Published at 2nd of December 2020 11:20:05 PM
Chapter 107: 107
James watched with a sullen face as Zach found the key hiding under the eaves of the door and opened the door .
“You should be happy, it means that Barton is a safe city . ” Zach said so .
As a police detective who had lived in Barton for two months, James could not agree or refute . Under mixed emotions, he entered the house .
“No one . ” James glanced around the room .
“What do you think?” Zach closed the door and walked past James, “If there is anyone, I will knock . ”
James’s frown affected the bridge of his nose, causing a dull pain .
“Euh . ” Zach slit his fingertips, tore off the band-aid on Jame’s nose, and threw it in the trash can by the sofa, pressing his bleeding finger on the bridge of James’ nose .
James instinctively wanted to defend himself . When he touched the bridge of his nose, the wound had disappeared and the swollen bridge of the nose had returned to its original shape . James looked at the discarded band-aid in the trash can and was about to pick it up . After all, this was someone else’s home .
“There is no need to do it . ” Zach walked around the sofa and walked to the bedroom behind, “This man has run away . ”
James remained in the posture of bending over and looked at the trash can . He also came to this conclusion, because the filled trash can emitted a stinking smell, which showed that the garbage had been left untouched at least three days here .
This was the apartment-style housing that most single people in the Northern District of Barton City, or families below the middle class would choose . The location was more remote than the former civil servant Wells’ apartment, but the apartment size seemed to be bigger . As for the interior, it was much better than Wells’ .
“What are you looking for?” James asked unhappily when he heard Zach start going through stuff in other people’s bedrooms .
Zach stood in the bedroom, spreading his hands, “Looking for inspirations . ”
James looked at the things scattered around the vampire: clothes, shoes, and sundries…
Zach was not talking nonsense . He really had no idea what kind of ‘species’ the person who once lived here was, so he could only look around, trying to find some clues .
First of all, Zach had determined that this guy was not short of money . As a newcomer to a city, although it was not as exaggerated as James, his living condition was much better than the native, Wales . Then this guy didn’t have a job, because there were no real formal dresses or work uniforms in the closet . Most of the dresses were casual dresses .
And then this guy either had a special gender identity, or he was a playboy or something like that . Because Zach found many women’s clothes of different sizes .
Finally, this was a very cautious guy . Nonhumans usually had some things that needed to be hidden, such as Zach’s blood bank, Benjamin’s hair, and torn clothes, the leftovers eaten by the shapeshifter…
And this guy seemed to be nothing different from ordinary people, except for his strange collection obsession .
Zach walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, frowned, and fell into thinking .
“What did you find?” James just came out of the bedroom and asked .
“His diet is very healthy . ” Zach raised his eyebrows . “Form a human’s standard . ”
James frowned, walked around Zach, and looked inside the opened refrigerator . After a quick glance: vegetables, fish, chicken, eggs, milk… It was indeed very healthy because there was not even a can of beer or soda .
Zach stroked his chin and looked at the photo hanging on the wall . The man in the photo was about 30 years old, not very burly, but a well-proportioned body shape . In most photos, he looked very happy . With a row of white teeth, he could even become a model in a dentist’s clinic’s advertisement . The scenes of the photos were also various: Fishing, climbing, swimming, traveling… the photos had all been taken by a polaroid camera, and this camera had just been found by Zach .
“He may be an ordinary person . ” James looked around again and found nothing suspicious .
“A perfect ordinary person suddenly left everything and ran away . ” Zach added .
James noticed something amiss about his tone, “What do you want to say?”
“He is too perfect . ” Zach pointed to the picture on the wall, “He travels, does all kinds of things, has perfect teeth, and looks like someone that everyone would envy . ” Zach pointed to the bedroom again, “Not job but have enough money . and . ” Zach tilted his head . “He is very popular with women . There are a bunch of ‘trophies’ . ” Zach pointed to the kitchen again, “And his living habits are simply impeccable . ”
“So what exactly do you want to say? !” James was fed up with the frustration of not being able to get the answer to the question when he had already been given so much information .
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“He is like a person that only exists in people’s fantasy . ” Zach summed it up .
I once asked the vampire about the classification of nonhumans, which was different from the previous questions about social hierarchy .
The vampire explained: “There are three types . It is very easy to distinguish them . The first type is people like Benjamin, Jim, and me . Our difference comes from our physical body, and our abilities are reflected in the physical body, including the hypnotizing eyes . ”
I nodded, signaling that I understood what he said . It was basically brainwashing . I rarely showed off my intelligence in front of the vampire, so I signaled the vampire to continue .
“Not bad, you can understand this . The second type is the nonhumans that emerged on the basis of souls, just like Ryan . ”
“Emerged on the basis of souls?” I thought for a second and said, “Like angels and demons?”
After the vampire praised my comprehension, he hinted, “What you mentioned are the two extreme examples, but there is a middle section . From the beginning as earthbound spirits, there were Shadow Beings, Wandering Souls, Tulpas, Night-mares…”
I barely understood what he said, and continued to ask, “What about the third type?”
