To be honest, this was also a coincidence.
After Anthony finished speaking with Duanmu Huai and confirmed the procedures were complete, he called his supervising department to report the situation. By chance, he learned that they had just received a report of a suspected U-level case that required investigation.
At times like this, the options were simple: either the police found an Investigator, or the police handled it themselves.
And just then, Anthony suddenly had an idea.
He wanted to see how Duanmu Huai actually conducted an investigation.
With other Investigators, Anthony probably wouldn't have had such thoughts.
But Duanmu Huai's appearance was simply too intimidating, to the point that Anthony couldn't help thinking more about it.
It was like when someone accidentally fell into the tiger-and-lion enclosure at a zoo. If an ordinary person fell in, they'd obviously be torn apart by the lions and tigers.
But if Duanmu Huai fell in, people would instead wonder whether the lions and tigers could beat him.
Right now Anthony had exactly that sort of spectator curiosity.
Once could be luck.
But if you won twice in a row…
You couldn't say Innsmouth was also luck, right?
Besides, judging from the file, the first incident was probably not luck either.
Actually, when Anthony made the invitation, he didn't expect Duanmu Huai to accept so easily.
After all, the man had just crawled out of Innsmouth not long ago. Sure, he looked big and burly, but who knew whether a delicate maiden's heart was hidden inside that body?
As a police officer, Anthony had seen plenty of strange personalities during investigations.
Men with four-pack abs who behaved extremely effeminately were not unheard of.
What Anthony didn't expect was that Duanmu Huai accepted the invitation immediately and very straightforwardly.
A commission delivered right to your doorstep—why refuse?
To be honest, Duanmu Huai's decisiveness actually startled Anthony.
Does this guy seriously have no psychological trauma at all?
Of course, Anthony wasn't someone who dragged things out.
Since Duanmu Huai agreed, they set off together.
However, once they reached the parking lot and Anthony looked at his own old second-hand car, he suddenly felt troubled.
For an ordinary person it was fine.
But fitting him inside…
Anthony looked at his car, then at Duanmu Huai.
Fortunately, the latter spared him the embarrassment.
"Don't worry, Sergeant Anthony. My car will be here shortly."
"Oh?"
Anthony's eyes lit up with interest.
He had read Duanmu Huai's file and knew that the man was a somewhat well-known rich second-generation in Arkham.
Of course, wealth didn't matter much to Anthony. As a police officer he had seen plenty of rich people.
What he was curious about was—
With Duanmu Huai's body size, what kind of car did he drive?
A stretched limousine?
Probably not. Even if it was long, Duanmu Huai would have to lie down to fit inside.
Wouldn't that basically turn it into a hearse?
A convertible, maybe? Something like a BMW?
But that didn't seem right either.
With his width, he'd probably occupy several airplane seats.
What kind of convertible could even fit him?
"Oh, it's here."
Just as Anthony was imagining possibilities, Duanmu Huai spoke again.
Anthony snapped back to reality and looked toward the entrance of the parking lot.
Then—
He saw a huge heavy truck pulling a trailer slowly drive in.
"…."
Anthony's eyes widened like ping-pong balls.
It wasn't the truck itself that shocked him—heavy trucks drove on the roads every day.
What shocked him was the appearance of this truck.
Yes.
Shocking.
At the front grille was mounted a terrifying emblem of a war hammer and skull.
Of course, that alone wouldn't be too strange. Plenty of modified vehicles had even crazier decorations.
But the truck's paint job made Anthony's vision go dark.
The entire truck was painted pure white, while the skull-adorned front section had been painted into the shape of a pink bunny.
The two headlights looked like big bunny eyes.
There was even a drawn pair of buck teeth on the front.
It looked adorable—like a kindergarten school bus.
And that wasn't all.
The sides of the truck were covered with paintings of cartoon anime girls.
"??????"
Anthony's gaze toward Duanmu Huai was now nothing but question marks.
You're a two-and-a-half-meter-tall giant.
And you like this?
It wasn't that he couldn't like it.
But with your appearance, your status, your wealth…
Don't you have any self-respect?
You're really this unrestrained?
Even the old parking lot guard was staring with his eyes wide open.
Honestly, it would've been better if the trailer had pictures of bikini models instead!
But Duanmu Huai paid no attention to Anthony's gaze.
When people drive cars, what do they want?
They want attention.
Good or bad, as long as people turn their heads.
Even negative fame is still fame.
And with my modifications this flashy, the head-turn rate on the street must be one hundred percent.
Maserati can't compete with me, I'm telling you.
Even Cadillac has to call me big brother.
Cars exist to look cool and attract attention.
So the more people looking, the more that means I've already won, right?
As for what others think…
Obviously they must think the design is extraordinary, high-end, refined, and beyond ordinary mortals.
What else could they think?
Look at the streets.
Mercedes, Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac.
Pick any of them.
Do any of them have paint jobs as flashy as mine?
No?
Doesn't that prove the point?
I'd be ashamed to associate with those mundane designs anyway.
Besides, even if you paint a sports car, how big is the surface?
How many anime characters can you fit?
His truck was different.
One on the top.
One on the left.
One on the right.
One on the back.
