25 Maple Street.
Open the door and enter the house.
The layout of the one-story house is very similar to Jonathan's house, with slate-colored walls, and the furniture and appliances are messy and crowded.
For the past half month, Lucia has been staying at the hospital. The house was unoccupied and uncleaned, and there was a thin layer of floating dust in the space.
"Go and search the bedroom on the right. If you find anything suspicious, especially bottles and jars containing liquids, make a squeak."
Dean and Jonathan divided their tasks, walked around the hall, turned on the God's perspective, and scanned quickly.
There are no clues in the living room and kitchen.
In the bathroom, well, a few pieces of Lucia's private clothes that had been dried were hanging blatantly in the air, swaying with the cold wind blowing in from the window, which was really conspicuous.
Dean frowned even more and turned around to enter Peter's bedroom, which was blocked by a green beaded curtain.
What you see is a wall full of ghastly movie posters: Frankenstein with swollen and pale skin covered with seams, a vampire with a black cloak with a vertical collar and two pale fangs grinning from his mouth, a werewolf with bristles all over his body and a huge bloody mouth. The Candle Man with skin covered with sores and layers of fat...
The room was dimly lit, and when Dean glanced at it, he thought he had entered a magical cave hiding a bunch of deformed monsters.
The posters are surrounded by strange small objects such as garlic, crosses, sharp dentures, and nail helmets.
On the shelves on the four walls are books... "The End of Days", "Fright Night", "Frankenstein", "Dragon in the Night", "Wolf Kiss"... more than twenty books, all related to monsters, each book At the end, there is a large section of post-reading thoughts.
Dean took out a book and opened it.
"Farmer Louis is a lucky man. When he was heartbroken after losing his wife, he met Lestat and was saved. He became immortal, free from diseases, moved as fast as lightning, and would not be bullied. Insult..."
"You stay up day and night, you are not bound by worldly morals and laws, and you no longer have to suffer discrimination and glare. What a lucky person,"
Peter thought in his notes,
"When can I wait for my Lestat? Then I will leave everything behind, escape from this terrible filthy hell, start traveling around the world, and make friends with Claudia. I will become unrestrained, I’ll be happy to death!”
Dean stared at this paragraph blankly.
"Man, I found a weird thing in the bedroom drawer over there. What is it?" Jonathan walked up to Dean and handed over a box that looked like a cigarette box, but the packaging didn't say Marlboro, Camel, etc. Waiting for the famous brand of cigarettes.
But (JISSBON) JISSBON.
"You really don't know?" Dean said with a little nostalgia in his eyes.
Jonathan looked puzzled, "Is this filled with 'grass'?"
"This is a must-have item for lovers to be intimate with, a small umbrella."
Upon hearing this, Jonathan's eyes under Xigua's head glazed over, and then his cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
"Sorry, I forgot that you have never had a girlfriend." Dean shook his head, "But you will experience this sooner or later. When the time comes, remember to bring a small umbrella and be fully prepared for safety before we go to the clouds together."
"Wait, man, don't you think it's weird?" Jonathan hurriedly changed the subject, "Why is there such a box of small umbrellas at Peter's house? Peter is not popular at school, and the only experience he had was at Maggie's house. It’s still not going well... He bought so much and it’s not going to be used.”
"Lucia uses it for herself." Dean blurted out,
"But does Lucia have a boyfriend to maintain a relationship with?"
Dean's eyes quickly turned around, and Lucia's confession flashed in his mind. The other party had not provided this information.
Dean opened the box and checked it again. Eight of the ten small umbrellas had been used.
This was definitely not Peter's handiwork.
Dean turned on God's perspective and began to search the bed against the wall in Peter's bedroom. Within two minutes, he grabbed several locks of long hair from the bed and pulled it open under the light. The long red hair was consistent with Lucia's.
Most of the small umbrella was used, plus the long hair on Peter's bed, and Maggie's previous statement that Peter fearfully called out Lucia's name when he was intimate with her.
Dean became more and more certain about that outrageous guess, and a terrifying cold light flashed in his pupils.
How dare she? !
"What's wrong with you, man? Your face suddenly looks so ugly."
"I thought of a question and I want to ask Lucia in person later."
For the next half hour, the two failed to find the container suspected of containing toxin, evidence of Peter's suicide, or other clues worthy of attention.
