In just a minute, the smoke cleared from the hall.

The surviving police officers shone their flashlights, and the ground was littered with corpses, blood, and stumps, and one by one familiar colleagues closed their eyes forever in a cruel and painful way.

They were caught in a nightmare, only to be awakened when the flashlight turned to the hideous figure pinned to the ground on the left side of the hall.

"God, what the hell is this?"

"Was it me who was dazzled and hallucinated by being overly frightened?"

"Jesus Christ! Was it this big bat that had lost its hair that attacked my brethren? Tubbs, whose face was covered in blood, came over with several police officers.

They pointed their guns at Dean's feet with hatred and fear.

Dead Skin twisted his head as hard as he could, glaring at the crowd with his pale and violent eyes, opening his mouth with interlaced steel needles and fangs, hissing and growling, like a mad dog on a leash, never learning to bow his head weakly.

The Cui Shi sisters and brothers next to them were stared at with goosebumps all over their bodies, their eyes were bloodshot, their mouths were open in an O-shape, and they stood stupidly in place, their faces drenched in cold sweat with wonderful expressions like abstract paintings.

When the monster really appeared in front of them, the strong impact of the senses completely destroyed their inherent outlook on life and the world.

The two of them went blank in their minds, and they instinctively approached Dean in front of them, seeking refuge.

"Open your eyes and look! I've told you over and over again that there's a monster hiding in the county that has killed a lot of people! Jesse wiped away the relieved smile from his tears and exclaimed, "You guys always thought I was talking nonsense!" Do you see the reality clearly now? ”

Tubbs looked at the black woman who had always been regarded as a goddess and a madman, and a hint of apology flashed on his face,

"Jesse, we shouldn't have questioned you in the past, and I apologize for my superficial insight."

After speaking, he suddenly turned to the several police officers beside him who stretched their necks and were stunned,

"Disperse, guys, don't get stuck here, send the injured brother to the infirmary, the power is restored, and the truck blocking the door is removed!"

"Yes, sir!"

As the onlookers left, Dean kicked Dead Skin's head again, adding, "The kidnapping on the highway during this time was also its handiwork, and it brutally killed people and threw them in the cellar of the church. Over the years, hundreds of corpses have been piled up. ”

"So this monster is still a perverted serial killer?" Tubbs swallowed, "Man, how can you catch me by killing so many guys in just half a minute?" ”

Everyone looked at this young Asian American, dressed a murderous monster as a grilled fish, and there was not a single wound on his body, and there was not a drop of sweat on his forehead, which was really unreasonable.

"The laws of nature that everything has its natural enemies and weaknesses... Cats and mice, hunters and beasts," Dean glanced at a few people, "Since there are supernatural monsters in the world, there are also humans who specialize in dealing with these monsters, and I happen to know its weakness and caught it. ”

"So you're not just a private detective, you're also a hunter who specializes in monster hunting?" The Tress and Tsz brothers seemed to have gained great courage, and their eyes flashed with respect and longing.

"I'm just an amateur monster and a lover of the occult."

"What to do with this monster next?" Tubbs earnestly consulted Dean with "handcuff it and put it in a cell?" ”

"Nope! No one can hold back the dead skin," Jesse retorted excitedly, "and it's going to get out and kill!" ”

"Only the big fool in a vulgar horror movie thinks he can lock up a monster, and we must solve it now!" Dean waved his hand, and his mind froze the spears, axes, and other weapons that began to vibrate restlessly under his feet, "Director Tubbs, I need gasoline, a lot of salt, verbena, water..."

"Is there any mistake that you want to exorcise demons in my territory?" A hint of struggle crossed Tubbs's face, "We should hand it over to the FBI, or the CIA, otherwise there is no way to account for the death of so many brothers!" ”

"I tortured it, and it didn't speak human words, and it didn't want to answer any questions, and it was in vain to hand it over to the FBI." Dean squinted and shook his head, "And it's too late, it's about to break free from my shackles and start killing again, if you don't cooperate, you all have to die!" ”

The blatant death threat made Tubbs abandon all his concerns and give orders to several police officers in the hall cleaning up the mess.

In less than five minutes, officers gathered the supplies Dean needed from the utility room and office.

"Does it work?" Jesse looked at Dean who was carrying a woven bag and sprinkled snow-white salt around the dead skin and asked, "This monster can't be killed." ”

"We can't kill its flesh because it can be renewed by devouring it." Dean looked at the curious Twins and explained to them, "So the flesh is not important to it, its essence is probably an evil spirit, an evil spirit that plays with people's hearts and absorbs fear!" ”

The Cui Shi sisters and brothers looked ignorant, and nodded unconsciously,

"I happen to have some of the methods to deal with evil spirits, and even if I can't completely destroy it, I can temporarily exorcise it and buy some time for our next investigation!"

By the way, these methods come from the exorcist Ryan Reynolds's antique book Spirits.

In the following period, under the astonished gaze of the four Trish, Dean drew several circles around the dead skin with salt and gasoline, and then forcibly broke open its foul-smelling mouth and poured three bottles of verbena into it.

A sharp silver dinner knife was used to carve a dense inverted witchcraft symbol "VV" on its skin, locking its soul into this body.

This series of operations has produced noticeable results.

Dead Skin began to struggle violently, the blades and steel spears that pinned it trembled, and Dean waved his hands at this, and a dozen tactical daggers were pinned up all over its body.

But the changes are far from stopping.

Bang bang!

Bang bang!

The tires of the truck stuck in the gate of the police station spun rapidly, and the ceiling and floor shook in friction and impact, shaking off pieces of rubble.

But the thick concrete walls of the police station are not decorations, and the truck cannot be stuck in it, and it is impossible to move forward or backward!

"Wa's hair, why did this car move on its own?" Tubbs had a hellish look on his face, there had been too many mysterious events tonight that gave him a headache.

"Dead cars and weapons are closely related to it, they are all alive, don't rush closer!" Dean turned his head, froze at the pile of spears and axes that automatically struck the ground with a ping-pong sound, and lit the lighter.

His eyes scanned the monster in the center of the exorcism circle like cold lightning.

Feeling his disdain and provocation, Dead Skin roared at him in anger, and in the fishy wind, the six face-hugging insects on both sides of its cheeks completely opened, forming a hexagonal bright red flag, gently trembling and splattering outward with foul-smelling slime, making the festering face more and more cruel, ugly, and evil.

The four of them were so frightened that they took a step back.

Dean threw out the lighter.

Bang!

The flames ignited the gasoline and circled the sacred exorcism circle covered with table salt.

The flames rose into the sky.

The temperature in the hall rose several degrees Celsius, and the writhing fiery serpent turned into crimson chains that burned the dead skin's body, roaming over its rough, blackened skin.

It seemed to foresee its own miserable fate, felt the pain it had not felt for a long time, and screamed heartbreakingly in the flames.

The screams were so loud that they ran through the hallways, through every floor.

The dust and rubble on the ground were shaken into the air, and the glass in the police station building crackled to the ground.

Almost all of them stopped what they were doing, covering their ears in pain, trembling at the sound of screams.

Only Dean remained calm, with the M1900 in left hand and the spirit bullet mode in his right hand, staring at the rotten face engulfed in flames.

The dead skinned body quickly dehydrated, shriveled up, and bursts of pungent black smoke with a scorching smell of burnt...

The screams were gone.

Crackling!

Its wings were burned off the middle, crumbling into black powder, and its entrails erupted with a raging fire, blackening and charring with astonishing speed.

But five minutes.

The dead skin was completely burned to a black ash of humanoid form that lay close to the ground.

But Dean's vision was different, the black-gray surface gurgling like a viscous swamp, and a hazy human figure pulled out of the swamp.

The chains of countless inverted "VV" characters in the bubble wrapped around its body, but it was easily torn off and freed.

It was majestic, blurred, with wings on its back, and a pair of dark eyes cast on Dean, strangely revealing two diametrically opposed emotions of pleading and resentment.

Bang bang!

Whoosh –

Without hesitation, Dean pulled the trigger and threw the board out.

The roaring spirit bullet and the board hit the overlapping figure at the same time, and the surface of the figure rippled like water waves, stubbornly blocking the attack, and it turned into a streamer and rushed out of the circle of fire, disappearing...

……

The flames are suddenly extinguished!

The light bulbs on the ceiling flickered a few times, and all the lights came on, and the power was restored.

Dean withdrew his pistol, a hint of thought flashed in his eyes, burned the dead skin, and saw the dark soul again, and his progress skyrocketed to seventy percent.

Dead Skin was exactly as he expected, essentially an evil spirit.

And Jesse stared at the black humanoid silhouette in the ring of fire and couldn't wait to speak,

"Did you succeed, did you kill this demon?"

Dean shook his head, "I'm sorry, it's escaped again, it'll be reborn and hunt again someday." ”

Jesse's face turned pale, "I knew that no one could kill it." ”

Dean's voice shifted, "But before it regenerates, we'll most likely have a few days of buffer time. ”

"What escaped? Hasn't this monster been burned to ashes by you? Tubbs looked puzzled,

"This is just a façade, and supernatural beings cannot be taken for granted."

Dean glanced back at him, stepped through the bloodstained floor and walked to the back door of the police station,

"Let's go, the power is restored, let's leave through the back door, find a place to live and discuss what to do."

"Can we go home first?" Trish took a deep breath and looked at Dean and pleaded, "Mom is still waiting for us at home, if we don't go back now, I'm afraid I won't have a chance in the future." ”

"If you don't want to be eaten by dead skin, you must stay with me for the next few days." Dean's tone was irrefutable, "As long as you cooperate obediently, I guarantee your safety." ”

The two siblings nodded.

Tubbs stopped them, "Wait, man, you have to make a transcript!" Otherwise, I would not have been able to account for the families of these sacrificial colleagues. ”

"There is no transcript." Dean shook his head, "You only need to tell another fact, the murderer who kidnapped the people of the county and attacked the police station again. Don't talk about monsters, or you'll be taken for a psychopath. Otherwise, the dead skin will strike again, and I won't help you again. ”

"You mean to hide the fact that the monster is hidden?" Tubbs hesitated for a second, thinking of the bizarre experience tonight, and chose the latter between death and ambiguity, "There are so many dead that I can only hide it for a week at most." ”

"No problem."

A week later, Dean had left the land of right and wrong.

"By the way, Director, the dead-skinned weapons and the truck at the door should also be locked, and someone should be sent to take care of it. As soon as they move on their own, it means that the dead skin has come back to life, let me know right away! ”

……

It was 10 o'clock in the evening when the four of them left the Bohao County Police Station.

Jessie, the psychic medium, invites the trio to spend the night in her RV, but Dean doesn't think it's safe and instead calls her together to find a hotel in the county.

Jesse and Tracey live in the same room, and Dean and Daley live next door, so that God can monitor them from a perspective.

Tonight I experienced too many exciting things in the evening, everyone was physically and mentally exhausted, and after washing up, I lay down in bed to rest.

But not long after, the white-skinned Cui Shi quietly ran over and knocked on the door, asked Dean for a hug, relaxed his frown, and returned to the house to sleep peacefully.

"Dude, where's my hug?" Daley, who was sleeping in the other bed, opened his hands towards Dean,

Dean reached out and bumped his fists.

"Heavy color and light friends." Daley shook his head, put his hands on the back of his head, and looked at the ceiling, with a kind of fear and yearning melancholy on his face, "Monsters, superpowers, death... I always felt like I was dreaming about these two days. ”

"Just think of it as a dream." Dean lay on the other bed, throwing snacks into his mouth,

Daley looked at his companion with a calm face and asked incomprehensibly, "Aren't you not afraid at all that a dozen people died, and they died so miserably?" You're not much older than us, but you seem to have a lot more experience than us! ”

"It's good to get used to it."

"I'm sure you've seen a monster like Dead Skin, whatever?"

"You can't sleep even more."

"Then, can an ordinary person like me become as powerful as you?"

"Theoretically there is a chance, but... Daley... Daley? ”

Dean saw that the boy was snoring and falling asleep, he shook his head and smiled, twisting his limbs and sinking into the red dragon meditation.

……

One night flies by,

Bright sunlight illuminates the hotel's restaurant through the windows.

"Good morning, Dean."

"Good morning, Tsz, Jesse, you look good, did you sleep well last night?" Dean pushed the milk and sandwich in front of the two ladies, and Daley beside him was already gobbling it up.

"Very good... It's safe to stay next to you! ”

Cui Shi nodded, her delicate little face was full of joy, last night's blood and nightmares seemed to be all gone, her psychological quality was very unusual.

Jesse yawned, "I'm still having insomnia, but maybe the dead skin hasn't come back to life, and I don't have nightmares." ”

"This is a step forward," Dean took a sip of milk and spread his notebook on the table, "Now to get down to business, if we want to kill the 'dead skin' completely, we have to find its origin, this is an important clue that I have collected and analyzed, and tell me what you think." ”

Three pairs of eyes swept to the notebook:

1. Dead skin is a monster that has existed in the world for more than 200 years and cannot be destroyed, acting according to the law of once every 23 years and lasting 23 days...

