LVPD, Group 5 Office.

"These can't be made-up, can they?" A group of men in straight suits in the fifth group led by Carl looked at the files, recordings, and photos with each other.

Dean shook his head,

"If you don't believe me, you should believe in Holden Ford's credibility."

"If you have any questions, you can always contact the Santa Monica Police Department for verification." Holden Gang Cavity Road,

"How is this possible?" Carl looked at the photo of Kelly Scott's murder and touched the shiny bald head in distress, "Santa Monica, Las Vegas, hundreds of miles, two months apart, two cases of the same type, the two murderers do not know each other, but both have conclusive evidence. ”

"Amazing coincidence."

"Stop categorizing the incomprehensible into a coincidence, it's the 'serial killer' behind them that connects the two of them." Dean and Holden looked at each other, and then explained in depth his theory of severe scar pain, hypnosis, and murderer crimes.

Several police officers couldn't help but sneer.

"Shut up!"

Karl knocked on the table, lost in thought.

"This file, photos, and audio recordings are not enough?" Holden asked, "Or do you have a case to work on next?" ”

"Idle for the time being. District Attorney Hines has ample incriminating evidence and has picked out jealous jury members. The bushy black-haired Kruger interjected, "Once the trial begins, Abby and her barrister Luckville are doomed to defeat and sentenced to at least twenty years." ”

"Isn't that enough, listen to our arrangements and plans, and have anything to lose?" Dean snapped his fingers and looked at everyone sincerely, "Jack, Abby's parents, Bucky Fran's family, three stalking points, five or six people are enough." In case the real culprit is caught, your group will avoid a major mistake! ”

"You think so, too?" Karl looked at Holden scrutinically,

"At first, I thought the kid's hypothesis was a fantasy, but at his insistence, we discovered this almost impossible criminal file."

"If he got it right once, he got it right a second time."

Holden's gaze calmly swept over a group of agents from the Serious Crime Unit, and his tone was solemn,

"I believe him."

Hearing this, Carl rubbed the stubby black stubble on his chin and fell into deep thought,

Dean held his breath and waited for an answer, if even a few police officers couldn't convince him, how else could he deal with the real murderer!

"Holden, the FBI is usually 'annoying', but you are an exception, you have assisted the brothers in the bureau to solve a lot of cases in the past six months, and you have never disappointed everyone, since you vouch for Dean, OK, I believe you this time." Carl quickly made arrangements,

"Kruger, staring at Bar Owner Jack... It is important to keep an eye out for suspicious people around him. ”

"Carol and Ann go to the South End to protect Abby Clark's parents..."

"More and Chad are in charge of Bucky Fran's parents."

"Cheer up, don't expose yourself and be embarrassed."

"Don't worry, boss."

The team members who received the task left quietly and orderly.

Dean gave Holden a grateful look, and things began to go the way he had envisioned, with the third line of surveillance for the real culprit.

But this is a purely defensive strategy, and it is best to figure out which line the murderer will attack first!

"By the way, two," Carl said abruptly, as he put away his file, "the preliminary test results of that white tracksuit are out, and it's covered with various biological samples of Abby, alcohol, moldy and spoiled food scraps, and..."

Carl paused, a look of confusion on his face.

"And what?" Dean couldn't wait to ask,

"A very small amount, an unknown liquid. Not of humans," Karl mused, "and of most animals. ”

Dean's eyes lit up as he listened, and an inspiration suddenly occurred in his heart, but he felt that it was impossible.

"But it could also be some kind of complex chemical composition mixed in the bin, which needs to be further examined, and it doesn't seem to have much impact on the case at the moment." Carl shook his head and smiled, "Dean, this time there is a major breakthrough, I will give you half a day off." Go and appease your classmates, they're all going crazy in a hurry. ”

"We're watching this side of the case."

……

In the evening, dusk weaves a flaming red sunset in the sky.

In the bedroom of Gretchen's house on Old Street in the South End, Dean and a group of friends reunite.

"Why don't you take me with you when you go out of town? Suspicious of women causing trouble? Gretchen, with his long hair in a shawl with braided braids, sat cross-legged on the floor, fitted with stretch pants and a sports vest showing off his undulating curves.

