Chapter 22 See also "Asian Dragon" in Chapter 20

Of course I didn't sleep all night.The next day, Sunday, passed in fatigue and restlessness.I took Cody and Astor to a nearby park and sat on chairs.I pondered over these unreasonable information and everything I came up with, the fragments of information just refused to piece together a reasonable picture obediently.Even when I squeezed them together roughly, it didn't help me find my Nightcrawler. All I can figure out is that probably the Nightcrawler and its brethren have been there for at least three thousand years.But why this one of mine ran away, it's really hard to say, especially when it encountered similar things before, its biggest reaction was just to get angry.My preoccupation with the new lion father seemed rather out of place, especially against the background of the chirping children in this sunny park.But statistics on the divorce rate suggest that about half of these children do have new dads, and they seem to be thriving.

I let the desperation sweep me away, which seemed absurd on this cozy Miami afternoon.The Nightwalker is gone, and I'm all alone, and the only way I can think of is to find a class and learn Aramaic.I only hope that a plane flies overhead at this moment, pouring down the frozen waste water, so as to quench my grievances.I eagerly looked up, but again, I was out of luck. Another half-dream night with that weird music creeping back into sleep and waking up when I sat up and almost followed it.I don't understand why following that music seems like such a great thing, let alone where it's trying to take me, but obviously all I want to do is follow it.It was clear that I was breaking down, falling rapidly down the valley, into a gray, empty madness.

On Monday morning, a light-headed, emaciated Dexter staggered into the kitchen and was swept head-on by the vicious Hurricane Rita.Waving an armful of paper and CDs, she yelled at me, "I need to hear what you think." Since my thoughts were darker and deeper than a bottomless pit, I immediately decided that she absolutely didn't need to know the answer.But before I could relax a bit, she had pushed me into a kitchen chair and sat down, while she rummaged through the pile of papers. "These are the floral shapes that Hans wanted to take," she said, showing me a bunch of photos that were actually plants in their natural form. "This one's for a wedding altar, maybe a little too—oh, I don't know," she said deflatedly. "Wouldn't it be funny if it was too much white?"

Although I'm known for having a subtle sense of humor, I can hardly think of a joke about white, but before I can offer a word of reassurance, Rita is turning the page. "Yeah," she said, "here's the arrangement for each table. Hope it matches Manny Polk's designs. Maybe we should send Vince to check with him?" "Oh." I said. "Jesus, let's see what time it is," she said, and before I could say a word, she dropped a bunch of CDs on my lap. "I screened the remaining six bands," she said, "listen to these today and tell me which one you like, okay? Thanks, Xiaode." I pecked at the cheek, then turned and headed for the door, and moved on to the next item on her blotter. "Cody?" she called. "Time to go, baby. Come on."

Another three minutes of commotion ensued, with Cody and Astor sticking their little heads in through the kitchen doorway to say goodbye to me, and then the front door slammed shut and everything fell silent again. In the stillness I can almost hear, as I hear at night, that ethereal music.I knew I was supposed to jump out of my chair, bite the dagger between my teeth, and run out the door, into the bright light, find the damn thing, whatever it was, block it in a dead end and kill it—but I can not do it. The Moloch website has passed on its horror to me, and even though I know it's stupid, ridiculous, cowardly, and very un-Dexter-like, there's nothing I can do about it.Morlock, just a silly ancient name.An ancient legend that disappeared along with Solomon's Temple a thousand years ago.It's nothing but a prehistoric figment, worse than nothing, but I'm afraid of it.

All day long, it seemed like I couldn't do anything but droop my head and imagine how good it would be if I didn't get caught by it.Not sure what it is.I was so tired that I was about to collapse, maybe because I felt so helpless.But I do feel that something very evil is approaching me with my scent, and I can already feel its sharp teeth right next to my neck.I can only hope it lingers a little longer, but sooner or later I'm going to feel its claws on me, and then all I can do is bleat and kick my hooves in the dust and fall dead.I was powerless to struggle, in fact I had nothing but the last ray of humanity reminding me that it was time to go to work.

I picked up the pile of CDs that Rita had left behind and rushed out of the house.I stood in the aisle in front of the door looking for the key to lock the door. A white Asia Dragon drove away from the curb very slowly, dragging away lazily.This scene swept through my fatigue and despair, stabbing great fear into my chest, and I slammed back against the wall, the CDs in my hands scattered all over the floor. The car drove slowly up the street and stopped before the stop sign.I stared blankly.Its brake lights go off, it starts, and it crosses the intersection.A small part of Dexter wakes up, very angry.

Maybe it's the Asian dragon's ever-extremely defiant behavior, or maybe it's my adrenaline rush that makes up for the morning coffee.Whatever it was, I was full of righteous rage, and before I knew what I was doing, I was in motion, I sprinted to the side of my car in the driveway, and jumped into the driver's seat.I put the key in the ignition, started the engine, and followed the Asian dragon closely. I ignored the stop sign, just accelerated and rushed across the intersection, and saw the car about to turn right five to six hundred meters ahead.I was speeding and saw it turn left toward US 1.I cranked it up and gave chase, frantically trying to catch it before it disappeared into the rush-hour traffic.