2. It deliberately placed hundreds of hunted dead on the walls around the cellar and arranged it as a "madman's version of the Sistine Chapel Sky Dome"

3. It has some kind of hidden relationship with Ms. Jesse Gai Hartman.

4. One of the tables in its collection is painted with the image of "a woman being grilled on a wooden stake".

……

"Dean, where did you get these clues?" Cui Shi tilted her head in confusion, "Why are you sure they have something to do with the origin of the dead skin?" ”

"Intuition." Dean said, "I've had a lot of instincts over the years. ”

Trish looked him in the eye and said seriously, "My instincts are quite accurate, and I think you will succeed." ”

"Okay, to get down to business, I do have some kind of connection to it." Jesse first noticed the third sentence, "But I've been thinking about it for more than forty years, and I still haven't figured it out." ”

Dean didn't think that his half-way investigation could compare to the other party's decades of effort, so he changed his thinking, "What about your parents, husband, and children?" ”

Jesse's face was full of emotion, "I grew up in an orphanage, and I can't remember the names of my parents, I only know that they are natives of Bohao County, and the administrator of the orphanage said they had an accident?" I was left with Jesse Guy Hartman in the orphanage. I've never been married, and I've been living alone in a beat-up RV outside the police station. ”

"I'm sorry..."

"I don't need to apologize," Jesse's expression was calm, "I'm used to this kind of life, and I'm not lonely with my good dog Harpy." ”

Dean was silent for two seconds, "It's cruel to say that, but if you can, I want you to look up your relatives... Dead skin is so old that it's probably connected to you from your parents' lineage or even earlier. ”

Jesse sipped his coffee and nodded, "It's been more than forty years since I left my parents, and the orphanage in the county has long been demolished, so I can only try to go to the library and check the past voter registration forms." ”

"So it was decided."

……

"Talk about Article 4?" Cui Shi wiped the milk stains from the corners of her mouth and rolled her eyes, "Do you know what I thought?" Isn't this the witch who was burned at the stake? ”

The girl began to popularize science with a crisp and pleasant voice,

"I have learned a good history, especially the dark history of witch hunts, which were in full swing across Europe in the late 15th and 17th centuries, when the Catholic and secular judiciary were hunting down so-called wizards, especially witches."

In their imagination, witches are the root of all evil, and that the death of someone in the village, the poor harvest of the crops, and the disharmony in the neighborhood may all be caused by the witch. Countless women have been convicted of witches and burned at the stake. ”

Dean nodded, he remembered that the previous world had the same history.

"The woman in this painting is clearly one of the persecuted." Daley nibbled on a hamburger and suddenly said, "Could it be that Dead Skin was such a woman hundreds of years ago." ”

"Don't guess!" Jesse excitedly reprimanded him, "Dead skin is a head male, I'm pretty sure." ”

Daly shook his head, "Well, why does it have such a table in the cellar depicting the witch's torture?" ”

The crowd stared at each other and couldn't answer.

"Anyway, the dead skin may have something to do with witches and Catholicism."

……

It was the turn of the first one, the special number 23, and everyone discussed it for a long time, but there were only some outrageous guesses, so they could only move it back for the time being.

But the second madman's version of the Sistine Chapel, Trysch began to popularize science again,

"The Sistine Chapel was built in 1473 in the Vatican in the city of Rome, Italy, and was used for important religious ceremonies. On the ceiling and altar walls of the church, Michelangelo painted the ceiling painting "Genesis" and the altarpiece "The Last Judgment", with a total of more than 700 figures, equal to the number of dead in the cellar. ”

Dean wondered, "What is the purpose of the church, which is a sacred and solemn place, but Dead Skin chose its cellar as a nest of murder and corpses, and even used corpses to piece together two meaningful murals on the walls and the sky." Sacred and evil, two diametrically opposed things, do they have to merge together? ”

"I can't answer."

The girl got up and rubbed her chin, her eyes swept over her companion, as if she were a detective,

"But Dean, the two clues you provided, the Witch Torture and the Sistine Chapel, are both related to Catholicism. Perhaps we should start with this and learn more about Catholic religious writings... The true meaning of the number '23' may be hidden in the literature. ”

"Let's go to the county library now?" Daley's face was full of eagerness, as if he couldn't wait to destroy the monster.

Dean nodded and looked at Jesse, "The document and voter register you mentioned are also in the county library, right?" ”

Jesse's puffy cheeks were scolded, and he patted the food scraps on his hands, and waved his fat hand, "Let's go!" ”

(End of chapter)