Chapter 129: Today (5)

Contrary to what Everly had expected, Ronald was not one of the dark web’s operators, but an ordinary paying member.

“If you’re just a visitor, a lot of the special content isn’t accessible. Only paying members can view it… But becoming a paying member comes with a requirement: you have to upload your own criminal video, showing that you’re willingly handing leverage over to the administrators, aligning yourself with them. If you don’t do that, the site will never accept you.”

Of course, these “criminal videos” weren’t small-time thefts—they had to involve human life.

Ronald, for example, had uploaded a video in which he, catching a young girl off guard, pushed her into a river and drowned her with his own hands. Though he initially tried to justify it as “an accident,” Everly was no fool—she immediately saw through his lies.

Having already endured one session of waterboarding, he still dared to lie. Without a word, Everly tied Ronald head-down again and subjected him to an even longer round of waterboarding.

After two sessions, Ronald finally became completely honest.

“I thought… the U.S. is so big, and so many people upload videos. Even if I showed my face, the administrators couldn’t possibly know my name. But I didn’t expect that the operators behind the site were actually in Dalami City, and one of them even went to the same school as me. He recognized me, used that video to threaten me into joining their ‘execution performances,’ saying I’d get a share of the profits and a higher membership level if I succeeded. I… I agreed…”

“Who is that A you were in contact with?”

Ronald’s face twisted slightly, as if he hadn’t expected Everly to even know about the existence of A.

“That is…” At first, he hesitated, but when Everly raised an eyebrow and showed him the water bottle in her hand, he immediately spoke more quickly. “That’s the operator who recognized me. Although he always contacts me online and never appears in person, I’m about 80% sure he’s Abel Anderson, a professor in the Chemistry Department.”

Ronald’s reasoning for identifying Abel as A was both plausible and questionable.

He explained that people like them—born with antisocial personalities—have a certain innate sense for each other.

“Just seeing him is enough to know… he’s like me. Cold-blooded, selfish, indifferent to others, and takes pleasure in other people’s suffering. Also, he has a habitual gesture—like this.” Despite being bound, Ronald stubbornly turned his body and used his hands tied behind his back to mimic a fanning motion.

“This is a common way in chemistry to smell the scent of reagents. In some episodes of the t*rture livestreams, there was a masked man going by the alias ‘Doctor.’ He liked to intimidate the girls while sniffing the fear they emitted. He may not have realized it, but whenever he got close, he would instinctively make this fanning motion with his hand.”

Everly nodded, tentatively accepting Ronald’s observation. “Besides Abel, who are the other killers?”

Ronald shook his head. “I’m just a low-level member. A contacts me directly if needed. I don’t know much about the others, except that ‘The Butcher’ is active too.”

“The Butcher?”

“The big, strong man—the one who appears most frequently in the livestream videos.”

Everly nodded. Seeing that no more information could be extracted from Ronald, she acted decisively. She pulled out her taser and delivered a harsh shock, knocking him unconscious.

“Do you know where Ronald’s car is parked?” she asked Orff, holding up the car keys she had taken from him.

Orff nodded.

“Drive his car over. I want to stash him in it first, then we’ll go after the professor.”

Orff nodded weakly, then shook his head quickly, clearly terrified. He didn’t dare leave alone and needed someone to accompany him.

“Tell Misha where to park the car. She’ll drive it. You stay in the car with me,” Everly said, rolling her eyes as she handed the keys to Misha.

After securing Ronald—now tied up like a mummy—and throwing him into his own car, Everly had Orff remain on standby inside the fortress-like Grand Cherokee. She then took Misha with her, pretending to have a question, and approached Professor Abel, who was working in his office.

Professor Abel, around forty, tall and broad-shouldered, carried himself politely and amiably. To an ordinary person like Everly, there was nothing outwardly abnormal or sinister about him.

But Everly did not underestimate him. She and Misha approached him together. While Misha distracted him, Everly took advantage of a moment of inattention to ambush him with the taser.

Knocked out, bound, door locked, interrogation set in motion—a smooth, efficient sequence. At first, Professor Abel refused to talk, biting his tongue stubbornly. But after enduring waterboarding and losing control of himself in shame—something unbearable for someone with his obsessive cleanliness—he finally broke down and confessed.

He revealed the identities of his three accomplices:

“The Butcher,” a forest ranger who was the main cameraman for the t*rture livestreams.

Code-named “The Undertaker,” a mortician working at a funeral home, responsible for disposing of the bodies.

“The Nest Keeper,” a chief in the city police department, tasked with handling cases of missing women to minimize public exposure.

In the twenty-fifth loop, Everly raised an eyebrow as she heard this. “Abel lied?”

Orff shook his head. “No… he told the truth.”

“Really?” Everly was somewhat surprised. “But if he didn’t lie, then with my abilities, I should have already found a way to deal with all the murderers and gotten your reward. How could you have ended up stuck in the twenty-fifth loop?”

