(It's finally time to come.) ）

Prison Warden Carlton stood outside the iron door of the confinement cell and looked at the "Red Deer" when he heard a voice in his heart speak to him calmly and clearly.

He wasn't sure if he should be nervous or relaxed - when his old friend Imogen was helped out, he was told about the elderly prison priest's previous gaffes, and the two prison guards on duty were both injured at different times, and Carlton's instincts told him that it wasn't over yet, however, on the other hand, Carlton had to admit that he had finally waited for a "second boot," that he knew there was going to be a problem before the day came, and now it had finally arrived.

"What did you do?!"

Carlton asked in a low voice, his gaze falling over the bars to the young man in the confinement room, who was now completely silent, his hands and feet bound by heavy shackles, "Red Deer" relaxed his shoulders, his hands neatly resting on his knees, sitting hunched over the edge of the narrow bed, hearing Carlton's question, he slowly raised his head and met Carlton's eyes.

From this angle, the right side of his face and jaw were swollen, and the bruising had turned his skin an eerie purplish red. However, his demeanor turned out to be calm...... Even said to be happy, his eyes flashed with a sweet look as if he was in love.

"I found my light. ”

"Red Deer" blinked his eyes, his lips pursed, and his voice was childishly lowered as he spoke to Carlton.

"Light?"

――Is it the Adventist "angel"?

Carlton felt a heavy shadow run over his chest, and he remembered the intense shock he had felt to him when he first saw the child today.

So even a demon like "Red Deer" was deeply attracted to that child?

Thinking of this, even Carlton himself could not explain the sudden disgust and anger that came to his heart.

He took a deep breath, maintaining the decent composure that a prison warden should have when dealing with inmates, even if his expressionless appearance was shaky.

"Red Deer" tilted his head at him and let out a silent sneer, and it was clear that Carlton's attempt to hide his feelings had failed.

The prison warden, who had been suffering from insomnia for a long time, had red bloodshot eyes and was breathing heavier and heavier.

"For God's sake, I don't know what you've done—you must have done something, to this prison, to the people here, to my old friend Imogin—but I don't care about that, you're going to die, yes, you're going to die. ”

For the first time in his long prison career, Carlton spoke in such a furious voice to another person, whether to a subordinate or to an inmate. Now he even looked hideous, his fist slammed into the iron door of the confinement chamber with a loud "thud".

"Red Deer" looked at Yiqiē in front of him motionlessly, his eyes turned into the shape of a crescent moon because of his smile, and his pale pupils shone with a small reflection like a cat. His eyes overflowed with sweet smiles, happiness, and pride.

"Yes, I'm going to die now. "But God has forgiven me—His Blood will give me new life." ”

"You attacked an innocent child—"

"Oh, by the way, you know what......" "Red Deer" interrupted Carlton without politeness, his face suddenly solemnized, and his voice was lowered.

Carlton's body froze, and he looked at the "red deer" warily.

"My light...... The taste is very sweet. ”

As he spoke, "Red Deer" stuck out his tongue and slowly licked it along his beaten lips.

He narrowed his eyes, looking almost intoxicated by the memories he had just had......

The Carlton warden's cheeks, bulging as he gritted his teeth too closely, lifted his wrist and looked at his watch, there were only a few hours left before the execution of "Red Deer": just enough time for the young man to shave his brown hair and eat dinner.

The ticking dial made Carlton suddenly feel reassured.

He looked up and glanced at the "Red Deer": yes, this man was going to die - whether he was a demon or something else - he was going to die anyway. Carlton repeated this in his own heart.

Even he didn't realize that it was actually a simple self-soothing.

"Red Deer" yawned slightly, and he bowed his body again, ignoring Carlton. He closed his eyes, the smile on his lips never faded, and he hummed an incoherent song from his nose, grinning in such a way that even Bernard Amy, who came in to help him shave his hair, trembled with fear.

It wasn't until much later, long enough that Bernard Amy had been away from Jay Bay Federal Prison for many years – the male prison hospital nurse who worked part-time to shave the heads of death row inmates still remembers what "Red Deer" looked like.