You could practically hang full posters on it.
Wasn't that far better than those cramped little cars?
At that moment, Duanmu Huai opened the trailer door and gestured to Anthony.
"Sergeant Anthony, shall we talk inside?"
"…."
Honestly, Anthony really didn't want to get into that truck.
But there was no choice.
They still needed to discuss the case, and they couldn't wait until they arrived.
So Anthony ordered his subordinate to drive ahead and reluctantly boarded Duanmu Huai's truck.
Fortunately, the interior of the trailer wasn't nearly as bizarre as the exterior.
In fact, Duanmu Huai had no intention of converting it into a typical RV.
Standard RVs required kitchens, bathrooms, beds—filling up the already small space.
When the modification company suggested that layout, Duanmu Huai rejected it.
Are you kidding?
With my size, turning around in a container already takes effort.
And you still want to stuff it full of furniture?
So the inside of the trailer resembled a large reception room instead.
There were sofas, cabinets, a television, and a small refrigerator.
The decoration looked stable and dignified.
Sitting inside actually felt quite comfortable.
There was nothing particularly strange about it.
As long as you didn't think about the exterior paint.
Anthony sat down on the sofa and began explaining the case.
This time, the location was the Newburyport Museum.
The museum mainly displayed artworks—not extremely valuable ones, just ordinary exhibits.
Recently the museum had been holding an exhibition.
Then—
A visitor disappeared.
Yes.
On the surface, this was simply a missing-person case involving a museum visitor.
At first glance, nothing special.
So the police initially investigated it as a normal missing-person case.
And found nothing.
However, they later discovered some information.
It seemed that people had been disappearing from the museum every so often.
Not just visitors.
Even museum staff.
At that point the police realized something was wrong.
They had been considering reporting the matter to higher authorities.
Then—
Another incident occurred.
Yesterday evening, a security guard who was supposed to stay overnight at the museum also disappeared.
With no other options, the case was reported to Anthony.
Since he was currently in Newburyport, it was convenient for him to handle the investigation along the way.
So Anthony retrieved the files from the Newburyport police station and hurried over with Duanmu Huai.
According to the records, fifteen people had disappeared over the past five years.
That was understandable.
After all, it was just a museum.
Not some bizarre location where people vanished every day.
The first disappearance involved a night security guard.
The next day, when the replacement guard arrived, the man was gone.
A missing-person report was filed.
The police investigation yielded no results, and the case eventually stalled.
The second disappearance occurred two months later.
This time it was a painter.
The museum was undergoing renovations.
Workers were doing overtime.
One worker had been assigned to repair the wall in an exhibition hall.
Just a few minutes later, when a coworker came looking for him—
He was gone.
At first everyone thought he had gone to rest.
But after several days without showing up for work, the company reported him missing.
The police investigation eventually confirmed that the last place anyone saw him was inside the museum exhibition hall.
After that, he vanished completely.
The police obtained a search warrant and thoroughly searched the entire museum.
But found nothing.
After that, several more disappearances occurred.
Some were museum visitors.
One case even involved a child.
According to the file, the boy had visited the museum with his mother.
Curious and playful, he wandered into an exhibition hall.
He never came back.
When the mother went to look for him, he was gone.
Naturally she caused a huge scene at the museum.
The museum, realizing they were in the wrong, eventually compensated her with money and settled the matter.
As for the child—
No body.
No trace.
After reviewing the files, Duanmu Huai summarized the pattern of the case.
All disappearances occurred within the museum grounds, but not at fixed times or locations.
For example, after the painter vanished, the museum sealed that exhibition hall.
But later the child disappeared in another hall, meaning the problem wasn't tied to a specific room.
Time was also inconsistent.
The night guard and workers were one thing.
But a mother bringing her child to a museum obviously wouldn't visit during closing hours.
Yes.
The whole thing smelled strongly of something bizarre.
There was definitely something wrong.
"So, the police are requesting your assistance. Are you willing to accept?"
After explaining the case, Anthony looked directly at Duanmu Huai.
Duanmu Huai nodded.
"Of course. I'm willing to assist with the investigation."
Although it sounded like a meaningless sentence, it still needed to be said.
As mentioned earlier, Investigators often used illegal methods during investigations.
That was normal.
Based on Anthony's experience, if the museum truly had multiple U-level incidents, then the upper management might very well be cultists.
Those missing people might have been kidnapped for rituals.
Of course, Anthony couldn't apply for a search warrant on such speculation.
No judge would approve something like that.
But if an Investigator conducted the investigation, things were different.
Just like the classic example:
If a thief broke into someone's house and stole drugs, then suddenly felt guilty and reported himself—
You couldn't say the evidence was illegal.
After finishing the discussion, they arrived at the museum entrance.
Anthony and his partner went inside for routine questioning.
Duanmu Huai had his maid park the truck elsewhere.
At least until the investigation was finished, it would be better if people didn't see him together with the police.
However, just as Duanmu Huai was planning to walk around nearby and wait for Anthony's results—
A voice spoke.
"You… why are you here?"
"Hm?"
Hearing the voice, Duanmu Huai turned in surprise.
Then he saw the person standing not far away.
And froze.
"It's you??"