NOVPUBAside from that one entity, they hadn’t encountered any other monsters.
As long as it wasn’t the Blood-eyed Monster, the possibility of them being hallucinated remained nonexistent.
Daniel’s analysis brought a wave of relief over the others.
Daniel continued, "This house, I wonder if any of you have seen it."
The group bowed their heads, scrutinizing carefully, envisioning the streets in their minds. It didn’t take long before Mike exclaimed with a start, "I remember now!"
"Dan, while you were sleeping during the day, we went out for the investigation and passed by this house. It seemed they were holding a funeral; there was even a coffin in the yard."
Wes recalled as well, "Yes, we did see it when we were out. So, you think there’s something off about that place?"
Daniel reasoned, "If it’s not a coincidence, then there’s a high probability that there’s something wrong there."
Mike couldn’t help but curse, "Damn it, I even paid my silent respects internally when I passed by yesterday, never expecting it to be a monster’s doing."
"Shall we go deal with it?"
Liam chimed in, "Needless to ask, if it’s just one monster, we can overpower it with our numbers."
Julia added, "The day has just brightened, it’s a good time to act."
However, the moment they stepped out of the inn, they were stunned. The nascent sunlight, rather than bathing the earth, was swallowed by a layer of ominous clouds.
Mike couldn’t refrain from commenting, "This damned weather, why did it have to turn overcast now of all times?"
Daniel asserted, "No, that’s not a cloud."
Everyone then noticed that the sky was shrouded in a layer of gray-white dense fog. In the distance, the fog was visibly expanding in all directions across the town at an alarming pace.
Suddenly, Daniel recalled something, turning to look at Alex, Julia, and Mike, finding equal shock mirrored in their eyes.
Clearly, they were on the same wavelength. The intel brought back by Andy had mentioned this kind of fog.
Wes and Liam, unaware of this situation, furrowed their brows instantly after hearing Daniel’s explanation.
Wes’s face grew increasingly somber, "We weren’t informed about this, but evidently, this doesn’t bode well for us."
"It’s highly probable that the Blood-eyed Monster has appeared."
At these words, everyone’s faces turned exceedingly grim.
It could potentially be a monster of Rank S danger level. Encountering it would mean a calamity for them.
Daniel remained very composed, "We need to act fast. If we can’t take down the Rank A monster before encountering a Rank S one, our situation would become perilous, if not downright fatal."
Everyone understood the gravity of the situation.
Taking deep breaths to steady themselves, they followed Daniel out of the inn.
By this time, the fog had engulfed the entire small town.
Stepping onto the streets, Daniel and the rest appeared as if they were being swallowed by the dense fog from a distance.
The fog spread far and wide, obscuring all light.
Morning in Isaac resembled dusk, with a dim and gloomy ambiance pervading the surroundings.
The streets were devoid of any signs of life, leaving them wondering whether the elderly in the town were still asleep or perhaps non-existent.
The whole town was eerily quiet, a silence so oppressive it bred fear.
Nearly all houses stood silent, devoid of any illumination.
However, at a T-junction, one house bore some abnormalities — a faint glow emanated from its windows.
"Someone is there?!"
Daniel, holding a Desert Eagle, cautioned, "Be on guard."
The others drew their handguns as well — regular ones, which wouldn’t be much use against the monsters.
Yet, being a product of human technology, possessing a gun did imbue them with a dose of courage.
They pushed open the small gate of the yard and entered.
The coffin that had initially been in the yard was now nowhere to be seen.
The front door of the house stood open, revealing a faint light inside.
Approaching it, Daniel saw a red lacquered wooden coffin in the center of the living room.
Behind the coffin, on a table, was a moderately sized portrait, displaying the image of a middle-aged man.
Due to the dim lighting, the portrait seemed enshrouded in a thick fog, rendering only vague outlines visible.
As Daniel moved closer to get a better look, realization struck him — it was Stanley, who was supposedly dead.
"Why Stanley?!" Daniel couldn’t fathom it but chose not to alert the others to avoid fueling the tense atmosphere.
Yet, as he turned away, a subtle change occurred in the portrait under the dim light.
