American Zombie Detective

As the wedding procession approached, Qin Jin tugged at Alessa, and the two quickly moved towards the camp ahead. As zombies, their presence blended seamlessly into the cold atmosphere, failing to attract the attention of the paper bride.

Upon arriving near the campsite, Qin Jin and Alessa hid to the side, waiting for the paper bride and the campers to meet.

Sure enough, just as they reached the closest point to the camp, the entire wedding procession stopped abruptly without warning.

All the paper figures covered in thick white powder turned towards the direction of the campfire, their empty eyes staring blankly at the living people in the camp under the cold lantern light.

At that moment, the camp seemed to be put on pause, and everyone froze at the same time, except for a young Chinese man in his twenties!

He wasn't very tall, wore a windbreaker, and had a scholarly air about him...

Later, Qin Jin investigated his background. The young man's name was Luke Lee. He studied art in Los Angeles. His parents were wealthy businessmen who immigrated from China years ago. They now lived in the small town of San Simeon in the middle of California's Highway 1 and enjoyed life.

At the time, all Qin Jin knew was his name on the register.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Luke's voice rang out questioningly as he strode towards the wedding procession.

"Why are you tying her up? Is this kidnapping, or are you forcing her...?"

The conversation abruptly stopped, Luke's expression changed drastically, as if he had heard something, and then anger surged to his face, his voice rising considerably:

"What kind of ridiculous rule is this! How can this still happen in this day and age?"

Luke's voice suddenly rose, filled with righteous indignation. He pointed at the frozen paper figures and roared at the sedan chair:

"Did you hear that?! She said she doesn't want to! What right do you have to force her?! What era are we living in? Why are you still having this kind of arranged marriage nonsense?!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, and in the end, he recklessly rushed towards the sedan chair!

"Let her go! I'll take you away from here!"

Luke roared and reached out to pull, his actions appearing incredibly bizarre in Qin Jin and Alessa's view—

He seemed to be fighting a desperate battle with the air, waving his arms, swaying his body, and sometimes even staggering backward and falling down on his own, only to get up and continue working!

What he saw was clearly not a paper figure, but some living, breathing creature.

"It's an illusion she created..." Aresa's voice was calm, but a rare hint of doubt flickered in her eyes as she looked at Qin Jin:

"Why is it different from mine?"

"The sources of power are different," Qin Jin knew that Alessa was asking about the things she had created in Silent Hill; it was probably the difference in the core power that made her not quite understand.

"Don't worry too much about this kind of thing. It's like driving a car. Whether it's a gasoline car or an electric car, as long as it can run, it's all the same."

Aresa felt like she understood, but at the same time, she felt like she understood nothing at all...

She abandoned this futile task and, together with Qin Jin, continued to watch Luke's struggle with the paper figure, watching as he rushed to the side of the sedan chair.

"Stop! Luke! Don't touch her!"

A deep voice echoed through the camp!

It's Dante!

Suddenly, he appeared, standing a dozen meters away from the wedding procession, holding a revolver engraved with intricate runes, its barrel gleaming coldly in the firelight.

Constanze's trench coat fluttered in the night wind, his gaze sharp, clearly unaffected by the paper bride.

Luke's movements were interrupted by the roar. He turned around abruptly and saw Constantin pointing his gun at the sedan chair. His face was instantly filled with astonishment and the anger of betrayal.

"John?! What are you doing?!" Luke shouted incredulously, spreading his arms wide like a mother hen protecting her chicks, blocking the sedan chair and facing Constantine's gun barrel directly.

"Are you crazy?! Can't you see they're forcing this poor girl?! How can you help these bastards?!"

"Luke! You've been tricked!"

Constantine tried to rouse Luke, shouting, "That's not human! What you're seeing is fake! Get out of the way!"

"Fake?! How could you say such a thing?"

Luke seemed to have heard the most absurd joke. He pointed at the sedan chair, his voice trembling with excitement:

"Didn't you see her tears? John, what's wrong with you? Are you possessed by a demon? My God... you actually pointed a gun at her!"

He assumed a defensive stance, his eyes filled with stubbornness and a determination to uphold justice.

The situation instantly reached a stalemate!

