tell you that–”
He paused for a moment, wondering if he should tell them about the dungeon. But it wasn’t a good idea. They lived in the countryside, and chances were if he told them about monsters and dungeons that they’d think city life was making him go crazy. But even in the event that they did believe him, his parents were getting older and sickly. Knowing that their son was in mortal danger was not good for their health–the extra stress wouldn’t do them any good.
And finally, asking them to go into the dungeon with him like he told Hugo to do was completely out of the question. His mom and dad wouldn’t last a single night down there.
In the end, he decided to tell them the other piece of news.
“–I got a part-time job.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, my son!” his mom exclaimed. “You have to be careful though. Please don’t get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, it’s going to be an easy job. One of the girls I know at the gym offered me to work as a yoga instructor.
“That’s lovely,” his mom replied, sounding relieved.
“Once I make some money, I’ll send it back to you and dad.”
“You really don’t have to, sweetie.”
“Mom–”
“Just keep it for yourself, alright?”
Zack sighed. He knew she’d be like this, even though they were struggling to cover their bills ever since dad lost his job.
“Alright, fine.”
He said that, but he was preparing to withdraw the cash and stuff it in their faces if they wouldn’t take it.
After chatting a bit longer, he said goodbye to his mother and hung up, grabbing his gym bag to head back to where it all began.