Chapter 201 Death
Moore's Pet Shop.

The only pet shop in Brixham, selling cats, dogs and various ornamental fish, also serves as a partial pet hospital.

Its owner is Natmore, a neat and tidy single father with a little obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has not remarried since his wife died of illness seven years ago.

"...Boss, I'm going outside to get some fresh air!"

Henry looked pale, and staggered out holding onto the counter. He had only been a police officer for a little over a year, and he could not bear to see such a tragic scene.

George used his camera to take pictures of the fish tank full of blood and the blue, hideous-looking corpse on the ground, then put on a mask and squatted down.

"Boss, this kind of injury..."

On the messy ground, Nat tightly grasped his right wrist. There was a bloody tear on his palm, and a hole could be vaguely seen extending from his arm to his torso. His shirt-covered chest was also torn open, but it was empty inside, with no trace of his internal organs and ribs.

George frowned, doubtful and uncertain, "Did something get into him while he was feeding? A parasite? Or a piranha? Or did someone use a special method to cause this?"

John said nothing.

He had been keeping a solemn and serious expression ever since he saw the corpse. He held Nat's hand and looked left and right, then gave the order after a long time.

"Take the body back first."

He stood up, looked at the blood-red fish tank, and took a deep breath. "Go to school immediately to bring Nat's son back and find out what's in there! Hurry!"

"I understand!" George nodded, stood up and left.

The pet store was empty again.

John rubbed his head and murmured, "Ghosttooth viper? How could this thing appear in Brixham? Where did it come from... I have already checked it out."

He followed the narrow bloodstain on the floor to the bathroom drain. The iron mesh cover had been bitten off, leaving a huge hole in the middle.

John's face turned extremely ugly.

He took a deep breath, and the knife hidden under the rust in his pupils became sharp again. An extremely bad premonition hovered in his heart, like a storm before the arrival of danger and disaster.

"We must find it quickly!"

……

Daniel was brought back.

He got out of the car with a pale face, and looked at the cordon in front of his house, at a loss.

"Relax." George raised the cordon to let him in and comforted him, "It's just some simple questions, it's nothing serious."

Daniel's hands and feet were stiff, and he nodded repeatedly.

John saw someone being brought in and went straight to the point, pointing at the fish tank, "Mr. Moore, can I ask what's in there?"

Daniel swallowed his saliva, his heart skipped a beat as he looked at the red fish in the tank. "It's... it's a black fish, I caught it from the sea three days ago, I don't know what species it is."

"Black?" John asked hurriedly, "What does it look like?"

"It's just... the size of a palm, the scales are very small, they reflect light, and they look very beautiful..."

Daniel's words came out in fragments, and John had a hard time piecing them together.

[Isn't it the Ghosttooth Viper... another subspecies of dragon? ]

John subconsciously looked towards the bathroom, thinking about how to get the dangerous thing out of the sewer.

"...Officer?" Daniel hesitated for a moment and asked, "What happened in my house...and that jar of water..."

John came back to his senses, patted his shoulder, and pointed outside the door, "See that fat guy? Go ask him, he will tell you."

Not long after.

There was a sound of ghosts howling at the door of the pet shop.

Henry frantically tried to comfort Daniel, and returned in a mess half an hour later, complaining angrily, "Boss! Why do you have to make me say this?"

John glanced at him, "If you want to get married so badly, I thought you were ready to have children... What about the children?"

"The neighbor took him away." Henry was still furious. "It seems he was also the one who reported the discovery of the body."

"How was it? Did you get any details?"

"It's pretty much the same."

Henry nodded. "The kid broke down and told me everything... He said this fish was caught by a classmate named Ian on the northwest beach three days ago. He wanted to catch it because it was so beautiful."

"Ian... this name sounds familiar." John scratched his remaining hair.

"Is his last name Jones?" George next to him said, "Ian Jones... He is the survivor of the shipwreck accident."

Henry was surprised: "What a coincidence? Could it be that this kid was cursed by the sea? He is so unlucky at such a young age."

John glanced at him, "How come I didn't know you were a theologian?"

