At noon that day, at the wooden dining table among the green grass at Nevada State High School, Dean and a group of friends gathered in a circle to enjoy lunch.

"The news channels are going crazy," Baker stuffed a taco full of meat and vegetables into his mouth, "and the family of five of the famous real estate businessman Layton Stone was shot in the head in their secret room. ”

"The body of his youngest son, Gru Stone, was found in a private residence on Palm Avenue dozens of miles away."

"The family was wiped out."

He wiped his hands on his chest hair, and Jenny, the black girl next to him, suddenly rolled her eyes in disgust.

"I've learned more terrible things from Thomas," Gretchen said mysteriously to his friends with a wink of blue eyes, "and the remains of dozens of dead people have been found in the chamber where they died, the oldest dating back two years... This family is a hidden psychopathic murderer. ”

"A vigilante found out about their misdeeds and imposed sanctions, and later secretly sent evidence of their crimes to the door of the police station."

"How is this like the superhero in the comics, did you catch this vigilante?"

And their eyes lit up when they heard this,

"Thomas said the investigation is still on," Gretchen shook his head, "but the vigilantes are very clean, and there are basically no clues." ”

Dean quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Guys, I'm feeling bad," Abby squatted in her chair, her hands clenching the hot coffee cups, a hint of fear flashing across her thin face, "There have been so many homicides in Las Vegas this year that it's been unusual. ”

"Ever since Bob Lowe died, Lake Mead, I've been framed... Jenny's street was burned to death by two dozen thugs... In the end, this time, the perverted murderer's family was wiped out... No year has ever been so bad as this year. ”

Dean sipped the yogurt, his eyes complicated.

"Don't scare yourself, it's your delusion," Gretchen gave Abby half an apple pie on his plate, "The murders aren't getting any more, it's just that we're getting older and paying more attention to it." ”

"But I think Abby's analysis makes sense, it's been a wicked year," Baker said seriously, "maybe next time these terrible accidents will befall us?" ”

"Fakyu! I'll tear you crow's mouth! Jenny's long pink nails grabbed her boyfriend's cheeks and pulled them into a big cake.

"I remember!" Britney suddenly got up, drew a cross on her chest, and said with a tense face, "The evangelist Pat Robertson prophesied that at the end of 1982, God will judge the world, which means that there are two years before the end of the world. ”

"A series of horrific events in Las Vegas this year may be a harbinger of the end of the world."

A group of people opened their mouths slightly, shocked and strange, and looked at Britney, who was bathed in the sun, like a saint, like looking at fools,

"Haven't you seen 'The 700 Club'? Very educational! ”

Britney shook her fist and weakly argued,

Rust gagged his girlfriend with a spoonful of yogurt, "Don't say this kind of alarmist remarks again, any end of the world is Shet, no one can hide from it!" ”

"Be optimistic, focus on the present, and have some good news, guys, Britney Spears and I are going to the University of Arizona for an interview soon."

"Have passed the SAT? Why didn't you notify me in advance of such a big event? Dean put his right hand around Rust's shoulder and strangled his neck, "Shouldn't I be a brother?" ”

"I think it's good news to tell everyone after passing the interview." Rust couldn't help the smile on the corner of his mouth,

Dean nodded, his gaze sweeping over a group of friends.

Of the seven people present, only Rust and Britney plan to go to a serious college, Gretchen is determined to be on the police path, Abby will get a diploma and inherit his own supermarket, Baker's family has money to go to college or not, Jenny plans to follow her boyfriend.

"Do you have a big grasp?" Dean asked,

"The philosophy department I reported shouldn't be a big problem." Britney smiled sweetly,

"My astronomy department is very competitive, and the probability of admission is half and half percent," Rust said. ”

"Don't be modest, you can do it!" Abby nodded at the two, "But college tuition is expensive this year, right?" ”

In the early '80s, when inflation was high and the economy was in recession, the government cut financial aid for higher education, and many universities had to raise tuition significantly to fill the funding gap.

Today, the tuition fee at a public university has almost doubled as much as it did in previous years, and it has caught up with the half-year income of adults.

