The most direct meaning of this message is nothing more than the 'coffin' itself.
And what does ‘coffin’ represent?
The dead!
Edward fits this criteria exactly.
So, does this message refer to Edward?
Jason thinks it's not that simple.
The detective bought the 'coffin' doll three days in advance. With three days, he could obviously explain that it was 'Edward' more directly, without having to go around in such circles.
Or rather...
At that time, the detective could not say the name "Edward" clearly, and could only use an indirect way to allude to "Edward"?
Thinking of this, Jason looked at John and motioned for John to continue.
"After the first three people died, there was no subsequent death."
"But no one has any valuable clues."
"As time went on, everyone gave up."
"And the 'missing Edward' has also become a rumor in the underground world."
John talks about the news he bought from the news dealer.
No one died after that?
Didn't find any valuable clues?
Will finding a 'valuable clue' lead to 'death'?
Jason pondered.
"I need to go see that old house."
After a while, Jason said this.
"Together."
John didn't say anything and started the car directly.
For John, Jason is already considered a friend.
He wouldn't let his friends walk to the countryside.
At John's driving speed, Jason soon arrived at the old home of the Edward family.
After the baptism of fire last year, this old house has long lost its original appearance. Standing on the side of the road, Jason could only judge from the rather vast, but dilapidated foundations of the courtyard walls and the patches of scorched earth.
Speculate the prosperity of Edward's family in those years.
Judging from the area, the mansion owned by the Edward family can be called a manor.
There are gardens, fountains, parking lots, etc.
In an open area, there are also swimming pools, basketball courts and other facilities.
Moreover, Jason also saw the remnants of a stable building.
Jason was not surprised by this.
Isn't it normal for rich people who can afford to open a bank and own minerals to raise a few thoroughbred horses?
only……
The residual smell of 'food' floating in the stable is abnormal.
Jason grinned and smiled.
He followed the scent of the 'food' and walked step by step into the ruined manor, heading straight for the stables.
John followed behind, looking around cautiously.
With the previous investigation, John has been able to confirm that "Edward's disappearance" is not a spontaneous disappearance, but there is something deeper involved.
It's true that John retired.
But this does not mean that he has no ability.
On the contrary, John became stronger and stronger after retirement.
There are no high-intensity tasks anymore, and John still maintains the exercise method he used before retiring. He relaxes in a moderate amount and naturally becomes stronger.
A P30L appeared in his hand.
This is a military pistol that has been modified with an increased ammunition capacity.
Like the two spare Glock pistols hidden in his waist, they are his usual firearms.
He didn't know what Jason found in the stable.
However, he was ready to shoot.
Under John's gaze, Jason walked back and forth in the collapsed stable.
Not that kind of search!
Just walk!
From time to time he would still sniff his nose.
Search with strange smells?
Surprise flashed in John's eyes.
He has seen some people with extraordinary talents who can complete searches through scent, and after training, such people are much more powerful than the best hunting dogs.
After all, no matter how good a hunting dog is, it can't communicate with people.
"Does Jason have similar abilities?"
"Then he was a 'Searcher' before?"
"Or 'Stalker'?"
John thought silently.
He became more and more curious about Jason's past occupation.
As for Jason’s current career?
John would never believe that a guy wearing a hockey mask and wielding a machete could be a writer.
Although writers have various quirks, for example, when writing, they like to go barefoot and wear big pants. From time to time, they eat and drink heavily in the name of gathering style, and then ask for leave to rest after eating too much.
But I would never wear a hockey mask and wield a machete!
It’s impossible to inspire inspiration by doing this!
Just when John was guessing, Jason stopped.
"Found it!"
After Jason said these words, he bent down and moved away the rubble that obscured his vision.
Soon, a concrete floor appeared in Jason's field of vision.
Boom, boom!
Jason raised his hand and knocked, making a hollow sound.
"Secret passage?"
"I'll get the hammer."
John said.
The mechanism in front of you is obviously opened from the inside. If you want to enter from the outside, you will definitely need to violently destroy it.
Jason waved his hand.
"No need to bother."
After the words fell, Jason squatted there and punched him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With one punch, cracks appeared on the cement floor.
The second punch that followed caused the cracks to continue to spread.
After the third punch, the top layer of the cement floor completely cracked.
Jason wiped away this layer, and then punched it down again.
John stood aside and watched this scene blankly.
He looked at the concrete floor that was gradually being smashed open, and then at Jason's intact fist, and couldn't help but ask:
"Jason, are you sure you're a writer?"
"certainly!"
"I wrote "Cross Street Stalker"!"
"You've seen it before!"
Jason answered without raising his head.
Hearing such an answer, John naturally felt a surge of energy in his heart that he wanted to spit out.
"Do you know why you have only written a small range of acceptable books for ten years, but never reached the level of bestsellers?"
"Why?"
Jason asked subconsciously.
"Because you didn't take yourself as the protagonist!"
"Believe me, art comes from life!"
"When you are the protagonist - the name 'Jason' becomes an indelible symbol."
John said seriously.
"Yeah?"
Jason said in his mouth, and then punched out his clenched fist again.
The fragrance in the nose is getting stronger!
He couldn't wait!
Bang!
Another punch was thrown, and this time with the sound of cement crashing, the door of the secret passage was smashed open.
Jason looked inside, and after confirming that there was no danger, he stretched out his hand and directly grabbed the hole made by the smash, and then used his arm hard.
Suddenly, a cement block the size of a round table was lifted up by Jason.
Then, he threw it aside.
Boom!
John felt the ground tremble several times.
Looking at the huge cement block, John's eyes twitched.
He assessed Jason's strength.
Then, he immediately made up his mind: Never fight Jason in close combat.
Be sure to keep distance and use firearms to deal with it.