"My grandmother said so." Henry closed his eyes and made the sign of the cross on his chest devoutly. "If a child always pees in the sea, he will definitely be punished by the sea, and will be plagued by bad luck and everything will go wrong."

"Wow! That's a great idea. Then please go home and ask grandma how to handle this case."

John rolled his eyes and slapped him on the butt. "If you have nothing else to do, go back to the police station and urge the medical examiners to do an autopsy on the body!"

"Got it, boss!" Henry rubbed his butt and went back to the police station.

John instructed, "George, please go back and bring Daniel's two classmates here... No, bring them back to the police station and bring Daniel there as well."

George nodded seriously.

"Ian..." John muttered in a low voice.

He took out his cell phone from his pocket, and instead of looking for the address book, he dialed a 20-digit number based on muscle memory.

After a few minutes of waiting...

[Authorization...A-level authorization input.]

[Identification verified… John Smith, Class of 1975.]

[Time confirmed... 30 years after the "Dream of the Sleeping Dragon" incident in Brixham. ]

The phone buzzed, and a calm voice rang out, "Mr. John, long time no see. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Norma."

John took a deep breath, holding his phone and walking to a more secluded corner, "I'm in some trouble here..."

……

"Ian, what are we going to do?" In the back seat of the police car, Andre shrank his neck, lowered his head and asked in a low voice.

"……how could I know."

Ian also looked uneasy. He raised his head carefully, clenched his fist and asked tentatively, "Mr. George, please tell me... did we do something wrong?"

"No, of course not."

George, who had been watching Ian through the rearview mirror, said gently, "Please don't worry. It's just that something troubling happened with Daniel, so I wanted to ask you two some questions."

Andre Wenyan let out a long sigh, "I was so scared. I thought I would be arrested and put in jail."

The car drove along the road.

George suddenly stepped on the brakes.

Next to the police station building, there were a dozen reporters armed with guns and with "Brixham Newspaper" or "Devon Newspaper" printed in white letters on their vests.

"Damn it!" The serious police officer cursed under his breath and pounded the steering wheel, "These disgusting flies! They are really omnipresent!" Ian glanced at him.

From the previous obstruction outside the hospital ward, he could tell that the other party seemed to have a deep-rooted aversion to reporters.

George stopped the car and squeezed into the police station amidst countless flashes of light, then slammed the door shut.

"Oh! You're back!"

John poked his head out from the second floor holding a cup of hot coffee, and returned to his usual unruly self. "Come and try it. I brewed the hand-ground coffee myself."

The three of them went upstairs.

The first thing Andre saw was his companion sitting on the sofa with his head lowered.

"Hey! Daniel!" He relaxed a little when he saw an acquaintance. "What happened? Why would the police..."

Andre asked impatiently, but he was stunned when he was only halfway through his words. A gust of wind passed through his face.

Daniel suddenly stood up, with red eyes, and punched Ian on the cheek!
boom!
Ian's body fell out.

"Calm down, kid!"

Seeing Ian about to fall down the stairs, George hurried to pull him back and used his back to block the fat boy from losing control.

Henry on the side also hurried over to pull Daniel away.

"What are you doing?!" Andre came back to his senses, angrily pushed Daniel away, and squatted down worriedly, "Ian! How are you? Are you okay?"

Ian seemed stunned. He was speechless for a long time. After a long time, he said vaguely, "I... I'm fine."

The corner of his mouth was cracked, blood was flowing down his chin, and he twitched in pain when he spoke.

"Why?" Ian asked. His sea-blue eyes were wide open, and he looked angry and aggrieved. "Daniel, are you fucking crazy?!"

"Alright, alright, everyone calm down!"

John, who had been drinking coffee nearby, finally interrupted. He glanced at Ian's pupils and blood without making a sound, yawned and said, "We can talk slowly if we have anything to say."

"It's all you! It's all you!"

Daniel struggled frantically in Henry's arms, "If you hadn't given me that fish, how could my dad have died! It's obviously you who should have died!"

He roared with a ferocious look on his face, "I will make you pay with your life! Ian Jones! Just you wait! Just you wait!"