"He was very upset, very, very upset, and he told me not to touch his hair, and I said to him, 'Hey, man, if you don't get the hair off your head, it'll burn later, and maybe you're not dead when it burns.'... God, I didn't scare him, there was an unlucky guy who was electrocuted and his hair was burning, and you could smell the burning scalp...... Oh, sorry, I seem to be talking about other things before I know it. Anyway, 'Red Deer' doesn't like people touching his hair, and he keeps muttering that it doesn't look good, why would a hell of a condemned prisoner care so much about his hairstyle?Anyway, I can't help it, I still have to shave his hair, and you can feel the gaze he gave to you at that time - if it were possible, I think he would even bite my throat and suck my brain out of my nose. ”

Bernard Amy was always chattering to the biographers who came to interview him. Of course, those people's biographies are all about that legendary serial killer...... But that's another story.

Let's go back to reality, to the moment when the life of the "Red Deer" is heading towards the countdown, to the cold, oppressive Jay Bay Federal Penitentiary.

Red Deer has finished his last supper.

He didn't eat much, but drank the glass of red wine he had ordered - it was a bargain from the supermarket, but "Red Deer" drank it without a drop, and not only that, he twisted the white toast slices from the "Last Supper" and put them into the empty wine glass, wiped the remaining liquor from the walls of the glasses, and then carefully put the white toast slices into his mouth and chewed them carefully. And it was the only solid food he ate.

All the way up to Tamsin Quark, who was the executioner of the execution, stuffed a natural sponge soaked in salt water between the ankle and the electrodes of the red deer, the people in this prison waited for something to happen.

It's hard to describe exactly what that "what" is - but even the most sluggish person can feel the oppressive atmosphere.

It's like a storm is coming.

It was a strange feeling, even though the "Red Deer" was already sitting in the electric chair, and on the other side of the wall of the execution chamber, the witnesses were already sitting in their chairs waiting to watch the execution of the "Red Deer" - but everyone, including Tamsin Quark, including the Carleton warden, including the terrified prison guards, had an inexplicable feeling that something would happen to prevent the death of the "Red Deer".

Tamsin Quark rubbed his sweaty nose as he checked the electrodes on Red Deer one last time, and they were all ready. Before "Red Deer" actually sat on the old electric chair, he had double-checked the operation of the electric chair with dozens of light bulbs, and he was very sure that the equipment was working properly, and the current could easily roast the person sitting on the chair, but Tamsin Quark Yi Jiu felt a little uneasy, and the evidence was that his nose and forehead were sweating.

He couldn't help but look at the Carlton warden in the corner of the execution chamber, and he waited for the other man to take off his glasses - every time the warden took off his glasses in the execution chamber and wiped the lenses with an old blue-and-white Egyptian cotton handkerchief, it meant "the time is up." Tamsin Quark looked at the warden several times, but the glasses never came off.

A feeling called restlessness is like a tiny electric current flowing through Tamsin Quark's nerves in his body.

He sweated even harder.

He glared at the warden, who had an old-fashioned apple-green telephone on the wall behind him. Sometimes, the bell rings before he drops the switch, and some of the condemned prisoners will be freed, some will come a month later, and some will be a few days later...... Even an hour later to come back to this room again. For the latter, Tamsin Quark always felt that it was better to let these poor people go free at the beginning, knowing that there was nothing more difficult than waiting for the death penalty.

Both for the death row inmates themselves and for the staff involved in the matter.

In the other corner of the warden's diagonal room, Imokin, who was supposed to be resting, held the cross with Calvin's picture tightly in his arms, and he looked as if he was ten years old, with messy hair and purple droopy bags under his eyes. The eyeballs embedded in the sagging eyelids are blood-red, and they stare motionlessly at the "red deer" on the electric chair.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Imogen stepped forward, holding the Bible in his hand, and looked condescendingly at the "red deer" and spoke.

"You have three minutes of last word time. ”

He said.

The lips on the side of the "Red Deer" lifted slightly upward.

"I hope - you will hold my hand and spend it with me when the switch is pulled. ”

"Red Deer" said cheerfully to Imogin.