Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 181. 181. Dinner

Ever since Jane moved into the ancestral house.

In addition to maintaining daily training and meditation, Dean also has a job as a part-time teacher. During the day, she will give her some common sense of life, or guide some basic body coordination training: such as balance ability, walking on tiptoes in a straight line, rhythm sense Easy gymnastics.

In the evenings he and Hope accompanied Jane on bicycles around the nearby forest, sometimes racing for fun little prizes.

Life is peaceful and peaceful.

Not long ago, the attributes obtained by Dean killing three superpowers have been completely consolidated, and the auditory hallucinations have completely disappeared. The progress of the incident is gratifying, and it is more than [-]% certain.

Dean was pretty normal, but Sergeant Hope changed someone directly, he stopped going to the bar to pick up girls, he smoked less, and went to the ancestral house after work,
"Jane, what do you want to eat today?" became his mantra.

He prepared all kinds of delicacies in different ways, and with Dean's reminder, he drove to the downtown area of ​​Nanwan, and quietly bought some girl's skirts, small clothes, teddy bears and Barbie dolls for Jane.

In the past few days, Hope's rough face is filled with a fatherly smile, and his mental state has changed from a decadent older bachelor to a vigorous dad.

"Jie Jian is a normal girl, so I directly entrusted her relationship to adopt her and let her enroll in Hawkins." Hope had mentioned it to Dean twice.

But they all know it's just fantasy.

……

It's not just the two adults who have changed.

Playing without stress every day, enjoying a childhood she had never experienced before, Jane finally began to regain her lively nature as a child.

No longer nodding like a gourd, she began to greet the two of them actively. Hope and Dean shouted, speaking more frequently than when they came, and speaking more fluently and naturally.

Her trust in the two of them is growing day by day, although she still has a little bit of wariness and keeps silent about her mastering superpowers,

But Dean felt the time was coming.

……

Before that, early August evening.

Ms. Catherine, who sells ice cream in the mall, contacts Dean and invites her to her home for dinner.

In the evening, Hope would take care of Jane at home, so Dean agreed to come down, put on a neat black suit, brought a bottle of red wine, and rushed to 20 Elm Street.

"Bang, bang..."

"crunch-"

"Welcome, you are very handsome today." Catherine warmly hugged the visitor, her moist lip gloss sparkling under the light.She is wearing an elegant black dress today, showing her graceful curves just right, but not too revealing, with a slightly mature temperament.

"The dress is beautiful, Catherine." Dean handed the gift to the lady and followed her through the door.

……

The interior of Catherine's house is not luxurious, but the arrangement of tables, chairs, lighting, and murals is very particular, showing the simplicity and sophistication of a professional woman.

Sitting around the sofa in the living room are a few young guests in their 30s. They are well-dressed and should be rich people in the town.

"Audrey, Marty, Regin, Jasmine, Tina... My old classmates when I was studying in Hawkins Town Middle School... This is Dean, a young and promising private detective I met in Las Vegas." Catherine Said, "You guys chat first, I'll bring the dishes."

"I'll help." Another slender lady followed.

"Private detective, what a coincidence." A fat man by the sofa got up and shook hands with Dean. "My Kelly has been flirting with Wilde on Maple Street next door recently. I suspect there is something abnormal between them. Can Mr. Detective check it out for me?"

Dean nodded seriously, "For Catherine's sake, I'll give you a [-]% discount, one thousand knives, and I promise to stop your wife's cheating before she becomes pregnant."

The fat man's face froze, and the corner of his mouth curled up in a subtle arc,

"You misunderstood, Kelly is not my wife, she is my family's big golden retriever!"

"I don't know which love breed made her pregnant multiple times. As a result, the number of dogs in my family has skyrocketed to fifteen now, and they are almost eating me out of business. I can't bear to sterilize Kelly."

The slightly chubby man told Dean his true thoughts, "Dear new friend, are you interested in adopting a cute little one to help me share the pressure like other handsome men and beauties here?"

"Sorry, I have a nickname 'Dog Sees Sorrow'," Dean shrugged regretfully, "I really have no fate with pets."

……

"Everyone, it's dinner time!"

Catherine, wearing a pair of wide insulated gloves, entered the dining room with a steaming pot and put it on the table.

Everyone sat down and enjoyed the food, which were typical home cooking dishes: tomato stewed rice, fried pork tenderloin, assorted pizza, veal steak...

Dean tasted a spoonful of tomato stew with rich soup, and a mixture of garlic, bell pepper, celery, onion, shrimp and crayfish burst into his mouth instantly, while the spicy soup stimulated his tongue, making him The appetite was whetted, and the mouth kept opening and closing.

Seeing this, Catherine burst into laughter, and poured him a glass of red wine thoughtfully,
"Old classmate, I haven't seen you in ten years. Not only have you become more beautiful, but your cooking skills have also risen sharply. This skill is no worse than Bob who owns a restaurant in the town." Fatty Regin tasted the steak with an amazed expression on his face. "I don't know which illegitimate son of God will be lucky enough to marry you in the future and eat the meals you cook every day."