But her eyes were not good, and Rust, Baker, Britney, and Jenny hid far away for fear of being attacked by the pond fish.

"Take a big beautiful woman to St. Quentin Prison?" Dean sniffed the faint aroma of the girl's hair beside her, looked at her sapphire eyes, and shook her head solemnly, "I can guarantee that those hungry and thirsty prisoners who haven't seen the opposite sex for decades will tear down the iron fence and rush out and eat you alive!" ”

Gretchen pursed his lips, but the fierceness in his eyes decreased slightly.

Baker quietly gave Dean a thumbs up, changed into a suit, became handsome, and his mouth became sweeter.

"Have you been to see Abby?" Dean asked,

Gretchen gritted his teeth and rubbed the sleeping golden retriever at his feet, "I'm in terrible shape, I've lost ten pounds... Several tattooed female prisoners stared at her with terrible eyes all day long, threatening and threatening to tear her bones apart and make her sleep poor. ”

"When Abby first entered the detention center, the guards stripped her naked and checked her inside and out." Britney's fair cheeks flushed with anger, "It's just a deliberate insult." ”

"That's the rule." Dean is now learning and selling, "to prevent prisoners from attacking people or committing suicide." ”

"Okay guys, stop complaining, back to business, what did you find in St. Quentin Prison?" Rust looked at Dean calmly,

"Abby's case is not an isolated case, the process is a bit metaphysical, are you sure you want to listen to it?"

"Don't underestimate people, we're not as good as cops in terms of professionalism, but we're young, quick-thinking, and everyone brainstorms," Gretchen tugged Radian's arm, "maybe it can help you spot the oversight!" ”

Dean groaned, his gaze swept over a pair of expectant eyes, told the abridged version of the case, and sternly warned everyone not to leak it.

"I'm sorry, that's weird," Rust shook his head, "I'll have to take care of it." ”

"I've got a mess in my head." Baker forced the smile in his heart and his expression distorted, "But Charlotte Holmes will be confused when she is reborn." ”

Dean looked at Gretchen and Britney, his eyes confused,

"The story is as complicated as the Bible, and it hurts my brain to hear it." Jenny shook the dreadlocks on the back of her head and tapped Dean's chest twice, "I only remember three points, serial killers, picking on children, hypnosis... But I had some inspiration. ”

Dean made a gesture of listening, and the others came back to their senses and pricked up their ears.

"Before middle school, whenever I didn't obey and sleep well, my grandmother would intimidate me like this..."Jenny clenched her hands into claws on either side of her chin and posed like a Tyrannosaurus rex, her mouth squeezed into an O-shape, and said in a thick voice, "The black witch will abduct the unbehaving child into the forest, crush it, boil it into ointment and apply it all over the body, and keep it forever young." ”

Rust nodded apprehensively, "Grace used to scare me like that, too, but not the Black Witch, she said the Grey Fairy." ”

"My dad said the tooth fairy." Baker interjected.

A group of people are enthusiastically discussing the shadows of childhood, leaving Abby behind.

Dean's face darkened.

Folklore stories span too much, how can they be connected to serial killers?

But he thought about it.

The murderer is by no means a god, but it may not be a human being, but an evil being.

It operates covertly and carries out crimes in Haiti.

It is cunning, may have existed in the world for a long time, and the sins committed are difficult to measure.

Even if these crimes are planted on the innocent, paper cannot contain fire, and there will always be traces of its crimes in the long history, so as to form a hidden legend.

For example, the Black Witch, the Grey Fairy, the Tooth Fairy...

In the case of the supernatural, it is time to let your imagination go and not miss any possibilities!

"Jenny, does your grandmother know any other folklore stories besides the Black Witch who scared the children?"

"You're asking the right question." Jenny said triumphantly, "Tribeca loves to collect all kinds of folklore stories... And she recorded them, and for more than forty years, she had memorized several thick tomes, hundreds of stories, American, Europa, Cuban, all of which were her treasures. ”

Dean smiled slightly,

"Is your grandmother free now, I would like to visit her and ask a little about something."

……

Jenny's home is in the outskirts of Vegas, a shabby, shabby, and harsh neighborhood.

Under the dim streetlights.

Dirty water and household garbage can be seen everywhere on the streets, and thugs with turbans, or dreadlocks, or tattoos are squatting in the corner, looking around with sinister eyes.

"Guys, you're here."

The group entered a low, old wooden house on the side of the road, and the years had left mottled marks on the walls, ceiling, creaking staircase, upturned or sunken wooden floors, and old furniture.

"Old fellow, I'm back!" Jenny threw her bag down the sofa and shouted,

"So early today?" An old woman in a green knitted sweater walked out of the kitchen on the first floor, pushed the reading glasses on the bridge of her nose, she looked in her sixties, her figure was slightly out of shape, her hair was gray, but there were not many wrinkles on her face, her back was not hunched, and her fair skin and facial features could vaguely show the beauty of her youth.

"Haha, my classmate is here!" Jenny rushed over and hugged the old man and kissed him heavily on the face, then turned around, "My boyfriend Baker, you've seen it, this is Gretchen, Rust, Britney, Dean." ”

"Good evening, Grandma Tribeca...", everyone greeted warmly,

"Haha, kids, have you all had dinner?" With a loving smile, the old man greeted warmly, "I just cooked a pot of bean pork rice, try it?" ”

"We've all had dinner." Dean smiled and declined, and asked instead, "I heard that you know a lot of folklore stories, and I want to ask about this." ”

The old man nodded in some surprise,

"As long as you don't dislike me for being verbose, you're welcome."

"That's it! Dean accompanies Tribeca, well, please be blessed, her old-fashioned stories make my ears callous. Others followed me upstairs to see the clothes I had recently bought. Without saying a word, Jenny grabbed Gretchen by the arm and went upstairs.

"Little daredevil, eighteen years old and so frizzy." The old man shook his head and sighed, slowly arranging his backpack on the couch, and then without saying a word, he brought Dean a bowl of oily rice and a bowl of Asyako soup with half of the corn suspended.

The rice is fragrant and fragrant, with clear grains, green beans, red pork and carrots, and yellow corn, which are very gratifying, and remind Dean of his favorite bacon stewed glutinous rice in his last life.

Obviously I had already eaten five beef burgers for dinner, and at this moment, the gluttonous worms in Dean's stomach began to stir again, so he no longer politely buried his head in munching,

The old man sat opposite, his eyes gentle and loving, like looking at his own grandson.

"By the way, it's a gift for you."

"You've got a heart."

The old man put the box in front of his nose and sniffed it, took out one, lit it, and the light filled the light with hazy smoke, and the shallow wrinkles on his face seemed to tell a story of vicissitudes.

"Dean, people who are generally interested in folklore are very old, how can you pay attention to this information at a young age."

Dean took a sip of vegetable soup, looked at the other party's deep gaze containing wisdom, thought about it, and said calmly,

"I was volunteering at LVPD, and I came across a case that was unbelievable. So, I wanted to see if I could find inspiration in folklore to solve the crime. ”

"Bold ideas, and only young people are so creative." The old man had a hint of appreciation on his face, and put a spoonful of rice into Dean's half-empty bowl,

"I have to ask you a question first, do you believe that there are evil supernatural beings in the world?"

"Of course... I believe in this by the fact that there are evil creatures in this world that cannot be explained by common sense and scientific knowledge," Dean said without thinking, "such as the devil and a few ghosts. ”

"Wicked few ghosts, you have the same tone as an old friend of mine named Marlene."

"Marlene Dallie?" Dean thought of the psychic expert he and Alvin had visited before dealing with the psychic level ghost Alexander Raphael, but unfortunately when he visited later, the other party had already gone far away.

"You know her?" Tribeca's eyes were pleasantly surprised,

"She's a true professional and she's been a great help to me in terms of psychics."

"Have you seen anything unscientific?" The old man asked,

Dean lowered his voice, "I won't hide it from you, I've seen it. ”

"Now that you've seen the dark side of this world, I'm no longer going to hide it." Tribeca tilted her head slightly and asked a strange question, "Do you think there is only one, or many?" ”

"There are many, and there is no end to the evil in the world." Dean said thoughtfully.

