Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 372 The Sleepwalker

The distance from the church to the ghouls' underground cave on the outskirts of the city is actually very short; it only takes less than two kilometers to cross the church bridge and walk east.

This could be considered a rather ironic real-life event, as the ghoul tribe is based not far from the foot of the church bridge, which is similar to the scene where Klaus, a vampire, was hung up earlier.

Milo finds it increasingly difficult to find enjoyment in the rhythm of normal life; instead, the absurd truths hidden in the darkness often bring him a smile.

Of course, this kind of pleasure is probably something no one can share, and pleasure that can't be shared loses its meaning...

……

Something unexpected happened again.

When Milo arrived at the familiar cemetery, he used a crowbar to pry open the stone slab at the entrance to the ghoul clan's underground cave and discovered that the cave inside showed signs of having been refilled.

"What's going on now?"

He muttered something in confusion.

Of course, the cave entrance was not completely blocked, and Milo still found a narrow gap and squeezed in.

This wasn't his first time entering a ghoul's cave; he was quite familiar with the place.

For ordinary people, this damp cave deep beneath a cemetery, covered with the footprints of unknown creatures, might seem like an incredibly terrifying place.

The stench permeating the surrounding air seemed to be a constant reminder to the intruder—this was a passage to hell.

But for the creatures that live here, Milo is the one that truly deserves to be feared.

However, the cave owner does not appear to be home today.

To be precise, they moved.

Upon venturing deeper into the cave, Milo discovered that the ghoul horde had completely withdrawn from the labyrinthine underground caverns. The freshest footprints on the damp, muddy ground were at least four or five days old, and those footprints had not returned after reaching a natural rock fissure underground.

The ghouls left Nanwei City through the cracks in the underground rock strata.

This surprised Milo quite a bit.

These underground tunnels were dug out by the ghouls over several months. They even used stones, wooden stakes, and other tools to build a sturdy support structure, making this intricate underground passage their home.

Now, all that remains in the cave are piles of skeletons, gleaming from being sucked clean.

It's worth noting that Milo had considered simply banishing the ghouls from the country to end the problem.

However, the ghoul chieftain was a reasonable scholar. Milo even sensed in him qualities and refinement that many high-ranking human elites lacked. The chieftain promised Milo that he would not allow any incidents of harm to occur within his territory. All Nanwei citizens who came to this cemetery to pay respects to their ancestors could enjoy the most peaceful and tranquil time of mourning, and all the ghouls needed was food.

The chieftain stated that promises are not unique to human civilization. In comparison, the ghouls understand Milo better than the ignorant Nanvi people. They are willing to abide by Milo's rules, reproduce and thrive under his control, and hope to gain Milo's friendship and even protection by making promises.

To allay Milo's doubts, the ghoul chieftain even offered up the source of his deepest fears, stating that if the ghouls ever acted out of line, Milo could use his dreams to control the entire ghoul race.

That was also the first time Milo felt the weight of a "scholar" among the ghouls, because although it had never truly come into contact with Milo, it already knew the fact that Milo possessed the ability to summon dreams.

That led to the subsequent agreement on three rules.

The scholar-patriarch used every possible means, appealing to both emotion and reason, to finally obtain Milo's permission to build a nest beneath the cemetery on the outskirts of Nanwei City.

But now, the ghoul clan is gone, leaving Nanwei City without a word.

Even the footprints on the ground suggest that they left in a very hurry.

Milo couldn't understand what had happened to make them so eager to relocate their entire colony.

He sat at the table the ghouls had built using human tombstones, and briefly fell into deep thought.

……

...

Meanwhile, in the basement of the law enforcement office in the southern district of Nanwei City.

Food critic Rick is currently facing a very scary and tricky situation.

He had just run upstairs to ask about Milo's whereabouts, but the answer he got was that no one knew where he was. So Rick had no choice but to go back to the basement and sit back down in his seat.

But at this moment, he had completely lost the composure and calmness he had shown in the first few hours.

