"Lili, la, la, li—"

When the cacophony of electronic music played, Joyce almost fell out of his bed.

He was woken up not so much by the ringing of his cell phone, but by the horrible noise (he would never admit that it could be called "music").

"Oh, damn it. ”

Joyce glared at his phone in disgust.

This terrible noise was secretly replaced by the ringtone of his mobile phone when Han was not paying attention. This childish mischief can no doubt only come from his old partner (for God's sake, sometimes the guy was about twelve years old).

In normal times, this ploy would only cause Joyce to frown slightly, but now the noise made the late-night emergency call even more irritating.

Joyce sighed, trying to adjust his mood.

He answered the phone, and Han's voice came from the other end of the microphone.

"Hey, dude, something happened. Han said, "I think you'd better come here." ”

He spoke in a steady, calm voice, completely devoid of Joyce's familiar airless and nonchalant tone, but it was precisely because of this that this late-night emergency call was so unusual.

In the dark room, Joyce's gaze instantly sharpened.

"I'll be there right away. ”

Joyce said.

……

Thirty minutes later, Joyce was standing at the back door of the municipal hospital. The metal door had been opened, revealing the hallway behind. The corridor leads to the morgue attached to the hospital. It was here that the body found on the beach this morning was stored and waiting to be moved. According to the plan, the horrific corpse was to be sent to a higher-level analysis room for further dissection and analysis.

It was early in the morning, several police cars were parked near the hospital, and the officers were busy doing their routine work between the buildings and the street, the red and blue lights flashed intertwined, but the atmosphere was heavy - when Joyce walked past the policemen, he did not miss the look of fear on the faces of the men, of course, the strong men tried to hide their uneasiness, but they did not succeed.

Joyce frowned, he didn't feel well, the air was fishy, he knew it was the smell of seawater, but the smell was so vivid that night, and the passage leading to the morgue was dark and narrow, like the throat of a giant monster, ready to devour the humans who walked into it.

Years of experience in handling cases had given Joyce a vague premonition that a long, dark night would await him.

But none of his thoughts were revealed on the outside.

For the rest of the people present, they only saw the capable and legendary agent walk into the corridor with a calm face on his usual face.

A few steps later, Joyce saw Han, whose cuffs were rolled up to the cuffs and his back was leaning against the wall. Not far from Han is the gate of the morgue.

Perhaps because of the lighting, Han's face was as blue and white as a dead man, and he looked a little gloomy and restless. But after saying hello, he looked up at Joyce, and the Asian man's face was serious, but his eyes were calm.

"Do you still like the ringtones I changed for you?"

Han raised his hand and waved weakly at Joyce before asking.

"How's it going?"

Joyce asked calmly.

Han straightened up and motioned for Joyce to walk into the morgue herself.

"It's basically hell. He said as he followed Joyce's back.

Joyce walked towards the morgue, his pace had been steady all along, but this time his pace slowed.

A steady stream of blood and stench poured from the open door. Joyce had to take out a handkerchief and put it over his nose before he walked into the room.

Well, this time his partner didn't talk gibberish - after seeing the scene in the morgue clearly, Joyce thought to himself.

He saw many fragments, fragments of corpses.

Blood splattered on the floor, walls, and ceiling, and every freezer compartment was opened, and pieces of meat were chopped up and restacked in the freezer.

Eyeballs to eyeballs, skin to skin, bones to bones, and internal organs to internal organs......

"Whoever that person is, the person who did all this is clearly a perverted storage freak. I mean, even if that guy didn't think about killing, he could get to the level of a psychopath just by simply taking care of the family. ”

Joyce heard Han muttering bitterly behind his back.

I have to say that finding that her partner still retains a certain degree of meanness and sarcasm in this environment actually made Joyce feel a little relieved.

"How many victims?" Joyce asked.

He didn't take a few more steps inside, but stood cautiously in the doorway and surveyed everything in the room.

"I think we need to get more people to take care of the scene. ”

Joyce continued.

"I've rushed them. Call...... I don't know how many victims there were, you know, they're all shattered like that now......" Han poked his head out from Joyce's back like a third-year schoolboy and pointed to the freezer, "but from what I've observed, the cabinet is filled with Coroner Midali, Assistant Coroner Angel, nurse Anna, janitor Alexander. ”

Following Han's fingertips, Joyce saw four pairs of eyeballs in a freezer.

