"Officer, can you tell us your name?"Amelia's voice was calm, practiced.
Behind her, the dim glow of the surgical lights cast eerie shadows over the lifeless corpses of Isis's leadership.Inside the sterile surgical chamber, two young girls lay unconscious on the operating tables—one of them just moments away from losing her organs.Through the semi-translucent plastic shielding, the scene beyond revealed dozens of bodies strewn across the floor.
It was the perfect backdrop for an exclusive interview.
"I'm Rian Lee," he replied. "A first-grade officer with the Hollywood Division of the LAPD."
Amelia blinked."You're a rookie?"
Anyone who had been in the force longer than a year wouldn't still be at first grade.
"Yes. This is my first month on patrol."
"But… the LAPD has at least an eighteen-month probation period."
"I received early promotion based on my performance in previous cases. Special dispensation."
She nodded, mentally noting to dig into that later. That'd make a hell of a paragraph.
"Officer Rian, may I ask—what made you come after the Isis organ trafficking syndicate?"
Rian calmly recounted everything.
The tip-off. The abduction. The tracking.From discovering the kidnapping to tailing the suspects, infiltrating the Canglong, eliminating Isis members, and rescuing the girl named Ava.
As he spoke, Amelia pieced together the carnage she'd passed along the way.In her mind's eye, she saw a figure—a ghost of vengeance, swift and brutal—cutting down criminals with surgical precision.Effortless. Unstoppable.
He'd wiped out wave after wave of Isis members, clashed with the elite security team in the mess hall, and now stood here, alone, after ending it all.
"Good Lord… Officer Rian, the men I saw along the way… many were killed instantly, without even time to react.""May I ask how you developed such combat skills?"
Rian scratched his head, a modest smile tugging at his lips.
"I've got a good memory, that's all. I just copied what I saw from movies. Guess it worked."
He wasn't about to explain his real capabilities.After all, no one had ever witnessed his full battles firsthand—he could sell the idea of mimicry.
Especially since his photographic memory had already been documented.
"Wow… that's honestly incredible," Amelia said, starry-eyed."Weren't you afraid?"
Rian's expression turned solemn. He knew it was time for a line that would land.
"I wasn't thinking about that," he said softly."I just knew I had to get that little girl out. Every second I waited… increased the odds she'd be cut open alive."
His voice brimmed with sincerity.
Amelia's heart clenched.
"Officer Rian, you really are a hero.""If you'd arrived even a minute later, that poor girl might've… might've…"
She couldn't finish.
Amelia turned her camera toward the surgery room.A close-up on the unconscious girls.The organ transport coolers arranged around Ava's table.Everything screamed urgency. Horror. The narrowest escape from death.
Even now, one of the dead doctors still clutched a scalpel.
To Amelia, it was obvious—Rian had shot them to protect Ava.
The interview was nearly done when rotor blades thundered overhead.The LAPD air unit had arrived.
Officers piled into the cargo hold and immediately froze.
Dozens of bodies littered the floor. All of them shot cleanly in the head.It was… surreal.
Rian pointed at the girls on the table.
"The one on the left is Ava. She was kidnapped. Not sure about the other."
The cops quickly secured both girls and carried them toward the medevac chopper.Their job was to evacuate the victims—not clean up a hundred bodies.
Amelia's gaze swept over the corpses—then landed on a familiar face.
Her breath caught.
"Oh my God… that's Quentin White!""The insurance tycoon… a billionaire!"
She staggered toward the body, staring at the bullet hole in his forehead.
"Officer Rian, you killed a billionaire!"
Her voice trembled with disbelief.
He glanced at the corpse, then shrugged.
"Never met him before," Rian said flatly."He pulled a gun on me while I was stopping the surgeon. I shot back."
Like it was nothing.
Amelia looked again at the surgical bed. She remembered that Quentin's daughter had a congenital kidney disease.
It clicked.Quentin must've tried to stop Rian to protect the transplant.
She nodded slowly, the logic adding up in her mind.
Moments later, the rest of the task force finally arrived.
When Councilman Liam stepped off the boat and saw Amelia, he blinked in surprise.
"Amelia? What are you doing here?"
"Uncle Liam?" she gasped. "I'm here for the story!"
Amelia was the daughter of one of Liam's oldest friends.
As realization dawned, Liam's politician instincts kicked into high gear.
Rian Lee… LAPD hero.Amelia Miller… Pulitzer-winning reporter.A hundred-dead crime syndicate… and a billionaire corpse.
Perfect.
His "Supercop Project" just got a massive boost.