Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 216 216. Immortality, summary of clues

Within a minute, the thick smoke in the hall cleared.

The surviving police officers shined their flashlights on the ground and saw corpses, blood, and mutilated limbs all over the ground. Every familiar colleague closed his eyes forever in a cruel and painful way.

They suddenly fell into an unextricable nightmare, but when the flashlight turned to the ferocious figure nailed to the ground on the left side of the hall, they woke up from the nightmare again.

"God, what the hell is this?"

"Am I dazzled and hallucinating due to excessive fright?"

"Jesus Christ! Was it this big hairless bat that attacked my brothers?" Tubbs, whose face was covered in blood, came over with several police officers to watch.

They pointed their guns at Dean's feet with hatred and fear.

Sipi twisted his head as hard as he could, widened his pale and violent eyes at everyone, opened his big mouth with intertwined steel needle fangs, and hissed and growled, like a tethered mad dog that would never learn to lower its head weakly.

The Cui Shi siblings next to them were stared at so hard that goosebumps appeared all over their bodies, their eyes were bloodshot, their mouths were opened in an O shape, and they stood there stupidly, dripping with cold sweat, their expressions on their faces as wonderful as an abstract painting.

When the monster really appears in front of them, the strong impact on their senses completely destroys their inherent outlook on life and world.

Their minds went blank, and they just instinctively approached Dean in front of them to seek shelter.

"Open your eyes and take a look! I have told you repeatedly that there is a monster hiding in the county and it has killed many people!" Jesse wiped away his tears and suppressed a relieved smile at the corner of his mouth, and shouted ventedly, "You always thought I was talking nonsense. Badao! Do you see the reality clearly now?"

Tubbs looked at the black woman who had always been regarded as a goddess and a madman, and a trace of apology flashed on his face.
"Jesse, we shouldn't have questioned you in the past, and I apologize for my crude knowledge."

After saying that, he suddenly turned to the police officers beside him who stretched their necks and stared in shock.
"Spread out, guys, don't be blocked here. Send the injured brother to the medical room. Once the power is restored, move the truck blocking the door!"

"Yes, sir!"

After the onlookers left, Dean kicked Dead Skin on the head again and added, "The kidnapping case on the highway during this period was also his work. He brutally murdered people and then threw them into the church cellar. For many years. Since then, he has been committing crimes non-stop and hundreds of corpses have been piled up."

"So this monster is still a perverted serial killer?" Tubbs swallowed, "Man, it killed so many of my guys in just half a minute, how did you catch it?"

Everyone looked at this young Asian man who had transformed a ferocious monster into a grilled fish. There was no trace of any injuries on his body and not a drop of sweat on his forehead. This was really unreasonable.

"The laws of nature, everything has its natural enemies and weaknesses... cats and mice, hunters and beasts," Dean glanced at a few people, "Since there are supernatural monsters in the world, there are also humans who specialize in dealing with these monsters, and I I happened to know its weakness and caught it.”

"So you are not just a private detective, you are also a hunter who specializes in hunting monsters?" Sister Cui Shi seemed to have gained great courage, and her eyes shone with respect and admiration.

"I'm just an amateur monster and occult enthusiast."

"What should we do with this monster next?" Tubbs asked Dean sincerely. "Cuff it and put it in a cell?"

"No! No one can trap Dead Skin," Jesse retorted excitedly, "It will definitely escape and start killing!"

"Only a fool in a vulgar horror movie would think he could imprison a monster. We must deal with it immediately!" Dean waved his hand and stopped the spears, axes and other weapons that began to vibrate restlessly under his feet. "Tower Director Booth, I need gasoline, lots of salt, verbena, water..."

"Is there any mistake? You want to exorcise demons in my territory?" A trace of struggle flashed across Tubbs' face. "We should hand it over to the FBI or CIA, otherwise there will be no way to account for the deaths of so many brothers!"

"I tortured it. It can't speak human language and is unwilling to answer any questions. It would be in vain to hand it over to the FBI." Dean narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "And there is no time. It will break free from my restraint and start killing again. If you don’t cooperate, all of you will die!”

The naked death threat made Tubbs abandon all worries and give orders to the several police officers in the hall who were cleaning up the mess.

In less than 5 minutes, the police officers collected the supplies Dean needed from the utility room and office.

"Is this effective?" Jesse asked, looking at Dean who was holding a woven bag and pouring snow-white salt around the dead skin. "This monster cannot be killed."

"We can't kill its body because it can constantly be replaced by devouring it." Dean looked at the curious Trish siblings and explained, "So the body is not important to it. Its essence is probably an evil creature. Spirits, evil spirits that play with people’s hearts and absorb fear!”

