The Hunter and the Prey
The platoon leader was disappointed. If you want to catch a thief, you have to search the thief's den first. Although Carlos had been maintaining a cordial relationship with Inspector Nera recently, he was still suspicious of her.
To begin with, since Inspector Nera herself claimed to be a person associated with the Doctor, he couldn't exactly ignore that. So, Carlos diligently followed Nera around. He even sacrificed his vacation days to do it.
He didn't think it was pathetic. He believed it was a necessary process to resolve the case. He wasn't doing anything wrong; he was simply investigating someone who had boldly asked to be investigated.
But...
What on earth was this inspector doing?
Inspector Nera's behavior during her vacation was, if anything, suspicious. She didn't enjoy her time off like a normal person; she kept disappearing somewhere.
However, it was far from the kind of suspicious activity Carlos had imagined. Disappearing to avoid someone's gaze was suspicious in itself, but that alone wasn't enough to confirm a connection to the Abyss or the Doctor.
The places she vanished to were mostly cheap inns or hotels. Usually, if someone checked into a room, you'd assume they were just resting. But Nera checked into these places far too often.
Moreover, even when she emerged with an indifferent expression, her slightly ragged breathing and flushed cheeks clearly revealed that she had been engaged in intense physical activity.
In the end, Carlos mostly acquired meaningless information. He learned that Nera was more familiar with the city's structure than he had thought, and that she was definitely up to something suspicious.
Of course, as for the kind of suspicious things that might happen in a hotel room... he didn't particularly want to imagine them.
Yes, she must have been using the rooms as a front to access some underground space. No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason to engage in such activities otherwise. It was more rational to believe that the Doctor's secret base was somewhere in this city.
And currently, Carlos had lost Nera's trail again.
He didn't even know how many times this had happened. He had given up counting after the fifth time.
Carlos revised his strategy. Searching the area around the inns was a waste of time, no matter how he looked at it. If she was going to return to the inn eventually, wouldn't it be better to keep a wider watch on the surrounding area?
And so, Carlos walked endlessly through the complex crowd in a plaza near the inn. The laughter of people rang out pleasantly, and the warm sunlight wrapped around Carlos's body. But Carlos was too lost in thought to notice any of it.
'Did she realize I'm tailing her?'
It was almost certain. If she hadn't been aware of the surveillance, she wouldn't have needed to move so erratically.
One way or another, Carlos felt a headache coming on. If she was going to act so bold and tell him to investigate, she could have just cooperated quietly. He had no idea what Nera was thinking.
It all felt like a simple stalling tactic, just as Carmen had said. And he had fallen for Nera's deception quite nicely.
Carlos raised one hand to massage his temple. If he didn't do this, his cluttered mind wouldn't clear up. After a brief moment of pain, a cooling sensation swept through his head.
He felt slightly better, but he knew that unless he solved the fundamental problem, the pain in his head wouldn't disappear. Carlos let out a short sigh and focused on his surroundings.
Just then, a short scream brushed past his ears. It was such a faint sound that only Carlos, an Enforcer, could have perceived it.
Coincidentally, it came from an alleyway where people rarely ventured. Had some dangerous person appeared?
An Enforcer's duty was to hunt down Cadavers, but fundamentally, their job was to protect people. If necessary, they could perform police duties at any time.
He gripped the Finisher at his waist and dashed quickly toward the source of the sound.
There, he found something he hadn't expected. It was the very creature whose trail he had been chasing so desperately.
Carlos couldn't believe his eyes. It was slightly smaller than usual, but it had the characteristic fluttering tentacles of an Abyss. Behind it were traces of vomit, and right in front of the Abyss lay the corpse of a man, bleeding out and growing cold.
In a way, it was to be expected. Anyone who knew even a little about the Abyss would say that a predicted event had finally occurred. Even so, Carlos felt the situation unfolding before him was surreal.
He had thought the creature had its own standards. Even if its actions were those of a monster, he had never seen it kill an innocent person until now.
But the event before his eyes was an undeniable fact. The Abyss had killed a person.
Carlos's heart turned cold as he looked at that face, which was grinning foolishly in front of the man's corpse.
"Right. In the end, you're just a Cadaver. Was killing a human fun?"
What could he expect from a monster in the first place? It was a monster because it killed people meaninglessly, and wasn't that why an Enforcer was needed to hunt it down?
The Abyss moved its tentacles and quickly devoured the man's corpse. It absorbed the large amount of blood scattered on the cold floor in an instant. However, large and small blood droplets were still splattered around, and the stench of vomit still lingered behind it.
What was the point of cleaning up the body so late? Ridiculously, Carlos felt a certain clumsiness in the Abyss's actions, like a child trying to cover a teacher's eyes to hide their mischief.
The Abyss didn't even think to attack; it slowly backed away.
He raised his Finisher and fired without hesitation.
-BANG!
The gunshot shattered the peace of the leisurely city. Screams erupted from startled people, and the sound of hurried footsteps took over the area.
As always, the tentacles blocked the Hundred-Crystal Bullet. The Abyss immediately severed the tentacles and sprouted new ones.
-BANG!
He pulled the trigger again immediately. Without stopping.
