After making his decision, Anthony immediately ordered his subordinates to drive to Newburyport.
During the trip, Anthony took the time to look through the information on this Investigator.
To Anthony's surprise, this was not the first time the man had encountered a U-level incident.
According to the file, he was originally a resident of Arkham, somewhat well-known locally, a university graduate with no criminal record.
Not long ago, he had been invited by a distant relative to attend a private art exhibition. During that visit, he encountered a U-level event and successfully resolved it.
Because of that incident, the police added him to the Investigator registry.
However, the final note in the file caught Anthony's attention.
It stated that the man possessed exceptional combat ability, not only killing several ghouls and the cultists controlling them, but also successfully rescuing the victim.
In a U-level case…
He killed the monster?
Anthony's eyes widened when he read that.
Other monsters aside, Anthony had personally seen ghouls.
Over the past decade he had participated in several U-level cases and had been "lucky" enough to encounter those creatures.
He remembered clearly that ghouls were terrifying in appearance and extremely durable. Their skin was like a car tire—normal police pistols barely affected them.
They were also fast and incredibly strong.
How did this Investigator kill them?
And according to the record, it wasn't just one.
It was a group.
Even more shocking, the report said the Investigator killed the monsters and cultists, rescued the victim, and only then called the police.
In other words—
The police only arrived afterward to clean up the scene.
Good lord… that works too?
Anthony was stunned.
He had worked in this field for ten years and read countless case files.
Usually, in these incidents, Investigators would escape first and then call the police.
Sometimes they fought back only when cornered, and even then they usually fled afterward.
From the perspective of someone involved, Anthony understood completely.
When facing those monsters, escaping alive was already lucky.
Killing one in self-defense was even luckier.
But this created problems for the police.
Those cultists were like rats—at the slightest disturbance they scattered.
In the past ten years Anthony had seen hundreds of similar cases.
But the number of suspects actually captured?
You could count them on one finger.
Literally.
Most of the time, by the time police arrived, the perpetrators had already vanished.
Which was understandable.
Investigators were not soldiers. They weren't obligated to charge into danger.
Even if they investigated, they avoided direct confrontation whenever possible.
After all, you only had one life.
So cases where criminals and monsters were caught red-handed…
Were incredibly rare.
After finishing the file, Anthony became even more curious about Duanmu Huai.
He wanted to see what kind of man this Investigator really was.
As for why Duanmu Huai had gone to Innsmouth, Anthony thought it made sense.
After experiencing something like that earlier case, it wasn't unreasonable that the man wanted to relax by taking a seaside vacation.
And then he ran into another incident.
Yeah… this Investigator's luck is really terrible.
While thinking about this, Anthony finally arrived at the Newburyport Police Station.
He showed his identification and said he wanted to speak with the Investigator.
The officers there led him to—
"…What is this?"
Anthony froze when he saw the place.
According to his experience, even if Investigators were temporarily detained for questioning, it was usually just administrative detention.
At worst, they would be placed in a single holding cell.
But this…
This was a warehouse.
What the hell?
"Haha… well… we ran out of space."
Hearing Anthony's complaint, the local officer laughed awkwardly and replied.
Anthony stared at him speechlessly.
Is Newburyport really that impressive? The jail's full?
So they're stuffing people into warehouses now?
That's a new one…
"Open the door."
Anthony didn't bother arguing and simply gestured for the officer to unlock it.
The officer quickly stepped forward and opened the door.
Anthony walked inside.
Normally police warehouses weren't used to hold people, since they contained all sorts of equipment.
Fortunately, this was an old storage building with almost nothing inside.
The lighting was dim.
Anthony entered and saw the warehouse was mostly empty, with only a few bare shelves along the walls.
"Mr. Duanmu Huai?"
Anthony coughed lightly and called out.
"I'm Sergeant Anthony Polk from the Federal Police, responsible for investigating the Innsmouth case. Could you speak with me for a moment?"
As he spoke, Anthony walked deeper into the warehouse, cautiously looking around.
After handling these cases for years, he had experience.
Investigators who survived such incidents often suffered mental trauma.
Some had constant nightmares.
Some hid in corners and refused to come out.
Others babbled nonsense, drank heavily, or abused drugs.
So Anthony spoke softly, careful not to provoke the man.
At the same time he silently cursed the police who locked someone in such a huge warehouse.
If he decides to play hide-and-seek with me in here, where the hell am I supposed to find him?
Then suddenly—
Anthony felt the world go dark.
Huh?
Did the lights go out?
No…
Confused, Anthony looked around.
Then a voice spoke above his head.
"You looking for me?"
