*Wee-woo, wee-woo!*
The blaring sirens of the New Orleans Police Department echoed across the entire sky above the small town by Lake Pontchartrain.
*Thud!*
*Thud!*
Cop and Kaynor stepped out of their respective cruisers.
Not far away, Jim Rhodes walked out of the Dolan Church with the elder Fox by his side. Catching sight of the massive spectacle before them—which even included an active deployment of the SWAT team—he carried an exaggerated expression on his face as he walked toward Cop, who was approaching while wearing a pair of sunglasses.
"Wow, wow, wow!" Jim Rhodes' expression was incredibly theatrical, filled with an air of disbelief and utter shock. "Detective Thornton, what is the meaning of this? Was it really necessary to throw such a massive party?"
Cop took off his sunglasses, staring at Jim Rhodes before him.
Who could have guessed?
One may know a man's face but not his heart. To think that a decent-looking guy like you harbored such a peculiar hobby.
Instead of loving women, you love roasting them?
Standing beside him, Detective Kaynor was as cold as frost. She drew out a freshly issued court arrest warrant from her coat, aiming her gaze at Jim Rhodes and the elder Fox's group.
"Mr. Jim Rhodes, this is your arrest warrant!"
Jim Rhodes froze instantly. "What?"
Detective Kaynor waved her right hand without looking back. "Arrest them!"
"Wait—" The elder Fox blanked slightly as well. However, before he even had the chance to speak, Detective Kaynor directly grabbed his outstretched right hand. Executing a joint lock, she slammed him straight down onto the hood of the police cruiser with a heavy thud.
Instantly, the elder Fox let out a sharp shriek of agony.
*Click!*
Ignoring the elder Fox's shrieks, Detective Kaynor directly slapped a pair of handcuffs onto him. "Behave yourself!"
She had already personally reviewed the surveillance footage brought in by Roy, the bespectacled otaku who had turned himself in this morning. Good grief. It was fine if one didn't look, but looking at it had directly shattered Detective Kaynor's psychological defenses.
It was too cruel.
Too bloody.
Utterly devoid of humanity.
Although New Orleans had always maintained a ceremonial ritual known as the burning of witches, that was supposed to be a mock performance, not the real deal. When the reality was laid bare before everyone, it was likely that absolutely no one would believe it.
This wasn't the Middle Ages anymore.
The Holy See? Who did they think they were?
Back when Henry IV led his troops to breach the city of Rome and forced the Pope of that era to flee, the authority of the Holy See had already been completely obliterated in the eyes of secular empires.
And yet, such atrocious acts were still taking place today?
Under Detective Kaynor's decisive actions, the SWAT team moved like tigers entering a flock of sheep. Within a few swift maneuvers, they cross-referenced the facial recognition profiles from the surveillance footage. Without a single exception, they arrested almost the majority of the Dolan Church—roughly thirty-odd individuals.
The people of the Dolan Church did intend to resist.
But...
This wasn't a place that would politely grant you multiple warnings. The rifles held by the SWAT officers were fully chambered, and the surrounding patrol officers drew their firearms, watching them like hawks.
Although the shooting proficiency of the New Orleans Police Department fell vastly short of the New York Police Department, they still possessed the capability to empty a magazine within five seconds.
As for Jim Rhodes?
Holding a pair of handcuffs, Cop walked up behind Jim Rhodes, shackling him as he offered no resistance. "Mr. Rhodes, you won't be running away this time."
Jim Rhodes' eyes flickered.
He didn't even bother asking, because it was no longer necessary. Observing this setup in conjunction with Roy's disappearance, he didn't even need to think to know that the issue must have originated from Roy.
But what happened to Hank?
This was a detail that Jim Rhodes was currently entirely in the dark about.
However...
As Jim Rhodes was being escorted toward the police cruiser by Cop, his tone remained light. Standing by the open rear door of the vehicle as he prepared to step inside, he turned around and looked at Cop.
"Detective Thornton, there are still two days left. Is your money ready?"
Cop blanked slightly.
The next second, Cop pushed Jim Rhodes directly into the police cruiser. "You'd better spend your time thinking about how your lawyer can downgrade your capital punishment into a slightly more comfortable lethal injection, you piece of trash!"
With a loud thud, Jim Rhodes' head slammed directly against the roof of the car, causing him to let out an involuntary groan, though it was quickly cut off as the door slammed shut.
New Orleans Police Department.
For the sake of this arrest operation, they had specifically cleared out the holding cells on the first floor. One after another, the members of the Dolan Church were thrown straight inside.
"Kaynor!"
"Boss?"
Cop dragged Jim Rhodes out from the vehicle. While heading toward the interrogation room on the first floor, he called out to Kaynor, "Has the salvage team headed over?"
Kaynor, who was currently escorting the elder Fox, heard Cop's words and replied, "Rest assured, Boss. They are already prepared to drain the water out of Lake Pontchartrain completely."
The elder Fox's body stiffened.
They were completely finished.
Cop nodded, directly handing Jim Rhodes over to a patrol officer along with the interrogation log. He cast a glance at Jim Rhodes before speaking to the officer.
"Just ask some casual questions, fill out the paperwork, and send it straight to the District Attorney."
They had eyewitness testimony.
They had video evidence.
