Lena's uncle.

Alex emerged from the basement, pushing open the kitchen door, the light from the living room illuminating his face. Lena was sitting on the sofa, holding a bottle of water. Seeing him, she asked quietly, "Finished cleaning up?" Her gaze fell on the box, and she frowned, "What's that?"

"It fell off the shelf." He placed the box on the table, opened the lid, and tentatively broached the question, "Has your uncle... ever mentioned anything strange?" He pointed to the rune-stones, "I've seen these before, they're related to that place."

Lena's eyes widened, and her voice rose involuntarily: "What are you talking about?" She leaned closer, her face growing even paler: "I don't know... My uncle doesn't usually tell us about these things, he just asked my mom to help with the cleaning this time." She paused, whispering, "These stones... are they from that monster?"

Alex nodded: "Possibly. He's been there, or someone gave them to him." He picked up the pocket watch, murmuring, "And this, the photo is blank, it says 'Home,' but there's nothing on it. Do you know anything about it?"

Lena shook her head: "I've never seen these..." Her voice trembled, and after a moment of silence, she continued, "My uncle used to be a police officer, but he resigned after one assignment. After that, he was always suspicious of everything."

Alex closed the box and sat down opposite Lena: "Let's leave it for now, don't touch it. I need to think about how to handle this." He sank into thought: "Lena's uncle may have been to that hellish place, and as a police officer, he should have the ability to deal with those monsters, but that may also be the reason he resigned. But what's more important now is whether to wait for Lena's uncle to come back and ask him about these things, or just take them away directly?"

Alex turned to look at Lena, and said: "Did your uncle say how to deal with these things?" Lena bit her lip, thought for a while, and whispered: "My uncle just said that if there is anything valuable or family photo albums, etc., let me sort them out and take them back, the other things should be unwanted, right..."

She was silent for a few seconds, and looked up at Alex, "If you want to take these things away, I can tell my uncle that I didn't find anything valuable in the basement. You saved my life, if my uncle asks, I won't say a word." Alex scratched his head, a little embarrassed. Although he wanted to ask Lena's uncle about the origin of these things, he would not refuse.

"Lena, thank you, this is my contact information. If you and your family encounter anything, call me, and I will do my best to help you." Alex took out paper and pen from his pocket, wrote down his number and email, and handed it to Lena.

"Well, I hope we don't encounter that kind of thing again." Lena squeezed out a smile, "Since there is nothing else in the basement, let's leave." Alex nodded, and walked out of the 214 apartment with Lena. After a simple farewell, he rode his broken bicycle back to his dorm.

"Today is really... too much has happened" Alex's mind was in a state of chaos, Scarlett, Lena's uncle, the watch and the photo... He seemed to have been caught up in more trouble, at first he just wanted to complete his occult research and graduate well.

After casually locked the stuffs that he got today into a desk drawer, and Alex lay directly on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

He hadn't had a good night's sleep these days.