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"I can't believe it happened so quickly," Li Lin exclaimed as he briskly approached Caitlyn. His tone was filled with surprise. "How did you find out?"
"Quite simple," she replied, hoisting the sniper rifle onto her shoulder. Caitlyn reached out and pulled a barely visible strand of black-gray fur from the damp wall of the corridor.
"I found similar fur where the killer was sleeping. He probably sensed the enforcers, hastily escaped, and accidentally brushed against the wall," she explained.
Handling the case was undoubtedly Caitlyn's forte – Caitlyn Sherlock Holmes Kiramman.
Li Lin couldn't help but feel impressed.
"Should we continue forward?" Caitlyn asked, discarding the fur and pointing to the downward-sloping sewer passage ahead.
"If we proceed, we might reach the middle layer of the sewer. Before coming here, I studied the sewer structure, and there's a steep slope ahead – not an easy path," Caitlyn suggested. "I recommend going back, contacting Sheriff Grayson, having her dispatch enforcer teams to seal off the exits in this area, and then we can continue tracking that guy."
As Caitlyn spoke, she blinked, a hint of puzzlement flashing deep in her pupils.
"But what intrigues me is... how can a person have fur resembling that of a plague rat?" she mused.
"A rat, unlike a human, is abnormal," Li Lin reminded her.
Caitlyn shook her head, still finding it hard to comprehend. "Have you forgotten the survivor's testimony?"
"A rat that chews gum, uses a crossbow and poison, and reads romance novels... Does such a creature really exist?" Caitlyn struggled to understand.
"Alchemy technology induces mutations in living beings; it's not uncommon in Zaun, like Zac," Li Lin explained. Ever since encountering Zac in the laboratory, he had shared his story with Caitlyn.
Initially, she had been skeptical, holding a disbelieving attitude. How could a puddle of alchemical toxin turn into a living being? It wasn't until Li Lin showed her Zac's active cellular tissue that she believed it.
Now, various evidence suggested that the culprit might indeed be a giant rat, leaving Caitlyn feeling quite bewildered.
"What a magical world..." Caitlyn sighed in resignation. "Let's go back for now; we haven't received the testimony report from another witness. Be careful!"
Before she could finish her sentence, Caitlyn's expression abruptly changed. Reacting swiftly, she raised her sniper rifle and fired a shot behind Li Lin.
In the dark space, the blue-white energy bullet illuminated the area, revealing a flowing green liquid on the top of the sewer passage.
Startled by Caitlyn's reaction, Li Lin quickly turned around, shielding her with his body. Thinking it might be Twitch ambushing them, he activated the Adaptive Defense shield.
After a brief one-second charge, a faint blue energy shield enveloped them.
Simultaneously, the illumination lights on Li Lin's powered armor dispersed the darkness, providing a clearer view.
When he noticed the viscous green liquid, he was momentarily stunned.
Wait, isn't this Zac?
[Name: Zac]
[Species: Amorphous Lifeform]
...
Why was Zac here?
"Oh no, Caitlyn, you just shot our own teammate!" Li Lin exclaimed.
"What is that?!" Caitlyn widened her eyes as she observed the undulating green liquid. Although her earlier shot was a probing one and missed, she quickly readied her gun, fingers tightly gripping the trigger.
Li Lin hurriedly raised the gun and said, "Wait, Caitlyn, he's on our side. Don't shoot!"
Caitlyn looked at Li Lin in disbelief. "Huh?"
"This is the Zac I mentioned before," Li Lin explained, gesturing for Caitlyn to put away her gun. He then approached Zac, looking up at the flowing liquid on the top.
"Hey, Zac, are you alright? I'm Li Lin. Do you remember me?"
Upon hearing Li Lin's voice, the flowing green liquid gradually dripped down, forming a part of Zac's body.
"Li Lin! Oh, you're my parents' benefactor! Of course, I remember you!" Zac responded cheerfully.
The present-day Zac spoke fluently, a stark contrast from the first time Li Lin met him.
He moved forward by undulating his body, descending along the curved wall.
A mass of liquid first formed legs, stabilizing on the ground. Then, the rest of the body quickly condensed, eventually transforming back into a human shape, bowing his head.
Due to Zac's unique body, he could completely separate himself from other liquids.
In other words, even if he transformed into liquid, traversing the sewage in the sewer, he wouldn't be tainted in the slightest.
Seeing this scene, Caitlyn, who followed behind, was dumbfounded.
Li Lin greeted Zac as he approached Caitlyn, introducing them to each other.
"This is Zac, the one whose story I told you before. He's a good kid."
"And this is Caitlyn, my love. You can trust her."
Li Lin first pointed at Zac when introducing to Caitlyn, then introduced Caitlyn to Zac.
Seeming a bit embarrassed by Li Lin's praise, Zac split open his big mouth. The tendrils on his head swayed back and forth, looking both shy and happy.
"Uh... nice to meet you, Zac," Caitlyn, still recovering from her astonishment, waved at Zac and greeted him.
After Zac returned the greeting to Caitlyn, Li Lin, curious, asked, "Zac, what brings you here?"
"My mom and dad asked me to come out and help people in need. So today, I came to the sewers to help scavengers repair the drainage system."
"I just finished the repair and entered the sewer again when I sensed the emotions of two people down here, thinking someone was in trouble."
Zac chuckled, "I didn't expect to run into you again, and this Miss Caitlyn."
Under the guidance of his foster mother Sheryl, Zac had learned a lot about human etiquette. He spoke politely.
For a moment, Caitlyn's initial aversion towards this obviously non-human creature faded.
Li Lin nodded and a sudden thought flashed in his mind, "By the way, Zac, can you sense the emotions of intelligent beings?"
Caitlyn cast a puzzled glance at him, immediately guessing what he was up to.
"Well, it seems so... but in Zaun, there are only humans. I haven't seen any other intelligent beings, so I'm not sure."
With Twitch now possessing an intelligence comparable to that of a teenager, Zac could naturally sense his emotions, all of them negative.
Li Lin pondered for a moment, then continued, "Can you perceive other negative emotions nearby?"
Zac closed his eyes and silently sensed.
After a while, he shook his head with a regretful expression, "My perception has limitations. The person you mentioned may be too far away from me... I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize; I was just trying."
Under his face mask, Li Lin frowned, contemplating for a while.
"Can you help me find someone with negative emotions in the sewer? How should I put it? It should be a giant rat."
"That guy has a lethal weapon. You don't need to engage in conflict with it, just lock onto its location and notify us. We'll take care of the rest."
Zac didn't question why a giant rat would have human-like negative emotions and a deadly weapon.
He just patted his chest confidently, saying, "Of course, leave it to me. You can rest assured!"
Hearing Zac's assurance, Li Lin smirked.
With Zac, the roaming jungle, it would be impossible for an unsupported rat to escape their group's encirclement.
"Oh, by the way, we'll at the nearby oil tank factory. You can find us there."
(End of this chapter)
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