Life in North America, you call this an autopsy officer?!
Chapter 112 - 101 What am I if you’re a monster?

Chapter 112: Chapter 101 What am I if you’re a monster?

Sandy watched the empty rearview mirror with satisfaction.

Thinking they can catch up to me, eat my dust!

Yet the thought of the unfortunate soul who inadvertently took a bullet for her stirred a slight sense of apology in her heart.

I hope he has a ticket to heaven, else it’s going to be pretty awkward bumping into each other in Hell.

Well, a little apology, but not much.

Just like the principles she operated by, a few, but not many.

Humming a cheerful tune,

Sandy opened the backpack on the passenger seat and looked at the bundles of cash exposed, her eyes squinting with delight.

After pulling off this job,

I can rest for quite a while.

Too bad the kindly handsome guy didn’t take the bait.

His little dog looked so intelligent and cute.

Sandy actually quite wanted to take it and play.

Unfortunately, the dog’s owner wasn’t up to no good.

She couldn’t very well break her principles to make a move.

Pickup trucks are very common in the United States.

Sandy hadn’t recognized the unlucky guy who took a bullet for her was the Brian who had given her a ride earlier.

Nor did she know

that she had stirred up an even bigger trouble.

...

At the crossroads,

Sandy casually turned the steering wheel, driving onto a side path, zigzagging left and right as she entered the wilderness to create false tracks, aiming to mislead any potential pursuers.

Suddenly,

Sandy realized something felt off with the driving sensation of her vehicle.

She looked at the fuel gauge and discovered the problem.

Out of gas!

"FK, how could it be out of gas!"

Panic flashed across Sandy’s face.

This was no joke.

Normally if you’re out of gas, you just go on the main road, stick out your thumb, use the gender advantage, and in a few hours at most, some kind-hearted passing driver will take you away.

But now she was facing pursuit.

With wilderness all around,

Sandy didn’t think the previously unlucky car owner could hold off those hyenas for long.

She hurried out of the car, only to find that the Ford she had stolen had, at some point, been punctured by a stray bullet from those chasing bastards, causing her to leak fuel all along the way.

"It’s over..."

Looking at the discontinuous, yet quite visible gasoline drip trail, Sandy’s face turned pale.

Without hesitating, she dashed back to the car, tightened her pant legs, and stuffed them with cash vigorously until her legs were as thick as an elephant’s, then shouldered her backpack, picked a direction, and prepared to leave.

Just then,

a pickup truck followed her previous route, approaching from afar, speeding wildly like a charging bison, leaving an elegant curved skid mark, whipping up a cloud of dust that landed on Sandy, stopping right in front of her.

The window rolled down.

A dog’s head poked out first, opening its mouth as if to display an indignant and aggressive demeanor on behalf of its owner, but as soon as it opened its mouth, it inhaled a mouthful of dust, hastily retracting its head, and embarrassingly began coughing.

Useless dog!

Brian disdainfully tossed Shi San back into the passenger seat.

He knocked on the car door and, with a sarcastic grin, turned to the dusty-faced Sandy, "Sandy, we meet again. It seems you might need some help?"

...

As Sandy heard this familiar voice, an awkward smile appeared on her dusty face, "Hi, Brian, it must be God’s guidance that we would meet again so soon. Right, that unfortunate pickup just now, that wasn’t you, was it?"

Snap~

Brian snapped his fingers, "Yes, I’m the unlucky one."

"Oh, my God!" Sandy put on an exaggerated expression of guilt and shock, her hands covering her mouth, "I’m so sorry, I was scared to death. You have no idea what I’ve been through; I..."

She couldn’t go on.

Because the dark muzzle of Brian’s gun was already pointed at her.

"Keep talking." Brian’s mouth twisted up in a smirk, "Why stop? Run out of words?"

Playing the victim card?

What a joke.

In his years of part-time work, what hadn’t he heard?

Gambling father, sick mother, younger brother in school, forced into society by desperation; best friend’s referral to a shady industry; half coerced into the trade; younger sisters at home all depending on me; gambling addict ex-husband with domestic violence; raising a child alone and telling tales of hardship; hence, embarking on a path of no return...

And the list goes on.

From family background to pie-in-the-sky promises, satisfying men’s every lustful and compassionate whim.

Brian was tired of hearing it all.

Seeing that her sob story wasn’t working, Sandy immediately raised her hands, "I can compensate!"

Hearing her talk sense,

Brian nodded, "Be proactive. You only get one chance."

"No problem!"

Sandy had already tested and knew that the man before her couldn’t be seduced with mere beauty.

She dared not gamble with her life, and could only reluctantly place the large bag of money from her car into the back seat of Brian’s pickup and thoughtfully shut the door.

"Is that enough..."

Tears welled up in Sandy’s eyes.

She truly felt like crying.

Taking even a penny from her was like taking her life!

Brian glanced at her thick legs and pointed the gun, leaving things unsaid.

Sandy’s heart ached even more.

She took off her jeans, her hands trembling the whole time, and threw roll after roll of her money into the back of Brian’s truck.

After she finished,

Sandy felt as if she had lost the will to live.

She looked blankly at Brian, "Is that enough? There’s nothing left, really nothing at all. If that’s not enough, just sell me, I guess. It’s my first time, so maybe I could fetch a decent price."

"Nothing left?"

Brian gave Shi San a signal with his eyes.

Shi San scrambled open the passenger door and approached Sandy, who stood there with bare thighs; after sniffing around, he immediately put his paws on her high-top shoes.

Brian waved the handgun again, "Understand?"

