Chapter 670: 668 Chapter 670: 668 Compared to Lei, Kateman looked noticeably more disheveled, covered in soot from head to toe, and even missing a good chunk of his hair.
Of course, his demeanor remained calm.
Upon hearing Jones’s call, he tossed aside the thing draped over his shoulders and didn’t rush to speak, instead looking thoughtfully at the dense crowd of people fighting the fire.
Clearly, as someone who had appeared on the scene passively, he wasn’t as psychologically prepared as Lei, and might have thought the fire was meant to flush him out.
“Have you been on the mountain the whole time?”
Even though the missing person had suddenly reappeared, Jones didn’t show much excitement because he remembered the conspiracy Lei had mentioned earlier.
There was no Mysterious Killer, just infected individuals who had gone mad?
That meant this guy must have escaped from the room on his own, and indeed his expression confirmed it, apart from looking disheveled, there were no substantial injuries on his body.
…
Facing Jones’s question, Kateman didn’t answer.
After looking around, he had already spotted Mrs. Harrold on the ground, and his eyes nearly froze in that moment.
“Don’t be nervous, Lei has already admitted that he hit Mrs. Harrold with his car, and you don’t need to continue giving false testimony.”
Seeing this scene, Fu Qian immediately spoke with a comforting smile.
“Of course, this guy seems to be in a bad mental state; you’d better stay away from him.”
Out of everyone, Fu Qian was probably the one who understood best why Kateman had fled.
As previously analyzed, a series of shocks had triggered his “superhuman” state.
He had come just for a vacation, but then his friend had killed someone on the first day and asked him to keep it a secret.
That might not have been a big deal, but shortly after, his girlfriend, who also knew about the incident, mysteriously disappeared, undoubtedly increasing his stress exponentially.
At the same time, the local sheriff was even Lei’s uncle, and this series of events easily led one to suspect that Lei thought all those in the know were risks, and sought his uncle’s help to eliminate them completely.
Under such threats, being forced to stay at Jones’s house without leaving, he eventually broke down mentally.
Then, having turned into a superhuman, he chose to decisively flee, and since he couldn’t leave and didn’t trust the police, he had no choice but to find a temporary hiding place.
“Really?”
Fu Qian’s words clearly took Kateman by surprise.
“It’s true, and then–have you been on the mountain the whole time?”
With a cold stare, signaling Fu Qian to be quiet, Jones asked directly from the side.
“…Yes.”
“Did you leave on your own before?”
Jones continued to question.
“…Yes.”
“Was it Lei who drove into Mrs. Harrold and then took care of the scene on his own before asking you guys to keep it a secret?”
When this last question was asked, the onlookers nearly held their breath.
…
“Yes.”
Kateman looked at Jones for several seconds and finally nodded his head.
Ha ha ha ha!
Lei began to laugh wildly the moment he heard it.
“Ask him why he was able to escape just now?”
His demeanor was clearly not as stable as before, appearing almost insane.
It wasn’t surprising because, with this fire, the superhuman status had passed to Kateman, who by now had reverted to his troublemaking young man state.
“How did you manage to escape from inside just now?”
Glancing at him, Jones genuinely continued to ask.
“There are many secret passages down there; after sensing something was wrong, I escaped through one.”
“Since it’s a secret passage, how did you know about it?”
“…I don’t understand, but I just knew.”
Kateman shook his head, pointing to his forehead.
“It was like this when I left home, so it was easy to find this place. There was a time when things got blurry, but now I remember it all–”
“Right or wrong? Is he the same? You all can see it!”
Lei burst into laughter again, pointing to the people around him.
“Do you have any other explanation?”
“Everyone is the same.”
“Any one of you could snap at any moment, turning into a cold-blooded beast, capable of ending another’s life without hesitation, plunging into unavoidable self-destruction.”
With Lei’s words, countless whispers arose.
And as the one Lei singled out as the mastermind behind the scenes, Fu Qian inevitably became the focus of attention once more.
“Is it really so?”
The first to speak, however, was Fran, who looked straight at Fu Qian, her words full of disbelief.
Through these days, Fu Qian’s performance had been nothing less than stellar, a completely reliable teammate.
However, the various ordeals encountered along the way now flashed rapidly through her mind.
It must be said, Fu Qian’s demeanor and actions were astonishingly in keeping with the image of the mastermind behind the scenes.
“Those messages that appeared out of nowhere, do they come from some kind of special infection? Is all this a conspiracy?”
Hearing Fran’s question, Jones clearly realized something and didn’t hurry to speak.
…
A conspiracy?
Confronted with Fran’s questioning, Fu Qian was silently moved in his heart.
It wasn’t just her; Lei, Kateman, Jones, Mrs. Mary, and even the large crowd reacting to the crisis, now all watched him with wary eyes.
This scene was really quite like the end of a movie, where the evil boss is exposed and forced to face justice.
Although the plot was far from that, the power of imagination was boundless.
First Lei, then Kateman, and now Fran; although different in form, the three of them had almost passed the baton in their accusations, naturally sketching out an evil image for him.
From this perspective, Fu Qian should probably not have emphasized to Kateman earlier that Lei had already confessed.
Because once it was realized that Lei confessed, the threat facing Kateman was nearly eliminated, and he would surely cooperate fully with the police questioning.
As the mastermind behind the scenes, his “conspiracy” would be exposed all the faster.
But that was only the appearance.
In fact, those words were spoken by Fu Qian on purpose, and the reason was quite simple–
Today, I will be the evil boss!
…
If Laxik is the key to completing the task, then how to use him?
Having speculated this possibility, Fu Qian had been contemplating this question.
What is special about Laxik?
First and foremost, he possesses memories of the cycle, having accumulated a great deal of information through repeated attempts, although mere cycling is meaningless.
Next, at this moment, although his physical form no longer exists, he can “appear” briefly in a special form on anyone.
Finally, his countless attempts even caused errors between the cycles, with things that shouldn’t exist crossing over between them.
For instance, the speeding ticket, the markings beneath the painting.
These bugs, outside the realm of cause and effect, like mold spots on an eroded videotape, could be said to be chaos that crosses dimensions.
So, the question arises… If I were to lend a hand and make this chaos even more intense, might that mold become even more uncontrollable? Until it affects the playback of the videotape?
Before meeting with Lei yesterday, Fu Qian already had this intention.
And the way to intensify the chaos had also been premeditated.
It was to have as many people as possible “infected,” ultimately turning this town into a breeding ground where Laxik could descend at will.
As people continued to break down under pressure and fear, he would switch between different individuals like playing whack-a-mole.
This means turning the conspiracy spoken by Lei into reality.
The interesting part is, to achieve this, one relies precisely on the people’s fear of the conspiracy.
How does that saying go?
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.