Chapter 3 2-2

Then the driver turned off the searchlights, fired up the Drone, and sped out from under the shade of the oak trees, across the lawn on top of the hill with a speed that crushed the highway.With its rear facing me, it quickly disappeared from the top of the hill and emerged from the other end, climbing a steeper hill, and driving unimpeded on these coastal hills. The rest of the searchers on the ground, holding flashlights and maybe pistols, have been hovering around the valley, the purpose is to prevent me from climbing up to the high place, and force me to go down to where the searchers can find me.The Drone continued to patrol around the summit.

"What is the origin of you people?" I muttered to myself. I doubt that any of this activity on the hillside will be visible from the foot of the hill and from the coastal streets.Probably not many people in the city would go outside at this time, besides, they had to raise their heads to a certain elevation angle to see the commotion on the hill that attracted attention. Anyone who sees a searchlight might think that it is some teenager or college student looking for reindeer or wild deer in general: although it is illegal, this kind of non-bloody hobby is mostly tolerated by ordinary people.

Judging from this situation, the Drone will soon turn back to my direction.According to its search habits, it will reach this mountain in about two strokes. I retreated down the slope to the hollow, where they wanted me to go.I have no better choice. Before that, I had always believed that I had a way to escape, but now, that self-confidence began to plummet. I pushed through the heavy weeds and returned to the rock bed of the floodway, and continued to walk in the direction I was going before being forced up the mountain by the searchlight. After walking a few steps, I was suddenly captured by a pair of glowing green eyes directly in front of me.

It's coyotes. This kind of animal swims around, its appearance is similar to that of grain, its body is slightly smaller, and its snout and snout are pointed, so it is quite dangerous.Because the living space is encroached upon by humans, they often sneak into the backyards of the residents who were originally very safe at the foot of the mountain to hunt the livestock raised by humans.Every once in a while, you will hear the news that Shangruo's group raided and took away the baby.Although master wolves seldom attack adults actively, if they encounter a group of commuters within their sphere of influence—or even just a couple, they must not rely on their self-control and their slightly dominant body shape to get lucky.

I was under the glare of the searchlight just now, and my night vision is still gradually recovering. After experiencing a tense atmosphere, I suddenly found that the distance between the two shiny green eyes seems to be closer than that of a coyote. many.Besides, unless the mother-of-pearl was jumping with all her might with her chest close to the ground, it was absolutely impossible for her to be staring at me from such a low position. As my vision readjusted to the darkness and moonlight around me, I saw a cat with nothing to fear standing before me.It's not a big cat like a jaguar, otherwise it will be worse than encountering a ruthless cat, and it should be even more frightening.It's just an ordinary domestic cat, light gray or off-white, and I can't tell its coat color in such a dark environment.

Most cats aren't stupid, and even if they're having a great time chasing a mouse or a little Zengzin, they won't easily venture into a coyote's sphere of influence. In fact, I was only now seeing it more clearly, and before me this strange little creature seemed to be unusually agile and alert.It sat upright, tilted its head in doubt, and looked me up and down with its pointed ears. I took a step closer to it, and it immediately stood up on four feet.When I took another step forward, it fled in front of me like a whirlwind, rushed down this rock bed covered with silver light by the moon, and disappeared into the darkness immediately.

In another corner of the night, the Drone launched another search operation.Its high-pitched engine sound quickly approached me. I hastened to pick up the pace. After I had gone about a hundred yards, the Drone stopped roaring and just stopped somewhere, the engine noise sounding like a slow, deep panting.The strong lights frantically swept around my head, trying to find the trace of the prey. When I reached the next waterway fork, I was surprised to see the cat waiting there again.It sits right over the fork, neither to the left nor to the right. As soon as I approached the branch road on the left, the cat quickly ran to the other road on the right.It ran a few steps and stopped, looking back at me with its lantern-like eyes.