"Don't dream, you are already married, there is no chance." The black-haired Audrey brandished a table knife, hitting the men present unceremoniously,

"Why is there no chance? If Catherine is willing to marry me," another thin and gentle man with glasses patted his chest, "I'll go home and ask Heather for a divorce!"

"You don't want your third leg anymore?" Jasmin shook her head disdainfully,

……

This group of old classmates reminisced about the past.

As an outsider, Dean is mainly responsible for eating and listening with his belly open.

"Katherine won the Hawkins Middle School Halloween Prom Queen for three consecutive times, breaking the record once set by Joyce Byers." Audrey said with a smile, "But do you remember, she never handed in had a boyfriend."

"Why?" Dean gnawed on the crab claws, inserted his mouth,
"Catherine is a beautiful girl who is as rare as a diamond, kind, excellent in grades, and enthusiastic about public welfare activities. She also wants to be admitted to a prestigious university and develop in a big city, so she not only quit cigarettes, alcohol, weeds, but also men. Also quit, and rejected countless suitors."

"Don't make me sound like an old maid." Catherine brushed her hair around her ear, handed a piece of pizza to Audrey's mouth,

"Then you have been working in Las Vegas for so many years, how many boyfriends have you had?" the red-haired girl Tina asked gossipingly, "Could it be possible that you have been single all the time?"

"That's not important. The important thing is that I understand a truth. No matter how prosperous the big city is, no matter how many handsome men and rich people there are, it doesn't matter to me." Catherine sipped her red wine, recalling her struggle experience in Las Vegas , smiled with emotion, "Our hometown is the final destination!"

"Haha, you're right." Fatty Regin loosened his belt and raised his red wine glass, "Let's toast the beautiful Hawkins together."

"To Hawkins!"

Boom!

Everyone raised their glasses,
……

"I remember the spring break of the ninth grade." Jasmine ate a steak, and looked at everyone, "Everyone went swimming in the river near the quarry...an accident happened."

The thin man patted his bulging belly, "Catherine accidentally drowned."

"Not only that," Audrey added, "heartbeat stopped for twelve minutes, everyone was terrified..."

"Twelve minutes of cardiac arrest, are you sure?" Dean's eyes flashed a hint of surprise. He received first aid training when he was a LVPD volunteer. Generally, this kind of situation cannot be rescued after more than 8 minutes.

A group of people nodded firmly.

"Thankfully, artificial respiration and cardiopulmonary resuscitation with weak wrists finally brought her back to life," Tina said happily. "When the doctors checked, they said it was a medical miracle."

Dean looked at Catherine curiously,

"Did you feel it in that heart-stopping state? Did you dimly see a green forest?"

Her rosy cheeks turned pale, and she forced a smile,
"I didn't see the forest, but I heard a certain sound, but it was too long ago to remember."

"Okay, everyone, let's end this scary topic." Regin looked at the hostess, "You won't leave when you return to Hawkins this time?"

"Well, I'm not leaving."

"If there is any trouble after that, don't forget our group of old friends, we still have a little relationship in the town."

"I'm not welcome," Catherine glanced around, took out a bunch of business cards from the box behind her and handed them out one by one, especially focusing on Dean, "I'll report to the Hawkins newspaper the day after tomorrow, if anyone gets any major news If you have any clues, contact me immediately."

Everyone looked at the business card and looked at each other, then laughed,
"Ten years gone, our prom queen is as down-to-earth as ever."

……

After eating a meal until late at night, everyone had a great time, and made an appointment to call the family to have another reunion after a while.

When Catherine ushered everyone out of the house, Dean was about to drive away. God's perspective swept and accidentally found a man standing under the elm tree on the other side of the road, but he also noticed Dean's gaze and limped away.

"Catherine, do you know him?"

Dean called the woman to the car window and asked, the woman nodded after a moment of pondering,

"It was the gentleman who helped deal with hooligans at the mall last time. I met him a few times around the neighborhood and invited him to dinner tonight, but he ran away... well, he's a bit introverted and shy, but he's kind of nice guy?"

"Really..." Dean was thoughtful. This was probably a crush who was attracted by Catherine's beauty. "Aren't you worried about living alone?"

"Don't worry, I have been tempered in Las Vegas." Catherine took out a wolf spray from the shawl women's suit with a smile, and shook it in her white palm, "There are still guns in the room." .”

"I suggest you install another monitor, just in case." Dean said, waving goodbye, "Let's go, call me if you have any questions."

"See you next time, Dean!"

……

After this dinner, Dean's life returned to normal again.

He took the time to go to the Hawkins laboratory to inquire twice, and the building was cordoned off a mile away, and several new radar devices were visibly added to the naked eye, making it impossible to fly in at night.

