The Savior of American Comics? I'm the Subspace Evil God!

Chapters 374, 664, and 665: Suspicious Corpse

"call--"

The howling wind raged through the abandoned town, whistling sharply and whipping up layers of dust and old debris that danced in the air.

Braving the howling wind, Sheriff Frank Cassel continued his arduous journey deeper into the town, each step shrouded in thick dust, his boots creaking against the ground.

He quickly arrived at the location where the cell phone signal was received.

The surroundings were deathly silent, with only the wind howling in your ears. The abandoned houses swayed precariously in the gale, as if they would collapse at any moment.

In front of an abandoned, dilapidated church, a simple cross stands out conspicuously, clearly a temporary structure erected recently.

On the cross, a naked Muhammad woman was bound.

Her hair was blown wildly by the wind, obscuring most of her face, and her body trembled slightly in the wind.

Sergeant Frank Cassel recognized her at a glance—it was none other than Agent Misty Knight, the very person he was looking for.

"Oh my God... Misty, hold on, I'll put you down right now!!"

Upon seeing this, Sheriff Frank Cassel's eyes widened in shock and worry, his pupils contracting slightly with fear, and even the muscles on his face tensed up.

What kind of madman would dare to lay a hand on a police officer?
After regaining his senses, he immediately rushed forward and struggled to untie the wires binding Misty Knight's hands and feet. The wires were deeply embedded in her skin, leaving behind bloody welts. Blood dripped slowly down her arms and legs, forming a small pool of dark red blood beneath the cross.

Sheriff Frank Cassel carefully lifted Misty Knight down and placed her on a relatively flat surface. His movements were as gentle as if he were handling a fragile treasure, as if he were afraid of causing her any further harm.

Then, he bent down and gently placed his fingers on the other person's carotid artery. He quickly felt a pulse that was so weak it was almost imperceptible. He then put his ear close to the other person's nose and successfully heard a faint breathing sound.

After confirming that the other person was still alive and that there were no other obvious external injuries besides the strangulation and abrasions on his wrists and ankles caused by the wire binding, Sheriff Frank Cassel finally felt a little relieved.

Fortunately, for him, it wasn't the worst possible outcome!

He quickly took off his police uniform jacket and gently draped it over Misty Knight's naked body to cover her exposed skin and protect her from the biting cold wind.

Then, he jogged back to his car, retrieved the first-aid kit, and rushed back to disinfect and bandage Misty Knight's wounds on her hands and feet.

His movements were skilled and swift, but after just one round, his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.

Finally, he squeezed the philtrum of the unconscious Misty Knight, trying to force her to turn on!
"Cough cough..."

A few minutes later, Misty Knight slowly opened her eyes. Her face was bloodless, as pale as paper, her brows were tightly furrowed, and her slightly unfocused eyes were filled with confusion and fear, as if she was still deeply immersed in the terrible memories of the past and had not fully recovered from that horrific experience.

"Misty, don't worry, I'll take you to the hospital right away."

Upon seeing this, Sheriff Frank Cassel quickly asked, "But before that, I want you to tell me why you are here, and what exactly happened here?"

His voice was gentle and concerned, and his face held a reassuring expression as he tried to calm Misty Knight's flustered emotions.

"The gods are coming... the gods are coming, oh..."

Misty Knight seemed to be brainwashed, muttering to herself unconsciously, but then she clutched her head in pain, holding it tightly with both hands, her body trembling slightly as if resisting something terrifying, with beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

Sheriff Frank Cassel quickly covered her with his clothes and gently comforted her, "Misty, wake up, it's alright, you're saved."

He gently patted Misty Knight's shoulder, again and again, trying to give her strength and comfort, but the worry in his eyes grew stronger.

"Sheriff Frank, get out of here... We have to get out of here right now!"

A moment later, when Misty Knight had fully regained her senses, she clutched the police uniform draped over her shoulders, her fingers turning white from the force, and said in a panic:
“Those lunatics are terrifying… no, they’re all cultists. They killed my informant… they killed Eric right in front of me and sacrificed his brain and spine to that monster!!”

Her voice was choked with sobs, filled with fear and anger, and tears welled up in her bloodshot eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment.

"What exactly happened?!"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Frank Cassel's face immediately showed a look of astonishment. He gently comforted her, "Misty, don't worry. I have already reported the situation here to the department. I believe the backup will arrive soon."

He tried to calm Misty Knight down while also struggling to process the shocking news.

"What did you mean by 'the gods are coming' just now?"

"And what is that monster?"

Seemingly relieved by the news that reinforcements would be arriving soon, Misty Knight recounted her experiences over the past two days to Inspector Frank Cassel in detail.

……

It turns out that two days ago, Agent Misty Knight, based on the clues she had, went directly to Paterson City to meet with Eric, the 'informant' who provided her with the information...

Misty Knight parked her car at the back entrance of a hospital. The building looked old, with peeling paint and crumbling walls, and an air of decay permeated the surroundings.

She glanced warily at a middle-aged man leaning against the hood of a car by the roadside, and asked somewhat uncertainly:

"You're Eric, the 'sheriff' here?"

However, as she spoke, her hand unconsciously rested on the pistol at her waist, her fingers lightly touching the grip, and her eyes revealed a hint of vigilance, ready to guard against any potential danger.