"Beautifully said. Then how do I know that you are not one of them, and you have come here to take the life of me, an expert. Tribeca snuffed out her cigarette and put her hands on the table with a dignified demeanor.

Dean put down the spoon in dismay, but noticed the smile on the corner of the old woman's mouth, and his heart moved, and he made a gesture of reaching out for his pocket, "Do you want to check my driver's license?" ”

"Haha," Tribeca laughed happily, "demons don't have humor cells, you've been verified." Now, let's talk about what the case is, and I'll see if I can get some useful information out of this stupid mind. ”

Dean described the two cases of Abby Clark and David Lee in great detail, including the details of the David's case, in which the two families of the victim and the murderer were almost dead.

After hearing this, Tribeca frowned and stared at the dining table for a long time, and the wrinkles on her face gradually unfolded in the dim light.

"The two cases you just talked about remind me of a terrible existence. Well, when you were a child, if you didn't be obedient and sleep well, your parents would tell you who would have come to you? ”

"Grandma Wolf... Big Bad Wolf... Traffickers..."

Tribeca's eyes flashed with pity, and she brought him another spoonful of rice.

Dean shook his arm cramping to block the spoon sent by the old man, "Don't, I really can't eat it!" ”

The old lady reluctantly put the spoonful of rice back on the plate, and continued,

"When I was a child, I heard my grandmother say that the sleeping fairy, El Cuco, would come and take away disobedient children. And when my grandmother was a child, she heard her grandmother say the same. ”

"Legends have been passed down from generation to generation."

Sleeping Fairy? Dean went through the word in his head, unremarkable.

The old man tilted his head slightly, and his tone was like reciting poetry,

"Sleep, child, sleep at once, or the sleeping fairy will come and eat you."

"But in fact, all ancient civilizations always have a bad habit-"

"Use fairy tales and legends to cover up the cruel historical truth and hide the traces of evil creatures that cannot be explained by science!"

Dean's face was straight, he knew that the point was coming,

"In Cuba, when we use the story of the Sleeping Fairy to warn our children, we say, 'Sleep, if you don't behave, El Cuco will take you and eat you.'"

"But we ought to warn our children like this—" a deep fear and disgust appeared in the wise eyes of the old man, "'It doesn't matter if you listen or not, for the sleeping fairy can catch whoever he wants!'" ’”

Catch whoever you want!

Whew-

The curtains shake.

A night breeze blew in through the kitchen window, and Dean only felt a chill in his back, how did a good fairy tale become a horror story?

"You specifically mentioned this sleeping fairy, do you think it was it, this legendary monster, who committed these two crimes?"

"Listen to me, the Sleeping Fairy is more than a legend."

Tribeca glanced at the second floor, spat out a smoke ring, and continued in a low voice,

"No chosen child of the sleeping fairy escapes its minions, for it can transform into anyone it wants to be, through a crescent scar mark, and to put the chosen one into a coma before and after committing the crime."

"The Sleeping Fairy hunts, blames, and hides through his real-life shapeshifting abilities."

Marked, lethargic, deformed?

Dean was shocked as if he had been struck by lightning—

Sleeping fairy transforms, hunting children?

Isn't it hypnosis?

Transfiguration was the first possibility he ruled out, and he subconsciously thought that deformation could not change DNA and blood!

Tribeca's expression was so serious that two nasolabial folds appeared on his face, explaining the doubts in his heart for him, "This kind of transformation is not just a layer of skin, growing taller or shorter, but a change in the essence of life from the inside out." ”

"A change in the nature of life?" Dean cautiously verified, "You mean, the sleeping fairy's deformation, appearance and DNA change at the same time?" ”

"DNA, is it the explanation of the nature of life in modern science?" Tribeca nodded, "Then I think so." Its deformation makes it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake by scientific means. ”

Dean squirmed in his throat and swallowed his saliva.

"Wait a minute, I'll have to sort it out."

