Chapter 433 - 285: The More You Watch, The More Scared You Get; The More Scared You Get, The More You Watch

Chapter 433: Chapter 285: The More You Watch, The More Scared You Get; The More Scared You Get, The More You Watch

The Captain truly hadn’t expected that this super-criminal, who had been built up for the past twenty-odd minutes as an Ogre, someone impossibly dangerous who could see into people’s hearts and whose pulse never quickened when he killed, would turn out to be a neatly dressed, well-postured, gentle, and refined old man.

What’s more, his bearing was exceptionally dignified. He must have received professional etiquette training.

’How could this person be an extremely intelligent serial killer?’

In theory, one shouldn’t judge a person based solely on their appearance. But based on his own experience, most vicious thugs didn’t look this... well, elegant.

This Hannibal wasn’t just elegant; he was even a little handsome. Age had not diminished his unique charisma.

In older works of fiction, villains were often deliberately designed to be ugly, malicious, and crazed.

This design was especially common in theater. The villain’s costume typically followed a set pattern, allowing the audience to instantly identify the story’s main antagonist without any introduction.

The shared theme of such works was always to guide people toward goodness. Therefore, the antagonist had to have exclusively negative traits and could not be allowed a happy ending, lest the audience come to admire or even idolize them.

The Captain felt that approach was flawed. A collection of too many negative traits would make the character a caricature, a clown, which in turn would make the protagonist fighting them seem less impressive.

’So, will Hannibal be a "good" villain?’

The film soon provided an answer.

"Dr. Hannibal, I’m Detective Starling. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"You’re one of Crawford’s, aren’t you."

"Yes, I am."

"May I see your credentials?"

"Of course." Starling fumbled in her bag for her credentials. Despite her best efforts to maintain a calm expression, her frantic hands revealed she was not as composed as she appeared.

"Closer, please," Hannibal said, his voice laced with suggestion.

Starling complied.

Noticing the date on her credentials, Hannibal gave a suggestive blink.

"A new detective, still a trainee, yes?"

’She’s been completely seen through.’

The Captain was certain of it. Young Detective Starling had been completely figured out by Hannibal from the very first moment they met.

Intimidated by the man’s calm composure, she had obediently complied with his requests and even exposed the fact that she was still a trainee.

Whoever is asking for a favor is in the weaker position.

Starling needed to make her mark on the Buffalo Bill case to survive her trainee period, which was rife with discrimination.

But Hannibal? He couldn’t care less.

’What a shrewd criminal.’

The Devil Detective, when compared to a Human criminal, seemed like a helpless little bunny.

The abilities Hannibal displayed next made the hair on every audience member’s neck stand on end.

With just a single sniff, he identified Starling’s hand cream and perfume.

Like a predator sniffing its prey.

The camera lingered on Hannibal’s face. His gaze seemed to pierce the screen, scrutinizing every person in the audience.

After only a few minutes, he had deduced every last detail about Starling.

"You’re quite ambitious, aren’t you? But do you know what I see? A rube. A rube carrying a fine leather bag, but wearing cheap shoes. A busy rube, with a hint of taste."

"You grew up in comfort, yet you’re still a descendant of Devils. You want to shed your accent, that accent from the Nine Prisons of Bator. Was your father a Warrior? Did he die on some meaningless battlefield..."

The scene was incredibly eerie. It showed nothing bloody or violent, yet an unshakeable sense of danger settled over every person watching.

The Captain couldn’t understand it. Why was a man just standing there talking so terrifying? What exactly was wrong?

Looking at Hannibal’s composed face on the screen, he felt a faint, unsettling sense of dissonance that made his skin crawl.

’His expression? His smile? His eyes?’

’His eyes!’

The Captain suddenly realized that in all of Hannibal’s scenes, he never blinked. He just stared, unblinking, at the person opposite him.

This dissonance—the feeling of watching someone who looked like an Ordinary Human but was different from a normal person in the smallest details—made the Captain extremely uncomfortable.

The team that made this film must have a twisted sense of humor; everything was designed to be terrifying.

’What were they thinking?’

’Could it be? Are there really people who would deliberately walk into a Magic Cinema just to be scared?’

In the film, the first meeting between the two main characters ended with Starling being completely seen through. But she didn’t leave empty-handed. Hannibal had given her a clue: to go to his old warehouse.

The Captain mulled over why Hannibal would give Starling a clue, and after a while, he reached a conclusion that even he found absurd.

Hannibal was treating Starling like a toy. He was like a child playing with dolls, making up stories to entertain himself. The only difference was that Hannibal played with real people. He wanted to invade their minds and dig out the stories hidden in the depths of their souls.

In the warehouse, Starling found a human head preserved in a jar—the head of a man, made up to look like a woman.

This led to a second meeting between the two, where Starling received more clues.

The deceased was a victim of Buffalo Bill. He would strike again, but his M.O. had changed since then. He was seeking a transformation.

At the same time, Hannibal made a demand of his own: he wanted a cell with a view.

’Transformation?’

The Captain knew this was the beginning of trying to understand the killer’s mind. To find a killer, you had to learn to think like him.