I'm only about 160 meters away from it.It turned north on U.S. 1, and I followed, ignoring the chorus of brakes and horns from other cars.The Asia Dragon was ten cars away in front of me. I used all my Miami driving skills to continue to narrow the distance, staring at the road intently, completely ignoring the dividing line on the road, and even ignoring the car around me. Outbursts of creative language.The fleshy worm was about to deform, even though it hadn't grown a full set of teeth, it was ready to fight at any time, even if it was just a battle of a fleshy worm.I was angry and this was new to me.My black magic has been squeezed dry, I was forced into a corner, surrounded by heavy walls, but everything has a limit.It's time for Dexter to fight back.Although I don't know exactly what I'm going to do next after I get on that car, I definitely, must get on it first.

Asia Dragon noticed me. At this time, I was only tens of meters away from it. It suddenly accelerated and got into the leftmost lane. The distance between the front and rear cars was so close that the car behind it had to brake suddenly and skid.The two cars behind crashed into its side, and the sound of brakes and horns roared and roared, which was really deafening.I found that there was just room on the right for me to slip in and bypass the confusion, and a moment later I was on the left again, and the way suddenly opened up.Asia Dragon was 160 meters away from me, and it also increased its speed. I immediately stepped on the accelerator and followed.

The distance between us remained the same for the next few hundred meters.Then the Asia Dragon was slowed by the accident ahead and I caught up a bit until I was only two cars away from it, close enough to see a pair of big sunglasses staring at me through the reflection in the side mirror.I shortened the distance by another car, and he suddenly turned the steering wheel to the left, and the car squeezed into the middle barrier and got into the traffic on the other side. Before I had time to react, I overtook him.A wry laugh could almost be heard, and he disappeared in a flash. But I just can't let him slip away.Not because catching him would give me an explanation, though maybe it would.Nor did I think of justice or other abstractions.No.This time it was pure anger, rising from an untapped corner of my heart, bursting from my lizard brain and converging on every knuckle of mine.What I especially want to do is rip that guy out of his wreck and punch him in the face.This feeling is new, this is the physical injury under the rage, and this feeling is exciting, so strong that it rejects any remaining logical thinking, so I go through the isolation zone and continue to track. My car made a horrible creaking noise as it squeezed through the divider and down reverse traffic, and a big cement tanker came within 4 inches of hitting me, but I was on the road again, a little behind the Asia Dragon. Leisurely southbound traffic. In front of me there are several moving white blobs, one of them is my target.I stepped up the gas to catch up. The traffic gods were on my side, and I swerved left and right in steady traffic for only half a mile before hitting the first traffic light.There were several cars waiting honestly in each lane of the intersection, and there was no way to overtake them, so I had to repeat the same trick and get on the isolation belt.I sprinted down the median to the intersection just in time for a bright yellow Humvee clumsily occupying the lane, swerving sharply to avoid me, just barely.I slammed its front bumper, and I drove through the intersection with the sound of horns and yells behind me. Asia Dragon should be about 400 meters ahead of me, if it is still on this US Highway.I can't allow this distance to be longer.I sped forward in my devastated and battered little car.About half a minute later I saw two white cars straight ahead—one was a Chevrolet station wagon and the other was a minivan.My Asian dragon is gone. I was only slowed for a moment—as far as I could see, I saw it again, heading toward the parking lot behind a grocery store in a swath of shops on the right.I hit the accelerator hard, crossed two lanes, and pulled into the parking lot.The driver of the car saw me approaching, sped up onto the street, and made a ninety-degree turn toward east, perpendicular to US 1.I followed through the parking lot. He led me through a residential area about a mile away, around a corner, and past a park where a lot of kids were playing.I pushed up a little further, just in time to see a woman holding a baby and leading two other children on the road ahead of us. Asia Dragon sped up onto the sidewalk, and the woman continued to walk slowly across the street, looking at me like I was an incomprehensible billboard.I turned the front of the car to go around her, but one of her children suddenly took a step back, right in front of my car, and I slammed on the brakes desperately.For a moment, I thought I was going to rush into this group of slow and stupid people with my car, and they just stood in the middle of the road, looking at me expressionlessly.But my tires did their job, and despite the wheelspin, I tapped on the gas and took a spin on the lawn in front of a house.Then I was on the road again with a smoke screen of grass dust I rolled up, and now the Asian dragon was far behind me. For the next few hundred meters, the distance didn't change, and then my luck came.The Asian dragon ran through another stop sign before me, and this time a police car followed, sirens blaring, and started chasing it.I'm not sure if I like the addition of a companion or if I'm jealous of the addition of the police car, but it's much easier to follow the police car now anyway.So I continued to follow. The two cars made a few quick turns, and I thought I was following a little, when suddenly the Asia Dragon disappeared and the police car stopped.I also parked next to the police car and got out. The policeman ahead of me was galloping across a