The real life of an American police officer: Winning over others with virtue

Chapter 194 The Mission and the Boys

Eric prepared this luxury two-seater campervan with the intention of enjoying himself.

He would not be intimidated or give up his enjoyment of the beautiful scenery simply because the place was remote or because the country he was in was full of demons and monsters.

Yes, he wouldn't do that.

Importantly, with the Staccato 2011 P pistol at his waist giving him a strong sense of security, Eric was even less likely to feel intimidated by the fear of someone seeing what was happening.

Gods come, kill gods; ghosts come, kill ghosts. That's all.

So Eric pressed a few buttons at the back of the car.

A slight hum of the motor began, and the huge awning that had been prepared on the side of the RV stretched out smoothly like the wings of a giant bird, instantly casting a comfortable shaded area at the junction of the beach and the grass.

Immediately afterwards, a soft click of a latch being released and a faint hiss of hydraulic pressure came from the side of the vehicle. A thick side panel of the vehicle slowly slid outward, making the space in that area visibly double in size.

This scene caught the attention of Tifa, who was already running on the small beach. Tifa grinned and ran back.

She decided to be a carefree woman today, stop thinking about other things, and just enjoy the present moment.

"Honey! I'm coming!"

She called out and started setting up a folding table and camping chairs herself, even laying out a brightly colored tablecloth, and placing some decorative items, such as a portable Bluetooth speaker and a picnic basket, on the table under the awning.

Girls definitely prefer decorating these things.

Eric smiled and shook his head, then operated the control button on the roof. A click came from the roof as the support structure extended, and a sturdy rooftop tent rose and secured itself like a mushroom, adding extra sleeping space.

These were all additional devices he installed, which cost some money, but in short, he didn't even spend a quarter of the compensation he received from Delta Airlines.

So what he prepared was not just these things, but since it was still bright today, it wasn't the right time yet.

Eric stopped there for now and wanted to get back into the car to tinker with something, but Tifa's words made him stop.

"Honey, do you see that couple across the street? Were they the same couple we met at the coffee shop?"

Eric paused for a moment, then looked across the lake as Tifa had indicated.

The lake was large, but it did not exceed the limits of human vision. He could clearly see a man and a woman on the opposite side of the lake.

His eyesight was better than Tifa's, so he could see more clearly that the man and woman were the couple, and they looked quite surprised as they looked this way.

"Indeed, it's quite a coincidence."

But Eric found the woman in the floral dress's expression strange, because when she saw them, she didn't look surprised, but rather delighted, quite delighted.

It gives the impression that it's great that they're here.

"What the hell?" Eric raised an eyebrow, tilted his head, and didn't understand for a moment, but still said.

"It's them, but it's normal to be going the same way, nothing unusual." After saying that, he got into the car.

Tifa watched Eric disappear into the car, then looked across the lake and suddenly saw the woman waving in their direction. Though surprised, she raised her hand in acknowledgment before continuing with her work.

-

Diagonally opposite the lake.

"You like them a lot?" Steve asked, turning to look at Jenny who was suddenly waving at him.

For some reason, he could sense that his girlfriend's mood had suddenly improved, almost like a complete 180-degree turn.

“They at least helped us at the coffee shop, didn’t they?” Jenny laughed. When she saw the couple there, she suddenly felt that the unsettling town and the painting from earlier didn’t seem so bad anymore.

Steve opened his mouth, wanting to talk about the coffee shop incident—that the two people had also offended the couple—but seeing Jenny's expression, he finally spoke up.

"You're right."

As he spoke, he paused, glanced over there, then looked at the large and small bags in his hands, and said.

"They were so well prepared."

Jenny saw through her boyfriend's thoughts and leaned closer, smiling, "It's okay, I like you the way you are."

Steve smiled and said, "Come on, shall we start setting it up?"

Jenny pursed her lips and hesitated, "That place seems pretty nice, shall we go there too?"

Steve paused, thinking that with such a stark contrast, going there would mean being brutally tortured.

Jenny noticed a fleeting hesitation in her boyfriend's eyes, then shook her head and said, "It's okay, it's fine here too. I just think it's more lively with more people around."

Steve took a deep breath, recalling the journey so far, and pretended to glance over here before smiling slightly. "This place is indeed not as good as that one, so let's go there. But we need to ask their opinion first. It's a first-come, first-served principle. I'm worried that we might affect them."

Jenny's eyes widened, her expression brightening. She kissed Steve on the cheek and said, "Let me ask!"

Steve looked at the excited Jenny with a helpless yet doting expression. Suddenly, he sensed something was amiss and realized what it was.

Recalling Jenny's change in expression when she saw the painting, he suddenly had an idea: his girlfriend must be afraid of something, so she needed to stay with that couple who seemed to work for the FBI to feel safe; otherwise, she wouldn't have acted this way.

Before he could think further, Jenny's shout interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey!"

Jenny waved to the other side and called out, "Can we come over?"

Steve shrugged, looking helpless and admitting defeat.

Tifa was stunned. Was this girl really that outgoing? According to her profile, this girl should have been the introverted type.

She instinctively looked at Eric, who was getting out of the car and standing on the car door steps.

Eric recalled the woman in the floral dress's unusual behavior and calmly said, "I think there's something going on with that woman, but the decision is yours. I'll always be on your side."

Upon hearing this, Tifa smiled and looked across the lake, calling out, "This place is so big, it can hold many people."

As she spoke, she nodded in response and called out, "Okay."

Upon receiving the response, Jenny became even more excited. She immediately gave Steve a look and took the lead in going around to them.

With things having come to this, Steve had no choice but to obediently follow Jenny and walk over.

Suddenly, a rather rudimentary campsite appeared just a dozen meters away from the RV.

A couple who don't know each other, a tent, a rather simple folding table and camping chairs, and a blanket spread on the beach.

The two even changed into clothes, such as swimsuits.

A clear contrast exists between the two.

-

But compared to Eric and Tifa's indifference, the stranger couple clearly showed a strong desire to get to know them.

Tifa, who was temporarily resting and enjoying camping in a camping chair, looked over there, then turned her gaze back to Eric, who was sitting beside her enjoying a moment of peace.

“Honey, you’re right. That woman is definitely suspicious. She seems to have something she wants to tell us.” Eric said calmly, “Because you pulled out that FBI badge, she sees you as someone she can trust here.”

Eric was speaking while also observing the other side out of the corner of his eye. He didn't say anything, but even Tifa was a core member of the BAU, so how could the strange behavior of the woman in the floral dress have escaped their notice?

“You said they should have come from the main road that goes through Ravenbrook. Could there be something wrong with this town?” Tifa said.

Eric frowned slightly: "The only change is that small town."

Tifa agreed with this statement, picked up her notebook from the folding table, and began to check the information files that she had downloaded in advance in case of no signal.

Eric glanced at it and knew that Tifa was already researching the town of Ravenbrook. A hint of admiration flashed in his eyes.

His woman could never be a fool.

On the contrary, they are even overly clever and very cautious.

Perhaps the reason he could accept Tifa as his woman was because the two of them were so similar in some ways.

Once an anomaly is discovered, an investigation is launched, leaving no stone unturned and never being careless.

He deeply agrees with a saying by a great man from his past life: "Despise the enemy strategically, but take the enemy seriously tactically."

Before long, Tifa provided a lot of information about Ravenbrook: "The FBI doesn't have much in their database."

Satellite images have low resolution and high vegetation coverage, making it difficult to obtain geographical details.

The population was stable at around 100 people in the basic data of the state-level census, but the data update was obviously too far behind.

A state troop crossing the border reported that residents were somewhat distant but no conflicts occurred, and the town was old but clean.

Only a few anonymous reports and unverified tips remain, involving strange gathering sounds, unwelcome outsiders, and children's education issues, but lack concrete evidence and traceable sources.

There is almost no trace of resident activity on social media, and phone records show that calls are primarily local with very few long-distance calls.

