Super Detective in the Fictional World Chapter 68 - Misty Town (5 in 1)

Pondering for a moment, Luke said, “I’m a police officer. I know that the FBI is chasing you because of your X-gene. You’re just a victim who did nothing wrong. You’re innocent. I don’t want to sacrifice an innocent person for my promotion. It’s a matter of principle.”

Carol fell silent again and felt like crying.

The last few days had been hellish for her.

She had been shot by a burglar in her own apartment and had woken up in a morgue. Terrified, she ran away.

Insuppressible fury had prompted her to get back at the Mexican gangsters, but she had nearly been caught by the FBI agents who had accidentally gotten involved in the fight.

In the end, Luke had let her go, and had even offered her a way to survive.

Luke was a young office who could only earn fifty to sixty thousand dollars annually. Considering his own expenses, eight thousand bucks was already a lot.

It was obvious that Luke had just started working. The eight thousand bucks was likely his entire savings. Yet, he had given it to a complete stranger.

Were there really guys as good as this in the world?

Carol was at a loss.

Luke had no idea what Carol was thinking as he taught her disguise and stealth tricks.

His abilities from Salazar were now more suitable for Carol to use.

It wasn’t until three hours later that he finally stopped his lecture.

“However much you remember, you can only count on yourself now,” said Luke. “Leave while it’s still dark.”

Carol was a lot calmer this time.

She had only come here to say thanks.

However, she had received unexpected help.

She had a destination and hope for the future. She was no longer as overwhelmed as before.

If she had had a destination before, she wouldn’t have sought revenge on the Mexican gangsters, but would’ve stayed as far away from them as possible.

She stood up and bowed to Luke solemnly. “Thank you. You’re a good guy.”

Luke was rather depressed.

That didn’t sound right – it was what someone said to the next character to die in a movie!

Carol didn’t say anything else, and left the house after one final glance at Luke.

Watching the girl disappear, Luke sighed. “Good luck. This is the best I can do for you.” He then closed the door.

Selina had had a lovely night. She had eaten a great meal, though it had been shared with a third person, and had heard tremendous inside information. She had also watched Luke teach a student. She was quite satisfied.

After Luke closed the door, he waved at her. “Get up. It’s time to work.”

Selina was stunned. “Huh?”

“Clean up the room. Make sure no traces of Carol are left. I don’t want the FBI agents to notice me,” said Luke as he grabbed the cleaning tools.

Selina pulled a long face.

So, there was a price to pay for the gossip and inside information.

As Luke cleaned, he thought about Carol.

As he had said, that was the best he could do for her.

Letting her go, giving her some money, and offering her a way out were the only things he could do.

He wasn’t capable of more.

Cheney himself was trouble, and New York was an even bigger maelstrom that Luke preferred not to get involved in right now.

He had acquired Carol’s ability, and had tried his best to help her in return. The girl’s future now depended on her own luck and capabilities.

Luke and Selina cleaned the room. As police officers, they were most familiar with dealing with a crime scene.

Nothing of Carol, like her fingerprints or hair, remained in this room.

It was already eleven at night by the time they were done. They each took a shower and went to bed.

The next day, Luke and Selina set off in their car.

Laquin was four hundred kilometers northeast of Houston. It was a relatively remote city.

Three hours later, they switched places. Fifty kilometers away from Laquin, they entered a small town.

The town was called Rumford. It seemed to be a lot livelier than Shackelford.

Luke observed the town and felt that it wouldn’t be a bad place for a holiday if Laquin turned out to be too boring later.

The town had wonderful views, and prices here weren’t as high as those in big cities.

Selina, on the other hand, asked as she drove the car, “Do you see a public toilet? I need to pee.”

Looking out the window, Luke pointed and said, “There’s a supermarket over there.”

Selina turned the wheel and drove over. “Rumford is no more enjoyable than Shackelford.”

Luke chuckled.

