NOVPUBIn this iteration of the time regression, not a word had been mentioned about "that thing" by the trio - Wes, Liam, and Julia. Therefore, when Daniel voiced it, they were all taken aback. There was no way someone from the Investigation Bureau would be aware of it.
Trying to maintain composure, Wes responded with a forced smile, "I have no idea what you’re talking about."
Daniel shook his head, "If that is the case, there’s nothing left to discuss." Without another word, he stood up, prepared to head upstairs.
Seeing this, Alex and the others exchanged puzzled glances. They were completely lost, unable to follow the conversation between Daniel and the trio. However, it became evident that Daniel had uncovered some secrets held by the trio. With this realization, they got up to follow Daniel.
Wes’s face darkened; he was on the verge of cursing. Yet, deep down, he recognized their dependence on the others in this scenario. Moreover, the situation had spiraled out of control, and leaving Isaac alive was now a big question mark. Offering information seemed a fair trade for two lives.
With this thought, Wes halted Daniel and the rest, saying, "I can tell you, but I need to understand why you are so confident in handling that monster."
Daniel stopped in his tracks, as did Alex and others. They were stunned, having not expected this turn. Their curiosity piqued, wondering what it could be that the trio referred to.
Turning around with a face as calm as still water, Daniel asserted, "You only need to understand that you will be able to leave here safely, on my word."
The response didn’t offer any explanation. Yet, for reasons unknown, Wes felt a wave of reassurance washing over him. He pondered for a moment before spilling their initial reason for coming here. Apparently, the Rebirth Corporation had received intel about a peculiar monster residing in the small town of Isaac. The monster had a blood-red eye, entrapping any living creature it set its sight upon in hallucinations until the brink of death, only then releasing its grip.
Mike interjected, confused, "Based on what you said, anyone who has encountered that monster should be dead. How did you even come to know of its existence?"
Wes replied, holding his ground, "This relates to the core secrets of our organization, which I am not at liberty to divulge."
Julia followed with another question, "But what does this have to do with ’that thing’? Are you saying what you were after is this monster?"
Her query stirred doubts in Wes, putting him in a contemplative state.
He looked at Daniel, his eyes holding a strange expression.
Could it be that these people were unaware of "that thing"? Julia’s question mirrored the doubts harboring in Daniel’s mind.
However, he found it inappropriate to ask directly, so he had surreptitiously prompted Julia to voice the query.
Seeing Wes grow increasingly skeptical, Daniel maintained an appearance of utter calmness, not showing a hint of faltering.
Witnessing this, Wes’s confusion deepened.
Could it be that only Daniel was privy to the information while the others were in the dark?
This thought led Wes to marvel at Daniel’s standing within the Investigation Bureau.
Daniel seemed to be privy to secrets even Alex was not aware of, hinting at a background more mysterious than Wes had originally imagined.
Wes finally spoke, "What we are after is that monster, or more precisely, the monster’s blood eye."
At this revelation, a wave of confusion washed over the faces of all four members of the Investigation Bureau, Daniel included.
The blood eye—wasn’t that the monster’s eyeball?
What could possibly be the use of such a thing?
Yet, Daniel managed to keep his astonishment from surfacing, saving himself from Wes’s suspicion and inadvertently raising his esteem in Wes’s eyes.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Daniel questioned, "How did you plan on transplanting the monster’s blood eye into a human body?"
This remark left Julia and Mike profoundly stunned. Transplanting monster organs was something unheard of, something astonishingly new to them.
Even Alex, usually the embodiment of coolness, couldn’t help but display an unprecedented look of surprise on his face.
Wes shifted the topic abruptly, declaring, "Even if I were to die here, I would never divulge such secrets to you. You all must understand, the Investigation Bureau is not the strongest Evolver organization in this world; it is the Rebirth Corporation that holds that title. It won’t be long before we replace the Investigation Bureau, becoming the epicenter of the Evolver sphere."
It seemed every individual in this organization was truly mad, carrying out actions and harboring beliefs that deviated drastically from the norm.
Daniel gazed at Wes, a flicker of movement in his heart, contemplating the deep and twisted layers of intrigue before him.
Wes initiated, saying assertively, "Now, can we establish a cooperation?" Even in a situation where he was the one requesting aid, Wes refused to become a subsidiary to the Investigation Bureau.
All eyes converged on Daniel. After a moment of silence, a realization dawned upon him, "Are you implying that there are two powerful monsters in this town?" This utterance instantly snapped everyone to alertness.
Indeed!
The monster that appeared last night, although it shared a similar eye-like form, did not possess the hallucinogenic abilities.