Tribeca smiled thoughtfully,

"Think about it slowly. I can understand your feelings, many people nowadays do not accept things that they cannot understand, and classify them as coincidences or superstitions. If you don't accept the existence of the sleeping fairy, treat it as a boring horror story. ”

"No, I do! I've seen similar beings, but I have to think about it, sleeping fairies, shapeshifters, even DNA can deceive. ”

Dean looked at the rose-colored chandelier on the ceiling in a daze, breathing rapidly, and a large amount of vague information in his mind was entangled and mixed, and quickly became organized, arranged into a timeline, a logical chain!

Finally it makes sense!

His original assumption about hypnotizing Abby was wrong, so the progress of the system changed very little.

Crescent-shaped scars are not used to hypnotize murderers and make them commit crimes!

Rather, it is used by the sleeping fairy to mark the chosen one.

After the marking, the sleeping fairy will transform into the chosen one at some point in the future, from the inside out, in all directions, using this new identity to prey on and eat a child.

In Santa Monica, David Lee was marked by a scar and was unlucky enough to be the chosen one.

On July 22, the Sleeping Fairy killed Kelly Scott despite his identity and appearance, and re-labeled Abby Clark that night.

On September 20, the Sleeping Fairy dressed up in the special three-bar Adidas bought in Santa Monica and came to Las Vegas, transformed into Abby, killed Bucky Fran, and re-labeled Bar Owner Jack that night.

With such an analysis, Dean's previous doubts about sportswear have also been answered - why did the murderer deliberately rush from Santa Monica to Las Vegas, let Abby wear a white tracksuit, and commit another crime? This step is redundant and pointless.

Now Dean understands that this dress is worn on the sleeping fairy herself from beginning to end, and it is the one who bought the clothes in Santa Monica, and it is also the one who committed the crime!

And not long ago, Carl revealed that the very small amount of unknown liquid on the sports coat does not belong to people, nor to most animals-

It's a monster like the sleeping fairy, and the body fluids that accidentally got on it before it transformed!

This ancient existence does not know how clever modern detection methods are, so they leave flaws.

Two cases.

It carried on the skin of others, recklessly left a large amount of DNA, tooth marks, and blood at the scene of the crime, and deliberately dangled under the surveillance cameras.

It's all about blaming the chosen ones David and Abby, and creating ironclad incriminating evidence!

When the chosen ones are brought to justice and imprisoned, the case is officially closed.

The Sleeping Fairy, this clever predator, the real murderer, can change into a human form and continue to plague other regions!

Progress jumped to 80 percent.

……

"The legend of the Sleeping Fairy and the details of the crime are amazingly consistent!"

"I misjudged the transfiguration as hypnosis, but fortunately the general direction of the investigation was not wrong!"

The scales in Dean's mind immediately tipped in favor of this more plausible conclusion.

As for David and Ai's identical symptoms of fever, lethargy, and scarring pain, it now seems that it may have been a supernatural measure by the sleeping fairy to prevent the chosen ones from causing trouble.

Call... Suck...

Dean clenched his fists, took a deep breath, his eyebrows stretched, and he looked at Tribeca opposite,

"If the Sleeping Fairy is committing the crime, then is the death of the family of the victim Kelly Scott, as well as the family of the murderer David Lee, related to the Sleeping Fairy?"

"Did they die before Kelly was killed, or after they were killed?" The old man asked.

"Within weeks of being killed."

"You guessed it, their death was not a coincidence." Tribeca got up and walked around the kitchen, her expression solemn, and she said word by word, "El Cuco, also known as the Eater of Sorrows, the Tear Drinker. ”

"After eating the child itself, it will linger in the vicinity of the area for a while, quietly influencing the two tragic families of the chosen and the victim, pushing them to their doom."

"Devouring, devouring, it longs to devour the extreme grief, despair, and all kinds of negative emotions of the relatives of the 'two victims'."

"Wait a minute."

Tribeca paused, grabbed the handrail and walked up the stairs, picking up a tome after a while.

put it on the table, opened a page and put it in front of Dean,

Dean saw a terrifying portrait of a humanoid creature in the middle of the page, its entire head replaced by a scarlet abyssal jaw, its mouth full of steel needle-sharp, slender fangs glittering with cold light, and it let out a silent and unclean howl, spreading sorrow and pain!

