Bruce sat at the table.
Thinking about what happened last night,
He covered his face and wailed in his heart. Oh my god,
He actually shamelessly hugged Hotch and followed him back to his apartment.
Then, he took over the bed and fell asleep.
He fell asleep! Yes, he actually fell asleep just like that.
He didn't do anything!
Cough, cough.
He wasn't regretting this.
He was just a little annoyed that he couldn't control his actions after drinking. He just did what he wanted to do. If he was in his usual state, he definitely wouldn't have hugged Hotch and refused to let go … Although now that he thought about it, he just wanted to secretly say that he did a good job.
Last night … Bruce had a dreamy expression on his face.
What Hotch said to him … and when he woke up in the morning, he saw Hotch's sleeping face through the faint light of the curtains.
It made his heart feel as if it was filled with sweetness and joy.
Bruce pinched himself for the fifth time and confirmed that he was awake with a slightly distorted expression.
When the door handle opened, a soft sound could be heard.
Bruce immediately looked over and saw that Hotch had already changed into his work clothes and was walking out. "Morning." For some reason, Bruce gulped nervously and softened his voice.
When Hotch came out, he saw Bruce looking at him with eyes as bright as the light reflected off his head.
He coughed softly.
He threw the strange description out of his mind.
But under the morning light shining in through the window,
Bruce's smooth head did seem to emit a little light.
"Good morning." Hotch smelled the aroma of food in the air.
He saw the box on the dining table.
He sat across from Bruce.
"Takeout?"
Hotch opened the box and ate his breakfast casually, but he was still a little unaccustomed to their sudden relationship.
The atmosphere was a little quiet, but it didn't feel restrained.
After a while, Bruce said hesitantly, "Last … last night …"
Hotch swallowed the food in his mouth and looked up at the person opposite him. "Don't you remember what happened last night?" Of course, he knew that wasn't the case. He could easily see the joy in Bruce's expression, which made the corners of his mouth curl up.
"No, I still remember. It's just that … I drank yesterday, and I think I was a little … inappropriate." Bruce's eyes darted around, looking at the packaging beside him. Then, he suddenly seemed interested in the decorations on the table, but he didn't meet Hotch's gaze. "I'm not like this usually, really."
Looking at Bruce's embarrassed expression, Hotch felt a little curious. Usually, Bruce gave people the feeling that he could do anything with ease. He deliberately said, "So, I don't have to repeat what I said last night?"
"No, there's no need." Bruce felt his face burning up. He recalled what Hotch had said to him last night in his deep, magnetic voice and felt his heart thump. He stood up abruptly and said, "I-I'll go back and change. Otherwise, I'll be late."
When Bruce reached the door, he thought of something and turned back. He lowered his eyes and said, "I … I love you too …" Then, he quickly closed the door.
Hotch didn't expect Bruce to have such an innocent reaction. He looked at the closed door for a moment, then smiled. He thought of what happened last night. In fact, he wasn't used to expressing his feelings directly. However, Bruce's careful and even somewhat humble attitude made his heart ache. He couldn't help but say those words directly.
Hotch found it strange. He realized that Bruce didn't seem to be very confident in this aspect. Even though he had done a lot of things, other than that bunch of hyacinths, he had never tried to tell Hotch about it. He even hid it very well. If Garcia hadn't told Hotch about it and the incident where Hotch was injured, Hotch wouldn't have known about it until now.
After finishing his breakfast, Hotch picked up his briefcase and knocked on the door of the apartment next door. "I'll be late if I don't leave now." Bruce opened the door quickly. He had already changed his clothes and his expression had returned to normal. Hotch couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
Bruce hitched a ride with Hotch to the office. When the elevator reached the floor with a "ding", he walked out of the elevator and attracted the attention of his team members.
"Oh, Bruce." Prentiss was standing in front of his desk, tidying up his desk. When he saw someone approaching from the corner of his eye, he looked up with a strange expression.
"Good morning, Emily." Bruce placed his backpack on his desk.
"Aren't you injured? Are you okay now?" Reid, who was next to Bruce's desk, looked up and couldn't help but laugh. "Your new hairstyle … is very unique."
"I'm fine, thanks for the compliment." Bruce was in a good mood. "That's because I've become smarter."
"What?" Reid didn't know what the connection was.
"Because you're extremely smart." Bruce muttered softly. He knew the difference between Chinese and English, but he didn't explain. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and said seriously, "It's just a challenge. You know, not everyone can pull off this hairstyle."
