"Actually, you didn't have to come in person, deputy Chief Hopper," said the Black Officer Powell. "This is really just a slightly difficult case."
Thanks to Hopper's promotion to deputy chief, Officer Powell had also replaced Hopper, being promoted to the town's chief.
Tonight was Halloween Night. Most of the town's police brass had gone home to be with their wives and children, but Hopper hadn't. Upon hearing of a strange death in town, he followed Chief Powell and Officer Callahan to the scene.
"No, some things still need to be carefully confirmed," Hopper said, his look giving Powell a sudden realization.
Powell nodded silently. His experience encountering the monsters from The Upside Down with Hopper had long since made him realize that this world was far from as simple as he once thought. Especially this town, which was always haunted by an indescribable mysterious power; the monster he once caught a "glimpse" of was just the first, and this case that drew Hopper's caution might be the second.
The crime scene was located on Clover Road. The deceased was named Ernest Parker, an elderly man living alone. The person who reported it was his neighbor, Mrs. Tracy. Tracy and the deceased had been very close friends; since their children were rarely around, the two seniors often kept each other company. People around said that although they weren't a couple, they were closer than one.
Regarding Ernest Parker's death, Hopper and the officers who viewed the scene said it could only be described as "horrific."
Foul-smelling rot filled the entire bed. The dark stains of the fluid barely formed a twisted human shape, as if telling of the unimaginable pain the deceased had suffered. That set of dentures dripping with yellow pus and those few lifeless white hairs were all that remained of Mr. Ernest's body. Other than that, no physical remains could be found, as his body had decomposed into that mass of rot.
Yes, in just a single day, and with no signs of chemical agents or other external forces found at the scene, an old man's remains had vanished.
This was too bizarre; Powell and the others were unwilling to believe it at first. It wasn't until they heard the nanny who had been caring for Ernest and old Mrs. Tracy both describe the old man's death in person—their horrified expressions while revealing the truth making it seem as if they had seen it with their own eyes—and the forensics team analyzed the large amount of fluid on the bed, finding many of Mr. Ernest's cells, that Hopper, Powell, and the other officers finally had to start believing it.
At first, Hopper and Powell considered it from a scientific perspective. Logically, an old man's body couldn't turn into this state in a single day. The nanny and Mrs. Tracy's mental states were also somewhat abnormal, and they thought the two might be confused. So, they asked the neighbors if they had seen Mr. Ernest in the past few days, and the answers they received were bone-chilling.
The neighbors all said they had seen Mr. Ernest out sunbathing just two days ago. Although he didn't look very healthy and seemed a bit sensitive and neurotic, he had still greeted them.
Based on the neighbors' testimony, the earliest Mr. Ernest could have died was the night before last. This was truly incredible; even in two days, a person could not rot to such an extent without any external influence.
"Chief, could this be..." Chief Powell broke into a cold sweat at some point, his forehead drenched. Those who had witnessed the bizarre were more likely than anyone to attribute complex and strange events to myths and ghosts.
Chief Hopper wiped the sweat from his neck and said, "Calm down, Powell. Things might not be as complicated as we think. Let's search the deceased's house again, including checking the belongings of the nanny, Miss Loxi, and Mrs. Tracy, to ensure nothing was missed."
Several officers, including Chief Hopper himself, joined the search. While checking nanny Loxi's belongings, Chief Hopper noticed she showed more obvious signs of unease. So, he quietly conducted a more thorough search of her and finally found a slimy, ancient manuscript hidden under a pot of Spanish paella in the kitchen.
Upon seeing the manuscript, Loxi's face turned pale then flushed, her eyes filled with terror.
"You made this pot of paella, didn't you? Only you and the deceased used the kitchen in this house. There's no use denying it; we can easily find that you were the last person to use the cookware by checking for fingerprints." Hopper, with his large frame, walked toward the nanny with an oppressive air. Holding the manuscript he had just found, he questioned her sternly, "What are you hiding, Loxi? What is this?"
Nanny Loxi broke down completely, squatting on the spot and crying into her hands, saying she knew nothing and had only followed the instructions in the manuscript.
Soon, Officer Callahan made a new discovery: he found a letter in the mailbox at Mrs. Tracy's house. It contained a suicide note written by the deceased, stating that after his death, all his inheritance would be transferred to Mrs. Tracy.
With this, the officers, who had much experience in investigation and case-solving, immediately pieced together what happened. Officer Powell questioned Nanny Loxi to her face: "Does your murder of Mr. Ernest Parker have anything to do with the contents of the suicide note?"
Under the high pressure of everyone watching, Nanny Loxi finally painfully told the truth. It turned out that Ernest had fallen ill the night before last and was lying in bed, his consciousness drifting in and out. When he was clear-headed, Ernest told Loxi that he didn't want to die in a hospital; he wanted to die at home.
Seeing Ernest in that state, a wicked thought suddenly possessed Loxi. She asked the semi-conscious Ernest if he had made a will and if he had allocated any inheritance to her.
