Blood rushed out of John’s chest and his mouth as the lady pulled out his heart slowly. With the break of every vein and muscle, John’s eyes widened with pain. The lady had anger on her face and shouted in a heavy voice, “It is because of you people that girls never get the justice they deserve. You are the one with the darkest heart. A rotten heart that pumps black blood in your mind and has made it corrupt.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5EWPPRp0P
The masked man looked at the lady and laughed, “You are an interesting character.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARGowcR9Kq
The lady didn’t respond and pulled the heart. John screamed and looked with disbelief at his heart in the hands of the lady. The heart pumped and the lady squeezed it. John’s vision blurred and then went dark. The lady threw the heart in the dustbin kept on the side.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1m4aRVpUUL
She turned to the masked man, her fingers trembling from the adrenaline. "It isn't over yet. There are more black hearts out there. And your heart too," she whispered. 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEsUmYZKn71
The masked man laughed and took a slow step toward her. "I agree but there’s one more heart already missing, isn’t there?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyyZYdDHwc
She frowned, confused. "What do you mean?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9xZsJiVyZ
He reached forward and touched her chest lightly, right where her heart was beating wildly beneath the skin. "Yours." 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMnV3dEVYGs
She took a step back, "What are you saying?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kDkAUUuCx
The masked man let out a small laugh, "You spent all this time searching for black hearts, for corrupted souls. But did you ever stop to wonder about your own?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREkwvviVA3
The lady clenched her fists, shaking her head, "No, I only took the ones that deserved it. The ones who destroyed lives. The ones who…" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOAQH69qsW
"Who were just like you?" the masked man interrupted, his voice dripping with amusement, "You think you’re different? That you’re above them? But tell me, what do you see when you look in the mirror?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xdDi27JKV
The lady’s breathing quickened. She looked around the room, at the blood, at John’s lifeless body.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Xf91bbJSl
Her hands trembled as she whispered, "I did what had to be done." 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzSmJHJQmx
The masked man nodded, "Of course you did." 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLynX44zYoT
The masked man took out his knife from John’s chest, "The truth is that justice and vengeance are two sides of the same coin. And you? You became the very thing you sought to destroy. There is never a justice, there is only chaos." 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YWdRrHBOD
Before she could react, the masked man thrust forward and the knife pierced her chest. Her eyes widened in shock as pain burned through her body. Blood spilt from her lips. She looked down at the knife buried deep in her heart, her breath coming in uneven gasps. The masked man held her, whispering in her ear, "You were never meant to cleanse the world." 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6s7ewpbElw
She fell to her knees, her strength fading. Her fingers weakly grasped at her wound. The masked man crouched beside her, watching as the light in her eyes began to dim. 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLH3sbnGOr
She gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. "My heart… is it black or white?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnQFGjVsTd
The masked man tilted his head and with a weird smile, he whispered, "It doesn’t matter. You have no heart left to judge." 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0gvYNRcxm
Her body wobbled and she collapsed onto the cold, bloodstained floor. The masked man stood, gazing down at her lifeless form.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS26KQhyDN4
He let out a deep sigh and turned toward the door. As he reached for the handle, he paused. He looked at the body of the lady, went toward it, grabbed it and took it out with him.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyRlYvagfi
“And that is her story,” The masked man stood up.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJEIAQNtua
Harper said in a serious tone, “She’s dead? Why have you kept her with you? And where is the answer to why there was no case file about this lady?” 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHsYVWr8Ve
“What were you told when you got transferred here?”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1QJ2YOcsE
“Nothing, just that this area needed a strong head of the police,” Harper said in a confused tone.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLgKRn6dg8
The masked man smiled, “They didn’t tell you or anyone what happened to the previous head of the police. How could they tell? There was so much mismanagement under his regime. So many cases left unsolved, so many cases that were never filed and at last getting killed by a psycho or a revenge maniac.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL3ynzOU5vi
Harper clenched his fists, “That doesn’t make sense. If she’s been killing people for months, how come there’s no record of her? No reports, no missing person cases, nothing?”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTjXwaxGFD
The masked man continued smiling, “It is funny that I have to tell you all this. You corrupt people know more than me but act like you are innocent. There was a very silly reason. The mayor of this town got all the reports of mismanagement, but he never acted, but after the murder of John, he acted. This town is so corrupt, that the mayor needed the funds from the treasury of this country, not for the police but for himself. But, they need some proof of what is happening here, you know the progress made, but a corrupt and inefficient head of the police is murdered. So, a story was made. The head of the police’s heart was placed in the original place and he was kept in the car and the car was blasted. It was shown as if he was assassinated by one of the psychos and that’s the reason you were brought here to control all this mess. And the records of the lady and her case were destroyed so that all this could be hidden. Isn’t this interesting? Some people will call this story nonsense but this is what it is.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4t8eqsJTI7
“You’re lying.” Harper muttered, his fists clenched, “The mayor wouldn’t cover up something this big.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrxC279k6aR
The masked man chuckled, stepping closer, “Wouldn’t he? Or are you just afraid to admit the truth? That you’re nothing but a pawn in a much bigger game? Have you ever thought that even all this is real? If she was real? If I am real? If you are real?” 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHOeH4QhqY
Harper interrupted, “Shut up with your bullshit.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CviTGhfJq
The masked man leaned in, lowering his voice to a whisper. “The question isn’t whether you believe me, Officer. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfT25LBcdS9
Harper swallowed hard. His instincts told him to arrest this man, to take him in and interrogate him until he got every last answer. But there was something in the masked man’s stance; calm and unbothered. Almost as if he knew exactly how this would play out. 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRc4F9rnado
The masked man took a step back, placing a bloodstained hand on the door handle. He opened the door and stepped into the darkness.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUH7Suvbov
Somewhere else, Ace was lying on the bed and looking at the fan on the ceiling.181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡER1JScpBYR
Clark came to him and said, “What are you thinking?”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAph8JX4zH4
Ace looked at Clark and said, “Something doesn't feel right.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CUfZg3c7X
Clark sat down beside Ace on the bed. "What do you mean?" 181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKVPmuKkmq
"I don't know. It's just a feeling."181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9rsrV9BKS
Just then, the fan above them suddenly flickered and died, plunging the room into an eerie silence. Ace's heart skipped a beat as he felt a chill run down his spine and then he heard a faint whisper: "You're right, Ace. Something is very wrong indeed.”181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIveaNcaESy
