Chapter 4 Chapter 3 Requiem

According to legend, there is a story in a certain place, which says that time once stopped for a certain person; or, time has been extended for him; It's a long hour. This kind of thing is actually not as bizarre and absurd as it sounds.There is indeed a transcendent space-time between sunset and sunrise; it can only arise in a certain rare state - when all normal activity in the real universe ceases.In other words, it is a kind of time-space freeze after shedding all gross appearances; it is the point between supernatural reality and great horror-the most fleeting moment becomes as long as eternity.

Tonight, in the large oval arena, Buck Horn suddenly collapsed on the track, crushed by the roaring horses, so that unique and long time-space freeze appeared.A mere second of stunned moment turned into hours of magnified time; not a single creature was panting, not a single muscle was moving, not a single sound appeared.The noisy and crowded arena turned into a magic circle of cold stone puppets, and above this magic circle was only the eternal sky.Any outside observer looking down on the earth from the top of this curved hole at this moment would probably think that it was a group of marble statues by some mysterious master displayed in a huge dormant crater on this planet. I became a lucky voyeur.

However, the real world finally made a comeback, propelling that past moment into eternity.The voice reappeared, but it was not a human language, but a terrifying moan that seemed to come from hell. From the lowest-pitched roar to the highest-pitched scream, the horrified voices of twenty thousand people formed a grand sound that covered the entire range. The harmony even surpassed the range that the human ear can accept, forming a strong shock, as if the entire arena was trembling.Suddenly, the screams of a cowboy rider cut through the heavy harmony, followed by the mournful neighing of the horses, who desperately dodged and stopped trampling the prostrate leader.

At this time, 20,000 people jumped up at the same time like a dream, and the arena was shaken endlessly. Everything is like a dream, come and go quickly. What follows can only be the inevitable repercussions of the world - roaring, screaming, crying, restlessness, fleeing!People began frantically flocking to various passages and exits, and the field assistants subconsciously intercepted the crowd rushing around.Gradually, the sports field began to restore order.The horses were led to one side of the field.A bald man with a black sack ran out from the east gate, and an Indian rug that seemed to have been grabbed casually was under his arm.Meanwhile, in the middle of the field, Crazy Bill Grant—his horse, his head, his hands, and eyes still immovable—as if awakened suddenly, rode his horse toward the crowded center of the incident.

Without exception, the few people in Mars's box fell into a dramatic silence at the moment.But four people, for some bizarre reason, came out of the trance before the others.Their nerves were quickly mobilized and they entered a state of emergency.This is Quinn and his son—one of them is a well-trained old policeman who is used to being highly alert to emergencies; the other is almost a steel machine that cannot be paralyzed for too long by any earth-shattering shock.And then there's Tony Mars, the founder of the Grand Arena most sensitive to this sporting catastrophe -- whose majestic masterpiece suddenly becomes a mausoleum for the athletes who make their debuts in it.Last of all was Kit Horne, who felt the despair and pain of the catastrophe at last more quickly than the rest.Two by two, the four jumped over the railing to the field ten feet below.Although they were also deeply impacted, they had no time to care about their own feelings and rushed to the accident site quickly.The other members in the box they left behind were still in shock and sat slumped on the spot.The half of Julian Hunter's cigar fell down, and his mouth was still open; Mara Gay's thin body was trembling, her face was bloodless; Di Juna was sitting stupidly, Totally stunned; Tommy Black stood staggering like a big loser who's just had a hard time getting punched.

The knights have all dismounted, and some people are still busy calming down the frightened horses. Kit and Ellery ran ahead, leaving Officer Quinn and Tony Mars a dozen feet behind.The girl seems to be riding on the wings of terror, rushing towards the cruel situation; Ellery frowns, thinking quickly in the sudden tragedy, his eyes are stern and alert.They rushed straight to the Xingke lying silently on the ground in the crowd, and stopped abruptly.The man holding the black bag was squatting on the ground, and when he saw Kit Horn, he immediately covered the man on the ground with the blanket.

"Oh—Miss Horne," he said hoarsely, "Miss Horne, I'm sorry, very sorry. He's... dead." "Oh no! Doctor!" She spoke eagerly, as if trying to remain as calm and sensible as possible, and wait for the doctor to change his judgment.The doctor accompanying the cavalry regiment, a slovenly old man, shook his head slightly, stood aside, and stared at Kit's pale face with concern. Ellery stood beside Kit thoughtfully, watching her. She knelt down on the ground all of a sudden, sobbing hard, reaching out to touch the blanket covering the corpse.Curly Grant's face was expressionless; Crazy Bill Grant made a foolish subconscious effort to stop Kit from lifting the blanket; she shook off his hand without looking back; Grant's hands stopped halfway.Then she lifted a corner of the blanket—the originally living face on the ground was horribly pale under the deep red blood; the hand of death arbitrarily smeared, distorted, and changed his facial features; Dust cast her a wordless gaze.She dropped the blanket as if it were an evil object, and knelt down beside the dead man in silence.

Ellery knuckled Curley's ribs. "Wake up, you fool," he said gently, "get her out of here." Curley shuddered and blushed.Quickly squatted down towards her... Ellery turned around and met his father face to face. Police Officer Quinn was disheveled like a wind god. "What—what's the matter with him?" he asked breathlessly. Ellery said only one word: "Murder." The old man's eyes suddenly widened: "Murder! How is this possible—" They stared at each other for a moment, when suddenly a cloud appeared in Ellery's eyes.He began to look around, and the cigarette he habitually dangled between his lips was hanging down, almost falling on the blood-stained sandy runway.He took down the half cigar, twisted it between his fingers and said hurriedly, "Oh, God, I'm so stupid! Dad..." He threw the twisted cigarette into his pocket, "Murder is beyond doubt. Yes. The bullet went into his side and must have hit the heart. I saw the wound with my own eyes before the doctor covered him up, and it was..."

Officer Quinn's face turned pale, his eagle eyes became alert, and he turned to the crowd next to him. The group of people gave way to Kai Kong to let him in, and surrounded him. Kit Horn buried his head limply in Curley's broad arms. Crazy Bill Grant's eyes were wide open, staring intently at the blanketed corpse on the ground, as if he hadn't seen enough. Ellery stretched his shoulders, took a long breath, and walked northwest along the ring road.