"Have you forgotten the sketch I drew for you?"

Dean struck a bodybuilder's classic pose and raised an eyebrow. "I have the strength of a bear, you know."

Carol rolled her eyes in response.

After getting to know Dean for a while, Carol increasingly felt a special charm and strengths in him, which made her involuntarily shift from initial hostility to admiration. It's rare to find a kindred spirit, she thought.

Suddenly, a thought she had never had before struck Carol. Her cheeks turned red involuntarily, and her heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably, making her breathing somewhat uneven.

Seeing Carol's state, Dean's heart skipped a beat.

Shoot! he thought. Women in foreign countries mature early. This young lady wouldn't be thinking about procreating with me because she thinks my genes are excellent, would she? Oh, the curse of my male charm!

Dean admitted to himself that he was a simple man. He only liked cute, curvy women who were not as smart as him!

Carol fit none of those criteria. Besides, she was only thirteen.

Off-limits! Absolutely off-limits!

The clear-headed Dean immediately interrupted Carol's springtime reveries. "Alright, while we're waiting for Nico and the others' test results, let's go talk to Xiami's brother to find out what's going on."

Having said that, he walked towards the exit.

"Oh~"

Behind him, Carol touched her cheek and followed, somewhat dazed.

「...」

In the United States Federation, many systems are actually similar to those of the Commonwealth, including citizen information. If a citizen doesn't use a credit card, doesn't rent a house, and doesn't get into trouble, even the police would have a hard time locating them immediately.

Jelinton, Xiami's brother, was different. The guy was often arrested for theft. Therefore, the information provided by Agent Melfin included Jelinton's detailed current address. And this guy, having just been convicted of theft again, was sentenced to community service, so there was little worry of not finding him.

Following the address, the elderly driver took Dean and Carol to a nursing home.

The place looked desolate. There were no buildings, pedestrians, or shops around. It looked like an abandoned elementary school, with withered plants outside, mirroring the bleakness of the area, heavy with an air of decline.

Seeing this, the old driver couldn't help but sigh. "Eh, no matter the country, no matter how good the social welfare is, the final abode for the elderly is always bleak and lonely."

Dean had never been old, so he couldn't understand the old man's feelings at that moment.

After getting out of the car, Dean used the documentation Carol helped him obtain. He had no trouble getting the nursing home's security guard to bring a balding middle-aged man wearing a social worker's jacket and something like an electronic watch on his wrist over to him.

Frankly speaking, the proportion of men going bald in middle age around here was indeed not small.

Dean began to worry about his big brother. That body size, plus balding... Beck will probably have a tough time running around without getting questioned by the cops in the future.

Putting aside the strange thoughts in his mind, Dean looked at the bald man in front of him. "Jelinton?"

Jelinton glared at Dean with some resentment. "Yes, that's me. I'm already paying for my mistakes. You don't need to bother me every single day!"

He mistook Dean for a staff member checking on his community service status.

Dean didn't bother explaining and turned to the security guard. "Buddy, can you let me have a word with him alone?"

"No problem, officer!" With that, the nursing home security guard walked outside, thoughtfully closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Dean suddenly grabbed Jelinton—who exuded the air of a thoroughly shameless hooligan—pressed him against the wall, and bared his teeth in a fierce smile. "Since I've got the right man, then you can go meet my dead brother!"

To deal with this kind of thug, violence and threats are always the quickest ways to pry their mouths open.

Jelinton was dumbfounded when suddenly pinned against the wall.

What dead brother? What the hell is he talking about?

Jelinton, his head spinning with questions, tried to cry out for help, but he couldn't even breathe, let alone shout. Any attempt to struggle was as futile as waves crashing against rocks.

Just as it looked like he was about to be strangled to death—SPLATTER! When the passage above is blocked, the one below opens up. A series of sputtering, diarrheal sounds, accompanied by a foul, burning stench, emanated from Jelinton.

Dean, with a look of disgust, let go. "Can't you die with a bit of dignity?"

But Jelinton had no time to care about his current disgrace. He gasped for air, polluted by his own doing, and wanted to cry out for help even more.

A dark gun barrel once again choked back all his words.

THUD.

Without another word, Jelinton knelt on the ground, looking up at Dean in despair. "If I've stolen from your brother, I'm willing to pay back tenfold. There's no need for murder!"

Dean shook his head. "Still pretending! Three years ago, you and your brother broke into my buddy's villa. Your brother strangled my buddy with a rope, and you choked him to death with your hands under his orders!"

"FK!"

"It's that damn bastard again!"

Jelinton became even more desperate. "I swear, I had absolutely nothing to do with that case! When that psycho was killing, I was being interrogated at the police station for theft. I really didn't kill your brother!"

Dean looked at Jelinton kneeling on the ground for a few seconds, holstered his gun, and walked away.

No signs of lying. Detention records are easy to check. The accomplice shouldn't be this guy!

「...」

Leaving the nursing home, Carol had already composed herself and approached Dean, her eyes asking about the outcome of his questioning.

Dean shook his head. "It's not him."

"So, what are you planning to do next?"

"Go to the prison to see Xiami!" Dean said, then got into the car.

He didn't know when the test results would come out. In fact, he didn't rely much on them. That kind of thing could, at most, provide hints when an investigation had no direction and eventually serve as evidence to convict the murderer.

This case wasn't that complicated yet.

Carol got into the car as well.

She looked at Dean, who was resting with his eyes closed, and couldn't help reminding him, "Xiami's lawyer has been paying close attention to this case, so if you're thinking of using certain methods to interrogate Xiami, it won't work."

"Then let me teach you a lesson!" Dean smiled. "Your Mind Reading Technique isn't bad, but you apply it too rigidly. Otherwise, you'd realize that even if your target remains silent, they will still willingly reveal the answer to you!"

Mind reading... the core is to discern the outcome from the target's reactions. So, whether the other person speaks or not isn't important.

Carol looked at the confident Dean, blinking sincerely. "You really are amazing."

Dean: "..."

Dammit! he thought. Got so used to showing off, I forgot to keep it in check!

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