…
As the sun rose above their heads, the two of them rushed back to the hospital with heavy hearts. They called Paqui from the door into the ward, then closed the door and looked at the expectant woman beside the bed.
"Have you found anything?" Lucia asked nervously,
"Yes, but I want to ask you a few questions first."
"You can ask whatever you want, as long as it can save Peter, I'll say anything!"
Dean stared into the woman's eyes;
"You and Peter have always been dependent on each other?"
"That's right."
"Have you invited colleagues or friends to your home recently?"
Lucia shook her head, "My relationship with my colleagues is average, and I don't have any particularly close friends. So in the past two or three years, apart from Peter and I, there have been no outsiders in the house."
"Why do you ask that? Could it be that my home was robbed because I haven't been back for half a month?"
Dean shook his head,
"Think about it again, have you brought home a man you dated recently?"
"What do you mean?" Lucia glared at Dean as if she was insulted, "I spend all my time working to make money and taking care of little Peter. Where can I find the energy to find a boyfriend."
She glanced at the unconscious patient,
"As long as Peter is fine, I'm content."
Dean nodded. It was only now that he was sure why he felt weird.
The woman's subtle expression, her eyes rippling, even her wrinkles are filled with tenderness, it is clearly an expression of love.
Rather than looking at the expression of a junior.
Dean's guess became more and more certain, and he suddenly opened his hand and showed the box of James Bond, "I found this from the drawer in your room. What does the person you are not dating use it for, blow up balloons?"
Lucia opened her mouth and was stunned for a moment, a trace of panic flashed on her face, and she explained hesitantly, "Sorry, I didn't explain clearly. I had a boyfriend two years ago, and then we broke up. Yes, I bought this two years ago. I just put it away when I didn’t use it.”
"What a clumsy lie. Open your eyes and see clearly. The production date on this is May 1981, which is two months ago." Dean threw the box to the woman, "Can you still travel through time and space?"
Lucia was completely speechless, her hands nervously grasping the corners of the quilt, a blush of shame appeared on her cheeks, and her eyes flickered around as if trying to find a crack in the ground to slip into.
"What riddles are you talking about? Why can't I understand?" Paqui shouted from across the bed, while Jonathan, with a dull look on his face, leaned into the big man's ear and whispered an explanation.
"I finally understand why Peter has psychological problems and depression." Dean shook his head at Lucia with a look of disdain. "It's not only because his peers reject him and regard him as a freak, but also because even you This only relative is also hurting him."
"No! It's not like that!" Lucia explained, waving her hands in panic, and looking at the patient obsessively, "I just want to be closer to him and have a closer relationship with him, so that I can take care of him forever."
The middle-aged woman said dreamily,
"I regard him as my everything in life, I have given everything to him, how could I be willing to hurt him?"
"The spirit of the ancestors is here!" The big Indian man at the door widened his eyes in surprise, and his eyes repeatedly turned between Lucia and Peter.
"What is your identity?" Dean said calmly, "You are Peter's elder and guardian, but what have you done to him? You abandoned the oath you made to his parents and regarded him as an exploiter. Toys, your personal belongings! Not only are you breaking the law, you are also disgraceful!”
…
"But Peter and I have no blood relationship at all!" Lucia completely broke her skin, her red hair flying, tears shining, "I am only about twenty years older than him, but age cannot stop true love."
"He loves me too, yes," Lucia stammered, "otherwise he wouldn't have allowed me to get close to him."
"He didn't want to hurt you, so he endured it silently for all these years." Dean shook his head, "He kept all his thoughts in his heart and suffered it alone."
"But for selfish desires, you deliberately ignored his painful feelings and hurt him repeatedly." Dean paused, staring into Lucia's tearful eyes, "You are the straw that breaks everything. What you did In order to make Peter completely give up, he would rather commit suicide and welcome death than continue to live and face this cruel world!"
As Dean finished speaking, the system started to vibrate, and the investigation progress jumped to 40%!
"No, you are lying!" The woman threw herself on the hospital bed in panic, grabbing Peter's shoulders and crying to explain, "Don't listen to his nonsense... I don't want to hurt you!"
Cries echoed in the ward.
It's like a signal.
Didi didi——
The electrocardiogram monitor beside the hospital bed emitted a series of piercing alarms, and the several regularly jumping red lines on the screen turned into straight lines.
"Doctor! Doctor!"