Zach thought about it, and decided to use a specific name to describe the third type, which made it easier for me to understand, “You, Alice, Spell, Papa Midnight…”
“Oh . ”
So the nonhuman here was the second type that Zach said .
“You mean this Daniel is a ‘Tulpa’?” James half-opened his mouth, as if he had finally understood it, but there was still a trace of bewilderment, “I thought ‘Tulpa’ would only appear in prosperous commercial places . ”
“No . ‘Tulpa’ would easily emerge in places where the money is frequently traded . ” What Zach said was a fact . Money was the strongest desire of human beings, so the fantasies derived from it was also the most unrealistic, but if Tulpa did not pursue power, it could survive anywhere where desires existed, “You forgot that it came to Barton City because of ‘rumors . ’ It is normal for him to pursue values that are not in line with the mainstream nonhumans . ”
James frowned, “Does Tulpa have the ability to make people disappear and reappear?”
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“If the timing is right and the desire is strong enough, Tulpa can make anything come true . ” Zach explained .
James’ face darkened again, and his fists clenched . Obviously, the detective didn’t quite understand the difference between Tulpa and Papa Midnight .
Zach glanced at him, “Your prejudice is too strong . I need to remind you that Papa Midnight is a human being and he is an outlier among your humans . Real nonhumans are not interested in playing with human feelings . ” Zach added, “Will you play games with your lunch before eating it?”
Zach’s explanation didn’t make James feel any better .
“They keep their souls alive by absorbing and collecting the fantasies of people . ” Zach continued, regardless of James staring at him, “But the capacity of a soul has a limit, so when it can’t accommodate anymore, it will naturally split . Then fantasy becomes reality . It is a poor creature . ” Zach pointed to everything in the apartment, “These, these ‘perfect’ things . Maybe only these photos are what he actually wants, and the rest are all from ‘you people’s’ fantasies . ”
Why would Zach say that such a healthy and enviable lifestyle was a fantasy?
Because the two people who wouldn’t have any gains left this Daniel’s house and knocked on his neighbor’s door . With just a small opening of the door, James could smell the smoke that diffused from the room . The thin man had heavy dark circles around his eyes . He was only under 30 years old, but he looked like he was going to die soon . He stared at two strangers, “How can I help?”
Zach didn’t give the man any time to react . After the red eyes appeared, he simply pushed the door open . Then James saw a room shrouded in smoke . It was much smaller than Daniel’s apartment, and the dirty table and chairs were full of pizza boxes and empty liquor bottles…
Zach randomly asked a few questions about his neighbor, said goodbye, and knocked on another neighbor’s door .
In the cold and damp room, a fat middle-aged man was dressed in a pair of pajamas that hadn’t been washed for a long time . His whole body exuded an unpleasant smell, and he was holding a wrinkled toilet paper in his hand .
Zach also asked a few questions and said goodbye .
After knocking on another door, the teenager leaning on the wheelchair looked at the two strange men, “How can I help? Mister?”
The vampire sighed in his heart, it turned out that those photos were not ‘real’ either . Zach’s brief moment of distraction gave James the opportunity to talk first .
“We came to find Daniel, but he is not home . Do you know where he might be?” James tried his best to suppress his mind from clamoring fiercely after seeing reality and fantasies coexisted .
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“Who are you?” The teenager suddenly became vigilant, and his thin hand had been pressed on the wheel of his wheelchair .
James pressed the door that the boy wanted to close, “I am James Rance! We are not bad guys, I am from Barton Police Department, Detective Rance!” James pressed his shoulder against the door and took out his police badge . “We suspect that Daniel is missing and we are investigating it . We are hoping to find him . ”
Zach didn’t stop James, standing aside and watching .
The boy looked at James’ badge and remained vigilant . “He is not missing . He just went on a trip . ”
James glanced at Zach . The first two neighbors didn’t know anything about Daniel’s whereabouts . But this boy seemed to want to help Daniel to get out of ‘trouble’ for some reason .
“Do you know where he went?” James asked .
“I don’t know!” The boy stared vigilantly at James and answered .
James did not give up, and still tried to extract information from the boy through talks, “Do you know how to contact him? For example, his numbers? We need to contact him to make sure that he really didn’t go missing…”
Zach couldn’t stand it anymore . He pushed James away, took out a business card, and handed it to the disabled boy, with his face close to the boy: “Zach, from Grande Funeral Home . What’s your name?”
The teenager looked at the business card, then looked at Zach suspiciously, “You are not a policeman . ”
“I’m not…” Zach smiled, “You don’t need to trust me, but I want to ask, has Daniel ever made you able to stand up again?”
The boy’s pupils constricted . He pressed his hands on the door and wanted to close it!
“I guess he did . ” Zach blocked the door from closing effortlessly, looking at the boy with red eyes, “Tell Daniel that I have something that I need to ask him, the number is on the business card . ”
Zach then let go of the door and the door was slammed shut .