A pair of eyes blinked twice.

The early morning sun woke up Sean, who was tired and fainted, and he saw that he was no longer on the ice that had been destroyed by minions and venom, but back in the warm Citroen.

He struggled to get up from the back of the car, his muscles aching to the bone as if they had been filled with lead.

The companion in front of him still looked calm, and with a magical rhythm in his hands, he lightly rubbed a pale golden throwing knife that seemed to be made of some kind of bone, and arrows engraved with strange patterns.

There was not a hint of fatigue on his face.

It was as if he had been suspended motionless on the lake last night, and the god and demon had allowed himself to storm for six hours, and it was not him who had exhausted himself and fainted.

Sean couldn't help but feel a kind of fear and trembling from the soul in his heart, as well as a strong intuition - even a hundred of himself could not cause him the slightest harm.

The gap between himself and him is like a human being facing a god.

"Wake up, be hungry," Dean noticed the fear in Sean's eyes, smiled easily and withdrew the well-maintained weapon in his hand back to the fantasy space, "Let's go, go to the restaurant for a flesh and blood meal, replenish your nutrition, and continue tonight." ”

"Continue? Wait, Kenny..."Sean swallowed his saliva and began to echo in his ears again, "Wild dogs!" Coward! Go on! All kinds of provocations and insults, "I won't train tonight, tonight, let me rest for a day, take a break?" ”

"Don't slack off." Dean turned his head to look at him, "Although you have inherited the physical qualities of the snake demon and the werewolf, your combat experience and consciousness are too poor, how can you face those 666 'beasts' when you enter Midian?" Do you still want to go back alive to see Elena and your family? ”

Sean gritted his teeth and accepted the arrangement.

Dean nodded, "Don't worry, tonight's battle will only last two hours, so you won't be tired to the point of coma." ”

Although he was beaten overnight, Dean also gained a lot, maintaining zero gravity when bearing the attack, and the skill hone was more efficient, and the gravity manipulation lv0 (6/100), because he had been adjusting the muscles of the whole body to maintain balance, and the sensitivity had also been strongly stimulated and exercised, and the sensitivity: 22.5→22.6.

In addition, Sean is also a humanoid treasure, after Dean trained him for a night, the "Master of Suffering" absorbed some of the pain and despair, and converted it into 0.1 free attributes, and the current free attribute has accumulated to 0.6, Dean intends to make up enough for 1 point plus agility.

The situation is very good.

The only pity is that I searched in the long lake all night, but I didn't find anything, and the evil thing was hidden very deeply.

……

When the weather clears, the snow-covered buildings reflect the pale golden sunlight.

The temperature warmed up to about minus 10 degrees Celsius, and you could see many smiling townspeople basking in the sun and taking a leisurely stroll on the streets.

Bridge Pier Restaurant.

"Good morning, Lucia."

Dean pushed the door into the dining room and said hello to the blonde woman in the aisle who was wiping her buttocks and wiping the table.

Lucia turned around, her red lips grinned slightly, and her pale blue eyes showed a hint of surprise, and she hurriedly greeted her, "Mr. Kenny, Mr. Sean, welcome, what do you want to eat today?" ”

"Bacon, eggs, steak... All six servings. ”

"The steak is still soft-cooked, right?" Lucia smiled tacitly and walked away briskly,

Dean circled around the dining room to meet two men in green uniforms at the corner table, and the two looked away like pins and needles.

One of the young soldiers with a small head poured a sip of beer into his fist and lowered his voice and shouted unwillingly, "Damn, Lucia is smiling so happily at this Mexican, could it be that she is interested in him?" The roses in our bridge pier town won't be picked by this guy, right? ”

Another horse-faced soldier quipped, "Didn't you bring it on yourself?" Who told you not to confess to her earlier? ”

The inch-headed soldier sighed with a complicated look in his eyes, "What about confession, have you forgotten, the project in the base went wrong not long ago, and it will not be completed in a few years." I spend most of my time inside, and I don't have time to spend time with her, so I'll have to leave her home alone..."

Cuntou said worriedly,

"I don't want to be like those hapless comrades, with a lawn all over their heads."

"Aren't you happy to be a father for free? There is no fraternity of our American warriors. Well, it's not early, bring something back to the base, it's late, be careful and be punished! ”

The horse's face was solemn.

Cuntou bowed his head in silence and finished his breakfast, and left the restaurant with him.

Dean stared at the departing backs of the two, wondering if they were the soldiers he had met at the military base he had met the day he arrived at Bridgepier.

Lucia came over with a plate,

"Your meal is ready."

"Lucia, don't go yet." Dean ignored Sean, who was on the other side and started to pounce and destroy the steak again, and said to the woman, "I have a question I want to ask you." ”

"No problem, just ask," Lucia wiped her hands with a rag, and the slightly red cheeks and graceful curves were dazzling in the sunlight outside the window, "Although winter is not the most beautiful season in Bridge Pier Town, there are a few places worth visiting, and I can recommend them to you." ”

"We're not here for tourism." Dean swallowed a poached egg, expertly displayed the document, and said bluntly, "I am investigating the case of Martha Medina's drowning, and I have visited Mrs. Medina and David's family so far, and have obtained several important confessions. ”

"Martha's case." Lucia's pupils shrank when she heard the name, her originally vivid and beautiful face became as stiff as a statue, and she smiled reluctantly, "I'm sorry, Kenny, I don't know anything about it, I can't help you, nothing else, I'll go and get busy first." ”

Dean's face turned grim, and he lowered his voice and said,

"Lucia, to be honest, my investigation has already had some eyebrows, Martha is not just a stumbling overboard accident as the police said, someone killed her."

"The murderer will never stop there."

"And there are a lot of children in the town," he said, staring into the woman's eyes, casting a hint of his mind, "I'm afraid that if I don't find out the details of the murderer sooner, he will continue to commit crimes, and other children will be killed." ”

"Kid... No, my family's Wanda is only eight years old, and little Victor is only two years old... Home alone. Lucia was just an ordinary woman, frightened by Dean's hint, and immediately believed this flawed word, paced in place with a disgraced face, biting her lip and muttering to herself, "No, no one must hurt them!" ”

"Mr. Kenny, I can't help you, but my daughter Wanda may know something. She was in a strange state after Martha fell overboard, as if she had something on her mind, but she didn't want to tell me. ”

"For the sake of your child's safety, without further ado." Dean shoved the last steak into his mouth, "Please take me to meet Wanda now." ”

"Wait a minute."

The woman gritted her teeth, took off her apron, turned around and walked to the back kitchen of the restaurant,

"Mr. Raff, I'm taking a leave of absence!"

……

Shopping street No. 260, less than a kilometer east of the restaurant, is an old wooden villa on the side of the road.

Lucia and Dean pushed the door open and entered the living room.

A slender little girl with delicate eyebrows is sitting on the sofa watching the TV set on the screen, which is playing a children's program of two little girls in princess dresses dancing happily hand in hand.

In front of the fireplace opposite the sofa, a little boy of two or three years old was lying on the ground, giggling at the fire of the fireplace, and stretched out his white little hand to pluck the fireplate, which was about to peel off and touch the flame in the fireplace.

"Victor!"

Lucia exclaimed and rushed over to pick up the little boy, grabbed the remote control on the coffee table and turned off the TV, and held down the little girl's shoulder to shake it.

"Wanda! I've said several times that your brother likes to play with the fire shield and pull the plug, and when I go to work, let you watch him well and don't let him touch it, what do you think?! ”

"If he pulls the flame shield open, do you know what's going to happen? The fire will jump out and burn down our homes! ”

"Why can't you remember!"

"Woooooooo Every time I hold him... Put it in the stroller... He's going to crawl around... Deliberately working against me... I tried my best... I can't control him... I'm sorry..."

"Don't cry, child, don't cry, I shouldn't yell at you," as soon as the daughter cried, Lucia suddenly panicked, the anger and horror in her heart disappeared, knelt on the ground, lovingly hugged her in her arms, and kissed her little face, "I shouldn't yell at you, it's my mother's fault, it's my mother's fault." ”

The mother and daughter hugged their heads and cried, and the little boy between the two bit his fingers and tugged at his sister's blonde hair.

"Sorry for the joke." After a long time, Lucia, who put her son back in the stroller and hugged her daughter, served coffee to the two guests with an apologetic face.

"You're amazing, Lucia." Sean, who was on the other side of the sofa, said softly, "It's too difficult for a woman to raise two children alone and work, and my mother was in the same situation, and I know what she suffered." ”

"No, in fact, Wanda is very sensible and has helped me share a lot of pressure..."Lucia looked into her arms, Wanda stared at a pair of bright eyes washed by tears, and looked at the two uncles opposite with curiosity and a little fear,

"You usually go to work in the restaurant, and Wanda is going to school again," Dean handed Wanda a candy and touched her little head, "Who takes care of little Victor?" ”

"The owner, colleagues, and guests of the restaurant are very considerate and understanding of me, so I bring little Victor to work..."Lucia smiled tiredly, "If you hold on for a few more years, Victor can go to the nursery, and life will be much easier." ”

"Where's your husband?" Sean couldn't help but interject,

Lucia lowered her head gloomily when she heard this, "He used to run a yacht and earn money by soliciting customers during the tourist season from June to November every year. But one day two years ago, he drove a yacht to Changhu Lake and never came back. ”

"Later someone saw his boat in the town of Naples, but it had already been sold to someone else, and he took the money and left us behind."

……

Sold the ship and left?

Dean intuitively sensed a hint of irrationality.

But Lucia obviously didn't want to talk about it more, "I'm used to it, to hell with that man who has no conscience!" Two, now it's time to ask Wanda questions. ”

Dean nodded, smiled at the little girl's big dark eyes, and exerted a soothing hint, "Wanda, let's talk, about your friend Marsha, I hope you will answer honestly." ”

Wanda pursed her lips, clenched her hands uneasily, and moved her ass as if there was a pot heating underneath, but nodded under her mother's encouraging gaze.

"Half a year ago, Martha experienced something special, and then her temper and personality changed, right?"

Wanda avoided Dean's gaze and looked down at her toes, her voice soft and staccato like a mother's lullaby, but under the effect of hypnosis, this young mind could not hide itself at all,

"Half a year ago... One day at school, because Martha was praised by the teacher in class again, a group of bad classmates scolded her and cried, she had never cried so sadly, I was worried about her... I comforted her for a long time... But it didn't work... She ignored me and ran home as soon as school was over. ”

"I'm worried about Martha, I'm always afraid of what he's going to do, I can't sleep... So at nine o'clock, I sneaked out and went to her house to visit her..."

"Wait, you snuck out half a night ago?" Lucia looked at her young daughter in disbelief, "How did I never know?" ”

"That night at the restaurant dinner, you drank too much wine and fell asleep with Victor in your arms, and you slept very hard, so you didn't feel it." Wanda looked at her mother cautiously, "I'm sorry, I don't want you to worry... I swear to God that I go to bed at nine o'clock every night except that day. ”

"Next time, don't go out after dark!" Lucia hugged her tightly and said, "If something happens to you, your mother will die of grief." ”

"I promise, there won't be a next time."

"What's next?" Dean interrupted,

"I ran down the shopping street towards Lakeside Road, a short distance, a mile." Wanda's eyes rolled and recalled, "I ran to the courtyard outside Marsha's house, and was about to knock on the door, when I suddenly found... Found... Martha was lying on the edge of the lake in her pajamas. ”

"What?" Dian shook his head, turned around and exchanged a look with Sean, "Martha appeared alone by the lake half a year ago?" ”

Wanda nodded heavily.

"It was still summer, it wasn't cold at all, the lake wasn't frozen, and the moon was round."

Martha looked at the lake and said something strange, I leaned over and eavesdropped, she laughed very happily, and shouted Jack, Luisa, Leo... Three names..."

This sentence landed.

Dean found that progress jumped from 33 percent to 38 percent.

"Jack?" Dean interrupted Wanda and said, "Isn't that the name of Martha's grandfather who died of illness a year ago?" ”

"That's right," Lucia next to her was also dumbfounded, and blurted out, "And Luisa and Leo are Martha's mother and father who died in a car accident when she was two years old." It's impossible... On a big night, a little girl lies alone by the lake, shouting the names of three dead relatives to the water? Still laughing? ”

This scene came to the minds of all four people present.

Without the slightest warmth, a cold rushed up from behind, burrowed into the tail vertebrae, and rushed straight to the brain.

At the same time, the wind blowing through the window became cold, like the pale hand of a dead man caressing.

Wanda grinned a mouthful of baby teeth with a large slit and said timidly, "I was so frightened that I almost cried, so I remember it very well and will never forget it for the rest of my life!" ”

Sean subconsciously muttered,

"Martha, is this a ghost on a big night?"

Dean looked at the little girl again in silence, Wanda hugged her pale mother's arm tightly, as if to absorb a little warmth and protection,

"I was scared, but even more worried about Marsha, so I quietly leaned in... A shadow appeared in the lake, round and smooth... Pale blue, like... Like a dolphin's head. ”

"But just one glance... It seemed to have found me, and it disappeared like a ripple, like some kind of hallucination..."

The progress of the event jumped to 42 percent.

Di's head tightened, the dolphin's head, what kind of monster is this?

Wanda continued, "Martha stood up and turned around and cried and laughed at me... I've never seen her smile so happy. ”

"I was terrified, and I put my arms around her and asked what was in the lake."

"But she said I had a dazzle in my eyes, and there was nothing in it."

