by <unknown>
"Patter, patter, patter…"
Chester walked step by step. His footsteps echoing in the silent warehouse, but he did not see anything even when he had walked into more than half the depth of the warehouse.
Leon's corpse would not be there, but there should be something left at the scene of the corpse, such as… The outline of the corpse's posture when the person died and the yellow cards placed next to various suspicious traces, and so on.
Did he go the wrong way?
Chester wore a puzzled look. He thought about it and suddenly recalled the place where Leon had brought him to before he got off work last night. It was a corner of the warehouse with a lot of steel pillars. Could it be the place where Leon had died?
Thinking of this, Chester stopped immediately, then turned around, and walked toward the junction in the pathways between the cargos.
This time, Chester finally guessed correctly. He found what he was looking for not far away from where they had both stood yesterday — a silhouette of a corpse outlined by a white line and three yellow markers next to it that indicated certain positions.
Here was where Chester died.
When he saw all this, Chester took another deep breath and tamped down his pounding heart. He took out his phone and switched on the flashlight mode so that he could see all the details on the ground as clearly as possible.
As he looked to where the beam from the mobile phone shone, Chester was mystified. From where he stood, the white outline on the ground resembled Leon's figure. Leon was lying on the ground when he had died. His limbs stretched out straight and his entire body laid out on the ground in the shape of the letter "A".
Nonetheless, the one rather peculiar thing was that the neck of this human-shaped white silhouette seemed a little unusually long…
It was as if the silhouette was drawn by elementary school students who could not draw simple strokes. The white lines composing the figure were very proportional, whether in terms of arms or legs, but when it came to the part above the shoulders, it was a little weird. There, the neck was much longer than the average person's, and it was slightly curved, just like the neck of a duck. It looked very disharmonious.
Chester was a little puzzled. He would swear on his mother's grave that Leon did not have such a long neck. If his neck was so long, he would have applied for the Guinness World Records long ago, instead of doing the same kind of work from five to nine as Chester did.
In that case, was it because the policeman in charge of drawing the line had a wobbly hand or was the deceased not Leon, but someone else?
Chester scratched his head, thinking uncertainly.
However, just as he scratched his head with the hand holding the phone, the light from the phone suddenly shone into the corner of a pile of goods on the side. In that corner, a figure flashed past!
"!"
Chester broke out in a cold sweat suddenly. He quickly held the phone steady and shone it into the corner. He only relaxed when he could see what the figure was.
It turned out to be a false alarm…
That figure was nothing but an angel statue.
The statue seemed to have been carved from marble, portraying a vivid, lifelike angel figure. It had soft curly hair that was tightly cropped to the head and there was a circular headband on the top of the head.
The arms and fingers of the statue were very realistic and fleshed out, and the body was draped in folds of gauze that angels were often dressed in. The most conspicuous part was the pair of wings that were folded, as soft as feathers…
The only shame was that the angel's hands tightly covered her face, making it difficult to see her holy eyes and face.
As he walked to the statue, Chester patted his chest and heaved a sigh of relief.
"Huh…"
Even so, Chester's mind flickered suddenly and he faintly remembered that when he met Leon yesterday, Leon seemed to have been observing a relief sculpture? Plus, upon that relief, there seemed to be a few such angels covering their eyes?
Thinking of this, Chester immediately turned around and walked into the depths of the warehouse based on his memory of yesterday. He wanted to find the mural painted on the steel beam from yesterday.
Soon, he came to the place where Leon had brought him before.
There were steel beams placed together everywhere. Dozens of them were stacked together, occupying his field of vision. While Chester raised his head and looked at one of the steel beams —
Sure enough, on this steel beam, three angels were covering their eyes, standing or squatting. This was the same as the sculpture he saw before in terms of style and shape.
'Hold on…'
Chester, who was about to heave a sigh of relief, suddenly froze. He frowned, feeling that something was wrong because, in his memory, there should be four angels on the mural, two of them squatting on the ground, and the other two standing.
Nevertheless, now, there were only two squatting angels and one standing angel.
Did he remember it wrongly?
Chester turned his head with some doubts and looked in the direction from which he had come. At this time, the sky was getting darker and there was only gloom from where he had arrived.
However, the reason Chester looked there was not that it was dark, but that he suddenly had a baffling idea. Could it be that the angel sculpture he saw just now was the one missing from the mural?
Did the angel come out of the mural?
Chapter 467: Rowling Keith |
Did the angel come out of the mural?
This thought flashed through Chester's mind.
Immediately, he shook his head, somewhat amused, and discarded the outrageous idea from his mind.
It was not as if this was something out of the SCP Foundation. How could such an outrageous thing happen? He had probably just happened to remember it wrongly.
Although he was reassuring himself in his heart, Chester still had some lingering doubts. He took out his mobile phone, took a picture of the mural in front of him, and then hurried away in the direction from which he came.
Currently, the sun outside the window was almost completely gone, leaving only a little afterglow still stubbornly remaining in the sky. The sun was also fading into the mountainside at a speed visible to the naked eye as if a white veil was being pulled off the sky, leaving only a solid stretch of indigo.
When Chester passed by the angel covering her eyes, he took a few extra glances, but it seemed that he could see a marble sculpture in front of him.
Although it was lifelike, there was nothing unusual!
Seeing this, Chester breathed a sigh of relief, completely relieved.
He composed himself, walked past the statue, then passed the junction in the pathway, and walked to the main path of the warehouse.
However, what he did not know was that the last ray of the setting sun outside the window had finally faded after he had delayed for such a while…
In an instant, the entire world seemed to be plunged into total darkness and Chester had to turn on the front light of his phone again, lighting up the messy floor as he picked his way through the warehouse.
"Thump, thump, thump…"
The sound of his footsteps still rang out unhurriedly in this enclosed darkness, inducing an unnamable eerie sensation.
Just as Chester was about to walk out of the warehouse, somewhere behind him, there was a sudden "rattling" sound as if something round fell on the ground and rolled slightly over a distance.
Then, the sound stopped.
The moment he heard this sound, Chester halted. He slowly turned back, but could only see the darkness in the direction from which he came. He could not make out anything.
Maybe something just came loose and fell to the ground, right?
Chester shook his head, then turned his head again, and walked toward the warehouse door.
"Thump, clatter!"
However, just as he stepped out, there was another sound of some fal
ling objects on the ground behind him. Not only that but the sound was a lot louder than the previous one, and it caused echoes in the warehouse!
Chester's heart clenched and he turned his head again while raising his phone to shine on the pathway behind him. Even so, the light of the phone could not penetrate the gloom and could only light up four or five meters in front of him. After this distance, it was just a swathe of darkness.
"…"
Chester pursed his mouth. His heart pounded and he vaguely felt that the sound this time seemed to be closer than before.
Could it be that… Someone was following him?
The murderer who killed Leon was still hiding in the warehouse?
This thought occurred to him and then Chester did not hesitate anymore. He stepped forward and ran toward the door quickly, but this time he heard nothing else. His ears were filled with the sound of his own footsteps and gasping. These sounds were amplified by the warehouse, covering up all other noises.
The faster one was running away, the more flustered one's heart would be. This was human instinct. Still, whether it was the angel's protection or because he was just frightening himself in the first place, when Chester ran out of the warehouse, nothing had happened.
"Pant, pant, pant…"
Chester, who had been lacking in exercise all year round, panted heavily. He stood outside the warehouse door, staring at the dark gaping doorway of the warehouse in shock. Then, he simply gritted his teeth and turned on the warehouse lights at the door.
Suddenly, dozens of sun lamps in the entire Warehouse 9 were turned on, illuminating the warehouse brightly!
It was not until now that Chester had ascertained there was nothing in the warehouse except for a large number of goods and the main pathway that could be seen at a glance!
There was no so-called "killer", let alone the monster that he had imagined as a child.
It had all been his own mind playing tricks on him…
After seeing this, Chester completely relaxed. He smiled and shook his head, turned off the lights in the warehouse again, and then stepped over the barrier in front of the door, ready to get in his pickup and leave.
It was not until he walked to his pickup that he remembered he seemed to have forgotten to lock the door. If tomorrow, the foreman saw that he had entered Warehouse 9 without permission, who knew how badly he would be scolded?
Thinking of this, Chester turned around silently, ready to go back to lock the warehouse door and leave.
However, when Chester turned around, his footsteps halted completely.
In front of the barrier tape outside the warehouse door, a statue had appeared at an unknown time - an angel statue with hands folded over the chest and a pair of slightly extended wings behind it.
This statue was almost the same as the statue in the warehouse, but this statue had its back facing the door. Its side turned toward Chester as if it had just walked out of the warehouse. In addition to its pair of slightly opened wings, it looked alive.
Seeing this weird scene, Chester was a little surprised. He slowly approached the statue and then tried to touch the statue's arms and wings.
It was hard and cool, without any mechanisms.
At this moment, Chester suddenly felt a little suspicious. Was this statue standing here when he entered or was it that someone moved it here after he had entered Warehouse 9?
If so, why did he not notice it when he came out?
Chester was completely stupefied. He also wondered if this statue was the one he saw in the warehouse before. When he touched it thoroughly, he could be sure that it was not because he did not find any movable parts on the statue.
Could it be that an angel had manifested itself?
Chester scratched his head, but for the sake of his job, he still stared at the statue while stepping over the barrier, fumbling to lock the warehouse door.
Even after he had completely closed the gate, the statue remained still. Gradually, Chester let down his guard. After thinking about it carefully, it was possible that the angel statue had already been in the warehouse, but it was moved out by the police for some reason. As he had wanted to go in for a look, he had overlooked the statue at the door.
Having thought of this, everything could be explained.
Thinking of this, Chester shook his head, completely retracted his gaze, and walked toward the car. However, he had barely taken a few steps when he suddenly heard a "plonk" from behind him.
Chester turned his head subconsciously, but saw one of the warning tapes had snapped for some reason!
Nonetheless, this was secondary. Chester still felt something else wrong because he realized that the statue behind him seemed to have moved a few steps, and its posture was a little different than before.
Was he seeing things?
Chester rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but when he put down his hands again, he only felt a chill all over — the angel sculpture had changed its angle completely within the two seconds he was rubbing his eyes!
If the angel statue's side was facing him before, then at this time, the angel statue had completely turned to face him directly!
"What the f*ck?"
Chester gasped sharply. He moved backward step by step until he reached the front of his car. He pulled himself together, then he hesitated for a while, before he slowly raised his hand again, covering his eyes.
This time, Chester had just covered his eyes briefly before quickly taking his hands away, but even so, what he saw made his hair stand on end!
He saw that within the second of covering his eyes, the angel statue was now no more than two or three meters away from him. Moreover, it no longer had a serene expression as before but had opened its mouth wide in a hideous grin. At the same time, it had assumed a position as if it was ready to leap forward, ready to lunge toward Chester in the next second!
There was something wrong with this statue!
Chester only felt a chill crawl up his spine. He did not hesitate to jump into the car and started the car without thinking twice. While staring at the statue, he quickly drove the car down the road!
Chester breathed a sigh of relief when he could no longer see the statue in the rearview mirror. The vehicle was moving forward at a speed of 80km per hour. At the same time, he looked behind him with lingering fear but saw that the road where he came from was already dark, with only a few faint lights flickering, indicating that workers were working nearby.
"What the h*ll was that thing?"
Chester murmured as he quickly turned back to the front. However, in that instant, he suddenly saw that the statue was standing in the middle of the road without him realizing it before, less than ten meters away!
Like a conditioned reflex, Chester quickly turned the steering wheel and the pickup truck spun out of his lost control and hit the wall of a nearby warehouse!
"Boom!"
There was a deafening impact and Chester slammed into the steering wheel in front of him. He only had time to sigh "I'm done for" in his heart, and then he completely lost consciousness…
…
The next morning, Rowling Keith yawned and sat up from the bed.
He shook his head, which was a little groggy. Then, according to his usual routine, he first went to the washroom and drank a glass of water in large gulps before turning on the TV. After that, he listened to the morning news on the TV as he washed up in the bathroom.
"This is ABC News' Good Morning Northern America. I'm Marilyn. This morning, the new Northern American President, Madam Ivanka, will fly to the North Sea Continent for a visit…
"Vice President Trump tweeted today that the This Man effect that had occurred in the past was a kind of group hypnotism. He said that This Man has miraculously disappeared as he predicted and that Northern America is doing perfectly well in all matters. Even if there was This Man, it must have been an infection from China…"
After washing up briefly, Keith walked out of the bathroom with a towel while wip
ing his face, but at this moment, he saw a new update on the TV:
"Now an urgent update is issued. Just this morning, several vicious homicides were discovered in the suburbs of Los Angeles. The cases were all located in the Herrank Warehouse District. At present, the police have found eight bodies in the Herrank Warehouse District…"
Immediately, the image on the TV changed, showing shots from the scene. A beautiful blonde anchor was standing in front of rows of warehouses, reporting with a serious face, "Just this morning, the Los Angeles police suddenly received a murder report. The informant was Mr. Connor, the manager of the Herrank Warehouse District. He claimed that someone had committed multiple crimes in the warehouse area. The police then proceeded to investigate."
Following the anchor's narration, the cameraman also moved the camera away from the anchor and showed the busy figures of dozens of police officers behind her as well as large strips of cordon tapes.
"At present, eight bodies have been found and each had been killed in the same way, that is, their neck was twisted at an angle exceeding 360 degrees. How brutal…"
Following this passage, the cameraman continued to zoom in. Keith immediately saw a small truck that had hit the wall in an area blocked off with yellow warning tape. The front of the truck had caved in, but inside the car, he could see a corpse with a severely misaligned head.
"At present, the police are investigating at full force…"
After seeing this news, Keith shook his head without taking it seriously. After all, this was Kansas City, not Los Angeles, and the distance between the two was 2,600 kilometers. Even flying here by plane would take two hours, so he would not be afraid that the murderers over there would rush over.
Still, on second thought, Keith observed a moment of silence because if he remembered correctly, the headquarters of the company he worked for was located in Los Angeles. He just hoped that his colleagues over there could save themselves.
Thinking of this, Keith had finished washing up. He turned off the TV, then put on his jacket and went out.
Although he was supposed to have the day off, Keith did not complain just because he had to work overtime, because in his company's drug laboratory, a very important experimental project was about to be conquered, and it was the final push.
