Chapter 4249

The police officer was stunned for a moment. He looked Kent up and down. Kent hadn't changed his clothes, nor had he tidied himself up properly. He had been rolling and crawling in that basement earlier, getting covered in dust and dirt. Logically speaking, the police station basically wouldn't receive such a person, because this person is very likely a drug addict who is hallucinating from being high. And he wanted to see the sheriff as soon as he came up, which is indeed very strange.

However, Kent is so handsome that his current dusty and dirty appearance has a unique flavor. The only superpower the system cannot sanction is being handsome. The police officer also truly couldn't believe that someone who looks this handsome could be a crazy person who is high.

He opened his mouth, but still didn't say anything. After a pause, he said, "The sheriff went out on patrol; why don't you wait."

"Okay." Kent didn't say anything else either and sat on the chair in the reception hall. The police officer didn't know if he was blinded by lust or blinded by stupidity; he even poured Kent a glass of water and then said, "You have things to hand over to the sheriff; what things are they?"

"Some clues to a case; we had an appointment before." Kent said, "However, before I came, my friend encountered some trouble. The car got stuck in the mud, and we spent a long time getting it out. Otherwise, we wouldn't have missed the agreed time."

The police officer suddenly realized and then said, "So that's how it is. However, I haven't heard that the sheriff had an appointment with anyone."

Kent looked left and right, lowered his voice, and said, "I am a reporter."

The police officer looked at him with some shock, and after looking him over again, said, "You really look like that kind of person from a big city. Where are you from? Los Angeles?"

"I'm from the East Coast; I won't reveal which specific city. You also shouldn't ask too much, otherwise you're just looking for trouble for yourself."

The police officer nodded and walked back to his position. He already believed what Kent said. Mainly, people like Clark Kent really don't look like poor people.

You must know that Kryptonians are invulnerable, so even if he works as a farmer for a lifetime, he won't get a single callus on his hands. Being exposed to the wind and sun in Kansas won't really blow him into a redneck. His skin is delicate and shiny, his hair is black and bright without hair loss, his back is straight, his face is handsome, and his eyes are firm. For ordinary humans, such an appearance requires spending a lot of money and time to maintain. So even if he looks a bit disheveled now, one can still see from these details that he must be pampered.

As for why the sheriff would have an appointment with a reporter from the East Coast, that is not something a small intern police officer like him can ask. However, the more vaguely it is said, the more room there is for imagination. Police meeting reporters is mostly not a good thing; if he asks too much, the one who will be unlucky is himself.

After a while, the sheriff returned. He was stunned after seeing Kent. Kent stood up, took the initiative to walk forward and shake hands with the sheriff, and said, "Hello. I sent you an email before. Regarding the groundwater system, I think we can talk about it again. I have brought everything you wanted. Shall we go to the office to talk in detail?"

The sheriff narrowed his eyes immediately. Kent not only didn't avoid his gaze but also stared tightly at his eyes. The sheriff pursed his lips, and after a long while, finally walked into the police station and said, "Follow me."

Entering the sheriff's office, the sheriff sat down, poured himself a cup of coffee, sighed helplessly, and said, "When that new kid headed toward there, I knew it wasn't a good thing. Tell me, what exactly happened."

Kent paused, but still took a ring out of his bosom and placed it on the sheriff's desk. He keenly captured the moment the sheriff's pupils shrank.

That wasn't any expensive diamond ring, just an ordinary silver ring band. The inside of the ring band was engraved with a surname "Stewart," and the name tag hanging on the left side of the sheriff's uniform was exactly written "Sheriff Stewart."

He stretched out both hands and carefully picked up the ring. Kent could see his fingertips trembling slightly, and his Adam's apple was also moving up and down. But subsequently, as if thinking of something, he threw the ring onto the desktop.

He shook his head, then leaned back and said, "No matter what you want, I can't possibly give it to you. That is not a matter for you or me, do you understand?"

"I certainly understand. However, how are you going to let your new wife accept that you just gave up on her and the child in her belly?"

The sheriff suddenly clenched his fists. He raised his head and stared fixedly at Kent. Kent nodded and said, "She was pregnant. But the child didn't get to be born. Both of your child and her died together in a dark and damp basement. I can't see the cause of death; I only know that all four of her limbs were broken, and there was a deep wound on the child's skull..."

"Enough!" The sheriff stood up with a jerk and said, "What do you want me to do?! When she went missing, I tried every possible method. But... but..."