This is the end of Wanda's statement about that night,

"At that time, this incident made me nervous for several days, but my worries seemed to be unnecessary, and after that night, Martha became as cheerful and lively as Cinderella who met the prince, and no longer minded the dirty words of those classmates, and she had a sunny and warm power in her, which infected me and Billy, and that half a year was our happiest and happiest time."

"Until a month ago."

Wanda hung her head, and a few tears came out of her eyes,

"Woo... I lost my best friend forever. ”

……

Lucia hugged her daughter and comforted her softly.

Dean asked, "Wanda, hold on a little longer, have you told the police about these words?" ”

"Woo... No one came to ask me. ”

"So apart from that night half a year ago, Martha has been to the lake at any other time?"

"I don't know... Every time I asked her, she would change the subject, and I didn't dare to run out and peek again at night. Wanda rubbed her peach-like swollen eyes, "but I have a feeling she's going to go, and many times." ”

Dean nodded.

The brain works at high speed, digesting a series of information in Wanda's words.

In front of me, a logical line appeared.

No doubt.

Half a year ago, the night of the reversal of fate.

Martha is summoned to the lake and meets the "monsters" that inhabit the long lake.

And the monster has the superpower to confuse people's hearts or transform into human form, so that she can call out the names of her dead parents and grandfather, and reunite with her long-lost relatives in another way.

So from that night, Martha got rid of the knots in her past and became sunny and cheerful.

Dean can imagine that Martha would rush to the lake every night after her grandmother had gone to sleep to see the things in the lake and reunite with her family, after all, how could a lonely little girl resist the love of her family?

That's the real reason why she was alone by the lake the night ago.

……

The deduction in Dean's mind was completed, and the progress of the event jumped to fifty percent.

Then a few new students' questions came flooding up.

If it was something in the lake that killed Martha, why did it delay for half a year and bring her half a year of happiness?

Any existence called evil can deal with a weak and helpless human cub like Martha, without much effort, and it is too slow for a second.

"Is this some kind of evil ritual, or demonic deal? Let Martha indulge in joy and joy for half a year, and then push her into the abyss and harvest her soul? ”

"It's too evil."

But Dean couldn't be sure of this guess, he always felt that waiting for half a year was very redundant, he looked at Wanda,

"The night you saw Martha by the lake half a year ago, was there a white fog on the lake?"

"There is no fog... Nope..."

"And what about the last six months?"

"It was only on the night Martha fell into the water that anyone noticed the white fog." Lucia picked up the conversation, "At no other time, there has never been a time on the Long Lake. ”

"Have there been any deaths related to Long Lake in the town of Bridge Pier and other nearby towns in recent years?"

"The restaurant and bar are the most well-informed places, I know for sure, but Martha has been quiet for five or six years."

Dean's brow furrowed even tighter.

In this way, it seems that the water monster that bewitches Martha does not necessarily have to be accompanied by a thick fog as soon as it appears, and it only strikes Martha alone.

So what was the effect of the thick fog that Martha had done on the night Martha fell into the water a month ago?

Was it a necessary step in the ritual, or was it to cover up the truth about Martha's death?

No, it's unreasonable to deliberately create a fog for a little girl.

Dean couldn't figure it out, but the dense fog and monsters, both of which can trigger a large change in progress, are important clues, and there should be some kind of hidden connection between them.

……

"Wanda, you've worked hard, go to sleep, forget about today's troubles and pains." The clue was almost understood, and Dean winked at the sweaty girl, who instantly closed his eyes and fell asleep, lying in Lucia's soft arms and snoring,

"It's time for us to leave." Dean and Sean got up and handed Lucia a brown paper envelope as usual, "This is the payment for the interview and the compensation for your leave today, take it." ”

"No, Mr. Kenny, that's too much." Lucia wiped the corners of her eyes, suppressing the longing on her face to refuse,

"Many, then let's go to the restaurant next time and give us a few more steaks."

The poor widow could only sob, giving Dean and the two grateful hugs.

……

The two walked out of the house side by side, and Dean found that Sean had been staring strangely at his clothes,

"What kind of eyes are you?"

Sean said enviously, "Do you have some extradimensional pockets, filled with inexhaustible dollars, so you are so generous and scattering money everywhere?" ”

"You guessed it."

"Forget it, seriously, where do you go next?"

"There are some materials in the car, let's look for them." The doctor of the same name as Sean in the Hawkins Lab once gave Dean a book of monster information, "Maybe you can get a glimpse of the whole thing in the lake from the inside, and find out what kind of monster it is." ”

(End of chapter)