Selina was hot and beautiful, but she had the temper of a child. It was only natural that she would find “traveling” in such a remote and unremarkable place disappointing.

Under the bright morning light, they parked the car in the lot next to the supermarket.

Selina went to the bathroom in a hurry.

Staring at the crowd around the supermarket entrance from the car, Luke found it weird.

Those people were all carrying big bags out of the supermarket, as if everything in the supermarket was on sale.

A few people were talking to each other as they passed by the car. Luke finally learned that a storm last night had destroyed a lot of facilities nearby, including houses, cars, electric wires, telephone wires, and even the cell towers.

Luke took out his phone, only to discover that it had no signal. He tried calling 911, but the call failed.

He wasn’t too bothered.

They were only passing by. It would be fine as long as Laquin wasn’t like this.

Luke heard sirens and looked back. A long line of vehicles rushed down the road.

There were fire engines, ambulances, maintenance cars, and even military trucks.

From the townsfolk passing by, he learned that there was a military base on the mountain nearby, and he didn’t pay it much mind.

There were too many such bases in America for it to be surprising. The townsfolk didn’t find it unusual, either.

Ten minutes later, Selina returned. She said, half-complaining and half-explaining, “My goodness, there were so many people in the bathroom. It’s like a battlefield. A kid nearly wet himself.”

Luke frowned. “Are you sure that he only wet himself?”

Selina laughed. “Of course! He was only peeing. Alright, let’s go!”

Suddenly, the most earsplitting alarm rang out.

They heard shocked exclamations and turned their heads, only to see an oppressive fog flow down the mountain.

The townspeople started running in a panic. Many subconsciously rushed to the supermarket.

An old man also cried out in horror as he bled from his mouth and nose.

Selina didn’t quite catch what he was saying, but Luke heard him.

“Monsters! There are monsters in the fog!” the old man screamed as he ran past them.

Frowning, Luke drove the car to the supermarket and said, “Selina, bring out all our ammo, weapons and flak jackets.”

As a prudent man who considered safety the most important thing, Luke was always prepared.

Even though he was on a trip, he had brought all the necessary equipment, as well as even more bullets than he usually carried.

Without any hesitation, Selina packed up the things in the car.

Actually, there wasn’t much to pack.

Their backup gear was stored in two bags, one containing the guns and bullets, and the other the flak jackets. All she needed to do was take them out.

Luke had already driven the car to one side of the supermarket, and he parked practically right up to the glass wall.

Grabbing the two bags, he and Selina quickly entered the supermarket.

Selina hadn’t noticed yet, but Luke had vaguely detected screams coming from the massive fog.

However, few people could hear it as the screams were drowned out by the alarm.

He even saw someone caught by what looked like gigantic pincers in the fog when it reached him.

The dreadful pincers were more than five meters long.

Luke doubted that his gun would be able to deal with such gargantuan creatures. It would be safer to hide and observe from inside the building first.

Soon after they entered the supermarket, the panicked clerks shut the doors.

Everybody inside the supermarket finally heard the screams of victims in the fog. The old man who had arrived earlier was still crying “monsters,” adding to everyone’s fear.

Their faces looked awful as the fog flooded the town, enveloped the supermarket, and blocked everything that could be seen.

“It must be because the factories to the west exploded. This is the poisonous smog from the factories,” someone murmured.

Luke laughed at the theory.

The fog didn’t have a chemical smell to it; it was a natural fog, which carried the scent of grass and the forest.

It also carried a hint of blood, which belonged to the victims who had just been killed.

Luke grabbed Selina and gave her a warning in a low voice.

The gargantuan creature he had seen would be able to easily destroy the supermarket’s glass wall up front.

So, it wasn’t safe to stay next to the glass wall.

At that moment, there was the start of an earthquake.

Caught unprepared, many people fell to the floor. The whole supermarket was a mess.

Luke helped Selina regain her balance and slapped away a lamp that fell toward him.

The earthquake stopped no more than twenty seconds later.

