90-91

Chapter 90: Investigation 

The events at Oak High School were extremely serious. If the hundreds of students in the auditorium were wiped out, the town government would likely be overwhelmed by angry residents of Waterfall Town. 

This is no joke. Texans are full of fighting spirit, and almost every household has a gun. Some even have armed pickup trucks. 

Fortunately, the incident didn't escalate to the worst-case scenario. Roy later learned from Sheriff Hughes that only one person died and one went missing. The other students only suffered injuries. 

The deceased was the unlucky boy who triggered the trap, and the missing person was Elena, who discovered Arkin. 

Roy knew this Elena. She was a year younger than him and had been one of his admirers before. 

What made Elena's identity special was that she was the mayor's granddaughter, which made her disappearance a serious issue. 

Sheriff Hughes said that the mayor had given all the police officers at the station a thorough dressing down. 

Roy finally told Niddy about the dark web. Jennifer had been at the scene that night and knew the whole story. 

Who would have thought that the It incident would suddenly happen, and then Jennifer's body would be controlled by Lilith, resulting in her forgetting to tell Niddy? 

"So, there's such a terrifying organization? I thought you guys were talking about the deep web!" 

Niddy was still shaken. What happened in the auditorium was too terrifying for her. 

However, Jennifer thought of another possibility. 

"Roy, do you think that guy called the Collector might have been sent by the dark web to get revenge on you?" 

This surprised Roy for a moment. 

You know what? That's actually possible! 

"Damn it, how did they find their way here?" 

Roy believed he hadn't left any traces. How could the dark web have found him? 

Niddy pushed up her black-framed glasses and started helping Roy analyze the situation. 

After the disastrous birthday party, the girl had changed back into her usual otaku attire and put on her black-framed glasses again. 

"Roy, if there are some former police officers or agents in this dark web organization, it's not surprising that they could find you." 

Indeed, although Roy had cleaned up some traces, he wasn't a professional after all, and he would always leave some clues, which would only take a little effort to find. 

Judging by the time, the dark web should have found Roy's information around these past few days. 

Jennifer looked at Roy with some worry. 

"Roy, what should we do?" 

"Since they dared to reach out, they should be prepared to have their hand chopped off! Niddy, can you find out where this wireless camera was connected to?" 

Niddy shook her head. 

"It's too late to look now. The transmission distance of this kind of wireless camera is usually very short, so the Collector's server must have been near Oak High School at the time. I estimate there's a high chance it was directly set up in a car, and it should have been moved somewhere else by now." 

"Niddy, try anyway. What if that guy hasn't left Oak Town? Maybe we can still find him. Jennifer, can you contact Evans for me? She might be able to provide us with some help." 

After arranging the tasks for Jennifer and Niddy, Roy went to the town's hospital, intending to talk to Arkin again. 

In the second movie of "Nightmare," it was Arkin who led people to the Collector's stronghold. Although the story development in this world is different from the movie, this guy might still know something. 

Through his connections with the Waterfall Town Police Department, Roy found Arkin's ward. 

This guy was an important informant in the Night Demon incident and had been placed under police protection. It was said that the FBI would take over later. 

However, Roy saw that the person guarding Arkin's ward door wasn't a police officer but a strange man in black. This man in black stopped Roy outside the door. 

"No entry!" 

"What do you mean? Are you town police, state police, or federal police?" 

If he were really a police officer, he should have shown his badge by now, but the man in black didn't, indicating that he wasn't a public official. 

"Kid, I said no entry!" 

The man in black kept a straight face and showed the holster on his waist. 

Roy narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man in black. 

This man in black was clearly from the city and didn't know the rules of the Texas countryside. He even dared to use a pistol to intimidate others. 

"Who are you trying to scare? This is Texas. If you have the guts, shoot. Let's see if you can get out of the hospital alive!" 

Roy's words made the man in black a little angry. He immediately put his hand on the holster, showing his intention to draw his gun. 

"Last warning, get lost!" 

From this standard warning gesture, it could be seen that the man in black had probably also worked in some violent department, but he was either retired or doing private work now. 

Well, police salaries in America are actually not high, so some police officers also take on private jobs to earn some extra money. 