"Hey, looks like you have the same idea as me." Morgan came out of the pantry with a cup and patted Bruce's shoulder.
Prentiss looked at the two bald heads and felt that it hurt his eyes. Of course, if he had to make a comparison, Bruce was more painful because Morgan's skin was darker, while Bruce's smooth scalp seemed to reflect light.
oo00oo
The Seattle case was handed back to the team. Another victim with the same characteristics appeared. The neck wound had lost most of the blood in his body.
"Why was this case handed back to us? How are we going to deal with it …" Garcia on the screen suddenly paused and looked worried.
"We've confirmed that the wounds on the victims' necks were caused by some kind of equipment and not by animals. It has nothing to do with the two victims found in Forks. This case is within our capabilities." Hotch glanced at Garcia and then looked at Bruce.
"What are you talking about?" Prentiss was a little confused. "Speaking of which, why was this case handed over to another department and then sent back to us?"
"That has nothing to do with us. What we need to do now is to catch the murderer," Rossi said.
Bruce observed the expressions of his team members and realized that Reid, Prentiss, Morgan, and JJ didn't know about the vampire. Rossi probably got some information, and Garcia definitely knew about it. After all, he had asked Meggen to send the video to Garcia to ask for help. With Garcia's personality, he would definitely tell his team members about it unless he was prohibited from doing so.
Prentiss opened the new victim's file and looked at it. He quickly said, "This one is different from the previous victims. Her hands are placed on her abdomen, and the body is covered. This means that the murderer feels guilty towards the victim, and the murderer is very willing to be familiar with the victim. Oh, and there was no saliva found on the victim's wounds. Have you confirmed the victim's identity? "
"Yes, Zoe Perez, 29 years old. Her body was found in the woods of the park," JJ replied. "The DNA results from the saliva extracted from the previous victims' neck wounds have come out. Unfortunately, there is no match in the database. The final autopsy report is also out. It's in your files. "
"29 years old. She's older than the previous victims." Reid looked at the autopsy report again and frowned. "The sugar and electrolyte levels in the victim's body are normal, but the protein content is low." He flipped through the reports of the previous victims. "They're all the same."
"What does this mean?" Bruce didn't quite understand why Reid would specifically mention this. "Maybe it's just that when the food was injected, they didn't pay attention to balancing the body's needs."
"It's not a coincidence that these people are all the same. You have to know that if the body has low protein, the person can't focus on thinking. This is a common psychological effect. You can think of it as some kind of brainwashing," Reid explained.
"So how did the murderer control the victim's diet? The victims didn't show any signs of imprisonment when they were alive. Their relatives and friends all said that they were living and working normal lives. "
Reid continued, "It's not necessarily necessary to imprison them to achieve the goal. During Garcia's investigation, he found that although the victims didn't have any direct contact with each other, they were working in low-paying jobs and had a difficult life. These young people had expressed dissatisfaction with their lives on the Internet and were more pessimistic."
"Also, I found that these people expressed a morbid obsession with vampires." In the video, Garcia's hand tapped on the keyboard a few times. "These are some of the comments they have made on the Internet."
Bruce looked at it. "Foolish beings, the barrier of civilization is oppressing you," "The world is barren, only the Immortal Race can survive," "As long as you listen to the guidance of the messenger, you can obtain eternal rebirth," and so on.
Bruce's expression was strange. These comments were not only chuunibyou, but … "Why does it feel a little like a cult?"
"Cults usually attract people who are sad and hopeless about life and feel powerless in the real world." Morgan frowned. "They instigate these people to give up their own needs and serve the needs of the leader."
"And the usual operating principle is to destroy both the body and the mind. In the end, they even achieve the goal of sacrificing themselves for a certain noble doctrine — but in fact, it's a private appeal."
"We can start from this aspect, but this may just be a connection between believers through the Internet. How are we going to find them?" Bruce looked at Garcia. The woman in the video spread out her hands. Then he patted his head. "No, there must be some gatherings for them to strengthen their beliefs or to sacrifice their beliefs."
Bruce noticed that everyone's eyes were on him, or more accurately, on his head. He couldn't help but touch his head. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it suits you." Reid held back his laughter and patted Bruce's shoulder. Then he picked up the cup and took a sip. Suddenly, he coughed. "Why is my coffee iced?"
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