The Abyss moved its body nimbly, dodging the bullets. Cracks appeared on the floor and buildings, and cold frost rose into the air.
The Abyss lightly lifted its foot and kicked a manhole cover. The cover flew rapidly and embedded itself into the outer wall of a building, and the Abyss slipped into the deep sewer.
Should he chase it, or not?
After a moment of hesitation, Carlos gave up on the pursuit. Hadn't he lost the Abyss once or twice before? He had no confidence that he could catch it even if he chased it, and someone was needed here to handle the situation.
He had spent his precious vacation not just to chase the Abyss blindly, but to uncover its true identity and eliminate it for certain.
Upon hearing the news that Carlos was searching the area thoroughly, Dr. Licht spent several days with his eyes wide open. He couldn't sleep soundly until the Enforcer Carlos returned to the outer wall of the sector. If he lay down peacefully in bed, it might just be the last moment of his life.
And as if to understand the Doctor's desperate waiting, Emma brought him some news.
"Doctor, the doll re-deployment that has been ongoing for the past few days has ended in total failure."
Of course, it wasn't good news. The anxious Dr. Licht had a blank expression for a moment.
"At the same time, contact with most of the Doppelgangers deployed among the people has been lost."
To make matters worse, terrible news followed one after another.
"...Why?"
The words that escaped his lips were hollow. Unlike the dolls, which were merely Cadavers with no intelligence and ordinary appearances, the Doppelgangers hidden among the people were generally impossible to detect.
Yes, impossible! They were Cadavers designed so that the act of sending a signal itself was impossible, and they were engineered not to emit any signals at all. How much effort had gone into properly combining the abilities of the Mimic and the Linker!
Let alone sensors, even the Cadavers themselves couldn't recognize each other. They even firmly believed they were human. They were perfectly disguised beings that could neither be discovered nor speak of their nature.
In the midst of extreme confusion, the Doctor's voice scattered weakly. Therefore, Emma, who hadn't heard the Doctor's words, didn't recognize the command and continued.
"Another murder case has occurred. Externally, the victim is an ordinary man, but investigation results show he was a Doppelganger recently deployed from the laboratory."
"...Stop."
The Doctor's voice was still excessively small.
"The crime scene was discovered by the Enforcer Carlos. It appears Enforcer Carlos fired his gun at the culprit, and the culprit escaped."
The Doctor screamed internally. Please, stop. He wished someone would tell him that all of this was a lie. Still, he had to ask what needed to be asked. The Doctor, who hadn't completely lost his reason, asked about the most suspicious part.
"...Is it just a simple murder case?"
There were many parts to scrutinize. It was strange that Carlos had fired his gun at a mere murder case, and it was strange that the culprit had escaped so easily. The Finisher was the Defense Bureau's cutting-edge weapon for anti-Cadaver operations. An ordinary person would die if hit by it, regardless of Carlos's ability. Their entire body would probably be blown to pieces.
And yet, he used a Finisher, and the culprit even escaped? That made no sense, logically speaking!
"The case itself is a simple murder. However, Enforcer Carlos is said to be an eyewitness to the event."
Finally, the death sentence was delivered by Emma. In the Doctor's mind, the image of Enforcer Carlos approaching like the Grim Reaper was painted.
"Damn it! How many times! Do I have to! Tell you to understand...!?"
The Doctor just exploded in anger. Faced with an irreversible reality, there were few options left for the Doctor.
"Use your primitive brain for once! Logically speaking, would Carlos end up as a mere eyewitness?! Didn't he handle it himself! The Doppelganger——!!!"
The Doctor's rage echoed loudly through the room. Usually, he would have slapped her cheek several times, but the Doctor, having completely lost his composure, just picked at his fingernails.
A very small question arose in his mind. Perhaps it could even be called hope. If he was going to reach the truth about the Doppelgangers eventually, why had he been patrolling the area like someone who knew nothing?
Was it a feint?
In the end, Carlos hadn't personally disposed of the defective products hidden everywhere. If so, it was possible that other Enforcers had been secretly following Carlos, and they had engaged in all sorts of schemes to deceive his eyes. For instance, the traces of predation that Emma had reported.
No, that wasn't it either. No matter how much he tried to deceive himself, the situation was all too clear. At the very least, Carlos had reached some truth, and it wouldn't be long before he reached Dr. Licht.
He had to get rid of him. He had to stop him from getting any closer. But how, on earth!
The speed at which he picked at his hands grew faster. At some point, the Doctor fell into deep contemplation, not even noticing that his whole body was trembling. He repeatedly picked up his communicator only to throw it away, and crumpled various documents in a gruesome manner. Emma, standing behind him, simply returned the communicator to its place and repeated the meaningless task of smoothing out the crumpled documents.
Finally, what the Doctor held in his hand was a badge decorated with pure gold. This badge, symbolizing a high-ranking position in the Defense Bureau, was not just proof of rank. It held the power to decide the future of the sector. If he used this power, he might be able to buy some time.
However... every action has a price, and especially in a big gamble, an equally great danger lurks. It would be a decision he couldn't take back. The conflict between the humanists and the reformists of the Defense Bureau would deepen, and it would inevitably lead to a clash.
But right now, the Doctor had no choice.