Orff took a deep breath, struggling to suppress the trembling in his body. “That’s because there’s one thing even Abel doesn’t know—the real identity of ‘The Undertaker’…”

Back in the twenty-second loop:

Everly, naturally suspicious, did not fully trust the information Abel had given her about the others. After knocking him out and binding him, she first hid him under a desk, then took his computer and phone with her.

Incidentally, while searching Abel’s computer, Everly unexpectedly discovered a safe. She suspected it contained something valuable, so she splashed water on Abel to wake him and forced him to reveal the combination. Inside, she found several hidden syringes.

Of course, Abel got to enjoy these “goodies” first.

Everly photographed the names of the syringes and looked them up online. They were sedatives—one injection could make a person sleep for over twenty hours, possibly accompanied by side effects like dizziness, muscle relaxation, and hallucinations. Too much could also be addictive. These were strictly controlled drugs.

But villains don’t get human rights!

Everly injected Abel with one, and once he passed out, she tucked him under the desk, then confidently left the office with his phone, computer, and keys, locking the office door behind her.

How to deal with him afterward could wait until tomorrow. For today, he was out of commission.

Ronald, tied up like a mummy in the car, was similarly forced to take a break. Everly, being cautious, had just enough syringes, and of course she gave this bound bad guy one as well.

After dealing with the two “vermin” at the school, she returned to the Grand Cherokee.

Orff, the hacker, was busy tinkering with Abel’s computer and phone.

With the devices in hand, tracing the newly built dark web site and identifying the other operators was as easy for Orff as eating or drinking.

The investigation confirmed Abel’s claims: the t*rture live-stream site had four operators—“Doctor” (Abel), “The Butcher,” “The Undertaker,” and “The Nest Keeper.”

Just a few days ago, they had launched a celebration event on the newly built site called “Execution of the Hacker.” The executioners would be the four operators themselves.

The event description stated that the site operators had located the hacker who had destroyed the original site. On December 18—the day before the official opening of the new site—the four operators would ambush the hacker and record the entire process on video. The video would then be uploaded at midnight for all members to celebrate together.

As for Ronald, he was likely just a backup recruited by Abel, not a true participant, so he was not counted among the four executioners.

During the event, paying members could place bets in Bitcoin on the four operators. After the organizers deducted a 10% commission, the remaining betting pool would be evenly distributed to members who correctly predicted the outcome. The operators themselves did not participate in the distribution of betting funds and therefore had no influence over the results.

At 23:59:59 last night, the betting closed. Being the first event on the newly launched site, member participation was enthusiastic, and the final total betting pool reached nearly 10,000 Bitcoins—roughly equivalent to over three million U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.

With the site operators taking a 10% cut, Orff’s life alone could earn them over $300,000—actually, not a bad “investment” from their perspective.

Using the event description as a reference, Everly was fairly certain that Abel’s confession was truthful.

Abel’s computer was a treasure trove. With it, Orff not only successfully logged into Abel’s dark web account, using admin privileges to gather intelligence on the other three operators, but also copied all the personal information of the site’s paying members.

“Perfect! With all this intel, we can go to the police and request protection,” Orff said, holding the USB drive, feeling like he could finally see a way out.

Everly immediately stopped him. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Did you forget? One of the four operators is a chief in the city. He commands fourteen officers, and he may have other connections working in secret. If you go to the station, your evidence might not even reach someone trustworthy before you’re dead.”

Even if Orff successfully handed over the intel and secured protection from honest officers, there was still the risk of underpowered or inattentive police, or even infiltrators among the “righteous” officers. Losing his life by accident was a real possibility.

After all, in horror stories, police—even those on the side of justice—aren’t usually very reliable.

After some persuasion, Everly finally quashed Orff’s risky idea. She opened the files he had stolen from the site and began studying them.

The four operators of the t*rture livestream site each had their roles.

“Doctor” Abel was a chemistry professor specializing in medicinal chemistry. Using his work as a cover, he could easily access all kinds of chemical reagents and secretly produce controlled substances. Abel was also very intelligent, so his main responsibility was scouting targets—tricking young girls into coming out under the guise of part-time jobs or internships—and then making them “disappear.”

“The Butcher” is a naturally violent and sadistic man with an extra-masculine syndrome. He currently works as a forest ranger in the birch woods northeast of Dalami City. His cabin is far from civilization and has a basement—that basement is the main filming location for the t*rture videos. He is the team’s enforcer, serving as the “broadcaster” during the livestreams, carrying out various t*rtures on the girls.

“The Undertaker” is a silent Black man who speaks very little and rarely communicates with the other operators. He only appears when collecting the bodies, shrouded in mystery. He was the least willing participant in the event. Paying members of the site were clearly aware of this, so only a handful of daring gamblers placed bets on him, hoping for a huge payout.

Finally, “The Nest Keeper” works at the Dalami City Police Department as a chief. He is vindictive, profit-driven, and values money above all else. But he is socially skilled and excels at appearances, so he is well-liked within the department. Even many families of missing persons believe Chief Charlie is a kind-hearted man, and people on the street often greet him warmly.

With all the operators’ detailed information in hand, Everly began planning her next moves.