Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 189 189. "Spirit" "Maze"

Hawkins Police Department,

Dean picked up the phone and dialed a number he remembered.
"Hi, Carl, it's me, Dean, haven't seen you in a few months, how are you all?"

"You are very good, boy, remember to care about the old man when you are out wandering."

Carl's majestic voice came from the microphone, and Dean could imagine the stiff smile on the other party's poker face,

"Recently, it's been very easy. Everyone has gone on vacation one by one. Seriously, since you left LVPD, Las Vegas has suddenly become much quieter. The criminals seem to have changed jobs, and there are no more frequent incidents. The homicides take your breath away."

Dean touched his nose a little guilty when he heard the words,

Carl said again, "By the way, your good brother Rust also worked as a volunteer in the bureau for a while, and now he has gone to the police academy. He is a man of drive and will become a great weapon in the future, but he put himself It's too tight, you have more time to persuade."

Dean thought of that handsome and resolute face, and those dark and bright remarks, "Got it, I will contact him. I also want to ask you to help investigate individuals, Ryan Reynolds, two years ago Lasville The staff at Garth Charity Kitchen...I'll send a check...for everyone's hard work."

"We'll help you find the person, and the money will be free. Just come back and treat everyone to a meal when you have time. Don't talk, goodbye."

"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 bully women, say something! We've ripped off your skin and exposed your bones. Why are you still sewing your mouth? You don't know how painful it is to scream?"

Hope kept yelling at Reynolds, who was chained to the chair, and the sound was thunderous, which stunned everyone's ears, but the man was like a statue, allowing him to scold and grit his teeth without saying a word .

"Where did you hide Catherine's things? Tell me, can't you understand human language?"

Hope waved the antique book and patted Reynolds on the face,
"Where did you steal these two books? What's 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, chief, don't go too far!" Nick and Tom hurriedly dragged Hope's long arm to the back.

Catherine, who was watching, gritted her teeth, "You guys take a rest, let me try?"

Nick asked, "Aren't you afraid of him?"

"I'm fine." Catherine plucked up the courage to walk up to the prisoner, "Ryan Reynolds, we worked together in a charity kitchen in Las Vegas two years ago, remember?"

She spoke softly as if she was communicating with an old friend, and the originally fierce atmosphere in the detention room calmed down instantly.
"At the end of every month, we distribute food to street people in the square of the old town...from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon, sometimes too many people will be delayed until ten in the evening. But everyone enjoys the food on the faces of people. Satisfied and grateful, never complained..."

"One time after work, we sat together on a bench in the square to share our past miserable lives, licking each other's wounds, just like family... You were still a warm-hearted and decent person at the time."

The man's shoulders trembled slightly, and he raised his head suddenly, meeting Catherine's blue eyes, his tense cheeks twisted suddenly, and the corners of his eyes wriggled 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, then he shook his handcuffs and knocked on the table, as if he was yelling at someone, or talking to himself,

"Stay away from me, don't lean in!"

"Go away!"

Catherine turned pale with fright at 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 them on her shoulders that the fear in her heart was slightly reduced.

She looked back at Dean.

Dean carefully looked at Reynolds' complicated expression, his perception was so keen, and he clearly noticed that Reynolds had mixed emotions of gratitude and hatred towards Catherine, so he asked Catherine softly, "Did this guy show love to you before and was rejected? Hate out of love?"

Catherine pursed her red lips and shook her blond hair lightly, "At least twenty people have confessed their love to me, but he is definitely not included."

"So you offended him?"

"I don't remember that happening."

……

No matter how everyone tortured him, Reynolds remained silent, but Dean could feel that this guy was getting more and more restless, and there seemed to be an extremely suppressed emotion in his body that was about to burst out.

But everyone didn't have the patience to spend it with him any longer.
Hope tugged at his collar and ordered, "Nick, you stay in the bureau and take good care of this guy."

"Tom, go to town and search for a second 'home' for Reynolds."

"Dean, let's ask professionals to help translate these two books." Hope waved the silk bag in his hand, "Let's go, hurry up."

