Drinking plenty of water helps speed up the metabolism of the drug's effects and impact on the body.

...

The three of them forced her to drink water and subjected her to cold water stimulation.

A full twenty minutes passed.

Only then did Sinclair's stress response slowly subside.

She opened her eyes in a daze. Upon seeing Dean pressing her down on the sofa, her eyes first widened, then her expression turned pitiful. "Dean, you big pervert, you actually laid your wicked hands on your cute little sister! You can't do this..."

Dean: "..."

Sheila heaved a sigh of relief. That tone and acting... It seems my precious daughter is back to normal now.

Thompson looked regretful. I forgot to bring my camera! Otherwise, I could have teased Sinclair about this for the rest of her life!

...

「Eight o'clock in the evening.」

The mood in their home was somewhat somber.

Sinclair sat pitifully on the sofa, hugging her knees.

Just moments ago, she had undergone a serious interrogation by Dean, her detective older brother.

Even criminals have rights! Yet, in front of him, any slight concealment in her words would be pointed out, followed by her mother's "caring" slap landing on her backside.

After two rounds, Sinclair finally resigned herself to her fate. She detailed every single thing: where she went with her girlfriends, which handsome guys they watched, what food they ate, who they had come into close contact with, and even if they had done anything unusual in the restroom. She told them everything, leaving no stone unturned, without a shred of concealment.

She didn't dare hide anything. Her mother had already placed her long-unused double-barrel shotgun on the table and was seriously inspecting it. Meanwhile, her older brother, Dean, was pressing bullets into a magazine, looking like he was preparing to send someone on their final journey.

While Sinclair was touched by her family's concern, she also felt anxious. This won't lead to someone getting killed, will it?!

With this thought, Sinclair warily looked up and said tentatively, "We were only in public places. Apart from eating and shopping, we just looked at some handsome guys together and gossiped about the latest entertainment news. There really wasn't anything amiss."

Dean glanced at Sinclair, who surprisingly showed no sign of lingering fear. He blew a wisp of air across the magazine and said with a smile, "Don't worry. I've already had my colleagues check out your companions and the shopkeepers you mentioned, one by one. We must have a result by dawn tomorrow!"

Considering the timeline, Sinclair probably accidentally ingested the drug between four and five o'clock this afternoon. It could have been unintentional exposure to secondhand smoke from someone burning drugs, or she might have actually been drugged by a trafficker. The latter seems more likely. In the United States, sedatives and prescription drugs with anesthetic effects are much harder to obtain than illicit narcotics. This happened not too long ago, so Sinclair and her friends should have a clearer memory of their movements, making the investigation much simpler.

...

During the siblings' conversation, their mother, Sheila, remained silent. But the loaded double-barrel shotgun clearly showed her stance.

Ever since her husband died in the line of duty, her children had become her sacred ground. No one can harm my daughter and expect to get away with it!

Although Thompson often bickered with Sinclair, it was worth noting that, due to their age difference, he was the one among the four siblings who had spent the most time with her. In fact, Thompson had helped raise her when they were younger. If anyone truly intended to harm his family, this seemingly refined fifteen-year-old boy would not hesitate to pick up the semi-automatic rifle his maternal uncle had given him and send those people to meet Satan.

...

「Eight thirty-five in the evening.」

In the silent atmosphere, Dean's phone, lying on the table, finally rang.

"Dean, Carlo, Lawrence, Hawk—who's helping out—and I investigated your sister's friends as quickly as possible and asked about their afternoon. Your sister's three companions are also showing stress symptoms consistent with first-time drug exposure. We can now basically confirm that the four of them likely came into unintentional contact with drug powder while at the amusement park, leading to accidental ingestion."

"Good!" Dean stood up. "Go to the Narcotics Division, borrow a few K9s, and wait for me at the amusement park!"

After hanging up, Dean turned to Sinclair. "Come on, little unlucky charm, your big brother is going to take you to sort this out!"

Sinclair grimaced. "Somehow, I feel like you're just taking me to identify the crime scene."

SMACK!

Her mother, Sheila, gave Sinclair a flick on the head before turning to Dean. "Are you sure the amusement park is the problem?"

Thompson, standing nearby, chimed in, "Mom, for secondary drug inhalation to cause an effect, a large amount needs to be burned or vaporized. If that were the case, Sinclair wouldn't have even made it home. So, it's highly likely the problem lies with the last few amusement park attractions she and her friends were on! Of course, we can't rule out that someone deliberately drugged them. But if so, Sinclair and her friends would likely be in much worse shape, not just suffering from the drug's effects while otherwise being okay."

"Not bad." Dean nodded approvingly at his younger brother. "Thompson's right. This time, thanks to Sinclair's bad luck, I might even crack a drug concealment case!"

Hearing it might have been an accident, Sheila finally relaxed her grip on the shotgun. She leaned in to whisper to Dean, "If you find the culprit behind all this, give them a good beating for me!"

"Mom, are you teaching me to be bad?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"If being a little bad helps you all survive longer, then I'd rather you all be a little bad!"

Sheila hugged her daughter. After slipping a very small handgun into Sinclair's utterly bewildered hands, she instructed Dean, "Protect Sinclair. Go and come back quickly. Thompson and I will wait for you at home!"

"Got it, Mom!"

Dean scooped up Sinclair, who was now excitedly fiddling with the handgun, and carried her outside.

...

Children's metabolism is much faster than adults'. This is also the main reason they seldom need naps yet still possess an irritating amount of energy.

Sinclair was in good physical condition. By the time Dean drove her to the amusement park, she was back to her lively self, showing no sign of the near-death state the drug reaction had put her in just an hour earlier.

This is actually why some people who are drugged and induced into addiction don't notice it at first. They aren't medical professionals. Even if symptoms appear, they might just dismiss them as feeling unwell, thinking a good night's sleep will fix it. By the time multiple ingestions lead to physical dependency and they realize something is terribly wrong, it's usually too late.

Regaining her vigor, Sinclair looked around excitedly, occasionally patting the small pocket where the gun was. Her big eyes filled with anticipation, as if she couldn't wait for a thug to appear so she, who had only ever hunted rabbits, could finally experience shooting at a person.

Dean approved of girls having the means to protect themselves, so he didn't object to Sinclair carrying a gun. However, out of concern for his own safety, he wouldn't allow this little live wire to stand behind him.

...

「Nine-thirty p.m.」

Lawrence and the others, whom Dean hadn't seen in a few days, met up with him, each leading a Labou sniffer dog.

With them was the amusement park's off-duty manager, a balding, middle-aged white man.

The amusement park was huge, so it was impossible to search every area individually. Thus, with Sinclair guiding them, they led the dogs on leashes, searching through amusement attractions, restaurants, and other facilities one by one. The manager helped by unlocking closed venues and acting as a witness.

Time slipped by as they searched one area after another. None of the sniffer dogs showed any particular reaction.

The manager, though inwardly exasperated, maintained a neutral expression. While guiding them according to Sinclair's descriptions, he said, "The last place is over by the back gate. Some vendors set up stalls there, and we collect a sanitation fee from them."

As he was speaking, Harry's sniffer dog suddenly stopped. Its nose twitched. Then, it pulled Harry towards an open space beside a fountain, where it began to circle, hesitating.

"Sinclair, what was here? Do you remember this spot?" Dean's eyes lit up.

Found it!

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