Silver Blade and Rose

Edwin didn't have a driver's license and couldn't drive. Zales accepted his fate as a driver, took the car keys from Mun without any complaints, and drove the car out of the No. 179 underground garage.

He originally thought that he would drive the same off-road vehicle as Sanchez, but unexpectedly, there was a small car parked in the garage. Wondering if Edwin could fall asleep in the backseat.Probably because no one has driven it for a long time, the car has accumulated a layer of dust. He found a rag from the trunk and cleaned it up. He also confirmed that the fuel tank and water tank were in normal condition, and then went up to start the car and drove it all the way. to the yard gate.

Edwin wore a camel long trench coat and stood in front of the door waiting for him. After the car stopped, he opened the door and got into the back seat empty-handed.

"Where are you going?" Zales asked.

After speaking, he suddenly realized that he looked like a real driver, but he couldn't take it back after he had finished speaking, so he sighed softly in annoyance.Edwin in the back seat didn't realize it. He took off his windbreaker and casually told him the destination of the trip: "Hope County."

Hope County is located in the southeast of York City. It is actually a small village, but it has a name that is easy to attract tourists, so it gradually developed a tourism industry. Every year, tens of thousands of tourists come here just for this name, and the economy has gradually developed. .Zals went there once and found it very boring. Everyone just took pictures of the street signs and posted them on social networks. They didn't care at all about what was in the village.

While setting the navigation destination, he glanced at Edwin in the rearview mirror, and asked curiously, "Did something happen to Hope County?"

As if he was too lazy to answer his question that required a lot of explanation, Edwin took out the phone from his pocket, unlocked it, pressed it a few times, and handed the phone to the front seat for him to see.

Zals was still struggling with the navigation, so he glanced at it and whispered the text displayed on the text message page: "Most of the residents have been staying behind closed doors since last month, and there is only one hotel left that is open to the public. The passenger's whereabouts are still unknown..."

It can be considered as a serious disappearance. For some reason, there is still no news report. This is the first time Zals has heard of it.Usually, if such a social case is not reported on a large scale, it is usually because the government deliberately suppressed the news, and first figured out a way to deal with it properly before publishing it, so as not to cause panic among the masses.

"No one has reported the crime," Edwin said, as if seeing what he was thinking. "It wasn't until last weekend that someone found out that his friend who lived in Hope County hadn't updated his blog for a long time, and no one answered the phone. The local police station reported the case and did not receive a response, and the York City police came to investigate and then identified the case and transferred it to us."

He spoke in a very soft voice, a few syllables even seemed to be speaking in a breathy voice. When he first heard it, there was a kind of intimacy like a whisper. Zals deliberately ignored this illusion, and when he listened again, he only remained businesslike. indifferent.

The navigation was finally set up, and began to announce the route with an ugly voice. Zars ignored it and continued: "Are the residents really just staying behind closed doors? I always feel that there is some special reason..."

"You'll know when you get there." Edwin closed his eyes, "Concentrate on driving and don't talk."

He had no choice but to shut his mouth and go on the road with his ugly navigation partner.

It takes about 45 minutes to drive from York City to Hope County. The road is almost full of farmland and woods. Although it is not barren, there is no scenery to see.Zals was a bit bored while driving, and saw that Edwin could close his eyes and fall asleep amidst the sound of the navigation, so he quietly reached out and turned on the car speakers, wanting to play some music to relieve boredom.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he pressed the switch, familiar and unfamiliar voices came out of the speaker, singing out-of-tune folk songs accompanied by a hideous guitar accompaniment, which made his hair stand on end, and immediately turned it off again up.

This song was much more lethal than the navigation. Zals carefully glanced at the rearview mirror. Edwin had opened his eyes and was looking at him unhappily.

"I just want to listen to Tingge..." The displeasure in the other party's eyes was too obvious, and he defended himself without confidence.

He always felt that Edwin was about to lose his temper, but the latter just frowned and closed his eyes, saying, "There's a CD in the drawer next to it, replace Hannah's song."

"..."

Did Hannah sing so badly?

Zals didn't know what to say, so he took the CD and stuffed it in. This time, it was no longer harsh singing, but soft piano music instead.Edwin didn't express any further opinions this time, and closed his eyes and leaned on the back seat to take a nap, so Zals turned down the navigation sound a bit, and continued to drive in the direction of Hope County.

According to Zalls, there were several cars parked at the intersection of Hope County, and tourists got out of the cars and lined up to take pictures, but when they arrived at the intersection, the entire road was empty, not to mention tourists, even ordinary residents saw it. not see.In the past, there should have been quite a few residents here carrying cameras or setting up stalls to sell photography sets, but there was no one on the main road in front of them. Zals drove along the road until he entered the residential area of ​​Hope County and saw no one. .