"Help!" Jonathan shouted and rushed into the corridor.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Peter, don't leave me... wu wu... don't leave me!"
…
The ward was a mess.
But soon the white coats arrived, cleaned the scene, performed cardiac compressions, injected, and rescued.
…
Dean and others waited anxiously outside the ward, silently circling like ants on a hot pot.
But not long after, they received bad news.
"Unfortunately, we have tried our best," the doctor shook his head and handed a death certificate to the stunned Lucia, "but Peter's condition is too serious."
The woman took the certificate and looked at it tremblingly. Her eyesight turned black for a while, then she rushed into the ward, threw herself on the cold body covered with white cloth, collapsed and shouted,
"You just left like that, leaving me alone?" The woman crouched on the corpse's shoulders and wailed, and a desperate roar echoed in the ward, "Why are you so cruel!"
Dean watched the scene coldly, without disturbing or comforting him.
This woman took care of Peter for many years, but also hurt him because of her selfish desires.
Dean cannot measure the difference between right and wrong, but Peter has made his own choice——
Under the dim light, the face looked morbidly pale and thin in a childish way, but its expression was like the calm surface of a lake. He probably didn't suffer any pain before leaving.
Dean even vaguely felt that the corners of Peter's mouth were slightly raised in celebration.
This complete weirdo was not accepted or understood by his peers, and was "exploited" by his closest relatives for a long time. As a result, his first experience with his girlfriend turned into a nightmare. Perhaps death is another kind of relief for him.
Just a pity for my incident.
Failed the first time.
Dean's mind sank into the system.
Event - Coma
Investigate the causes and consequences of Peter's coma, revive him, and find clues about Lena and Light.
Event Difficulty: Unknown→Medium
Progress (40/100)
Deadline: one week
Reward: 30 points → 120 experience points + special rewards
Failure penalty: None
…
What?
Dean rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.
Peter is already dead, and his body is still warm right in front of him. Why has the incident not failed and is still ongoing?
Dean quickly walked to the bedside, recalling the knowledge from detective training, and used his fingers to open Peter's eyes to check the pupils.
Both pupils were fully dilated, meeting the criteria for death.
"Offended, man."
He lifted Peter's body into a supine position, supported Peter's knees with his forearms, and tapped his patellar tendon. He repeated this several times but failed to see the straightening of his calf. He had lost his knee-jerk reflex.
Dean continued to check, and found that breathing, heartbeat, and pulse were all gone.
It stands to reason that he is 100% dead.
"What are you doing? What do you want to do to Peter?" The woman pushed Dean hard like a madman, but she seemed to be pushed against a copper wall and remained motionless.
"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure."
"What do you mean?" A glimmer of hope ignited in the woman's desperate eyes, "Peter is still alive?"
"Guys, I understand how sad you are about losing your loved one." The doctor observing at the door of the ward said firmly, "But we have used the most advanced equipment to conduct rescue and examination. Peter's bilateral pupils were dilated, his heart and The breathing stopped, the EKG was straight, he was dead.”
"I'm having a nightmare. Everything is fake. You are all fake. The body is also fake. Peter is still waiting for me at home. I have to go back and prepare breakfast for him." Lucia went to the ward crying and laughing crazily. Rushing out the door, he suddenly held his forehead again, shook his body violently, and fell straight down.
Paqui and Jonathan hurriedly helped her sit down and handed her the tissue.
She just stared at the corpse without saying a word, her eyes gradually losing their luster...
"My condolences, Lucia," Paquet comforted the ashen-faced woman with a complex expression, "A dead person cannot be resurrected. You are his only relative. You must take good care of yourself so that you can have the energy to prepare for Peter's death and send him off. The last leg.”
At this time, Dean looked at his uncle,
"Where's the 'talisman' I gave you?"
The big man took out the bamboo board from his arms and handed it back.
Dean checked it over impatiently, and then fell into shock and surprise again - the inside of the board was empty, and no soul had been absorbed.
"What's going on? Peter died nearby. Why didn't the stone board absorb his soul?"
"And the event didn't fail."
The two situations occurred at the same time. Dean pondered for a long time and looked at the body under the white cloth with strange eyes.
"Is it possible that Peter is currently in some state of suspended animation that cannot be detected by medical means, and can he still be saved?"
"Yes, this is the only way to explain it!"
"But how can I save him?"
…
Dean's brain was running at an unprecedented speed.
