Hawkins Police Department,
Dean picked up the phone and dialed a number in his memory.
"Hi, Carl, it's me, Dean. I haven't seen you for a few months. How are you guys?"
"You're pretty good, kid. Remember to care about your old buddy when you're out there."
Carl's majestic voice came from the phone, and Dean could imagine the stiff smile on the other person's poker face.
"It's been very relaxing recently. Everyone has gone on vacation one by one. To be honest, since you left the LVPD, Las Vegas has suddenly become a lot quieter. The criminals seem to have changed their jobs and there are no more frequent crimes. The murders take your breath away.”
Dean touched his nose guiltily after hearing this.
Karl added, "By the way, your good brother Rust has also been a volunteer in the police station for a period of time, and now he is admitted to the police academy. He is an aggressive person and will become a great person in the future, but he puts himself I’m pressing too hard, please give me more advice when you have time.”
Dean thought of that handsome and resolute face, and those dark and bright remarks, "I know, I will contact him. I also want to ask you to help investigate an individual, Ryan Reynolds, Las Vegas two years ago The staff at the Gas Soup Kitchen... I'll send you a check... as a thank you for your hard work."
"We'll help you find someone, and the money will be free. Just come back and treat everyone to a meal when you have time. No more talk, bye."
"Dudu..."
Dean hung up the phone, a warm smile appeared on his face, and after a while he turned around and entered the detention room.
…
"You scum who bullies women, say something! Your skin has been peeled off by us and your bones are exposed. Why is your mouth still sewn together? You don't know how painful it is to scream?"
Hope kept yelling at Reynolds, who was handcuffed on the chair. The powerful voice shook everyone's ears like thunder, but the man was like a statue, allowing him to spit and grit his teeth without saying a word. .
"Where did you hide all Catherine's things? Tell me, you can't understand human speech?"
Hope waved the antique book and patted Reynolds on the face.
"Where did you steal these two books? What was written in them?"
A trace of long-lasting pain flashed in the man's eyes, but he remained silent.
Hope couldn't help but grabbed his neck, and gradually tightened her grip. Suddenly, the blood vessels on Reynolds' temples swelled, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face turned red due to suffocation.
"Enough is enough, Director, don't go too far!" Nick and Tom quickly grabbed Hope's long arms from left to right and dragged them behind.
Catherine gritted her teeth and said, "You guys have a rest and I'll give it a try?"
Nick asked, "Aren't you afraid of him?"
"I have no problem." Catherine mustered up the courage to walk up to the prisoner, "Ryan Reynolds, we worked together at the soup kitchen in Las Vegas two years ago, do you remember?"
Her soft words were like communicating with an old friend, and the originally fierce atmosphere in the detention room instantly calmed down.
"We distribute food to people living on the streets in the square of the old city at the end of every month...from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sometimes there are too many people to collect food and it will be delayed until 10 p.m. But everyone enjoys the people's faces. Satisfied and grateful, never complaining..."
"Once after work, we sat together on a bench in the square and shared the tragic past of our lives, licking each other's wounds, just like family... You were still a warm-hearted and decent person at that time."
The man's shoulders trembled slightly, and he suddenly raised his head and met Catherine's green eyes. His taut cheeks suddenly twisted, and the corners of his eyes were crawling like bloodshot sandworms.
"Shut up, stop talking!"
Catherine opened her innocent eyes and asked softly, "Where did I say something wrong?"
He took a deep look at the woman, as if he wanted to look into her body, and then he shook the handcuffs and banged on the table, as if he was yelling at someone, or talking to himself,
"Stay away from me, don't come closer!"
"Get away!"
Catherine turned pale from the nervous scolding and took several steps back.
It wasn't until a pair of warm and powerful hands gently pressed her back and placed it on her shoulders that the fear in her heart lessened slightly.
She looked back and saw Dean.
Dean looked carefully at Reynolds' complex expression. His perception was so keen that he clearly noticed Reynolds' mixed emotions of gratitude and hatred towards Catherine. He asked Catherine softly, "Has this guy ever shown love to you before and been rejected? Hatred out of love?”
Catherine pursed her red lips and shook her blond hair, "At least twenty people have confessed to me, but he is definitely not included."
"Then you have offended him?"
"I don't remember that happening."
…
No matter how others tortured him, Reynolds remained silent, but Dean could feel that this guy was getting more and more irritable and restless, and there seemed to be an extremely suppressed emotion in his body that was about to burst out.
But no one had the patience to spend any more time with him.
Hope tugged on his collar and ordered, "Nick, you stay in the station and take good care of this guy."
"Tom, search the town for Reynolds' second 'home'."
"Dean, let's ask professionals to help translate these two books." Hope waved the silk bag in his head, "Let's go, hurry up."
