Chapter 12: Monsters and Their Immortality
"Whoa! So that Creeper has been lurking on this road, hunting people who drive through?"
Darry, who was driving, occasionally probed Chris for information—at his age, he was obsessed with this kind of stuff.
"Yeah, the missing persons cases on this stretch of highway were basically all this thing's doing. There are still a few bodies in the church's cellar—you can tip off the cops about them later."
Chris nodded in response, remembering the remains in the cellar and mentioning them.
He didn't have time to deal with those bodies himself, but he couldn't just leave them there.
So he informed the siblings, letting them contact the police.
"But if we do that, we'll inevitably have to mention you to the cops."
Hearing Chris tell them to call the police, Trish immediately spoke up.
Due to the emotional whiplash and Chris's natural charisma,
this girl was already seriously crushing on Chris.
In psychology, this is called the suspension bridge effect, right?
Surprised that the girl still remembered his bullshit cover story, Chris had to admit that human hormones were powerful things.
After all, his ability to single-handedly take down the Creeper in that cellar had largely depended on adrenaline.
Secondly, it was the Creeper's own arrogance—underestimating Chris, plus the cramped space of the cellar prevented the monster from using its mobility advantage.
That's why Chris managed to incapacitate it so quickly, without it even having a chance to fight back.
Thinking about it now, Chris still felt his heart racing.
If that monster hadn't been cocky, it would've been anyone's game who'd walk out alive.
But now that it was over, he naturally didn't sweat the details.
So he continued spinning the story: "Just tell them you two accidentally discovered that cellar on your way home, and leave me and the Creeper out of it."
"Sweet! You're really like a superhero from a comic book. Man, I wish I was as badass as you."
Darry, who was driving, somehow got all worked up, probably imagining himself in Chris's shoes.
Fortunately, even though he was reckless, he was still aware he was behind the wheel, so aside from getting emotionally hyped, he didn't do anything stupid.
After getting death-stared by his sister several times, he finally chilled out.
However, from his frequent glances at Chris through the rearview mirror, he clearly had other ideas brewing.
Trish's ability to shut him down clearly wasn't working, and after a moment, he spoke up again: "Dude, do you need a partner? Like Batman and Robin, or Blade and Whistler? I could help you out too—at least I can drive. Or..."
"Shut it, Darry!"
Seeing Darry rambling on, Trish snapped, glaring angrily at her brother.
She'd heard Chris's story about the Creeper and was still pretty freaked out.
If Chris hadn't happened to show up to deal with the Creeper, the two siblings would probably have become the monster's dinner.
So she was naturally even more pissed at her death-wish little brother, who now wanted to actively jump into that dangerous world.
When she got angry, her 'lovestruck' brain finally kicked back into gear, which made Chris breathe a sigh of relief.
After all, with a hot blonde constantly throwing herself at him, nobody could stay completely focused.
If the time and place were right, Chris would definitely have gone with the flow and hooked up with her.
Unfortunately, not only was there a third wheel present, but the Creeper in the trunk still needed proper disposal.
Therefore, Trish's constant flirting was making Chris pretty uncomfortable.
Now that Trish was busy chewing out her brother, she naturally couldn't focus on Chris, which made him feel much better.
No longer needing to suppress his teenage hormones, Chris finally had the mental space to observe his surroundings—he hadn't forgotten about dealing with the Creeper.
In plenty of horror movies, monsters are immortal, which, besides allowing for sequels, also serves to create that terrifying atmosphere.
After all, making ordinary people face monsters that are incredibly strong, hard to kill, and possess insane regenerative abilities is how their unstoppable and terrifying image gets built.
But having watched tons of horror flicks, Chris, based on his viewing experience, roughly categorized these monsters' immortality into three types.
Physical immortality, supernatural immortality, and the most bizarre—conceptual immortality.
Among them, physical immortality was the easiest to handle, because once humans entered the modern era, there were countless ways to destroy carbon-based life forms.
Whether it was chemical dissolution or physical destruction, human technology had methods for both.
As long as the monster had no other special abilities, even if its regenerative power reached the cellular level, Chris believed modern tech could solve it.
Supernatural immortality was trickier, because worlds with actual souls usually had heaven and hell.
And with those two realms in play, it was undoubtedly a world with supernatural forces at work.
Therefore, to kill this kind of monster, relying solely on human technology was useless, or at least, not very effective.
Only by finding something that could harm the soul, or by directly using more powerful divine or holy energy, could the opponent be eliminated.
Finally, there was what Chris considered the most annoying and difficult type of immortality.
That was immortality tied to some greater entity, obtained through their blessings or curses.
For this kind of immortal monster, unless the powerful being behind it was also dealt with, no matter how many times the creature was destroyed, it would just come back.
This was the type of film Chris found most irritating back when he used to watch movies.
Because this kind of immortal monster was basically unsolvable with the protagonist's abilities, which really pissed off Chris, who always preferred happy endings where good triumphs over evil.
But fortunately, in the Jeepers Creepers universe he'd jumped into this time, the Creeper only had simple physical immortality. Although it seemed to also have some dark magic powers, it ultimately didn't involve supernatural soul-level immortality.
Therefore, Chris still had the ability to completely eliminate the thing and leave without regrets.
Planning his strategy, Chris scanned the landscape for what he needed.
Although Darry was constantly getting chewed out by Trish, he didn't slow down, so before long, they'd left the empty countryside and reached the edge of town.
And Chris also spotted his target.
"Pull over up ahead—I need to borrow something from that farm to permanently end this Creeper."
Darry followed where Chris was pointing and indeed saw a farm.
"Dude, your eyesight is insane! You've got like, eagle vision or something!"
Chris had to agree with Darry's assessment.
Before his second chance at life, he'd been seriously nearsighted, and he owed his current vision to whatever cosmic force had given him this opportunity.
After all, the original Chris's vision was only at a normal person's level, and it was thanks to awakening his dimensional traveler abilities that he possessed this level of enhanced sight.
According to what he'd pieced together, people who moved between dimensions would have their very essence improved through exposure to cosmic forces during their journey.
And this essence would then activate certain physical talents upon arriving in a new body.
With good luck, you could even achieve dramatic physical improvements—like a total body transformation.
Chris's luck was clearly excellent, because he hadn't originally had these benefits—it was only through the strange circumstances of his arrival that his traveler essence got actively triggered.
This had then manifested over the following three weeks.
Chris just hadn't expected that the "awakened talents" would also include the ability to jump between dimensions.
Which led to his current confusing interdimensional road trip.
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