"The Widow" Bertha

Bertha had heard about the hidden secrets of the London underground waterway, but she never imagined that under layers of factories and thick black smoke, a huge "farm" was actually built.

The indoor structure of the "farm" is circular, with domes, walls, and symbols of the Truth Society engraved everywhere on the ground.

A circle of passages for people to walk was built on the edge of the wall, and simple handrails were set up in the inner circle. Dozens of large and small iron cages were set up inside the handrails, all of which were dead animals.

The room is not very ventilated, so the room is filled with a strong rotten smell.

Sykes: "Fuck!"

Bertha couldn't help frowning—this is too much like a cult scene!

"If there were any more subterranean altars here," she could not help saying, "I would set fire to the London sewers."

The animals in the cages probably died of dehydration if they were left unattended. They all had hideous faces, scratched the cages, or the iron cages were deformed, and they must have had a crazy struggle during their lifetime.

Compared with Bertha who was feeling uncomfortable all over, Holmes' movements were much crisper.

The young man climbed over the railing and jumped directly to the center of the "breeding farm". His eyes quickly skipped the iron cages, and after a while, he dragged out an empty cage.

"look here."

Holmes squatted down and pointed to the broken part of the iron cage: "Some animals broke through the cage and escaped."

Bertha: "It's very likely that the one that was shot earlier was one of the escaped animals."

Holmes said nothing.

The young detective thought for a moment, then reached out and touched the ground.

The ground with wet and sticky black mud and sewage was unspeakably dirty, but Holmes didn't mind it at all.He wiped away the mud with his gloved palm, revealing some tiny scratches left on the ground.

"This way."

Holmes got up immediately: "A group of animals escaped from this direction."

A group of people immediately followed.

It wasn't until she reached the other end of the circular "farm" that Bertha discovered that there was a secret door in the shadow.Just after going out along the door, there is a new sewer fork.

Bertha: "..."

There is no end! ?

She followed Holmes forward and looked around two different forks: "There are traces of animals crawling on all the roads."

Holmes: "Divide up."

Bertha nodded.

"Since it can break through the iron cage, the surviving creatures are definitely not easy to deal with," she said, "I'll go back and call for someone to come over and get a weapon by the way. You guys wait here for a while."

After speaking, Bertha turned and left alone.

But neither Holmes nor Sikes was impatient.

Sykes folded his arms until Mrs. Thames' back disappeared into the passage, and then said: "Let's go first?"

Apparently Holmes thought so too: "I will take two, and you will take two. Miss Morstan and Dawson will follow me."

Sykes: "I'll go left."

After speaking, the two left with a few Irish youths.

Sherlock Holmes strode down the passage to the right, following the trails of the animals.Behind Dawson and Miss Morstan sent inquiries and reminders from time to time.

"What's the use of catching up with these animals," Dawson asked involuntarily. "The animals killed Martha?"

"Before the animals were shot."

Holmes explained: "It proves that there are people wandering around here. They must have discovered the 'breeding farm' before us."

Miss Morstan was startled: "In other words, the animals might have been released artificially?"

Holmes: "Possibly, but not sure."

After speaking, his footsteps stopped suddenly.

The detective stared straight ahead—there was no way out.

"This..." Miss Morstan was stunned.

Holmes walked towards the end of the sewer, but the thick wall blocked his way, leaving only the river in the middle.Here the animal tracks turned a corner and went into the water.

Turned out to be amphibians.

"wrong."

Holmes suddenly reacted: "The traces before were not amphibians, and the footprints were not so small--too bad!"

Dawson: "What?"

Holmes turned around suddenly: "Go back, Sykes and the others are in trouble!"

***

At the same time, Bill Sykes, with two young Irishmen, felt that he was about to suffocate.

"Let me tell you," he said cursingly, "you should take care of these shitty things yourself. Normally, the Thames doesn't charge you Irish protection fees. Why do you ask Mrs. Thames to come out when you're in trouble?"

"We'll pay you," retorted the Irish youth.

"You poor jingles," mocked Sikes, "you can't even buy trousers to hide your dick, and you can count on—what's the noise?"

Without Sykes' reminder, the remaining two young people heard it too.

It is the cry of a child.

The sound of almost choking came from a distance, about a hundred meters away from them.The left passage chosen by Sykes and the others is much brighter, and there is open air in the distance, probably leading to the embankment of the Thames River.

Therefore, if there are children of nearby workers running out and getting lost, it is not impossible.

"Go and see."

Sykes didn't doubt him, and patted the shoulder of the Irish youth beside him: "Where did the unlucky boy come from?"

As he said that he really couldn't stand the bad air of the underground sewer, the man took out a cigarette from his pocket and finally lit a match.