Roy didn't know if this person belonged to that category. 

Roy smiled, pretending to turn around and leave, but in reality, he delivered a quick uppercut right into the man in black's cheek. 

The man in black didn't have time to react at all and entered a sweet, baby-like sleep. 

Roy pushed open the hospital room door and saw that besides Arkin, there was also an old man and a middle-aged man in the room. 

The middle-aged man frowned when he saw Roy enter. 

"Who are you? Where's James?" 

James should be the man in black guarding the door. 

"You mean the doorman? He's sound asleep right now." 

Roy shrugged, appearing very relaxed. 

However, the middle-aged man wouldn't believe such nonsense. He immediately pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Roy, acting very decisively. 

"You wouldn't happen to be the Collector, would you?" 

The old man beside him quickly pressed down on the middle-aged man's arm. Fortunately, he acted quickly, otherwise Roy wouldn't have been able to resist drawing his own gun. 

"Wait a minute, Peters, don't be nervous! This young man is a resident of the town. I know him. He's definitely not the Collector!" 

"Hello, Mr. Simon." 

That's right, this old man was the mayor of Waterfall Town, Elena's grandfather. 

In the second movie of "Nightmare," Elena's family did hire a group of "professionals" to rescue her, but these "professionals" were all useless and only served to highlight the protagonist. 

Roy didn't expect to run into this part of the plot. 

"Not good at all, Mr. Blake. Bad things always happen every time I see you!" 

Simon grumbled unhappily. 

Indeed, Roy had dealt with Simon a few times before, and it was always because something had happened in the town, and Roy was getting hush money. Naturally, Simon wouldn't be in a good mood when he saw him. 

What's more, Simon's beloved granddaughter had just been captured by the Collector not long ago. 

Roy spread his hands, his face full of innocence. 

"Mr. Simon, I'm a victim too! I'm currently investigating that damn murderer!" 

Simon looked at Roy deeply, starting to suspect if this incident was related to Roy. 

It must be said that the old man's reaction was quite quick. He hadn't been the mayor for so many years for nothing. He could guess a thing or two from Roy's attitude. 

However, Simon didn't say it out loud. 

"Mr. Blake, are you also investigating the Collector?" 

"Texans always take revenge! I'm a genuine cowboy!" 

Although Simon wasn't in a good mood, he had to admit that Roy was a real cowboy. 

But Peters didn't think so. 

"Hehe, kid, this is something for adults to consider. You should go home and drink your milk!" 

Roy glared at Peters. 

"Wanna have a go? Believe it or not, I can KO you in three seconds!" 

Peters was about to respond to Roy's provocation when Simon stopped him. 

"Peters, restrain yourself! Mr. Blake is a genius boxer. He can knock out a middleweight boxer wearing protective gear with one punch!" 

Hearing this, Peters' expression immediately softened a bit. He understood why the person guarding the door was asleep. 

"Kid, what do you want?" 

"It's simple. I also want to ask Mr. Arkin about the Collector. You don't mind, do you?" 

Peters certainly minded. He was a mercenary hired by Mayor Simon and naturally didn't want anyone to steal his business. 

"Kid, this isn't a sporting match. People like that don't play by the rules!" 

"Hehe, I've probably killed more perverted murderers than you've ever seen. Want to try me?" 

Roy's words reminded Simon of something. He remembered that Roy had indeed taken down quite a few perverted murderers. 

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Just the ones Simon knew about were Ghostface, Michael Myers, and Leatherface. 

In this regard, Roy was quite professional. 

"Alright, Peters, arguing is pointless. Why don't you cooperate? My hiring fee is enough to satisfy both of you, as long as you can bring back my granddaughter and take down that Collector! Texans always take revenge!" 

Peters' expression was very unpleasant. After all, there was suddenly another person to split the money with. 

"Mr. Simon, I still hope you'll consider this carefully. It's better to hire professionals for this kind of thing." 

However, Simon had already made up his mind. He just wanted to see his granddaughter as soon as possible. 

"I only care about the result, nothing else." 

At this moment, Roy walked up to Arkin. 

"What were you guys talking about?" 

Simon answered Roy. 

"We were trying to persuade Mr. Arkin to take us to the Collector's lair, but Mr. Arkin doesn't seem too willing." 