With tears in her eyes, Sandy silently took off her shoes and dumped two rolls of strongly scented emergency US dollars onto the ground.

Shi San barked again at Sandy.

Sandy gave Shi San a hateful glare and took off her jacket, ripped open the seams, and threw every golden-button onto the ground.

Somewhat baffled, Shi San looked at the buttons that shimmered with a golden hue, then continued to bark loudly at Sandy, "Woof (Tissue paper!)"

Sandy was first puzzled, then as if something dawned on her, she started to breathe rapidly, pulled a stack of small bills from her pocket, and tremblingly dropped them in front of Shi San.

FK!

The "dog" referred to the cash, not the gold buttons sewn onto the jacket!

Indeed, the dog is the most despicable creature on this planet!

Without any contender!

The more Sandy thought about it, the redder her face became. She was so enraged that she started shaking and slumped to the ground, actually having fainted from anger.

Seeing this,

Brian pushed open the car door, checked Sandy’s pupils to make sure she had truly passed out, and then gestured towards the car to Shi San.

Moments later,

The rolls of cash that had fallen in the car were also searched out by Shi San.

After a quick count by Brian, most of the bills were twenty-dollar US notes; all together, there were over half a million US dollars.

This was not a small sum.

Let me put it this way.

On the Mexico border, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old, beautiful, and youthful woman from the United States could be sold for just tens of thousands of dollars.

If you are willing to pay a little extra,

They could even deliver to your doorstep.

Note, this refers to women with United States citizenship.

Europeans could be had for twenty to thirty percent less, and those from Asia even cheaper.

Killing was even more complicated.

The price for a cheap hitman to kill someone started at a few thousand dollars.

An expensive one generally wouldn’t exceed six figures.

All for that amount of money, and they still have to pay a middleman’s commission.

As for those movie scenarios where assassination bounties soar to millions of dollars, they are extremely rare.

Such targets usually bear a significant political color, being either the leader of some armed faction, the boss of a powerful organization, or part of the ruling class in some unstable country.

Ordinary people simply can’t access such contracts.

So, this half a million in cash was not a trivial amount.

Unfortunately, Brian was still somewhat dissatisfied.

Using oneself as a shield meant they were after one’s life.

And those who sought his life had to die!

...

Brian threw everything into the back seat of the car, took out a large mineral water jug, and poured it over Sandy.

Shocked by the sudden deluge,

Sandy coughed herself awake.

She looked around in a daze before remembering her predicament and looked woodenly at Brian: "Just say what you want."

Brian threw a shovel in front of Sandy: "Dig a hole."

Sandy got up from the ground, picked up the shovel, and asked, "How big?"

"Lie down."

Sandy obediently lay back down.

Brian walked around her body with a stick, drew a larger circle and nodded. Then he said to Sandy on the ground, "Dig along this line."

Sandy: ...

She finally got scared: "Don’t kill me, I..."

"Alright, seems like you’d prefer to rot in the wilderness, I respect your choice." Brian glanced at the sky and stopped dawdling, lifting his handgun.

Bang~

The sound of the gunshot echoed across the wilderness~

Ahhhh~

Sandy closed her eyes and let out a cry of despair.

Huh?

Suddenly,

She felt something was off.

Why wasn’t it painful?

She quickly stopped struggling, opened her eyes, and felt her body, only to realize she had not been shot at all.

Drip, drip~

Fresh blood flowed through a little hole in the bullet-proof vest, quickly staining the jacket red before dripping onto the dry ground.

Brian looked down at his own chest.

He had been shot.

...

Bang bang bang~

One bullet after another was fired from over two hundred meters away on a slope, hitting Brian squarely in the chest.

His bullet-proof vest, underneath his jacket, barely slowed down the incoming rounds at all against the attacker’s weapon and was easily penetrated!

With the constant impact,

Brian’s imposing figure eventually crashed heavily to the ground.

"Roar~"

Shi San’s fur bristled, his teeth bared, ready to charge towards that hillside, but on breaking away, he caught the scent of Brian’s pheromones.

The dog’s face changed, his body twisted, and he vanished beneath the pickup truck, hiding himself.

Sandy watched all this, dumbfounded. Coming to her senses, she grabbed her pants, trying to rush to Brian’s pickup to flee from here.

"If I were you, I’d stay put, kitty cat!"

A voice carried on the wind and sand, reaching Sandy’s ears.

Hearing this voice,

Sandy’s face transformed, showing unprecedented terror: "Ghoul Stanley! They actually sent a monster like you to track me!!!"

"Glad you’ve heard of me."

A short figure, cloaked in grey camouflage and wearing a mask, stepped on the fine sand, carrying a similarly wrapped short gun, appeared in front of Sandy:

"I quite enjoy the expression on your face right now. It’s the best form of respect for me.

As a thank you,

you may choose to leave behind a part of your body.

Only one part, mind you.

Because..."

He said,

removing his mask to reveal a hideous face underneath, covered in scales with a mouth full of sharp teeth: "My appetite is really quite large!"

Seeing his frightening appearance, Sandy, already jittery and on edge, lost consciousness once more, her eyes rolling back as she fainted again.

Looking down at the grimy Sandy,

Stanley’s eyes flashed with disgust.

Luckily, it wasn’t a big problem.

Before eating this little cutie, he had to find out where she had hidden the reagent.

He had plenty of time to thoroughly clean his food.

Just as Stanley was about to bend down and take his prey back to his car,

"Monster?"

A voice suddenly came from behind him: "If you’re a monster, what does that make me?"