Half of the man’s face was obscured by darkness, presenting a chilling and eerie smile, his features ghastly and terrifying.
The group surveyed the living room but found nothing.
Mike queried with a puzzled expression, "Where are the people of this house? And why is the coffin not buried but brought inside? This is too strange."
Wes remarked gravely, "This town has always been peculiar. After all, it houses two monsters, and yet people manage to live here."
Julia nodded in agreement, "Indeed, no matter how strange the incidents here, they wouldn’t seem strange anymore."
Deep down, they all harbored a chilling thought — that perhaps all the inhabitants of this town were monsters.
Living in this town, it was impossible for them not to know about the monsters, yet they didn’t move away. They continued to reside here, a fact that was already shocking to the core.
Daniel spoke, "Let’s not dwell on that now; we should focus on resolving the immediate issue. If the tentacle monster is indeed in this house, dealing with it would allow us to devote all our energies to facing the Blood-eyed Monster."
A cold voice rang from Alex, "Everyone, be cautious. We can’t afford to endure another loss."
Wes glanced at everyone, asserting, "Indeed, stay close as much as possible and avoid acting alone."
The group resumed their search, rife with wariness.
The house was not large; the first floor had, aside from the living room, only three rooms — two bedrooms and a bathroom.
The second floor housed few rooms, largely appearing abandoned.
They scoured every corner of all the rooms but found no traces of the tentacle monster, nor any signs indicating the presence of monsters.
It felt like a normal household, pulsating with the essence of daily life.
Mike sighed deeply, "We found nothing, Dan. Could it be that it’s not here?"
Daniel’s brows knitted tightly as his gaze fell on the coffin situated in the center of the living room.
Understanding dawned on Wes, "Above."
Approaching the coffin with cautious steps, everyone felt an eerie decline in temperature, as if embraced by a chilling aura, stirring a profound discomfort in them.
Wes looked around at everyone; seeing no one else volunteering, he stepped forward.
As Wes readied to push open the coffin lid —
Suddenly.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
A feeble, deathly cough erupted from the bathroom, sending shivers down everyone’s spine, instilling a fresh surge of cold sweat on their backs.
Aside from Daniel, it was everyone’s first encounter with this haunting cough.
The coughing came from the very bathroom they had just inspected and confirmed to be empty. A sensation of dread swiftly enveloped them from head to toe.
"Daniel!"
Wes swung his head back sharply, his face twisting into a grotesque mask of fear, as if possessed by a demon. His body exhibited an abnormal contortion, every joint bending and warping at unnatural angles. He had invoked his spiritual power.
"Up!" Daniel yelled, not waiting another second before sprinting forward.
Fearful for Daniel, Alex rushed to the forefront, his foot connecting with the slightly ajar bathroom door, forcing it open with a loud bang.
Thud!
The dim bathroom was suddenly illuminated by several beams of flashlight.
But…
Everything was normal; there was no sign of anyone. The coughing did not resound again.
A tight knot formed in Daniel’s heart, "Gone?"
Overwhelmed with fury, Wes burst out, "Fuck, are we being toyed with again?!"
The bathroom window was shut tight, locked from the inside, leaving no chance of escape through there. How did the monster manage to leave?
Turning around, Daniel headed back to the living room, "Regardless, the monster cannot vanish into thin air. Close the main door, lock all the windows. Today, I am determined to fight it to the death right here!" 𝓃ℴ𝓋𝓹𝓊𝓫.𝒸𝓸𝓂
After Daniel closed the main door, the others shut all the windows on the ground floor before rushing upstairs to check the windows in each room.
The windows might not be able to prevent the monster from fleeing, but as long as they remained unbroken, it couldn’t leave the house.
"Thud… Thud… Thud…"
Footsteps abruptly rang out in the quietude, clearly audible to everyone on the second floor.
"It’s downstairs!" Wes called out, his face still wearing a fiendish expression, as he was the first to charge down.
In times like these, only the absolute annihilation of the creature could assuage their fears.
By the time the rest had stepped out of the rooms on the second floor, Wes had already reached the ground floor, even catching up to the source of the footsteps downstairs.
Following closely, everyone heard Wes’s voice, laden with shock, "Impossible!"