Sister Cui Shi's expressions were confused, and she nodded her head in confusion.
"I happen to have some methods of dealing with evil spirits. Using this method, even if it cannot completely eliminate it, it can be temporarily exorcised and buy some time for our subsequent investigation!"

By the way, these methods come from exorcist Ryan Reynolds' vintage book "Spirit."

In the following period, under the surprised gazes of the four people in Cuishi, Dean used salt and gasoline to draw circles around the dead skin several times, then forced open its foul-smelling mouth, and poured in three large bottles of verbena water.

Use a sharp silver table knife to carve densely packed inverted witchcraft symbols "VV" on its skin, locking its soul into this body.

This series of operations produced obvious results.

Dead Skin began to struggle violently, and the blades and steel spears nailed to it trembled endlessly. Dean waved his hands when he saw this, and nailed more than a dozen tactical daggers to various parts of its body for reinforcement.

But the changes are far from stopping.

Boom!

Boom!

The tires of the truck stuck at the police station gate rotated rapidly, and the ceiling and floor vibrated due to friction and impact, shaking off pieces of gravel.

But the thick concrete wall of the police station is not a decoration. The truck is stuck inside and cannot move forward or backward!

"What the hell, why did this car start to move on its own?" Tubbs had a ghostly expression on his face. There had been too many mysterious incidents that gave him a headache tonight.

"The dead cars and weapons are closely related to it. They are all alive. Don't approach it rashly!" Dean turned his head and stopped the pile of spears and axes under his feet that were automatically hitting the ground with a pinging sound, and then Lighted the lighter.

His eyes were like cold electricity as he scanned the monster in the center of the exorcism circle.

Sipi felt his disdain and provocation, and roared at him angrily. With a mouth full of fishy wind, the six facehugger-like jointed limbs on both sides of its cheeks completely opened up, forming a hexagonal bright red flag, which gently raised It trembled and sputtered out fishy mucus, making the festering face even more cruel, ugly, and evil.

Cui Shi and the other four were frightened and took a step back.

And Dean threw the lighter.

Boom!

The flames ignited the gasoline and circled the sacred exorcism circle covered with salt.

The fire soared into the sky.

The temperature in the hall suddenly rose several degrees, and the twisting fire snake turned into red chains and burned onto the dead skin, wandering on its rough and black skin.

It seemed to foresee its miserable fate, felt the pain it had not seen for a long time, and screamed heartbreakingly in the flames.

The screams were so loud that they went through the halls, corridors, and every floor.

The dust and gravel on the ground were blown into the air, and the glass products in the police station building shattered to the ground.

Almost everyone stopped what they were doing, covered their ears with painful expressions on their faces, and trembled amidst the screams.

Dean was the only one who remained calm, with his left hand holding the dart board and his right hand holding the M1900 in bullet mode, staring intently at the rotten face engulfed in flames.

The dead skinned and strong body quickly became dehydrated, shriveled up, and emitted bursts of pungent, burnt-smelling black smoke...

The screams disappeared.

crackle!

Its wings were burned to the point of being severed from the middle, crumbling into black powder, and its internal organs erupted with blazing fire, turning black, scorched, and carbonized at an alarmingly rapid rate.

But 5 minute.

The dead skin was completely burned into a human-shaped black ash lying tightly on the ground.

But in Dean's spiritual vision, there was another scene. The surface of this black gray mass was like a sticky swamp, with a lot of bubbles popping up, and a hazy human shape pulled out of the swamp.

Chains composed of countless inverted "VV" characters in the bubble tightly wrapped around its body, but it was easily broken by it and escaped.

It has a majestic figure, a vague face, and two wings on its back. Its dark eyes look at Dean, strangely showing two completely opposite emotions of pleading and resentment.

Boom!

whoosh-

Without hesitation, Dean pulled the trigger and ejected the shackles.

The roaring spirit bullets and catastrophes hit the overlapping figure at the same time. Water-like ripples appeared on the surface of the figure, stubbornly blocking the attack. It turned into a stream of light and rushed out of the circle of fire, disappearing...

……

The flame suddenly went out!

The light bulbs on the ceiling flickered a few times, all the lights came on, and the disconnected power supply was restored at this time.

Dean withdrew the pistol, a flash of thought flashed in his eyes. After burning the dead skin and seeing the dark soul, the progress jumped to 70.00%.

Dead Skin was just as he expected, essentially an evil soul.

