Six hours later, the refurbished "Rowos" once again spewed white smoke and galloped across the vermilion soil of South Africa.

Everything seems to be back to normal.

After lunch, Sasha was about to take a nap as usual, so Anthony took a copy of "Nineteenth-Century German Alternative Philosophy" borrowed from the train library—some of the theories in it aroused his desire to read, and he sat under the well-lit window to read the book, and in the single bed not far away, Sasha slept well, and he could hear her slight breathing, and intermittent teeth grinding. Although Anthony is a good doctor in all respects, especially in psychology and pediatrics (which happened after Sasha was born), he can't take a good look at this little problem with Sasha.

Anthony stared at the glass of lemonade for a moment, making sure it wouldn't shatter suddenly, before he began to read the book.

"Mr. Hopkins!"

A shrill scream pierced the room, Sasha let out a low scream and curled up, and Anthony almost at the end of the second word, crossed a distance of nearly four meters, pulled the door open, pressed the visitor's face, and pressed him all the way to the window in the hallway, the back of his head hit the window of the car with a loud crashing sound.

"Mrs. White, do you have anything to do with me?"

Anthony asked politely, but his right hand, which had almost grasped the skinny woman's entire face, did not mean to relax.

"Please tell me that my daughter is taking a nap and that you have disturbed her."

Only then did he slowly let go of Chalisi. White, who looked at the big, skinny hand in horror, "Doctor, my son, he, he's convulsed again. ”

She cried softly: "I'm sorry to disturb you repeatedly, but there are still more than ten hours to the next stop, and it is too late to find the on-site doctor......"

"Father?"

Dressed in a large shawl of fine wool and a lovely fluffy slipper, Sasha stood at the door, and the afternoon sun shone on her, and she looked like a little angel.

It's just that there are too many things in her eyes that don't mean anything.

"I'll go right away."

Anthony said, but his eyes weren't looking at Charles.

By the time Sasha had been dressed with Mrs. Wilson's help and had gone to Mrs. Charles's room, there had been a crowd of people gathered there, each offering their condolences to her grieving mother, and then she saw her father, who was hidden in an unobtrusive corner.

"Again?"

"Again."

Anthony replied, then picked Sasha up.

"Mr. Hopkins," the conductor chased after him, "thank you, thank you very much." ”

"That's what I'm supposed to do."

Anthony slightly bowed. "The kid had a seizure this morning, and I suggest it's better to take him to the hospital at the next stop." ”

"We think so too, but Mrs. White stubbornly thinks there will be no more problems." The conductor shrugged: "I'll try to take a doctor on the train at the next stop." ”

"Conductor ......"

"What?"

"Did you know? The child's eyes ......"

"Huh?"

"It's blue-gray, like the sky before the rain."

"Oh?"

Anthony smiled at the confused conductor, walked into his room, and slammed the door behind him.

"Rowos" continues to gallop......

The next day, the train arrived in Kimberley, the famous diamond city of South Africa, although Anthony also has some research on diamonds, this does not mean that he will be interested in diamonds, Sasha is not old enough to be interested in diamonds, so the two decided to rest on the train, read a book or play chess.

At dusk, the passengers returned to the train, and Anthony and Sasha seemed to feel a little more satisfied than the ladies who had returned with a full load, and they had a whole day of peace.

The train started slowly, and after half an hour, the conductor slowly shook down the corridor with a silver bell in his hand, summoning the passengers to the dining car for dinner.

Anthony, who is holding Sasha, meets Chariss in the corridor who has not appeared for the same day. Mrs. White, she took her son's hand, the little boy with the blue gray eyes and told him to walk slowly with her, she was wearing a different suit from yesterday, but the texture seemed to be a little worse, her face was still very pale, her eyes were full of tiredness, the child beside her looked just as bad, her eyes were dull, her hands as thin as a stick grasped her mother's two fingers, and her legs were playing ugly outer figures, trembling, no different from the old man who was about to die.

"Good evening, Mrs. White."

"Ah, it's you, Mr. Hopkins," Chariss seemed to notice them: "Richa," she shook her hand as she grasped the child, "thank you, gentleman, he saved you twice!" Richard! Say 'thank you~thank you~'! ”

The kid looked up and looked blankly at Anthony and Sasha, "Thank you." With that, he immediately lowered his head.

