American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 232 Deadly Videotape

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

In an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles, California, several women and a little girl are singing "Happy Birthday" to a woman with chocolate skin, creating a joyful atmosphere.

Today is April 28th, Saltana's 29th birthday, so Keller, Molly, Amy, Dalia, and Dalia's daughter Ceci gathered together to celebrate with her.

However, there was still some disappointment in Saltana's eyes, because the most important person in her heart had not appeared.

Halfway through the birthday song, everyone suddenly went silent, which puzzled Saltana greatly.

Then, a familiar voice reached her ears, and Saltana's face lit up with immense joy.

"Happy birthday to you!"

That's right, it was Roy who sang the last two lines of the song.

Saltana covered her mouth, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Did you two plan this together?"

Keller nodded.

"Aren't you feeling pleasantly surprised right now?"

Saltana was indeed pleasantly surprised and felt especially happy.

"thank you all!"

That night, Roy, Saltana, Amy, and Dalia had a nice get-together.

The three women hadn't seen Roy for over a month, and it felt like a long-awaited rain after a drought.

The older sister's stamina was truly remarkable; she kept Roy inside Saltana's apartment for two whole days.
So much so that when Roy left Saltana's apartment, he was holding his back, and it felt like the sun had turned green.

Of course, Roy's 48 hours of effort also earned him another Conquest Chest.

[Ding! Received Sartana Rivera's Conquest Chest! Open it?]

It was worth all of Freoy's hard work.

After celebrating Saltana's birthday, Roy was about to drive his Bumblebee back to Falls when he suddenly received a call from Gerald.

"Mr. Blake, you should be in Los Angeles right now, right?"

Roy raised an eyebrow, feeling something was off.

"How did you know?"

“When I saw that Rivera had taken three days off in a row, I guessed it must be you who came.”

Reasonable and convincing!
"Mr. Orin, you must have called me for something, right?"

"Indeed, there are some things I'd like to discuss with you. I wonder if Mr. Blake would be interested in coming to the Dolphin Hotel to talk about them?"

Gerald had helped Roy a lot before, so he couldn't very well refuse him.

"Okay, I'll be there in a bit."

The Dolphin Hotel, Gerald's office.

"Mr. Blake, welcome! Please have a seat!"

Roy yawned and sat down; he simply didn't have the energy to be polite with Gerald.

"Mr. Olin, what exactly is going on?"

"Mr. Black, do you still remember that ghost mirror?"

After the Ghost Mirror incident, the mysterious mirror was contained by the FEA and is currently under Gerald's control.

What happened to that mirror?

“Recently, the Ghost Mirror has been exhibiting some unusual energy fluctuations, which makes me very uneasy, so I wanted you to take a look at it.”

Unusual energy fluctuations? Could it be that creatures from the mirror world have discovered this world?

That would be quite troublesome!
“Mr. Orin, my suggestion is that it is best to destroy that mirror, otherwise I can’t say what might happen.”

Upon hearing this, Gerald gave a wry smile.

“I also really want to destroy that mirror, but a deputy has been parachuted in to monitor me, so I can’t just do whatever I want.”

The newly appointed deputy is Paxton Felty, whom Saltana mentioned earlier.

Talk about Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here!
No sooner had Gerald finished speaking than someone knocked on the office door, and Paxton Fairtay entered.

"Director, 089 has shown abnormal energy readings again. We'd better go and take a look."

Roy sized up Paxton Fairtay, a man around 30 years old with an ordinary, unremarkable appearance, which suited the image of a secret agent.

Judging from this guy's tone, he didn't have much respect for Gerald; it was as if he were talking to an ordinary colleague.

"I know, I'll be right there!"

Paxton Fairtay nodded and left.

"Mr. Blake, you saw that, didn't you?"

"Who is this guy?"

Gerald sighed.

"I don't know either. I asked someone to inquire at headquarters, but there was no information. This guy just appeared out of nowhere, without any prior knowledge."

Roy raised an eyebrow. This situation meant either Paxton Fairtay was indeed someone of great importance, or he truly had no past.

So what kind of existence would have absolutely no past?
Gerald stood up.

“Mr. Black, let’s go take a look at the problem with the ghost mirror. Maybe you can find something out.”

Gerald led Roy to the secret outskirts where the Ghost Mirror was housed, and Paxton Fairtie frowned when he saw Roy.

"Director, who is this?"

"Roy Black, he's also an agent in the department."

Paxton Fairtay looked thoughtful.

"I think I've heard that name before. Were you involved in the Boston Witchcraft?"

This guy's got pretty good connections; he even knows about this.

It's worth noting that Roy had tried his best to keep a low profile during the Boston witch trials, but Paxton Fairtay still knew about him.

This shows that Paxton Fairtay has very strong connections at FEA headquarters, which explains why Gerald felt troubled.

If Roy were the director, he would feel uneasy having such a powerful, parachuted-in deputy.

"Yes!"

Paxton smiled and then extended his hand to Roy.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Roy Black. I am Deputy Director Paxton Fairtay.”

"Hello, Mr. Paxton Fairtay."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the three of them went to the observation room.

Through the transparent glass, Roy saw the ghost mirror. The mirror's surface shimmered with an eerie light; even with the naked eye, it was clear that something was wrong with it.

"Mr. Orin, how did the mirror become like this? What did you do to it?"

Gerald shook his head.

"No! After we took possession of this mirror, we only conducted some simple research, just in case something went wrong."

Gerald was clearly terrified by the previous Cosmic Demon incident, so he preferred to be conservative and didn't want any more accidents to happen.