“That’s right, but to be precise, he should be called a former ‘sheriff’…”

The middle-aged man shrugged and asked calmly, "So, you should say it's Agent Misty, the one who spoke to me on the phone earlier?" "That's me," Misty Knight replied.

The two then shook hands politely. The man named Eric glanced into Misty Knight's car, and seeing no one else with her, he remarked with some disappointment:
“I remember warning you that unless you believe you are Spider Woman, you shouldn’t come here alone…”

"Heh, even if you want to find the Spider Woman, you'll at least need her phone number first, my friend!"

Misty Knight joked dismissively, but a confident smile played on her lips as she tried to ease the tension. "But don't worry, I'm just here to find out the truth behind this murder and bring the suspect to justice!"

"Alright, now you can finally tell me what happened here, right?"

"OK then."

Eric sighed helplessly, "Whether it's you or Spider Woman who comes... as long as someone comes to deal with the strange things happening here, I don't care."

He then took out a key and opened the back door of the hospital. The hinges creaked loudly, which sounded particularly jarring in the quiet environment.

As he led Misty Knight toward the morgue, he explained, "To be honest, I'm not sure if the prisoner you were investigating earlier actually died at the hands of those shoe cultists."

"Huh? Shoe cult?"

Misty Knight astutely picked up a key word from the other person's words that she had not known before.

She frowned slightly, but did not interrupt. Instead, she continued to follow behind the other person, listening carefully.

“But my friend… who works as a cleaner at this private hospital, discovered something unusual while cleaning the morgue and told me about it.”

"It's a pity I'm no longer a 'sheriff,' otherwise I wouldn't need to contact you at all; I could handle these things myself."

Misty Knight frowned slightly, disliking the other person's deliberately cryptic way of speaking, and couldn't help but press for an answer:

"What exactly happened? And what did you mean by the 'shoe cult' you mentioned earlier?"

She quickened her pace, walked up to Eric, and stared intently at him, trying to glean some clues from his expression.

However, Eric didn't answer her question directly. He paused slightly in front of the morgue, then placed one hand on the doorknob and turned to Misty Knight, asking:
"So... are you ready to know why I said if you're not Spider Woman, you'd better not come here alone?"

Misty Knight resisted the urge to punch the guy twice and nodded slightly.

Upon seeing this, the other party pushed open the door of the morgue, and a pungent stench of decay immediately hit her. Misty Knight instinctively wrinkled her nose.

Eric then expertly pulled several bodies out of the morgue and lifted the white sheets covering them.

Before Misty Knight lay a body of varying ages, genders, and body shapes, but all of them were headless.

Misty Knight's eyes widened instantly, a hint of panic flashing in them, and her expression froze for a moment.

"What does it mean?"

Although Misty Knight was somewhat alarmed, she suppressed the churning in her stomach and asked in a slightly trembling voice:
"Did all these people die recently? But what does that have to do with the case I'm currently investigating?"

She swallowed hard, trying to calm herself down, and forced her gaze back to the corpses.

Eric didn't rush to answer her question. Instead, he pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket, put them on, and then turned one of the corpses over, revealing a huge skull tattoo on its back, as well as exposed flesh and blood, with most of its spine missing.

The wound was a bloody mess, and it had begun to rot, emitting a foul stench.

"Huh...why would anyone do that?"

When Misty Knight saw what was behind the corpse, she couldn't help but gasp and tremble slightly. She quickly took out her phone, found a picture of the suspect, and compared it bit by bit with the skull tattoo on the back of the corpse.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she swiped back and forth on her phone screen, her eyes fixed on the tattoo design.

She quickly confirmed the true identity of the corpse; it was none other than the suspect she had been investigating.

No wonder the perpetrator disappeared without a trace shortly after committing the crime, as if he had vanished into thin air. It turns out he had already died in this small town.
But... what exactly is going on?
Misty Knight couldn't help but cast another questioning glance at Eric, her eyes filled with doubt and shock.

"It's not just the person you're looking for..."

Eric didn't rush to explain this time either. Instead, he turned all the other corpses over and pointed to the almost identical wounds on their backs, where most of the spine was missing, saying:

"Although I don't know who did it yet, these people almost all have one thing in common: their heads and spines disappeared together!"

Misty Knight realized the seriousness of the situation and quickly put on gloves, carefully examining the wounds of the headless corpses.

"Damn it...these people's spines weren't removed using surgical methods or anything like that."

Her gaze was focused, her brow furrowed as she carefully examined the details of each wound. Then, pointing to the jagged, bloody edges of one of the corpses, she explained with a hint of anger in her voice:
"These marks are clearly the result of being torn apart by a tremendous external force... Eric, has the police investigated the identities of these people?"

Eric nodded slightly. "These people all died unexpectedly recently. Some were homeless people wandering the streets, some were beggars who roamed around, and some were prostitutes who were out at night... In short, they were all trash who would never be remembered even if they disappeared or died."

A hint of helplessness appeared on his face, while his eyes revealed sympathy for these vulnerable groups.

"So even though I had already reported it to the police, they were still unwilling to waste their manpower and time on this useless garbage."

"That's the fundamental reason why I resigned from my position as sheriff before, because I really couldn't continue doing it against my conscience!"

(End of this chapter)