Arkin was indeed unwilling. He had finally escaped the devil's den. How could he possibly go back? 

"I'm best at persuading people. Let me handle this!" 

Peters didn't speak, sneering as he prepared to watch Roy make a fool of himself. 

Roy walked up to Arkin and grabbed him by the collar. 

"Remember me, Mr. Arkin?" 

Fear appeared on Arkin's face. He still remembered the terrifying demeanor Roy had when he interrogated him last night. 

"Of course, Mr. Blake." 

"That's good. I thought you had forgotten me! I think the Collector should have come looking for you already, right?" 

Arkin was shocked. 

"How do you know?" 

"I guessed. Perverted murderers like the Collector have one thing in common: they can't accept that someone escaped their grasp. So, he will definitely come back for you! He's in the dark, and you're in the light. You can only be constantly toyed with by him until he loses interest in you and kills you. During this time, maybe your family will also become his playthings." 

Arkin's expression became quite unpleasant. He had to admit that what Roy said made a lot of sense, and it was also what he feared most deep down. 

"What should I do?" 

Hearing this, Roy knew that Arkin had been persuaded. 

"Running away is useless. Only by taking down the Collector can we end this! The Collector is also a human being. He can be defeated. Didn't he just suffer a defeat this time? What we need to do is find him and then completely resolve this!" 

Arkin took a deep breath and finally chose to cooperate with Roy and the others. 

"Okay, I agree! But I also want some money!" 

This was not something Roy could decide. He looked at Mayor Simon. 

Simon nodded without hesitation. 

"Okay, as long as you can help me find my granddaughter Elena, I can give you two hundred thousand dollars!" 

This amount of money was not a small sum in the millennium. Arkin immediately took action. 

Roy didn't expect it to be so smooth. Sure enough, money talks. 

At this moment, Peters spoke. 

"Since Arkin is willing to cooperate, then we shouldn't delay. Let's take action immediately. Kid, do you want me to lend you a gun?" 

As he spoke, Peters looked at Roy. 

Roy curled his lip and, before anyone could react, drew his Smith & Wesson M625 revolver. 

"I already said I'm a genuine cowboy. How could a cowboy not carry a revolver?" 

This speed of drawing a gun surprised everyone, especially Peters, who was a professional. 

With Roy's gun-drawing skills, no one within ten meters could escape. As for further distances, it would depend on his marksmanship. 

At this moment, Peters began to take Roy's abilities seriously and no longer treated him like a child. 

"Alright, I'll go gather the men now. We'll meet at the hospital entrance in a bit." 

Peters hurriedly left Arkin's ward. Outside the ward, he saw his own subordinate lying on the ground, his face already swollen. 

Now, Peters had a deeper understanding of the force of Roy's punch. 

Roy didn't stay in Arkin's ward for long. Since they were going to deal with the Collector, he also needed to make some preparations. 

In the movie, the traps set by the Collector were quite terrifying. If he didn't prepare properly, Roy might also fail. 

Just then, Jennifer called. 

"Roy, Ms. Evans has arrived at your house. She has some intelligence!" 

"I'll be home right away." 

Driving his second-hand yellow Chevrolet Camaro back home, he indeed saw Keller and Molly. 

"Roy, regarding the relationship between the Collector and the dark web that you mentioned, I did find many suspected murder videos filmed by the Collector!" 

Keller immediately stated her findings. This female reporter was really efficient. 

After looking at the photos Keller handed him, Roy frowned repeatedly. It was too cruel. 

"Can it be confirmed that the Collector is a member of the dark web?" 

Keller nodded. 

"It's highly likely. I got an internal dark web account through a friend. In a dark web forum with the theme of torture and killing, I found the Collector's ID." 

"There's actually such a forum?" 

Niddy was very surprised. 

"Niddy, you've been on the dark web too. Didn't you know?" 

"Uh, I'm more afraid of this kind of bloody and violent stuff. I go on the dark web to read gossip." 

Hearing this, Keller looked at her with some surprise, not expecting Niddy to have this kind of ability. 

"Alright, I've already gathered some information about the Collector. Maybe we can follow the clues and find the dark web in one fell swoop!" 

