More than a dozen hours later.
A knocking sound woke Jeremy, who had been sleeping sprawled on the ground.
"Annabelle, why aren't you opening the door today? Annabelle, are you there?"
Jeremy struggled to his feet.
His clothes were torn to shreds, but the scars had vanished. The shop's furnishings were in disarray, with bloodstains everywhere, yet Miss Annabelle's body was nowhere to be found.
Did he eat her last night?
He quickly tidied up, using fabric from the shop to clean the bloodstains, changed into a new set of clothes, and then moved the heavy object blocking the door. Unlocking the shop's door, he opened it.
"Well, if it isn't Jeremy?"
It was a neighborly old lady knocking, her eyesight not as good, squinting at Jeremy for a while. "Didn't you move out of here, lad? Where's Annabelle?"
"My apartment building caught fire, so I moved back here for a couple of days,"
Jeremy casually lied, yawning as he spoke to the old lady.
"Annabelle is still sleeping in my...in her room. Do you need something?"
"Oh!" The old lady seemed to understand, smiling as she lifted a basket of clothes from the ground and handed it to Jeremy.
"My son has come back from the war. Here are his clothes. Could you please mend them for him?"
Jeremy took the basket, smiling back at the old lady,
"Of course. once Annabelle wakes up, I'll have her mend them for you."
The old lady then picked up another small basket filled with dried cheese, smoked bacon, and other food items.
"Thank you, dear. These are all things Annabelle loved to eat."
"No need. Really, no need."
"Don't be shy with me. Oh, and you better take good care of Annabelle!"
After sending the old lady off, Jeremy locked the shop door behind him, placed the basket with clothes aside, and carried the food basket upstairs.
The scene was a mess there as well.
The sight in front of him confirmed that last night wasn't a nightmare. It was all real.
Jeremy found a meat cleaver and a frying pan, sliced the smoked bacon, chopped the dried cheese, added some charcoal to the stove, and then lit it with flint and tinder.
He fried the bacon first, then took the pan off the heat to melt the cheese with its residual warmth. There was some bread left in the kitchen and half a bottle of wine. He gulped down the remaining wine.
Then he started eating the bacon and cheese with the bread, taking big bites.
As he ate, memories of Miss Annabelle's voice and smile came flooding back.
Jeremy ran into the bedroom, vomiting into the chamber pot, but all that came out was the food he had just ingested.
It seems he was still human, not yet a monster who could eat people without blinking an eye.
"Cough, cough!"
Something seemed stuck in his throat. After coughing a few times, he spat it out.
It was a silver earring he had bought for Annabelle with his first earnings from stock trading.
At that time, he didn't have much money.So the salesperson recommended this "single earring," which was actually one of a pair that had lost its mate, hence sold cheaper.
Jeremy looked at the silver earring, falling into silence.
After a long while, he walked out of the bedroom, sat back at the dining table, and continued to eat voraciously.
...
Although it was highly likely that the factory owner had someone watching his rented apartment, Jeremy had to make a trip back.
The few bespoke suits hanging in the wardrobe, dozens of books piled on the table, several precious items given by classmates, and a small bag of gold coins hidden under the bed - he didn't want to lose any of those.
Besides, he had a handgun with five bullets left, decent fighting skills, and seemingly awakened a powerful mystical force.
The tailor shop wasn't far from Jeremy's apartment; a ten or so minutes walk would get him there.
After carefully surveying the area, he quickly walked towards the apartment building.
The building had four floors, with four rooms on each. Jeremy rented a room on the third floor. The second and third rooms on the ground floor, facing the street, had been converted into a cafe.
The cafe owner, who was reading a newspaper, looked up and saw Jeremy in new clothes, teasing him,
"Mr. Stock Market, in whose lady's boudoir did you wake up? Or was it in some madam's bedroom?"
Jeremy smiled at the cafe owner. Seeing his expression, it seemed no one had broken into his room last night,
"A black coffee and a large glass of water, please."
The cafe owner feigned a heartbroken look,
"It seems that lady or madam's cooking was so good that you've forgotten your favorite sausage." A silver libra equaled a hundred copper sols, and a black coffee with a sausage covered in yellow mustard only cost 78 copper sols.
However, Jeremy had left his wallet in the factory dormitory. "Uh, I didn't bring my wallet. Can I put it on my tab?"
"This coffee is on me."
Every time Jeremy had breakfast at the cafe, he paid with one silver libra, and leaving the change as a tip. So, the cafe owner said with a smile,
"I hope you didn't spend the night at a brothel with some courtesan. Otherwise, you'd need a new wallet."
"Thanks."
Jeremy first took a few sips of water, then mixed it with the black coffee. He used to drink it like this when he woke up late and was in a hurry to avoid burning his mouth.
Just then, two policemen emerged from the flower shop across the street.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Jeremy R. McQueen?"
The leading officer with a goatee asked Jeremy in a stern voice,
"A bachelor of economics and law from Whitmore University, a consultant for the Zinore Steel Factory?"
Jeremy nodded at the goatee officer, striving to maintain his composure,
"Yes."
A police carriage drove up and stopped outside the cafe. The goatee officer explained to Jeremy, "Your boss, Sade Tomasz Wasilewski, has disappeared. We need your assistance with the investigation."
Hearing this, Jeremy was stunned.
What?
The man who wanted to vaporize him had disappeared?
Jeremy remembered shooting Sade last night but didn't know if he hit anything vital.
Could he be injured or... dead? How could he have disappeared?
"Get in the carriage, please!"
The other officer, with short hair, grew impatient seeing Jeremy hesitate,
"We're just asking for your assistance with the investigation. You'll be released afterward."
Seeing no other choice, Jeremy got into the police carriage.
...
About fifteen minutes later, the police carriage stopped.
The short-haired officer got out first, followed by Jeremy, then the goatee officer.
The building in front of them looked more like a small church than a police station.
There were no pedestrians on the street, and the surrounding buildings had their doors and windows tightly shut.
"What is this place?"
Jeremy asked the two officers, puzzled.
"Of course it's the police station."
The short-haired officer impatiently pushed open the door, commanding Jeremy, "Hurry up and get inside!"
"Don't worry, we're just asking you to make a statement."
The goatee officer, standing behind him, showed a gentle smile, but his hand rested on the hilt of his short sword.
The short-haired officer also revealed his long short sword and revolver, firmly staring at him. Jeremy had no choice but to enter the so-called police station
Indeed, the interior of the "police station" was very much like a small church, and the furnishings were unlike those of a police station.
Two officers sitting on a bench stood up and approached him, hands on the hilts of their swords. One was a one-eyed man with an eyepatch, and the other had several deep scars on his face.
"Keep walking forward, down that staircase,"
The goatee officer suddenly said, pulling Jeremy's handgun from his waist and ordering him.
Descending the staircase led to a sizable dungeon.
The goatee officer and the short-haired officer dropped their disguises, drawing their guns and swords, forcing Jeremy to keep moving.
"Ah, the Goddess of Night, you are the mother of darkness, the embodiment of disaster, the moon above the stars, the queen of fear and pain!"
A woman dressed in tight black leather knelt at the end of the corridor, praying to a statue of a goddess.
Hearing Jeremy approach, she stood up and turned around. The woman's eyes were gouged out, and a vertical cut was made in the middle of her forehead, with a black gem embedded in it,
"Jeremy R. McQueen..."
"I will offer you to her. In her embrace, you will find eternal peace!"