On the morning of the fifth day, another monk died in his bed.
Like the previous victims, he looked peaceful in death; the door was locked from the inside, as if he had simply stopped breathing in his sleep.
In the Command Room, Father Moreau slammed his fist onto the table, his eyes bloodshot and reeking of alcohol. "This is already the fifth one!"
Johnny Blaze paced irritably back and forth in the room, his leather boots clicking against the stone floor. The hellish aura emanating from him grew heavier; he had clearly reached his limit.
Dr. Banner sat silently before the monitoring wall, the light from dozens of screens reflecting off his face.
He had been sitting there for over ten hours, analyzing all the surveillance footage from the past few days dozens of times, even using the new image analysis software from Stark Industries.
But there was nothing.
Everything was terrifyingly normal.
Everyone had an alibi, and their movements were perfectly reasonable. In their final hours, the deceased monks had only interacted with their most familiar and trusted companions.
Dr. Banner leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples and muttering to himself, "Where on earth did I overlook something?"
...Meanwhile, in the Library at another corner of the monastery.
Thomas, a young monk, was standing on his tiptoes, trying to retrieve a scroll of scripture from the top shelf of a tall bookcase.
A hand reached out, easily taking down the scroll and handing it to him.
Thomas looked back and quickly bowed. "Elder Michael, why are you here? I could have handled such a small matter myself."
Standing behind him was one of the monastery's oldest monks, Elder Michael. He was over ninety years old and rarely went out, but he was very caring toward all the young people.
The other man didn't speak, only smiled and nodded, then pointed toward a Meditation Room deep within the Library, signaling for him to follow.
Thomas had no suspicions. Elder Michael often lent rare volumes to diligent juniors, and he was grateful for such care.
He respectfully followed behind Elder Michael.
One after the other, they walked through the dim corridor and disappeared into the depths of the Library.
The surveillance camera at the end of the corridor recorded this seemingly normal scene.
Meanwhile, at the top of the monastery's highest Bell Tower, in a shadow unnoticed by anyone.
Lin Huai lowered the military binoculars in his hand.
"Finally, it's out."
He knew very well that the real Elder Michael was currently leading all the monks in evening prayer at the Cathedral; the entire monastery knew this.
Then what was that "Elder Michael" just now?
For the past few days, he had been wandering around the monastery, hoping to find the hidden hand from the shadows.
That hidden wolf had finally bared its teeth again.
Lin Huai took a specialized mobile phone from his pocket and composed a text message to Dr. Banner.
After finishing this, he hid back in the Darkness, looking toward the Command Room... Inside the Command Room, Dr. Banner was about to turn off the monitoring wall and admit that this investigation was a total failure.
Buzz, buzz.
A phone in his pocket that he never left behind suddenly vibrated.
Banner froze for a moment and took out the phone.
On the screen was a text message from an unknown number, containing only one sentence:
"The Demon is in the details. Cameras don't lie, but they can be deceived. Look at the seams in the reflections."
Reflections? Seams?
These few words allowed Dr. Banner to instantly grasp something. He slammed back into his seat before the monitoring wall, his hands flying across the keyboard as he pulled up all the surveillance footage of the old monk, Robert, from the twelve hours before his death this morning.
"What are you doing? Found something new?" Johnny leaned over.
"A friend gave me a tip," Banner said without looking back. "He told me to pay attention to the details."
On the screen, old Robert was cleaning the corridor when he encountered another Deacon. The two greeted each other with smiles, and the Deacon even helped him steady a bucket that had almost slipped.
Everything was so normal.
"Slow motion, thirty-two times," Banner commanded Jarvis.
The footage turned into extremely slow motion.
Banner examined it carefully, frame by frame.
When the Deacon bent down to steady the bucket, his figure was reflected in a small puddle on the ground.
Right there!
Banner suddenly pressed pause. "Enlarge the reflection, pixel-level sharpening!"
On the screen, the reflection in the puddle was magnified.
In a image that was impossible to see clearly at normal speed, a terrifying detail appeared.
The reflection in the water wasn't the Deacon at all.
In a single frame, the face in the reflection suddenly twisted, its features blurring together, and a giant blue single eye split open in the center of the face, looking like a vortex.
In the next frame, the reflection returned to normal. However, a blurry seam left behind during the transformation was precisely marked by Jarvis.
"My God..." Father Moreau watched that face, his hand trembling as the wine bottle fell to the floor.
Within Johnny's eye sockets, the Hellfire flared up high.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"A... Monster wearing a human skin."
Dr. Banner's voice trembled slightly; he had discovered an entirely new species, which excited him.
He immediately pulled up the surveillance footage of the previous victims and analyzed it using the same method.
Soon, he found more seams.
In the reflection of a polished window, a monk's mouth split open to an angle that wasn't human.
In the reflection of a metal candlestick, another monk's eye turned into an insect's compound eye for a single frame.
In the Library footage from just now, the moment that kindly Elder Michael turned around, the shadow cast on the bookshelf was twice as tall as he was and had two extra arms!
"I understand..."
Dr. Banner let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair.
"There was never an insider."
He looked at Moreau and Johnny.
"Or rather, everyone could be the insider."
"This is a creature we don't understand. It has no fixed form and can perfectly mimic anyone it has seen, whether it's their voice, movements, or lifestyle habits. It's very good at exploiting the trust between us."
"It hides among us, using familiar faces to kill. That's why the victims didn't resist, and why we couldn't find the killer. Because in their eyes, the ones who acted were their own friends and elders!"
Trickster Evil Monster... how could it be such a coincidence?
In the distance, Lin Huai thought of this name.
Its eyeball was one of the primary materials for a Bizzaro Sorcerer.
Banner's analysis was already very close to the truth.
"Then what do we do now?" Father Moreau's voice was shaking. "We have no idea who it has turned into now! Every single person around us could be that Monster!"
"No, we know its weakness." Dr. Banner pointed at the image on the screen, his eyes sharpening. "Its disguise will be exposed under slow-motion analysis. Robot can see through its mimicry."
Johnny's knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. "Then what are we waiting for? Call everyone here and scan them one by one with cameras; we'll definitely find it!"
"No." Banner shook his head. "That would alert the enemy. It's highly intelligent; as soon as we start screening, it will hide or cause even greater chaos."
"Then what do you suggest?"
Dr. Banner pushed up his glasses and smiled slightly.
"Since it likes to act, we'll put on a good show for it."
He walked to the map of the monastery and pointed his finger at the central Prayer Hall.
"Gather everyone here for a prayer ceremony. Tell them we need to use the power of God Almighty to find the Devil."
"It will definitely sneak in, continuing its disguise to observe how much we actually know."
"When that time comes, we'll trap it here."