And Jesse stared at the black humanoid silhouette in the ring of fire and couldn't wait to speak,

"Did you succeed in killing this demon?"

Dean shook his head, "Sorry, it escaped again. It will be reborn one day in the near future and continue hunting." Jesse's face turned pale, "I knew that no one could kill it."

Dean changed his tone, "But before it regenerates, we will most likely have a few days of buffer time."

"What are you running away from? Hasn't this monster been burned to ashes by you?" Tubbs looked confused.
"This is just an appearance. Supernatural creatures cannot be treated with common sense."

Dean glanced back at him and walked through the blood on the ground towards the back door of the police station.

"Let's go, the power is restored, let's leave through the back door, find a place to stay and discuss what to do."

"Can we go home first?" Trish took a deep breath, looked at Dean and begged, "Mom is still waiting for us at home. If we don't go back now, I'm afraid we won't have the chance in the future."

"If you don't want to be eaten by the dead skin, you must follow me every step of the way in the next few days." Dean's tone did not allow for refutation, "As long as you cooperate obediently, I guarantee your safety."

The two siblings nodded.

Tubbs stopped them, "Wait, man, you have to make a transcript! Otherwise I won't be able to explain to the families of these colleagues who died."

"There is no record." Dean shook his head. "You just need to tell another fact. The murderer who kidnapped the people of the county attacked the police station again. Don't talk about monsters, otherwise you will be regarded as a lunatic. Otherwise, the dead skin will attack again. I won’t help you again.”

"You mean to hide the fact about the monster?" Tubbs hesitated for a second. Thinking of the bizarre experience tonight, he chose the latter between death and ambiguity. "There are too many dead. I can only hide it for a week at most." .”

"no problem."

A week later, Dean had left this land of right and wrong.

"By the way, Director, Dead Skin's weapons and the truck at the door should also be locked up, and a special person should be assigned to keep an eye on them. Once they move on their own, it means Dead Skin has resurrected, please notify me immediately!"

……

It was ten o'clock in the evening when the four people left the Bohao County Police Station.

Jesse, a psychic, invited the three of them to stay in her RV for one night, but Dean thought it was unsafe, so instead he called her along to find a hotel in the county.

Jesse and Trish live in one room, and Dean and Daley live in the next room, so that God can monitor them from his perspective.

We experienced too many exciting things this night. Everyone was exhausted physically and mentally. After washing, they lay down on the bed to rest.

But not long after, Cui Shi, who had fair and rosy skin, quietly ran over and knocked on the door, asking for a hug from Dean. Her frown relaxed, and she returned to the house peacefully and fell asleep.

"Brother, where's my hug?" Daley, who was sleeping on the other bed, opened his hands toward Dean.

Dean reached out and bumped his fist.

"I value sex over friends." Daley shook his head, put his hands on the back of his head, and looked at the ceiling, with a melancholy look of fear and longing on his face, "Monsters, superpowers, death... I always feel that the experience of these two days is like It’s like a dream.”

"Just think of it as a dream." Dean lay on the other bed and kept throwing snacks into his mouth.
Daley looked at his calm companion and asked incomprehensibly, "More than a dozen people died, and they died so miserably. Are you not afraid at all? You are obviously not much older than us, but you seem to have much more experience than us." !”

"Get used to it."

"You must have seen monsters like Dead Skin. Can you tell me about it?"

"You won't be able to sleep even more after talking about it."

"Then, can an ordinary person like me become as powerful as you?"

"Theoretically there is a chance, but...Dally...Dally?"

When Dean saw the boy snoring and falling asleep, he shook his head and smiled, twisting his limbs and sinking into red dragon meditation.

……

The night flies by,
Bright sunlight shines through the windows and illuminates the hotel's restaurant.

"Good morning, Dean."

"Good morning, Trish and Jesse, you look good. Did you sleep well last night?" Dean pushed the milk and sandwich in front of the two ladies, and Daley beside him had already started to gobble them down.

"It's nice...I feel safe living next to you!"

Cui Shi nodded, her delicate little face filled with joy. The blood and nightmares from last night seemed to be forgotten. Her psychological quality was very extraordinary.

Jesse yawned, "I still have the same insomnia, but maybe the dead skin has not been resurrected yet, and I don't have nightmares."

"This is progress." Dean took a sip of milk and spread his notebook on the table. "Now let's get to the point. If we want to completely kill the 'dead skin', we have to find its origin. This is what I collected and analyzed. Important clues, please tell me what you think."

Three pairs of eyes scanned the notebook:
1. Dead skin is a monster that has existed in the world for more than 200 years and cannot be eliminated. It acts once every 23 years and lasts for 23 days...

