Operation Red Book

"what!"

Ivy woke up from a nightmare, the sound surrounding her ears gradually faded away and dissipated in the thick moonlight.

It was unusually quiet tonight, the only sound in the room being Ivy's rapid breathing.

She picked up the cup of water on the bedside table and drank it all in one gulp. Her heartbeat, which was about to burst through her chest, slowly calmed down after being soaked by the cold water.

There was a thin layer of sweat all over my body, and the breeze blew past, making me feel cool.

Ivy shuddered, got out of bed, put on the plush slippers that Mrs. Hudson had knitted for her, and walked into the living room.

There was a dim light in the living room, and in the light, two dark shadows were already waiting there.

"Joshua?"

Ivy narrowed her eyes and called out softly.

One of the shadows paused and slowly turned his head.

The dazed look on his face was definitely Joshua.

"You really came? Um...did you have a nightmare just now?"

Another dark figure tilted his head towards Ivy, his eyes half closed and a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"Is Holmes here?"

Joshua nodded and offered his seat.

Ivy picked up the cloak on the sofa and sat between the two of them, breathing out the cool air.

Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, and Ivy wiped the sweat off the back of her hand.

Just as she was about to wipe it off with the towel handed to her by Holmes, she realized that she had become the subject of "Elementary".

Sighing in disgust, Ivy instinctively looked in the other direction, only to receive a smirk from Holmes.

"It's an occupational disease."

He rested one hand on the back of the sofa and dangled a cigarette in the air with the other hand.

"I'm several times smarter than you. What can I do? Unless you're a naked beauty, maybe you can let me use a few seconds for you first."

"You..."

Ivy was annoyed to death by the rude words and raised her right hand to hit the black shadow.

"Snapped!"

Unexpectedly, just when she was halfway through swinging, Holmes accurately caught her wrist in the dark.

Using his strength, Holmes whispered "hush" into Ivy's ear, then pulled her towards the small table in the middle of the living room.

An open red book lay quietly on the small table, with a half-burned candle in front of the pages.

The dancing flames illuminated the entire desktop, dancing and flipping on the constantly emerging words.

"Look, it records everything you say and do."

Holmes pointed to the words that had already appeared on the page:

It’s a quarter past 21 p.m., and it’s time to go to bed.

I was awakened by a nightmare at 2:5.

At 2 minutes past 10, I came into the living room and found Joshua and Holmes.

At 2:18, Holmes was punched for his foul mouth.

At 2:20 am, I discovered that words were appearing on the red book.

Hi, Ivy, let's speak Chinese...

"This is fake!" Ivy exclaimed, "You guys stayed up all night just to watch this?"

"Yes..." Holmes smiled and shook his head, "And no."

"We stayed in the living room to prove whether the text recorded in it has reference value."

"And your series of actions just now just prove that... they are completely consistent."

Holmes said seriously, he coughed lightly, and Joshua immediately took up his words.

"About an hour ago, we had a similar nightmare and woke up at the same time."

"We wanted to go to the living room to drink some water and calm down, but we unexpectedly found each other and the red book flipping through the pages on the windowsill..."

"But how did the red book end up on the windowsill on the second floor? I've been keeping it in the bookcase at the end of my bed."

Ivy asked doubtfully, crossing her arms.

Joshua shrugged. He didn't know what was going on.

Supernatural phenomena occur frequently in this world, which is no longer surprising to two children from the 21st century.

Only Holmes was more concerned about another strange point: "Little sheep, what nightmare did you just have?"

"I?"

Ivy looked at the ceiling and frowned.

The nightmare I just had has long since blurred its specific form, but I can vaguely recall a few familiar words:

"Halloween...Rye...save me..."

"Yes."

Joshua answered quickly, his brows also furrowed, his voice low:

"Besides the Halloween factor, the town of Rye and the person asking for help all three of us had dreams about it."

"The town of Lei..." Ivy's face turned pale. "Isn't it the town where Christine and her family went?"

"Could it be..." Ivy's voice couldn't stop shaking, "That cry for help was from Christine...Christine..."

"It's not that girl's voice. That faint voice should be a woman around 30 years old. I can tell clearly."

Holmes gently refuted the supposition.

Hearing the reliable answer from a reliable person, Ivy finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But immediately, she listened carefully to the noises around her and her hair stood on end.

Since all three of them had the same dream, what about the fourth person? Was it the same?

"Mrs. Hudson, where's Mrs. Hudson?"

"Ok?"

Joshua paused, and like Ivy, he immediately pricked up his ears to listen to the movements around him.

Mrs. Hudson breathed loudly when she slept. Every time Joshua was woken up by Holmes's crazy laughter in the middle of the night, he was always awakened by Mrs. Hudson's murmuring in her sleep and heavy breathing.

But now, even though they were on the first floor, the house was still quiet, and there was obviously no sign of life.

"Where is Mrs. Hudson...?"

"Could it be that the person asking for help..."

"Oh, she went back to the country. She left this afternoon."

Holmes rolled his ears and spoke carelessly.

Seeing the two children heaving a sigh of relief, Holmes shook his toes and continued:

"The name of that country town is Ley."

"Uh……"

Ivy and Joshua immediately gasped again.

The town of Rye... The town of Rye...

Ivy had a melancholy look on her face, repeating the name of this beautiful town in her heart.

She had been to that place before, when she was in junior high school and studying abroad, she went there with her classmates.

It was beautiful, and the scenery was quite nice. Ivy took a lot of photos there, all of which were stored in her old camera.

She slowly recalled the past, and her thoughts slowly tilted towards the 19th century.

"Wait, if Mrs. Hudson isn't here, then there are only three of us here."

"correct."

"Then why do we have to speak softly from the beginning?"

“To create an atmosphere.”

"What's the atmosphere?"

“The atmosphere of Halloween.”

"Why... why?"

"Because tomorrow is Halloween."

"What are you doing!"

Ivy was startled, pushed away the two puzzled people, and turned on the lights in the living room.

The darkness was instantly driven away by the light and hid in every corner of the living room.

Now there isn't that eerie atmosphere anymore. Ivy looked around and her heartbeat temporarily slowed down.

Now she felt much more at ease and pretended to be strong again.

She put her hands on her hips and said proudly to the two people standing there:

"Look! If you act openly and honestly, you won't be afraid of any demons or monsters..."

"Knock knock knock!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah--"

Before she could finish her words, there was a sudden knock on the door, and Ivy was so scared that she jumped on the spot.

At 2:45, there was a knock on the door.

"Who!"

Holmes responded roughly as he strode forward, protecting the two children behind him and at the same time adjusting the pistol at his waist.

At 2:46, Holmes loaded his gun.

"Miss Ivy! Wuuwuwu! Mr. Holmes, it's me! Wuuwuwu…"

"I am the daughter of the Goodwin family... Christine... woo woo woo woo..."

At 2:47, the crying girl continued to knock on the door of 221-B Baker Street.

"Christine?" Ivy walked forward. "Why are you in Baker Street? In the middle of the night?"

“Wuwuwuwu… Miss Ivy, Xiao Ben was killed. He was killed. Wuwuwuwu…”

At 2:50 a.m., Benjamin CM Goodwin died in the small town of Rye.