Chapter 308: An Unlucky Vacation (7)
To be honest, something had felt strange from the very beginning.
Everyone knew that Emerald Lake Campground was a place for tourists to vacation and relax. The people who visited the campground could be local residents, or they could be tourists from other places.
Therefore, the fact that Gary had encountered Everly twice at Emerald Lake Campground did not mean that Everly was a local resident of Veska City.
Gary was extremely intelligent, with an astonishing ability to learn.
Even if, when he first appeared, his limited worldview and experience—caused by having lived underground since childhood—had made him misunderstand Everly’s location, two days of fleeing should have been more than enough for him to realize his mistake.
But he didn’t.
Two days had passed, yet the fake Gary remained stubbornly determined. He continued heading toward his destination, Veska City, without hesitation. After arriving there, he even made a post online asking netizens for help, attempting to use the power of the internet to find Everly.
The stubbornness and blind assumption he displayed in this matter were completely inconsistent with the image of a highly intelligent being who had learned to use a phone and browse the internet within just two days.
It was almost as if these were actions taken by two completely different people.
Once this abnormality was noticed, more and more flaws became apparent.
For example, the inexplicably dropped phone—
The phone just happened to contain all of the fake Gary’s upcoming plans. Didn’t that seem far too convenient?
Then there was the way the fake Gary searched for Everly.
That method was simply bizarre beyond belief.
Posting online was not only inefficient, but it could also attract all kinds of scammers. Everly truly couldn’t imagine what kind of genius would choose such a method.
Compared with that, hiring a hacker or buying information from criminal organizations, or simply kidnapping a police officer and forcing them to use the specialized smart device they carried to access the police database and search for someone, would all have been far more reliable.
Incidentally, the latter methods could all be found with a simple online search for something like “special tricks for finding someone.”
One suspicious detail after another caused Everly to begin doubting the fake Gary’s true objective.
At this point, if she tried to reason backward from his actions and infer his purpose, she could arrive at one conclusion:
Gary had not come to Veska City in order to find Everly.
Instead, he was using “searching for Everly” as a pretext to deliberately return to Veska City.
So, what exactly was in Veska City?
The first thing Everly thought of was the burned and disfigured NPC old man at the gas station.
From the scattered clues, it could be inferred that the old man was very likely the former lover of Gary’s mother Judy, and also the person responsible for causing the estrangement between mother and son.
The fake Gary shared memories with the original Gary. Therefore, it would be completely reasonable for him to hate the old man and want to kill him.
However, Everly quickly ruled out this possibility.
The conflict between Gary and the old man had happened many years ago. For such an old incident, unless Gary himself revealed it, outsiders would have no way of knowing about it.
If that was the case, why would the fake Gary go through so much trouble and deliberately hide his intentions?
Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just charge straight at him?
Since it wasn’t the old man, his only possible target was the original body at the bottom of Emerald Lake.
Following this line of thought—
What reason would the fake Gary have for seeking out his own original body?
Having watched countless movies, Everly immediately thought of three possibilities based on her experience:
① He wanted to free his original body.
② He wanted to merge with his original body and become a more powerful complete form (assuming such a thing was possible).
③ He wanted to kill his original body.
Options ① and ② were quickly eliminated.
It wasn’t difficult. All Everly needed to do was consider Gary’s personality traits, and the answer immediately became clear.
For option ①—
Gary was a naturally born antisocial personality. Someone like him was cruel, selfish, and cold-blooded. He had never understood the meaning of cooperation.
Even if the person standing before him was another “himself” in this world, his first thought would not be to help each other. Instead, he would probably wonder whether he could kill the other person.
Two Garys joining hands, working together, and creating a massive killing zone around Emerald Lake together…
That kind of scenario could only exist in a dream.
As for option ②, it was based on an assumption—
That the fake Gary and the original body could merge into one, just like certain movies and TV dramas portrayed, through physical contact or some other method, becoming a stronger version of themselves.
Even if such a thing was possible, Everly felt that the fake Gary still wouldn’t accept it.
The reason was simple.
She put herself in the fake Gary’s position and thought about it.
If she were the fake Gary, she would never casually merge with another person either.
After the fusion, would the resulting “me” truly still be the same person as the current me?
Why should I accept and accommodate the will and thoughts of another version of myself?
What if, after merging, my own consciousness was completely erased by the original body?
Who would I even appeal to for justice?
Unless the answers to those questions could be confirmed with absolute certainty, the fake Gary would never take such a risk.
As for becoming stronger—
There were plenty of ways to become stronger. Why bother merging?
Wouldn’t killing more people also make the fake Gary stronger?
And killing people had the added benefit of bringing him pleasure.
Therefore, after eliminating the possibilities one by one, Everly reached her final conclusion:
The fake Gary had come to Emerald Lake to kill his original body.
Don’t think this was impossible or unbelievable.
Unlike the rule-monster Claytor, Gary only had two settings:
First, the more people Gary killed, the stronger he became.
Second, Gary was immortal.
These two characteristics combined meant that the original body lying at the bottom of the lake—having committed countless murders—had become an experience-rich “reward package.”
Perhaps, by killing his original body, the fake Gary could obtain all the energy that the original Gary had accumulated through his slaughter.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, if the fake Gary only wanted to become stronger, he could simply pick up his machete and kill more people. There was no need for him to go to such lengths to cover up his true objective and travel thousands of miles to Veska City to “kill myself.”
Therefore, Everly suspected that killing his original body must hold some additional significance for the fake Gary.
