Chapter 49: Naoko's Resolve
Marcus looked at the girl's mutilated right leg. A psycho chasing a disabled person?
What a crazy place!
"Are you sure it's a psychotic man, a human, not some supernatural creature?"
"Yes, yes, it's a man named David Carson. I live in room 204 of the Riverside Inn, and that man lives in room 202. He greeted me a couple of days ago, and we chatted briefly yesterday when we went downstairs."
Hearing this, Marcus realized it was the young man in room 202 who had been straightening the manager's collar the night before.
"Tonight, I went out to throw out the trash and ran into him on my way back. He looked at me with disgust."
"Then, just now, around midnight, he came knocking on my door with a knife, and then tried to pick the lock with something. I was terrified, so I climbed out the back window and hid in the dumpster."
Just now?
That must have been before the white figure ran into Marcus's room, so the girl escaped because of the man in room 202, and the two of them chased each other downstairs!
"This man has been circling around for a while now. He might be coming back. Please take me to the police station, sir."
Police station?
Marcus's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. He had originally planned to go tomorrow.
Anyway, he wasn't sleepy now, and he had nowhere else to go. Checking some information at the local police department would be fine, as long as this woman wasn't afflicted by anything supernatural.
"Which direction is the police station? Let's go!"
Marcus saw the girl struggling to climb out but couldn't manage it. He wondered how she had gotten in in the first place.
He stepped forward and extended his right hand, covered in psychic energy.
The girl placed her slender, pale hand in his. He gently lifted her, and the girl, who was less than five-foot-three, was pulled out.
"Thank you, sir. My name is Naoko Williams. Just call me Naoko," the girl said politely.
"Hmm."
Her hand was quite cold, but it was probably from being frozen, not from anything supernatural.
So she couldn't climb out because she was too cold to move.
Under the cover of night, the streetlights flickered, casting long, thin shadows of the two of them.
The two had walked less than a hundred feet when a disheveled young man sprang from the bushes and blocked their path.
His facial muscles twitched, his breathing was rapid, and he occasionally let out soft gasps. His eyes, filled with madness and agony, were fixed on the girl's legs.
He was about to approach with a knife when he saw Marcus beside her and hurriedly spoke up, saying,
"Sir from Room 203, I'm so sorry to have disturbed you. This is between me and this girl; I hope you won't interfere. I'm truly sorry!"
After his apology, David Carson reverted to his crazed expression, his eyes filled with pain as he stared intently at Naoko's mutilated right leg.
He muttered,
"Symmetry, it must be symmetrical, I can't bear it, I can't bear this incompleteness!"
"I can't bear it—!" Carson roared, bending over and lunging at Naoko's intact left leg with his knife.
Crack!
Marcus kicked the knife out of Carson's hand, crushing two of his fingers, which fell to the ground.
With another kick, Carson was sent rolling backward three times before collapsing weakly to the ground.
Blood trickled from his mouth as he screamed, "Why, why did you stop me?"
"Sir, can you tolerate this asymmetrical deficiency?"
Marcus ignored Carson and turned to Naoko, asking, "You said you spoke with him a few days ago, why didn't he bother you then?"
Naoko now understood why Carson wanted to kill her. She bit her lip, feeling both fear and shame, and said,
"Because I wore a prosthetic leg a few days ago, and today the prosthetic rubbed my knee raw, so I took it off to rest for a couple of days. I didn't expect Mr. Carson to..."
"Then he's got his sights set on you now. Have you thought about how to deal with it?" Marcus asked thoughtfully.
"We...we can hand him over to the police!"
Naoko stammered hesitantly.
She didn't really know what to do!
"Perhaps there are other ways, like this."
Marcus pulled a pistol from his jacket and handed it to Naoko.
"Even if you hand him over to the cops, he'll be out again soon. Can you guarantee he won't come looking for you again?"
"I…"
Naoko saw the pistol Marcus handed her, and fearfully took a half-step back, leaning on her crutch, before quickly stopping.
She glanced at Marcus apologetically; this man had saved her, and she shouldn't have acted this way.
Naoko bit her lip, her expression conflicted.
She knew her body made her different; she feared ridicule and discrimination, feared becoming a burden to her family.
But she also had a strong side, never giving up her love and pursuit of life.
Carson collapsed on the ground, struggling to support himself with his hands, unable to get up. Then he saw the missing fingers on his right hand.
"My fingers, this amputation! No, it has to be symmetrical!"
he screamed in horror at his missing fingers.
Then, abandoning any thought of getting up, he used his last strength to put the corresponding two fingers of his left hand into his mouth, biting and chewing them until they were bloody and mangled. He wanted to bite them off.
Naoko stared in horror at Carson's monstrous actions.
Slowly, a resolute look appeared in her clear eyes. She reached for the pistol and aimed it at Carson.
Ah—! Bang bang bang!
Naoko's scream was accompanied by three gunshots, and Carson lay dead on the ground!
A look of relief appeared on Naoko's face, revealing a unique confidence and resilience.
It wasn't that Marcus wanted to push this girl over the edge, but this world was inherently insane, not only because of various ghosts and monsters, but also because of people—the paranoid and the mad.
If she continued to act helpless, she would hardly survive when Tomie's influence erupted. If you're going to save someone, save them completely.
"Sir, your gun... may I ask your name?"
Naoko handed the gun back to Marcus.
"No need, it's yours. My name is Jake Richardson."
Marcus waved his hand; he had plenty of pistols like this and didn't care about its power now.
"Thank you, Jake!"
Naoko solemnly put the pistol away.
Marcus nodded, walked to Carson's body, and placed his hand on it. The body vanished, and the blood on the road quickly dried.
Naoko stared in disbelief at the scene before her. Was Jake Richardson some kind of supernatural being? Had fate sent someone to save her?
Marcus turned back and saw that the girl showed no fear, but rather even more admiration in her eyes.
What was wrong with the people here?
How could a perfectly healthy girl suddenly become like this? Had he overstimulated her?
"Are we still going to the police station? Or should we go back to the motel?"
Marcus asked, but his body was already walking towards the motel.
Distracted by Carson, he had lost interest in rushing to the police station at night. Who knew what strange things he might encounter on the way? This was the third time already.
As the saying goes, "third time's the charm"—except when it comes to supernatural encounters. He wasn't afraid, but he was definitely annoyed.
Seeing Marcus walk towards the motel, Naoko hurriedly followed, leaning on her crutch. She had only dropped the crutch when she slipped out the window; she was still wearing her pajamas, and it was quite chilly on Maple Street at night.
Marcus arrived at the motel and, starting with the manager's room, began collecting the corpses one by one into the life box—no need to waste anything.
It must be said that this motel was doing very poorly; except for rooms 202, 203, and 204, every other room had one or two corpses.
Naoko, following behind, witnessed the entire process. From the open door of Marcus's room in 203, she saw the ruins inside and guessed what had happened.
(End of Chapter)
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