The cat must have clearly sensed the hunting men and horses around. It not only heard the noise made by the Drone, but also the sound of human footsteps.With its keen senses, it can even smell their aggressive breath, and a fire that is imminent, it must try to avoid these people as much as I do.If I take this opportunity to follow this little animal's instincts, it may be better than relying on my own. At this moment, the Drone, which had been idle, broke out again.The loud rumbling sound echoed back and forth in the sunken rock bed, as if the sound of the car was approaching us and moving away from us at the same time.In this storm of echoes, I was overwhelmed by indecision, constantly struggling, floating and sinking.

In the end I decided to go the cat route. As I was about to turn around from the left-hand fork, the Drone raced across the crest on the east side of the bedrock in the direction I had almost gone.Then it stopped suddenly, motionless. At that moment, it seemed like a hollow space where time was suspended, giving people a light and weightless feeling. The strong light of the two headlights was like a circus hanging in mid-air. The steel cable, another searchlight plunged straight up into the black night.time through that period In the open area, it started to walk again: the Drone drove down from the top of the hill, its front wheels rushed down the hillside, and its rear wheels immediately crossed the ridge, charging all the way down the hill, and the tires picked up mud and crushed weeds from time to time.In the midst of this, one person in the car cheered loudly and the other laughed heartily, and they seemed to be reveling in the hunt.When the car drove down to only fifty yards from me, the searchlight suddenly swept across the bedrock.I quickly threw myself on the ground, and scrambled to find a place to cover.The hard rock hits the bone hard, and I feel my sunglasses shatter in my shirt pocket.I just got up staggeringly, when a lightning-like glare shot across from where I was standing just now.I squinted and saw the searchlight flicker, then turned to scan south.Fortunately, the Drone didn't rush up along the rock bed in my direction.I could have stayed where I was, with my back to the narrower part of the hill, until the Drone was out of the vicinity, lest I run into him at the next intersection.But when I saw the beams of four flashlights flickering on the path I had just walked, I lost even the sleepiness of hesitation.Although their light can't reach me for a while, but with their fast approaching speed, it won't be long before I am in danger of being discovered at any time.The cat was still there, as if waiting for me, when I turned from the intersection onto the west fork.It showed me its tail and ran forward nimbly, but not fast enough for me to lose track of it.

I'm grateful to have these rocks under my feet so I don't leave any footprints - and suddenly I remember that my broken sunglass is still in my shirt pocket.As I ran, I touched the outside of the pocket with my hand, and found that there was only a broken spectacle frame and a splinter of one of the lenses left. The rest must still be left where I lay down just now, which is near the intersection. The four Snatchers were sure to find the remains of the broken glasses.Then they would divide into two groups, each taking a side road in twos, stimulated and excited by this evidence, and they would chase after me faster and harder, thinking that their prey would soon be caught.

On the far side of the mountain, the Drone climbed from the valley where I narrowly escaped the searchlight.Its high-pitched engine sound climbed all the way up, getting louder and louder. At this point, if the driver stopped at the top of the grassy hill and scanned the hill again, I could use this opportunity to escape under it without being noticed.However, if it came across the hillside toward this new fork, I would be caught by the searchlights, if not by its headlights. As soon as the kitten ran, I also ran forward. Going down the hills on both sides, the dry water channel became wider and wider, and the bedrock in the middle was wider than I had walked before.Tall miscanthus and some shrubs grow on both sides, which grow more luxuriantly than other places due to the large amount of rainwater.But as the road widened; the plants on both sides could not cover even a ray of moonlight.I felt like I was completely exposed and the situation was very dangerous.Moreover, this road is different from the previous ones. The spacious downhill road is as straight as the road in the urban area. There are no winding turns as a cover, and the people following me can clearly see my whereabouts at a glance. . The Drone seemed to have stopped on the high ground again at this time, and the sound of its noisy engine gradually disappeared in the evening wind.All that