Silver Blade and Rose

After entering, Zals realized that the room was darker than he had imagined, and the figure on the bed was still covered in the quilt motionless, a black mass, and did not move until he walked to the bed.

He was afraid that something was still hidden in the room, so while looking around, he reached out and pushed the figure lying on the bed.At first, he thought that there would be no reaction at most, but he didn't expect that when his fingertips touched a little moisture, the person wrapped in the quilt was gently pushed by him, and it actually melted like this.

It didn't really melt, but like a tree eaten by moths, there was only a human-shaped body left, which fell apart with a light touch by him, revealing the flesh and blood that had rotted into mud inside.

Zals frowned, no wonder he felt a strange smell in the room just now, the wet touch turned out to be blood smeared on the quilt, and it felt like this when it was half dry.After the corpse rotted, blood had already flowed all over the bed, even the ground had dried blood stains, only the quilt was still wet, and one could imagine what was going on inside just by looking at it.

Even with the curtains drawn, the room was still dark for no apparent reason. Zars casually pressed the button on the bedside to turn on the light, and the sticky darkness that seemed impossible to disperse was finally illuminated.There seemed to be nothing else in the room, and the person seemed to have been dead for several days, but lying on the bed covered with a quilt, it rotted so quickly, it must be the result of external force catalysis.

Zars didn't think the corpse was disgusting, and he hadn't seen anything more disgusting than this.He calmly calculated several possible causes of death based on the state of the corpse, then wiped his hands on the bed sheet, and turned to open the door for Edwin.

Edwin turned and went out after seeing him beckoning. He had already waited outside the door for a while. He didn't express any opinion on Zals' arrival so late. He frowned as soon as he entered the door. It must be the rotten smell that made him feel uncomfortable. Comfortable.He passed Zals and walked quickly to the bed, leaned over to inspect the corpse lying on the bed, then raised his head to look around the room, and said after a while: "...It's a bit troublesome."

"Huh?" Zars answered a question mark inexplicably.

"That thing has been here for a few days, but it's gone," Edwin said, looking at the rotten corpse without touching it. "We have to get it out."

"Where to catch?"

Edwin didn't answer, just glanced out the window, the meaning was obvious.

The whole of Hope County could be its hiding place, and there were plenty of places to find them.

They left the room full of bloody smell and dead bodies, and returned to the clean and tidy room next door. Zars went to wash his hands for a while, but he still felt a faint smell of fish.Seeing that he hadn't come out for a long time, Edwin stood at the door of the bathroom and said, "Don't wash it, the smell won't disappear for a while."

"……why?"

Now that he has to search everywhere, the questions that Zals has accumulated for a long time can finally be asked one by one in line.

"It's not the smell of the corpse that can't be washed clean, but the smell of that thing." Edwin explained to him patiently this time, "It is called a nightmare messenger by human beings, but we usually call it a nightmare Insects, people who are entangled will have nightmares until they die in repeated nightmares and cannot wake up—the residents here stay behind closed doors, mostly to avoid it.”

"But the doors and windows of that room were closed just now." Zars said puzzled.

"It's only this big, and it's black," Edwin made a circle with his fingers, and the diameter was less than one knuckle. "It doesn't need doors and windows, and it can come in from the sewer."

Even ordinary spiders are bigger than it, and it is too easy to get into the house.What's more, even if ordinary people close the doors and windows, they will not think of small places such as sewers and air-conditioning ducts, and there are many opportunities for them to exploit loopholes.

Zals thought for a while, and felt that he was not sharp enough to spot the little bugs flying by the side of the road, and he would definitely not be able to find them by himself, "Then... how do we find them?"

He thought about it, even if he searched from house to house, let alone whether the residents were willing to open the door for outsiders, even if he entered the door, he would not be able to look in every corner. It is really impossible to find such a small thing... Zals had no choice but to look up at Edwin, hoping he could give him an effective search method.

"There must be more than one Nightmare Bug that can keep everyone in Hope County away." Edwin said, "Let's go find its nest."

Fortunately, Zals didn't forget to bring a reference book with him when he went out. Now he took the time to read the illustration book and make up for the extra lessons. He got a general understanding of what kind of creature a nightmare bug was, and then went out with Edwin.

This thing is actually a spherical object, and calling it a "worm" is actually not accurate, but it is unexpectedly appropriate to describe their gregarious properties.This kind of creature came from another world, and after coming here, it feeds on human nightmares. Because it has the ability to trap people with nightmares, once a group develops, it is easy to cause mass death.