lawn made of tires, behind it was a house, and behind it was a canal.The Asian dragon was on the water in the distance. A man climbed out of the car window and swam towards the opposite bank a few meters away.The policeman hesitated for a moment on the bank, then jumped into the river and swam towards the half-submerged car.At this time, I heard a heavy brake sound behind me, and I turned to look. A bright yellow "Hummer" suddenly stopped behind my car, and a man with a red face and khaki hair jumped out of the car and yelled at me. "You bastard!" he yelled, "You hit my car! Do you know what the hell you're doing?" Before I could answer, the phone rang. "Excuse me," I said.The strange thing is that the red-faced man actually calmed down and stood there waiting for me to answer the phone. "Where the hell are you?" Deborah asked. "Mount Katla, looking at the canal," I said. This stunned Deborah for a moment, and then she said, "Okay, get dry and get out here on campus. We found another body." The selection of the whole book is complete, for more highlights, please refer to the original book.Call to buy genuine. But I just can't let him slip away.Not because catching him would give me an explanation, though maybe it would.Nor did I think of justice or other abstractions.No.This time it was pure anger, rising from an untapped corner of my heart, bursting from my lizard brain and converging on every knuckle of mine.What I especially want to do is rip that guy out of his wreck and punch him in the face.This feeling is new, this is the physical injury under the rage, and this feeling is exciting, so strong that it rejects any remaining logical thinking, so I go through the isolation zone and continue to track. My car made a horrible creaking noise as it squeezed through the divider and down reverse traffic, and a big cement tanker came within 4 inches of hitting me, but I was on the road again, a little behind the Asia Dragon. Leisurely southbound traffic. In front of me there are several moving white blobs, one of them is my target.I stepped up the gas to catch up. The traffic gods were on my side, and I swerved left and right in steady traffic for only half a mile before hitting the first traffic light.There were several cars waiting honestly in each lane of the intersection, and there was no way to overtake them, so I had to repeat the same trick and get on the isolation belt.I sprinted down the median to the intersection just in time for a bright yellow Humvee clumsily occupying the lane, swerving sharply to avoid me, just barely.I slammed its front bumper, and I drove through the intersection with the sound of horns and yells behind me. Asia Dragon should be about 400 meters ahead of me, if it is still on this US Highway.I can't allow this distance to be longer.I sped forward in my devastated and battered little car.About half a minute later I saw two white cars straight ahead—one was a Chevrolet station wagon and the other was a minivan.My Asian dragon is gone. I was only slowed for a moment—as far as I could see, I saw it again, heading toward the parking lot behind a grocery store in a swath of shops on the right.I hit the accelerator hard, crossed two lanes, and pulled into the parking lot.The driver of the car saw me approaching, sped up onto the street, and made a ninety-degree turn toward east, perpendicular to US 1.I followed through the parking lot. He led me through a residential area about a mile away, around a corner, and past a park where a lot of kids were playing.I pushed up a little further, just in time to see a woman holding a baby and leading two other children on the road ahead of us. Asia Dragon sped up onto the sidewalk, and the woman continued to walk slowly across the street, looking at me like I was an incomprehensible billboard.I turned the front of the car to go around her, but one of her children suddenly took a step back, right in front of my car, and I slammed on the brakes desperately.For a moment, I thought I was going to rush into this group of slow and stupid people with my car, and they just stood in the middle of the road, looking at me expressionlessly.But my tires did their job, and despite the wheelspin, I tapped on the gas and took a spin on the lawn in front of a house.Then I was on the road again with a smoke screen of grass dust I rolled up, and now the Asian dragon was far behind me. For the next few hundred meters, the distance didn't change, and then my luck came.The Asian dragon ran through another stop sign before me, and this time a police car followed, sirens blaring, and started chasing it.I'm not sure if I like the addition of a companion or if I'm jealous of the addition of the police car, but it's much easier to follow the police car now anyway.So I continued to follow. The two cars made a few quick turns, and I thought I was following a little, when suddenly the Asia Dragon disappeared and the police car stopped.I also parked next to the police car and got out. The policeman ahead of me was galloping across a lawn made of tires, behind it was a house, and behind it was a canal.The Asian dragon was on the water in the distance. A man climbed out of the car window and swam towards the opposite bank a few meters away.The policeman hesitated for a moment on the bank, then jumped into the river and swam towards the half-submerged car.At this time, I heard a heavy brake sound behind me, and I turned to look. A bright yellow "Hummer" suddenly stopped behind my car, and a man with a red face and khaki hair jumped out of the car and yelled at me. "You bastard!" he yelled, "You hit my car! Do you know what the hell you're doing?" Before I could answer, the phone rang. "Excuse me," I said.The strange thing is that the red-faced man actually calmed down and stood there waiting for me to answer the phone. "Where the hell are you?" Deborah asked. "Mount Katla, looking at the canal," I said. This stunned Deborah for a moment, and then she said, "Okay, get dry and get out here on campus. We found another body."