Cultivating Anthro CEO RPG Hero Harem Reincarnation In Another World - Chapter 177

“The body of Zoonic the Hedgehog was found in his apartment at approximately eighteen thirty-two hours yesterday.”

It is the day after Zoonic’s murder, and Spacio has returned to the Hendrix detective’s office to turn in his report.

He throws a small stack of pictures taken at the scene unto the table.

Hector the crocodile picks the first one in the stack up and appraises it, showing a picture of Zoonic’s maimed corpse positioned in an upright ‘sitting’ position on his living room couch. He grunts audibly – it was not a pretty picture at all.

Spacio continues, “He suffered multiple laceration wounds to the chest and abdomen, along with visible indication on the skull that he also suffered a heavy blunt attack from a hammer-like object.”

Hector peers at Spacio from over the photo. “Did you have him sent in for an autopsy?”

“Yes, Cammy’s busy with that. But what were really curious about here is…” Spacio prods at one of the photographs on the table, so that it slides across the surface for Hector to see. He picks it up. It is a photograph taken of Zoonic’s open closet. “Is this…vomit? And it’s all over the walls and floor?”

“Yes. I want us to know, most of all, if this had anything to do with our hedgehog’s untimely death.” Spacio leans against the wall, pulling his jacket over his shoulder. “It may turn out to be a link to future cases, if this goes serial.”

“Vomit? Really?” Hector scratches his head, placing the photo down. “This counts as a first.”

“You won’t believe the looks on the faces of the rookies.” Spacio says, grinning slightly, “Hmm, murder in Mobius, I can’t remember the last time.”

“Try dysentery in Mobius!” Cammy suddenly flies into the room, knocking into Hector’s desk, throwing blood from off of his gloves and coat everywhere about the room. This includes unto Hector’s face.

“Jesus Christ Cammy, did your prescription run out again or what?” The crocodile growls, and punches him.

“Zoonic had dysentery! He was already dying when he was killed!” He jumps up and down, while pointing to the open door. “He was vomiting all over the place! Blood in his stool!” Charm is ecstatic. Hector and Spacio exchange confused glances.

“Calm down, and tell us more about this dysentery.” Hector says.

…

His name is Dusters the Echidna, and he is on his way to the BINGO Highway, to see Sheldon.

The casino is jam-packed – it is a Saturday evening, after all, and the place is far enough from the epicenter of Zoonic’s grizzly murder for people to be able to go on normally with their lives. Dusters could not, though, with what he saw the night before still fresh on his mind. He needed answers, and he had a feeling that Sheldon the hedgehog, longtime rival of Zoonic, would be able to provide some.

“Entry is not permitted.” Omega declares to Dusters, in a magnificent mechanical monotone, when he tries to enter the back room.

“I’m here to see Sheldon, and I won’t be stopped by a fucking toaster like you.” Dusters replies, not willing to back down so easily.

The rambunctious atmosphere of the casino: ringing arcade machines, roulettes being rolled, and losses being cursed, is not enough to drown out Dusters’ will. If words did not work, he had other ways of communicating and tonight, he was more than ready to make use of them.

“Remove yourself. Or be eliminated.”

“Who is it, Omega?” A voice calls out from the depths of the back room. Omega turns slightly, as if to respond. Bad move.

Dusters lands a clean uppercut on the machine and then in one swift follow-up, grabs him by the head, and rams it into the ground. And I do mean, literally, into the ground.

“You better haul your ass out here; I’m here to talk to you about Zoonic!”Dusters shouts, not caring about the attention he was gathering from the casino patrons. The room had become deathly quiet within seconds. Omega makes little resistance to proper himself, so Dusters remains holding him down; waiting.

If he doesn’t come out here soon, I’ll ram this asshole’s head-

Before he can finish that thought, though, a black figure begins to emerge from the back room. This creature, he looked like Zoonic except he was black all over, and with bright red stripes along his spikes. He glares down at Dusters with fierce, blood-red eyes.

“So, what about Zoonic?” He asks, arms crossed and chin in the air.

His name is Sheldon the Hedgehog, and Dusters is certain he is guilty of murdering Sonic.