Loxi didn't ask this purely because she was greedy for a lonely old bachelor's property, but because she had been a nanny in Ernest's home for six years. During that time, Mr. Ernest had told her more than once that he saw her as his own child, subtly implying, "If you take good care of me for the rest of my life, I will give you the reward you deserve."
To her surprise, Ernest gave an answer that broke her. The old man had not made a will for her; specifically, not a single cent of his property after death would go to Loxi. This meant Loxi's six years of persistence were just an unreliable, false hope.
Perhaps the old man had lied to her, or perhaps she had misunderstood his meaning back then, or perhaps everything she was saying now was a lie.
Loxi was very unwilling to accept this, so while Ernest was asleep, she searched the old man's room, trying to find the will he mentioned or some valuables to take away.
During the search, she found an old wooden box in the old man's cabinet. Inside the wooden box was the manuscript Hopper had found. That manuscript seemed to be a record of a forbidden experiment passed down by a family member of Ernest Parker's ancestors. It described a method of performing hypnosis on a dying person. Because the experiment was so shocking, the owner of the manuscript had kept their first name but used an abbreviation for the surname, recording it as "Charles P."
After reading the manuscript, Loxi had a sudden idea. In an era where urban legends circulated, the power of hypnosis was always feared and mysterious. She thought, if this hypnosis was real, why shouldn't she try it?
If it succeeded, why couldn't she make the old man change to a brand-new will?
The evil thought drove Loxi to act, but she didn't expect that as soon as she started and asked the old man a question, he suddenly sat up and said he wanted to die. Amidst painful struggling and desperate roars, he instantly turned into rotten pus, his body collapsing and decaying to this point.
After hearing Loxi's story, the officers felt an unprecedented sense of absurdity and a chilling cold. They didn't know who the blasphemer was who had recorded this manuscript and pioneered this bizarre hypnosis experiment, but the result of this experiment seemed like a cycle of fate.
The practitioner of the past had brought pain to others, and now that pain was repeating itself on his descendants in such an unexpected and ridiculous way.
The only thing that remained unchanged was the name of the deceased. According to the manuscript, the person who died in such a twisted and deformed way was also named "Ernest," only the surname was "Valdemar."
"Take her back first." Hopper sighed and had Nanny Loxi taken back to the police station.
On Halloween Night, the sound of sirens echoed through the peaceful Hawkins Town, as if the evil was departing along with the receding lights of the police car.
"Mr. Hopper, what do you plan to do with that manuscript?" Mrs. Tracy said with a look of grief. "It should be that old bastard's precious relic. I think he'd want to take it to his grave."
Hopper adjusted his police cap and said, "Don't worry, Mrs. Pete. There are still things worth investigating in this manuscript. I'll return it to Ernest's coffin before he's buried."
Hearing this, Mrs. Tracy could only nod regretfully and then leave with her cane, clutching the suicide note tightly, leaving Hopper with a trembling back.
When he returned home and heard the voices of Chade, Robin, and Eleven discussing a movie, Hopper remembered his promise to Eleven. He immediately slapped his forehead in frustration, then walked into the house apologetically, sincerely apologizing to Eleven and explaining the reason for his lateness tonight.
When he found that Eleven and the others were very interested in the manuscript, Hopper immediately showed it to everyone. While recounting his experience solving the case tonight, he secretly described himself as a great detective comparable to Sherlock Holmes, hoping to draw an admiring look from Eleven.
After hearing Hopper's story, Richard looked thoughtful and asked, "Is the case really solved?"
Hopper said confidently, "Of course, the nanny has already confessed."
"Was the owner of the manuscript really named Parker?" Richard asked back. "Hypnosis is a profound field of study, not a craft you can learn just by looking at it once. Is it possible that before the nanny hypnotized Ernest, someone had already hypnotized him? The nanny's actions only accelerated the demise of Ernest's physical body."
Hopper was stunned and fell into thought, a chill rising from his heart.
Robin asked, "What was Mrs. Tracy's full name again?"
"...Tracy Pete." Hopper's head was covered in cold sweat. He wanted to turn around immediately and run out to arrest the elderly person who had truly committed the crime, but he didn't. He realized it was likely too late, and the matter was so eerie that there was no actual evidence to speak of unless there was a confession—but Nanny Loxi had clearly become the scapegoat.
Everyone fell silent, but Richard looked at Eleven and asked for her opinion.
However, Eleven had been staring intently at the ancient manuscript from beginning to end, as if she saw other secrets hidden behind it.
Eleven said softly, "Just now, two desperate souls escaped from inside..."
The next day, old Mrs. Tracy Pete's body was found in her basement. She was half-buried under a pile of pagan books filled with unknown symbols and scrolls on hypnosis and supernatural suggestions. Half of her head had been crushed by a collapsed bookshelf, and her final expression was frozen in terror and distortion, as if she had seen something loathsome.
After hearing about it, some of the town's elderly lamented, "The most beautiful and skilled Astrologer the town ever had has left us just like that..."