The Retirement Life of a Runaway Desperado

The car turned into the urban area, and Arthur made another sharp turn, but his face did not change during the whole process, as if he was frozen.

"Tell me what happened, Arthur!" Lynn yelled, "What the hell was that, he called you a knight—"

A fuel tanker suddenly came into view.

It was an intersection, the red light came on at an unknown time, and the car was a monster, and it was stressful to drive on the road.

It was driving from another direction at an extremely fast speed, and it was blocked by trees before, as if it suddenly appeared in front of their eyes. When they realized it, the danger sign of the oil tank had already occupied the entire field of vision.

Lynn opened his mouth, but there was no time to make any sound. Their car was rushing forward, with a speed of 120 kilometers. No matter what they did, they could not change their inevitable fate.For death is at hand.

Arthur sat there with one hand on the steering wheel, his eyes looking straight ahead, his posture unchanged.

Lynn watched the huge iron can tear apart in front of him.

It first showed countless dents, and then the giant steel beast was like soft paper, squashed by an invisible force in the void, and then easily torn in half.It's as easy as two giant hands tearing apart a small piece of cake.

The oil stored in it sprayed out violently, perhaps caused by the pressure, like a black rainstorm, the car went straight through, they filled the glass in an instant, the light dimmed, Arthur stepped on the brakes, and it coasted for a long time, Then stop in the middle of the road.

For a moment, Lynn saw the rearview mirror - which was also quickly covered with oil - the tanker was torn in half from the middle, but it seemed to be caged by an invisible force, without any sliding Or hit, piled up obediently at the intersection, the scene was a mess.

Lynn saw Arthur's face in the midday light through the gaps of black oil stains.

He put his hands on the steering wheel, expressionless, hidden in the darkness, like a stranger.

"...you have a nosebleed," Lynn said.

Arthur reached for a tissue, his expression was cold, and blood flowed out soundlessly, as if the water had opened the gate, against his pale face, it was shocking.

He held down the tissue, but the bleeding didn't stop, and he threw the tissue away and picked up another, not looking surprised at all.

"I'm not a 'knight,'" said Arthur, turning to look at him. "I'm a 'lord,' if you want to know that much."

A certain color leaked from his eyes, his pupils were still dark, but they were different from before, something more dangerous leaked out of them.It was similar to what Caviezel had, but more dangerous and bigger.

Lynn didn't know what the terms he meant, he didn't know anything about his past, but he knew people's emotions, whether people were anxious or restless, desperate or self-defeating.

And Arthur's expression now is definitely not what he wants to see.

"You don't need to tell me anything, Arthur, if you don't want to," he said. "I just want to know if you're safe. That man was scary, and I have to admit I'd love to know what he was. But I'd rather What I want to know, Arthur, is about you."

Arthur looked at him without saying a word, the thick liquid from the outer window slid down, and a few lines of dim light flowed in strangely, making all this have an alien atmosphere.

He put down the tissue, the blood had stopped, but a smear of blood remained on his face, against his pale complexion, mysterious and dangerous.

"I wonder if you're going to leave," Lynn said. "I know you're desperately trying to hide your secrets, and I understand the feeling of wanting to live in peace and not have anyone near you. I know you This is the kind of man, Arthur, who, if he sees danger, will act normal one day, and then disappear from this town tomorrow."

"Then, the two years you appeared were like a hallucination. I couldn't find you anywhere. Even if I searched the whole world, there was no trace of you. You just disappeared from my life."

When he started, Lynn felt his heart constrict, he couldn't let that happen, and the thought of that possibility felt bad like waking up with a hangover when you've gone crazy and lost your job, and there's nothing but despair in the morning and pain.

"I don't want that to happen," he said.

Arthur watched him for a moment.

"Oh," he said.

He was still looking at Lynn, expressionless on his face, but again, even in this dim light, Lynn could tell he was happy.

It made him feel a little embarrassed, kind of like you strip naked in front of someone you really like.

He coughed and said, "Look, we're just getting to...uh, getting to know each other."

"I'm not going to leave," Arthur said.

"...that's great," Lynn said, and it wasn't great, exactly, that the millionaire jackpot suddenly came to a struggling family.

"That guy won't survive this hunt," Arthur said. "His mind is empty, he just won't allow himself to think so. He'll soon dissipate and become a ghost in the dark. This kind of I've seen a lot of them, I used to hunt them."

"Hunting?" Lynn said, hearing a dangerous word.

Arthur waved his hands, "You don't have to worry about that, he's looking for someone like Caviezel, I won't feel bad if a few more people die."

"Cavizel?"

"Caviezel. Of course what happened to him is not your hallucination. You know it yourself." Arthur said, "The more dangerous things are, the more excited people like you will be. I think the threat of administrative affairs will be more deterrent to you." force, and make you flinch even more.”

