Devil's Prisoner of Love by Prefer

The file bore the name "Li Ming," as plain and unremarkable as it could get. His face matched the name-ordinary to the point of blending into the crowd.

"Joe Hopkinson, 32 years old, freelancer."

That was the information he had registered when boarding the ship. Many others had similar profiles. The difference was that he came alone, unaffiliated with any company. As for the invitation, getting one wasn't particularly difficult with some effort-just look at Ivy as an example.

"From the registration times, it's clear Ivy and he didn't board together, which rules out an alliance between the two. This aligns more with what we previously suspected- perhaps this is a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind." "I've been observing him for half the day now. There's something off about him. His habits reveal that he's not as ordinary as he seems."

The group exchanged glances.

"It seems this murderer is quite bold. After committing the crime last night, he still dared to remain on the ship."

"I bet he's arrogant-probably thinks killing a woman is too trivial, too easy to be a real challenge."

Julian's eyes burned as he stared at the surveillance footage. Even if this man hadn't directly killed Aurora, he had tampered with the railing. That alone made him guilty of murder in Julian's eyes.

Nick felt the chill radiating from Julian and quickly tried to calm him.

"Don't act rashly. If he's a professional killer, there are still many innocent people on this ship. What we need to do is capture him without causing panic or putting others in danger."

"I'll try to control myself," Julian said, taking a deep breath to steady his emotions. "Leave it to me," Vortex said coldly. He was more than familiar with handling situations like this.

"Alright."

Police officers began boarding the ship. The moment they saw Vortex, their

figure was assisting in the case, but no one had

Vortex on major cases before, so they greeted

get to work," Vortex said curtly, clearly unimpressed by their

gathered information on the situation. What we need now is to question everyone about their whereabouts last night and determine if anyone

way he carried himself commanded

record statements one by one,"

arrogance or defiance. In the crowd, Joe Hopkinson stood with a

everyone went in to give their statements until it was finally his turn. Before the questioning began, Vortex had already instructed his team to take extra precautions. If things escalated, there was a

with an air of composure. His psychological resilience was impressive-despite the intense

fooled. He had already noticed discrepancies in the surveillance footage, and now, observing him up close, his suspicions deepened. The man's footsteps were unnaturally light, a trait typical of someone with professional training. From the surveillance room, Julian

the best at handling situations like this. He'll get the

his voice betrayed his unease. Aurora's fate was still uncertain. Even the possibility of her being abducted was preferable to

glanced at Joe Hopkinson's file

"Mr. Joe Hopkinson, correct?"

eyes, the kind one

police officer, just lending a hand. So there's no need to feel

night," Vortex said, his tone devoid of hostility, as if this

"Alright, ask away."

night, where were you? Who were

beautiful woman named Luna. She was with me the

I've reviewed your file. It says you weren't

invite someone like me. But I heard there'd be a party on this ship. You know how it is-men always want to have some fun. I figured there'd be plenty of beautiful women, so I pulled some strings and got an invitation. I had a great time last night." He ended with

do you work, Mr. Hopkinson? What's your monthly

is about average for a regular working-class household. Officer, surely you're not suspecting me just

were seamless. Claiming he came aboard