For the first time ever, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, dripping down his hooked nose and soaking the pages of his notebook. His hand holding the pen trembled slightly, and not just his hand, but his entire body was shaking, his pupils constantly dilating and then converging.

At first, Rick followed Milo's instructions and waited quietly in the basement for the inner monologue that Marty might have at any moment.

He put on a mask, was full of energy, and reacted very quickly. Whenever he shouted out some strange words in accordance with the voice in his mind, he quickly wrote them down in his notebook without missing a single word.

At first, Marty's inner voices didn't resonate in Rick's mind very often, and their content was mostly curses and resentment, either directed at Kay or his parents. But recently, Rick hasn't heard those voices anymore, and his mouth hasn't uncontrollably uttered those incomprehensible and malicious words for almost an hour.

however.

Just when he thought Milo's magical ritual effects had worn off, he removed his mask and uttered a sentence completely different from all his previous thoughts:

"Amina eventually reconciled with her fiancé, but not everyone can escape the curse of dreams, right?"

After repeating the sentence uncontrollably, Rick stood frozen in place, covering his mouth, unable to move. He could feel goosebumps surging across his body like waves, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.

Because the tone and manner of this sentence were completely different from the previous one that belonged to Marty, which could only use some childish and ridiculous words to curse.

This statement was very calm, extremely calm, like an old man recounting the past, without even much emotion mixed in.

What truly instilled a deep-seated fear in Rick was that the sentence itself didn't sound like Marty's true feelings, but rather like it was being spoken to himself.

“Ah…Amina…”

Rick's breathing stopped for a moment.

Because he remembered very clearly that the name of the female lead in the opera "La Sonnambula" that he hadn't had time to finish watching last night was Amina.

Amina, suffering from sleepwalking, mistakenly enters a stranger's room, triggering a series of misunderstandings with her fiancé and ultimately leading to the breakdown of their relationship.

This is the plot Rick knew before Milo dragged him out of the opera house.

He wasn't sure if Amina would eventually marry her fiancé, but judging from what he just said, Amina's sleepwalking would likely be confirmed in the end, thus clearing up the misunderstanding.

And that sentence...

It seemed to have been made up for Rick's regret at not being able to see the entire opera.

Its second half—"Not everyone can escape the curse of dreams."

This gives the whole sentence a condescending and mocking tone, as if it had always known Rick was eavesdropping on Marty's thoughts, and was responding to and teasing Rick in this peculiar way...

Rick had no idea who had said those words.

But his thoughts were completely in disarray, and he was unable to calm down and think things through.

He trembled as he wrote down the entire sentence, then quickly rummaged through the cabinet for some strong liquor, uncorked it, and gulped down several mouthfuls to suppress his emotional turmoil.

"My sanity is about to drop to zero, damn it, where are the Milos? Damn it, they never told me this would happen."

"Amina? Who is she? Who said that?!"

"Why is this happening..."

He muttered curses and swore, then tilted his head back and gulped down two more mouthfuls of strong liquor.

At that moment, the crisp sound of chains rubbing together, which had appeared many times before, rang in his mind again, accompanied by some indistinct and strange noises.

Rick gripped his head tightly, tearing out a lot of his hair.

It seemed that the pain at that moment had stimulated his nerves.

He slammed his hand on the table, and his unsteady pupils returned to their normal position.

"Sleepwalker, sleepwalker...wait a minute!"

"Calm down, this could be a clue."

"Don't let your mind wander. If you keep thinking about things in a wrong direction, you'll go crazy. You have to calm down."

"Whoever said that just now, it must know the story of the sleepwalking woman."

"What does this mean..."

"That means it was at the Garnier Opera House last night!"

"Right, that is it!"

……

Rick, whose thoughts had suddenly become clear, stopped trembling.

He grabbed a pen and quickly wrote down clues in his notebook for Milo.

He then put on his hat, put on his coat, tucked his most trusted scalpel into his pocket, and left the Chengnan Law Enforcement Station with a parasol.

(End of this chapter)