Captain Larson frowned and snapped, "That's enough. Step back. Is that how I trained you? Take him back to the station. We'll interrogate him there."

An officer stepped forward. Barely holding back his anger, he cuffed my hands.

I just followed them downstairs.

The neighbors had already heard what had happened. People crowded the hallways. The moment they saw me, they pointed and whispered.

"That kid's a monster. His parents worked so hard to bring him out of the mountains, and this is how he repays them? He poisoned the whole family!"

"They should've just left him there to die."

I listened to their murmurs and smiled, neither confirming nor denying them.

Soon, I was taken into an interrogation room. Captain Larson sat in front of me, while two younger detectives sat beside her. All three of them looked at me.

I casually leaned back into my chair. It was as if I'd just finished dinner. "Can you hurry up and send me to prison already? I haven't slept in days trying to get that poison. Can't I just go to a cell and get some rest first?"

I yawned after I was done.

The female officer slammed her hand on the table. "Take a good look around. This is an interrogation room, not a bedroom. Sit up straight."

I shrugged and muttered, "Do we really have to do this?"

Even the male officer taking notes looked like he wanted to jump across the table and slap me. "What's your name?"

I raised my eyes lazily. "Which one?"

"You've got more than one name?" he asked with a frown.

A faint smile curled on my lips, but it didn't reach my eyes. "When I was trafficked to the mountains, the old woman there called me Sticks. After I was rescued, my parents told me my name is Silas Cadwell."

"Age?"

"I turned 18 today."

Every officer in the room looked up at that. Killing your own parents the day you become an adult was unbelievable.

After they finished the basic question, the door opened.

My aunt, Naomi Walker, rushed in. Her face was full of disbelief. She still couldn't accept what had happened.

"You animal! Why did you kill your parents and your brother? What did they ever do to you?"

I smiled lightly. "Nothing. I was just curious how much poison it takes to kill someone, so I used them as test subjects."

She looked like she wanted to tear me apart.

"I should've never kept searching for you all these years!" she snapped. "You should've been left to rot in that pigsty!"

Several officers held her back as she struggled. Her breathing was ragged, and her eyes burned red with rage.

Captain Larson said nothing the whole time. She just stared at me.

After a moment, she finally spoke. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Kylie Larson. I'm the captain of the criminal investigation unit. Now, tell me, why did you kill your family? Did you hate them?"

I clicked my tongue.

"Captain Larson, didn't I already tell you?" I replied, annoyed. "I was just running an experiment. I didn't expect them to actually die."

Kylie frowned. She exuded an air of authority without even speaking. "There's more to this. If you tell me the truth, I might be able to help you. I could even reduce your sentence."

I let out a cold laugh, completely unfazed by her offer. "My brother was only eight. I killed him. How could that possibly reduce my sentence? Captain Larson, do I look like a kid to you? I already told you that there's nothing else to it. I was just running an experiment."

The room fell into a tense silence. Everyone stared at me with open hostility.

Kylie was the only one who remained expressionless.

"Is that so?" she began. "I heard you were found and brought back last year. Did your parents treat you well?"

A smile crept onto my face before I even realized it. "Of course. They kept finding new ways to cook me good food ever since I came back. If I had nightmares at night, they'd sit by my bed and comfort me while holding my hand the whole time."

I started laughing as I spoke.

"Oh, right. My dad even transferred all his assets to my name. He said I'd suffered too much, and that he wanted to make sure I'd be taken care of."

The moment I finished, several people in the room looked even angrier. I had easily gotten the kind of life others could only dream of.

"Sounds like they treat you very well," she said, frowning.

I nodded. "Exactly. That's why I made sure to use the highest dose of poison. I didn't want them to feel even a bit of pain."

As soon as I said that, Naomi let out a strangled cry. She dropped to her knees and screamed hoarsely as she pointed at me, "You animal!"

"Animal," I echoed lightly, smiling.

