Welcome to Forge Town

Years ago, Brandon had settled in a distant capital.

It was a land swallowed by shadows for a long time, and the streets were always filled with lingering thick fog, as if tens of thousands of ancient vengeful spirits had been entrenched for thousands of years.Due to frequent rains, every brick joint of all the gray buildings is covered with damp stains, and it seems that people's thoughts of survival can become moldy after staying for a long time.

So during his years there, Brandon heard about the suicides, often just a few blocks from where he lived, all the time.Even occasionally someone he knew well.

Because of this, Brandon cursed this dead place entangled in thorns all the time during those indecipherable young years.When he opened his eyes every morning, he was not sure whether the day would be another tragic start, and he couldn't find hope in the shadows all over the city.Over time, he also hated the mother who tied him here.Or to put it further, he thought that he was not born as expected, so why should he be born to suffer.

Aware of this, Brandon began to exile himself. From the fifth grade of elementary school to the middle school, he almost lingered on the streets. Drug addiction, went to rehab and faith centers countless times.This kind of life of walking dead, Brandon thought it would be endless.Until that year, he faced a major turning point in his life-the death of his mother.

She has always been an incompetent mother.Even today, Brandon still thinks so.He was never sure who she was, and the different men always called her by different names.Sometimes she is the charming Michelle, sometimes the narcissistic Lily, sometimes the self-important Catherine, or more.To her, Brandon thought, those names might be no different than throwaway luxury clothing.

So it wasn't until standing in front of her deserted funeral that Brandon knew her real name: Faith White.A word that symbolizes hope.So unpretentious and unfamiliar to him.It was so jerky that even just a few letters, Brandon had to look at it for a long time before he could really imprint it on his mind—even though his mother never gave him the opportunity to call out close to him from the beginning to the end.The last impression he had was the indifferent glance that night, and then a few days later, her stinking body tied to the hanging beam.

The year the only blood relative died, Brandon was only 14 years old.

When he was a teenager in the perfect spring, the white skirt floating in the air covered his world with an impenetrable layer of gray.

Meeting Mr. Phelps was probably the luckiest thing in Brandon's life.

Frege Phelps, also Jill's father.He was Brandon's math teacher in middle school. From the first moment he saw Brandon, he firmly believed that Brandon had extraordinary talents (although he never elaborated on what aspect it was), and he always gave Brandon Great encouragement and inspiration.

During the difficult period when Brandon lost his father, it was also he and his wife who spared no effort to help Brandon, so that Brandon had the courage to endure it.So in the days that followed, Brandon, who had just woken up from his dream, took the initiative to cut off the contacts of those friends in the past, worked hard to work and study, and later applied for the police academy when he chose to fill out his volunteers.

Brandon was very excited when he learned that he was on the list.Because he knows very well that perhaps only his own hard work is his only reward for responding to Frege.So before that, together with the period of preparing for the exam, he deliberately did not meet with the Phelps family, hoping to use his determination to break the boat in exchange for a huge surprise.

But that day, when he took the admission notice and walked quickly to Phelps' house, he found that the house where he would occasionally drop by was already empty.However, after three months, every window of the copper-colored building no longer lights up any lights. The temperature is as cold as other buildings in the capital, and every wet brick joint seems to have cried.

Surprisingly, Brandon didn't feel too depressed—of course, there is always some loss, but he doesn't lose hope easily. "What doesn't kill us will make us stronger. (#Note)" Whenever he encounters setbacks, he always thinks of Mr. Phelps' firm tone on the night when he lost his blood relative and it rained heavily.As a result, every time he thinks about it, he feels full of energy.Thereafter nothing frightened him, nor broke his heart.

Meeting Jill again was a very fortuitous coincidence.It stems from a not-so-good cause.

That was already after he entered the City Police Department, and it was another major low point in his life.In those years when he entered the city police department, he followed the dispatch of the department to lurking in various places to carry out secret police work, but unexpectedly shot a high school student by mistake in that mission, and was shot himself.

Although the other party was not life-threatening, it was undoubtedly a huge and fatal mistake for an excellent police officer of a special department.So he underwent a mental assessment, which showed that he was not suitable for taking up the post for a short time, and then weighed his physical condition, and after the punishment was issued, Brandon was retained and sent down, waiting for a later review.As for the place of devolution, it was the little-known Fogg Town Regional Police Station.

At first, Brandon couldn't understand the country's response to him. After all, he was injured due to work. This kind of action was like throwing away a damaged screw, which fundamentally negated the value of his countless lives and deaths in the past.Naturally, the resulting blow was not generally large.So during his time as a police officer in Fogg Township, he began to drink heavily, smoked drugs, consumed his capital, fell ill and immersed himself in a drunken world, and refused to go to work for several months.

For a while, Brandon seemed to return to the confused days of adolescence. Even his only colleague who got along well, Peter Ron, a junior in the police academy, brought dinner and told him that he was temporarily suspended for punishment, he just didn't care. Smiling, he continued pouring brandy into his mouth—anyway, things couldn't be worse for him.There's nothing worse than knowing that Jill Phelps lives here, but being exiled by the City Police Department and having no face to recognize her.

Note Alan Walton, is in a death case.