Why did the mirror turn like that?

“About a week ago, this mirror started showing this eerie glow, and it’s been appearing more and more frequently, which is very worrying. Since you’re in Los Angeles, I thought I’d let you take a look.”

"Didn't you let Elise see this mirror?"

Elise, also known as Uriel, officially began her collaboration with FEA after the Devil's Late Night Show incident.

Gerald gave an awkward laugh. He really didn't dare let Elise see this thing. If she saw it and thought that the mirror should not exist in the world, and destroyed it directly, Gerald would have no way to explain it to the FEA headquarters.

"Okay, I think I understand your difficulties."

Roy rested his chin on his hand, observing the eerie light on the surface of the ghost mirror. He discovered that the frequency of this light flickering was fixed, with an error margin down to the millisecond. This was like some kind of signal.

This made some connections in Roy's mind.

Could this eerie light actually be some kind of signal?

Seeing Roy's expression, Gerald asked anxiously.

"Mr. Black, is something on your mind?"

"Well, I just have some immature ideas! I once entered another world through this mirror. That world was the same location as our world, except that it was reversed left and right. So the question is, in our world, this mirror is located in the FEA's containment base, but in the mirror world, where is the mirror?"

Gerald's eyes widened.

"You mean, in the mirror world, this mirror is also in a place similar to our base? So this eerie light could very well be something in the mirror world testing this mirror?"

This conjecture was so outrageous that Gerald and Paxton were both struggling to accept it for a while.

However, the two also had to admit that this possibility existed.

If intelligent beings truly exist in the mirror world, how could they not test it out when they suddenly see a mirror appear in their base?

Is there a way to verify this hypothesis?

Paxton frowned at Roy.

“I know very little about that world, and I don’t know what intelligent beings there are. But if we just want to verify this hypothesis, I do have an idea. Have you considered moving this mirror again, placing it in a house where people live, and then monitoring it?”

Gerald and Paxton's eyes lit up; although this method was somewhat troublesome, it was indeed a very suitable one.

Instead of passively observing the ghost mirror, why not try Roy's method?

“Fairtie, go find a relatively secluded community, have the residents leave temporarily, and then arrange for FEAR to be stationed there. Let’s try Mr. Blake’s method.”

"Yes, Director."

Paxton went off to assign tasks, and Gerald put his arm around Roy's shoulder.

"Mr. Blake, I watched your performance at the World Qualifiers in New York; it was absolutely brilliant!"

Roy was speechless at Gerald's somewhat obsequious smile.

"Mr. Orin, just say what you have to say!"

“Mr. Black, I hope you can stay in Los Angeles for a few days until the results of the Ghost Mirror test are available before you go back.”

Roy shrugged.

"Sure, but...you know what I mean!"

Gerald understood Roy's meaning perfectly well; he just wanted money!

"Mr. Black, the payment will definitely satisfy you. No matter what happens in the end, I will provide a sum of money. You can completely trust me on that!"

Roy nodded. He had worked with Gerald so many times that he trusted him to some extent.

"Alright then, I'll go to the Dolphin Hotel to catch up on some sleep now, and wake me up when you're ready."

"no problem!"

After battling three thirsty older women for two days and two nights, Roy was truly exhausted. All he wanted now was a good night's sleep.
Roy slept soundly for a long time, and in his sleep he dreamed that he had fallen into a tropical swamp.

His body was surrounded by a sticky swamp, and no matter how much Roy struggled, he couldn't climb out. Instead, he sank deeper and deeper into the mud.

Meanwhile, a terrifying crocodile seems to be lurking at the bottom of the swamp, its mouth emitting frightening sounds.

This dream was absolutely terrifying!

"Uh, Sister Saltana?"

Saltana gave Roy a vague answer.

Goodnight, Roy! Did I wake you up?

"No, I just had a nightmare."

After a nap, Roy had almost fully recovered, so he closed his eyes.

"Sister Saltana, what are you doing here?"

"Hmm! The director is almost ready, so he sent me to wake you up."

Roy:? ? ?
"Then let's hurry up, don't keep Mr. Olin waiting."

Upon hearing this, Saltana immediately began shifting gears, quickly moving from first to second, then to third, then to fourth, and finally to fifth.

This speed was terrifying, even causing Saltana some pain, but she did it willingly, and she was willing to do anything for Roy.

Roy certainly wouldn't let Saltana's hard work go to waste.

Saltana wasted not a single bit.

"Let's go, I'll eat something first, and then I'll go find your director."

Roy felt refreshed and went to the Dolphin Hotel's restaurant to order some food. After a whirlwind meal, he headed to the venue set up by FEA.

Surprisingly, Paxton chose to conduct the experiment in the San Fernando Valley, which was quite imaginative.

It's no surprise that some unsavory noises are heard in this community, which is why Roy chose the San Fernando Valley as the venue for his bloodline fusion ritual.

It was 11 p.m. in a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. The houses here were all professional film sets, and no one usually lived here, so evacuation was relatively easy.

This may be one of the reasons why Paxton set up his experimental site in the San Fernando Valley.

The people of America have always distrusted government agencies; if you were to expropriate their houses, they might not give them up.

This isn't a problem if it's a film set; you can just rent it for a little money.

FEAR has completely sealed off the entire community, preventing even a fly from getting in. All FEA agents have suspended their leave and are on standby to prevent any accidents from happening.

Roy was taken to the FEA command vehicle by Saltana under these circumstances.

"Mr. Blake, you've finally arrived!"

movie poster
(End of this chapter)