Chapter 91: Elena 

Arkham was a very rare protagonist in horror movies – resourceful and courageous, with the only major flaw being his soft-heartedness. 

But it was precisely this soft-heartedness that led to him being captured by the Collector in the first Collector movie. He could have escaped, but he stayed to save a little girl who was about the same age as his own daughter. 

In the second movie, he was also morally blackmailed by that arrogant Peters into helping them find the Collector. 

It's hard to imagine how someone with such high moral standards ended up as a thief. 

"Ready?" 

Peters, that guy, was indeed resourceful. He managed to get an armored van and assembled a small team of five people. 

The man in black who was knocked out by Roy that day was also there, glaring at him. 

The five-person team carried various weapons, including submachine guns and shotguns, a pretty good setup, all police-issue weapons. 

Roy suspected these guys might actually be SWAT team members, active duty, taking on a side job. 

"Ready!" 

The four subordinates checked their firearms and then looked at Roy, who had nothing in his hands. 

"What are you looking at me for? I brought a gun!" 

With that, Roy pulled out his Smith & Wesson M625 and showed it off. 

"You only brought a revolver?" 

Actually, Roy also had a Remington 870 in his inventory, but there was no need to mention it. It might change the tide of battle at a crucial moment. 

"A revolver is enough. I've looked up some information. The Collector doesn't like using firearms. Your firepower is so strong, be careful not to hurt your own people." 

Roy remembered that in the movie, these guys did seem to accidentally injure their own team members. 

Peters chuckled, completely disregarding Roy's warning. 

"We are trained professionals! You, on the other hand, if there's danger later, no one will take care of you. If you want to back out, do it now." 

Peters still didn't want to share the money with Roy, so he gave him one last piece of advice before leaving. 

"Hehe, you guys should take care of yourselves first!" 

Peters and his five men, plus Roy and Arkham, a total of seven people, got into the armored van. 

The reason why Arkham, the protagonist of this horror movie, was considered resourceful and courageous was that even after being locked in a wooden box by the Collector, he didn't panic. 

Instead, he recorded the turns and distances by making marks on his arm. This way, he could roughly deduce the location of the Collector's lair. 

But first, they had to go to the place where Arkham was captured by the Collector that day. 

After several hours of driving and searching, Roy and the others finally found a rather suspicious building, a large abandoned motel located on the outskirts of Austin. 

"It should be here. I remember the Collector's lair being very large, and this motel is the most suitable building in this area." 

Peters observed the motel from a distance, its exterior walls almost completely stripped of cement. 

"Very good, let's go in." 

With that, Peters took the lead and got out of the car. 

"Wait a minute, are you just planning to barge in like this?" 

Roy looked at Peters speechlessly. 

"Of course not. Mr. Arkham, could you help us pick a lock?" 

Roy slapped his forehead. What was the difference between this and barging in? 

Peters and his group were just too confident, which was why they would later be wiped out by the Collector. 

"Mr. Peters, we agreed that I only needed to lead you to the Collector, and then I could leave!" 

"Hehe, we haven't seen the Collector yet, have we? We need to confirm that we've found the Collector and Elena before we can let you go." 

What he said wasn't wrong, but Roy knew this was just the beginning of Peters morally blackmailing Arkham. 

Arkham was clearly hesitant and didn't want to get close to the Collector's lair. 

"Let me do it." 

Roy had previously obtained a special ability called "Master Thief" from Penny's Conquest Treasure Chest, which automatically granted him lock-picking skills, and he hadn't had a chance to practice it yet. 

The large iron gate of the abandoned motel used an old mechanical lock. Roy took out a piece of wire and inserted it into the keyhole. 

"You can pick locks? Be careful not to alert..." 

Click! Before Peters could finish his sentence, Roy had already opened the lock. 

"What did you just say?" 

Peters opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment, while Arkham on the side looked very shocked. 

"Do Texas high schools even teach lock picking? Even for me, it would take several minutes to open this kind of old iron lock!" 

Is this "Master Thief" ability really that powerful? 

Roy remembered that Arkham's thieving skills were quite good, considered above average among thieves. 

It seemed that the "Master Thief" ability he got was indeed valuable. 