They had arrived late enough. It had been two days since the York City Police Department received a report from relatives and friends. No one knew what had happened before. The tourist in the hotel room was certainly not the first death.Such a weird murder occurred, but the residents of Hope County did not disclose it to the outside world, nor did they report it to the police for some reason. Finally, until now, there may have been several nightmare bugs nesting here.

"If it's afraid of fire, we'll set it on fire when we find it?" Zars asked as he walked, recalling what was written in the illustrated book.

His answer was too simple and rude, Edwin shook his head.

"Nightmare bugs are usually not in the nest, and almost stay near the host. They only return to the nest for a short period of time after the death of the host. Burning the nest directly will only make them find another nesting place, and we have no way to catch them. It, following the traces left in the nest to find them is the real way."

Nightmare bugs like humid environments, and usually build their nests in dark and damp places, possibly by water or bushes, and there are quite a few such places near the lake in Hope County.However, Edwin did not know what method he used. He first asked for a map from the front desk of the hotel, and then directly locked on a farm in the west.

Zals didn't ask him how he knew, because he probably couldn't get an answer he could understand. Anyway, from Edwin's confident expression, the address must be correct.

They walked in that direction, and the doors and windows of all the houses they passed were closed, and they didn't know whether the people inside were safe.Zales looked back several times, and his suspicious repeated movements finally caught Edwin's attention: "What are you looking at?"

"No," Zales sighed a little, and said worriedly, "I'm just a little worried about the safety of the residents."

Hope County has a lot of residents, there should be dozens of households, at least hundreds of permanent residents, if there are multiple nightmare bugs eating nightmares here, then...

He was about to express his worry on his face, but Edwin didn't take it seriously: "They chose not to report the crime, and they will naturally bear the consequences."

This is true, and they can't save everyone. Before the treatment is over, someone in Hope County will die because of the nightmare bug, but Zars still feels worried and sad.After all, they could have been saved earlier, so many people would not have died painfully in their sleep.

As he thought about it, his pace unconsciously slowed down. Edwin seemed to feel the complicated emotions in his heart, and added, "There's no need to blame yourself for other people's mistakes."

"...You're right." Zales forced a smile and forced himself to cheer up. "Let's find the nest first and then talk about other things."

Hope County was originally small, and it didn't take long for them to walk to the farm. After about 10 minutes, they could already see the gate of the farm.Zals raised his hand and knocked on the door first, but of course there was no answer inside, so he pushed the door open and went in without much hesitation.

"Let's find it separately. The nightmare bug's nest is a black honeycomb-shaped thing, about half the height of a person." Edwin handed him a rubber ring-like thing, "Tear it off if you find it, and I will come over."

Before Zars had time to ask what it was, he quickly walked away to the other side as if trying to avoid the question.

...Actually, he didn't want to ask either. Edwin always felt a little silly to ask about such a functional item.Zals put the rubber band around his wrist helplessly, and walked in the opposite direction.

The farm was not big, so Edwin went into the house, leaving him only the pasture and the granary on the other side.Zals looked at the pasture first, found nothing unusual, and then pushed open the door of the granary——

He somewhat doubted his eyes. Edwin told him just now that it was in the shape of a black honeycomb. The nest in front of him was indeed like this, but the size difference was quite far.

Facing the black honeycomb that was two people tall and glowing with obsidian luster, Zars had no choice but to exit the door silently, tore off the rubber band on his wrist, and began to wait for Edwin to deal with this thing.

He didn't wait too long. After a while, Edwin walked unhurriedly to the granary door and announced to him the whereabouts of the family: "There is no corpse, it may have been turned into nourishment in the nest."

"..."

Zals raised his hand and pushed open the door of the granary behind him, without saying a word.

Edwin was startled. He didn't expect the nightmare bug's nest to be so big. When he walked in, he found dried and blackened blood on the ground, which further proved his thoughts.

Nightmare bugs use a lot of materials to build their nests, including dead animals. If there are no other animals here, the only ones that can be used to build their nests are humans.

"There may be more than a few nightmare bugs in Hope County." After standing at the entrance of the granary and looking at the perfectly shaped and artistic nest for a while, he changed his previous statement, "At least a dozen of them will have a nest of this size. , Judging from the time, there may not be many living people here."