Facing Andrew, a guy who has been working in the national security agency for a long time, Luke simply couldn't bear Andrew's scrutinizing gaze for too long.
The young painter averted his gaze, and the smiling expression on his face suddenly became a little restrained, and something was obviously wrong.
Looking at the silent Luke, Andrew took out his ID and patted it in front of him.
He had to know what the painting was about.
The investigation and questioning in Taos Town has been mostly completed. The results of the investigation currently received by his men on his mobile phone are that most people were asleep during the early morning hours.
The few who didn't sleep didn't notice anything unusual.
Andrew was mentally prepared for this. Whatever happened in the manor, no matter how much noise it caused, it would not necessarily affect the town of Taos.
After all, Taos Town is said to be near the manor, but in fact it is still some distance away, and the movement is not so loud that you will hardly notice anything.
But now this painter is very likely to become a breakthrough.
"You left the town of Taos early this morning to paint in the San Cristo taiga."
"Then you saw or heard something."
"Right?"
Andrew came close to Luke's face, staring closely at the young painter.
In response to Andrew's questioning, Luke swallowed and felt a little at a loss, but subconsciously lowered his head further.
Seeing Luke, he still lowered his head and said nothing.
Andrew said in a coercive tone: "This is a matter involving national security. I hope you can clearly understand the situation and don't hide anything."
His voice was slow but rising in volume.
Luke trembled subconsciously, and then slowly raised his head to look at Andrew: "This is indeed the painting I made in the early hours of this morning."
Andrew nodded with satisfaction upon seeing this, took out his notebook and began to prepare to record Luke's words patiently.
"Last night, I couldn't sleep and wanted to continue creating. I went out to look for suitable scenery."
"After searching for a long time, I chose to go to the San Cristobal Coniferous Forest. Although there is a private estate there and entry is prohibited, I thought it would be good to paint the dense forest in the dark outside."
"Then……"
At this point, Luke swallowed.
Andrew could clearly see Luke's pupils dilating slightly, and he understood that this was a human physiological reaction when feeling fear and nervousness.
What Luke encountered next must have shocked him.
"Say it, don't be afraid."
Andrew took out a piece of milk-flavored candy from his pocket and handed it to Luke.
Sugar, which represents energy, is extremely needed from the bottom logic of biology, so it can always give people a sense of stability and happiness.
Andrew often takes some milk-flavored candies with him when he goes out.
Luke took the candy and put it in his mouth to carefully appreciate the sweetness.
After a long time, he continued:
"Then I heard a series of explosions and the roar of something like a beast."
"That kind of monster's roar is definitely not something that any known creature can make. Just listening to it makes me feel terrified."
Speaking of which, Luke had some fears.
He slowly raised his head, stared at the calm Andrew in front of him, and then looked at the portrait he had painted of the passerby.
It seemed that I had found some solace, and my panic slowly calmed down.
The telling continued.
"Then there was a calm."
"I panicked and wanted to leave, but I stood outside the dense forest and couldn't move my frightened footsteps."
"Until dawn came, a golden pillar of light rose into the sky, and infinite warmth suddenly surged into my heart, making me forget my fear."
"Along with it, there was the scream of the monster. I could hear the fear in the scream."
"It's as if it knows that it's facing a god that it knows it can't defeat but can't escape, so it can only scream helplessly."
"After that, I didn't know anything anymore and everything fell into complete silence."
"I was afraid to find out what was going on."
"I came back here in a daze and drew what I saw."
"Then I wanted to pretend that nothing happened, but then I met you."
Luke fell into silence as he said this.
His story ends here.
And Andrew, who heard and recorded the relevant words, also fell into silence subconsciously.
There was no surveillance in the manor or forest, but there were some surveillance arrangements in the town of Taos.
Whether Luke has been out of Taos Town at night can also be found out through investigation.
Moreover, during the investigation in the manor and the dense forest, there was indeed one piece of information: [It was found that there were huge, circular, high-temperature burn marks on the ground of the manor]. Regarding this very doubtful information, he thought about it for a long time.
Now it seems that those are probably the traces left by the golden light pillar.
So if we take Luke's words as truth, Andrew can probably infer a fact that makes him think deeply.
First, the monster suddenly appeared and had a firefight with the people in the manor.
This corresponds to what Luke said [successive explosions and the roar of some kind of beast]. The explosion residues, gunpowder residues, and bullet casings they found in the manor and forest can confirm this.
Then the monster rushed all the way into the dense forest and killed all the people who escaped, and then slowly returned to the manor.
This corresponds to what Luke said [then, there was calm]. From the suspected monster footprints they found in the manor and the forest, it can be inferred that the multi-legged monster did rush into the forest in a hurry, and took his time in no hurry. I slowly returned to the manor, but all traces suddenly disappeared somewhere.
Finally, this was the point where Andrew really fell into deep thought.
According to what Luke said - [A golden beam of light rose into the sky, and the monster screamed, as if it knew it was going to die].
A simple guess can lead to a conclusion:
Monsters were rampant and everyone in the manor was slaughtered. But something so powerful that the monster couldn't resist suddenly appeared and solved the monster.
Judging from the fact that there was only one scream, that thing not only used the golden beam of light to kill the monster, but this solution was also likely to kill it instantly.
Andrew understood that maybe they searched everywhere but did not find the monster. It was precisely because this sudden appearance directly took away or destroyed the monster's body and cleaned up the traces of its own appearance.
Andrew knew very well what this meant, and it also gave him a headache.
This means that what happened in the manor in the early morning was not just monsters killing humans, but a new third party was involved to solve the monsters.
Investigating monsters is already troublesome enough.
As a result, a mysterious force that is hostile to the monsters appears.
This third party force undoubtedly needs to be investigated carefully.
Andrew frowned and couldn't help but take out a milk-flavored candy and stuff it into his mouth.
The spreading sweetness eased his anxious mood.
"Next, you may need to cooperate with us for a while."
"I want to take this painting away too."
Andrew stood up and picked up the painting with the golden beam of light.