"I've found a part-time job in the summer, and I'll try to apply for a student loan," Britney's white face was full of fighting spirit.

Rust touched his nose embarrassedly, and there was a hint of happiness and pride in the corners of his eyes, "Grace told me not to worry about college tuition." ”

A group of people listened with envy,

"Rust, you are my brother from now on!" Baker put his arm around him and smiled humbly,

“？”

"So that I can also call Grace's dear mother and enjoy her meticulous care and attention."

"Get out!"

……

Enjoyable campus time flies by.

1980 came to the end of the year, on the evening of Christmas in December.

The glow of the burning clouds shined through the window, revealing a figure in the bedroom sitting cross-legged on the bed with a serene expression.

Dean slowly exhaled a few breaths and woke up from meditation, the pale red star lingering in front of him quietly disappeared, and a coolness came into his mind with the last trace of red on the horizon.

You've completed a round of Balance Meditation.

Proficiency +1

Balance Meditation lv1→ lv2 (0/300).

You gain 1 stat of will.

Will: 12.3→13.3.

……

Dean felt the constant chill in his mind and focused on his mental attributes.

Gritted teeth.

1 point of attribute disappears in the system.

The spirit did not grow for several months: 14.3→15.3.

……

Poof, temples throbbed.

The coolness of the mind is replaced by the heat, and the brain becomes like an overheated CPU, frantically flashing all kinds of scenes from the past, and imaginary ideas about the future.

For example, in the middle of the night, ride a motorcycle to the cities around Las Vegas to find and punish criminals.

There are also dark and filthy thoughts that keep breeding, such as using the "Shadow of the Past", "God's Perspective", and "Simulacrum" to kill as you want and quickly improve your abilities!

Tear the shackles of morality, ignore the so-called principles, and indulge the desire to kill to the fullest.

Filthy thoughts lingered in his mind, Dean's eyes reddened, and his breathing grew heavier.

……

After a long time, the chaotic thoughts fell completely silent, and Dean's eyes were complicated with relief.

"The 15-point attribute is a threshold, and when the spirit crosses this threshold, the mind becomes extremely active."

13.3's will can barely control the chaos of thoughts.

If the spirit continues to improve, the mind will become more and more uncontrollable, and the person will become confused, and even have the risk of schizophrenia.

The road is fraught with danger.

"The spiritual will must be raised at the same time, and the imbalance can no longer be expanded." Dean made up his mind, and his heart moved...

The black figure flew out of his body, hovering around the air like a cloak, and lightning flew out of the window, flying into the air, distancing itself from him.

Ten meters, fifteen meters, twenty meters, twenty-seven meters...

"The spirit broke through 15 points, and the extreme activity distance of the shadow of the past skyrocketed from 18 meters to 27 meters." Dean raised his wrist and glanced at the quartz watch, six and ten.

"Shadow" flew back to the bedroom, activated his telekinesis, and the three books on the bookshelf by the window slowly floated and swirled.

1 minute, 2 minutes... 15 minutes.

Dean with swollen temples retracted the "shadow"

"The existence time of the shadow has increased from nearly 10 minutes to at least 15 minutes, which is half the time."

Di An's head rises to enlightenment, and the further his spirit rises, the more dangerous it becomes, but the greater the increase in his ability.

"I just don't know if the spirit is high enough to a certain extent, can I awaken the motivation of the mind on my own? Pick up things in the air and kill people with your eyes. ”

Dean longed for that powerful superpower, and checked his current state by the way:

Character Level: 3 (140/400)

Age: 18

Physique: 14.6

Power: 12.4

Sensitivity: 13.2

Perception: 11.8

Spiritual: 15.3

Will: 13.3

……

Specialty: Intermediate Iron Man, Junior Supernatural Hunter

Capacity: 5/5

Fighting Lv2 (100→120/300)

Shot Lv2 (29/200→49/300)

Shadow of the Past Lv1 (57→87/200)

Balance Meditation Method: Lv2 (0/300)

Mimic LV0(28→60/100)

System ability: God Perspective Lv2: Range 20 meters.

……

Di Anxin got out of bed satisfied, put on a light blue shirt underneath, and then wore a red jacket and coat as the locals custom.