When Sykes brought the cigarette to his mouth, the two Irish youths had already walked several steps ahead.

The cries of children in the distance became louder.

It seemed to be a fork in a certain passage ahead. When the three of them walked over, they found that the road extending to the right was pitch black, and the sky ahead was the sky.

"Who's there?" asked Sikes.

The crying in the passage stopped abruptly.

There was a moment of silence in the darkness, and then it became a thin sob.

"Come out when you're lost," said Sikes again, "and we'll get you out."

This time there was no response, and the sobbing in the darkness continued.

An Irish youth couldn't stand it anymore: "Let's go, I think it's a bit weird."

Sikes spat.

Does he not know yet? !You must know that Mrs. Thames dragged you into the thief's boat because of her tricks.Bill Sykes is more afraid of ghosts than anyone, but...

If it was really a child, they let it go, and Mrs Thames knew, and Sikes would have to go back and forth again.

Waiting for someone to come?

Or go in and see first?

Sykes, who was a gangster, had no sympathy. He took out a gun from his pocket: "You two go first."

"Why?!"

"You have a weapon, you go first?!"

"I fuck you!"

Sikes loaded his pistol: "Will you go?"

The young Irishmen were not afraid of him: "I don't believe—"

In the middle of speaking, the sobbing in the dark passage stopped abruptly, replaced by the sound of footsteps stepping on water stains.

The child is out?

The Irish youth with his back to Sykes turned around when he heard the footsteps, and he looked into the dark passage——

The next moment, a huge black shadow rushed towards him.

It happened so fast.

When Sykes reacted and raised his gun, the young man with his back turned to him had already been dragged in by the black shadow.

Sykes: "Fuck!"

Now he didn't care whether he was afraid or not, so he had to chase and rush into the passage with the remaining young man.

The black shadow was extremely fast, and Sykes followed closely, but the screaming and struggling sounds of the young man became farther and farther away until they disappeared completely.

They lost him!

I don't know how far I ran, the deeper the passage, the darker the surroundings, Sykes had to turn around: "You can follow!"

The young man who had long wanted to run trembled: "That's natural..."

Then, the child's sobs sounded again.

In the darkness, the sobbing made the two big men tremble.Fortunately, the voice was very close this time.

Sikes' hands were shaking as he took out the matchbox.

He lit a match, and the dim light glowed in the dark, and Bill Sikes was really afraid to meet some strange ghost, but there was no, thank goodness, no.

The voice came from the corner, where squatting a small figure, really looks like a child.

"You unlucky boy—"

Sexton felt relieved for a moment.

The momentary match light disappeared, and he went straight forward: "I just told you to come out and you didn't come out. Did you see anything strange while hiding here?"

The little figure facing the wall was silent.

"What did I ask you?!"

Sikes reached out and took the figure's shoulder—

Then the man froze in place suddenly.

The child has hair on his body.

Not fine hair, not primate hair, but bird-like feathers.

The small figure turned his head immediately. At such a close distance, what Sykes saw was not a ghostly face or a human face, but a sharp and slender beak.

The bird's beak opened, making a sound like a child's weeping.

"I fuck you!"

The primate-like "bird" in the corner spread its wings and flew up!

This frightened Sykes, he let out a strange cry, stepped back a few steps, accidentally stepped on the air with his left foot, and stepped directly on the edge of the river.

Sykes lost his center of gravity and fell directly towards the middle of the river.

However, when he landed hard, Sykes discovered that this section of the sewer channel was dry!

Such a fall was not light, and he was a little dizzy on the spot.In a daze, Sykes heard the screams and wailing of the people walking on the river bank——

"No no no, don't come here! God!!! Help!!!"

However, when he shook his head and got up, even these voices disappeared.

Sykes scolded a few words one after another, only feeling that his whole body was about to fall apart, and the pain was terrific.He propped himself up and took out a match.

When the Yingying flames came on again, Sykes finally saw clearly what he had landed on.

Skeletons.

In the middle of the abandoned river, there are piles of bones.

Some were completely rotten and clean, leaving only white bones, and the flesh was ripped apart, and the blackened corpse was covered with white maggots.The lengthy river course is almost like a corpse pit.

The screams on the river bank disappeared completely.

Sikes raised his head, and what he saw were upside-down "birds" all over the walls and ceilings, the kind of "birds" that were as dark as children. They opened their mouths one after another and let out howling cries.

Taking advantage of the last moment of light from the burnt match, he looked towards the river bank.

The huge monster crawling on the ground stood up, its black face and body seemed to melt, and the flesh hung on its body, and the blood of the Irish youth couldn't stop falling from its mouth——

it's like...

A terrible thought passed through Bill Sikes' mind.

It was like Reverend Brian White came back from hell in the form of a ghost.