She thought of certain urban legends involving “doppelgängers.”
A so-called doppelgänger was another version of oneself that existed somewhere in the world. According to legend, anyone who accidentally encountered their own doppelgänger would die not long afterward. Meanwhile, a copy who killed the original could completely replace them and become the “one and only” existence.
Everly felt that perhaps the same principle applied to the fake Gary.
As long as he killed his other self, he would not only be able to absorb the strength of the real Gary, but also break the real Gary’s immortality.
The original Gary would then truly die, becoming a blood reservoir that nourished him, empowered him, and helped him achieve a higher level of existence.
Only then would the fake Gary go to such great lengths to hide his true purpose and travel all the way to Veska City.
—He wanted to become the “only one” in this world!
Everly’s speculation sounded absurd at first.
However, after listening to her analyze the reasoning behind it step by step, Remia had no choice but to admit that Everly’s theory made sense.
Compared with the innocent “Everly” who had been dragged into this incident, the Gary sleeping at the bottom of Emerald Lake was far more likely to be the fake Gary’s true target.
“This reasoning is truly brilliant… Everly, you really are suited to becoming an investigator.”
Remia sincerely praised her before telling Everly that she would immediately relay this theory to the branch investigators in Dwight State and have them transfer their personnel to Emerald Lake as quickly as possible.
“There’s also the gas station at the entrance of the campground. It needs special attention as well,” Everly added. “The owner of that gas station is an old man with severe burn scars all over his face. He once had a conflict with Gary. If the fake Gary passes by there, he will definitely take the opportunity to eliminate that old man.”
“I understand. I’ll make sure they pay attention to that… Then I’ll hang up for now. I’ll call you again if there’s any new information.”
“Thanks. Goodbye.”
After the long phone call finally ended, Everly leaned back against the sofa and let out a long sigh.
She had passed the information along, but could those branch investigators really capture the fake Gary?
She was slightly pessimistic.
Everly had once held a very idealized view of SAI. She had believed that the investigators were powerful and professional, an outstanding group of people with admirable courage, sacrifice, and dedication.
But this two-day pursuit had shattered that image completely.
The people involved in the hunt were not only investigators from the Yonah and Dwight State branches, but also ordinary police officers and SWAT teams from both areas.
More than a hundred people had been dispatched in total, yet the fake Gary was still on the run, completely avoiding capture.
This made Everly seriously question whether SAI was only reliable when it came to headquarters members, while everyone in the branches was just there to muddle through their jobs.
But thinking about it any further was pointless now.
Everly and her grandfather’s group of three were currently trapped inside the villa by the flood and the strange fish. Unless the rain stopped and the floodwaters receded, there was nowhere they could go.
Even if the investigators and police couldn’t be relied upon, all she could do was pray for them from afar and hope the operation went smoothly.
……
Being trapped inside a villa was incredibly boring.
After feeling depressed for a while, Everly stood up and walked around the villa, checking every entrance and exit. After confirming there were no immediate problems, she headed straight to the gym.
Horror Movie Survival Rule #16: Exercise your body and maintain a healthy, strong physique at all times.
Whenever she was in a bad mood, Everly’s usual method was to relieve stress and forget her worries through intense exercise until she was drenched in sweat.
She spent the entire morning working out in the gym.
When lunchtime arrived, Everly returned downstairs and discovered that the water level inside the house had risen another few centimeters.
Originally, the water had only covered the soles of her slippers.
Now, it had risen high enough to reach her insteps.
At the current water level, things were still manageable.
But once it rose to the height of the baseboards, they would have to cut the power to the first floor.
When that happened, not only would the food in the refrigerator begin to spoil, but several of the villa’s security and early-warning systems would also lose power.
Furthermore, the villa’s panic room was located on the first floor.
If the floodwaters rose much higher, the four of them would be forced to abandon the panic room—including the secure toilet inside—and retreat to the second floor.
So, during lunch, Old John suggested that everyone look for some smooth, waterproof boards.
He had just found several tubes of unused clear waterproof adhesive in the storage room. They could try gluing the boards over the doorways to block some of the water from flowing in.
Everyone immediately agreed, rolling up their sleeves with renewed determination.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t even finished lunch before the air conditioner and the lights suddenly shut off.
Without the lights, the bright interior instantly became dim.
The four of them sat around the dining table, exchanging uneasy looks as a bad feeling crept into their hearts.
Misha reacted the fastest.
She immediately took out her phone, logged onto the local forum, and refreshed the page.
Sure enough, it wasn’t just Everly’s villa.
The entire city of Gilosha had lost power.
The forum erupted into chaos. Not long afterward, someone reposted an announcement from the power company.
It stated that the company’s power plant had been forced to shut down after its facilities were flooded. Power restoration would be announced at a later time. The notice went on to apologize for the inconvenience caused to all residents, followed by the usual official boilerplate.
Well, that settled it.
There was no point worrying about whether the villa’s water level would rise any further.
Even if it hadn’t, the electricity would still have gone out.
The villa did have a small backup generator, but it was permanently installed on the first floor and couldn’t be moved. It was already submerged up to nearly half its height in floodwater. For safety reasons, it was best not to use it.
As a result, before they could deal with the leaking doors, the four of them first had to tackle the long list of problems brought on by the blackout—
The sweltering heat.
Food that would spoil easily.
The many security systems that had gone offline.
Every single issue demanded a solution, leaving them overwhelmed with one headache after another.