Chapter 248: Having No Money Is the Scariest Thing

Chapter 248: Chapter 248: Having No Money Is the Scariest Thing

Sometime after three in the morning on May 23rd, Evan Shepherd returned home like a walking corpse.

Fluffy was eating the last of the food in its terrarium. When it saw the bad human return, it immediately shrank into a corner, terrified he might get the idea to throw it out again.

Fortunately, Evan Shepherd didn’t even glance at it.

Fluffy watched him walk into the living room and breathed a sigh of relief. Just as it was about to resume eating, it suddenly heard a loud THUD.

Fluffy was so scared all eight of its legs trembled. It cautiously pressed against the glass to look and saw the bad human lying on the floor. Then came the sound of sobbing.

Evan Shepherd lay on the floor like a puddle of mud, slowly curling his body into a ball as repressed, agonizing sobs escaped his throat.

’Huh, is he singing?’ Fluffy was extremely curious. ’Why does it sound so awful?’

It listened for a while before falling asleep. When it woke up, the bad human was still on the floor, but he wasn’t singing anymore. He was talking.

"Why would you do this to me?" Evan Shepherd demanded, his voice filled with resentment. "I was so good to you!"

A woman’s voice came from the phone beside him. "What’s the use of you being good to me? I need money!"

"So you just sold me out?" Evan Shepherd forced each word out through gritted teeth. "I’m a man! I can’t accept doing... those things with another man!"

"Evan, I had no choice." The woman’s tone was helpless. "You think I wanted to use you? I tried a few times myself and got rejected. He’s just into your type."

Evan Shepherd’s hands, pressed against the floor, clenched into tight fists. "Did you ever even ask if I was willing?"

’So noisy!’ Fluffy thought with disdain.

The woman spoke again. "What’s there to be unwilling about? You’re a man, so it’s not like you lose anything. We can even give you the bigger cut of the money later."

"I feel sick!" In his nearly twenty-six years of life, Evan Shepherd had never felt so humiliated. "You still think there’s a ’later’? Let me tell you, that’s impossible! This was the first and last time!"

"Why the last time?" The woman let out a faintly mocking laugh. "What, are you planning on not living anymore? Evan Shepherd, let me tell you, it’s not that serious. What’s so scary about something like this? Not having money is what’s truly scary!"

It was unclear which of her words struck a chord with Evan Shepherd. His limp body suddenly shot upright. He turned his head and stared blankly toward the balcony, where the curtains billowed in the wind.

Evan Shepherd squeezed his eyes shut and suddenly roared, "Yeah, you’re right! I’m not going to live anymore!"

"You’re going to kill yourself over a little thing like this? What kind of man are you?" The mockery in the woman’s voice grew more pronounced. "Go ahead if you want. It’s got nothing to do with me anyway."

Hearing this, Evan Shepherd snatched the phone off the floor. His face twisted into a ferocious snarl, his voice thick with bitter resentment. "If I die, I’ll become a vengeful ghost and drag you with me!"

He slammed the phone to end the call and hurled it against the wall, then began furiously tearing at his hair.

After a moment, Evan Shepherd got up and walked to the balcony. He gripped the railing tightly, wanting to climb over and jump several times, but he couldn’t summon the courage.

’He’s so weird,’ Fluffy thought, shrinking back into its corner to sleep again.

When it woke up later, it found that all the food in the house was gone, so it had to go out and forage.

Outside, the sun was already bright, but the house remained shrouded in darkness.

Evan Shepherd sat dejectedly on the floor, drinking. Empty, crushed cans were scattered everywhere. He was haggard and gaunt, like a withered tree.

Fluffy, terrified of being thrown out, didn’t dare go near him.

The next time it saw Evan Shepherd, the sky was already growing dark. He pulled open a drawer of the coffee table, poured a handful of small, white, round things into his palm, and then stuffed them all into his mouth.

’Ooh, what’s that tasty-looking thing?’ Fluffy wondered.

Evan Shepherd dragged his heavy feet to the balcony. Gazing at the setting sun in the distance, he raised a trembling hand and, with all his might, threw the pill bottle he was holding. It arced away, carrying his pain with it as it fell toward the horizon.

’Darn it, he threw it away! He didn’t even leave any for me!’

Evan Shepherd turned and walked into the bedroom.

He pulled back the covers and lay down peacefully on the bed.

"And then after that, you guys showed up!"

After listening to Renee Jennings’s simultaneous translation, Sawyer stared at the notes on his computer and analyzed, "So, Evan Shepherd committed suicide by taking pills. But the reason for his suicide was because..."

"Pull his call records," Renee Jennings said with a slight frown. "That woman he was on the phone with is a key figure."

"Okay, I’ll arrange it." Sawyer took his laptop and left the conference room.

Fluffy watched Renee Jennings through the glass. "Human, was what I said helpful to you?"

"Yes." Renee Jennings placed her hand on the glass and chuckled softly. "The information you provided is very useful."

"In that case, can you reward me with a live buggy?" Fluffy asked happily.

’I’m getting a little tired of dried insects.’

"Of course." Renee Jennings took out her phone and ordered some live feed from a delivery app.

**

"Officer, you have to arrest Renee Jennings! She’s definitely the one who killed my brother!" Michelle Shepherd had finished giving her statement but refused to leave, demanding that Zachary Conway arrest Renee Jennings.

Zachary Conway was getting a massive headache. "Ms. Shepherd," he said helplessly, "why are you so adamant that Renee Jennings is the murderer?"

"Didn’t I show you the chat logs?" Michelle Shepherd said excitedly. "She beat my brother up that day! She must have given him some internal injuries, and they just got worse and worse."

"There is currently no evidence that Renee Jennings assaulted Evan Shepherd, and his exact cause of death has not yet been determined," Kyle Morgan said with a serious expression. "Please stop obstructing our official duties. We will notify you as soon as we have any news."

Michelle Shepherd wasn’t having it. She slammed her hand on the table. "But there’s no proof she isn’t the murderer, either!"

The door to the interrogation room was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Levi Hollis leaned in and whispered a few words in Zachary Conway’s ear, then handed him a document.

"Ms. Shepherd." Zachary Conway pushed the document in front of Michelle Shepherd, his tone solemn. "This is an autopsy consent form. The preliminary suspicion is that Evan Shepherd died from an overdose of sleeping pills. To confirm the cause of death, we need you to sign this."

"I won’t sign it!" Michelle Shepherd snatched the document and started tearing it up. "I want my brother to be left in peace! None of you are allowed to hurt him again!"

Zachary Conway frowned. "The current lead we have is that on the night of the 22nd, Evan Shepherd was forced to have relations with a man. We need to confirm this..."

"How is that possible?" Michelle Shepherd looked stunned and shook her head forcefully. "That’s impossible! Absolutely impossible! My brother likes women!"

Zachary Conway didn’t say any more. He just said softly, "Please calm down and think it over before you make a decision."

With that, he and Kyle Morgan left the interrogation room.