North American Gunslinger Detective

Chapter 824

Jimmy wasn't actually in that bad of a mood when he left, though he was still a little unhappy.

When his rank was promoted before, he was actually prepared. You know, a 30-year-old supervisory agent is rare among the tens of thousands of FBI agents. He is not the president's son, and he is Chinese. He is destined not to reach the top, so he did not feel too unhappy at the time.

Moreover, Ruiz made sufficient preparations for himself. He split up the support team and let himself stay alone. He could be a salary thief without affecting other things. He could just take care of the pregnant Nia and the child who was born later. It was already good enough.

Now he proposed again for me to continue my studies. It seems that the several cases handled in the past year have aroused the vigilance of some people. Dave did not show any special ideas when dealing with the follow-up of the yacht explosion case before. This time the DEA's cross-departmental collaboration was probably too big, so that he was under some pressure again, and had to let Ruiz come to him.

It seems that Ruiz asked me out this time not to understand the case, but simply for the last sentence.

Jimmy returned home slowly, thinking about all this and wondering what to do next. No matter how he looked at it, there always seemed to be a group of people who were very resistant to a Chinese like him getting promoted. This situation was very difficult to deal with, he couldn't just get rid of them just because they didn't like him.

After parking the car in front of the house, Jimmy adjusted his expression, smiled, opened the door and walked in, "Wow, little Liam, Daddy is back!"

After returning home, Jimmy became a complete dad. Nia sleeps much more than Jimmy, so no matter whether it is day or night, as long as little Liam wakes up, he can basically see Jimmy first. So even if they haven't seen each other for more than a month, he will be completely familiar with Jimmy in just one or two days, and the "giggle" is the best answer.

Of course, the biggest problem of being a dad is actually... changing the baby's diaper, the smell is really painful. This is definitely inevitable, especially after he came back, even if Nia got some time off, all these trivial matters were left to him to deal with.

It's vacation time now, and Jimmy doesn't even have to go to work, so naturally he devotes most of his energy to his family, but it's not that he has nothing to do.

He had been on business trips continuously this year, and had a lot of messy things like the birth of his child, so the school had completely let him go. Fortunately, he had communicated with some people before. After all, it was job-sensitive, so he didn't need to attend classes normally like other people. He just needed to make sure he had enough exam credits and submitted the thesis normally. As for whether he wrote the thesis himself or paid for it, no one cared that much.

The reason why Jimmy could tell Ruiz that academic qualifications were not a problem was actually because everything had been arranged and he just needed to endure a certain amount of time.

That day, Jimmy was holding little Liam and sitting in the living room with Nia watching TV. Suddenly, the portal in the basement activated and a person walked out. Jimmy handed Liam to Nia, got up and went to the storage room and opened the secret door. "Roland, long time no see."

Roland greeted Jimmy with a smile. It had been several months since he last came back. With the supplies Jimmy had purchased for him, he was living a good life despite living in a declining world.

Jimmy waved his hand: "Go wash up and change your clothes first. How long will you stay this time?"

Roland walked up and said, "It won't be long. I found some people. They should be here soon."

Jimmy and Roland walked towards the bathroom and asked, "Who is it?"

Roland: "It's the mage we had with you that I told you about before..."

Jimmy quickly interrupted, "Okay, okay, go wash up first, Nia and Liam are here."

Roland nodded, took off his backpack and walked into the bathroom.

Nia knew that Roland came from another world. Roland had said enough about the dangers of that world before. Except for people like Jimmy and Roland, it would be easy for others to never come back if they went there.

Before Roland went back, Nia and Jimmy had discussed this many times. Compared to other people who might be more concerned about how much they could gain from a new world, Jimmy was more concerned about safety issues, not only his own safety, but also that of others. So even though Nia was also very interested in the Dark Tower world, Jimmy still tried his best to persuade her to give up. You know, she was still pregnant at that time, and now that Liam was born, she naturally couldn't take any risks.

However, although Nia cannot go to the Dark Tower world, it is still no problem for her to listen to Roland's stories. With Jimmy's support, Roland now has sufficient daily necessities and bullets. For a gunslinger like him, the danger of that world is much lower. In addition, now there is a two-way portal, so his area of ​​activity is temporarily limited to a place not too far from the portal ruins, which is relatively safer.

After all, they were traveling between two worlds, so for safety's sake Jimmy asked Roland to take a shower and clean himself up. This was something he had discussed with Roland before. After all, there were children here, so safety came first.

Liam was still young, and he was stunned when he saw the tall black man Roland. When Roland reached out to tease him, he turned his head and buried it in Nia's arms, not daring to look at him anymore.

Roland also smiled. Of course everyone likes children who don't cry, especially when you don't have to deal with the troubles of children's daily lives. They look cute no matter how you look at them.

The nanny had been dismissed when Nia took the children to live with Kevin. Now there are only Jimmy's family and Roland in the house. It is relatively convenient. At least there is no need to worry about too many things that can hide from others.

Roland sat on the sofa. Jimmy opened a can of beer and handed it to him. He also took a can and sat in the living room chatting and talking about what he had seen and heard in the world of the Dark Tower.

Jimmy suddenly remembered what he had encountered in Little Rock before. Maybe Roland would know what it was. He glanced at Nia, thought about it and decided not to let her leave for the time being. He just asked: "Roland, I encountered a few monsters in Little Rock this time. I need your help to see what they are."

Roland looked at Nia in surprise. He didn't expect Jimmy to say these things in front of Nia. The last time he was here, Jimmy was very resistant to him talking about these supernatural things in front of Nia.

Jimmy: "It doesn't matter. These are things that have already appeared in our world. No one knows if we will encounter them again in the future. It's good to listen to them."