"You guessed it right, congratulations!" Lynn said.His "if the investigation continues, the whole town will know that you are mentally ill, and you will go to jail" is really merciless.

"If you're mad at things like that, I can be mad at you for breaking my salt shaker and putting it back in thinking I wouldn't find out," Arthur said.

"You found out?" Lynn said in surprise. Arthur looked like a fool. Lynn also felt that it was not wise to think that this could fool him. This man knows his house like a lion knows it. Knowledge of hunting grounds.

"But that's not the same thing at all!" he said.

"It's just one thing."

"You don't use that jar at all!" Lynn said, "and it costs $500 which is crazy!"

"It's kind of. But that's art."

"But that's just a jar, you can't compare it to what you threatened me with."

"Of course I can."

"Well, you win, they're the same thing," Lynn said, thinking it would be silly to argue with him.

"Relax, I won't make you pay," Arthur said.

"Thank you so much," Lynn said.

"You're welcome," Arthur said.

Lynn was glad the atmosphere had returned to normal. For him, nothing was more important than returning to normal, even if it was life-like squabbles and... intimacy.

After a while, Arthur spoke and said, "I killed that man."

He turned to look at Lynn. "The man who was torn in half outside the small town was sent by the superiors to find me, and I killed him. I also hid the body, otherwise those people could know where the suspicious case happened through the police records." He said.

Lynn didn't speak, and listened to him continue.The barriers were gone, and they talked about it as if they were talking about the menu for dinner.

"I have to be very careful, Lynn. I can't be found by them. I have Christine. I can't take any chances. The world is too dangerous, and I have to raise her to be safe," said Arthur. .

Another nosebleed oozes, and he holds a tissue to his nose.

"This blood...was that guy from just now?" Lynn said, "What did he do?"

"No, no, what he's doing is just a show of strength, trying to get people to obey him. Compared to this..." Arthur said, blood quickly soaked the tissue in his hand, "It's not worth mentioning."

"So what's going on with you!?" Lynn said.

Arthur was silent for a while, as if thinking about how to explain this to him clearly.

"That kind of power is dangerous, as you've seen with what happened to Caviezel," he said. "It's like a drug that drives you crazy. It takes your soul out. Drugs make you think you're omnipotent, And that power really makes you omnipotent."

Lynn thought of Caviezel, that dark thing swarming out of him through channels of anger.

"But the real power is not those things at all, tearing up cars and choking people's necks. The real power is willpower, sobriety and self-control. Weak souls never understand these things." Arthur said, with a sneer on his face, Wipe off any blood that bleeds.

"I was like this because I used power," he said. "I was driving without looking at the road, my mind was in a mess, and I hit the tanker. And then I just tore it like a cake."

"But if you don't tear it open, it's going to explode in the center of town," Lynn said.

"Don't you understand? I'm out of control," Arthur said, "and I can't get out of control. I've put a 'seal' on my childish desires, and if I'm stupid it will destroy me. Good plans need constraints. "

Lynn glared at him. If a person with such power decides not to use it again, it is undoubtedly a good thing for ordinary citizens.But he thought, what kind of control freak is this.

Fortunately, what he decided to control was to come to the small town to live a peaceful life.Spend time on cooking or medical papers.

Someone came and knocked on the window, Arthur opened the car window, Ethan - a town police officer - was bending over, saw Lynn, said in surprise, "Sir."

The driveway outside was in chaos, oil was spilled everywhere, the wreckage of the oil tanker lay across the road like the corpse of a giant beast, the surrounding area had been blocked off, and there was noise and horn honking.

"How's it going?" Lynn asked.

"No one was hurt, but there will be a traffic disruption for a while," Ethan said. "My God, are you hurt, Mr. Arthur?"

"It's okay. I've been staying up late lately, and I'm a little prone to nosebleeds." Arthur said, throwing away the blood-stained tissue. "We're going to the parent-teacher meeting, and it's getting late. Do you have a car available for the time being?"

Ethan smiled and said, "Of course, we have several police cars on duty, and I can take you there, sir," he said to Lynn.

Lynn smiled at him, and the two of them got out of the car, a little embarrassed, and took the police van to the parent-teacher conference.

Anyway, I'm not late.

In the evening, Chrissy and Christine were working on a very complicated science class project, which was to be included in the science fair next month, and they were working hard, looking like they wanted to come up with something amazing.

Arthur sat in the living room reading a book, occasionally answering some of Christine's questions, mostly providing some bibliography.

There are books everywhere in his house, most of them are difficult tomes, at least he is quite qualified to be a teacher.

Living together these days also let Lynn know that Christine actually doesn't go to school very often—except for some handicrafts, sports, music and other courses, and interest group things.Arthur felt that she needed to be more social with her peers - there were no science or language courses there to meet her needs, and her studies were mainly completed at home with Arthur's tutoring.

