Gulp.
Richard Stone couldn't help but swallow.
"How... how is this possible??" he rasped. "No heart, his head was chopped off, yet he's still moving?"
"Where did his costume come from? Didn't we leave him without it?"
"I don't know!!!" Grace Stone was completely overtaken by fear, speaking in frantic bursts. "He... he was wearing that costume when he crawled out of the ground... it's the same one we buried him in last night!
He's a ghost... he really is a ghost!!
A ghost come back to claim our lives!"
"Don't talk nonsense! There's no such thing as ghosts in this world!"
The scene before them was too bizarre, Richard Stone's legs felt weak from the shock, but he still gathered the courage to pick up a dining knife from the floor and thrust it toward Evan Stone's face!
He had killed Evan Stone twice, so he could do it again!
No matter what was inside him, it didn't seem as terrifying as the disasters people spoke of. This gave Richard Stone a significant amount of courage.
The sharp dining knife sliced through the air, but just as it was about to reach Evan Stone, it suddenly stopped midair.
Richard Stone froze, desperately gripping the knife, but it refused to move, as if an invisible hand had seized the blade and pinned it in the air.
"Heehee."
A strange, light laugh came from behind Evan Stone.
In the next instant, the dining knife in Richard Stone's hand disappeared into thin air, replaced by a long red slip of paper.
Evan Stone, his vacant eyes still fixed ahead, chewed and swallowed the axe and kitchen knife from his mouth, his gaze locked on Richard Stone as he slowly approached, his voice mechanical and hoarse, repeating the same sentence:
"Dad, I'm hungry."
The simple three words made Richard Stone's scalp tingle with dread!
He had no doubt that in the next moment, Evan Stone would grab his head and force it into his mouth, crushing it... His bones wouldn't be any harder than the axe and kitchen knife!
"Run!! Go find the authorities!!"
Richard Stone turned and ran toward the front door, his heart racing.
He knew the situation was beyond their ability to handle... The only way out was to seek help from the authorities, those powerful law officers, surely they had a way to deal with the disaster!
As for how the authorities would judge their premeditated murder and organ theft, that was another matter.
At least being in jail was better than losing their lives.
Grace Stone, who had been trembling in the corner, was snapped back to her senses by his shout. She scrambled toward the tightly shut door.
Taking advantage of Evan Stone's attention being on Richard Stone, she managed to reach the door, her hand reaching for the doorknob...
But it was empty.
Grace Stone looked down in confusion, only to realize that the doorknob had vanished... No, not just the doorknob, the entire door had become a two-dimensional image on red paper.
She couldn't open a door drawn on paper.
"Heeheeheehee..."
A dense sound echoed from all directions, as if the house was now filled with countless invisible figures... They watched the two of them, their crimson eyes full of mockery.
The red paper flew around Grace Stone, and in her dazed state, she saw bizarre faces,
She screamed repeatedly, stepping backward, her eyes filled with pure terror.
Finally, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed onto the floor, unconscious...
[Audience Expectation -1]
[Current Expectation: 16%]
At the same time, Richard Stone felt a sudden emptiness under his feet, and he crashed heavily to the ground. He looked back in shock, only to see that the entire floor had turned red, rippling like waves.
He stared dumbfounded at the slowly approaching red-clad Evan Stone, and suddenly remembered something, shouting in terror:
"It's real... what the authorities said is real!"
"You're a disaster!"
"You're the disaster that took over Ev's body!"
Upon hearing these words, the red-clad Evan Stone stopped in his tracks.
The corners of his crimson lips curled upward slightly, and a pale finger pressed to his lips in a "shh" gesture.
"Shh—"
Just as the endless red paper was about to engulf Richard Stone, two loud crashes of glass shattering came from the side!
"Disaster traces found at Frost Street 128! Destructive power level 4! Requesting immediate law enforcement support!!"
Two figures in black and red uniforms crashed through the window, and one of them scanned the room before quickly speaking.
"Received, reinforcements are on the way. Please try to hold them off!" A stern voice came from one of the officer's walkie-talkies.
One of the officers chuckled bitterly. "A level 4 disaster, how could we possibly hold it off?"
Upon seeing the two law enforcement officers suddenly break in, the audience in the void let out a surprised sound, as though they had discovered a more interesting toy.
Red-clad Evan Stone flicked his wrist, and the fallen Richard Stone immediately fainted. Blood flowed from his seven orifices, gradually staining the ground beneath him...
"Get some distance! Protect your lives first!"
One officer quickly retreated, drawing a gun from his waist and firing repeatedly!
Bang, bang, bang—
The brass bullets cut through the void, but before they could even reach red-clad Evan Stone, they turned into tiny red paper pieces, vanishing in mid-air.
Red-clad Evan Stone raised his hand lightly, and countless paper pieces shot out from the wide sleeves of his costume, coiling around the two law enforcement officers like serpents.
The paper that wrapped around the two officers twisted, like a twisted rope, and then crashed heavily onto the floor.
[Audience Expectation -1]
[Current Expectation: 15%]
The red-clad Evan Stone's figure began to swell. His costume was forcibly stretched open, as though countless human faces were about to break through the skin underneath. Confused whispers filled the space.
In just a few seconds, he transformed into a monster covered in red paper tendrils, a pair of crimson pupils opening from the paper, no trace of Evan Stone's appearance remaining.
He suddenly crashed through the paper door and charged into the empty street. The misty rain fell on his body, making no sound at all.
He casually chose a direction and dashed off as a crimson blur!
Almost simultaneously, a figure in black rushed through the dark clouds, quickly following behind.
"Target disaster found." Victor Hale spoke calmly.
"...Is it 'Apocalyptic' level?" A worried voice came from the walkie-talkie.
"From the aura, it's at most level 5. Looks like a disaster did indeed descend last night, but the pointer misjudged its energy level."
"Level 5 is still dangerous! Vick, be careful!"
Victor Hale didn't respond, instead focusing on the crimson blur ahead, reaching the outskirts of District 3's wilderness. Then, with a powerful force, he crashed down like a cannonball!
Boom—!!
The black meteorite struck the wilderness, sending invisible shockwaves!
The shattered sand and dust splashed in all directions, and the red blur was forced to stop. The dense red paper tendrils swayed in the wind, and all the eyes simultaneously turned toward the dust-filled land.
A figure lowered their head, lit a thick cigarette, and walked out slowly, the four silver lines on the hem of their black coat faintly glowing.
The wind-like domain expanded invisibly, enveloping the red paper monster.
"I am Victor Hale, Chief of Law Enforcement in Aurora City, District 3."
With one hand holding the cigarette, he drew a pitch-black handgun with the other, flicking off the safety. The sand beneath his feet trembled slightly, and an invisible killing intent suddenly locked onto the red paper monster!
He parted his lips, and his words seemed to carry the rhythm of some law:
"I uphold the justice of human civilization..."
"Judging your death."