"What are you talking about?" Andre saw that something was wrong with Daniel. "What fish? What death? Explain clearly!"

George helped Ian up and explained, "In fact, Daniel's father, Mr. Nutmore, was found dead in a pet shop three hours ago. And from what we can see now, the murderer... is the black fish you caught three days ago."

"Huh?" Andre was stunned. "Officer, are you kidding? Killing... a fish?"

"Okay, I know it sounds absurd." George laughed bitterly, "But before the forensic doctor gives a clear report, judging from the scene and the body, this possibility is the greatest."

The corner of Andre's eye twitched. The palm-sized black fish swam again and again in his mind, but he could not associate it with murder.

"So, are you blaming me?"

Ian stood up, with a big bump on his face. "Did I force that fish on you? You asked me to leave, didn't you? Now that something happened, you act so innocent? Is it all my fault?"

Daniel's teeth were grinding.

He couldn't refute it, but he had to refute it!
Because he simply couldn't bear the regret that was coming his way.

It was like being pressed into a dark sea, even breathing became difficult.

"You are a jinx!"

Daniel gasped and roared.

"You just killed William and now you're trying to kill my dad! You said you sprained your ankle when you jumped off the boat, but I think you just wanted to occupy the only life jacket!"

"You!" Ian stared at him in disbelief.

"What's wrong? Did I get it right?"

Daniel sneered, looking at Ian's angry face, and the weight on his shoulders seemed to slowly begin to ease.

Pure malice blossoms upon the purest soil.

"You said Uncle William was very kind to you and that you loved playing with him, but in the end you had to watch him die. You must have been the one who caused the ship to sink!"

"I didn't!" Ian was shaking with anger, "I didn't do such a thing!"

"Who would believe that?" Daniel looked at him with satisfaction. "Andre, do you believe that? Being so close to him, aren't you afraid that you will die in an 'accident' one day?"

Andre stiffened.

Ian turned his head and grabbed Andre's hand as if begging, his sea-blue eyes filled with mist, "Andre, believe me, I really didn't..."

Andre opened his mouth, avoided the burning gaze, lowered his head and whispered, "I...of course I believe you."

He pulled his hand away uncomfortably, pretended to pat Ian's shoulder naturally, and repeated, "Yeah! I believe you."

Daniel laughed out loud when he saw this. "Look, you're a jinx! Everyone thinks you're an unlucky person!"

The sea-blue pupils were covered by dark clouds.

"……well!"

Ian gasped hoarsely and looked around at everyone, "You all think so, right? You all think it's my fault, right?!"

Daniel wanted to say more, but George next to him yelled, "Enough! This is the police station, not a place for you to quarrel!"

He took a deep breath and said seriously, "Mr. Daniel, I understand how you feel, but please calm down. This won't solve the problem!"

"Shut up!" Daniel's face was grim. "That's easy for you to say! It's not your father who died!"

George was stunned.

Amid the noise, John rubbed his temple with a headache. He was not good at mediating conflicts among a bunch of little kids.

Seeing that the inquiry was fruitless, he simply clapped his hands and said, "Stop for a moment, little gentlemen! That's all for today. Everyone go back and calm down. Tomorrow we will make phone calls to ask each person one by one..."

"no need!"

Ian interrupted him angrily, "I did it! This is all my fault! Are you satisfied?!"

His eyes were red, he turned around, pushed away George who was blocking his way, and rushed to the third floor in one breath.

"Hey! Hey!" John's face changed drastically. He instantly threw away the coffee cup in his hand and leaned forward to grab Ian's collar.

But the gap was so narrow that he stumbled after missing the target. The child disappeared around the corner during this gap.

"Stop him!" John raised his head and roared towards the third floor.

Henry was confused when he suddenly saw a black shadow falling from the window.

There were exclamations from reporters below.

His face turned pale immediately, he let go of Daniel and rushed to the window.

……

On the gray-brown land, the boy with sea-blue eyes fell to the ground in an inverted V position with his head pressed against his back...

The bright red blood flowed into the earth.

(End of this chapter)