chapter_008 : The Abnormal Corpse

No wonder Alex Daniel Green's parents went crazy.

The photo had a high pixel count and was extremely clear. In the huge living room, a distorted human figure was terrifying.

Needless to say, this person was Alex. His limbs and neck were actually stretched to about four or five meters long, and they were all knotted together with the furniture in the room!

His left and right hands each seemed to be at least four meters long and were twisted. His left hand was coiled and connected to an ornamental plant on the left side, tied in a knot. And his right hand was wound around a lamp protruding from the right wall, coiled about three times. His two legs hung down on the ground, also stretched to four or five meters long. The most terrifying part was his head. His neck was stretched about two meters and was wound around the ceiling fan. Just the neck part was wound five times (so with the high - pixel photo, the number of coils was clearly captured). And his head was also distorted, looking like a twist of dough, and it was impossible to tell what he originally looked like. The next few photos were of the corpse taken from other angles. These photos were beyond being shocking. No wonder the police didn't release the corpse photos and the specific cause of death. No wonder the neighbors said a large truck came to carry the body that day... This definitely wasn't something a human could do! A human body isn't like flour. How could it be stretched like this without the limbs and neck breaking? Moreover, not a single drop of blood was visible at the scene, and there were no signs of a struggle. And the neighbors of Alex's house all said they didn't hear any screams at night. Is it possible for a normal person not to let out a single scream when their limbs are being stretched?

Orion James Miller also took out the forensic report from the envelope and started reading it. He was astonished to find that the bones and muscle tissues of the deceased had actually been stretched accordingly! All the organ tissues on the corpse were normal, and everything inside the body had changed accordingly as the limbs were stretched, as if Alex was born with such a body. Even the length of his clothes had changed...

So... his speculation could be confirmed...

Orion quickly put the photos back into the envelope and then said to Jane Sophia Parker, "We'd better burn them. If these photos get out, the consequences will be disastrous."

He felt his throat was a bit dry. No, it was extremely dry. What on earth... was he facing? Just like the three claw marks that killed his parents back then, it was an existence not from this world...

Scarlett Elizabeth Morgan, sitting in the back seat, was shaking like a leaf at this moment, her head always lowered, not daring to lift it. Thinking about hearing Cassius Benjamin Reed let out a scream before, and then he disappeared in the room, it was simply unthinkable!

"I was careless. I should have watched over them all the time," Jane seemed very annoyed at this moment. "It's rare to find you two, and we could form a complete prophecy... It seems we have to wait for the fourth person to appear and then consider. As for the fourth person..."

She winked backward, and Orion understood very well at this moment that Scarlett was likely to be the fourth person.

"She won't be in danger for now, will she?"

"Well... What's the shortest distance in time for your sister to sense death?"

"Generally speaking, she can sense it at least 24 hours in advance. There has never been a precedent of her sensing the time of death accurately to the hour. It's been like this for seven years. I'm about the same. I can't sense a person who will die within less than 24 hours. Considering this, Scarlett is 'safe' for now."

"I, I'm still safe?" Scarlett asked, feeling a bit relieved but still a bit palpitating. "Are your premonitions really reliable? Like Cassius..." "Actually, my sister had already sensed that he would die today. Hasn't it passed zero o'clock? That is to say, within the death date sensed by my sister, there is a threat of death every minute. Miss Morgan, you have to be prepared mentally. Maybe you'll be the fourth person. If you want to survive... you'd better follow Miss Parker's instructions as much as possible. She knows more about this than I do. As for the premonition issue, I can't guarantee for Miss Parker, but at least my sister's and my premonitions have always come true in the past seven years... You don't need to doubt."

In fact, Scarlett didn't dare to doubt anymore. She had completely believed that there were really ghosts in the world. Now... these two people were her only hope. She had regarded Orion and Jane as some kind of ghost - exorcising priests, thinking they had the supernatural power to drive away ghosts and evil spirits. Little did she know that these two were actually ordinary people, just with a slightly different constitution from ordinary people.

Jane drove back to her home. She planned to arrange for Scarlett to live in her house temporarily and try to find out some clues before the premonition of the fourth person occurred. Scarlett was extremely tired at this moment. When she arrived at Jane's house, thinking this was a safe place, she fell asleep at ease.

"The advantage of a big room is that it can accommodate one more person." After closing the door of Scarlett's room, she returned to the living room. Looking at Orion, who was deep in thought, she leaned against the wall and asked, "What are you thinking? Let me guess... You're full of doubts about me, about what my father said, and about the very root of your destiny, right?"

Orion was sitting on the leather sofa in the living room at this time. The living room of Jane's house was really luxuriously decorated. Every piece of furniture was imported, and there were many potted plants, sculptures, oil paintings, and an old - fashioned phonograph. Even the handle of a coffee cup was made of gold.

"You really look like a rich young lady... But doesn't your family have even one servant?"

Jane sat opposite him, her finger idly standing on the coffee table, her eyes looking a bit melancholy as she said, "There's only me. I don't even communicate much with my neighbors because everyone thinks I'm a weirdo. My family members don't care about me anymore, and I take care of all my life by myself."

"What about financially? Have your family members given you some property to live on?" "I don't care about that. I'm an illustrator, just drawing some illustrations for novels or encyclopedias. It's a meager job, right? But I'm not interested in financial management and investment by nature, so I actually feel relaxed without property. I may seem glamorous, but in fact, I've also experienced the hardships of life. The only property I have is this house, and the furniture and such were all bought by my grandfather. I'm not interested in a luxurious life. I even think it's a waste of time. The focus of life is on experience, not enjoyment."

Orion didn't expect her to be so articulate and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"Let's get back to the point... You said before that you don't want your sister to be involved, right?"

"Yes." Orion said firmly, "This is the biggest premise of my cooperation with you. She knows nothing. She's completely innocent - minded and extremely timid. Letting her come into contact with those things is like killing her."

"That's really a pity... She has a natural supernatural physique. If well - trained, her ability won't be worse than yours..."

"Regarding the supernatural physique... What exactly does it mean to us? Besides premonition, what other characteristics does it have?" Jane thought for a while and then began to explain in detail, "As far as I know, there are many types of supernatural physiques. People with a natural physique usually show differences from ordinary people at a very young age. You and your sister awakened your abilities relatively late. And when you come into contact with things related to the supernatural, this ability gradually wakes up. However, even so, you only have the premonition ability. People with stronger supernatural abilities should be able to see ghosts that are invisible to the naked eye."

"Invisible to the naked eye?"

"Yes. But there's too little information about ghosts... In fact, 'ghosts' is just a general term for those things. Maybe this term makes it easier for people to understand their existence quickly. Because the legend of ghosts has been around for a long time. The general saying is that they are the souls of the dead. But legend is not the same as reality. Not all ghosts were originally human. In fact, most of those things have nothing to do with humans and come from an unknown world. There are many such things that can't be called ghosts at all. Yes, many are like curses, intangible but real existences, making it impossible to guard against. If the supernatural ability is further enhanced, one should be able to sense curses. But this is all just 'perceiving'. If you want to fight against them, generally, you need acquired guidance. You're still far from being able to do that now." Curses? The unknown?

There was no way to find any so - called patterns, and their forms were not understood. Everything was purely unknown. So how could he defeat them in the future and find a way to survive? Orion was completely lost.

Next, he decided to discuss this matter with Jane.

"Alex's corpse... Well, it clearly proves that this thing can turn a person's body into such a posture. This is the ability of that thing, right? Then, why didn't Zephyr Aurora Hayes' and Cassius's corpses appear? This is a mystery."

Jane nodded and further put forward her view, "I think the same as you. I think their corpses do exist and haven't disappeared. But we just haven't found them yet. Summing up, it seems to be looking for targets aimlessly. The first two victims had no common points at all. Of course, we can't deny that there may be some connection that we haven't discovered. If we think like that, the fourth person could also be someone completely unrelated."

The urgent matter was, if the fourth person was Scarlett, how could they protect her? "First of all, I can assure you that my father's notebook also repeatedly emphasized that the only way to break the curse is to prevent the premonition from coming true. The elements of our three premonitions are the person, the time, and the keyword. And the two things that can be changed are the time that your sister can sense and the life and death of the person. So... regarding the first point, starting from today, you have to wear a watch all the time, even when sleeping, and you have to check the time frequently to make sure the time is accurate. The error should not exceed one minute. If you can confirm that the watch you're wearing shows the exact time, then in any situation, take the time on your watch as the standard."

Just then, Orion raised a question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.

"If we kill that person before the premonition time, does it count as the premonition not coming true?"

The living room suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

The two looked at each other, each seemingly having their own thoughts.

"I don't know. Maybe it does. After all, my father didn't write this in the notebook. But it's only a possibility. Are you going to try? Kill someone to save your life?" Jane's question left Orion speechless for a moment. He really couldn't do it. After all, he wasn't a cold - blooded and selfish person. He couldn't bring himself to kill someone. Moreover, this wasn't the only way, and it wasn't even certain whether it belonged to a way to break the curse. So at least for now, he definitely wouldn't do it.

But if it was for Violet, if one day this became the only way, he couldn't guarantee what he would do.

"We don't need to think about this question too deeply. Actually, even if you want to kill, you may not be able to. This kind of terrifying destiny isn't that easy to change. Well, I don't want to discuss such a dark topic with you, and your sister definitely wouldn't approve of it either. The next question is... the issue of the person's life and death. As long as we keep that person alive, we can change the curse of our destiny, at least let him live until after the premonition time. Although it would be best if they have the ability to protect themselves, but a person without supernatural abilities, even the most powerful warrior in the world, can't escape death. So, the more ideal consideration is to both defend and attack. With your current ability, I can only consider 'defending'." "Let Scarlett escape like my sister and I did?" Just thinking about this made Orion feel uncomfortable. Was this the only way? Only passive escape? Weren't there some ways to deal with ghosts in some novels? Like splashing black dog blood, drawing spells, wearing amulets to ward off evil, etc.

"Also... I have to remind you." As if seeing through Orion's thoughts, Jane added, "The methods of exorcising ghosts in novels and movies are all made up to deceive people. Because literary works need the righteous side to win, so they arrange for humans to have the power to fight against ghosts. But the reality is not like that. Their existence can't be understood with our common sense, and it's impossible to find a way to restrain them. Only a very small number of people with a supernatural physique can sense their existence. So don't count on those unrealistic things."

So the focus of the discussion next was how to "defend".

"After determining the time, we should first get enough rest. Then, on the day of the scheduled death, we should accompany the fourth person 24 hours a day. If that person isn't Scarlett, we can also catch and imprison the other person. Alas, I really didn't think things through before. Although it was the first time and I lacked experience, I still let Cassius get killed."

"What about next? If 'that thing' shows up, how do we deal with it?" "This is a map of the city," she seemed to pull out a piece of paper like a magic trick. Then, pointing to several points on it, she said, "See? These are several good escape routes I marked. If we want to imprison the other person, we can consider this place. When I mentioned the requirements for the house to my grandfather, I chose an area with convenient transportation. There are many overpasses and subways nearby, and there are also many intersections, so it's not easy to encounter traffic jams. And because it's a prime location, there are a lot of people. We can ask many people for help at that time... Of course, all of this is to delay time. If the fourth person is Scarlett, I've also chosen a location."

Then she pointed to a black dot in the city center, drew a circle with a red pen, and analyzed, "This is the Memorial Square in the city center. Recently, because the holidays are approaching, there are many more police officers maintaining order, and there are also a lot of people. We can choose to be near the statue of the mayor. It's not far from the parking lot. And this square is open to the public 24 hours a day, so it doesn't matter if we stay there all night. After leaving the square, there are three roads to choose from, and each road leads in the opposite direction of the area where Alex's apartment is located." "You've really planned it thoroughly..." Orion couldn't help but admire Jane. She had completely familiarized herself with the terrain and considered every factor. Judging from the map, they were unlikely to encounter areas with few people and being remote. And staying near the statue of the mayor, they could find many people around to ask for help. Although in modern society, people are indifferent, and few people are willing to help strangers, but if there are police officers around, for the sake of maintaining order and protecting the square, they can't stand by. In short, the more people involved and the more chaotic the situation, the greater the chance of a successful escape.

Of course, even so, it can't be considered foolproof. After all, the opponent is an unknown non - human, and no one knows what it will do. Therefore, man proposes, God disposes. Whether the fourth person can survive this disaster actually depends more on fate. Moreover, there is a big risk. That is, once it fails and that person's corpse appears beside them in the same way as Alex's, it's likely to attract the attention of the police. They might even be regarded as murderers. Implementing the strategy in a crowded place has advantages, but also disadvantages. Now, the problem was the premonition. After Orion sensed the fourth person, he had to find out the person's address as soon as possible within the time limit and then find the person. If this person was Scarlett, that would be the best. But if not, it might take some time. If it was a person with no clues at all, the plan might have to be postponed.

Just then, Orion felt images starting to emerge in his mind again. The figure and name of the fourth person gradually became clear...