“It won’te to that. But we need to figure out why he’s hiding the truth. If he’s already given up on himself, then no one can save him,” Aria said.

She slid Deangelo’s business card over to Madelyn. “Mr. Reed, if you find any leads, you can contact Cathy directly. She’s with the State Security Bureau.”

Deangelo nodded. “Got it.”

Aria then performed a follow-up acupuncture session on Elsie, a gentle smile on her face. “Mrs. Reed, you’ve been taking great care of yourself these past few days. I can already see the results. Keep it up.”

With hope in her heart, Elsie’splexion looked much better. “It’s all thanks to the prescription you gave me. My appetite has really improved.”

Aria put away the needles. “We just need to adjust one more herb.”

Deangelo said, “It’s gettingte. How about staying here for the night?”

Aria replied, “Thank you, Mr. Reed, but we’ve already booked a hotel.”

Deangelo walked them to the door. “Take care on your way back.”

武****

Owen and Aria checked into the same hotel asst time. The same receptionist at the front desk immediately smiled when he saw them. “One king-sized bed, right?”

Aria nodded. “Correct.”

As she was checking them in, the receptionist whispered. “Thest time you were here, right after you got your room key und left, a man with half his face disfigured came in. He turned out to be a serial killer. It was terrifying.”

Aria and Owen exchanged a look. Aria asked, “How do you know he was the killer? Did the police make an announcement?” Honestly, Mark Sampson had just been caught, and the evidence wasn’t even solid yet. There’s no way the police would innounce it that fast.

The receptionist picked up her phone and showed it to Aria. “Look, it was on the news. The police should have warned us— it’s really scary. Now I’m too scared to workte. My boyfriend’s picking me up after work.”

Aria took the phone and nced at it. “Don’t stay by yourself these days. If you start having nightmares or get too freaked out, maybe talk to a therapist.”

“I’ll remember that.” The receptionist, seeing how calm Aria was, said, “You’re not even fazed. I wish I could be that brave after hearing something like this.”

Aria smiled, “My boyfriend’s pretty awesome. He can totally protect me.”

Owen’s ears turned a little red when he heard that. Honestly, if anything really happened, Madelyn would probably be the one protecting him, he thought.

The receptionist leaned in even closer and whispered, just loud enough for them to hear. “Your boyfriend looks pretty strong. You two must be reallypatible in that way, huh?”

Even though she was whispering, she was so close that Owen heard every word. He pretended not to hear and turned his

head to look at the nts in the distance.

Aria hadn’t expected the girl to be so straightforward, but she just yed along. Yeah, we’re definitelypatible in that way?

The receptionist finished the check-in process and handed them the room key, saying proudly, “My boyfriend and I are reallypatible too.”

“Looks like we’re both pretty lucky, huh?” Aria said with a smile.

The receptionist was clearly still rattled by the incident, and chatting with some familiar faces was her way of easing her nerves. Aria kept herpany for a bit, chatting until her boyfriend arrived. Only then did she and Owen head upstairs.

In the elevator, Aría nced at the news page, her voice growing more serious. The police haven’t even said anything yet, but the media’s already jumped the gun,” she said.

The victims’ families would go to the station. If the police said theycked evidence to confirm Mark as the killer, it would have caused public outrage. The situation would have escted, pressuring the police to close the case quickly.

Whoever was pulling the strings behind this media outlet clearly had some ulterior motives.