"The water pipe in the master bathroom broke, and I didn't have time to fix it, so I had to go outside."
"After using the toilet, I looked up at myself in the mirror; my face was a bit pale, and my eyes were heavily bloodshot."
"I thought it was just exhaustion from staying up several nights in a row to investigate the case, so I didn't take it to heart."
"And then?" Brooks pressed.
"Then I dried my hands, left the bathroom, went back to the bedroom, and lay back down on the bed."
Jedi sighed, trying to be as detailed as possible.
"It was raining outside then, and it was a bit chilly. I pulled the quilt tight to cover my neck, listened to the rain outside the window, and soon fell into a deep sleep."
Speaking to this point, a look of deep confusion appeared in Jedi's eyes.
"Things haven't been right since that night. With each passing day, I feel my body getting heavier, as if my energy is draining away bit by bit."
"Even if I do nothing and just sit there, I'm exhausted. I sleep seventeen or eighteen hours a day, and when I wake up, I still feel out of sorts, like the marrow in my bones has gone soft."
After listening, everyone fell into deep thought.
Green rubbed his chin. "Going back to bed after using the bathroom sounds like a normal nighttime wake-up. Nothing unusual there. Could there be slow-acting poison in the water pipes?"
Herta ignored Green's speculation, her mind racing as she silently repeated two words.
The mirror.
The fuse for the first victim Xi Manning's death was looking in the mirror in the bathroom.
Because a strong wind blew, the Reaper saw the target through a refraction, triggering the execution.
Now the second target, Jedi, also mentioned the bathroom mirror.
It was hard to say whether it was a coincidence or a connection, but would the Reaper really use the same method to harvest a life?
Not necessarily.
"Mr. Creditor, what do you think?" Herta asked in her mind.
"I'm looking with my eyes."
Qi Zhimu carefully observed the exhausted fellow.
"The first one died instantly, while the second seems to have his life force slowly drained. It's too arbitrary to draw a conclusion based solely on the mirror."
"These past few days, maybe it's not a woman sucking his essence, but something attached to him?"
"Is there anything else wrong with him?" Herta pressed.
"No."
Qi Zhimu answered very bluntly.
"After I hypnotized him, I checked him inside and out. Aside from that hollowed-out frame of his, there's nothing unusual about him at all."
Herta nodded slightly.
There were forty minutes left until 14:50, which was the window for Jedi's time of death.
Herta stood up and made a new request to Jedi.
"Mr. Jedi, could you provide the surveillance footage from the time your body started acting up until now?"
"No problem, feel free to watch."
Jedi leaned weakly against the sofa and pointed to the device storing the surveillance data.
"But don't get your hopes up. I've watched it several times, and everything looks normal."
While Herta pulled up the surveillance, Qi Zhimu went to the bathroom Jedi had mentioned again.
Pushing open the door, the furnishings inside were very simple.
A large sink, a mirror taking up half a wall, a shower area, and a toilet.
It looked normal no matter how one viewed it.
Qi Zhimu replayed Jedi's narrative in his mind, feeling that something was off.
Unable to figure it out for the moment, he had to return to Herta's side to watch the surveillance together.
Seeing Herta playing the surveillance at high speed, his mouth twitched slightly.
"With the speed that high, can you accurately find the details?"
"Over ten days of surveillance, there's no time to watch at normal speed," Herta replied in her heart.
Time passed minute by minute.
Jedi was incredibly sleepy and said he would go back to his room to sleep for half an hour, letting everyone check the surveillance footage themselves.
He understood that so many days of footage couldn't be finished in a short time, so he didn't ask them to leave.
Besides, having so many police officers around provided at least some sense of security.
"I'll stand guard nearby while you sleep." Brooks' expression turned stern, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
Sleep for half an hour?
Wouldn't that fall exactly within the time of death?
Jedi waved his hand. "No need. There are no standing or climbing points outside my bedroom window, and the security bars are welded shut. It's impossible for a killer to get in from the outside."
"...Fine then. Shout immediately if there's any problem."
Brooks had been hesitant about whether to keep the man under his direct supervision, but ultimately gave up on the idea.
What if restricting his freedom was exactly the condition that triggered the Reaper's harvest?
"Thank you for your concern, Officer Brooks."
Jedi yawned and went back to his room, closing the door and locking it.
The sound clearly reached everyone's ears.
"He's certainly cautious enough; this must have become a subconscious habit... With police in the house, isn't locking the door redundant?"
Green couldn't help but say.
If something really happened inside, they'd have to kick the door down just to rush in and save him.
"It doesn't matter. It's not like we haven't checked his bedroom; it's impossible to hide a person in there." Brooks continued to look at the surveillance screen.
"A person can't hide, but that's the Reaper..." Green lowered his voice.
Herta glanced at everyone from the corner of her eye but didn't voice an opinion.
Qi Zhimu had followed Jedi inside just now; he would keep an eye on him.
Half an hour wasn't long.
Learning from Qi Zhimu, everything in the bedroom was normal, and Jedi was sleeping like a log.
Everyone had stopped checking the surveillance and was sitting on edge.
A few people suggested breaking down the bedroom door to check the situation, while others held opposing views.
In one more minute, the window for Jedi's death would end.
It was truly too peaceful.
If not for the previous example, and if Jedi hadn't been so inexplicably exhausted that he looked like he was about to die of fatigue, no one would want to believe there really was a Reaper.
Herta and Qi Zhimu communicated every thirty seconds to keep track of the situation.
There were forty seconds left until the death window ended.
Everyone in the hall had their nerves taut, and some even began to hope that they had somehow accidentally broken the Reaper's conditions.
Some speculated that the biggest possibility was those removed surveillance cameras.
Jedi's bedroom originally had two installed, but now they were gone, so the Reaper couldn't make a move.
As the seconds ticked away, even Herta couldn't help but wonder if that was really the case.
After all, after seeing Xi Manning's death conditions, she knew that the preconditions were actually quite simple.
"Kid, this guy is awake."
Qi Zhimu's voice suddenly rang in Herta's heart.
Herta immediately focused her attention. "What is he planning to do?"
"He's gotten out of bed. Seems like he has to go; he wants to go out to the bathroom."
"..."
Herta's mind retraced all the clues like a flash of lightning, and she subconsciously glanced at the time.
He said he'd sleep for half an hour and it was exactly half an hour—waking up naturally?
"He's about to open the door."
Hearing these words from Qi Zhimu, Herta's small face suddenly changed expression, and she spoke without hesitation.
"Quickly, stop him—"