"What about me?" Catherine looked at Hope, then turned to Dean and asked,
Dean squeezed her hand comfortingly, "The forensics department has already searched your home. Just go back and rest, waiting for our good news."
Catherine nodded obediently, "Yeah."
…
After dividing the work, Dean and Paquet got in the car and headed straight to Hawkins Middle School.
Dean wondered, "Wait, the pros are in school?"
"Generally, priests and teachers who teach classical literature are proficient in Latin." Hope explained, "But I consulted and the priest in Hawkins Town did not have that much time to help us translate, so we had to find a teacher."
After saying that, Hope stopped the car, walked to the guard door and shouted. A bald middle-aged man came out and opened the iron door.
"Chief Hope, it's a bad time for you to come today. Teacher Bonnie is not at work."
Hope said seriously, "I'm not looking for Bonnie today. I'm looking for Latin teacher Owen to ask something. Which office is he in?"
Dean couldn't help but admire him. Last time it was a female manager of the library, and this time it was a female teacher. This reckless police chief was so philanthropic and a role model for our generation.
"Mr. Owen should be in Office 07 of the teaching building..." The guard forced out a timid smile and retreated into the guard room.
Hope took Dean through the iron gate and walked into the school.
The sun is shining brightly today. On the playground not far away, among the fallen leaves, a group of energetic young men and women are running, playing basketball and having fun.
The gentle sunshine illuminated their red faces and glistening beads of sweat.
The vitality of youth rushes towards my face.
…
And Dean saw an acquaintance of one of them,
"Hope, wait a minute, I'm going to say hello to an acquaintance." Dean handed the silk bag containing the antique books to the police chief, and quietly walked up to a boy in a yellow jacket, jeans, and messy bangs. behind.
He was staring in fascination at the two girls swinging on the playground...
Dean patted him on the shoulder suddenly.
"What are you doing, Jonathan?"
hiss--
Jonathan trembled like an electric shock, turned his face stiffly, breathed a long sigh of relief, and showed a surprised smile.
"Dean, I was shocked. Why did you come to school?"
"Work reasons."
"When will we go to the mall to take pictures together again? Come to my house to listen to music?" Jonathan asked expectantly.
"We'll talk about it when we have time." Dean patted Jonathan on the shoulder and followed his gaze to look at the girls beside the swing: one had long hair and was petite, and the other looked ordinary and wore glasses and was slightly fat.
"Do you like that petite girl?"
Jonathan's face instantly turned red as if he was worried. He turned around in a panic, held his neck, put the index finger and thumb tips of his left and right hands together correspondingly, and pointed at the girl in the distance, making a camera frame motion.
"No, don't you think she is very photogenic... she has a small face, delicate features, and a special temperament... she will definitely be beautiful if she is photographed!"
Dean smiled and did not expose his lie, "Jonathan, no matter how long you hide here and watch, you will never have a chance to take a photo of her. Maybe she will be angry when she finds out and think you are a candid photographer."
Jonathan hung his head in shame,
Dean pushed his shoulder,
"Be generous, be brave, be a gentleman, just walk over to her, tell her she's beautiful and photogenic, and say you want to take a picture of her."
"Ah, how is this possible?!" Jonathan shook his head quickly, with a trace of inferiority complex on his face, "Nancy studies well and is beautiful. I'm just a little transparent."
"You won't get a chance if you keep waiting. A man has to take the initiative. It doesn't matter if he fails." Dean looked at his hesitant expression and shook his head, "It's up to you whether you want to or not. I'm leaving."
Jonathan looked at Nancy, who was smiling coquettishly and playing with her friends in the distance, and a trace of struggle flashed in his eyes.
…
Dean and Hope entered the corridor on the first floor of the teaching building and walked around for a while. They found Office No. 7 and knocked on the door.
"Please come in."
After a gentle male voice, the two opened the door and entered.
The office is small, with only two desks. On the left is a middle-aged man who looks gentle and wearing a plaid shirt and a gray sweater. On the right is another Asian lady wearing a beige suit skirt.
"Look who's here, Sheriff Hope," the man said with a smile, "Did I park my car in the wrong place again? Could you please come and tell me to pay the ticket in person?"
"Mr. Owen Jacobs, the fines for your car violations have accumulated to 10,000 dollars. Your car has been towed to the police station. If you want to take it back, you must help us decipher some documents," Hope laughed and stretched out his hand. The man shook it and put the silk bag on the desk.
"What kind of information is this?" The man took out an antique book from his silk bag, and his relaxed expression turned solemn in an instant, "It's actually written in classical Latin."
"I have no comment regarding the inside story of the case. Just help me translate." Hope sat across from him at the table and looked at him quietly.