Constantin's gun was pointed steadily at the sedan chair, but Luke's body blocked the bullet's trajectory, preventing him from firing.

Behind Luke, the bright red sedan chair stood quietly, its veil hanging low, motionless.

But Qin Jin keenly sensed that the invisible, chilling pressure surrounding the sedan chair seemed to have intensified.

Those pale paper figures still stared straight at the camp, their empty eyes seeming to flash with a cold... mockery.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Luke, Constanze gritted his teeth, reached into the inside of his trench coat with one hand, and pulled out an Old Testament with a leather cover. The pages rustled as he turned them in his hand!

He held the Bible high in one hand, facing the paper figure and the paper bride with a scarlet veil, and began to read aloud:

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

The sacred scriptures echoed in the night sky, each word seemingly carrying a scorching power, attempting to dispel the evil spirits of the area.

However, a terrifying event occurred!

Neither the sedan chair nor the paper figures beside it were affected in any way. The powerful and faithful verses of Constantine were like stones sinking into the sea, without causing the slightest ripple!

Instead, the paper figures that had been staring blankly at the camp began to turn their heads toward Constantine with extreme slowness and stiffness!

The power of the Bible has negligible effect on the products created by this strange ritual originating from the East!

"Damn it!"

The solemn expression on Constantine's face was instantly replaced by a furious rage of blasphemy. He slammed the Bible shut and stuffed it back into his arms.

If exorcism is ineffective, then let's use a more direct method!

"Luke! Get out of the way! This is the last warning!"

Constanze roared, his right hand still holding a runic revolver pointing steadily forward, but his left hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a brass knuckle duster—

The knuckles are not spikes, but four deeply recessed crosses, and the entire knuckles have the same cold gleam as the shotgun.

He pounced on it!

Those paper figures that had been stiffly turning towards him suddenly became light and airy, as if they had lost all weight!

They floated silently up from the ground, like a swarm of attracted balloons, densely packed towards Constantine, piling up from all directions in an instant.

"Get out of here!"

Constantin roared, his left fist, adorned with sacred knuckle dusters, slammed into the paper figure carrying the blood-red lantern at the front with a whooshing sound!

"Pfft!"

A dull, strange sound, like a fist piercing through thick cardboard.

The moment the sacred cross knuckle duster struck, a burst of dazzling yet not scorching pure white light erupted from the point of contact!

The paper figure's chest caved in deeply, and the white paper on the bamboo strips shattered into pieces, falling away to reveal the charred bamboo skeleton beneath.

The paper figure's flight was interrupted, and it staggered backward as if its string had been broken.

It worked! But at the cost, Constanine's charge was abruptly halted!

More paper figures floated over, and in Qin Jin's view, these paper figures simply floated onto Constantine's body, constantly surging up and wrapping around him layer by layer.

Constanze roared repeatedly, swinging his sacred brass knuckles left and right. Each strike emitted a burst of white light, leaving a charred dent on the paper figure and forcing one back.

The rune revolvers roared simultaneously!

The bullet pierced the paper figure's body, and the gaping hole flashed with white flames, which quickly spread and burned a huge hole. But he only had six bullets, and he used them all up in no time!

But the paper figures kept coming one after another, endlessly!

He was as if he were stuck in a pale white swamp, unable to move an inch, and the rune revolver had no chance to reload!

Luke's intelligence suddenly kicked in at this moment!

"Let's take this opportunity and go!"

Without further hesitation, Luke turned around abruptly, ignoring Constanze's roar and the sounds of fighting with the paper figures behind him, and reached directly for the "figure" dressed in a gorgeous wedding gown on the sedan chair.

From Qin Jin and Alessa's perspective, Luke's movements remained strange—

He seemed to be supporting something from above, but in reality, he was pulling the bride, who was covered by a veil, off the sedan chair. When the veil was lifted, the face of the paper figure underneath was revealed, along with the grotesque features drawn with a black brush.

Then, without hesitation, he hoisted the paper figure dressed in the bride's bright red wedding gown onto his back and rushed back the way he came, seemingly intending to take this opportunity to leave with her.

This sudden intellectual awakening... really didn't come at the right time!