remains of me is the engine running, my breathless panting, and my heart beating like a piston. A cat walks on four legs and is supposed to be faster than me. It only takes a few seconds to run out of sight.For several minutes, however, it matched my steps uncharacteristically, staying fifteen feet in front of me.Under the moonlight, the cat, who couldn't tell whether it was gray or white, looked like a black shadow, and sometimes stared back with its weird candle-like eyes. Just when I began to think that the cat was consciously guiding me away from danger, just when I wanted to anthropomorphize the cat and make Bobby.When Holoway couldn't help shaking his head, the little cat suddenly sped away from me.At this time, even if the dry waterway was suddenly filled with heavy rain, the rolling torrent would not be able to keep up with the speed of the cat.In less than two or three seconds, it had disappeared into the dark night ahead. A minute later, I saw the cat again at the end of the channel.We followed the waterway blindly to this dead end, where the steep, weed-covered hillside rose from three sides. With such a steep mountain, I couldn't climb up quickly to avoid the two enemies who were chasing me on foot.In the end, they can surround me like a turtle in a urn, and wrap me up Blocked here. The waterway ends with driftwood, tangled weeds and silt.I thought to myself that the cat would probably give me a sneer at this time, showing its shiny white teeth strangely. As a result, it jumped onto the pile of wreckage, deftly slipped into one of the larger gaps, and disappeared without a trace. This is a drainage channel. After the rainwater washed down from a high place flows here, there must be a place to vent. The accumulation formed a nine-foot-long, three-foot-high hillock, and I scrambled up, my feet crunching slightly in the loose knoll, but mostly holding up.The whole pile of debris was blocked in front of an iron fence, the vertical railing across a channel leading to the side of the mountain. Behind the fence is a concrete sewer channel six feet in diameter, supported by concrete buttresses on both sides.This is obviously a part of the entire urban flood control and dredging system. The purpose is to drain the rainfall from the mountainous areas to places outside the mountainous areas, from under the Pacific Coastal Highway to the drainage system under the streets of Moonlight Bay, and finally to the open sea. The staff responsible for maintaining this system have to come to the fence to clean up garbage several times every winter to prevent the flash flood from being blocked.Apparently they hadn't been in for a while to clean it up. In the sewer, the kitten meowed.The echo generated in the concrete tunnel amplifies the code volume of its call and adds an extra eerie atmosphere. The four-inch square hole in the iron fence is only big enough for a slender kitten to get in and out, but not for me.I noticed that the opening of the iron fence widened slightly next to the buttress, and that the fence didn't go all the way to the very top. There was a two-foot-wide gap between the top of the grating and the curved roof of the sewer, and I put my legs through it, then climbed into the opening.I'm grateful for the handrails on the iron fence, otherwise I'd probably have been poked all over my body by the sharp ends of the upright bars. I turned my back to the iron gate, leaving the sky full of stars and a bright moon behind me, and then looked into the dark hole.I just need to hunched over a little to keep my head from hitting the ceiling. The smell of rotting grass and soaked cement rose from the ground, but it wasn't pungent. I moved forward slowly step by step by sliding.The floor of the drain has only a slight slope.But I stopped after walking a few steps, afraid that I would suddenly fall into the abyss somewhere, and even if I didn't fall half to death, my spine would probably jump into several sections. I took out the lighter from the pocket of my jeans, and when I lit it, I had some scruples in my heart, for fear that the fire reflected on the wall of the drain would be spotted by outsiders. The kitten was calling to me again, its glowing eyes the only thing I could see in front of me. Judging from the distance between us and the angle from which I looked down at the cat, I could determine that the slope of the sewer floor continued to slowly increase. I approached those shining eyes cautiously, and when I was about to approach it, it turned and ran immediately, unable to see the pair of shining navigation lights, and I didn't know where to go for a moment. A few seconds later, it reappeared, staring at me without blinking its green eyes. I immediately followed, feeling amazed at this strange experience.I thought back to what I had witnessed since sunset—first the dumping of my father’s body, then the