The eyeballs hadn't even become cloudy yet, and the direction of the pupils was facing the doorway.

In a trance, Joyce even felt that the four people were still standing there, and perhaps the poor people in the dimension that Joyce couldn't see were staring at the two police officers at the door.

Joyce frowned, he noticed that his thoughts were a little out of control tonight.

But he still couldn't stop his thoughts.

Coroner, assistant, nurse, janitor...... It was supposed to be an ordinary night for them, but now their lives came to an abrupt end.

Without warning or warning, they died, their bodies cut into small pieces and piled up together, as if to satisfy the bad taste of a psychopath.

Do they know that the police are coming? Do they know that they are going to be in the sight of other people in this way?

Joyce thought uncontrollably.

"This guy is really perverted, he must have a serious mental illness. ”

Han was still muttering.

Joyce added on his words: "And quite a great deal of unanatomy......"

The chopped dissecter, neither the dissecting officer himself, nor the hapless assistant, was of such skill.

Joyce didn't have proof, but his instincts were telling him so.

Those victims must have been tormented before they died, and the pain they suffered was rare and appalling.

And Joyce's instincts were now telling him to get out of here quickly, his muscles tensing unconsciously, goosebumps on his skin.

"It may be a bit unprofessional to say that, but I always find this place creepy. Han poked Joyce in the back, and he deliberately lowered his voice and said cautiously, "I've seen a lot of crime scenes, oh, sorry, I remember you know that - but there's never been a place that scares me like this." Honestly, I suspect I've started leaking pee...... Do you think we should get out of here and let the clean-up guys take care of this place first?"

Joyce came to his senses, and he tore Han off his body and exited the morgue.

He was controlling the urge to vomit in his body.

"All the people here tonight are dead, are there any survivors, witnesses?"

After a moment's pause, he looked at Han.

Han winked at him.

"Do you want to hear good news or bad news?" he asked.

Joyce ignored it, he looked at Han coldly.

His gaze made Han smile bitterly.

“…… The good news is that we have a valuable eyewitness. Han spoke quickly, pausing a little suspiciously before continuing, "The bad news is that the guy is delirious. ”

……

John the old poisonous insect has been wandering around the hospital site for many years. He had been to many places these days, but in the end he felt most comfortable in the area behind the hospital—it was close to the morgue, and his peers did not usually choose this place to spend the night, supposedly because it was unlucky, but John Sr. felt that it would hurt to be a little closer to the place where he always had to stay while he was alive.

But today it's just an accident.

Very perverse accidental.

He was struggling with his rotten leg, which had been completely broken, and he was trying to convince his leg to stop hurting, after all, he hadn't had the money to cool himself off for a long time.

Then, he heard the sound of the back door leading to the morgue being opened.

He was familiar with the sound, and because of the aging of the door shaft, the grinding sound of the door was always very harsh when it opened. Old John didn't pay much attention to the voice, after all, people don't choose the time of their own death. He thought it was some hapless man who had killed him, and he lay down stiff and was taken to the morgue.

He didn't know what he was thinking, but he somehow felt that something was wrong.

Maybe it was because he hadn't heard the corpse cart start again for a long time after the door opened?

Or is it ......

That fog.

Suddenly, the mist poured into the streets, writhing and crawling on the ground like living creatures.

Old John felt as if he had been bewitched, and he staggered to his feet and followed the mist towards the back door of the hospital......

Then he saw "it."

"It's the devil, the devil has appeared. ”

A muffled voice squeezed out of the old man's crooked mouth, and a bit of saliva hung shiny on his knotted beard.

In the police station, Joyce and Han glanced at each other tacitly.

The old man in front of him was in a terrible state of mind, the drugs had destroyed his brain, and even worse was that he was very frightened - no matter who the killer who committed the autopsy room tragedy, he was really good at scaring people.

After hearing the policeman's questioning, the old man kept repeating this sentence.

"Devil, Devil, the gates of hell are open, the devil will kill everyone, he will! Devil!"

