The Last Piece of the Puzzle chapter 2

The young man who had just robbed the money had reached the street corner. As Tom chased after him, he glanced at his watch. As soon as it struck twelve, the young man in front suddenly stopped, bent down, and his hands and feet twitched. He looked very painful. On his face, there was an extreme look of horror, as if the sky was falling. Then, his right hand suddenly broke off, and blood gushed out. At this time, Tom had caught up with the young man. Before the young man could say a word, there was a loud “bang”, and his body exploded into dozens of pieces, flying everywhere and scattering on the ground. Blood splashed all over Tom. Tom took a few steps back in fear. Then he heard a “hiss” sound. He didn’t know what he had stepped on. With the dim street – light, he picked up the thing and saw that it was the young man’s eyeball! Tom let out a scream of “Mom” and didn’t even care about the money. He turned around and ran back home.

The next day, Tom came to the store early. As he expected, the puzzle with the young man’s portrait should have been completed and appeared on the table. But unexpectedly, he couldn’t find it anywhere. Tom had no choice but to put the last set of puzzles into his bag, take it home, and put it on his bedside table.

After these two experiences, Tom really knew the power of these puzzles. There were three blank puzzles in total. One had a cartoon of his son, and the puzzle with the young man’s portrait had disappeared unexpectedly. Now, there was only the last one left.

One day, the business at the store was not good. Tom was sitting alone in the store, lost in thought: He had stocked a lot of slow – moving goods recently, and the store’s funds were in a tight spot. Thinking about money, Tom was very restless. Money, money, life was really impossible without you!

At this time, there was a news report on TV: A well – known wealthy businessman, Mr. Smith, was coming to the city for an investment inspection. An idea suddenly popped into Tom’s head. He planned to use this last set of puzzles to make a lot of money. He wanted to open the biggest toy store in the city, have a luxury house and a fancy car, and live a rich man’s life. Tom’s plan was: Draw Mr. Smith’s portrait on the puzzle. At midnight, Mr. Smith would suffer the torture of being torn apart. Then he would negotiate with him and extort a large sum of money. At half – past twelve, the puzzle would be completed, and Mr. Smith would be safe, but the money would be firmly in his hands!

After making up his mind, Tom went to look for the blank puzzle. But when he opened the bedside table, the puzzle was gone. Just then, Tim came back from school. He was holding a box and shouted, “Dad, I drew your portrait on the puzzle, but I can’t put it together. Please help me.” When Tom heard this, he was so scared that his heart skipped a beat. He opened the box, and inside was the scattered blank puzzle. There were pen marks on each piece. Tom asked in a trembling voice, “Is this a picture of me?”

Tim replied timidly, “I saw a puzzle with my portrait on it, so I wanted to make a puzzle of Dad’s portrait too. I saw a blank one in the bedside table, so…”

Tom didn’t have time to scold his son. He immediately picked up the puzzle and sat down at the table to work on it. He was very nervous. The more anxious he was, the more his hands trembled, and the more mistakes he made. As time passed, it was eleven o’clock, and the puzzle was still not completed. Tom didn’t have the mood to continue. Well, he had seen the scene of someone being torn apart twice. Besides, the puzzle would automatically complete itself at half – past twelve, and he would be safe. Thinking like this, he relaxed. At this time, his wife urged him to have dinner. Tom sat down at the dining table and grabbed a piece of bread to eat.

Just then, there was a newspaper on the table. Tom accidentally saw a news report on it: “Horrible death, body torn to pieces, blood – stained small street”, and there was a photo. The picture showed the scene of the young robber dying miserably on the street. The date on the newspaper was the day after Tom was robbed. So, the young man hadn’t come back to life. He was dead?

Tom was even more confused: Tim was safe after being drawn into the puzzle, while the robber died a horrible death. Could it be that – only kind people would be safe when the puzzle was automatically completed at half – past twelve after being drawn into the puzzle, and if a guilty person’s puzzle wasn’t completed before twelve o’clock, the puzzle would disappear, and the person’s body would be torn apart and die. Was it really like this?

When Tom thought of this, he was terrified: He had just wanted to extort Mr. Smith. That made him a bad person… His forehead was suddenly covered in cold sweat. He didn’t dare to think anymore. He quickly picked up the unfinished puzzle and said to himself, “Don’t panic, don’t panic. I must complete the puzzle before twelve o’clock!”

At this moment, the lights in the living room suddenly went out. By the moonlight outside the window, the wall clock clearly pointed to twelve o’clock. Tom’s joints all over his body started to break, and blood oozed from his eye sockets. His arm snapped off with a “crack” sound… Tom had never done a single bad thing before. It was just a momentary wrong thought this time. But who could he blame for this?