It was rare for him to sleep that night, so he got up early and walked around the town, trying to take the opportunity to get rid of the fluttering white skirt in his dream, and stop by the supermarket to get some wine later in the evening, which would kill two birds with one stone.But before he knew it, he actually walked in front of Fogg Middle School Road, and several police cars stopped at the door, which once again brought back his bad memories of being exiled.But before turning around, he saw that Peter happened to be among them. Peter told him that there was a suicide case of a female student, and the cause was a bit weird. Maybe Brandon could follow them and give some professional advice along the way.

In fact, up to now, Brandon has long forgotten the name of the dead student, but he still remembers the appearance of seeing Allen for the first time.It was an unfamiliar face, that was Brandon's first thought.He has been in this town for more than a year, and he has looked through the population register of the town with his memory, but he has never seen this person.

He looked a little pale, not particularly young, but those green eyes were very clear, as if they were always shining with dreams and longings for the future.But Brandon always felt a little strange, such bright eyes, it seemed that they should not appear in this remote town with lost prospects, where it seemed too false and unrealistic.So he subconsciously noted the eyes.And, the owner of these eyes.

I saw Alan again at Mr. Bull's White Cedar Bar.Brandon used to get his wine from here, and Bull always had something good from the private cellar.Who knew that in this ordinary night, he actually let him meet Alan, the owner of those eyes that made him remember deeply at that time.Even here, witnessing his ferocious appearance of beating people while drunk.

This is undoubtedly a fresh experience, watching the process of a gentle cat transforming into a ferocious wild leopard, which aroused Brandon's curiosity.So he paid the bill and followed Alan, wanting to see if he could get home smoothly after he was staggering all the way.Who knew that good and bad things would happen to him that night, and it happened that he ran into a robbery with a knife!

Even though he lost hope for the country early, the years of police academy training have penetrated into his bone marrow, which may give him the determination to smash the murderer's face.So when he saw this, Brandon subconsciously raised his speed and rushed forward, ready to punch the damn guy.However, alcohol and marijuana still played a certain role, causing his reaction to be much worse than before, and he accidentally made people run away.He had no choice but to curse and catch the body lying in his arms first.The temperature of the human body that I haven't touched for a long time is very warm, and there is a long-lost peace of mind in my arms.But then under the moonlight, he found shocking blood stains on Alan's forehead, so he had a sudden brain fever, and took Alan back to the seldom-inhabited house to take care of him.

In the next few days, Brandon, who was startled to see that his combat ability had been greatly reduced, felt an unprecedented sense of crisis, so he began to quit drugs, and at the same time gradually suppressed his need for alcohol.Peter, on the other side, was also very relieved to see that the senior whom he regarded as an idol finally picked up his spirits, as if Brandon's reinstatement was just around the corner.

But the ambitious Brandon doesn't just want to resume his job-if he is allowed to stay in this small town with no future for the rest of his life, he will simply have no love in his life.This small town couldn't accommodate his huge ambitions.What he wanted was his place in the Metropolitan Police Department.He used to be an important police officer of the Special Criminal Department, and he could only be a police officer of the Special Criminal Department.All he needs now is a chance to make a contribution.An opportunity to crack big cases and prove one's ability.

So, he finally discovered that this small town still has some value, about a suspicious serial murder case.He wasn't like the neglectful district cops who saw early on some obscure connections between seemingly unrelated suicides.Then he noticed something odd about the new teacher at Fogg's only local school, Alan Walton.

Because of the expansion of the network, all recent deaths have occurred around Allen-at least before this guy settled in, the town wasn't so bad.Think of the pair of eyes in memory again, it is so unreasonably clear, it strengthens Brandon's determination to find out everything.At least he was sure that the murderous gesture must have something to do with him.So he used his personal affair to let Peter use the police network to search for information about Alan. At the same time, he approached Alan and entered his house, trying to find a trace of his life.

But during the period of being close to Allen, Brandon doubted his original judgment.This suspicious new teacher not only behaves like ordinary people, but his temper and living habits are not even good.He lives a regular life, has a sense of responsibility, and takes care of Brandon, an unexpected guest, in every possible way.Such a caring person reminded Brandon of an old friend, Mr. Phelps—after Brandon pulled himself together, the first thing he did was to ask Peter about Frege's whereabouts, and then he also learned that Frege He was deeply saddened by the news that Greg died in that car accident.

And Allen in front of him is the same as Frege, they are both so caring and patient.Even if he was very tired from being tossed about, he could at most express his helplessness with a wry smile.This made Brandon feel extremely cordial, and the originally frozen fortress gradually melted.Occasionally lying on the sofa, looking at Alan's busy figure in the kitchen, he couldn't help thinking: Maybe it's not a bad thing to be a small police officer in the regional police station and live an ordinary life.

Until, they faced the death of Simon Pearson.

And the cause of his death and all the surrounding evidence point to Alan Walton—his roommate, his friend.His beautiful soul that made him depend on and admire him.

#Note: WhatDoesn'tKillMeMakesMeStronger. -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

The author has something to say:

This chapter briefly explains Brandon's background.Narrate his mental journey, and also give a side explanation for the whole main axis!The next chapter will write about the progress of the relationship between the two.Another small advertisement: If you are even a little interested in this article, please don't forget to bookmark or leave a message to support!It's better to press favorite author when you have time~~ A certain flower is here waiting for everyone to raise it in captivity! ＼(^o^)／