The atmosphere suddenly froze.
Seeing this, Officer Zhang who was beside, guessed that the young girl was probably just throwing a tantrum, so she had no choice but to act as a peacemaker and said helplessly, "Qiuzi, he's a member of the clergy; he can't eat this kind of food."
"Eh? Really?" The girl's face showed innocent surprise as she moved the steak back in front of herself, apologizing, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. Then, I'll eat it."
The priest kept his smile polite, but inwardly, he was muttering curses—you ordered it for yourself in the first place, didn't you!
The silver knife and fork were placed above the steak, and upon cutting, the bright red blood could be seen in the crevice, a medium-rare steak, with just the surface cooked that much.
Xu Shuo cut a small piece, forked it leisurely, and brought it to his mouth, then after pursing his lips, he flashed them a bright smile, his lips tinged with the red of the steak.
Officer Zhang's mouth twitched slightly, and she directly asked, "Qiuzi, do you prefer this kind of food?"
"Not really."
The girl's cheeks moved slightly as she ate, giving off a strange yet somehow enticing cuteness, and she said with a smile that showed eight white teeth, "I just heard it tasted good and wanted to try it. Now that I have, it's not bad~"
Her voice was very light, and her dark eyes glanced at Officer Zhang with an unclear meaning.
It had been raining these past couple of days, and the temperature had dropped quite a bit, with both outside and inside of the store feeling damp and chilly.
The warm yellow light from the ceiling made the girl's porcelain-white skin glow with a golden luster, but also subtly highlighted the blue veins hidden underneath, fragile yet beautiful.
Officer Zhang felt that the girl's demeanor was indeed abnormal, and that she shouldn't be in contact with her too much, yet she couldn't help but cast her gaze towards the delicate doll-like girl across from her.
She had felt the girl's skin, cold as ice but also smooth and fine, quite comforting...
Wait, something about her was not quite right, was it?
Officer Zhang suddenly snapped back to reality, couldn't help but swallow, and then slightly turned her head only to see the priest giving her a look that spoke volumes.
Officer Zhang: "..."
Xu Shuo was eating his lunch quite calmly, neither fast nor slow, as if time itself became viscous and slow around him.
The priest kept staring at the girl. Although he didn't make any more physical moves, the air about him was no longer so relaxed.
The crisp clinking of knife and fork against plate, akin to the ticking of a clock, sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet restaurant until a swiftly approaching figure reached their booth, and that inexplicable feeling of suffocation suddenly dissipated.
Xu Shuo was almost done with his meal when the two others' well-done steaks were finally served by the waiter.
Unable to pry into the priest's mission and purpose, Officer Zhang quietly rolled her eyes.
But for now, the two of them were reluctantly on the same side.
While drinking water, the priest spoke again, "Moreover, I just looked at the files of those missing persons and noticed some issues."
"What?" Officer Zhang asked while cutting her steak.
"Those people, none of them believed in my Lord."
Officer Zhang: "..."
She paused, then laughed, "Neither do I."
The priest also smiled, "In this city, there aren't many who don't believe in my Lord. So, you were targeted last night too, weren't you?"
Upon hearing this, the smile on Officer Zhang's face vanished instantly.
Last night, she indeed had an encounter with "Black Dog," but for some reason, it didn't attack her and she returned to the police station undisturbed.
At the time, she was driving Qiuzi in her car.
The people in this city are largely religious, and the church where the priest serves is the largest one in town. The sharp spire of the church is also the tallest structure in the city, almost a landmark visible from anywhere, like the dome of a landmark.
But just as there are those who are religious, there are those who are not. Officer Zhang doesn't believe, and neither does Qiuzi.
All those missing persons didn't believe either.
As she thought about this, she silently took a bite of her steak.
The nature of this world is not that of an ordinary material realm—both the Black Dog disappearance case and the ensuing bizarre murder cases are the current major headaches for the police, and this was the initial information she had received.
Just five minutes into the beginning, the police received a report: there had been a murder in the dance studio.
Identifying as a police officer, Officer Zhang's instinct was that the incident would revolve around the victim, but to her surprise, upon arriving at the dance studio...
The victim was jumping around, very much alive.
In that moment, the style of this world twisted.
What makes those ensuing bizarre murder cases so odd is that the murderers are the victims themselves.
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