"I learned it in Hawaii." 

"Hawaii even teaches that?" 

Arkham was very surprised. 

Hawaii also teaches how to fly helicopters! 

Peters heard that Roy was joking and rolled his eyes before pushing Arkham. 

"Alright, let's go in. Mr. Arkham, you lead the way!" 

Arkham resisted, but he wasn't as strong as Peters. 

"Why? I can wait for you at the door! Don't worry, I definitely won't run away before I get the money!" 

"Haven't you figured out who's in charge here?" 

Arkham was helpless and could only walk into the motel. 

This motel seemed to have undergone special renovations, and its internal structure looked more complex than an ordinary motel. 

They hadn't walked far when one of Peters' subordinates accidentally stepped on some kind of trigger, and the motel door instantly locked shut. 

"Damn it! I'm afraid we've been discovered!" 

Arkham's expression became very ugly. He knew the Collector's terror well, and the trap just now must have alerted him. 

"Is that so? Then let's just openly take down that rat who only knows how to hide!" 

Peters was still so confident. In his eyes, the Collector was like a rat that could be easily crushed to death. 

Arkham was much more cautious. 

"My suggestion is to leave a few people outside. If things go wrong, we can call for backup." 

"No need! The five of us are enough!" 

Peters didn't want to share the bounty with more people and forced Arkham to continue leading the way. 

At this moment, the only female member of the team noticed something was wrong. 

"Strange, where did that boy go?" 

Hearing this, Peters looked around and indeed found that Roy was gone. 

"Didn't he come in?" 

One of the team members raised his hand to answer Peters. 

"That guy came in before me." 

"Are you sure?" 

"I'm sure!" 

Arkham immediately thought of a possibility. 

"Could that kid have accidentally triggered some mechanism and fallen into some trap?" 

The silent disappearance of one person made Peters' team a bit nervous. 

"Forget about him! I said earlier that this kind of thing is not something a kid can handle. Let's keep moving!" 

Peters forcibly brought the team's attention back, but Arkham had a different opinion. 

"Wait a minute, are you just going to leave that kid?" 

"Mr. Arkham, we need to find the Collector first to rescue everyone in this motel, do you understand? Lead the way!" 

Roy, of course, didn't accidentally trigger any mechanism and fall into a trap. Instead, he put on the Ghostface mask in his inventory and slipped into the shadows. 

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Peters and his group were a completely makeshift team. Following them would only lead to being screwed over. It was better to let them attract the Collector's attention while he took the opportunity to rescue Elena and get the bounty first. 

While lurking in the shadows, Roy noticed cameras everywhere in the motel. 

However, the Collector couldn't be watching in the surveillance room all the time. He definitely had to take action. Roy just needed to wait patiently for the opportunity. 

On the other side, in a room in the motel that looked like an operating room, the short-haired girl Elena was trying to save herself. 

After some effort, Elena successfully used the hook on her bra strap to go through the hole in the wooden box and open the latch, escaping from the large red wooden box. 

Temporarily free, Elena cautiously observed her surroundings and soon found another large wooden box. She tried to open it. 

A man's corpse rolled out of the wooden box. It had been dead for an unknown amount of time and emitted a strong stench of decay. 

Elena covered her nose and controlled her breathing, then observed the surrounding situation. Immediately after, she saw an operating table. 

There was a bloody person on the operating table. Looking closely, one could see that the guy's muscles were still twitching slightly, clearly still alive. 

Elena cautiously walked to the side of the operating table and checked the person, only to find that the Collector had injected him with a large amount of psychotropic drugs, and he had clearly lost consciousness. 

And beside the operating table, there was also a digital video camera mounted on a tripod. 

It seemed that the Collector was performing live dissections while recording everything with the digital camera. 

Thinking of this, Elena felt extremely disgusted, and a wave of nausea almost made her throw up on the spot. 

At this moment, the door of the room was suddenly opened from the outside. 

Hearing the noise, Elena quickly crawled under a nearby table to hide. 

Elena heard heavy footsteps enter the room and pause in front of the large red wooden box she had just escaped from. 

This made Elena feel uneasy. After crawling out of the box, she had forgotten to close it. 

