Chapter 47: Chapter 13 Safety

Two blocks away outside Barton Northern District Police Station, there is a bar called, JO’S BAR. This place is also called the police bar because this is where the police often gather after their work.

“Hey! Rance (James)!” Detective Coulson walked out of the bathroom behind the bar, staring unpleasantly at a trace of water on his pants. Once people reached middle age, this kind of thing would happen. Yes, you know what I am talking about. Coulson passed by James, who was on the phone and patted his partner’s back: “Who are you calling?”

“A friend.” James held the microphone, “Help me order a whiskey.”

Coulson clicked his tongue and pointed his chin to the man at the bar: “You heard what the ‘boss’ said. Two glasses of whiskey!”

The man smiled and drew out two glasses. The detectives at the bar laughed at Coulson, “Coulson! You have a new boss! How is the treatment?”

Coulson did not refute. He sat back and shouted to James, who was still on the phone, “Hey! ‘Boss’! Is this drink on you?”

James nodded helplessly, shouting to a house of police detectives: “Yes, all the drink is on me today!”

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Coulson turned back with satisfaction, “See? The treatment is very good!”

Now, we know what method James used to change the bad impression caused by the shapeshifter, Jim…

“You say it was an Inan?” At the end of the phone, Anthony’s voice reached James’ ears.

“Yes. I saw his Bolottie, so I am sure. I am calling you just to tell you that I am going to find this guy.” James said quickly, clutching the microphone.

“Don’t, Rance! You won’t want to be related to a hunter!” Anthony’s tone was hurried.

“Why? Mr. Ma…” James turned around, covering the microphone tighter and lowering his voice: “Mr. Mayor! He has the skills to deal with those things! We need him! He can help us protect the safety of Button City!”

“No Rance! James! We don’t need him!” Perhaps because of being influenced by James, Anthony’s voice was also lowered and even more hurried, “Trust me, James, hunters have no respect for the law. They enforce their own rules, they are all criminals! Did you forget how he treated you and Coulson yesterday? You are the police! We want to protect Barton, but we don’t need the criminal’s help! It was just a ghoul! You should’ve contacted me sooner! Just some saltwater can kill them!”

James frowned. He was not familiar with hunters. Two weeks ago he had thought that hunters were just farmers with a peculiar fascination for deer and turkeys. Unexpectedly, it also refers to a group of professional killers with unique skills, who go around hunting non-humans.

What Anthony said made sense. On his first contact with the hunters, James discovered that they were not some good people.

Last night James fired six shots. They were near an apartment building, where a large number of individual residents lived, and it was impossible not to cause a commotion. However, during the survey this morning, all the people living in the surrounding area replied that they slept very heavily last night, and did not notice the movement outside! It is impossible to have such a coincidence.

Moreover, the Inan stunned Coulson last night, so now, Coulson insisted that there was a group of killers behind this case of missing people. Because he was attacked from behind!

James thought for a while and said: “At least I want to know who he is! Maybe, just maybe, we can cooperate.”

“Sigh!” Anthony sighed over the phone, “I know you won’t easily listen to me! But James! You must be careful! Protect yourself! And, don’t divulge the existence of Zach! They are our true allies!”

“I know.” James frowned. Hang up the phone.

Coulson patted the bar table and urged, “One more round!”

“No need.” James returned to the bar and stopped his partner. “You’ll have to drive home later, one glass-” James looked at the two empty glasses and shook his head helplessly. “Two glasses are enough.”

Coulson nodded, facing a bunch of colleagues: “Look! This is a good boss!”

“Okay.” James patted Coulson’s back and lifted him up. Coulson was already drunk! A middle-aged man… You know what I am talking about…

James gestured towards the man behind the bar, signaling him to put it on his tab. Jim ruined most of his clothes. From yesterday to today, he was wearing Coulson’s clothes and did not bring his wallet. Retrieving Coulson’s key, he helped his partner out of the bar. Pushing Coulson’s heavy body into the car, he walked toward the driving position.

Five minutes after James left Joe’s Bar with Coulson, a man wearing Bolottie playing with a coin in his hand opened the bar door.

“Beer.” The man looked around and sat down at the bar.

It is not normal for a police bar to have a strange face. Especially in the afternoon, it is not a good habit to drink alcohol before the sun sets into the horizon. Alcoholics who need alcohol are more willing to go to the bars they are familiar with.

The man didn’t seem to realize that he had attracted the attention of the detectives. He smiled, pressed a twenty-Dor bill on the bar counter, and then raised his chin at the man behind the bar.

“This must be a police bar. I don’t know if you know a detective named James Rance?”

The guy behind the bar froze for a moment, looked at the banknote, and then hesitantly looked at the detectives in the bar.

“Hey!” The detectives temporarily put down the glasses in their hands and looked at the person in front of the bar. “You! Who are you!? Why are you looking for Rance!” a detective put his hand on his waist and revealed the gun inside his clothes and the badge on the belt.

The detective’s tone was not friendly. Using bribes to inquire about a person’s whereabouts is not aboveboard!!

“Oh!” The stranger turned, looked at the gun and badge, and spread his hands open with a smile: “I’m not looking for trouble. It seems that I have found the right place. You must be James Rance’s colleagues!”

The detectives did not change their posture, staring at this guy, waiting for an explanation.

“Okay, it’s my fault.” The man turned and nodded to the man behind the bar: “You can take the money, that’s your tip.”

The man took his own beer, walked down the bar, sat at the table next to the detectives, and explained with a smile: “I’m just an outsider. I have a friend from Button City who knows James Rance. That friend of mine, uh, although I shouldn’t say this, he is not doing very well!”

Detectives were slightly relieved. They knew where this was going.

“Do you understand what I mean? He is Rance! General Rance’s son, I think he must be much better than my friend! So… hey, you know!” The man raised his eyebrows.

The detectives returned to the state of drinking and chatting. A police detective joked to the man: “You will be disappointed! Rance is a detective! You can’t get anything from him!”

The man smiled, raised the glass, and signaled, “That’s not correct. He is a detective, isn’t he? I’m just an outsider, At least, making friends with him, I can be very safe. All I want is safety. That’s it.”

“You know what, you are right!” The detectives smiled and raised their glasses: “You have found the right place, the right people! We are the people who protect the safety of Barton City! For safety!”

The man wearing Bolottie frowned slightly, and then raised his glass again: “For the people who protect the safety of Barton!”

Maybe everyone is wondering why this self-proclaimed outsider, but actually a hunter who James talked about, wanted to look for Rance. Then what he said next would make you understand.

The detectives put down their empty glasses and beckoned to the man behind the bar. It was on James anyway.

“What’s your friend doing, Rance just came to Barton not long ago. Did he already make a friend?” a police detective asked casually.

“Oh, he works at Barton Telecom, a nobody.”

Detectives nodded. It seemed that it was the guy who had been mysteriously protected by Coulson some time ago.

The person the detective thought about was Fitz, but I can tell everyone very responsibly that this man was not talking about Fitz, but the missing David!

Now you understand it, right? Even a nobody like me knows the rumor about Burton city is a paradise. So it is not surprising that a professional hunter who hunted nonhumans would know that David provided nonhumans the identity of the General’s son.

When Anthony told James to be careful, it wasn’t just a useless remainder. James Rance, the son of a general, was already a shapeshifter in the eyes of hunters, and a prey.