Then, Tribeca said those words to the stunned Dean that he would never forget,

"If the child is the main dish of the devourer, then the pain and sorrow of the loved ones is its dessert after the meal."

"This wicked creature seeks to kill it all on every hunt to enjoy the perfect feast of satiety."

"The victim and the chosen one, the two families, are its prey and sacrifices, and they will all be devoured by it!"

Dean wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with trembling fingers.

Looked at the system.

Survey progress 80/100→90/100.

No doubt.

The murderer is none other than this monster from folklore, the Eater of Deaths!

"Thankfully, I've convinced the LVPD to send someone to monitor and protect the two families in advance!"

"Are you trying to catch it, kid?" The old man saw the tension and confusion on his face and asked,

"Hmm." Dean said the three lines he had analyzed, "Who do you think the Zombie Eater will attack first?" ”

"You have to remember, the Devourer, feed on the grief of the victim's family. So the more sad the emotion, the greater the temptation to it. When will this grief reach its climax? ”

The old man asked.

Dean thought, his eyes lit up,

"It must have been the day Bucky Fran's parents held a funeral for him, burying him! If you want to enjoy the 'dessert', you will enter the funeral site! ”

The old man nodded heavily, "I think that's the best chance to catch it!" ”

"I hope Bucky isn't buried yet!" Dean pinched the knuckles of his fingers and crackled with a crunch.

The sense of accomplishment and crisis are intertwined.

He turned to the old man,

"Have you ever seen the Eater of the Dead?"

The old man shook his head, a distant pain flashing across his face, "I've only seen it happen, in my twenties, when I was still in Cuba, my uncle's child was framed and sentenced to death by the sleeping fairy, the process was the same as the two cases you mentioned, and then two families died. ”

"I've tried to find it, but there's no clue."

"Do you know what its weaknesses are?"

"Weakness? I'm sorry," the woman's gray hair shook, "I'm an ordinary folklorist, not an expert in combat. But I don't think it's too powerful, otherwise it wouldn't have been so secretive and sneaky. ”

The old man looked at his resolute face for a long time, as if he was looking at an old man, his face was full of remembrance,

"But it's long-lived, it's very cunning, and it can not only deform, but it can easily trigger negative emotions in the depths of people's hearts, causing people to self-harm and even harm others out of control."

"The deformation and the emotional impact, I remember," Dean said gratefully, thinking about countermeasures, "Your words have helped me so much. ”

"I also hope that the devil will go to hell, and I hope that young people like you are safe and sound."

"One more piece of advice, if you don't want to be taken as crazy, don't reveal tonight's topic." Tribeca lifted her reading glasses on the bridge of her nose and looked lovingly at the second floor, "Don't tell Jenny and those kids that they're different from you, they belong to the ordinary, bright world. ”

"I'll keep my mouth shut." Dean solemnly promised.

Suddenly, there was Jenny's lively noise upstairs.

Dean said hesitantly,

"Tribeca, if I succeed this time, can I still come and chat with you in the future and hear more legends?"

The old man laughed happily and burst into tears,

"Then you'll have to keep up your appetite and eat a little more when the time comes."

……

"Didn't Grandma Tribeca's legend inspire you?" Rust stared out the window at the bright moonlight in disappointment, "That's right. ”

"Guys, it's almost time to go home." Baker put his arm around Jenny and kissed her on the forehead, "See you tomorrow." ”

"And what about Abby?" Britney was worried, "She's got three days to go to court." ”

"Don't worry, I'll find another way to get Abby out, and that's all for today." Dean's gaze slowly swept over the group of friends,

"Is there anything new to be notified, understand?" Gretchen grabbed the collar of Dean's suit, pulled him towards him, looked him in the eye, waved his fist, and said with a hint of pleading in a crisp voice warning, "Hide it from everyone again, I want you to look good!" ”

"I will." Di An'an nodded and said sorry.

You should live in peace in the world of ordinary people.

(End of chapter)