Elena couldn't be blamed for this. After all, she was just a pampered high school student, and being able to escape from the large red wooden box on her own was already an extraordinary feat. 

Now, the Collector must already know that she had escaped, and Elena couldn't help but start to panic. 

The Collector, like many perverted killers, really enjoyed slowly tormenting the prey's spirit. So, he didn't search for Elena everywhere but instead opened a glass jar and released his favorite spiders to find her. 

The large, furry spiders quickly found Elena and began to crawl all over her. Some even crawled into the crevices. 

Well, because she was going to Niddy's birthday party, Elena was wearing relatively simple clothes with little fabric on her chest. 

Girls might like small, furry things, but definitely not these furry spiders with eight legs. 

Just as Elena felt like she was about to collapse, a loud alarm suddenly sounded outside. Someone had triggered the Collector's trap. 

The Collector didn't think much of it and immediately left the room to check. He didn't forget to lock the door behind him. 

Having escaped death, Elena quickly brushed off the spiders on her body, then let out a heavy breath. She almost screamed just now. 

Observing the room, the main door was locked by the Collector, so she definitely couldn't get out that way. 

However, Elena noticed a vent in the room. She used a surgical tool as a screwdriver to open the vent and crawled inside. 

This ventilation duct was quite narrow. An average adult male probably couldn't fit through it. Luckily, Elena usually paid attention to her figure, so she could barely pass through the ventilation duct. 

Even so, some parts of Elena were rubbed particularly painfully, so she immediately crawled out when she found an exit. 

There was also a large wooden box here. Elena noticed some movement inside the box. 

Could there be someone else locked inside? 

It has to be said that Elena really liked opening boxes. She wanted to open any box she saw, and this time was no exception. 

A blonde girl about the same age as Elena crawled out of the wooden box. Her face was painted with comical makeup, and she had some injuries on her body, but they weren't serious. 

"Were you also captured by the Collector?" 

The blonde girl nodded timidly, tears streaming down her face as she wiped off her makeup. 

"Mr. Collector locked me in a wooden box and even put makeup on me." 

"Then do you know how to get out of here?" 

The blonde girl shook her head in fear. 

"We can't run around. Mr. Collector will be angry!" 

Elena felt that the blonde girl's tone was strange and suspected that she might have been tortured by the Collector, leading to some mental confusion. 

A trace of sympathy rose in her heart, so she prepared to leave with her. 

"It's okay, the Collector won't find us." 

Elena led the blonde girl to find a way out inside the motel. This place had been改造 (transformed/renovated) into a maze, and the two of them wandered around for a long time without finding a way out. 

Fortunately, the blonde girl seemed to know the Collector's trap style quite well and pointed out some traps for Elena, allowing Elena to remain safe. 

However, during this process, Elena's hearing aid malfunctioned, causing the blonde girl to discover that she was hearing impaired. 

This discovery made the blonde girl's emotions become agitated. 

"So your hearing is impaired? How could you possibly not be discovered by the Collector?" 

Elena quickly explained. 

"With my hearing aid on, I'm just like a normal person! You don't have to worry about that!" 

But the blonde girl obviously didn't believe Elena. She slapped Elena and started yelling things that Elena couldn't understand. 

"This must be a test Mr. Collector gave me. He must love me. You can't escape!" 

The blonde girl's shouting eventually attracted the Collector, who was wearing a leather hood. She rushed to the Collector's side and wagged her tail like a pet seeing its owner. 

"It's her, she's the one who brought me here!" 

Elena finally understood that the blonde girl had mental problems, most likely Stockholm Syndrome, and had developed feelings for her abuser. So, she hurriedly turned around and ran away. 

The Collector coldly pushed the blonde girl away and followed unhurriedly. 

Elena ran wildly down the hallway. Fortunately, she was quite familiar with this section of the motel. After avoiding various traps, she climbed onto the high pipes when she reached a corner. 

The Collector passed under the pipes, looking around in confusion for any sign of his prey. 

Perhaps because she was too nervous, Elena still accidentally made some noise, which the Collector heard. 

Just as Elena was falling into despair, she suddenly heard a whistle from not far away. 

"Hey, you must be the Collector, right?" 

Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) 

(End of this chapter)