It was really like what was said in the message, the residents stayed behind closed doors, as if they were hiding from something.

According to the navigation results, he drove the car all the way to the hotel where the accident happened, let Edwin get off the car, and then went to find a parking place.When he parked his car in a nearby parking lot and came back, he found Edwin still standing in front of the hotel door, staring thoughtfully at one of the upstairs windows in a daze.

Although he always looks like he can't wake up, his standing posture is unexpectedly upright and casual. He is only wearing a shirt at the moment, with a windbreaker on his forearm, looking like an ordinary person who came to travel rich people.

Zals walked up to him and asked with some doubts, "Why didn't you go in first?"

It seemed that when he was alone with Edwin, he always had endless questions, but this time the other party was not impatient, and said indifferently: "If I go in first, you may be in danger."

Zales: "...?"

Edwin didn't mean to say much, he just told him not to stay too far away from him, and he took the lead to walk up the steps in front of the hotel.

This hotel doesn't look too big, but the decoration looks good, it should be a qualified place to stay.They entered the door together, and Edwin said to the attendant sitting at the front desk, "One room."

It was a middle-aged woman, who looked haggard as if she hadn't slept well for a few days, and the two bruises under her eyes were obviously painted on.She was flipping through outdated magazines boredly, but when she heard this, she raised her eyes to look at them, and asked hoarsely, "Only one?"

"Just one," Edwin said.

Zars hesitated to speak, but finally closed his mouth and quietly followed his arrangement.Finally, they received the door keys and took the elevator up to the third floor. Seeing that there was no one in the corridor, Edwin whispered, "There are strange things in the hotel."

"What?" Zars followed his example and lowered his voice.

Edwin shook his head, indicating that he hadn't figured it out yet.They opened the door and entered the room, and Zals took his mobile phone to read the case briefing that he had just forwarded from Edwin's mobile phone: "The missing residents live on this floor, and one of them is in room 311 next door .”

Edwin nodded slightly, and he asked again: "Shall I knock on the door next door?"

"No hurry." Edwin opened the curtains, and there was actually a small terrace outside. "Let's see what's going on next door."

It turned out that he was just looking at the terrace downstairs, and it seems that he planned to investigate the situation next door...Zars followed him into the terrace, but the door of the next terrace was closed tightly, even the curtain inside was closed. Well pulled, it looked like nobody was there.

Edwin frowned and looked at it for a while, then suddenly said, "Go and have a look."

Zars was stunned, nodded, turned around and walked towards the door of the room, planning to knock on the door next door to check the situation according to his previous idea.But before he took two steps, Edwin grabbed his arm: "This way."

The hand that grabbed him was the same as when he was in the car a few days ago, and his body temperature was lower than normal. Zals even rolled his sleeves to his forearm. When Edwin grabbed his forearm, his forearm suddenly felt cold. , before he could speak, he was pulled back by the other party and pulled back to the terrace.

"Go this way," said Edwin.

His strength was much stronger than Zals had imagined, and he almost lost his footing when he was pulled, and hit Edwin. Fortunately, there was a railing next to him, so he steadied himself immediately with a hand.

The terrace is actually a bit small, and it is a little bit reluctant to accommodate two men. This collision saved some space—Zars straightened up, and felt that he could smell the men's perfume on Edwin, which was very light Lengxiang, I don't know what brand it is, but it smells good.

He didn't ask why he didn't knock on the door. If there was something in the room that would be alarmed by the knock, it would not be easy to find it from the balcony, and the distance between the balcony of the two rooms was not too far. It's pretty easy to say it's over here.

After being bumped by him, Edwin didn't seem too comfortable with it. He took half a step back and gave Zals the space on the terrace.

"Use this in the future," Edwin handed him a key, "open the door, and call me if anyone is inside."

"If there's anything else?" Zales asked.

Edwin didn't seem to expect him to ask such a question, he was startled, and suddenly smiled.

"No," he said. "If you open the door and there are other things, you will probably be scared away."

That smile was fleeting like melting snow, but he was indeed smiling, and Zals didn't know why he said that, but strangely relieved, he jumped on the balcony railing and landed accurately On the terrace of the next room.

The distance was really short, and he didn't have to exert much effort. After landing on the ground, he took out the key given by Edwin to open the door.The key was small, but it fit perfectly into the lock hole on the patio door. Zals twisted it lightly, and then reached out to push it after hearing a "click", and the patio door opened silently.

He opened the curtains and took a look in. The room was very dark and he could hardly see anything clearly, but there was a figure motionless on the bed, whether he was asleep or dead.

Zals looked around and found nothing unusual, so he turned around and waved to Edwin who was waiting on the opposite terrace, and went in by himself.