Even if Jim Rhodes stubbornly insisted it wasn't him, it would be entirely futile. The District Attorney already possessed more than enough evidence to indict him.
Once they entered a courtroom, no matter how eloquently the defense lawyer spoke, the moment the surveillance footage was played, it was highly likely that not a single member of the twelve-person jury would hold a dissenting opinion.
In fact, while Cop was applying for the arrest warrant at the courthouse, the District Attorney's office had already swung into motion.
"How is it?"
At a roadside cafe not far from the New Orleans Police Department, Locke was currently sipping his morning coffee with Carrie, witnessing the scene of the Dolan Church group being escorted into the precinct.
"Tsk, tsk." Locke shook his head. Thinking about Jim Rhodes, who had insisted on provoking him even after seizing a sliver of a lifeline, he let out a chuckle. "Like I said, one must always maintain a low profile."
I granted you a lifeline so you could live, not so you could act arrogant.
Why bother?
Look at that. With just a slight application of pressure on my end, you collapsed.
You're nothing special after all.
Carrie remained silent for a brief moment. "You once said that for certain people, a legal judgment is a form of mercy, and these people do not deserve to receive the mercy of the law."
Locke looked toward Carrie, smiling slightly. "Still haven't vented your anger?"
Carrie didn't want to lie. Watching Locke, she nodded. "Yes."
"Go tonight then."
"Hmm?"
"Here."
"...A notification card?"
Carrie looked at the item Locke handed over. Taking it into her hand, she swiftly tucked it away.
Locke raised his coffee and took a sip, speaking with a smile, "As for what to write, hold that blank card and think about it yourself; it will automatically fill itself in for you. Back in New York, you were already the second Judicator. Since they are guilty, if you feel the mercy of the law is insufficient for them, then go execute it yourself."
The Judgement Notice was never issued to the innocent or guiltless bystanders. This remained an ironclad rule.
But sinners? The Judgement Notice followed them like a shadow; the only difference lay in whether one wished to deploy it or not.
"Right." Locke thought for a moment, speaking to Carrie, "It's inside a police precinct after all, so leave them some dignity. Don't make the scene excessively bloody."
Carrie gripped the Judgement Notice inside her pocket and nodded.
The next second. "Thank you!"
"Haha." Locke let out a hearty laugh upon hearing Carrie's gratitude.
Right at that moment, a black luxury sedan designated for lawyers pulled up to the entrance of the precinct not far away.
Locke raised an eyebrow, his right hand making a sudden motion.
With a sharp whistle—*Boom!*
The gentleman lawyer—reputed as the number one pettifogger in New Orleans—had just received the news and rushed over frantically from his law firm. The moment he opened his car door, a pitch-black flash of light slammed violently against his car window.
The card embedded itself directly into the glass. The window instantly turned into a spiderweb of cracks but did not shatter.
The lawyer's pupils contracted slightly, thoroughly startled.
The next second, staring at this mysterious black card laced with gold light under the sun—a card widely rumored across the America to be peerless—the lawyer swallowed his saliva with a gulp. Extending his right hand, he shakily pinched the card and drew it out.
Instantly, the window glass shattered completely, scattering all over the ground.
[Judgement Notice!]
[Beat it!]
[Peerless!!]
"Ah!"
Catching sight of the contents written on this card, the lawyer let out a sharp shriek, tossing the card straight into the air. Immediately after, with a swift turn, his face completely pale from fright, he abandoned his car entirely, cast aside his briefcase, and ran frantically in the opposite direction of the precinct like a lost soul, as if his pants were on fire.
"Heh."
"That doesn't quite look like your usual style."
"This fellow happens to be a relative of Lawyer Laun."
"Oh." Hearing this sentence, Carrie nodded.
Locke looked at the lawyer running away as if his life depended on it, shaking his head. If it weren't for the fact that when he was heading to New Orleans, Lawyer Laun had called to tell him that if anything happened out here, he could contact this guy, Locke frankly wouldn't have bothered doing that.
But...
Lawyer Laun had helped him out tremendously. At the very least, his small target of a hundred million could be credited to Lawyer Laun stepping up to help him secure it.
Therefore, he would extend some courtesy.
Inside the interrogation room.
Jim Rhodes frowned intensely, staring at the phone that kept ringing with no one answering.
His lawyer... was no longer picking up his calls.
Sitting across from him, the officer watched Jim Rhodes gripping the phone, speaking somewhat suspiciously, "Hey, are you intentionally stalling for time?"
Jim Rhodes raised his head to look at the officer. "Do you know who I am?"
"A suspect?"
"You..." Jim Rhodes took a deep breath. "I'll call the State Senator."
He was a local tyrant in New Orleans after all. One could tell just from how he could manipulate the precinct's medical examiner that his influence was by no means small. He even knew the high-ranking officials in this very building.
Regrettably.
That official had also reviewed the footage. After watching it, he had cleanly and decisively blacklisted every single one of Jim Rhodes' contact methods.
Concurrently, he relayed this development to every mutual friend he shared with Jim Rhodes.
For instance, that State Senator.
Without a doubt, Jim Rhodes' call yielded nothing but emptiness once more. The moment the other party heard him introduce himself, they simply stated with a smile that the Senator had just stepped out...
***
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