I combed my short black hair in front of the mirror.

He is 1.8 meters tall, with a straight nose bridge, an angular facial contour, and a masculine and handsome face.

Because of his recent insistence on lifting iron, and drawing a little strength from the nocturnal species, his body is stronger than before, and it perfectly shows what it means to be thin and undressed with flesh, which can be called a clothes rack.

Moreover, his skin is not rough and hairy like that of Western men, but delicate and shiny, and the toughness is amazing, and ordinary knives can only leave a white mark without any effort.

……

Dean went downstairs to call his girlfriend and went out with a small gift prepared in advance.

It's Christmas, and while Las Vegas doesn't have snow and chubby snowmen, the neighborhood's houses are decorated with colorful lights, garlands, and Christmas trees.

"Merry Christmas, Dean, come to the house for dinner."

The bearded man stood in the courtyard and beckoned to this side, and Teddy at his feet also made a fuss.

"Merry Christmas, Jacob... Help me bring a greeting to Tang Ya, but I have a date. ”

"You're busier than the president."

……

Dean drove to his girlfriend's door and picked up Abby and Gretchen, who were dressed as Lady Christmas in a uniform red dress.

The three exchanged gifts.

"Two beauties, let me ask you one last time, are you sure you don't spend Christmas with your family?"

"We all told the family that it was fine. Let's go, Dean, and don't keep Baker and Jenny waiting. Abby consciously sat in the back row, opened the gift box, and played with the hairpin with a happy face.

"Open your mouth." Gretchen sat in the co-pilot and handed out an almond pudding.

"Sit tight, I'm going to speed up!"

The car quickly drove to the shopping street.

Even though the sun had set, Christmas Eve was as bright as day, and the streets were crowded with people smiling with joy on their faces.

"This way!"

On the side of the guardrail of the pedestrian street, Baker and Jenny, dressed as Christmas couples, waved happily to the three of them.

As for Rust and Britney's full preparation for the college interview, they couldn't come.

"Merry Christmas, this is a nice dress!"

Dean curiously patted Baker's snow-white "big belly", who pulled out the gingerbread figure from his red hat and white beard and handed it over.

"Man, you're not bad, one percent more handsome than me, but the most showy person tonight is destined to be me!"

"Okay, you're the boss. Let's go to the Walking Street to see the show! ”

The five of them walked towards the crowded area, buying some discounted goods from the shops along the street from time to time, and playing small games such as balloon shooting, throwing knives, shooting basketballs, and catching dolls at the street stalls.

Have a lot of fun.

"Taste—" Gretchense gave Dean a rainbow candy cane.

Dean clicked and chewed a few bites, raised his eyebrows, and turned his head to look at his ruddy girlfriend,

"What's wrong, it's not tasty?"

"You'll know if you taste it." Dean touched her moist red lips with a little water, and the girl wrapped her arms around his neck.

Abby, who was on the sidelines, consciously slowed down and leaned to the left, but Baker and Jenny were even more outrageous, almost rubbing each other into their bodies.

Alas.

Abby's face darkened, and she put a Santa marshmallow in her mouth in a lonely way, forcing herself to enjoy the street scene to divert her attention.

The street shop windows are warm and bright,

The sound of music "Jungle bells, jungle bells, jungle all the way" flowed like a stream, dispelling the chill of the night.

Every tree in sight is hung with colorful lights and decorations, and then matched with various colors of neon lights, which is colorful and beautiful.

Small floats with balloons walk back and forth on the side of the street, and Santa Claus, with red hats and white beards and red safety bags on his back, distributes marshmallows pinched into various delicate snowmen to passers-by.

Every corner exudes a festive atmosphere.

……

In the center of the pedestrian street, individual costume vendors, acrobats, magicians, funny clowns, and body painting artists compete for beauty.

The center of the stage surrounded by Christmas trees is the most lively, gathering hundreds of people, almost uniformly dressed in red, like a sea of red.

On stage, to the melodious melody of Jungle bells, female dancers in colorful tufts and men in suspenders happily fold their hands, twist their waists, and move their bodies in rhythm.

The audience humorously imitated their movements and danced to the music.

