"Don’t make me chase you moron. Freeze." Liwu yelled.

It was just a day after the dream host incident, and the team was already on to their next case. This one had been served on a platter, so it seemed simple: burst a new lab in the city and arrest the system host who was manufacturing an illegal liquid drug.

Another team had already investigated the case and found the location. All they had to do was catch the criminal, cuff her and everyone would go home happy. But Liwu had never met an illegal drug manufacturer that didn’t run at the sight of the police. And this one was no different.

As expected, the woman ran! Liwu pushed her legs to move faster, throwing her baton out like a missile. "Stop, Lin Wan’er. Running will only make this worse for you."

The race was in a professional lab which had been disguised as a medical one. Lin Wan’er, the culprit, had made her operation appear legal on the surface. All of her paperwork was also in order.

Xuanji fired a gun, and Lin Wan’er stopped, giving Liwu’s bat the opportunity to hit the woman across the jaw. Liwu leaped as well, knocking the woman to the ground. And just because Lin Wan’er made Liwu chase her, the detective added extra strength as she snapped on the handcuffs.

Linlin arrived, laughing as she heard Wan’er wince. "Why did you make her chase you? Our Bad luck Tai does not like it when suspects run."

Xuanji snorted. "Suspect! we are way beyond suspect. Look around, the evidence is stacked."

He was talking about the crates of soda cans stacked against all the walls of the lab, and on three of the six tables in the room. At first glance, the soda looked harmless, just your everyday fizzy orange colored drinks. But those who knew what it was could tell the difference between real soda and the one that contained the newest synthetic stimulant on the drug market. It was addictive and dangerous.

Lin Wan’er had a Carbonation system that allowed her to infuse beverages with chemical properties, turning soda into a drug that had been spreading like wildfire through the underground market

Liwu’s handcuffs had leveled up when her system leveled up. As long as she cuffed a criminal, they would be overcome with the desire to spontaneously confess their crimes.

"You are under arrest." Liwu said to Wan’er, reading the woman the rest of her rights.

Hardly has she finished when Wan’er’s lips trembled. Words spilled out like a flood. "Fine, I will tell you everything! I didn’t just make soda. I infused chemicals in water too, hallucinogens. I sold them to some nightclubs around the country. Have you heard of Sweet fizz?"

The detectives exchanged knowing looks.

Behind them, an officer said, "I know it. My partner’s daughter was given sweet fizz in a club. The next day, she woke up in a random bathroom, her phone and wallet stolen. Her accounts had been emptied."

The detectives looked from the officer to Lin Wan’er.

Liwu raised an eyebrow, recording the confession with her usual calm. "Go on. This is a voluntary confession so I won’t stop you." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Wan’er’s voice grew frantic, as if the cuffs were squeezing the truth out of her physically. "I mixed stimulants into energy drinks meant for athletes. We sell it at universities under the Beast brand. Many young active sports men and women love it because they think it makes them stronger. But it just gets them addicted. I bribed some coaches to look the other way, as long as it was not their star students drinking it."

The detectives exchanged angry glances. The list of people to arrest had grown longer.

"Does she know what she is confessing to?" Xuanji whispered.

"Of course she does." Liwu snapped. She softened her voice and turned her eyes on Wan’er, "Go on dear. What else?"

Wan’er’s face twisted, her words tumbling faster. "I created ’vaping sugar’--the non toxic cigarette stick. But it’s toxic. It blurs memories. I sold it in casino’s and other places of entertainment."

Liwu thought to herself that the crimes were stacking higher than the sodas in the room. The unlucky cuffs gleamed in the bright light of the sun, their unlucky aura forcing every criminal secret in Wan’er’s heart to come loose.

"I didn’t even know about this vaping sugar." Linlin muttered.

Xuanji sighed. "Sadly, I have. I have a friend that works in sex crimes at the 11th precinct in This vaping sugar has been making the rounds in Shenzhen. You can imagine what something that blurs memories does."

Liwu shook her head.

"Can I slap her?" Linlin asked, knowing too well that she could not do such a thing. But, she was truly feeling the rage. This woman had harmed too many people. She had been clever enough to move her operation from city to city, dabbling in something new wherever she went. That is why it had taken authorities a while to identify and track her location.

Wan’er was not done. "Before I became a system host, I sold fake healing water to desperate patients. It was just sugar and herbs that could create a placebo effect. I even managed to make doctors believe in my miracle cure. I don’t know how many people because of it." Tears streamed down her cheeks now, the weight of her own words crushing her.

Liwu forced Wan’er to her feet. "You have confessed to enough crimes to earn yourself a life sentence. Manufacturing, distribution, fraud, corruption, poisoning and a whole lot of other crimes that will be tagged on. The Bureau will sort through the details."

She took her cuffs off and thrust Wan’er into the arms of waiting officers. They cuffed her and took her out of the lab. Other officers in jackets that were marked ’SOB’ carried cartons of the soda out. Others from the lab collected samples of the chemicals while another group packed away the tools Lin Wan’er had been using to create her drugs.

"How many lives do you think she has ruined?" Xuanji asked.

"Many." Linlin replied, stepping out of the door.

"Too many." Liwu added. "Sometimes, I hate systems. She was a bad person. Why was she chosen as a system host?"

Xuanji chuckled softly, "Ah, the million dollar question. Why do systems choose the hosts they choose?"