Because they are always hanging out together, Chris also completes these courses and experiments together.

In the past, none of her previous teachers said she was smart—only that she was very good—now Lynn found her incredibly smart, and once she told him a lot of characters in "Moby Dick", he I remember it was something in my middle school reading course.

I really don't know how no one ever found out before.

He was sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea in front of him and snacks on the table, while Arthur sat across from him reading a book, waiting for the two children to finish.It seems that they have to wait a while, and now it is more and more natural for the two of them to procrastinate, it seems that it is unreasonable for fathers to separate.

And I'm used to it, Lynn thought, to the food at Arthur's, the snacks, the clothes, the tie or the razor he bought him.

He dug out a police file from his briefcase and put it in front of Arthur.

Arthur removed the book and looked at the file.Lynn said, "The fuel tanker was over-aged and disintegrated automatically. The wreckage has entered the scrapyard and was crushed at 05:30 this afternoon."

Arthur put the book down and looked up at Lynn.

"This one," Lynn said, "is the inquiry record left when you killed the pursuer."

He put it in front of Arthur, too, on top of the other file. "No one will find out about anything, your life is safe," he said.

Arthur picked up the file without opening it.

Rubbing the vellum cover, he said softly, "I'm sorry for being so out of control this afternoon. I feel bad for doing something like that."

"I can understand the loss of control," Lynn said.

"I almost ruined everything," Arthur said, looking up at him with eyes that seemed to suck you in. "I was thinking about leaving Oaks, and I didn't want to. We had a hard time settling down and finding a way to live. I love it here, and the thought of moving makes me upset."

Lynn felt nervous, and he didn't know why, maybe he wasn't used to staring so closely at a man.

He avoided his gaze, stared at his fingers, and said, "You don't need to leave. Chris also likes Christine, and we communicate well. I think it's good that this relationship can last forever." of."

"Yes," said Arthur, putting the file down.

"It's a lie to say you're not curious about something," Lynn said, but you can tell me when you want, and if you don't, then you don't.I was a police officer for many years, and most of the time I was a little curious and probably terrible as a companion.But I'm no fool, you saved my life, twice.You're taking a huge risk, I know that.I wasn't very friendly with Caviezel, but I knew that if you hadn't been there, I would have died.You can leave me, just go, and it won't do you any harm. "

"Those were my job a long time ago," Arthur said, "I don't do it now, but I don't want them running around town, it's too dangerous. And you killed it, it helped me a lot .”

"You said I killed it?" Lynn said. "It was in the attic and I thought it was you..."

"I just closed it. You put seven bullets in there, officer, and I thought you knew that," Arthur said. "I've never seen a policeman shoot black eaters so well."

"Black Eater?"

"It's just a name," Arthur said, glancing at his watch. He dug out a bottle of medicine from his pocket, poured out three pills, and swallowed it.The name of the bottle said it was aspirin, but Lynn knew it wasn't, and he had never seen Arthur take it in front of him before.

He is a man who keeps his private life very well.

But now, he knew he had even more access.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Some suppressive drugs," Arthur said. "Something in my body needs drug suppression. I've been taking it for years. As long as I don't use the force, it's fine."

"Is this what keeps you nosebleed?" Lynn said.

"It conflicts with the forces in my body," Arthur said. "If I don't use it, it's fine. If I use it, the drug will kill me."

"Is it worth the risk?" Lynn said.

Arthur was silent for a while, "The organization I am in is called the Death Knights, and it is responsible for cleaning up some dangerous elements in terms of strength. The cleaning objects are similar to what you saw when you were a policeman-some people always want more, and a little It doesn't matter if other people are dead or alive, and then they do something dangerous," he said.

"Like Caviezel?" Lynn said.

"Like Caviezel," Arthur said. "I'm also a black eater—a dark eater. The Death Knights are a killer organization that advocates using darkness to suppress darkness, but they are no different from those lunatics. The same hunting, the same cold blood, and the same mutation."

"You're mutated, too?" Lynn said.

The other gave him a pointed look. "Yes, I have it too," said Arthur, "it's just that I can't see it now."

"So when you first came, your organization sent people after you..." Lynn said, and Arthur's nose began to ooze blood again, and he took a tissue and wiped the blood away.

"Are you sure that the medicine is really okay? You also bled once during the parent meeting. I think you should go to the hospital for a blood transfusion. Your hands have been shaking—" Lynn said.

"Just off the pill," Arthur said. "There's always a price to be paid to throwing away an identity and a way of life that you've had for nearly your entire life. I'm fine, you know, I'm a doctor."

He clasped his hands together, trying to stop the shaking. This kind of loss of control must be uncomfortable, especially for someone with such a strong control like him, Lynn understands this feeling.