Dusters stands up, and then walks over to Sheldon. He gets close enough to smell the marijuana and bourbon alive on the black hedgehog’s breath. Omega makes an attempt to subdue Dusters, grabbing his leg from on the ground, but Sheldon throws his palm out, halting him. He looks back at Dusters.

“You got something to say, echidna?”

“You killed Sonic, you fucking asshole!” Dusters shouts angrily, “I’ll take you out!”

Sheldon shoves Dusters away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, fool.”

Grinding his teeth, Dusters snarls – testosterone flooding his system. “Cut the crap, I know you did it. You’ve had it out for Sonic for years. You’re real fast, Sheldon, it’s true, you ran in there, made chop suey out of him, and left before the ambulance could arrive.” He shoves Sheldon back, with nearly enough force to knock him off his feet.

“Is this some kind of a sick joke?” Sheldon says. They begin to circle one another. People crowd around to watch, but silently. The two are sizing one another up; Dusters waiting for the opportunity to strike, Sheldon watching for the chance to make a run for it – an angry Dusters is not somebody you want to tangle with.

“You can play stupid all you want, but you’re still gonna get throttled!” Dusters lunges at Sheldon with a downward swing, which he easily weaves and dodges. Then, Sheldon unleashes a roundhouse kick but Dusters blocks it, and responds with a punch to the gut. Sheldon collapses like a pile of sticks from the impact. Grinning, Dusters rears back his leg and kicks him where he lay. He does so over, and over, and over again. Sheldon can merely cross his arms over his chest to minimize the damage, but even still, the attacks are brutal.

“Dusters, what in the hell—”A female voice calls out, causing Dusters to pause and look up, in alarm. Sheldon looks up too, and sees that it is Babe, who had been in the back room with him. Her assessment of the situation does not take long.

“Omega, subdue target: Dusters!” She points at Dusters, and the robot springs into action, loyal to its orders. It puts Dusters into an arm lock, catching him by surprise.

“This bucket of bolts won’t stop me!” Dusters wrestles with Omega, but robot does not shift. “And neither will you, Babe! That fucker Sheldon is going to pay!”

Click.

Babe pulls out a handgun and loads it. Dusters abruptly ceases his struggling. The surrounding crowd begins to disperse in a panic, and people are running out of the casino.

“Listen here, Dusters.” Babe places the nose of the gun unto the center of his forehead. Sweat gathers profusely, on his brow. “I know you aren’t the gambling type.” She settles a finger unto the trigger, and brings her face close to his. “So how’s about you get going, while your good character is still intact.”

Time seems to slow down, and the background seems to fade away. Dusters and Babe are locked in a deathly stare.

…

On the other side of town, Buzzy is fiddling with his IPhone vacantly. He had been crying earlier, and indeed, for much of the morning, but by the time the sun had set he was fresh out of tears. He opens up the Facebook app, thinking he should post something about Sonic’s death, but decides not to. All this did was call back to his mind the image of Sonic’s bloody corpse. How it had been sitting there, on the couch, as he might have on any ordinary day.

There will never be an ordinary day again, though. It will never be the same without thinks hopelessly, sighing.

He examines the log of a conversation between him and Dusters earlier. What had begun as a trip down memory lane: of how they first met Sonic, the things they missed most about Sonic, and the games they had starred with him in, gradually turned into a talk more serious. The conversation climaxed with Dusters expressing his determination to find out who killed Sonic, and how he was suspicious of Sheldon in particular. The last thing he said was that he had something to care of, after which he logged off.

Buzzy smiles to himself, thinking, he’s probably at BINGO Speedway right would have said something to stop him from doing anything reckless but, after all, an angry Dusters is not somebody you want to tangle with.

He closes the log with Dusters and opens the one directly above it – marking the fourth time he had checked this one today. A single tear manages to form in his eyes, and it glides down his cheek flawlessly. For, this was the last conversation he had shared with Sonic, the night before he was murdered. There would always be a tear to spare.

…

His name is Milton Buzzy Crower, and he knows for a fact that Sheldon did not kill Sonic, but he will cry himself to sleep tonight wishing he knew who did.