Chapter 261: This Is Nothing But a Scumbag

Chapter 261: Chapter 261: This Is Nothing But a Scumbag

Just as Heath Hale was taking notes, Evan Keller knocked on the door, drawing his attention.

Heath Hale glanced at his notes; he was almost done.

"Alright, Caleb Rivers. I’ll arrange for your sister’s body to be sent to the funeral home now. I’ll also file a request with my superiors to let you see her off one last time.

But you should also prepare yourself. The consequences of your actions today are severe. Your sentence likely won’t be light," Heath Hale said as he stood up and looked at Caleb Rivers.

Caleb Rivers nodded lightly, a grateful expression on his face.

He hadn’t expected to get a chance to see his sister off one last time.

As for the punishment the officer mentioned, Caleb Rivers couldn’t care less.

The death penalty or a life sentence—it didn’t matter. Neither would stop him from reuniting with Mr. Kendall and his sister.

Zoe Sawyer, who had been standing outside watching the entire time, narrowed her eyes. Her voice held a trace of confusion. "Does it feel like... Caleb Rivers has a death wish?"

"It’s understandable. His family is gone, and he’s killed all his enemies," Sean Hughes sighed, then added, "Don’t worry, we’ll have someone keep an eye on him."

After Heath Hale came out, the group of four headed toward the office.

"What’s going on? You seemed to be in a real hurry when you called me out." Walking beside Zoe Sawyer, Heath Hale noticed Evan Keller’s expression was abnormally grave. It was clear something had happened.

Evan Keller didn’t keep them in suspense and quickly summarized the situation. "We just got a report that an outdoor exploration streamer with a million followers ran into trouble mid-livestream. He might have been kidnapped, or possibly murdered. They want us to dispatch officers and save him, fast.

Police departments all over the country received reports. And since it happened live with a large online audience, the impact is huge."

Because it was a livestream, many people had already screen-recorded it and posted it online, making the impact even greater.

Evan Keller didn’t dare to waste any time. As soon as he took the case, he rushed over to find Heath Hale and the others.

"Why so certain? Is there some obvious clue?" Heath Hale quickly grasped the key point.

’They aren’t calling it an accident, but are very sure it’s one of those two options. There must be video evidence.’

"Exactly! About ten seconds before it happened, the stream suddenly went black. Then all you could hear were the streamer’s bloodcurdling screams and wails.

Then a hand in a black glove picked up the streaming device and turned it off.

But as the device was being picked up, the camera swept to the side, and many people saw the streamer lying on the ground, his condition unknown." As they talked, the four of them returned to the office, where Evan Keller turned his laptop around for them to see.

The screen was replaying the final moments from the livestream.

Just as Evan Keller had described, the screen went black, followed by screams and wails, and finally the fleeting image of the streamer on the ground.

After making sure all three of them had seen it, Evan Keller dragged the progress bar back to the beginning and turned up the volume.

This time, Zoe Sawyer and the others could hear the sounds of punches and kicks.

"The current theory is that the streamer offended someone in the past, and they took this opportunity while he was out live-streaming to strike. The other possibility is robbery.

The tech department is already in contact with the streaming platform to get the victim’s IP address and personal information. They’re actively trying to pinpoint his location now," Evan Keller explained the current theories to the three people beside him.

After all, he’s a streamer with a million followers and a huge fan base. His income from streaming is usually quite high, so it’s not surprising that someone would target him for money.

Zoe Sawyer frowned and raised her own questions. "If he’s a streamer with a million followers, why would he go out to work without an assistant? What about his agent? An arrangement like this should have been reported, right?"

It was an outdoor expedition, after all. Even if he didn’t bring anyone with him, shouldn’t he have told his agent or assistant his location beforehand?

Evan Keller shook his head and said, "It was a last-minute decision the victim made in the middle of the night. He basically decided to go, packed his bags, and was out the door moments later."

After speaking, Evan Keller handed a photocopy to Zoe Sawyer.

It was the police interview with his agent and assistant, conducted after they learned the victim might be in trouble.

Reading it from start to finish, she saw that this kind of spontaneous behavior was common for the victim. Plus, since it was the middle of the night, his agent was already asleep and had no idea what was happening.

Moreover, the victim’s viewership had been declining recently. To win back his audience, he had started a 24-hour non-stop livestream.

After following along for two or three days and confirming everything was fine, the agent gave the assistant a day off to rest.

They never expected that on the one day no one was watching, something would happen to him.

"Zoe, this case is extremely urgent. We need you to determine the victim’s location and condition.

The chief issued a direct order: we have 24 hours to rescue the victim and catch the culprit," Evan Keller said, looking at Zoe Sawyer with a serious expression.

Zoe Sawyer nodded. "No problem. Do you have detailed information on the victim? Since this just happened, we should try to get him back as soon as possible."

The words had barely left her mouth when Officer Lee walked over and handed her a file. "The information is here. I also found something interesting that might be related to this case."

Zoe Sawyer took the file, and Heath Hale and the other two gathered around to look.

The "interesting" thing Officer Lee mentioned was circled in a red box.

The victim’s name was Arthur Yates, from a small county in Fendrel Province.

He graduated from an ordinary university and, unable to find a job, started live-streaming on a friend’s suggestion.

Arthur Yates figured that it would be hard to break into the more saturated fields, so he set his sights on the less crowded niche of outdoor exploration streaming.

By visiting and exploring various supposedly haunted locations he found online, Arthur Yates quickly built an initial fan base.

After signing with a company, he started staging small stunts and fabricating dramatic effects during his explorations to attract more viewers, all at the company’s direction.

Up to this point, everything seemed normal.

But six months ago, Arthur Yates lost a game on stream and had to accept a penalty: randomly click on a viewer’s profile and give a harsh critique of their videos.

And that was when, in a bad mood from losing the game, Arthur Yates used his online influence to maliciously spread rumors, driving a non-celebrity girl to depression and suicide.

After learning of her suicide, he even said on his stream, in a careless tone, that the girl was too mentally fragile and couldn’t handle the slightest bit of adversity.

Some people spoke out for the girl, and negative comments began to appear online.

But they were all suppressed by the paid commenters Arthur Yates hired.

"What a complete piece of scum!"