Half a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this period, there were no more homicides in London. The police were still fully engaged in investigating the "Phantom Butcher Case", but the results were not satisfactory. There was also no gain from the clue put forward by Sebastian Gray before. Victor Black had not appeared on the surveillance cameras even once, let alone twice.
As for Victor, he only did one thing during this time, which was to play the role of the "sitting duck" well, and he got along smoothly with Harley Quinn. Now, in the heart of this woman who thought she was smart, Victor was completely under her control. At the same time, with more than a hundred thousand pounds spent, this woman had no suspicion at all and only wanted to gain more benefits.
It is worth mentioning that the "Phantom Butcher Case" still could not be completely concealed and gradually spread. Especially in London, many people knew about this matter and it became a topic of conversation during leisure time. There was no way around it. The authorities had already tried their best to suppress the news. But the matter was so big and there were too many people in the know. Just suppressing it online was far from enough.
As a result, the term "Phantom Butcher" became somewhat popular in London and its influence was growing. Moreover, this news was gradually spreading with London as the center. Regarding this, the authorities were under great pressure and paid more attention to the case, which increased the pressure on the special task force even more, making them exhausted.
However, just when everyone in the police force was complaining, Victor's call came again, which was like adding insult to injury.
Conference Room of the Serious Crime Unit of Scotland Yard.
Alan Smith nodded at Sebastian, indicating that he was ready.
Immediately, Sebastian answered the phone: "Hello, Phantom. This is Sebastian."
"You must have missed me a lot since you haven't received my call for a long time, right?"
"I don't know about others, but I do miss you. How about you tell me what you've been up to recently?"
"Hahaha~ Mr. Sebastian, don't bother. I won't give you the chance. Well, let's get to the point. For this game, we'll play it in a different way, and I won't cheat either. Later, I'll send you the photo of the target. Then, you have one day. At this time tomorrow, I'll kill her. This time, I think I'll still win. Goodbye, Mr. Sebastian. It's been a pleasure talking to you."
"Wait a moment, that..." Beep beep beep...
Seeing that the call was disconnected, Sebastian immediately looked at Alan, and the others did the same.
Alan sighed softly: "This guy is definitely a professional. He timed it well. I can only locate him in London. It will take at least another 10 seconds to locate the specific position."
Just then, a police officer ran in from outside and told everyone that a photo had been sent to the official website of Scotland Yard.
Upon hearing this, Alan immediately started operating. As expected, the sender was an anonymous account and no information could be found. This was something everyone had expected. Although they were disappointed, they were not surprised.
Now, all their attention was on that photo.
It was a photo that had obviously been photoshopped. After comparing it with the database, they found that there was no such person. There were too many people with a high degree of similarity, tens of thousands in total, and it was impossible to confirm the identity.
It had to be said that it was ironic. This photo was exactly the selfie that Harley Quinn liked to use the most. But because it had been photoshopped too much, the police could not identify it. One could say it was self-inflicted.
"Can you restore its original appearance?" James Morrison asked Alan.
"I remember there's a software that seems to have this function. You should be able to do it too, right?" Jack Wilson said.
While operating the computer and trying his best to restore the photo, Alan pouted: "That software is just for fooling idiots. Do you really think a software can restore a person's bare face? And even restore their appearance when they were a child? Hmph! Let me tell you, this technology won't be possible for at least a hundred years."
Soon, Alan showed the computer screen to everyone: "I've done my best. This is as far as I can go."
Everyone looked at the post-makeup face on the computer screen that had no discernible features and felt really frustrated.
"How the hell are we supposed to find this person?" Thomas Wilson was so angry that he laughed.
Makeup, photo editing, and beauty filters are a blessing for most women and are great inventions. But for the police handling cases, they are a nuisance. They wish these three things would disappear forever. They are simply abominable.
On the other side, Victor Black couldn't help but smile, finding it interesting.
This time, he really didn't cheat in the game. As long as the police could find Harley Quinn within a day, they could win. Unfortunately, was it possible? Judging from the current technology, at most, they could restore the beauty filters and photo editing and get a post-makeup face.
However, Harley's makeup was not really makeup at all. It was simply a disguise. Not only did she have thick heavy makeup, but her nose was augmented, her eyes were enlarged, her eyebrows were exaggeratedly drawn, and even the skin on her neck was made to look fair and rosy. Compared with her real appearance, she was completely a different person.
If the police could find Harley like this, Victor thought that if he were caught, it would be the will of heaven and he would accept it.
Everything was ready. Tomorrow was the time to take action, and he was looking forward to it.
On Friday, Victor went to work early as usual and taught the students with all his heart.
There was no evening self-study that night. At around six o'clock, he left the school and went straight to the abandoned industrial area in London. Then, he waited quietly.
The brush dipped in ink painted the sky, and it got dark.
On the side of Scotland Yard, within one day, they had tried all kinds of methods but still couldn't find the person in the photo.
At this time, a dispute was taking place in the conference room.
"It's already dark. If we don't take action, that woman will die!" James Morrison was furious.
Sebastian was also very angry: "I've said it, this won't work! Our suggestion was reported at noon, and the higher-ups clearly said no!"
"I said, I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong!" James roared.
"You take responsibility? What can you take responsibility with? Can you afford to take responsibility? Not to mention you, no one can afford to take this responsibility. Besides, are you sure that by doing so, you can save that woman?" Sebastian also roared.
James's eyes were red, but his tone softened: "At least we can give it a try."
Sebastian sighed: "Ah! You're not unaware of the consequences once we do this. The prestige of the police will be lowered, the public's trust in us will be reduced, the social impact will be huge, and the superiors will be furious. The consequences are unpredictable. James, I know you only want to solve the case and protect the people. But we need to consider the overall situation. Some things really can't be done. Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about these hardworking brothers and sisters in the team."
"Hahaha, hahahaha. The overall situation, it's always the overall situation, hahahaha~" James laughed loudly, his laughter full of bitterness and mockery.
"I'll leave this to you. I'm tired and going to rest in the office for a while."
James left. Sebastian looked at his desolate back and sighed silently.
He finally understood why James had been just a captain for more than ten years. It wasn't that he didn't have the ability, nor was he being suppressed. It was just that this guy was so stubborn.
However, Sebastian truly liked this kind of person from the bottom of his heart. The country needed such police officers.