Peter had good reason to be upset that he was being exploited by those closest to him.
Before he fell into coma, he took the initiative to say goodbye to Jonathan and Maggie, which also meant that he must have known in advance that something would happen to him.
But if this accident is just suicide or death, he can hang himself, swallow a gun and other normal methods to make himself die quickly, instead of tossing himself into this weird coma that even doctors are helpless to do.
Peter doesn’t have the ability or means either!
Now, the event is back to medium difficulty, with supernatural elements.
Therefore, there must be another supernatural force that made some kind of deal with Peter to assist him in "suicide"!
Dean deduced that the investigation progress jumped to 45%!
"Who helped Peter?"
Dean recalled all the targets he investigated, and the charming magician Monica wearing a magic top hat immediately came to mind.
"It is most likely that this missing woman can trigger changes in progress, but it may also be something else."
"Whoever it is, why did they go to such lengths to put Peter into a weird 'suspended death' state?"
Dean thought hard and then remembered Peter's weird hobby that was criticized by most of his peers - his love for monsters.
Flashing before his eyes was a passage he saw at Peter's house that impressed him deeply - the desire and yearning for freedom and a new world.
So that’s it.
Peter was waiting for Lestat in his destiny, and everything has a reasonable explanation.
"Paqui, over there with Monica..."
"What news can we get in just one day? Besides, Peter is dead, will it be useful to find Monica?"
"No, we must keep looking!"
"OK, you have the final say."
Paqui shook his head and sighed, then looked at Lucia, "What will you do with Peter's body later? Should you send it to the morgue or send it back to your home?"
"go home."
The woman hugged the corpse tightly,
"I want to take him home."
Jonathan clenched his fists with red eyes, his face full of confusion and pain.
…
Two days passed quickly while preparing for the funeral. During the process, Dean secretly sneaked into the ward where Peter died and tried a psychic ritual, but still failed to summon Peter's soul. He became more and more sure of his inference.
On the third day, the person in charge of the funeral parlor examined Peter's body, took off his clothes, and inspected the cold body repeatedly.
He had no visible trauma, so the staff put a little makeup on his transparent and white face to make his cheeks look moister.
Then a group of people moved Peter to a table at home covered with a white cloth, and the guests bid farewell to the body.
Dean stood in the corner and looked around;
Many residents of Hawkins Town: the mustache from the movie peripheral store, the clerk in the bookstore who dreamed of becoming a millionaire, some teachers and students from Hawkins Middle School, and Maggie all came to say goodbye.
Jonathan came with his mother and younger brother, leaned next to him, and said sadly and unwillingly,
"Dean, we failed."
"You tried your best, there is no need to blame yourself or feel sad,"
Dean looked at Jonathan and said meaningfully,
"And death is not a bad thing for Peter, and it doesn't mean the end of everything."
Jonathan stood stunned for a long time. Just when he was about to ask a question, Joyce called him away again.
At this time, Paquet leaned into Dean's ear and said, "There is still no news about the female magician Monica. She is wandering around like a gypsy and her whereabouts are unknown. We probably got into trouble this time. Once Peter dies, your parents will The clues have been completely broken again.”
"Don't be so pessimistic, it's not over yet."
"What's the meaning?"
"You'll know then."
Dean calmly returned his attention to the farewell ceremony in front of him.
There were people coming and going in the house.
During his lifetime, Peter was unpopular and met with much ill will.
But after his death, people finally showed him some mercy and kindness, blessing him a wonderful life in heaven, crying and sighing.
Lucia cried very sadly and recounted her original plan to wait for Peter to go to college and move with him near the university. She had even prepared college tuition for Peter through frantic work.
But all the good expectations came to nothing.
She burst into tears in front of all the guests and screamed for Peter to wake up.
But it didn't work.
The weather in the town was gloomy that day.
…
After the wake, the body was moved into the coffin and sent to the North Cemetery in Hawkins Town in a "Lincoln" hearse. After a mass was said by the priest.
Peter was buried with the coffin in the earth, sinking into darkness and death.
Wait until all the people in the cemetery disperse.
Dean checked and confirmed the weapons and equipment in the fantasy space.
Crouching in the bushes surrounded by greenery in the distance, he resembled a young man with white skin and flexible eyes, staring at the newly erected tombstone from afar.
Waiting like a hunter.
(End of chapter)