Kylie's gaze sharpened. It was as if she were trying to see straight through me. "What made you decide to poison them? The substance you used isn't easy to get. It's restricted. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to buy it so easily. You're still hiding something."

"If you really need a reason, then maybe it was because I was jealous," I said, pouting slightly. "They had another kid after I went missing. That just proves they didn't really want to find me. They gave up and chose to start over instead."

Naomi couldn't hold it back anymore. "What do you even know? Your brother was conceived before you went missing

"Your parents were devastated when you disappeared. They even wanted to terminate the pregnancy. I was the one who convinced them to keep the baby so they'd have something to hold onto!"

I shrugged indifferently. "So?"

That one word set the room off. Several officers shot to their feet and stared at me like I was insane.

"Captain Larson, there's no point interrogating him anymore! He's clearly antisocial. Someone like him deserves the death penalty. We shouldn't give him another chance to twist things!"

Almost everyone had already decided that I was a monster who poisoned my family.

Kylie glanced at them calmly.

"Sit down. Did I ask for your input?" she ordered before turning back to me. "Silas, we found your diary. What's written in it doesn't match what you're saying."

She pulled a notebook out of an evidence bag.

"It says here that when you first came home, you were happy. You thought you finally had a home. Your parents were gentle and caring. Your brother was sweet and well-behaved."

I silently listened with a blank face.

When she finished, I chuckled. "I wrote that diary for my parents. If I'd written what I really thought, they'd kick me out."

After listening to my explanation, Kylie gestured with her hand. A moment later, someone was brought in.

It was the old man from next door.

He glanced at me nervously.

"That couple treated the kid really well. They were worried he'd feel left out after coming back, so they even sent their younger son to live with his grandmother in the countryside. Most of the time, it was just him at home."

He shook his head, still unsettled. "I just can't understand how he could do something this cruel. It's like he has no conscience."

I smiled faintly, sat up straight, and said nothing.

Kylie turned back to me. "Even if you were jealous of your brother, your parents clearly favored you," she said, gaze as sharp as a blade. "I want to know what exactly happened on your birthday that made you kill all three of them."

I leaned back in my chair. My eyes drifted as if I'd returned to that moment.

"They bought me a big cake for my eighteenth birthday. They said it was my day and that I could do whatever I wanted."

A faint smile appeared on my face, but my words grew colder. "So I poisoned their food. I watched as the three of them ate everything. The poison took effect almost immediately. Their lips turned purple. Their eyes filled with burst veins. They were all dead within minutes.

"I was good to them, wasn't I? I let them die together. They can still be a family wherever they end up."

A few people in the room sucked in sharp breaths.

Some officers clenched their fists so tightly their knuckles turned white. They couldn't stand listening to my words anymore and walked out.

Just the sight of me made them sick.

But I remained completely indifferent.

The only one who mattered was Kylie. She still didn't believe me. She was still pressing for the truth.

She stood up and said, "Take a moment. I'll give you time to think."

Everyone left the interrogation room, leaving me alone.

I lowered my head and stared at the floor. I knew she was watching my every move through the cameras.

I yawned and leaned back into the chair, pretending to fall asleep. When I opened my eyes again, Kylie was back with the other officers.

The male officer beside her looked at me with open disgust. Clearly, he had seen what I'd just done.

"I've been watching you, Silas," she said with a faint chuckle. "For a moment there, you almost showed your real self. You covered it up by pretending to sleep. What are you hiding?"

I said nothing.

Just then, another officer rushed in. "Based on investigations, the female victim used to be a university teacher. She was fired for physically abusing students. She even has a history of child abuse. We suspect she—"

All eyes turned to me. Kylie stepped forward and yanked my sleeve upward.

My arms were clean. There were no scars or marks.

I looked at her and let out a mocking laugh. "If I were abused, I would've just killed her. Why would I drag my dad and brother into it?"

I met her gaze. "Is that really all you've got, Captain Larson?"