"Yes, I'm—"
Anthony nodded instinctively and looked up.
Then—
"————!!"
The moment Anthony saw the face, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
Almost purely on instinct, he rolled across the floor to create distance, drew his gun, and aimed in one smooth motion—perfectly demonstrating his Federal agent training.
"D-Don't move! Or I'll shoot!!"
"…."
Duanmu Huai crossed his arms and looked at Anthony speechlessly.
Anthony froze for a moment before realizing something.
"You're… Mr. Duanmu Huai?"
"That's right."
Duanmu Huai pulled out his Investigator identification card and handed it over.
Anthony held his gun with one hand and took the ID with the other, opened it, compared it—
Then finally sighed in relief.
"Sorry. My apologies. That was rude of me."
He holstered his gun while internally cursing whoever wrote the file.
Seriously… they didn't mention a detail this obvious?
A man this huge and they didn't write it down?
Were they trying to watch me embarrass myself?
Still…
"Mr. Duanmu Huai, may I ask… what exactly…?"
Anthony looked at him suspiciously.
After all, many Investigators developed physical mutations after contact with those indescribable evils.
"Oh. I was born like this."
"…."
Anthony fell completely silent.
He stared at Duanmu Huai's massive, muscle-packed body and enormous fists.
All his previous questions vanished instantly.
Earlier he wondered how Duanmu Huai killed those ghouls.
Now that he had seen him in person—
Good lord… fists the size of iron kettles.
If this guy can't beat a ghoul to death, who can?
Before meeting him, Anthony imagined an ordinary Investigator struggling desperately to survive.
After meeting him—
Anthony pictured Rambo crossed with a superhuman bodybuilder.
Ghouls might be dangerous.
But they were roughly human-sized.
Compared to Duanmu Huai, an ordinary person looked like a puppy.
What was there to fear?
Anthony could practically imagine a group of ghouls jumping on Duanmu Huai—
And getting smashed into meat paste with a few punches.
…Why does that feel strangely satisfying?
Even the fear I usually feel thinking about those monsters is gone.
If Duanmu Huai knew what Anthony was thinking, he would tell him one simple truth:
All fear comes from insufficient firepower.
As long as your firepower is strong enough—
No problem is truly a problem.
In this world, people feared Outer Gods mainly for two reasons.
Knowledge.
And firepower.
For example, many scientists went insane when indescribable entities shattered their understanding of reality.
In truth, their problem was simply a lack of experience.
In the Galactic Alliance, there were countless alien races.
Some even had biological structures completely opposite to humans.
Some couldn't even eat the same food.
Creatures like ghouls or Deep Ones would probably just be dismissed as mutated organisms there.
As for Cthulhu—
The Alliance wouldn't care either.
If it showed up, they'd simply send battleships and bombard it until it stopped moving.
After all, Cthulhu was essentially just an alien psionic lifeform.
According to the Inquisition's standards, most monsters in this world were either Warp creatures or psionic beings.
That was why they could cause mental corruption.
It also explained why humans in this world seemed so fragile.
After all, they were ordinary humans.
Very few possessed psychic abilities.
No wonder these psychic creatures thrived here, fooling humans into worshiping them as gods.
It was like a superpowered individual entering a world without superpowers.
Rarity made things valuable.
Of course, Duanmu Huai had no intention of tolerating those bastards.
Still, after the shock wore off, Anthony followed the usual procedure and reviewed the case with Duanmu Huai.
Duanmu Huai answered easily.
If anything, it left Anthony speechless.
Other Investigators usually spoke nervously or hesitantly about such events.
But Duanmu Huai narrated everything calmly and clearly, describing the entire process in a straightforward manner.
Of course, Anthony didn't know that players in the game had been doing this for years and were completely used to it.
To be honest, Anthony still had some doubts about the story.
But looking at Duanmu Huai's towering, reassuring figure—
Those doubts stayed in his stomach.
Because Anthony simply couldn't imagine such a man trembling in fear.
So the paperwork was signed.
Confirmation completed.
Duanmu Huai was free to go home.
Just as he was about to leave and finally get some comfortable sleep—
Anthony, who had already walked away, suddenly turned around and came back.
"Hello, Mr. Duanmu Huai. I have something I'd like your assistance with."
"Me?"
Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow.
"That's right. We just received a report about a missing person. The caller claims his friend has disappeared."
"Based on his description, we suspect this may be a U-level case."
"So… as an Investigator, Mr. Duanmu Huai—would you like to accompany us on the investigation?"
Anthony looked at Duanmu Huai and extended the invitation.
(End of Chapter)