After a storm, the streets become even cleaner. Today, the town of Harold was greeted by a rainfall. The rain poured down for a long time. It wasn't until dusk that the rain stopped. The town, as if all its filth had been washed away, became fresh and clean.
A pleasant smell wafted through the streets, carrying the faint scent of earth. Lisa had put on a beautiful dress today. She and Elizabeth had made plans to go see a movie.
"Call Jason, maybe he will come!" After pondering for a long time, Lisa said to Elizabeth, "Don't look at me like that. I just want... I just want someone to protect us. We all know now... there are zombies here, lots of zombies..."
"Oh, come on, Lisa, you're such a naive girl, you can't fool anyone with that," Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at her. "You must know that Mr. Jason will definitely not come. He has no interest in spending time with a young girl like you. I feel... he's probably close to my dad's age..."
"Is he that old? I guess... he is that old, just doesn't look it." Lisa was originally going to tease Elizabeth, but then thought about it. Jason was really quite old, and if you only looked at his face and ignored his age, you could easily be fooled.
"Do you know how old he is?" Elizabeth curiously asked Lisa, lowering her voice. "Do you know? When I was very young, I heard about such a person in town. God, I'm still shocked to this day. How does he maintain such a physique and face?"
"Who knows!" Lisa shrugged, spreading her hands in indifference. "Alright, now tell me, how can I invite him?"
Elizabeth looked her up and down, and then sighed and shook her head, saying, "I'm your good friend, Lisa, so I have to tell you, don't get yourself involved. He's not a man worth falling for. Legendary figures never have happy and fulfilling relationships or marriages. It's a rule."
"I know, I know! You're negative about this, right?" Lisa said in a somewhat upset tone, "Alright, let's go to the movies. Forget that man!" After all, she was still a teenage girl, and her mood was easily swayed.
Elizabeth did not encourage her because of her downtrodden mood, as she did not approve of such a thing either.
The town did not have a movie theater, and the nearest one was in Laredo City. Elizabeth drove the two girls there. To be honest, Joseph did not worry because Elizabeth was capable enough.
As the two girls headed to Laredo City, Sheriff Louise had already made her way to the capital of Texas, Austin. She had set off early in the morning. Accompanying her was Officer Patton. She had brought him along for this mission.
"I always feel like we're being watched." Officer Patton looked around nervously.
"Don't look around." Sheriff Louise told Officer Patton, "You'll give us away. Damn it, I can't believe I'm doing this kind of thing." As she spoke, she still looked around warily. One of her hands was stuck in her pants pocket, clutching the triangular talisman.
"I know, I just can't help it!" Officer Patton forced a smile.
The process was simple enough, they just needed to get close to the lab. Since they were police officers and their documents were real, even though they hadn't clearly stated what they were here for. But once they passed through the main gate, no one questioned them again. So the process of getting close to the lab went smoothly.
But when they got close to the lab, there were guards at the entrance of the lab, and there was also a door access card, which was palm print and password recognition. So they could only get as close as possible, but not too close. Ideally, they should stay within a range of one hundred meters.
"Are you sure you want to do it now? We'd better avoid the cameras, this angle is the best." Officer Patton next to her asked nervously. He had seen Sheriff Louise take her hand out of her pants pocket, clutching her fist tightly.
"Yes, yes, this is our best opportunity, in a while, it will be their closing time, our distance is only so far..."
Officer Patton didn't make a sound. He watched as Sheriff Louise's fist gradually loosened, and the triangular talisman suddenly caught fire in her hand. Scared, she quickly let go of the talisman. But after the talisman had burned to ashes, it seemed to be blown up by the wind, fluttering into the air. It became points of light, eventually disappearing. The whole process took only a few seconds.
"Just... is it over?" Sheriff Louise looked at Officer Patton next to her, who also had a bewildered expression on his face.
Officer Patton swallowed and said, "It should be... at least that thing has been burned."
"Let's get out of here quickly, get away from here!" Sheriff Louise turned around and walked towards the main gate without looking back. Officer Patton quickly followed.
As soon as they walked out of the main gate, they heard the alarm ringing in the entire building. The building's main door quickly closed automatically, and they saw the security staff and FBI agents running around inside.
"Quick, let's go!" Sheriff Louise pulled Officer Patton, who was looking back, and the two quickly walked down the steps, calmly got into their patrol car, flicked the police lights once, and sped off. On the road, they saw several cars rushing in.
The FBI reinforcements had also arrived. Indeed, a sudden turn of events had put the entire building under emergency status. The lab staff, in the process of dissecting and analyzing the giant catfish, were taken aback when something small and glittering, like fallen stars, landed on the segmented body of the catfish. The catfish was simply too massive.
Before they could react, they saw the little sparkles land on the catfish's body, and suddenly a small flame sprouted. The tiny flame quickly started to burn.
"Activate the fire extinguishing system. Where the hell did this fire source come from? I swear I will kill them." The lab director shouted out loud. He was shocked by the scene before him and, not waiting for anyone else, rushed over and pressed the button to the fire extinguishing system himself.
The automatic water sprinkling system was activated, and water sprayed from all directions onto the enormous fish body. But it seemed to have no effect; it was as if the more water that was sprayed, the more vigorous the fire became.
When water sprinkling proved ineffective, carbon dioxide dry ice was quickly used instead. But this method was clearly not much more effective. The fire continued to burn.
All the lab technicians watched helplessly as the catfish's body burned, unable to stop it. So, someone pulled the alarm to evacuate all the staff members. After all, compared to the catfish, human lives were more important. If the entire building were to be destroyed, the consequences would be even more dreadful.
After the alarm sounded, almost everyone rushed out of the lab in a panic. The lab director looked regretfully at the segmented catfish. To be honest, the catfish was so large that it had to be cut into smaller pieces to be brought into the lab. This made it easier to conduct research from multiple angles simultaneously.
"Let's go, everyone evacuate now!" He shouted loudly, continuously waving his arms. The lab alarm echoed throughout the building, and even the rooftop fire extinguishing device began to spray water.
Watching the lab personnel leaving one by one and thinking about the research contributions of the past few days, the director felt a pang of pain. But this was inevitable, it was the damn fire...
Yes, the damn fire, where did it come from? Why couldn't it be extinguished? Why did it seem to grow larger instead?
Just as he was about to leave, he took one last look at the lab. Gradually, he halted his steps, looking at the scene inside the lab in astonishment.
"Hey, Professor Atenis, have you noticed... how strange..." Suddenly, the director's assistant, just as he was about to step out of the door, also froze, staring blankly at everything inside the lab and said to the director, who was also standing still, "This is the most... inconceivable thing I've ever seen..."
"Yes, the most inconceivable roasted fish!" The man named Professor Atenis muttered. Yes, these flames were really strange. They burned very fiercely and couldn't be extinguished no matter what. But what was peculiar was that the flames weren't high and only targeted the catfish, as if they possessed some kind of intelligence. It was truly bizarre.