The old man seemed very agitated, and he kept banging on the table, screaming hoarsely.

"What does the devil look like...... John, look at me, tell me, what does that terrible devil look like? You saw him, right? So did he see you? Did he have anything to say?"

Han's body leaned forward slightly, as if he didn't smell the heavy stench of the homeless man, and he asked softly.

For the past few dozen minutes, he has been repeating his questioning.

"The Devil ......"

However, this is the only answer they get.

"Oh fuck—"

Joyce heard Han turn to the side and cursed in a dejected voice that only the two of them could hear.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and a young police officer poked his head out from behind the door.

"Sir, the on-site investigation indicates that the body on the beach ......"

The young man's face was unusually pale, and his eyes were wide, and he looked like a child who had seen a horror movie.

By the way, he has a very ordinary, ordinary gray-green eyes. And at this moment, Joyce, Han, and himself didn't realize that there was something wrong with the color of that eye.

And before the young officer could finish speaking, old John suddenly fell into a state of madness.

"The Devil...... Woowoowoo...... It's scary...... It is the most terrifying ...... The Darkest ...... Woo woo I'm so scared......"

The old man's eyes fluttered rapidly, and a scream of terror gushed out of his throat.

Then he tumbled out of his chair, his limbs held high on all fours, and he trembled like an electric shock.

"John!"

Han jumped up, and he pressed heavily on the old man's body, trying to hold down the old man in the spasms.

He grabbed a pen and shoved it into Old John's mouth, foamy saliva spilling out of the latter's mouth, and the old man's face turned a terrifying blue in a matter of seconds.

"Call an ambulance - call someone!"

Han turned his head and shouted at the stunned young police officer at the door.

And at this moment, he felt the old and emaciated expansive shell under him relax completely.

His heart tightened, and then he heard the strange voice.

"That's the shadow of light and shadow, that's the evil of chaos, that's the enemy of God, the opposite of light. ”

Han lowered his head in disbelief, the person who spoke was really Old John.

The old man stared blankly at the ceiling, his voice sounding rather ethereal, as if it came from his lungs rather than by the vibrations of his vocal cords. Han felt himself trembling, he felt terrified—the old man's eyes were even wilder than the craziest maniac, but he lay there motionless, his expression blank, like a doll that had been drained of power.

“…… It has no body but it is about to have, the weaker its opposite is, the stronger it becomes, and eventually it will cross the border between reality and the underworld to come into this world, it will open the door, it will open the door completely, it will bring blood and death to this decaying and depraved world.

"It will show its loyalty to its own monarch. ”

"It will—"

A large amount of blood gushed out of the old man's nostrils and mouth, causing his words to come to an abrupt halt.

Han held his movements sluggishly, gasping as if he was about to suffocate, and the old man's blood trickled down his hair and clothes.

And old John is dead.

Joyce rushed over, and he picked Han up, and then he took off his coat and wiped the blood from Han's body desperately.

For the first time, his hands trembled.

"Hey, are you okay? Han, Han ......"

"Red Deer. ”

Han whispered dumbly.

"What?"

Joyce's hand stopped.

Han raised his eyes to Joyce's gaze—

"What old John said...... It's what the serial killer Red Deer once said......" Probably because of the impact on his spirit before, Han's words were a little incoherent, "Do you remember? The crooked ways that the dog called Red Deer advertised before, what 'door', what 'chaos', damn I can't remember...... But I'm sure this case has something to do with Red Deer......"

Han grabbed Joyce's wrist and he kept talking.

Joyce's eyes were colder and more grim than ever, and he felt very worried—Han himself may not have realized it yet, but Joyce knew that Han was scared.

It wasn't a fear of the notorious serial killer Red Deer, but a fear of the outlandish rhetoric promoted by the guy called Red Deer.

And in fact, Joyce himself ......

He must admit that he was born in his own heart, and there was also an emotion called fear fermenting.

Joyce believed that this irrational, unwarranted fear was the same as that felt by the trembling partner in front of him......

It will open the door. 】

……

"Next up are the best songs of the week from the 'Happy Birds'......"

Calvin slowly opened his eyes to the sound of motors and electronic music broadcasts.