The supermarket hadn’t collapsed, although some items had fallen to the floor. Luke was rather relieved.

If their hideout collapsed at such a critical moment, it would’ve been tricky.

As lousy as the supermarket might be, it was a concrete building, after all. All the walls were made of concrete, except for the glass wall at the front.

At the very least, they wouldn’t need to worry that a pair of pincers would appear out of nowhere while they were hiding here.

The panic caused by the earthquake soon faded, but something else depressing happened. The power went out.

Luke learned from the clerks that the supermarket had been running electricity from its own generator since that morning.

The generator might’ve been damaged by the earthquake just now.

Pulling Selina along with him, Luke found a short man who was addressed as the boss. “You’re going to examine the generator, right?”

The boss looked at him, finding it odd. He nodded. “Yes. We need electricity for both the lights and the ventilation system, or the people in here will suffocate.”

Luke proposed, “We’ll go with you.”

The boss was dazed. “Huh?”

Luke took out his badge. “We’re detectives from Houston. We’re on our way to Laquin on business. I think we can give you a hand.”

The boss was relieved when he saw the badge.

Although this wasn’t Houston’s jurisdiction, the detectives were professionals who would be better at dealing with emergencies than civilians.

He nodded quickly and called for the two clerks.

Another man saw them and said that he was willing to join, too.

Luke had no objection. There were always volunteers.

On his way, Luke found two large-sized cargo vests on the shelf. He threw one to Selina.

The boss looked at him suspiciously.

Luke smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for them.”

The boss believed him. He didn’t think that two detectives would steal something that was worth no more than a hundred dollars.

Everyone introduced themselves.

The boss was called Olly.

One of the clerks, who was in his forties, was Jim. He was responsible for maintaining the generator.

The other clerk was a teenager named Norton, who had been summoned to help with the maintenance.

The volunteer was David. He was a painter who had been creating new works on a nearby mountain.

However, the storm last night had destroyed his house on the mountain and had cut the power, and the only thing he could do was leave the mountain with his wife and son.

The team reached the basement, which was completely dark.

Olly turned on the flashlight in his hand.

Thankfully, flashlights were available because they were in a supermarket.

The two clerks also turned on their flashlights and looked around.

Jim walked to a corner, where the generator was protected behind iron bars.

He observed it for a moment, then shouted, “Olly, I can’t see anything wrong. I’ll try to restart the generator.”

Olly wasn’t an expert on generators, either. He was naturally on board.

Jim restarted the generator, and the lights in the basement turned on.

Everybody was relieved.

Going without power in this sort of situation was pretty terrible.

Jim, however, sniffed and said, “Something smelly is blocking the vent. Norton, I’ll open the door. You go out and clear out the filth.”

Norton nodded. “No problem.”

David couldn’t help but intervene. “Wait, you’re sending this child out? It’s dangerous in the mist.”

Jim was angry. “What danger? The vent is right next to the door. He won’t be far off. Besides, if the vent is blocked, everybody will suffocate.”

David shook his head again. “I don’t think we should let the boy risk himself. Bad air quality isn’t really the problem.”

Jim scoffed. “You make a lot more money than we do, but we don’t need you to teach us how to do things. Norton, are you ready?”

Olly, however, also hesitated. “Jim, why don’t we let it go? We have electricity anyway. It’s not a big problem that the vent is blocked.”

But Jim was stubborn. “I don’t want to be haunted by this smell. Norton, I’ll open the door. Whenever you’re ready.”

“Alright,” said Norton eagerly.

The boy clearly thought of it as an adventure.

He had been moving things in the warehouse when the fog came, and hadn’t witnessed it for himself. Thus, he wasn’t scared, and only felt that it was fun.

While they were arguing, Luke dragged Selina away and took out the flak jackets from the bag, and the both of them put the jackets on.

In the end, they covered the flak jackets with the vests Luke had taken, hiding the “HPD” on their backs.

