Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Atama was reading the news again. He had received a piece of information that the serial killer on the loose has been identified. He did not know shit about who identified him or how his men even got the work done.

Maybe because he did not want to catch this serial killer. Of course, as the minister, he was losing men and citizens; but as Hiro's teacher, he knew if that serial killer is caught, their lie will be revealed.

Onogi broke in through the border? The end of the story. Onogi will attack the Ministry or the mages will fight the scientists as a form of revenge, and if he tries to stop anyone, they will disregard him.

He was at the risk of losing his position as the headmaster, then he would be unable to cover for Hitori's crimes. He had to save his position somehow, but if this murder goes on, he will lose it anyway.

He lifted the piece of paper he had received from his informant. It read what the newspaper's headline read– A Massacre at a Family Get-Together.

He stared at the headline for a moment, then dropped his head with a sigh. "When the hell will this killer stop? All he does is attack families and ruin their—"

He raised his head and leaned on the table.

"Families… family-friendly celebrations." He jumped to his feet and drew his wand. "I need you to connect me to Hanzai."

After a minute of waiting, Hanzai got onto the call. "Atama here," he said, "I have something about this scientist serial killer that will help you trace his next attack and eventually track him."

"Oh," he said, "see, if it is his name, then thanks. But no, we already have it. Our sources have got insights on the scientist side, they just had to cross-check and we have this serial killer's whole biography."

Atama was left stunned, and a little scared of the outcomes. "What is it? Who is he?"

"His name is Saiko Ningen. He is a recent graduate and you would be surprised to know that the was a normal guy till the age of nineteen. They say, when he hit twenty, he lost his shit. He started beating kids for no reason. In other words, he became a psychopath."

"Just like that? Something must have happened, Hanzai, no one starts killing families without a reason or a motive. Something must have happened to him. Or what, was twenty an age for him to go nuts and start killing, beating, where others are trying to lose their virginity?"

"Nah, he hit puberty and that made him a psychopath. I don't know what made him, we don't have that detail about him. You will have to ask him what turned him into a psychopath."

"Okay. Continue now."

"His little brother, somewhere around eighteen, stuck with him. They both formed a duo, and started accepting open-ended and closed contracts– all sort of killing, bullying, torturing, kidnapping, and other crimes' contracts."

"Oh god… at such a young age? What has happened to the teens of this age?"

"Think they are mutating too? Just kidding. Although we do not have a lot of information about his brother, 'cause he worked from the dark, we have enough information about him– enough to catch him."

"Let me in on that information, Hanzai, tell me everything."

"Alright, I will tell you a funny thing. Ningen was a guy with morals. He never fought, except during the trials and all, but he was a kind guy with sympathy for others. He helped every and anyone he could, every helpless animal or creature he could help, everyone."

"Helped everyone? Kind? Those adjectives seem foreign when used on him."

"That is why it is funny. He wanted to get a job and live happily ever after– no big dreams, not much hope from life. But god knows what happened and turned him into someone exactly the opposite.

"A psychopath with no sympathy for others. A killing machine. I heard that he does not stop even after killing his victim. He used to open every part of their bodies ad then laugh till he was satisfied."

"Damn, gross, what is this kid made of? Is he some sort of robot?"

"God knows! Seriously, we just got his information and thought they were playing a game on us, but turns out, everything is true! Then he shoots seven bullets in their bodies even after dismembering them."

"What mess he creates! How can the FBI even handle it?"

"They can't! That is the point, they can not handle it, they don't get to."

"Don't get to? What do you mean?"

"After he is done laughing at their death, he uses some sort of evaporator, his creation, that evaporates his victims' bodies, leaving nothing for the FBI. He didn't use this for his first few murders, so we know how he committed them, and we believe he is still using the same technique."

"Any weapons found? A blade of some sort?"

"Yes. He leaves the blade he used to kill the person, to leave us a note that he was here."

"Then damn, track that!"

"We can not. The blades do not belong to him. He takes it from his previous victim and uses it on his next victim. The cycle continues. The blades are acquired from his previous victims."

"I don't know whether he is super smart or stupid to leave his weapon."

"Something changed this guy. Now he displays socially irresponsible behavior, disregarding or violating the rights of others, inability to distinguish between right and wrong, manipulating and hurting others (guess that is what he did to his little brother), and lying most of the time (we doubt he will tell the truth if we interrogate him)."

"Do you know the next place he is going to attack?"

"His next target? No, we are trying to track it, Minister, but we can not. His attacks are random—"

"No, Hanzai, they are not random at all. He has a pattern, you need to spot it."

"What kind of pattern? Do you think serial killers have plans?"

"Well, they do have plans to get away with the massacre. You have not found him yet."

"Oh, well, light me with your idea, Minister."

Atama rubbed his jawline. His beard had grown, it was reaching his belly button now, just a little hair was required.

"His first target was a birthday party, the second was a wedding, and now, the third, is a friendly, family get-together."

"What does his guy have to do with families' celebrations, he is a real evil."

"There you go. Family-friendly celebrations. A place where a lot of people gather, but as a family."

Hanzai's voice seemed apologetic when he said, "What does his killer feed on the family's emotions?" He chuckled, but Atama knew that was true.

"So, do me a favor, Hanzai."

"Just say it."

"I want you to find every upcoming event in the city and cancel them."

"C-Cancel them?" He was still sorry for shouting at Atama and getting a little high on his pride, he could not accept this. "We would not be able to catch him, and he will go into hiding– the second worst-case scenario. We need him to attack so we can trace back to him—"

"Now that we know where he is going to attack, we don't need to trace him. Now listen to me, grab your best men– the best of the best– and get them ready for a battle at the City Stadium within a week."

"The city stadium? But no concerts are scheduled for the week, they have a baseball and a Magic Tag tournament—"

"We have the authority, Hanzai. Cancel the tournaments, I want a party scheduled for Friday night."

"A party? Seriously?"

"Yes. Invite as many people as you can, it should be a full-blown party."

"What are you planning? You are risking everyone's lives! Hundreds of people will gather for a party, and with one mistake, they will all lose their lives. We are supposed to save them, not sacrifice them."

"To save money, you need to sacrifice your thirst for gratifications. To save hundreds, we need to sacrifice tens."

"What if those tens are children? Small, innocent children?"

"People will create children again, not a matter, but we would not catch him once he is gone."

"Atama…" He sighed. "It is like five-hundred in one chance that we will even SPOT him in the crowd. You still want to risk everything?"

"If it was about finding him in five hundred people, I would have hired a couple of teenagers, they would work even for free."

"I will send you a list of delinquent teenagers—"

"But no. I want you to do this work. You are the Minister of Criminal Intelligence. You are way more intelligent and experienced than teenagers. Find out how he looks, what he wears, some sort of personal identification—"

"I have it with me right now, way ahead of you."

"See? Better than teenagers. So shoot!"

"He wears a suit, a scientist's favorite. And has all sorts of tattoos on his body. Christian crosses, names of people and things, monsters are drawn on his body– yeah. Patterns we can not understand– must be him scribbling over his body. And some designs. Mixed with his scars– you would like to know that he read a few scars himself."

"He is out of his mind, like a dog with rabies, bitting the devil out of his body."

"And he has this… sinister smile… I can not explain."

"You do not have to. With this information, you will track him. And after you do, keep an eye on him. All the best. Keep me updated"

"Thank you. I will"

He hung up.