He also wandered around Catherine's house on Elm Street a few times, and he was relieved to see that everything was normal.

……

Jane stayed in the ancestral house for half a month. In mid-August, she became more familiar with the two and began to make more demands.

"Alice can make friends not only with rabbits and cats, but also with my dear mother. When I can find my mother, I can't remember what she looks like."

Dean glanced at the system, the progress of the bird in the cage has reached 70.00% five, and it is increasing every day.

Keep Jian Zang for another half a month to get the reward.

"20 days, Jane, as long as you stay at home for 20 days... I will help you find your mother. I promise you."

"I believe in you," Jane gritted her teeth and nodded,

"That's right, let's have some apple pie, it's still hot out of the oven." Dean touched her little face,

"I have no appetite."

"Then aerobics?"

Jane shook her head, squeezed her fist, and took a deep breath, as if mustering up a lot of courage,
"Dean, show me the picture."

"What picture?"

"Your missing parents, the photos of Lena and Guangming..." Jane said, "You have done so much for me and promised to help me find my mother. I also want to help you fulfill your wish and find them!"

Dean's spirits lifted!
Sensible girl, so many days of painstaking efforts were not in vain!

……

The two sat at the table.

Jane picked up the photo and focused on Lu Guangming's thick eyebrows and big eyes, Lena's charming and heroic spirit, hair, clothing, and every detail.

"What are you going to do?" Dean wiped the sweat off her face with a towel,

"Dad taught me some small abilities," Jane carefully observed Dean's face, "I can find people by their photos and names."

"Superpowers?"

"The people in the lab used to say it was the sixth sense and remote psychic." Jane pursed her lips and looked at Dean with some anxiety.

"It's really cool." Dean praised sincerely, without any rejection, "Can you tell me about the specific process of finding someone?"

Jane patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief, staring at the photo,

"Well... I just want to find them in my heart... and then close my eyes, I can enter a dark place, darker than a small black room, but the person I'm looking for will emit a faint white light there."

"There are people there, even monsters. I can see their general location, environment, house, house number, street signs, and then find them."

Jane's description was very specific, and Dean couldn't help but frown,

Going into a black place, is this really a sixth sense?

"Dad said, the black place is in my head. What I see and hear in it are all visions that happened in other places, past or present...but not what hasn't happened yet."

"Okay, let's call this black place the 'black area of ​​the mind' for the time being," Dean defined it on his own initiative, "What preparations do you need to do?"

"Tell me about Lena and Guangming again, your impression of them, the more detailed you tell, the more likely I will find them."

"No problem," Dean took a sip of the juice, leaned back on the chair, his eyes flashed memories, "They met in Las Vegas..."

It took Dean 15 minutes to tell Jane about the memories of his parents in his mind.

At a certain moment, his words stopped abruptly.

The girl in front of her closed her eyes, her face as calm as a deep sleep.This week, she supplemented with adequate nutrition, and her little face had a healthy tinge of blood.

But at this time, the petite body exudes a cloud-like ethereal temperament.

She just sat there, like a black hole, swallowing all the light and even the eyes around her.

sizzle.

A strong magnetic field surged in the space, and the lights in the living room flickered unsteadily.

Dean opened God's perspective to observe——

The changing lights cast eerie silhouettes on the girl's childish face.

A few drops of black and red nosebleed silently flowed down her nose to her upper lip.

Click!

The lights dimmed completely.

in the dark.

The eyeballs under Jane's eyelids moved quickly from side to side, as if entering the rapid eye movement period of sleep, and the sound of her breathing became indistinct.

Dean held his breath.

The darkness lasted only half a minute, and when the lights came on, they returned to the living room.

And Jane opened her eyes, stared at Dean and said sadly,

"Sorry, I couldn't find them, they're not around."

Her shoulders shrugged, very sad and self-blaming, like a little pink flower swaying in the cold wind.

There was silence in the living room,
"Have Lena and Guangming been found?" Dean asked,

"I've tried everything, but I can't see anything." Jane's eyes flushed with guilt.

Dean sighed inwardly, picked up a napkin and gently wiped the nosebleed off her face, then rubbed her little head again, "Don't be sad, it's not your fault, you've tried your best."

"If it doesn't work this time, it means that the time has not come. It doesn't matter if you look for it later."

……

Jane lowered her head, stared at the photo for two seconds, then took a deep breath suddenly,

"Wait, Dean, maybe there's another way to find someone for you."

"any solution?"

"Bathtub..." Jane gritted her teeth, "When I soak my brain in the bathtub, the sea-black area will expand, and I can see things that I couldn't see before, and find people who are far away."

"Bathtub?" Dean was puzzled, and then his eyes lit up, and he took Jane's little hand, "You mean the big round metal ball in the Hawkins laboratory, the sensory deprivation sink?"

"Well, that's it!"

(End of this chapter)