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.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzkt3KwADK
The masked man looked at the lady and laughed, “You are an interesting character.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1hv8yfQI6
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7yCJku0Zdf
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. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjmFNlbtMo
The masked man laughed and took a slow step toward her. "I agree but there’s one more heart already missing, isn’t there?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDDz11V2zx
She frowned, confused. "What do you mean?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVlvE61QQl
He reached forward and touched her chest lightly, right where her heart was beating wildly beneath the skin. "Yours." 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiDYMB5lHM
She took a step back, "What are you saying?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfrsn0caGX
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?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zqEVzCJ5V
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…" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64mqRW9PyT
"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?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5k0qkx25Cz
The lady’s breathing quickened. She looked around the room, at the blood, at John’s lifeless body.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fU7DcObja
Her hands trembled as she whispered, "I did what had to be done." 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyQTNuqsha
The masked man nodded, "Of course you did." 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTEgMCLhuHo
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." 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0I1zp0B8Q
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." 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslM9OAq3AO
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. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCdMucmqwM
She gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. "My heart… is it black or white?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggRRuj3Gg7
The masked man tilted his head and with a weird smile, he whispered, "It doesn’t matter. You have no heart left to judge." 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdKISyRKAk
Her body wobbled and she collapsed onto the cold, bloodstained floor. The masked man stood, gazing down at her lifeless form.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtFAI8QZvT
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.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gCH6ts60K
“And that is her story,” The masked man stood up.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGq2DBeiyDm
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?” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkk2uSQwPEh
“What were you told when you got transferred here?”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1TQAvGQ6y
“Nothing, just that this area needed a strong head of the police,” Harper said in a confused tone.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbmNsnV4Ud
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.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA9IHYK7rvV
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?”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6Cwx5lxJs
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.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycGL64O5re
“You’re lying.” Harper muttered, his fists clenched, “The mayor wouldn’t cover up something this big.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPEL2H9KUXt
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?” 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMD6nzyjn9
Harper interrupted, “Shut up with your bullshit.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLggaFoCapv
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?”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALxo8lLzKD
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. 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡptjzflNQsM
The masked man took a step back, placing a bloodstained hand on the door handle. He opened the door and stepped into the darkness.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGiSFmtz1N
Somewhere else, Ace was lying on the bed and looking at the fan on the ceiling.72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SDukgpSzS
Clark came to him and said, “What are you thinking?”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjynnkDz2C
Ace looked at Clark and said, “Something doesn't feel right.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAe2r01ZbYV
Clark sat down beside Ace on the bed. "What do you mean?" 72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPuBATMlBs
"I don't know. It's just a feeling."72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpw5Emzne0m
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.”72Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQlMWhvPqH
