The night was as thick as ink, and on the deserted road there was only the sound of Dean's footsteps running like crazy.
His chest heaved violently, and his throat became hoarse and cracked due to the continuous roaring. The cold sweat on his forehead mixed with dust flowed into his eyes, blurring his vision, but he did not dare to stop. The growls and barks behind him were like tarsal maggots, chasing him. In a panic, he turned the corner, and was severely tripped by a shopping cart on the side of the road. He fell heavily on the rough asphalt road, and his palms and knees instantly bled.
The homeless man who was digging through the trash can not far away was startled by the movement and stared at him blankly. Dean raised his head in horror, pointed in the direction behind him, and screamed with all his strength, "Run! It will kill you! Quick!"
Move slowly along his trembling fingers--
A Yorkshire terrier with a pink bow was tilting its furry head, sticking out its pink tongue, curiously looking at Dean that fell on the ground, and even wagging its tail slightly.
Dean looked at the palm-sized puppy, his pupils shrank suddenly, and he let out another deafening scream. He crawled up from the ground, turned around and continued to run forward desperately, as if he was chasing a demon who could drag him back to Hell.
Bai Haorui chased after him. He looked at Dean, who was running so wildly that he was almost flying, and then looked down at the Yorkie at his feet, which was wagging its tail around his trousers. The worry on his face instantly turned into a smile that he couldn't hold back. He paused, took out his phone and clicked on the video, recording Dean's running back and the innocent puppy at his feet.
Bai Haorui:
This Fear Sickness hallucination is quite powerful.
Dean ah Dean, you too have today. Don't be afraid, brother, I will record it all for you. When you get better, we will take your time to read it. Hahahaha.
He put away his cell phone and quickly chased after him. He watched Dean crash into an abandoned phone booth on the roadside, pressing against the glass door. His whole body was shaking like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, and even his teeth were chattering. Bai Haorui walked to the door of the phone booth and gently knocked on the glass. There was an unhidden smile in his tone, but there was also an unnoticeable tenderness:
"Dean, it's me, Haorui. It's okay, there is only a puppy outside, no monsters, and no Hellhound."
Dean, who was in the glass door, suddenly raised his eyes and saw the face of the person outside the door. His extremely tense body collapsed in half instantly, and his back slid down the glass, but his eyes were still staring outside, his pupils full of fear, as if a demon would come out of the night in the next second.
43 hours ago
The icy smell of formalin hit my face with the cold air. The air-conditioning in the morgue was turned on at full speed, and the lamps made a low hissing sound, illuminating the stainless steel morgue with a cold white light.
The coroner opened the body bag, revealing the bodies of Frank·O'Brien inside. He looked up at Sam and Dean who were wearing FBI uniforms in front of him, and finally his eyes fell on the man standing beside them.
The man was wearing a tailored black casual suit. He was not wearing a uniform, but he did not look out of place at all. He was nonchalantly spinning a string of Five Emperor Coins on his fingertips. He had a calm aura around him. Although he was standing in the morgue, he was not affected by the cold atmosphere here at all.
"Agent Taylor, Agent Perry, let's meet Frank·O'Brien." The coroner raised his chin and looked at Bai Haorui, "Who is this?"
"This is our technical consultant, Mr. Bai." Sam spoke first, with a calm tone.
Bai Haorui nodded slightly to the coroner and said in a calm tone without any emotion, "Sorry to trouble you."
"He died of a heart attack, right?" Sam looked at the coroner and opened the folder in his hand.
"That happened three days ago."
"But O'Brien is only 44 years old. According to the data, he is still a marathon runner. He keeps training all year round and his heart function is far superior to ordinary people." Sam's brows frowned slightly, with just the right amount of doubt in his tone.
The coroner raised his eyebrows and twirled the scalpel in his hand. "Everyone will die sooner or later. This is why my job is so stable."
"Yes, but Frank is not the only one who died here." Dean took a half-step forward, with his usual cynicism in his tone, and a witcher's unique vigilance in his eyes, "Just yesterday, Maumee also had two completely healthy men die suddenly, both from heart attacks. Don't you think this is a bit too coincidental?"
"It sounds like it's about Maumee, but what does this have to do with the FBI?" the coroner's tone was perfunctory.
"We just want to see Frank's autopsy report." Dean said.
"What autopsy report?"
"The one you want to do now."
After Dean finished speaking, the coroner didn't say any more nonsense. He picked up the scalpel and neatly cut open the chest of the corpse. The sound of the blade cutting through the flesh was particularly clear in the quiet morgue. As he operated, he raised his eyes to look at Dean, with a hint of ridicule in the corner of his mouth. "First time seeing a corpse?"
"It's long gone." Dean twitched the corner of his mouth, but his eyes still drifted to the side unconsciously.
"Oh, that's good, these guys smell bad when they're rotten." The coroner said, raising his chin, "Hey, would you hand me those rib scissors?"
Sam took a deep breath, subconsciously recognized the face, and resisted the turbulence in his stomach. Dean was just about to reach out for the rib scissors placed at the bottom of the tray, Bai Haorui had already stepped forward and picked up the scissors. It was handed over steadily to the coroner's hand. His fingertips deliberately avoided the end of the knife handle that was stained with corpse tissue. The moment he handed the thing over, he calmly stood half a step forward, just in between Dean and the corpse, separating the cold and bloody smell that hit his face.
Bai Haorui:
There is a very strange vicious aura lingering around this corpse. It is not the smell of sulfur of a demon, nor the coldness of an ordinary wraith, but more like... the plague aura condensed from extreme fear. It is better not to let Dean come into direct contact with it.
"Is this a mark of a wedding ring?" Dean's eyes fell on the shallow mark on the ring finger of the corpse's left hand, and he frowned, "I thought Frank was not married."
"It's not my business," said the coroner without raising his head.
Sam picked up the left arm of the corpse. It was covered with red scratches of varying shades, and even bloody scabs were found in some places. "Do you know where these injuries came from?"
"When someone falls to death, doesn't he just get bruises on the ground?"
"What?" Sam was stunned for a moment.
"I couldn't find any blockage in any of the major arteries." The coroner said, reaching out neatly, taking out the deceased's heart completely and holding it in his hand.
Dean looked at the heart that was still filled with blood, his face instantly turned pale, he subconsciously took a half step back, his Adam's apple rolled, and he almost vomited.
"This heart looks very healthy." The coroner said, and suddenly handed it in the direction of Dean, with a narrow smile on his lips, "Take it for me, okay?"
Sam stood aside, his shoulders shaking, and his face turned red from laughing.
Just when Dean froze in place, neither accepting nor accepting, Bai Haorui stepped forward again, stretched out his hand steadily, took the heart without changing his expression, held it in his palm, even looked down, nodded to the coroner, and said in a calm tone, "You continue."
Dean looked at Bai Haorui's unchanging expression, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and glared at him a little unconvinced. Bai Haorui raised his eyes and secretly raised his eyebrows at him, with a hint of smile in his eyes.
The coroner lowered his head and continued to operate. He moved the scalpel in his hand downwards, but failed to control the force. The fluid in the spleen instantly splashed out, accurately spraying Sam's face.
Sam's whole body froze instantly, his face turned green, he stood there without daring to move, and even stopped breathing.
"Oh, sorry, spleen juice," the coroner said insincerely.
Dean succeeded in an instant, laughed out loud with gloating, patted Sam on the shoulder and laughed so hard that he even forgot about the discomfort just now. Bai Haorui shook his head helplessly, took out a pack of clean tissues from his pocket, handed it to Sam, and patted his back gently with his fingertips, silently comforting him.
Bai Haorui:
Unlucky guy.
The three of them walked out of the morgue. The sunlight outside was dazzling. Sam was wiping his face and flipping through the information in his hands. Dean was walking beside him, still teasing him about his appearance from time to time. Bai Haorui followed the two of them, Five Emperor Coins on the fingertips was still turning slowly, Spiritual Sense quietly spread out, sweeping across the entire town, trying to find the source of the hostility.
Soon, the three of them walked to the Sheriff's Office. Deputy Sheriff Linus was sitting at the desk. When he saw the three people coming in, he stood up with a smile and said hello. Dean and Sam sat on the chairs and waited. Bai Haorui leaned against the wall and glanced at every corner of the office. Five Emperor Coins suddenly paused at his fingertips.
His Spiritual Sense captured a familiar aura of anxiety and anger, which was the same as the aura on the corpses in the morgue, only lighter.
The door of the office was suddenly opened, and Sheriff Britton poked his head out, frowning. "Damn it, Linus, did you see my... who are they?"
Sam and Dean stood up immediately, and Bai Haorui also stood up straight and nodded slightly to the police chief.
"Federal agent, I..." Deputy Sheriff Linus explained quickly.
"You just let them wait here?" Sheriff Britton's tone was filled with a hint of imperceptible anxiety, "Come in, guys."
Just as the three of them were about to walk in, the police chief suddenly raised his hand and stopped them, his tone unmistakable. "Take off your shoes."
The three of them looked at each other, and finally bent down and took off their shoes, stepping barefoot into the office carpet.
"My name is Al·Britton. Nice to meet you." The police chief shook hands with the three of them in turn. When he held Bai Haorui, he paused slightly and looked him up and down, "Oriental?"
"Yes. I've heard the name of the Sheriff for a long time." Bai Haorui's tone was neither humble nor arrogant. He touched the other person's hand lightly with his fingertips. Spiritual Sense instantly scanned the other person's body and confirmed that the violent energy was indeed hidden in his body, but it had not yet burst out.
"So are we." Sam took over.
The sergeant motioned the three of them to sit down, then turned around and took out a large bottle of disinfectant gel from the drawer, squeezed a large amount into the palm of his hand, and started rubbing it frantically until his palms turned red and his knuckles turned white, but he still showed no intention of stopping.
Dean looked at Sam and raised his eyebrows, his face full of doubts about "What is going on?" Bai Haorui leaned on the back of the chair and silently said two words to Dean: mysophobia. He signaled him to keep quiet and ask about the case first.
"Okay, what can I do for Uncle Sam?" The police chief finally stopped rubbing his hands, sat behind his desk, and looked at the three of them.
"We are investigating the cause of death of Frank·O'Brien. I heard that his body was found by your men." Sam spoke in a calm tone.
"Yes, Frank and I are friends, we are both 'Fighting Cocks'."
Dean couldn't hold it back and sneered. The police sergeant gave him a sharp look. Dean immediately calmed down his expression and sat upright, pretending as if nothing happened.
"That's the name of our softball team. They are very powerful animals." The sergeant said with a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone, "I have known Frank since high school. To be honest, I just plucked up the courage to see him for the last time today. Frank is a good man."
"Yes, broad-minded." Dean answered with a hint of perfunctory tone.
"Before he died, did you notice that he was behaving abnormally?" Sam stepped forward and asked, "For example, was he afraid of something?"
"Of course, everyone is nervous." The police chief nodded.
"Do you know what he's afraid of?"
"I don't know, I didn't answer the phone." The police chief frowned, "Finally, I sent my men to his house to check, and then this happened."
As soon as he finished speaking, he coughed suddenly, picked up the disinfectant gel again, squeezed a large amount onto his hands, and rubbed it frantically again, with a trace of imperceptible anxiety flashing in his eyes.
Dean looked at Sam again, with confusion on his face. Bai Haorui tapped the table lightly, attracting the attention of the police chief, and asked, "Chief Chief, besides Frank, are there any other people in the town who have symptoms of anxiety and fear recently? Even if they are just a little abnormal."
The police chief glanced at him warily for a moment and leaned forward slightly. "No. What exactly do you want to check?"
Dean glanced at Sam and immediately smoothed things over. "No, no, it's probably nothing. It's just an ordinary heart attack. We're just asking as a routine matter."
The three of them walked out of the Sheriff's Office, put on their shoes again, and walked on the streets of the small town. The sun was glaring, and there were no people on the streets, only the occasional car passing by.
Dean walked in the front, holding a lollipop in his mouth and frowning. "That can't be a heart attack."
"Absolutely impossible." Sam flipped through the information in his hand and said firmly, "The three victims all had identical red scratches on their arms. They all developed from restlessness to extreme fear, and then died of cardiac arrest within 48 hours."
"What scared them to death?" Dean paused.
"Okay, so what could do this?"
"What can't be done?" Dean sneered and counted on his fingers, "Ghost, vampire, Chupacabra? There are a hundred possibilities."
"Okay, let's make a list and eliminate them one by one." Sam nodded, "Who was the last person to see Frank·O'Brien alive?"
"His neighbor, Mark Hutchins." Dean said, suddenly stopped, grabbed the arms of Sam and Bai Haorui, their whole bodies tensed up instantly, and looked ahead with a vigilant look, "Wait, wait."
Sam looked confused. "What's wrong?"
"I don't like the look of those teenagers over there." Dean's voice was very low, and his body shrank back slightly.
Sam and Bai Haorui followed his gaze and looked over - several teenagers were chatting around the Impala, holding skateboards in their hands, laughing and joking. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and they didn't even look in their direction.
"Let's go this way." Dean immediately pulled the two of them, turned around and crossed the road, making a big circle to avoid the teenagers next to the Impala.
Sam stood there, looking at his back in confusion. Bai Haorui smiled helplessly, shook his head, and followed quickly.
Bai Haorui:
What the hell? Dean What does this mean? Are these half-year-old children scared??
The three of them quickly walked to the door of Mark's house. Sam knocked on the door. Not long after, Mark Hutchins opened the door. He was stunned for a moment when he saw the three people's IDs, and then smiled, "Taylor and Perry are the same as Aerosmith."
The three of them walked into the room, Dean walked at the end. As soon as they entered the door, their eyes glanced at the glass tank in the living room. There was a half-meter-long large lizard lying in it, spitting out a message and looking at him coldly.
Dean's body tensed up instantly, his steps paused, he subconsciously hid behind Bai Haorui, swallowed nervously, and even breathed lightly.
Bai Haorui noticed his movements and looked back at him in confusion, then looked at the lizard in the glass tank and raised his eyebrows.
Bai Haorui
:??? Dean is actually afraid of a lizard? He usually even dares to kick Hellhound in the face. What happened today?
"Yeah, the world is really small." Sam didn't notice the movement behind him, looked at Mark and asked, "So, when was the last time you saw Frank·O'Brien?"
"On Monday, he looked at me by the window. I waved to him and he closed the curtains directly." Mark shrugged.
"Hmm. Have you talked to him lately? Does he seem weird? Like scared?"
"Absolutely, everyone is going crazy." Mark nodded.
Sam finally turned around and looked at Dean, only to find that Dean had a frightened look on his face, his whole body was tense, his eyes were staring in the direction of the glass jar, and he didn't even listen to what they were saying.
"Do you know... do you know what he is afraid of?" Dean's voice had a subtle tremor, and his eyes still did not leave the lizard.
"Of course I do, witch."
Mark's words made Sam, Dean, and Bai Haorui look at each other with confusion in their eyes.
"Witch?" Sam asked, "For example...?"
"The Wizard of Oz was on TV a few days ago, and he said that the green-skinned bitch was definitely going to fuck him." Mark sneered and shook his head.
"Is there anything else that scares him?"
"Everything scares him." Mark counted on his fingers, "Al-Qaeda, ferrets, sugar substitutes, and those Pez candy boxes, those pairs of lifeless little eyes. There are too many."
Dean glanced at the lizard in the glass tank again, feeling uncomfortable all over and his feet were shaking slightly.
Bai Haorui stood beside him, his fingertips moved slightly, and a wisp of almost invisible red-gold Pure Yang True Fire spilled out from his fingertips, quickly outlining a pattern of Calming Talisman in the air. Then with a flick, the talisman turned into a shimmer of light and sank silently into Dean's chest.
A thin pure Yang barrier instantly formed around Dean, cutting off the cold aura that made him uneasy. Dean's body instantly relaxed a little, and his tense shoulders also slumped.
"Then tell us, how is this person Frank?" Sam continued to ask.
"He's already dead. I don't want to say anything bad about him, but he changed for the better later." Mark's tone paused.
"Has it been changed?"
"In high school, he was an asshole."
"Asshole?"
"He's just a school bully. Half the people in the town had their butts taped together by him, including mine." Mark's tone was filled with helplessness.
Dean couldn't hold it back and laughed, and his tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
"So he has offended many people." Dean stepped forward and asked, "Do you think anyone would want to take revenge on him?"
"I don't... Didn't Frank die of a heart attack?" Mark had a confused expression on his face.
"Please answer my question, sir." Sam's tone became serious.
"No, I don't think so." Mark shook his head, "Like I said, he changed it later, especially after his wife had an accident."
"His wife?" Dean's eyes lit up, "So he was married."
"He passed away about 20 years ago. Frank was completely shattered at that time."
As soon as Mark finished speaking, Dean's eyes suddenly fixed on Mark's neck - a pet snake as thick as a forearm was wrapped around Mark's neck, spitting out a letter and looking at Dean coldly.
Mark noticed his gaze, smiled and raised his hand to touch the snake's head, "Don't be afraid Donnie, it is a little cute. The one you should be careful about is Mary."
He raised his chin towards the sofa.
Dean followed his gaze and saw a snow-white albino snake crawling out from behind the sofa, sliding silently along the carpet to his feet, and sliding up his jeans little by little.
Dean took a deep breath, his whole body stiffened instantly, and he did not dare to move. His face suddenly turned pale, he even stopped breathing, and his pupils were full of panic.
Just when the snake was about to slide to his knees, Bai Haorui's fingertips hooked lightly, and a wisp of Pure Yang True Fire's energy quietly overflowed, and he pushed the snake gently. The snake instantly retracted as if it had been burned by something, slipped down Dean's legs, got under the sofa, and never came out again.
"Mr. Mark, we have finished asking our questions, so we won't interrupt you." Bai Haorui spoke in a calm tone, reaching out to hold the stiff Dean, and walked out of the house quickly with Sam.
There was a "bang" and the moment the door closed, Dean gasped for air. His legs went weak and he almost fell to the ground. He was holding on to the wall, his hands still shaking.
"Oh my god... that thing... almost killed me..." Dean's voice was shaking.
Sam looked at him with confusion and frowned. "Dean, what's going on with you? Why are you afraid of a little snake?"
"Who's scared?" Dean immediately said hard, stood up straight, and patted the dust on his pants, "I just... I just think it's dirty! My whole body is cold and disgusting!"
Bai Haorui looked at his arrogant look, but didn't expose it. He just reached out and patted his back. Pure Yang True Fire's fingertips gently brushed his back, dispelling the cold chill on his body.
Bai Haorui:
Something is wrong, this is definitely wrong.
Dean is not a person who is afraid of such things. Something has been wrong since the morgue. He is afraid of corpses, afraid of teenagers, afraid of lizards, afraid of snakes... This is definitely not a coincidence.
The night is getting darker, and there are no pedestrians on the streets of the town, with only the dim light of the street lamps.
Dean was sitting in the driver's seat of the Impala, flipping through the information in his hand, and scratching his left arm with his left hand. His nails scratched the skin, leaving bright red scratches that were exactly the same as the scratches on Frank's body.
He grabbed harder and harder, until his fingertips were stained with blood, and he suddenly came back to his senses. He immediately pulled down his sleeves, pretending that nothing was wrong, and continued to flip through the information, but he could no longer hide the panic in his eyes.
The passenger door was opened and Sam got in. Bai Haorui also opened the rear door and got into the back seat.