battered eyeless corpses at the crematorium, and the pursuit of the undertaker—simple and unbelievable.But if you just look at the degree of strangeness, this little tiger's behavior can be regarded as the best among them. Maybe I was exaggerating too much, and insisted that this ordinary house cat was a hero who drew swords and helped, but in fact, it probably didn't know anything. Maybe. Blindly, I came to another small pile of sediment, smaller than the previous one; the difference was that this pile was wet, and when I stepped on these drifting objects, they made a "chirp" sound and raised their voices. There was a pungent stench. I climbed forward, groping cautiously in the darkness before me, and found that the pile of debris was more In fact, they were blocked in front of another iron fence.Garbage passing through the first iron gate is blocked here. Once safely across the gate to the other side, I risked lighting the lighter and arched my palms around the flames, trying not to let the flames sway. The cat's eyes are as bright as flames: they now appear to be golden and glow green.We stared at each other for a long time, and then my guide—if it was real—bounced in all directions like a whip, and plunged into the sewer below, out of sight. I use a lighter to light the way ahead and try to keep the flames to a minimum to save ethane fuel.I made my way down the core of the Coastal Mountains, through some side branches that connect to the main waterway. Then came a spillway with concrete steps, and on the steps there were pools of stagnant water covered with a thin layer of gray-black fungus, which was only active for about four months of the year.The slimy stairs are prone to falls, and to ensure the safety of maintenance personnel, handrails have been specially installed on the wall on one side of the stairs, and weeds washed down by the latest flood are hanging from the walls. As I went down, I listened for the sound of pursuit behind me, but heard nothing but my own furtive footsteps.They may not have noticed that I escaped from this sewer, or they may have considered for too long before deciding to follow me into the sewer, but I was far ahead of them. As I made my way to the last two wider steps at the bottom of the spillway, I first thought I almost jumped into some large, whitish, round mushrooms, sinister-looking ones that grow in the sunless wetlands The mushrooms must have been deadly poisonous. I clung to the handrails as I maneuvered my way around these things emerging from the slimy floor, not wanting to get my shoes on them.I stood at the mouth of the next sloping channel, looking back at the strange creatures. I turned up the flame of the lighter, and suddenly found that what was lying in front of me was not a mushroom, but a pile of skulls, fragile bird skulls, long and narrow lizard skulls, slightly larger skulls may be cats, dogs, bears, porcupines, Rabbits, squirrels... The skulls of these dead animals did not even have a trace of skin and flesh left, as clean as if they had been boiled. They were white and yellow in the light of the lighter, and there were probably dozens, or even hundreds of them. No leg bones, no ribs, just a skull.They were neatly arranged side by side in three rows—two rows on the bottom step, and one row on the second-to-last step—all facing outward, as if they were nothing but hollowed-out eye holes. , nor pass up the chance to witness something here. I don't know how to explain this, I saw no malicious messages on the walls, nor any sign of a sinister ritual, but the display was undeniably symbolic.Judging from the astonishing number of collections, this should be a kind of lust. It is horrifying to think of the cruelty implied by such a large number of massacres and severed heads. Recalling Bobby who was curious about death at the age of thirteen.Holloway and I, and I suspect that some urchins more queer than we were responsible for these things.According to the research report of criminologists, most of the serial murderers have the tendency to abuse and kill insects when they are two or three years old. Turn into a murderous maniac.Perhaps this catacomb is a place where some villain conducts career training. Among the third and highest row of skulls was a particularly shiny one, completely different from the others.It looked like a human skull, but smaller, possibly a baby's skull. "my God!" My voice echoed like a murmur from the cement walls around me. Suddenly, I had an unprecedented feeling of being in a dream, where even hard things like cement and bones became as ethereal as smoke.I didn't reach out and touch that little human skull, or any other bone.However unreal they may seem, I know they must feel icy and slippery and unacceptably specific. It doesn't matter who the owner of this horrible thing is, I just want to avoid it quickly, so I continue to move