User blog:Koishi-Komeiji/The Luxington Life (Chapter Zero)

Hey, guys!

Some of you may know I once wrote a series called "Luxington Urbia", but I never got to finish it. I felt kinda guilty leaving my series like that. Then I thought of, "Hey! If I'm okay with writing stories and I don't want to completely abandon my series since I've planned so much, why not I combine them?" And then this happened!

I've picked the perfect name for the novella and it will follow from here onward. This one is just the prologue for the coming chapters. You know, as a little bit of teaser of how the story is like. I hope you all enjoy it. (Too bad I can't write in justified text nor write with indented paragraphs. :

Please note that the chapters may come by irregularly. But I'll try to release them every two weeks or so. Literature takes a lot of work too and I'm working in-between writing my currently novel and this. Anyway, I'll do my best to produce the chapters on time.

Also, let's play a little game: try to guess the hidden pun in "The Luxington Life". ;)

If you have any comments, please do make a reply in the blog's comment section down below.

Thank you and enjoy reading!

The Luxington Life — Chapter Zero: The Story Begins
'The body has to be here somewhere. . .'

According to Joel Sullivan's phone log, it should've been here in this cold, narrow, and silent alleyway. Trashbags scattered in and out of the dumpsters, spilling rotten food and things he didn't want to know on the floor. Flies kept buzzing around his vision and he had to swat them away. Garbage water covered most of the floor. Rainwater trickled from the crevices of brick walls even though it wasn't raining. The putrid smell of rubbish filled his nostrils, turning him green. But there was something odd about it. . . it smelled—like rusted iron.

Blood.

Joel sprinted toward the direction of the smell. He shoved the dumpster standing in his way to the right—only to have his stomach turn.

It was a woman's body. Slumped over the wall, dried blood pooling around her feet and forming a reddish line into the opposite side. A knife stuck out of her bloodied chest like an arrow. Sure he had been prepared for the worst, but this had been too much for him.

Get it together, Joel.

He'd come here to incriminate the killer, not to puke over all the crime scene. His hands gingerly reached for the knife. But he pulled it away before touching the handle.

No, you don't want to ruin the evidence.

True. It would ruin the evidence. Sometimes, Joel impressed himself with his detective skills. But what should he do if he couldn't touch the knife?

Wait a second! If someone had killed her, they must've had left fingerprints on the knife! Joel immediately took out his fingerprint powder and dusted the handle. Three full fingerprints appeared on it with just a little scrub of the brush.

He placed the powder on the floor and took out a finger-scanner. The device was from the Luxington Government. And it could detect fingerprints and come out with the criminal record of its holder. How convenient! With a finger on the button, he adjusted the bluish light toward the prints. ''Beep! Beep! Beep! ''On the screen was a name—Damian Rogers, who was once arrested for racketeering. And he happened to be the husband of the victim.

Caught ya red-handed, Damian.

Joel kept his things and took out his phone to update the log. Oh, if his colleagues saw this, then he'd finally earn their respect! But as was about to click "Update", a faintish purple beam fell on him from the sky.

A man's voice said, "Congratulations, Joel Sullivan. You have passed."

The surroundings began dissolving one by one, cube by cube, replaced with an endless blue void like in a computer matrix. The dead body, too, dissolved into cubes and faded away. Before he knew it, he stood in the middle of a vast blue room. He tried speaking and shouting but his voice didn't come out.

And then the world turned white in a flash.