The smell of cinnamon coffee from a mug on Liwu’s desk was heavy in the air. She had just settled behind her desk for thirty minutes. Her partner Linlin was yapping on and on about her ex and another long distance verbal fight they had engaged in over the rent issue.

It was such a regular occurrence that Liwu knew how the story would end. "Just give up on the rent already Linlin. He is preparing for his wedding. You are not going to see a coin. At this point, his girlfriend is going to sue you for harassment."

Linlin snorted. "It is my money, I earned it. If he has money for flowers, he should have money to pay me back. Rent in this city is expensive. It is a tier two city but the prices are tier one."

"I think this is a tier one city." Liwu said, sipping her coffee slowly. The sound of happy sea gulls was like a song in her ears. Even better was the warm sun. It just felt so good on her skin.

Linlin rolled her chair towards Liwu’s desk, bumping into her partner gently. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity. "How were things at home last night? Did the actress with the most expensive necklace in the world cause more drama?"

Liwu signed off some of the papers she had found waiting on her desk. "Without a voice, there was not much she could do. But she had a bandaid around her throat."

Even before Linlin burst into loud laughter, Liwu could feel it in the air. Anyone that knew Manman personally and heard about this would find it ridiculous. Linlin laughed so hard that tears spilled from her eyes and she slipped from her chair.

She didn’t bother to sit up right in her chair again. She remained on the floor, chuckling hysterically.

Liwu sighed. Her partner would spread the story around the precinct before lunch. It was all over the news since the previous night, after the hospital visit. This morning, every newspaper had an image of Manman and Weifeng coming from the hospital. So many people were curious about how she had been injured.

Manman had not yet given a statement, and neither had her company or agent.

Xuanji suddenly stopped by their office, knocking on the open door. "We may or may not have a case. Conference room."

Liwu rose immediately, grabbing her coffee and trench coat. Linlin followed, sniggering every after a breath. Before they even reached the conference room, Liwu felt her bad luck boiling.

"Liwu baby." The most annoying voice in the universe called out.

There, right in front of the screen was a reporter she disdained. His name was Han Qiu. He was the last man she wanted to see before breakfast. His tie was as crooked as his ways. His grin was oily, just like his hair and his voice carried a false charm that made her skin crawl. He was the best crime reporter in Beijing, but he always gave Liwu a creep vibe.

Her jaw tightened as she took the furthest seat away from him. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

Han raised his hands in mock surrender, but the smirk never left his face. "Fine, fine. Detective Liwu, then. I have a case for you, one that will make your fingers tingle. It has everything that you love. Murder, conspiracy---"

"Get to it." Chief Abby drawled tiredly.

Han cleared his throat, looking at the detectives in the room, one by one. "Seven murders that I stumbled on through my own investigative journalism. Picture this, they were all staged like scenes from famous crime novels. Different cities, different crimes. Each, in the city were the author was born or where they lived when they wrote the book. I think the next crime is going to happen right here in your city."

The conference room went quiet. Liwu sighed, gesturing toward the notebook Han used to record details when sniffing around. "You are not a cop. Don’t make assumptions without evidence."

Han started unbuttoning, and he revealed a folder thick with clippings. "You have no idea what I have gone through to protect this information. I did not want to risk leaving a digital trail. In a world where people have systems that hack into computers, phones and cars, nothing can be too safe." He slammed the folder on the table, "I have been chasing the story for months. Each murder mirrors a best seller, not just any random novel. First was The Last Silenced Witness, written in 1993. The victim was gagged and posed in a brothel. But the brothel was taken down in 2001 and turned into a bus park so the victim was found in a bus."

"I heard about that." Xuanji said.

He Xiao Yi raised his hand. "Me too."

Han smiled. "Well, you have probably heard of the others as well. The second was Murder in Blood Alley. The body was dumped in an alley where blood lilies grow., next to a warehouse that was painted red. Now I could go on but you can look at the files for yourselves. There are seven murders in total, each one a perfect reenactment.

The killer even adds details that the original authors thought to include but dismissed at the advise of their editors. And the order...I can’t make sense of it but I am sure a system host is involved."

Liwu flipped through the photos. The staging was meticulous, theatrical. Too precise to be coincidence and too clean to be the work of an amateur. "I don’t know. Even if you are correct, it seems to me like it could be a serial killer. An ordinary human serial killer. What makes you think a system is involved?"

Han leaned in, lowering his voice. "When I said I investigated these cases, I mean I investigated. I didn’t just look at the bodies, I searched for every clue in the original books and found it was a match. Whoever did this, manifested props from the books to the very last detail. The settings around....I mean, blood orchids!! How do they grow in a random alley of a modern city out of the blue in a single night?

Even the weather was manipulated to match the novels at the time of death. It was as if someone is ordering things into existence. Tell me that this does not sound like a system host to you?"