"No thanks, Richard."

Anthony said, then sideways to make way for them.

He and Sasha watched silently as the two emaciated figures staggered towards the dining cart.

Halfway through dinner, Richard collapsed again.

The doctor who was with him arrived in a hurry, and after repeating what Anthony had done before, the child's condition slowed down, but his lips were still dark purple and he was unconscious.

"Mrs. White, you need to get the child to the hospital immediately."

"I ...... I know, I, I know, but ......"

Charis grabbed the hem of the suit uneasily, "If you can still ...... If it's okay, I hope to be able to continue with Richard for the rest of my trip. She looked at the crowd in front of her: "I will take care of him." She said firmly.

×××

"This column of 'Rowos' is really a lot of disasters."

The head of the Cape Town Police said, a little gloating.

"First the explosion, then the two passengers missing, ah, the two guys you're looking for...... And before you came, I got another report that one of their passengers had died, poisoned. ”

He brought a simple dossier: "This is the report record at that time. You can see it, but you can't make copies, please ask the conductor Bill for details. ”

"Thank you very much!"

Jack gently kicked Katherine under the table: "Don't be so bold, Katherine, we're not the CIA (CIA Foreign Service), it's good to have this stuff in hand." ”

"I understand."

Catherine lowered her head and stared at the instant coffee in her cup, as if she could tell the killer inside.

Jack had to look through the file with a wry smile, and it was very simple, and he could only see one thing, that is, two people had disappeared from a train.

"We got on the bus and investigated, and the explosion seemed to be caused by some kind of chemical, such as liquid butane, under the influence of high temperatures; As for your two friends...... We suspected that they were the perpetrators of the bombing, and of course, they are still suspected...... Oh, lady, don't get too excited, really, don't get too excited. ”

"Catherine!"

Jack called Catherine's name, pressed her shoulder, and forced her back into her seat.

"How I wish my powers were aggressive!"

Catherine's voice was low, so low that only Jack and herself could hear.

"You have to remember, Katherine," Jack reminded her in the same low but serious voice, "no matter what type of power you have, our mission this time is to track, not hunt, all you have to do is identify the target, and then the headquarters will send someone to solve the matter, don't try the stupid things Martin and Maria did, you know?" ”

"Okay, okay," realizing that he had said something he shouldn't have said, the person in charge immediately made a retreat gesture, "You guys take your time here, I'm going to -......"

"No, we don't look at it, thank you for your help."

Jack picked up Catherine and picked up his coat.

"We'll catch up now!"

×××

When the two arrived at Pretoria, the terminal of the "Rowos", they were not without dismay to find that the two-day and two-night excursion had ended 12 hours earlier, and the passengers had already dispersed.

"Yes, there was a gentleman who took his little daughter on this 'Rowos' train."

The conductor received them in the dining car, and he pointed to the two names that we were already very familiar with: "Anthony. Hopkins, Sasha. Hopkins. He's a doctor. ”

"Do you remember what they looked like?"

“…… Well, Mr. Hopkins is probably 6 feet tall, about 40-45 years old, gray hair, blue eyes, very good taste in dressing, polite, and his daughter, that lovely Sasha, about 6-7 years old, with blond curly hair, amethyst eyes, very beautiful. ”

Catherine and Jack looked at each other, this Hopkins had at least 3 characteristics in common with the Black Sacrifice, and his daughter also had the same blonde hair and purple eyes as the Black Sacrifice's prey. Hopkins. But on this basis, it is impossible to prove that he has anything to do with the disappearance of these two men.

"By the way, can we see the room where he stayed?"

"Of course, please come with me, he lives in car 10, but I'm afraid there is nothing to see, because ......." The conductor had a wry smile on his face: "The attendant has cleaned every room after the passengers have left the train...... Oh my God, what's wrong with your companions! ”

The intense malice rushed towards Catherine, her breathing was difficult, her limbs were paralyzed, and her whole person slowly slid down the wall of the corridor, unable to move.

"Catherine, Catherine?"

Jack crouched down and hugged a limp Catherine, her muscles spasming slightly.

"I didn't ...... What, Jack," Catherine struggled, "it's the kid, he'...... ...... will have convulsions."