2. It deliberately placed hundreds of hunted dead on the walls around the cellar, creating a "crazy version of the Sistine Chapel sky".

3. It has some hidden relationship with Ms. Jesse Guy Hartman.

4. One of the tables in its collection is painted with the image of a woman being grilled on a stake.

……

"Where did you get these clues, Dean?" Trish tilted her head in confusion, "Why are you sure they are related to the origin of dead skin?"

"Intuition." Dean said, "My intuition has always been very effective through countless experiences in the past."

Trish looked into his eyes and said seriously, "My intuition is also quite accurate. I think you will succeed."

"Okay, let's get to the point. There is indeed some connection between me and it." Jesse noticed the third sentence first, "But I have been thinking about it for more than 40 years and I still haven't figured it out."

Dean didn't think that his half-way investigation could match the other party's decades of hard work, so he changed his mind and asked, "Where are your parents, husband, and children?"

Jesse's face was full of emotion, "I grew up in an orphanage. I can't even remember my parents' names. I only know that they are locals from Bohao County. The administrator of the orphanage said that they had an accident? So he just said I, Jesse Guy Hartman, was left in the orphanage. I have never been married and have been living alone in a shabby RV outside the police station."

"terribly sorry…"

"No need to apologize..." Jesse's expression was calm, "I'm used to this kind of life. With my good dog Happy by my side, I'm not lonely."

Dean was silent for two seconds, "It's cruel to say this, but if you can, I hope you can check your relatives... The dead skin has existed for too long, and the connection between it and you may be from your parents' generation." It’s even inherited from an earlier bloodline.”

Jesse sipped his coffee and nodded, "It has been more than 40 years since I left my parents, and the orphanage in the county has been demolished long ago. I can only try to go to the library to check the past voter registration forms."

"It's decided."

……

"Talk about the fourth one?" Trish wiped the milk stains from the corner of her mouth and turned her eyes, "Do you know what I thought? Isn't this the witch who was burned at the stake?"

The girl started to popularize science with a clear and sweet voice.
“I have learned history well, and I am particularly impressed by the dark history of the witch-hunting movement. From the end of the [-]th century to the [-]th century, fires were raging across Europe, and both Catholic and secular judicial authorities vigorously hunted down so-called witches, especially witches. "

"In their imagination, witches can be said to be the source of all evil. Someone died in the village, the crops were not harvested well, and the neighborhood was not harmonious. These could be caused by witches. Countless women were judged as witches and burned at the stake. "

Dean nodded. He had the impression that the previous world had the same history.

"The woman in this painting is obviously one of the persecuted people." Dailey gnawed on a burger and suddenly said with an idea, "Maybe the dead skin was such a woman hundreds of years ago."

"Don't make wild guesses!" Jesse scolded him excitedly, "Sipi is a male, I'm absolutely sure."

Daley shook his head, "Okay, then why does it store such a table with a picture of a witch being tortured in the cellar?"

Everyone stared, unable to answer.

"Anyway, dead skin may have something to do with witches and Catholicism."

……

It was the turn of the first item, the special number 23. Everyone discussed it for a long time, but all they had was some outrageous guesses, so they could only move it back temporarily.

But in the second crazy version of the Sistine Chapel, Trish started to popularize science again.
"The Sistine Chapel was built in 1473 in the Vatican in Rome, Italy, and is used to hold important religious ceremonies. The ceiling of the church and the altar wall are painted by the famous art master Michelangelo. Together with the altarpiece "The Last Judgment", a total of more than 700 figures are depicted, which is equivalent to the number of dead people in the crypt."

Dean wondered, "The church is a sacred and solemn place, but Dead Skin chose its cellar as a lair for murderers and corpses, and even used corpses to piece together two extraordinary murals on the walls and sky. What is the purpose? Sacred and evil, two completely opposite things, must they be merged together?”

"I can't answer that."

The girl stood up and rubbed her chin, looking at her companions as if she were a detective.

"But Dean, the two clues you provided, the torture of witches and the Sistine Chapel, are all related to Catholicism. Maybe we should start from this aspect and learn more about Catholic religious works... The true meaning of the number '23' The meaning may be hidden in the relevant literature.”

"Go to the county library and look for it now?" Dai Li looked eager to try, as if he couldn't wait to destroy the monster.

Dean nodded and looked at Jesse, "The documents and voter registration books you mentioned are also in the county library, right?"

Jesse's swollen cheeks calmed down, he patted the food residue on his hands, waved his fat hand, "Let's go!"

(End of this chapter)