This indicated that the town was the lair of two mighty beasts.
Moreover, judging from Wes’s depiction, the Blood-eyed Monster bore a level of danger far exceeding that of the tentacle monster that manifested the previous evening.
"Rank S; if the tentacle monster is categorized as Rank A, then the hazard level of the Blood-eyed Monster would be at Rank S." Daniel’s words drew involuntary gasps from the crowd as they fathomed the gravity of the situation.
Mike commented, his tone tinged with sarcasm, "We, the Investigation Bureau, are here to fulfill our duty, a course of action borne out of necessity. You people from the Rebirth Corporation can’t possibly believe that just the three of you can handle a Rank S and a Rank A monster, can you?"
Wes’s expression froze, momentarily at a loss for words.
Liam, lacking the patience of his companion, exploded in fury, "Fuck off, who do you think you’re looking down on? Do you want to take it outside and have a one-on-one fight? Whoever gives up first is a loser!"
Not one to back down, Mike rolled up his sleeves and headed towards the exit, shouting, "Bring it on, I’m not afraid of you, you son of a bitch."
Wes hurriedly shouted, "Liam, that’s enough! Isn’t it chaotic enough already?"
Liam turned back, the rage in Wes’s eyes pacifying his boiling anger.
However, seeing Liam relent, Mike couldn’t resist taunting, "What a wuss, giving up already? A ’three-second real man’?"
Liam was fuming internally but, out of respect for Wes, could only shoot a furious glare at Mike, warning, "You wait, once we get outside, I’ll beat you so bad even your mom won’t recognize you."
Mike responded with a contemptuous snort, clearly itching to add fuel to the fire.
Daniel spoke up, "Alright, let’s focus on how we’re going to deal with those two monsters."
He held some confidence in handling a Rank A monster, but the presence of a Rank S was far from good news.
Everyone fell into deep contemplation in the hall, a session that lasted until the early inklings of dawn signaled the retreat of the night.
Wes suggested with a tone tinged with desperation, "If all else fails, we should run."
Mike, whose eyes were already fighting the fatigue, let out a subconscious snort of disdain upon hearing Wes’s proposal, "You can’t possibly be a rookie in fighting monsters, thinking you can still run after being targeted by them."
There might have been a chance to flee upon their initial arrival in Isaac, but after the previous night’s monstrous attack, the opportunity to escape had vanished.
Once attacked by such beings, one would be relentlessly pursued by them, in an unending cycle of predation.
The only respite would come with the creature’s demise. Anything less meant a life devoid of peace.
Wes was well aware of this fact, yet he was at a loss for a better solution, entertaining the slightest hope that they might miraculously slip from the monsters’ grasps.
At this moment, Daniel descended from the upstairs, holding a piece of paper.
He spread the paper open on the table revealing a rudimentary map. "This is a hand-drawn map of Isaac town. It’s not detailed but the general locations are accurate," he explained.
Everyone gathered around as Mike inquired, "Did you draw this?"
Daniel nodded, "I spent the night thinking, and I have roughed out a strategy to counter the monsters."
All eyes brightened, fixated on Daniel with anticipation.
Daniel pointed at various spots on the map, delineating, "The lines represent the streets, the blocks are the houses, and here, here, and here are where we encountered each other last night."
He was pointing to a T-junction not far from the inn.
Daniel continued, "Last night, it took Julia and I, along with Mike, roughly ten seconds to get down from the third floor to the first, merely twenty seconds off from when you guys started chasing the creature."
"We heard footsteps when we reached this point, and by the time we got to this T-junction, no more than five minutes had passed."
"During this, Liam lost track of the creature and opted to return to the inn via the route we came but unknowingly took a wrong turn, serendipitously going from north to south to arrive at this T-junction."
"Wes, you followed the sound of the creature’s footsteps all the way from east to west to this junction." 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
"And we, on the other hand, arrived at this junction from the west heading east, and it was here that the footsteps vanished."
Suddenly, a realization dawned on Mike, and he voiced, "Could it be that we were all ensnared in an illusion, which is why we kept hearing footsteps?"
A collective frown formed on everyone’s face, including Daniel’s.
It was not an improbable theory, yet if true, did it not imply that they were still trapped within an illusion, their demise potentially drawing near?
Daniel turned his gaze towards Wes, "What does the Blood-eyed Monster look like?"
Wes shook his head, "We aren’t sure, but based on the previous intelligence analysis, the creature is supposed to be towering, even taller than a house."
Hearing this, Daniel let out a breath of relief.
This depiction did not align with the entity they encountered the previous night.