Then, he thought about Jason's fist hitting the concrete floor without any damage.
Suddenly, another item was added: use armor-piercing bullets.
Thinking in his heart, John couldn't help but speak.
“Ever heard of ‘Stalker’?”
Trackers are only spread among some top organizations in the underground world.
For ordinary people, they only know another name: Punisher!
"No."
Jason shook his head.
He really had never heard of it.
Moreover, his attention has already been attracted by the underground secret room.
A straight ladder is right in front of you.
There was a thick layer of dust on it, but some parts on both sides of the ladder and the crossbars were as smooth as new.
When he saw this scene, Jason's mind flashed to the scene where someone climbed a ladder and left here not long ago!
This time will not be too long, no more than one day.
Even, within a few hours!
"Who could it be?"
Jason whispered, instead of choosing the ladder, he jumped down and stood firmly below.
The height is no more than 3 meters, which is about the same as taking the next step for Jason.
With the help of the light above his head, Jason, who had extraordinary perception, could instantly take in the secret room in front of him.
The secret room is about the size of a basketball court.
The surrounding walls are smooth and there are no unnecessary furnishings. There is only a tall statue placed in the middle!
The scales are clear and winding, making it look like a snake.
only……
This snake has two heads!
Two heads extend from the coiled body, facing each other on the left and right. The snake's head looks down slightly, the snake's eyes stare at the center of the snake's coiled body, and a pair of footprints clearly extend from there to the ladder.
Dust proves it again.
Of course, the more important thing is this two-headed snake statue!
The smell of 'food' came from here, but when Jason got closer, he found that the smell of 'food' in front of him was not only fading rapidly, but also had a rancid and sour smell.
The latter only appeared recently.
It is suppressed by the residual fragrance of 'food' and can only be smelled after getting closer.
"Jason, Jason?"
John's shout came from overhead.
"Safety."
Jason replied and walked towards the two-headed snake statue.
Behind him, John climbed down the ladder, with a flashlight in his hand.
After looking around, John's flashlight locked on the two-headed snake statue.
Then, when he and Jason approached the statue and saw clearly what the two heads were looking at in the middle of the two-headed snake's body, they couldn't help but focus on that place with the gun in their hands.
coffin!
In the middle of the body of the two-headed snake, where the two heads are looking, is a coffin.
At this moment, the coffin lid has been half opened, and a figure is vaguely visible inside.
Jason bent down, checked the surroundings, and then completely removed the coffin lid.
Suddenly, the 'figure' inside the coffin was completely revealed.
That ‘figure’ is not a human at all!
Rather, it is a human-shaped 'package' sewn from 'snake skin'.
The snake skin has obvious scales and clear lines. Even though the 'package' has cracked at this moment, it still has an inexplicable sense of 'freshness'.
From the remnants of the outward bulge, John was sure that someone had come out of it. Then, he subconsciously checked the thickness of the dust around him.
Judging from the sealing here, it will take at least a year, or more, for dust to accumulate to this extent.
It is impossible for a living person to be sealed in a snake skin for such a long time.
Plus a coffin!
dead!
A dead man walked out of here not long ago!
John's breathing paused slightly when he came up with this answer.
But he returned to normal immediately, and an unprecedented light appeared in his eyes.
"Does the dead come back to life?"
He whispered to himself.
"Resurrection of the dead?"
"This is not a resurrection."
"But..."
"Reincarnation!"
Jason stared at the special language inside the coffin that was entirely composed of Tufu language.
The proficient level of [Picture Complex Language] is enough for Jason to recognize some simple text combinations.
The inside of the coffin is filled with the words "reincarnation" and "snake".
Jason raised his head and looked at the statue of the two-headed snake.
Coincidentally, at this angle, the eyes of the two snake-head statues were also staring at Jason, looking at the lifelike snake head showing its ferocious snake head in the darkness underground.
Relying on the proficiency level of [Tufuyu], although Jason is not enough to understand the entire ritual, he can roughly guess the 'mystery' and some foundations of the ritual's construction.
For example: The two-headed snake ‘statue’ in front of you was once alive.
It is a real two-headed snake!
It was just poured with copper juice and turned into the statue in front of you.
Moreover, this two-headed snake was made at least hundreds of years ago.
Therefore, there is a faint smell of rotten food.
Of course, what's more important is that the 'person' in the coffin absorbed the power of the two-headed snake through a ritual and was 'reincarnated', which accelerated the decay of the two-headed snake.
It was precisely because of this that he missed an extra meal.
Jason could tell from the residual 'food' aroma that this two-headed snake must be delicious!
Jason could almost see the grilled snake skewers, snake soup, etc. leaving one by one.
"Oh."
Jason let out a chuckle.
This chuckle woke up John who was thinking about the meaning of 'resurrection' and 'reincarnation'.
He looked at Jason's side face looming in the light of the flashlight, and felt a chill running down his back.
He always felt like he saw a hungry beast opening its mouth.
"Jason?"
John asked tentatively.
"fine."
"It's just that I'm a little bit unwilling to lose an 'extra meal' that should have existed."
"but……"
"I'm sure I'll make it up soon!"
Jason said with great certainty.
After saying that, Jason walked out.
There is nothing to see here anymore.
As for the rotten food?
Although he loves food very much, Jason will never eat spoiled food, and he also has a bottom line.
"Did the three people who died before find this place?"
On the way back, John asked.
"have no idea."
"Maybe here."
"Maybe it's something else."
Jason shook his head. He couldn't tell from the existing clues what the three people discovered that caused them to die violently. Moreover, there was another point that also puzzled Jason.
Why did the other party put so much effort into arranging these arrangements?
Jason was thinking about this problem as he boarded the car.
John, who was sitting in the driver's seat, hesitated to speak. After several attempts, John finally asked.