As they listened, Eric and Tifa looked up and their eyes met.

The two quickly came to a conclusion: there seemed to be something wrong with this town.

Because, assuming there are problems in the town, this information demonstrates a high degree of community isolation and information blocking capabilities.

The residents' behavior patterns conform to the characteristics of a typical isolated community, that is, they are wary of the outside world and have strong internal cohesion.

The unusually low level of economic activity suggests a possible reliance on informal or covert economic activities; yet, people in this small town are out driving long distances.

This is contradictory.

Tifa closed her notebook and said, "Should we call them over?"

Eric narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head: "Let's invite them over again tonight to meet them."

After a pause, Eric glanced over there and said, "The atmosphere is better at night."

Tifa nodded.

But then she noticed that Eric was looking in that direction, so she followed his gaze.

They discovered that a group of boys, roughly sixteen or seventeen years old, had appeared over there sometime during the night.

They must be children from the nearby town of Yaxi.

They suddenly emerged from the woods and gathered around the couple, accompanied by a Ronave that wasn't on a leash.

Tifa frowned slightly. The Rottweiler was not a pet dog, but a fierce and vicious dog, which was being led around without a leash.

That wasn't all; these boys even brought out a speaker and started playing music very loudly.

Even those crude rap songs, almost every line is filled with profanity.

This means that these boys lack the necessary civilized manners.

She glanced at Eric instinctively, only to find that her man had suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Tifa raised an eyebrow slightly. She knew exactly what her man's expression meant; it was the look he would show once he began to understand some things and had a clearer picture in his mind.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with those boys?" Tifa asked curiously.

Eric withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "There's a problem, of course there's a problem. You can see what kind of people their parents are from them."

Tifa tentatively asked, "Darling, is there anything else?"

Eric smiled and reached out to stroke Tifa's slightly furrowed brows: "I'll tell you after I've sorted things out."

Tifa said, "Okay."

Despite this, what she didn't know was that when the group of boys appeared, a mechanical voice inexplicably sounded in Eric's mind.

Surprisingly, the mission was triggered immediately after these boys appeared.

[Trigger Task]
[Resolve the sins lurking in the darkness of this place]
[Completion Reward: +0.5]
[]
This left Eric feeling helpless. He had learned that as long as he was still a police officer, the system would not stop after he got off work; there would still be opportunities to trigger missions even after he left work.

This time, the mission was triggered again, which gave him a feeling that the system was less based on the detective game from his previous life and more like a justice system.

So now, based on the mission's hints, he can determine that these boys and the town called Ravenbrook have a problem, but he doesn't know where this problem or the so-called evil lies.

What is the connection between this small town and these boys?
Eric was completely baffled, but looking at the couple positioned between them and the group of boys...
Eric knew that if he wanted to know what the problem was, this woman in the floral dress was definitely the key.

And damn it, I finally managed to take my wife on a trip to relax, and something still happened?

“There’s definitely something wrong with the town and those boys,” Eric said calmly.

“We need to ask that woman what problem she must have discovered.”

Tifa shrugged and said, "Honey, is this the result after you've sorted it out?"

“Of course.” Eric smiled, pulled down the back of the chair to turn it into a recliner, and lay down to observe the other side.

"I don't believe nothing's happened over there. Let's wait and see."

Upon hearing this, Tifa glanced over and noticed that their side was quite far away and had not been affected much.

But that couple was different.

Because of their location, that couple was affected in many ways.

Regardless of the rather crude, profanity-laden rap music, or the Ronawe that was vaguely watching them...
At the same time, the man's face showed impatience as he looked at the group of boys.

I recall a scene in a coffee shop where the other person's girlfriend was being harassed, but he endured it because of the size difference between them.

Tifa also felt that the man probably wouldn't endure it for long.

The thought flashed through her mind, and Tifa, just like Eric, turned her chair into a recliner, then pulled it next to him and lay down together, secretly watching the show with Eric and observing what was happening over there.

(End of this chapter)