Mermaid Reef

1960, Chile.

May is in the late autumn season, and the temperature is getting colder every day.

Looking out to the sea from the window of the tavern in Puerto Montt, it is as beautiful as a pale blue mirror.

This is Monte Sea. The bay is concave as a whole, and the islands block the wind and waves. The sea here is so calm that there are no ripples. Under the reflection of the setting sun, people suspect that they have come to a dream.

David sat in the tavern with a notebook in his hand.

Opposite him was a dark-skinned man, drinking beer and saying: "...It is said that the copper mine has been closed for a month, and many people died due to landslides below. Those ships waiting to transport copper and saltpeter are all stuck in Val Port of Paraiso, and you can’t drive away, and ships with lighter loads can’t squeeze in, so you have to come to our Puerto Montt.”

"Did you see the American ships?" David pressed.

The man looked up drunkenly and said, "Americans? Hiccup, aren't they always at sea?"

As he spoke, he made a gesture, like a dog running over and then running over.

The drinker at the table next to him laughed loudly when he saw this movement.

David holds the pen, a little awkwardly.

David is an American tabloid reporter.

Chile is the world's largest producer of copper mines, as well as very high-quality iron ores. Before these things are shipped out of the port and arrive in various countries, they have already become a transaction figure on Wall Street. Now every day they stay, some people's The assets will evaporate silently from the account.

If it drags on, Wall Street will have another group of people queuing up to commit suicide and jump off buildings.

David didn't care about the lives of those investors, and what he wanted to write was not economic news.

After paying for the drink, David put on his coat and left the tavern.

"Ah."

It was too cold, and David suspected that the weather information broadcast by the local Chilean radio station was wrong, and it was winter at all.

Is it going to snow?

David shrank his neck and returned to the hotel where he lived.

Puerto Montt used to be just a port where fishing boats stopped, and the scenery is beautiful.

Starting from mining resources, the United Kingdom and the United States have used various companies to control the country's railway transportation and energy production, so David can easily see foreigners with a face like him here, and he can also find a hotel with good conditions The hotel and the waiters all speak English.

David turned on the radio, wanting to listen to the weather changes, but suddenly thought of something, turned the notebook to the front, and slowly tuned the frequency according to a series of numbers.

After struggling for 10 minutes, David gave up.

This crude radio was even worse than the old model David used when he was a child. It was impossible to receive the legendary ghost station.

David didn't know whether he was unlucky or lucky. He deliberately waited for this mysterious radio station, but he didn't wait once.

David heard voices coming from the next room, he immediately stood up lightly, and eavesdropped with his cup against the thin wall.

But what he heard was all economic news about the stranded copper and iron ore.

David cursed secretly, put down his glass, and lay down on the bed dejectedly.

There is a stain in the corner of the ceiling of the hotel, which looks like a distorted black monster, and the damp wallpaper behind it creates an illusion - the monster is quietly dormant there, its body hidden under the blue wallpaper Below, only the head drooped on the edge of the ceiling, silently looking down at David.

David jumped to his feet.

He held his forehead and tried to relax himself.

It was a long-standing problem with David, mistaking stains, stray cats and dogs, and damaged items in the warehouse for monsters.

When David was seven years old, he was encouraged by his friends to explore the abandoned cemetery in the neighboring town, but he disappeared for three days. When he was found, he slept in a dry drain and woke up without remembering anything. Such a bug.

The doctor said that David was crazy, the priest said that David was not devout enough to God, and the witch said that David disturbed the dead.

These experiences turned David into a young man obsessed with witchcraft, religion, ghost symbols, and divination. After several years of research, he not only failed to discover the monsters and gods mentioned in occultism, but exposed many haunted tricks .

It just so happens that programs that explore ghostly abandoned houses are popular on TV stations, and various methods of exorcising ghosts are also very popular in the United States.

David appeared on a program in a daze, and got a short-term job on a TV station because of his boldness. After the supernatural program ended, he became a tabloid reporter through the introduction of a new friend.He is very good at writing some sensational supernatural cases, he is also good at collecting information, and he has taken several scandalous photos, so his life is very good.

This peace was broken half a year ago.

Blood moon vision.

David insisted that the interruption of communication, abnormal observation of astronomical objects, and abnormal human emotions... were all caused by alien spacecraft.

Everything that followed proved this point of view, such as the mysterious bases established by the United States, such as ghost radio stations, and the deformed creatures that appeared all over the world. David believed that there must be aliens in it.

It's a pity that every country insists on not revealing.