"Got it, I'll help you get out of here first."

"No...... Go on. ”

"Need my help? Do you want to call the on-site doctor? ”

The conductor asked.

"Ah, thanks, she just had a rest."

Jack looked at the door, it wasn't car 10.

"Who lives here?"

"This ...... You should know too, I seem to be cursed," the poor conductor took off his hat and rubbed it in his hand: "The passenger who lives here, Charis. White, her son, poisoned his mother by pouring nitrite into the afternoon snack we were serving. ”

Jack shuddered suddenly, and his hands became colder than Catherine's.

In car 10, Jack and Catherine found nothing, and Catherine even picked up everything and sat in every place, feeling a warm, comfortable and sweet atmosphere, without a trace of thoughts that could be attributed to negativity.

She gave Jack a wry smile, could it be that this Hopkins really had nothing to do with Martin and Maria's disappearance?

"I'd like to go see Chalisi. White's son. ”

Catherine said.

Richard. White was temporarily held in a ward in the children's unit of the Red Cross Hospital in Pretoria, and when Catherine saw him, she barely believed her eyes.

"Oh my God, how old is he? How could such a young child understand ......"

"He's five years old," explained the female doctor who accompanied him, "but because of malnutrition and constant seizures, which caused him to be stunted, and he didn't fully understand what he was doing, as we understood that he was simply imitating his mother's usual behavior." ”

"Charis. White? ”

"Yes," the doctor frowned, "she often sprinkled nitrite on biscuits for her children, you know, that medicine can cause convulsions in young children...... She seemed to be having fun. ”

"Why would she do that?"

"That's what we want to know."

The doctor seemed to suddenly remember something: "Is your department called 'Agency'?" ”

She looked at Catherine and Jack, "There's a gentleman who Richard likes and says, 'If there's someone from the Agency,' ask me to give them this gift." ”

She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a thin square gift.

"Are you?"

"Yes." Catherine took a deep breath and reached out to take it before Jack could stop her.

A chill ran straight through Catherine's body like electricity, and she let out a scream and lost consciousness.

When Catherine woke up, she was lying in a hospital bed, and Jack was sitting in front of it, looking at her with concern.

"How are you feeling?"

"It's bad."

"I think so, do you remember what you did?"

"I remember screaming."

"You fall to the ground, desperately clutching the floor, your fingernails are bleeding, you cry out loudly, your voice is full of despair, you cry for help, you pray, your eyes are dull and terrified."

"Is it really that bad?"

"I'm talking about less than a tenth of what you've done, and if I hadn't explained to them that you broke down because of your friend's death, they'd have put you in bondage clothes."

"Thanks, and I'm sorry, Jack."

"No, do you want to know what that gift is driving you crazy?"

He held up to Catherine a CD with a cover of the Pilgrimage of the Virgin Mary and the Son painted by the Church of Corried, with the title "Ave Maria".

×××

"Charis. White considers herself the Virgin, and every convulsion of Richard is her stage—playing a grief-stricken mother full of infinite love, who is centered on her, tolerated her, honored by her, and praised for her patience and courage; This is a kind of behavior similar to religious sadism, which often appears in human beings who are lackluster in appearance and family history and intelligence, they want to be noticed, but there is nothing worth seeing, so they can only secretly vent their anger on animals or people around them who have no ability to resist, and then exaggerate their sadness or other emotions to win the sympathy and appreciation of others, this behavior is fast and convenient and not dangerous, so they only need to do it once, It's going to go on again and again. …… Above, the analysis is complete. ”

In the en-suite study of a lavish private hotel in Pretoria, as he had been in the academy or in the theatre many years ago, Anthony Murphy had done so much. Mr. Hopkins ended his speech gracefully, and although this time there was only Sasha in the audience, the beautiful little princess stood up sincerely and gave a thin but absolutely enthusiastic applause.

"It's wonderful, Professor Hopkins, it's wonderful."

"Thank you, thank you very much."

Anthony replied solemnly.

"Oh, I remember I forgot something."

Bill, our unfortunate conductor, slapped himself on the head: "I forgot about Mr. Hopkins's serpent, I forgot to tell them." Uh, what about the phone number they gave me? ……”