Marvel Celestial Master

Greenwood Police Department, Brooklyn suburb, New York.

The early morning sunlight shines into the house through the blinds, leaving tiny silhouettes on the table.The rain mixed with the aroma of earth filled the whole room.

It's always sunny in the morning in December in New York State, and people are coming and going in the police station. Everything looks so beautiful, if you can ignore the stinky face of Officer Sluggy Hammer.

Ever since a vicious murder occurred in Greenwood's jurisdiction fifteen days ago, Officer Hammer's face began to turn darker and darker day by day.

Today, he can't even bring himself to have an appetite for his favorite cheeseburger.

In just fifteen days, 15 people have died in the Greenwood Police Department's jurisdiction. In other words, there will be a victim every day, and there will be no exception in fifteen days.

The victims were scattered across various neighborhoods, with different identities and statuses, including blacks and whites. Except for their slightly similar appearance, Officer Hammer could not find any pattern of the murderer's crimes.

All the victims were beheaded!The wound was as smooth as a flat surface, and none of the blood vessels in between were damaged.

Their identity information was obtained thanks to the newly purchased DNA comparison equipment in the police station.

Half a month passed in a blink of an eye, but Officer Hammer, who was in charge of this case, had no clue.Even the most basic clues have not been found. The murderer is like a soul seeking his life, coming and going without a trace.

The Greenwood Police Department took all possible measures, even risking impeachment protests, by setting a curfew throughout the Greenwood District.

But all attempts have no effect. Every morning, people will find a headless body in the middle of the street on time.

For a time, people in the entire area were panicked, and even Officer Hammer himself was unsure.

The day before, he had just put his wife and daughter on the train to Boston.My sister has a house in Boston where she can stay temporarily.He planned to wait until the case was over before picking them back up.

If I still can't find any clues, I'll probably have to apply for special department intervention. Otherwise, if things get too big, I probably won't be able to escape the charge of dereliction of duty... Old Hammer pressed his forehead hard, with a lot of thoughts in his mind.

"Snapped"

Old Hammer took out a match and struck it lightly, and bright flames jumped on the stick.He held up the burning match and stared at it for a moment. When the flame became weaker, he leaned over and lit a hand-rolled cigarette.

Old Hammer didn't like the current flue-cured tobacco. As an Irishman who grew up in Colombia, he always believed that hand-rolled cigarettes were a man's romance.As for those filtered cigarettes?

No, no, no, that is something only sissies and children smoke.

Taking a deep breath of smoke, feeling the pungent touch of tobacco pouring into his throat, the old man narrowed his eyes slightly and collected all the smoke in his lungs.The pituitary gland secretes dopamine under the stimulation of nicotine, soothing his nerves that have been tense for fifteen days.

The cigarette quickly burned to the end. Old Hammer rubbed his eyes that were sore from comparing files for a long time and looked at the mechanical clock hanging on the wall.

The pendulum of the big bronze clock sways, with countless tiny gears hidden under the casing, driving the second hand to beat accurately and quickly.

"Ten, nine, eight...three, two, one." The old man looked at the second hand silently and counted silently.

As he finished speaking, the second hand happened to cross twelve o'clock, and then the minute hand and the hour hand jumped at the same time. The pendulum below hit the pendulum, making a pleasant ringing sound.

It's now eight o'clock sharp Eastern Time in the United States of America!

Old Hammer lifted the ceramic cup on the table, gently stirred the instant coffee in it, and watched the coffee powder slowly dissolve into the steaming boiling water.He was waiting for a phone call that came on time every morning.

"Jingle bell jingle bell"

When the coffee powder was completely dissolved into the boiling water, the phone on the table rang on time.Old Hammer put down the ceramic cup and raised his hand. The moment he touched the phone, he paused again.

He is afraid!

This phone call that comes on time every morning is like a silent notification from the god of death.

There will never be a voice on the other end of the phone, because the caller has long since become a headless corpse, and is currently lying quietly in the middle of a certain neighborhood in Greenwood.

Old Hammer gritted his teeth and picked up the phone.As usual, there was no sound from the other side, which meant that another headless victim appeared in the Greenwood area.

He suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness, which was exactly the same as when he was a child hiding in the closet and watching his parents being tortured to death by the rebels.

"Ireland... Sleepy Hollow... Curse... Celtic God... Vengeance... Giant Serpent..." A faint voice suddenly came from the other end of the phone.

The old man sat upright for a moment. This was the first time he heard a voice coming from the other end of the phone.The language on the other end of the phone was not English, but Irish with a strange intonation.

Listening to this familiar tone, Old Hammer instantly remembered the Irish myth and legend told by his mother when he was a child, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow - Dullahan!

What is happening in Greenwood now is almost exactly the same as what was described in the strange legend. Is it really Dullahan who is riding a horse that is also an undead, wandering around the Greenwood area, looking for his lost head?

The sun was shining brightly outside the window, but Old Hammer sitting in the room shivered.

He recalled the dream his daughter had told him a few days ago, and a strong fear suddenly emerged in his heart.

But children always have strange dreams.Perhaps this is not directly related to the case.

Old Hammer lit another cigarette and leaned on the leather chair, thinking a lot.He suddenly had a premonition in his heart that he must not tell others this information, otherwise something extremely terrible would happen!

Let’s focus on the case first!If we don't investigate clearly, the matter will be unstoppable!

Old Hammer put on his reading glasses, pulled out the file from the locked drawer, and looked at it carefully.

"knock knock"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Someone was knocking on the wooden door of the office, exactly three times, no more, no less.