David vowed to dig out the truth, and his crazy idea has the support of friends and bosses, and even money to help him.

Now was David's longest and furthest adventure.

The reliable news he got from various sources had "wrapped up" a certain suspicious government structure of the heretics in Semler Town, which has been staying in the Chilean Mining Development Corporation in South America.

David also received two fuzzy photos, one of which was a smashed corpse, with a huge body, not like a normal creature, and the other was a photo of an armored vehicle and a tank. The camouflage camouflage of the body had a mark that David was familiar with symbol.

This symbol has appeared since 1958, and David has confirmed the appearance of government agency personnel with this symbol in "mysterious and spiritual events" several times.

In connection with the abnormal situation in the futures market, David believes that this time he will definitely be able to catch the traces of aliens.

At this critical moment, why did the old problem recur?

David closed his eyes and opened the drawer, took out a bottle of medicine, took out one and swallowed it.

He was sweating all over, and the veins on his forehead kept beating.

In the past, his illness was not so serious, and he would recover after a while of rest or sleep, but it seems to be getting worse recently.

After careful calculation, it started from the blood moon vision...

David opened his eyes and looked at the medicine bottle with a gloomy face. It was already half empty. If you take too much of this tranquilizer, you will become addicted.

——He decided that he must go to the hospital for an examination when he returns to the United States this time.

"Maybe there is really something... that science can't explain." David said to himself, and soon he denied his own thoughts, "No, no, it's something that human science can't explain, that's aliens ...not a virus, but a certain spectrum that, over time, affects the human brain."

David's disappearance experience when he was a child, there is a popular saying in the United States that he was abducted by aliens.

David doesn't think his brain has been modified by aliens, but he believes that he must be different from normal people and be more sensitive to these things.

He entered the bathroom, took off the towel, wet it, and wiped his face vigorously.

Then he braced himself to look up again at the stain on the ceiling.

"call."

David breathed a sigh of relief.

It was a gray speck left by some poorly skilled decorator.

David opened the curtains, took out the map and was about to compare the map of the mining area in front of the desk, and when he was studying how to sneak in to take pictures, he suddenly saw the residual leaves on the glass window.

It rained this morning and it was blown against the windows by the wind.

The leaves are withered and yellow, and pitted by insects, exposing the meridians of the plant.

For some reason, these meridians form the shape of the Chilean map in David's eyes, narrow and slender, and the positions of those small holes are also like mining areas.

The leaves lose their life.

A strong ominous omen welled up in my heart.

This is heart palpitations like never before.

David's back hit the wall, and the sound of cursing came from the next room, and David suddenly woke up. It turned out that he was retreating desperately until there was no way to retreat.

He heard himself panting, and a faint headache.

David took a deep breath, and when he opened his eyes again, he rushed to the suitcase, stuffed his stuff in quickly, picked it up, and ran downstairs to ask for check-out.

The waiter was very surprised. It was already dark and the ferry was gone. Should we leave by train?

He asked David if he wanted a cab, and he managed to earn a tip.

"How long do I have to wait?" David asked irritably.

"Sorry...it might take an hour, but I can catch the train..."

The waiter explained in broken English, and David only felt that the sentences were broken into words, and slowly turned into letters, scattered in the air.

He stared at the waiter's mouth, unable to make out what the man said.

"First, sir?"

The waiter was startled by David's staring eyes.

David's eyes were red, his expression was dull, but his hands were clenched into fists.

Holding the phone, the waiter stammered and explained that this was the time for the driver of the car delivery service company to eat and rest, and there was really no way to rush over.

David's neck twisted suddenly, like a zombie.

"……what is that?"

David asked unconsciously.

The waiter heard it and looked around in confusion.

The location of this hotel is very good. From the lobby, you can see the seaside scenery and a corner of the pier.

David saw a figure standing on a lamppost.

——That is definitely not a place where people can stand!

The clothes of this man looked like a British gentleman in the [-]th century, and he held a sapphire cane in his hand, and his back was very dignified.

David noticed that the waiter looked dazed, and knew that this was another hallucination.

Damn illusion!

That may not be a person, but the reflection of the building, the shadow of the swaying branches and leaves of the trees!

David picked up the suitcase and walked to the sofa next to the hotel.

He gritted his teeth and took out the medicine bottle from his pocket, and took another pill.

After David counted three hundred in his heart, he felt his heart beating faster and faster. He cursed, opened his eyes, but found that the shadow on the street lamp had disappeared.

It is indeed an illusion.

David stood up, suddenly lost his balance, and fell back on the sofa.

Because the ground is shaking.