Nia showed a surprised expression, which soon turned into a smile. This was a good sign. At least Jimmy was no longer opposed to telling her some things that he had not let Nia know before, although these things were still very dangerous for Nia.

Jimmy: "I went to Little Rock some time ago. James' wife Mary had an accident while hiking in the suburbs. A monster that seemed to be able to absorb souls attacked Mary and several of her friends. They showed a series of symptoms such as drowsiness, mental disorders, and amnesia in a short period of time, and then fell into a coma.

I found several monsters in the place where they were attacked. The first one was a black snake made of smoke. Then I encountered a monster made of branches and dead leaves in the forest. The last one was a big boss, a huge python composed of a core and some things like souls.

By the way, the python can also summon something like a rift, and it seems that something can move alternately on both sides, but it did not get in and escape until it was destroyed, and many soul threads disappeared in the air. "

Roland thought for a moment and shook his head: "It's not very clear, can you draw it?"

Jimmy nodded. Sketching was what he had been taught when he was receiving FBI training. Although he was not a painter, he still had some basics. He took a pen and paper from the study and quickly drew the appearance of the monster on the paper, especially the one made of branches and dead leaves, which was considered to be a physical entity after all.

Seeing the sketch, Roland frowned and thought for a moment, "I have some impression, but I'm not sure if it's the same one. That monster is called the Thorn Lurker, a small monster with dark green skin, similar to the material of dry bark. It usually hides in the woods and thorn bushes, and can achieve perfect mimicry.

They have relatively long limbs and spike-shaped claws. Their main method of attack is stabbing, and they are very fast. There are also spikes on their backs, which are mainly used for defense. Their eyes are black, and in rare cases, gold.

His physical strength is average, and ordinary weapons are enough to stab and slash him, so it is not difficult to kill him. "

Jimmy shook his head. "It's not a mimic, it's really made of branches. I pulled a lot of branches out of it, and finally killed it with a gun."

Roland: "That should be some kind of vengeful spirit. I don't have much impression of it. As for the other one, this monster made of smoke and a giant snake is very similar to the rift ghost beast and the soul-sucking beast. They are two different things.

Rift ghost beasts usually appear in swamp fog areas, usually composed of black and gray fog. Occasionally, they will show the form of vengeful spirits in the fog. Some people suspect that they are formed by many vengeful spirits gathered together to form a whole. Because they are formed by fog, they can change the revealed form, usually wolves or snakes.

The Rift Ghost Beast can absorb the souls of living beings passing by it, causing the person or creature it absorbs to speak nonsense and become confused. Creatures whose souls have been partially absorbed are at high risk of death after leaving the monster's territory.

It can use the world cracks in the swamp to attract and absorb souls from other worlds. Sometimes these souls will not be completely swallowed up, but will escape and have the opportunity to travel to other worlds and possess other life forms. You should understand what I mean."

Jimmy narrowed his eyes. If it was someone else, they might not feel much about this ability, but he came to this world inexplicably in the first place. Now it seems very likely that the original Jimmy appeared somewhere, and his soul was absorbed by the ghost beast, and he took advantage of a special situation to occupy Jimmy's body. This makes sense.

He was exorcised by a priest in Dallas. What was expelled at that time might be the original Jimmy with an incomplete soul. As for why it was incomplete, it was probably because part of the soul was absorbed by the ghost beast.

As for why Mary and the others were able to recover after killing the Rift Ghost Beast but the original Jimmy did not, it might be because of a time problem. After all, it had been nearly ten years since he came here, and such a long time was enough for the Rift Ghost Beast to completely digest Jimmy's soul that it had previously absorbed.

So, does this count as repaying kindness with enmity?

Seeing Jimmy's thoughtful look, Roland roughly knew what he was thinking. After a while, he interrupted Jimmy's thinking and continued, "There is another possibility, which is the soul-sucking beast, a rare and ancient monster.

They originally lived on the edge of the world and were accidentally born from the impact of the darkest energy in the universe.

Their appearance is constantly changing, mainly depending on the image of the person most cherished in the observer's mind. Their true form is almost impossible to capture by human eyes. Only when absorbing souls will they briefly reveal their horrible faces - a huge vortex composed of the distorted faces of countless victims, each face screaming silently.

They are able to detect the observer's deepest fears and desires, and then manifest themselves as the image of the person the observer holds most dear. This illusion is so realistic that no one can tell the difference between true and false.

The most terrifying thing is that it can absorb human souls to strengthen itself. Every time it absorbs a soul, its strength and speed will increase, and it will also recover its own damage.

The weak point lies in its core, a solid jewel that holds tightly to all the souls it has absorbed. It is located at the center of its true form, and attacking its core is the only way to damage or even destroy it."

Jimmy was just thinking about something, but now he could only frown, "Are you saying that the appearance of illusions is a characteristic of spirit-draining beasts?"

Roland nodded. "Well, this is their greatest threat to humans. People who are trapped in illusions will have violent emotional fluctuations, which will cause their souls to move more violently, and they will be more easily absorbed by it."

Jimmy gritted his teeth and said, "Is it possible that they are mixed together? This time I encountered exactly the characteristics of the two monsters you mentioned. I saw hallucinations and cracks."

Roland: "I don't know about that. If you really want to know, you can talk to the mages over there. They know more about these things. I only have a rough idea of ​​their weaknesses."

Jimmy nodded, "I'll ask if I get a chance. It's strange why there are so many different monster abilities."

Nia held Liam and looked at Jimmy. It seemed a little strange that Jimmy was paying so much attention to this monster. After all, he had already destroyed it. Could it be that it appeared somewhere else?
(End of this chapter)