forward to the waterway. I thought I would see the cat's enigmatic eyes again, and its white paws stepping on the concrete floor as lightly and silently as feathers, but it turned out that it was either still in a place I couldn't see in front of me, or it was coming from a nearby road. The little tributary detoured away. Along the way, I walked through sections of alternating drain slopes and spillways. Just when I began to worry that my lighter would not have enough fuel to bring me to safety, I suddenly saw a circle of gray light, which became brighter as I walked.I quickened my pace and ran towards it, and found that the last section of the drainage channel was not surrounded by iron gates, and was directly connected with another large open-air ditch. I finally returned to my familiar sphere of influence, the flat ground in the northeast corner of the city.It's just a few blocks from the ocean and half a block from the city's high school. After experiencing the wet and cold underground waterway, the night air is not only fresh, but also has an indescribable sweetness. In the smooth night sky, the stars hanging high are shining like diamonds. According to the electronic clock at Wells Fargo Bank, it is now 7:56 pm, which means that the father has been dead for nearly three hours, although it feels as if he has been missing for days. .The same electronic display indicated the current temperature was sixty degrees Fahrenheit, but tonight seemed extraordinarily cold to me. The fluorescent-lit Clean Hour laundromat around the corner from the bank is currently empty of laundry. Holding the prepared one-dollar bill in my hand, I entered the laundry center with my eyes narrowed into a line. The aroma of laundry detergent and the pungent chemical smell of bleach filled my nostrils.I lowered my head as much as possible to increase the protection of the brim of my hat, and went straight to the change machine, stuffed the banknotes, grabbed the four twenty-fifty copper coins that fell at the entrance of the hole, and ran out. There was a windshield telephone box outside the post office two streets away, with a guard light on the wall above the telephone and an electrical box behind it.I hung my hat on the lamp, and a shadow fell. I guess Manuel.Ramirez should be home by now, when I called him, his mother, Rosalina, told me he had been away for hours and had to work two shifts tonight due to another officer calling in sick, Tonight he will be on counter duty, after midnight he will be out on patrol.I pressed the number of the switchboard of the Moonlight Bay Police Station and asked the switchboard to connect me to Officer Ramirez. In my opinion, Manuel is the best police officer in town.He was three inches shorter, thirty pounds heavier, twelve years older, and an American of Mexican descent.He loves baseball; but I have never been a sports fan because I am too sensitive to the passage of time to spend my precious time in mostly passive activities.Manuel has a soft spot for country music; I'm more into rock and roll.He's a staunch Republican; I'm not interested in politics at all.When it comes to movies, he loves the rebellious Abbot and Costello; I prefer Jackie Chan, the immortal screen icon.However, we are good friends. "Chris, I heard about your father," Manuel said as soon as the call was connected, "I don't know what to say." "Honestly, I don't know what else to say." "No, there's nothing to say about this kind of thing, is there?" "It doesn't matter anyway." "Are you okay?" To my own surprise, I was speechless.My painful sense of loss seemed to turn into the surgeon's stitches in an instant, sealing my throat shut and my tongue to the roof of my mouth. Strangely enough, I did not hesitate to answer the same question to Dr. Cleveland shortly after my father's death. My relationship with the doctor is not as close as that between me and Manuel.Friendship can melt nerves so that no pain can be felt. "Come over to our house another night when I'm not on duty." Manuel changed the subject. "We could have a beer, eat tamales, and watch a few Jackie Chan movies." We have a lot in common besides baseball and country music.He usually works the big night shift, from midnight until eight in the morning, and sometimes he's worth two shifts when he's understaffed like this evening.He loves the night as much as I do, but his choice to work at night is a personal necessity.Because most people don't want to work in the middle of the night, the pay for the night shift is better.More importantly, he can spend afternoons and evenings with his son Toby, whom he loves very much.Sixteen years ago, Manuel's wife, Carmelita, died in childbirth minutes after giving birth to Toby.This little boy has a gentle personality and a lot of twist - but he also has Down syndrome.Manuel's mother moved in with him immediately after Camille's death and cared for Toby until now. Manuel.Ramirez deeply understands the insignificance of human power.In his life, he could feel the hand of fate every day, although in this day and age, most people no longer believe in fate and destiny.Manuel.Ramirez and I, we have a lot in common. "Beer and a Jackie Chan movie sound good," I said, "but who's going to make the tamales—you or your mom?" "Oh, of course not mi madre (Mexican for my mother), I assure you." Manuel was a first-class cook, while his mother 'self-confessed' was a great cook. The best way to compare their cooking skills is between "good deeds" and "good intentions". difference. A car roars down the street behind me.When I looked down, I saw my shadow being trampled by my standing feet, stretching from my left to my right onto the pavement, the shadow getting longer and darker, as if trying to break free from me escape from bondage. "Manuel, I need your help with something more troublesome than tamales." "Chris, just open your mouth." After hesitating for a long time, I said: "This matter involves my father...'s body." Manuel hesitated for a while.His contemplative silence reminds me of a cat with its ears pricked up in high spirits. His understanding surpassed the facts that my limited words could express.His tone of voice changed, it still sounded like he was talking to a friend, but with the tough tone of a policeman. "Chris, what happened?" "It's bizarre to say." "Biotic Lu," he asked, the description of the accident in his words seemed to contain a playful tone. "I really don't want to talk about it on the phone. If I were at the bureau now, would you pick me up in the parking lot?" After all, I can't expect the police station to turn off all the lights in the office and take notes with me by candlelight. Manuel asked again, "Is this a crime?" "A very serious crime, and quite bizarre." "Director Stevenson stayed late today. He is still here, but he won't be here for long. Do you think I should ask him to wait before leaving?" The face of the homeless man with his eyes gouged out came to mind. "Okay." I said. "Okay, Stevenson should know about this." "Can you be here in ten minutes?" "see you later." I hung up the microphone, snatched my hat off the light stand, and turned to face the street, my hand shielding my eyes as two more cars drove past me, one an older model Saturn and the other It's a Chevrolet truck.No white van, no hearse, no black Drone. Even if they are still hunting me around, I am not afraid.By now, the tramp must have been burned to ashes in the furnace.Now that the evidence has been reduced to ashes, there is no obvious evidence to support my claims.Sandy.Kirk, the hospital orderly, and the bad guys I can't name should be able to rest easy. To be honest, if they try to silence me or kidnap me now, they will attract more witnesses, and then they will have to deal with those people.For this group of mysterious gangsters, the best way to deal with it now is to wait and see what happens rather than scare the snake—and their only accuser happens to be a well-known monster in the city. It is opaque and must be covered with sunscreen masks, even if you go out at night, you are covered with clothes and a carapace of chemicals. I am afraid no one will believe my accusation so horrific, but I know that at least Manuel will believe that I am telling the truth.I hope the chief can trust me.I left the phone booth outside the post office and walked in the direction of the police station, which was only a few streets away. I trotted through the night while mentally ruminating on what to tell Manuel and his immediate boss, Louis.What happened to Stevenson.Stevenson is a tough character, and I had to be prepared.He was tall, broad-shouldered, muscular, and had a face as majestic as a human head on an ancient Roman coin.Sometimes he looks like he's just an actor playing the role of a dutiful police chief, but if that's acting, he deserves an award for his acting.Now fifty-two years old, he always gives people an impression of wisdom without a trace of deliberation, and it is easy for people to respect and trust him.He was a psychologist and a priest at the same time—a quality that was needed in his ranks but rarely possessed.He is one of the few people who enjoys power without abusing it, always backed by brilliant judgment and enthusiasm when he uses his power, and in his fourteen years as police chief, his unit has never had a scandal or incompetence or underperforming things. In this way, I walked through the alleys with no lights but moonlight. The position of the moon in the sky was much higher than before. I passed the walls of other people’s houses, walked along the paths, and passed by the gardens and trash cans. I went over and over what words to use to convince them of the story I was telling.As a result, it took me only two minutes instead of