"This is a big project that can't be solved in a short time. Let's do this. I'll check the information first and translate the book title and table of contents."
Owen took out a thick dictionary and notebook from the drawer and began to compare them.
…
"Dean? Come and sit." At this time, the Asian lady at the table next to him smiled brightly at Dean behind Hope, showing eight white teeth. The smile was warm and contagious.
"Good afternoon, Teacher Kelly Chen. I didn't expect you to be here too." Dean took the cup of coffee handed over by Kelly with a smile, sat next to her, and listened to her greetings.
"Did your uncle tell you? We have decided to get engaged next March."
Dean suddenly showed a look of surprise on his face, feeling happy for Paqui from the bottom of his heart, but the engagement date was only half a year away.
"Congratulations to Aunt Kelly! But damn Paqui, you didn't notify me in advance of such an important thing!"
"It's still early, he probably wants to surprise you."
"I will definitely give you a big gift then!"
Kelly smiled happily, "There is no need for gifts, but you must come when the time comes. It is best to find a female companion in advance. She will be the best man and bridesmaid at our wedding in one year."
"I try my best."
The two discussed quietly for a long time.
The yellow light of the setting sun penetrated the window and cast mottled silhouettes on the desk. The translator Owen finally rubbed his sore eyes and spoke,
"You two, I have translated the cover and table of contents."
Dean gave Kelly an apologetic look and stood up and moved closer to Owen, just listening to what he said,
"The titles of these two books are "Labyrinth" and "Spirit" respectively."
…
"What's written in it?" Hope pointed at the "Spirit" and asked,
"According to the catalog, this should be a book describing some kind of legendary ancient existence." Owen rubbed the textured spine of the book, "But I don't know much about this aspect."
"What about the other book?" Hope pointed to "Labyrinth".
"Describes the construction method of a certain room with unknown purpose." Owen opened the first page, revealing a dazzling curve like a maze of overlapping circles. "The words and sentences in the book are very unique and full of metaphors. It takes a lot of time to read."
Owen's voice fell,
Dean found that the system was shaken, and the description of the event "Reynolds' Purpose" suddenly changed dramatically——
Event Difficulty: Unknown→Medium
Progress: (22→30/100)
Deadline: one week
Reward: 190 experience + special reward
Failure penalty: None
…
"Maze": special room construction methods.
"Spirit": a legendary ancient existence.
The two short descriptions were full of mystery and revealed the true nature of the incident. A total of 190 points of experience were gained, which was more than the last "caged bird"!
Dean's eyes were full of deep fear, and he opened the "records" in God's perspective with thoughts, looking through the clues he had found in the past, and began to peel off the cocoons——
Reynolds was once caught on surveillance video like a construction worker taking out a tape measure to measure the layout of various rooms in Catherine's home.
Reynolds removed the furniture and appliances that were in the house at 18 Elm Street.
These two seemingly meaningless actions suddenly made sense at this moment!
"So this guy is building some kind of special room based on the book "Labyrinth"?" Dean rolled his eyes, "The specific construction site should be in his second hiding place!"
By analogy, "Spirit" should also correspond to some special action steps, such as changing clothes, collecting hair, and drawing blood?
Ryan Reynolds acted according to the descriptions in the two books to achieve a specific purpose.
And Catherine was involved because she was an indispensable part of it!
Dean thought this way——
Progress: 30% → 35%.
Dean's head was excited, but he quickly suppressed his restless mood.
"Whether Reynolds' true intentions were benevolent or malicious cannot be determined. This will only be known after the two books are fully translated."
Hope interrupted his thoughts, "Owen, the next two books will be given to you for safekeeping. You can help us figure out the main contents of the books as soon as possible."
"I have to teach students, and I don't have that much time..." Owen declined quickly.
"Just stay up a few all-nighters and do me a favor," Hope said. "At worst, my brothers and I will say hello in advance and we won't catch you for vehicle violations in the next six months."
A glimmer of light flashed behind the lenses of Owen's glasses, and he smiled with satisfaction, "Then we have agreed, leave the book to me. I will give you the answer in two days at the latest."
"Keep the books safe. These are important exhibits. If they are damaged, repairing them will cost a lot of money. You can't afford to pay for them even if you work at Hawkins Middle School for a year."
After Hope finished explaining, he gave Dean a look and was about to walk out when the BP machine on his waist suddenly beeped.
"Isn't this the bureau's phone number?"
He glanced at the number and immediately called back through the office phone. His face turned livid as he listened, "Majafak!"
Dean asked, "What's wrong?"
A trace of shame appeared in Hope's eyes, "That bastard Reynolds attacked the police and ran away!"
Dean's head twitched, "Oops! Catherine is in danger!"
(End of chapter)