"What about me?" Catherine looked at Hope, then turned to Dean and asked,
Dean squeezed her hand reassuringly, "The forensics department has already searched your home, you just go back and rest, and wait for our good news."

Catherine nodded obediently, "Yeah."

……

After the work was divided, Dean and Paqui got into the car and went straight to Hawkins Middle School.

Dean wondered, "Wait, the professionals are in school?"

"Ordinary priests and teachers of classical literature are proficient in Latin." Hope explained, "But I have consulted, and the priests in Hawkins Town don't have so much time to help us translate, so we can only find teachers."

After finishing speaking, Hope stopped the car, walked outside the gate guard and shouted. A bald middle-aged man came out and opened the iron gate.
"Sheriff Hope, it's unfortunate that you came today, Mr. Bonnie is not at work."

Hope said seriously, "I'm not looking for Bonnie today, I'm asking the Latin teacher Owen about something, which office is he in?"

Dean couldn't help admiring, last time it was the female manager of the library, this time it was a female teacher again, this reckless sheriff is really philanthropic and a role model for my generation.

"Ms. Owen should be in Office 07 of the teaching building..." The guard squeezed out a timid smile and retreated into the guard room.

Hope led Dean through the iron gate into the school.

The sun is shining today. On the playground not far away, among the fallen leaves all over the ground, a group of young men and women full of vigor are running, playing basketball, and having fun.

The gentle sunlight illuminated their rosy faces and crystal beads of sweat.

The vitality of youth rushed to the face.

……

And Dean saw one of his acquaintances at a glance,

"Hope, wait a minute, I'm going to say hello to an acquaintance." Dean handed the silk bag containing the antique book to the sheriff, and walked quietly to a boy in a yellow coat and jeans with messy bangs behind.

He was staring fascinatedly at the two girls on the swings by the playground...

Dean patted him on the shoulder abruptly,
"What are you doing, Jonathan?"

hiss--

Jonathan trembled like an electric shock, turned around stiffly, heaved a long sigh of relief, and smiled pleasantly,

"Dean, I was shocked, why did you come to school?"

"Work reasons."

"When will we go to the mall to take pictures together again? Go to my house and listen to music?" Jonathan asked expectantly. "I'll talk when I have time." Dean patted Jonathan on the shoulder, and followed his gaze to look at the girls beside the swing: a petite girl with long hair hanging down her shoulders, and an ordinary-looking girl wearing glasses who was slightly fatter.

"You like that petite girl?"

Jonathan blushed in an instant as if his heart had been punctured, turned around in a panic, put his left and right index fingers and thumbs together correspondingly, and aimed at the girl in the distance to make a camera frame movement,

"It's nothing, don't you think she is very photogenic... Small face, delicate features, and a special temperament... She must be very beautiful if she is photographed!"

Dean smiled, and did not expose his lie, "Jonathan, no matter how long you hide here, you will never have the opportunity to take pictures of her. Maybe she will be angry when she finds out, and think you are a sneak-photographer."

Jonathan hung his head in shame,

Dean gave him a push on the shoulder.
"Graceful, brave, and a gentleman, just walk over, praise her for being beautiful and photogenic, and say you want to take a picture of her."

"Ah, how is this possible?!" Jonathan shook his head hastily, with a look of inferiority on his face, "Nancy is a good student and looks pretty, but I'm just a little transparent."

"Waiting is never enough to wait for an opportunity. A man always 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, 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 walked through the corridors on the first floor of the teaching building, 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 very small, with only two desks. On the left sits a middle-aged man wearing a plaid shirt and a gray sweater. On the right is another Asian lady wearing a beige women's suit skirt.

"Look who is here, Sheriff Hope," the man said with a smile, "Is my car parked in the wrong place again, please come and notify me to pay the ticket yourself?"

"Mr. Owen Jacobs, your fines for car violations have accumulated to [-] dollars, and your car has been towed to the police station. If you want to get it back, you must help us decipher a few documents," Hope laughed and stretched out his hand and The man grasped it and put the silk bag on the desk.

"What kind of information is this?" The man took out an antique book in the silk bag, and his relaxed expression instantly became dignified. "It's actually written in classical Latin."