Baker screamed and writhed like a snake with Jenny's back, and Gretchen took Dean's hand, who kept "chicken", and spun Abby in a circle with excitement.

Dean was intoxicated, and the confusion and irritability of the past month or so due to the nocturnal species gradually disappeared

Positive emotions resist negative emotions.

The joy of Christmas people's hearts seems to form a positive energy field, healing the dark negative emotions accumulated in his heart, and making his mood lively and joyful.

……

Such a wonderful and cheerful occasion, but some people spoil the scenery.

A strange young white male, looking at Gretchen's angel face and devilish figure under the red dress, wanted to stick it over and take advantage of it.

But he was still about ten meters away from the target, and he was pushed away by a strange force, pushing the crowd into the crowd, as if there was an invisible and solid wall of air in front of him.

"Fako, have you hit a ghost?"

He was unwilling to try many times, but as a result, his back and soles of his feet were inexplicably kicked and kicked, causing him to fall hard several times and run away in terror.

……

The corners of the mouth of the embarrassed figure of the flower messenger Dean curled, and he relieved his telekinesis.

"What are you laughing at?"

Gretchen tucked the hair around his ears, and his sweaty cheeks were stained with a delicate red.

"That guy looks like a dog."

……

The group danced to their heart's content, and went to the cinema together to watch a movie that had just been released, "9 to 5" starring Jane Fonda.

It mainly tells the story of three working women who are oppressed at work, the male boss who accidentally mistook rat poison for candy and poisoned the machismo, and began to vigorously reform the company with a fake tiger, and made a series of ridiculous comedies.

Gretchen, Abby, and Jenny stared at the big screen with longing.

Dean and Baker broke out in a cold sweat.

"Be careful, Baker, and if you dare to be sorry for me in the future, I'll poison you with rat poison!" Jenny imitated the big screen and made a gesture of stirring coffee,

"Can you add two more pieces of sugar to the rat poison?" Baker put his arms around her waist and leaned over his greasy mouth, "Even if I die, I'm going to die sweeter." ”

"Ahem," Ann cautiously glanced at Gretchen, whose eyes were shining.

If he remembers correctly, the other party is also half-feminist.

"Dean, are you going to turn into the machismo Mediterranean of the disgusting male boss in the future?" Coldly, Abby's voice came from Gretchen's side, and then two pairs of eyes looked at him like souls.

"Impossible," Dean confidently touched his crisp short hair, puffed out his well-developed biceps, and said categorically, "Before I am half-bald, I will just shave my hair and become bald, so that I will become stronger." ”

……

It was nearly ten o'clock in the evening, and the streets were still full of joy, and Baker and Jenny slipped away to the crowded hotel to find a seat after saying Goodbye.

And Dean drove Abby to his doorstep and took Gretchen for a slow walk in the hazy moonlight and the Christmas lights of the neighborhood.

Talked about the future.

After graduating, Gretchen relied on his father Thomas's relationship in the police station to pass the LVPD primary election, and then he had to go to the police academy in other places to study for half a year, work hard to pass the assessment, and then return to LVPD.

Dean jokingly said that he plans to be a jobless vagrant, a part-time detective, a psychic medium, and a killer..."Future Detective Gretchen, if I fall into your hands, I will have to be merciful." ”

"Then you've got to behave." Gretchen raised his pointed chin, and his blue eyes flashed with warning, "If you dare to violate my law, I will chase your car every day in the future, understand?" ”

“Yes，Madam！ Now go to my house and guide me on 'legal issues'? ”

"I'm sorry that Thomas has asked me to go home by eleven o'clock tonight."

"Then go to your house?" A hint of excitement flashed in Dean's eyes,

"When did you become so bold that you weren't afraid of being caught and shot by him?" Gretchen wrapped his hands around his trembling chest and smiled at the corners of his mouth,

"I climbed through your window... By the way, you should lock Coco in the basement later, and don't let it smell me, or the tryst will be 100% ruined. ”

“…… Baker has taken you badly. ”

"Do you like that?" Dean put his arm around her waist.

In the moonlight, the two snuggling figures were stretched very long.

(End of chapter)