"Ring ring..."

Luke's phone rang, and when he took it out, the screen displayed Reid's number.

"Hello, this is Luke."

Reid's voice came from the phone, "Buddy, your day off is going to end early."

Half an hour later.

Luke rode his Harley motorcycle to the Los Angeles River.

Luke parked his motorcycle by the bridge, with police cars lining both sides, and a cordon was already set up at the bridge entrance.

The water in the Los Angeles River was not clear, and the water level was higher this year than in previous years.

Luke was something of a celebrity in the police department; the moment he arrived, all the officers on site looked his way. A few patrol officers also greeted him, and he walked straight into the scene without having to show his badge.

Little Black waved a greeting, "Captain, over here, wow, you came on our beloved Harley."

Luke corrected him, "That's mine. What's the situation on site?"

Little Black said, "We just got here too; the caller is that white kid over there. We were just about to take his statement."

Luke looked in the direction Little Black pointed to, seeing a twenty-something white male with medium build and curly brown hair, looking quite distinct.

Luke walked over and flashed his badge, "Hello there, I'm..."

Before Luke could finish, the curly-haired young man interrupted him, "I know who you are, Captain Lee from the Robbery Homicide Department; I often see you in the news. Actually, I'm kind of a fan of yours, I think you're super cool. Is that modified Harley yours? Wow, it's super cool too. Can I take it for a spin?"

"No, you cannot." Little Black directly rejected him, thinking this guy had even thicker skin than himself.

Have some shame, will you? Who even knows you, wanting to ride our Harley?

Luke steered the conversation back, "Buddy, nice to meet you too. What's your name?"

"Rory Russell, I'm a video streamer, I've been quite popular lately, maybe you've seen my show."

Luke feigned interest, "I'll remember that, will watch when I have time. Tell me why you reported this."

"Oh God, if I could, I really wouldn't want to recall that scene. It was too terrifying."

Rory Russell took a deep breath and patted his chest, "I had agreed with friends to come treasure hunting. It was a nice day today, and we thought we'd make a good find.

But who knew, we found something horrifying instead."

Luke asked, "What do you mean by treasure hunting?"

"Magnet fishing, haven't you seen it? There are all sorts of junk in the river, but there could also be treasures. We throw a strong magnet into the riverbed to see what we can pull up."

Jackson said, "I've seen this kind of show. Its greatest appeal is that until the magnet leaves the water surface, no one knows what's underneath, full of anticipation."

"Exactly, many of my fans love this show." Rory Russell high-fived Jackson.

Luke's expression grew serious, "Wait, are you saying you were live streaming the whole time?"

"Yes, what I saw, they all saw it too. Just a short while ago, my subscriber count spiked by tens of thousands, and when the police arrived, they asked me to shut down the stream.

Oh God, my losses are huge."

Luke brought him back to the point, "What exactly did you find?"

"I tied a rope to the strong magnet and then threw the magnet into the riverbed. I felt like I had found something very heavy, and thought I had struck it rich.

I forcefully pulled it up from the water, it was a black bag. I dragged the bag onto the bridge, opened it, and found a bunch of rotting meat. I can still clearly remember the stench that hit me straight in the face.

I was dumbfounded thinking, why would I pull up something like this? I mustered up the courage to look, the black bag also contained a large metal piece weighing down the meat. I even saw half a finger.

That's when I realized what I had discovered."

"Ugh..." As he spoke, Rory Russell started feeling nauseous and vomited.

Luke handed him a few tissues and asked, "Where exactly were you fishing?"

Rory Russell wiped his mouth and pointed to the bridge over the river, "Right there, where the black bag was placed."

"Ugh..." He retched again.

Luke walked over to the black bag, where a forensic doctor was already working. Luke did not disturb them but stood by observing.

The black bag was opened, containing some rotting meat and bone fragments.

The half finger was the most intact part; its thickness suggested it belonged to an adult.

The black bag wasn't large enough to hold the remains of an entire adult body.

This was likely just a part of the body.

Luke scanned the surroundings, noticing no surveillance cameras installed above the bridge.

He went back to Rory Russell, "Buddy, could you do us a favor?"

"As long as I'm not near that black bag." Rory Russell looked a bit pale.

"We'd like to borrow your magnet."

Rory Russell furrowed his brows, seemingly hitting upon something, "You're going to continue fishing bodies?"

Luke nodded, "There's likely other evidence at the riverbed."

Rory Russell took a deep breath, calming himself down, "Okay, the magnet is yours; do whatever you want with it, just don't tell me."

Luke said, "We won't keep your magnet, just borrowing it."

"No, I don't want it anymore; I'll find another, one that brings me good luck."

"Thank you." What else could Luke say?

Seeing Luke about to leave, Rory Russell quickly called out to him, "Hey, idol, can I get a picture with you?"

"I'm sorry, I'm on the job and I'm not a public figure." Luke nodded apologetically, then turned to Jackson, "Still standing there? Your treasure hunt is about to begin, come on."

Jackson was a bit resistant, "Captain, why me?"

Little Black patted his shoulder, laughing, "Because you're the only one who's seen this kind of show, you're the most experienced. We're looking forward to your performance."

Jackson wanted to slap himself.

For talking too much.

But there was no choice; with everyone watching him, he had to brace himself and proceed.

The treasure hunting tool was very simple: a strong magnet tied to a thick string, with one end of the string fastened to his left hand, and using the right hand to throw the magnet-tied end into the riverbed.

There were two key points: the first was to throw it far, the second was to keep it close to the riverbed to attract more objects.

The first time, Jackson pulled up a discarded bicycle handlebar.

The second time, he pulled up a metal box, containing nothing but some sludge.

The third time, he pulled up a black bag, identical to the one Rory Russell had found earlier.

"Captain, I found it." Jackson reported eagerly.

Luke gave a thumbs up, "Nice job, keep going."

Jackson "..."

Jackson used the same method to fish a few more times but did not pull up any more black bags this time.

Luke evaluated the volume of this black bag, roughly estimating it could contain only forty to fifty pounds of meat and bone fragments, not enough for two bags.

At this moment, the forensic doctor Hila's voice came through, "Captain Luke."

"Hila, any discoveries?"

"We can confirm the bag contains human remains. The time of death should be over 24 hours ago, and the body probably belonged to an adult male. One bag weighs 43 pounds, the other 47 pounds.

This should only be part of the body; we need to quickly find the rest."

"I will." Luke nodded, "How did the body end up like this?"

"It was probably machine cut."

Little Black said with some disgust, "I bet the killer is a pervert.

No sane person would do such a thing."

Luke asked, "Any clues on the identity of the body?"

"Not yet, you'll have to investigate yourselves." Hila looked at the two black bags, "I'll go back and try to piece them together; we might find some clues.

If they can still be pieced together, that is."

"Good luck, I'll locate the rest of the body as soon as possible." Luke felt the pressure mounting, not just from dealing with a psychopathic killer, but more importantly, Rory Russell's live stream could have already spread the case online, potentially causing public panic at any time.

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