"I have nothing to say about the inside story of the case, just translate for me." Hope sat across the table from him, watching him quietly,
"This is a big project that can't be done in a short time. Let's do it. I'll look up the information first and translate the 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 down." At this time, the Asian lady on the table next to Hope smiled brightly at Dean behind Hope, showing eight white teeth. The smile was enthusiastic and contagious.

"Good afternoon, Teacher Kelly Chen, I didn't expect you to be here." Dean took a cup of coffee from Kelly with a smile on his face, and sat beside her, listening to her greetings.

"Did your uncle tell you? We have decided to get engaged in March next year."

Dean's face suddenly showed surprise, and he was really happy for Paque, but it was only half a year before the engagement date.

"Congratulations, Aunt Kelly! But damn Paque, you didn't notify me in advance of such an important matter!"

"It's still early, he probably wants to surprise you."

"At that time, I will definitely give you a big gift!"

Kelly smiled happily, "The gift will be waived, but you must come at that time, it is best to find a female companion in advance. In another year, she will be the best man and bridesmaid for our wedding."

"I try my best."

The two discussed in low voices 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 catalog."

Dean gave Kelly an apologetic look and stood up to Owen's side, only listening to him say,
"The titles of these two books are "Maze" and "Spirit" respectively."

……

"What is written in it?" Hope pointed to the "Spirit",
"According to the catalog, this should be a book describing some kind of legendary ancient existence." Owen rubbed the spine of the book full of texture, "but I don't know much about it."

"What about the other book?" Hope pointed to "The Labyrinth".
"Describe the construction method of a room with an unknown purpose." Owen opened the first page, revealing a circle of overlapping maze-like dazzling curves. "The words and sentences in the book are very unique and full of metaphors. It takes a lot of time to understand."

Owen's voice fell,
Dean found that the system was shocked, and the description of the event "Reynolds' Purpose" suddenly changed dramatically——

Event Difficulty: Unknown → Moderate
Progress: (22→30/100)

Duration: one week

Reward: 190 experience + special reward
Failure penalty: none
……

"Maze": special room construction method.

"Spirit": The legendary ancient existence.

The two short descriptions are full of mystery, and also let the incident reveal its true colors, a total of 190 experience points, more than the last "caged bird"!
Dean's eyes were full of deep fear, and he opened the "records" in God's perspective with a lot of thoughts, looked at the clues he found in the past, and began to unravel——

Reynolds once took out a tape measure like a construction worker in the surveillance video to measure the layout of various rooms in Catherine's house.

Reynolds removed furniture and appliances that were already 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 with reference to this "Maze"?" Dean turned his eyes, "The specific building 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 acts according to the descriptions in the two books to achieve a specific purpose.

And Catherine was involved, it must be because she is an indispensable part of it!
Dean thought this way——

Progress: 30.00%→30.00%[-].

Dean was excited, but quickly suppressed his restless mood,

"Whether Reynolds' real purpose is benevolent or malicious cannot be determined. This can only be known after these two books are fully translated."

Hope interrupted his thoughts, "Owen, the next two books will be handed over to you for safekeeping, and you can help us figure out the main content of the books as soon as possible."

"I have to teach students, I don't have so much time..." Owen hastily declined,
"It's enough to stay up all night, do me a favor," Hope said, "At worst, my brothers and I will say hello in advance, and you won't be arrested for vehicle violations in the next six months."

A flash of light flashed behind Owen's glasses, and he smiled with satisfaction, "Then we've made a deal, and the book is handed over to me. I'll give you the answer in two days at the latest."

"Keep the books well. These are important evidence. If they are damaged, they will cost a lot of money to repair. Even if you work in Hawkins Middle School for a year, you can't afford it."

Hope gave Dean a look after explaining, and was about to go out when the BP machine at his waist suddenly beeped.

"Isn't this the phone number from the bureau?"

He glanced at the number, and immediately called back through the office phone, his face turned livid, "Majafak!"

Dean asked, "What's wrong?"

A look of shame appeared in Hope's eyes, "That bastard Reynolds ran away after attacking the police!"

Dean's heart skipped a beat, "Oops! Catherine is in danger!"

(End of this chapter)