It's not the light-hearted withdrawal of an addict, or the game-like seclusion in a small town, but a sober determination to pay a huge price.

"The black eaters gain power by devouring each other," said Arthur, clasping his hands. "Then the Rolls-Royce went hunting nearby and wanted more power so it could hold everything again. Tsk tsk, really." Can't believe there are so many idiots in the world."

He shook his head, "I always say those guys can't shoot hard or hard, because that's what idiots are, they don't know how to control their power, they just want others to obey. But so do I. It's a shame to tear apart a tanker gone."

The phone rang briskly—it sounded like Christine had chosen it for him—and he pulled it out, looking down at the text message.

"Christine asked you if you wanted to stay over tonight," he said. "She's sure she accidentally put some alcohol in your evening juice, and people who drink alcohol are not fit to drive, especially the police. A role model citizen. She and Chrissy have packed the guest room, and they've made sure it has all the clothes and toiletries you'll need."

Lynn pressed her forehead, "Oh my God."

Arthur raised his eyebrows, "Traffic safety is indeed very important."

Lynn laughed. "Exactly, especially since we've had a car accident today," he said.

He looked down at the text message, and Lynn saw him type a short "yes." He was about to say that he didn't need to drive at all when he got home, but swallowed it back.

As soon as Arthur put the phone back, a text message popped up again. This is really strange how the father and daughter communicate.

Arthur looked at the text message and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Lynn said.

"She asked if we'd get married," Arthur said.Then he deftly texted back, this time with a short "no."

"I don't know what they're thinking," said Lynn, whose heart beat faster when Arthur said they were getting married.

"They want a sense of security, and family is often the source of that security," Arthur said, putting his phone back in his pocket while picking up a piece of paper to wipe his nosebleeds.For the first time Lynn saw him like this in front of her, the unstable, bad and private parts of his life.

"That guy looks scary, but he's not scary at all." Arthur said, seeing what he was thinking, "It's just that when I saw him coming, I was thinking about the possible developments in my mind, and then about The details of the move are killing me."

"Now you don't need to move," Lynn said.

"Thank goodness, I really don't want to move," said the person across the way, "although I didn't expect much from Oaktown when I came, it's just a boring town, and like all small towns, you have to live for it." Terrible price to pay. It's also really boring, I just didn't expect to encounter..."

He put the files in his hand on the table, "These." He said, not sure if it was an illusion, his voice was soft.

Conversations about those hidden powers are now suddenly unimportant.

"You know, I didn't move here voluntarily," Lynn said. "'For Chrissy's sake' was what my boss at the time said. He just wanted to get rid of me. I was found to have a serious neurosis. I can't even hold a gun, but because I'm a hero in the police department, they don't want to fire me, so they just want to send me to some small place where I will never see the light again, Oak Town is such a victim."

He shook his head, "At that time, I just wanted to stay in the bureau, soaked in a bunch of murder cases, the best thing to do until I die. I didn't expect Chris, she would not have any good results with me. It was better for her upbringing at Grandma's house. I hated them when they sent me here, and when I got here, I didn't know what to do with my life."

"You've been a terrible father, I can't believe there's no one in the world who can't heat milk," Arthur said.

"You weren't hot two years ago, Christine said you couldn't tell the difference between salt and sugar," Lynn said.

"I thought they looked the same at the time, how could you tell just by looking at them," Arthur said.

My God, Lynn thought, this person who went from the first item in the cookbook to the last item in a leisurely manner, would say such a thing, what kind of Arthur was two years ago, he couldn't help it. imagine.

Maybe because all he knows about him is what he does at home cooking, reading, doing crossword puzzles, or helping his daughter with her homework.How can a person change himself so completely?

"You know what," he said, "on the way to Oaks, I parked for a while, looked at my gun, and thought if I died, Chris' custody would go back to her grandma, I don't have to face life anymore."

Arthur gave him a surprised look.

"That didn't occur to me," he said. "When I came to town, you looked good, and the sheriff was so good you'd want to kill you."

"Thanks for the compliment," Lynn said.

Arthur stared at him, and Lynn said, "It's true, thanks for the compliment, I'm used to having a bunch of people trying to kill me, and I haven't had the honor of being in Oaktown for a long time."

Arthur laughed. "Everyone wants to have dinner with you, chat, sleep, gardening and parenting, and it's never easy to get used to."

"You're far worse off than I am," Lynn said.

"True," said Arthur, "I never knew it took so much energy to do nothing. But having you here makes my life a lot easier."

This made Lin En speechless for a while. At the beginning, he thought it was an adversary relationship, but it might actually be the opposite.They met each other, as if one had found the other, the sword was sharpened again and unsheathed, feeling that it fit with something very well, the excitement was unspeakable.