The faint vibration of the car as it was moving, the golden sunlight shining through the windows into the interior of the cabin, and the slightly over-sufficient air conditioning of the air conditioner, made Calvin even wonder what year it was and where he was.

"It's ......"

He sat up straight in obtuseness, staring blankly at his surroundings.

There was a faint ache in the corner of his forehead, probably because he had been resting his head against the car window.

"Are you awake?"

A voice of surprise came from beside him, and he turned his head to see the handsome man in the driver's seat.

"Dimension...... Reed?"

Calvin felt as if his brain had been poured into a pulp, and he felt dizzy and difficult to think.

To make matters worse, his whole body was aching, as if he had played a rugby game with someone while sleepwalking the night before.

The night before......

Suddenly, all the events of the previous night came back to Calvin's memory.

"Gross-"

The horrific scene caused Calvin to retch.

Reed, on the other hand, looked a little panicked.

"Calvin, my God, are you alright?"

The car shuddered slightly, then slowly drove to the side of the road and stopped.

Ridra picked up the handbrake, and then he unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to hold Calvin's shoulder.

Calvin felt the other man caressing his back and forehead.

Then he heard Reed's characteristic sweet, magnetic whisper.

"It's gone, my dear, it's all gone—"

It took a long time for Calvin to calm down under the reassurance of the other party.

"That's a nightmare, isn't it?"

These were the first words Calvin said to Reed as he looked up.

Then he saw Reed stunned.

"Last night was indeed a nightmare. ”

Reid said.

It was daytime, the sun was shining and the temperature was pleasant, but Calvin still felt chills all over his body. He grabbed the hands Reed was holding on top of him with his backhand, like a drowning man grasping a life-saving rope.

"I ...... Oh, my God...... What's going on......"

He asked, trembling.

"You've fainted. Then, I'll find a way to get you out of there. ”

Reed replied.

Calvin knew that he was avoiding his own inquiry, and a tyrannical anger rose in his heart.

But he reacted quickly. He knew he was still in a rather abnormal state, or more appropriately described as panicked.

He let go of Reed and forced himself to take a long deep breath before he looked around.

Calvin found himself sitting in an expensive SUV that was rather unfamiliar but visible to the naked eye. The body was tall enough for him to see the environment outside. He and Reed were apparently in a bustling city with commercial buildings and people on the roadside.

Facing his side window was the ice cream parlor, and he saw the young mother push the door open with her child, who was holding a mint chocolate ice cream.

Everything seemed so peaceful, no dark corridors, no dark rooms, no doors—pale hands and strange voices behind the doors.

Calvin shuddered.

"We ...... Where are we ......"

Reed replied to him with a place name, and Calvin tried to hear it, but white noise rang in his ears.

“…… It's also a great resort, it's very crowded during the season, and I know you don't really like crowded places...... But in this case...... Cover up our whereabouts. ”

Calvin could only hear Reed's words intermittently.

Zizi ...... Multiply......

There seemed to be some sound left in his cochlea, the subtle grinding sound of "it" talking last night, and the sound of electricity that seemed to have been disturbed.

That's an auditory hallucination.

Calvin had to work hard to overcome himself so that he wouldn't scream like a madman with his ears clutched.

Then he saw Reed lean over and kiss him softly on the forehead.

"You're in a bad state, Calvin, and I'll take you somewhere to settle down first. Then you can have a good rest, you can have a good meal, and then I'll figure out how to explain that to you -- you don't have to think about anything until then, okay? The best thing you should do now is to empty yourself. ”

Suddenly, Calvin's ears fell silent.

Auditory hallucinations are gone.

Calvin looked at Reed in a daze and nodded, he felt as if his soul had been lost somewhere, and there was no way to find the way back to his body for a long time.

It was precisely because of this that he could only obediently obey Reed's arrangement like a child - obviously someone he was already familiar with, but Calvin still felt that there was a trace of strangeness in the man next to him.

He had a kind of ...... inexplicably Those who want to listen and cling to each other.

Reid then expertly drove the car back to the road, weaving his way through the city's intricate road network for a moment.

Then the car stopped.

The author has something to say: transitional chapters......

Subtle kind of like Joyce and Han...... 166 Reading Network