ten minutes to arrive at the parking lot behind the city hall building. I saw Director Stevenson conspiring and negotiating with people in the dark, which completely ruined my good impression of him. A face, no matter how noble his looks, is not worthy to be branded on coins or monuments, and his picture is not worthy to hang with the pictures of mayors, governors, and the president of the United States. Stevenson was standing at the far end of the City Hall building, near the rear entrance of the police station, where a shaded police light glowed blue.The man he was talking to was a few feet away from him, and his face was not clearly visible in the shade of blue. I walked across the parking lot toward them.They didn't notice me coming because they were engaged in a serious conversation.Besides, I was blocked by heavy vehicles most of the time, shuttling between official vehicles of the Road Bureau, patrol cars, trucks of the Water Supply Bureau and private cars, and I tried to keep a distance from the three towering street lights. Just as I was about to step into the open area, I stopped in fright when Stevenson's visitor happened to approach the Chief. I saw his bald head and grim face, dressed in a red checked flannel shirt, blue jeans and work shoes. At this distance, I couldn't see his pearl earrings. I was sandwiched between two large cars, and I quickly backed up a few steps so that I was completely blocked by the bodywork. The engine of the car was still hot, and it made a ringing and ticking sound as it cooled. Although I can hear the two of them talking, I can't hear them clearly The content of the conversation.Gusts of sea breeze romantically whispered to the treetops and cursed at the man-made buildings. The endless whispers and roars formed a soundproof wall between me and them. I suddenly found that the car with a hot engine on my right was the white Ford van that Mr. Bald had driven away from Ren'ai Hospital earlier, and it was carrying his father's body. I wondered if the key of the car was still inserted in the keyhole. I put my face close to the glass window next to the driver's seat, but I couldn't see clearly what was going on inside the car.If I stole the car, I'd have one piece of evidence of their crime, at least possibly some blood from the homeless man. But I don't know how to start the engine.Hell, I can't drive at all. Even if I suddenly discovered that I had the same genius for operating a car as Mozart had for composing music, I couldn't drive twenty miles south or thirty miles north on the Corniche to report to another police station.I can't face the glare of oncoming headlights. Couldn't do without my precious sunglasses, the shattered pair now lying deep in the mountains to the east. In addition, if I open the door, the lights in the car will automatically come on, so as soon as I come, the two of them will immediately find out that I am there.Then they will definitely come after me and kill me. At this time, the back door of the police station opened suddenly, and the person who came out was Manuel. louis.Stevenson and his party broke off their confidential conversation at once.From this distance, I couldn't tell whether Manuel knew Mr. Skinhead, but he apparently only reported to the Chief. I can't believe that Manuel—Rosalina's wonderful son, Carmelita's sad loss, Toby's beloved father—would be involved in this body-snatching-murder deal.There are many people in our lives that we will never know, never really know, no matter how much we think we know them.Most people are like ponds of chaos, filled with layers of floating particles, churning in the deepest part with the raging undercurrent.But I am willing to bet with my life. I believe that Manuel's heart is as clear as water, and it is absolutely impossible for him to harbor evil intentions. However, I would not bet on his life.If I were to ask him to join me in inspecting the trunk of this white van at this moment, and to confiscate the vehicle immediately for a thorough forensic examination, I would probably be able to deliver a death sentence for both of us.In fact, I'm 100 percent sure it will be. At this time, Wendi Wensheng suddenly put aside Manuel and began to patrol the parking lot.I knew Manuel must have told them about my call. I immediately squatted down to hide myself more quietly in the shadow between the van and the official car of the water department. I'm trying to jot down the license plate number on the back of the van, and I'm usually only worried about the bright lights, but now I'm struggling with the dim lights. 我手忙脚乱地试着用指尖摸出七位数的车牌号码。我无法用读点字的方法迅速将车号记下，至少无法在被人发现之前读完。我知道光头先生，要不然就是史帝文生正朝厢型车的方向走来，而且愈来愈逼近。那个光头佬，冷面屠夫，换尸主凶，挖人眼睛的恶棍。 我尽量压低身子，顺着来时路，从成排的卡车和汽车当中撤退，退到巷口之后立即火速向前，用一排排的垃圾桶当作掩护，就这样从一个垃圾桶后面爬过下一个垃圾桶，直到来到另一条巷口，脱离了市府大楼的视线之外，我这才完全挺起身，全速逃跑，像一只敏捷的猫，像一只夜空中滑翔的猫头鹰，不知道自己是否能在日出之前找到安全的避难所，还是会在澳热的旭日下继续游走直到全身被烤成焦黑的肉卷。