He stood in place and took a few heavy breaths, then sat on the desk somewhat powerlessly and said, "I know you might find it hard to believe, but what we are fighting against is not humans, but real devils. They are everywhere. Compared to them, we are too weak and can't do anything."

"I am not here to blame you either." Kent also sighed and said, "I know you are the one who least wants this kind of thing to happen. After all, your new wife and child died there, so you can be considered one of the victims. And that thing is indeed very difficult to deal with; even if you are a sheriff, I'm afraid you can't do much more."

"I came here to find you to tell you two things. First, your wife knows you are very self-blaming. She wants to tell you it's okay. And she entrusted me to bring this ring back. Second, what I need is very little and definitely doesn't exceed your ability range. After I leave, you can completely pretend I never came. Anything that happens afterward has nothing to do with you. How about it?"

The sheriff took a deep breath, placed both hands on the desk, leaned his body forward, looked at Kent, and said, "I know you must be a person from a big city. Coming to our small place, there are too many things you can't stand. You will take action to solve them as much as possible, and you might have helped many people. That gave you a misconception that you can punish evil and promote good. But the matter regarding that town is completely different."

"For so many years, I don't know how many people have entered the town in various names. Just like that new police officer from before. His wife had relatives living in that town, so they went over, and then they never came back."

"At the beginning, I would remind them as much as possible. However, this had no effect at all. Later I understood that if I insisted on my own way, I would inevitably die."

"I admit I am a very cowardly person. My wife and child died in the town, but I couldn't even manage to investigate the truth. I watched so many innocent people disappear in the town, but I didn't dare to make a sound. I don't want to make excuses for myself, but since I was a child, I knew that living in such a small place, there are just too many things one has to follow. If you don't cover your eyes, there will be many things more terrifying than death that will find you. I don't want to become like that."

Kent realized that this sheriff must know many things, only he didn't dare to speak. After thinking for a while, he opened his mouth and said, "You might think what I said before was comforting you. Like your wife forgiving you or something. You don't really believe I met her."

"I believe you found some things in the town." The sheriff looked at his eyes and said, "Perhaps you saw her bones, perhaps you saw the corpses of more people. However, that is not success. Child, your nightmare might have just begun."

Kent didn't say much more to him either and directly took the camera off his neck. The ghost photo taken before had long since disappeared, and the camera had also run out of power; now pressing the switch wouldn't start it at all.

He handed the camera to the sheriff and then said, "Try this."

The sheriff didn't take it; he shook his head and said, "I know you might have taken some photos. But these can't be used as evidence, and they can't be sent out at all. He won't let you succeed..."

"No. I mean let you try using this camera. Pick it up, and then take a photo. You can take a photo of anywhere."

Kent insisted repeatedly, and the sheriff couldn't refuse him, so he had to pick up the camera that looked broken. But magically, the moment he touched the camera, the camera's screen lit up.

The sheriff raised the camera and took a photo of a random place. And just as his eyes left the lens, he saw on the digital screen below, next to the Kent he had photographed, a blurry woman's shadow was staring at him.

"Oh! God!"

With a "pop," the sheriff threw the camera away. He was breathing rapidly, constantly leaning back against the chair, his whole body trembling.

"Now you should understand what I was talking about." Kent said, "You should have also considered that if there are devils in this world, then naturally there will be angels, there will be God. You can't deal with the devils just because you didn't find the right method. Isn't that so?"

The sheriff stayed there and calmed down for a good while before he dared to slowly sit up straight: "God! My heavens... that... that is..."

"Don't be anxious." Kent said, "I forgot to introduce myself. I am a dispatcher at the Westview Emergency Assistance Center. That's right, my office is not far from here. For a period of time, I have been receiving a harassment call at the same time. In the call, there is a woman's voice asking for help, and in the background of this sound, there is a circus advertisement. It was precisely relying on this clue that I located Valley Town. Regarding this matter, do you have any clues?"

The sheriff opened his mouth; subconsciously he still didn't want to speak, but it seemed the scene just now gave him too much stimulation. He frequently looked at the side of Kent's body, perhaps out of guilt, or perhaps out of fear. He sighed and said, "Flying Angel 'Sattian,' the founder of the Kile Circus. Twelve years after the circus was founded, she and her family were found dead in their home located in Valley Town. That was the first vicious homicide case that happened in this town. We call it the 'Valley Town Extermination Case'."