After they were done, Selina nudged Luke, asking if they should intervene.

Luke gestured subtly at her. She quickly understood and stayed on alert far away from the door.

Jim activated the roller door at the basement exit, and it rolled up around half a meter.

Norton called for him to stop and crouched down as he observed the scene outside.

The white fog slowly flowed in.

Suddenly, Luke sensed something and sprinted forward as quick as lightning. He grabbed Norton’s collar and threw him into a pile of dog food several meters back.

In the meantime, Luck backed off quickly and stared at the gap under the door.

Stunned for a moment, Jim was about to curse out loud, when an enormous tentacle lashed out of the fog and reached under the door.

Olly and David both stepped back in fear.

The tentacle was unbelievably huge.

What could be seen inside the basement was already longer than five meters. In addition to a pointy end, the tentacle was at least twenty centimeters in diameter.

More dreadfully, there were rows of barbs on the tentacle.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how the barbs would pierce prey, making escape impossible as the tentacle wrapped about it.

Luke narrowed his eyes and looked around. He then hurled a rebar crowbar at the tentacle.

The sharp rebar immediately nailed the tentacle to the ground.

In pain, the tentacle was about to retreat.

Luke, however, grabbed the fire axe on the wall and threw it at the tentacle again.

Thanks to his enormous strength, the axe cut half of the tentacle off. It struggled to break free of the injured bit, and retreated.

The severed barbed tentacle was still contracting on the ground.

Everybody was too shocked by the brief yet intense battle to say anything.

Luke opened his mouth. “Jim, shut the door.”

Jim was still dazed. “Huh? Okay. Alright.”

Several seconds later, the roller door descended again, temporarily blocking out the danger.

Luke picked up the axe and chopped the tentacle again.

The severed tentacle contracted and writhed like a bug.

Then, the pointy end of the tentacle opened like a mouth, and a greenish black fluid spurted out.

Luke backed off quickly after chopping the tentacle, for fear that it would spew the disgusting fluid at him.

When the tentacle finally stopped moving, he looked at everyone and said, “David is right. There are dangerous monsters in the fog. Do you agree?”

How could they disagree? The chopped tentacle was still here.

Had it not been for Luke, Norton would’ve probably been killed.

“Let’s go back,” said Luke as he moved. “Since there are monsters outside, we’ll have to deal with the glass wall at the front of the supermarket.”

Picturing how the glass wall would shatter before the gigantic tentacle, everybody nodded.

“Olly, it’s not a problem for you to move the dog food upstairs, is it?” Luke asked again.

Dazed for a moment, Olly looked at the bags of dog food, then understood Luke’s intention. “No. Actually, there are also leftover tubes and planks from when we refurbished the toilets. We also have...”

Luke interrupted him. “All of that can work. Ask Jim and Norton to haul them up and try to shore up the glass wall. Also, find the prominent people here and ask for their help. Make sure that the women and children stay far away from the glass wall. Is that clear?”

Olly listened and nodded.

As the manager of a supermarket, he was best at handling such affairs.

The employees of the supermarket got to work.

Olly was even busier than they were.

He had to dispatch people to move the dog food and other items that could shore up the glass wall. He also had to talk to the town’s important people and get them to convince the crowd that it would be better to hide at the back of the supermarket.

As the manager of the supermarket, he was the most familiar with the town’s residents, so he was the most suitable person for the task.

Luke talked to David and asked the warmhearted painter to help, too.

In the basement just now, he had been opposed to Jim’s risky plan.

He would certainly be helpful in maintaining order here.

Luke and Selina, on the other hand, examined their guns and bullets and had food and water in an inconspicuous corner.

Luke seized the opportunity to observe everything.

He had to pay attention to special people in such a situation, including the paranoid ones and the troublemakers.

Those people always appeared in desperate times.

Human beings were strange creatures.

In desperate times, some would struggle to resist and die before they gave up, but some would collapse before anything happened to them, and only wanted other people to die with th