NOVPUBThe elder who had been speaking walked over to the coffin and effortlessly lifted the lid.
Daniel cast his eyes in that direction, surprised to find a perfectly intact corpse lying inside.
Underneath the body, a tentacle quickly retreated.
Despite its speed, it did not escape Daniel’s vigilant eyes.
The old man glanced at the body and, seeing that it had not been damaged, closed the lid, his expression significantly softening.
Just as he was about to let Daniel go, his eyes fell upon the portrait.
His face instantly turned red with rage, and he screamed, "Damn squid! Where have you hidden my son’s portrait!"
On the portrait, Liam’s likeness remained unchanged.
Why was that the case?
Before Daniel could comprehend the situation, he saw a flash from the gun in the old man’s hand.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
Fortunately, Daniel reacted swiftly, dodging to the side just in time.
Following this, he saw the others erupt in fury, pulling out weapons from behind them.
Daniel dove behind the sofa, evading a hailstorm of bullets.
In such an intense situation, he dared not make a move.
He originally planned to seize an opportunity during the moment they reloaded their weapons.
Strangely though, the elders seemed to possess an endless supply of ammunition.
Even after several minutes of relentless firing, there was no pause in the gunfire.
The already fragile sofa was becoming more like a sieve with every passing second. In less than a minute, it would be reduced to dust.
And then, he would be exposed to the open air.
Seeing that the target remained hidden behind the sofa, the old man motioned for the others to move forward while maintaining their fire.
At that moment, countless silver silk threads emerged from beneath the sofa.
Like venomous snakes, they swiftly slithered toward the assailants, winding around their ankles and burrowing into their trouser legs.
In no time at all, the elders stood as still as statues, frozen in place.
Daniel emerged from behind the sofa, surveying the scene with calm satisfaction, deeply pleased with the outcome.
He manipulated the silk threads with his mind, intending to force the elders to drop their weapons.
To his surprise, it didn’t work at all. Had the control failed?
Daniel slowly shook his head.
That couldn’t be.
If he had lost control, these old folks wouldn’t be standing there like wooden statues. But why weren’t they obeying his commands?
Daniel approached one of the elders, reaching out to inspect them.
However, his hand unexpectedly passed straight through the elder’s body.
Subsequently, the elder’s form seemed to be triggered by some rule, distorting like a ripple in water before dissipating into thin air.
At the same moment, the others vanished as well.
Daniel was stunned.
Was this an illusion?
No wonder their bullets seemed inexhaustible; everything had been a farce.
Daniel turned to see that the once bullet-riddled sofa was now pristine again.
Everything in the house had returned to its original state.
It truly must have been an illusion.
But when had he fallen under the Blood-eyed Monster’s hallucinatory technique?
From the moment he entered the town, or some other time?
Unable to figure it out, Daniel left the house.
...
Inside the inn.
Alex, Mike, and Julia were gathered around a round table.
In the middle of the table lay a cell phone, as they waited for news from Daniel.
Nearby, Wes paced back and forth in the hall, a constant look of anxiety on his face.
He glanced at the still thick fog outside, then turned back to the trio at the table, "It’s been so long without any news. Could something have happened to Daniel?"
Alex replied coldly, "Shut your crow’s mouth."
Mike stood up, walking over to Wes with a smile, "Don’t worry, nothing will happen to Daniel. We just need to sit down and wait patiently."
Wes was somewhat skeptical. "I’ve always been curious. I can feel that Daniel’s power isn’t very strong, just at the level of a tier one Evolver. So why do you always have such confidence in him?"
Mike laughed it off, "That’s a secret. In any case, you just need to know that as long as Daniel is here, we will definitely be able to get out of this damn hellhole."
Before he could finish speaking, a series of footsteps came from outside the door.
Everyone instantly tensed up, their gazes fixed on the door, ready to spring into action at any moment.
A figure appeared at the entrance.
Seeing this person, everyone let out a long sigh of relief.
Mike stepped forward, "Daniel, how come it’s you?"
The figure at the door bore Daniel’s likeness.
However, his face remained stoically blank.
Wes hurriedly asked, "How did the plan go? Do we know the general rules of the Blood-eyed Monster now?"
Daniel remained silent.
Alex realized something was amiss.
He stood up, walking toward Daniel with a vigilant expression, "Daniel, why aren’t you speaking?"
Daniel still remained silent.
Suddenly, Julia stood up from her chair, shouting loudly, "No, he isn’t Daniel!"
Daniel was a smart person.
His face always maintained a calm demeanor, devoid of such wooden expressions.
This person was absolutely not Daniel!
Hearing Julia’s words, Mike and Wes, who were closest to ’Daniel’, hadn’t even reacted when they saw a chilly, eerie smile creep across ’Daniel’s’ face.
Subsequently, ’Daniel’s’ arms transformed into thick vines, immediately wrapping around Wes and Mike.
Alex quickly reacted, grabbing a fruit knife as he rushed forward, "Julia, let’s go together!"
He charged, brandishing the fruit knife towards the vine holding Wes, putting forth all his strength in the attack.
This kind of force was beyond what a regular fruit knife could endure.
With a crisp sound, the blade of the fruit knife split in two.
Fortunately, the vine had also been severed by the terrifying force.
Wes took the opportunity to struggle free, watching as the detached vine on the ground transformed into a puddle of boiling blood, before drying up entirely.
On the other side, Julia rapidly sprang into action.
Her hands transformed into electric blades, slicing through the vines holding Mike with lightning-fast speed.
Mike fiercely threw the severed vines to the ground, where they too turned into a pool of blood.
"Damn it, what kind of monster is this?"
Alex shouted, "Wes?!"
Considering the information on Isaac town, he believed Wes would have the clearest understanding.
Wes stared at ’Daniel,’ shaking his head, "I don’t know."
"It doesn’t resemble the Blood-eyed Monster, nor does it look like a tentacle monster."
Julia frowned, "Could there be a third creature in this town?"
"And why would it take Daniel’s form, could it be… Daniel has met with trouble?"
Alex narrowed his eyes, focusing on ’Daniel’, "Now is not the time to discuss this, let’s take this thing down first!"
Everyone nodded, summoning their strongest powers as they charged towards ’Daniel.’ Alex, too, unleashed his full might, aiming for a decisive, fatal blow.
However.
As the four of them landed their attacks on ’Daniel,’ its body distorted, vanishing in an instant as if it had teleported.
Mike, looking at his empty fist, questioned, "Did we succeed?"
Alex’s face tightened, "No, it seems it was just an illusion."
Wes immediately interjected, "An illusion... it’s the Blood-eyed Monster!"
Realizing there wasn’t a new monster in town brought no relief; their faces were instead overrun with worry and fear.
It was highly likely that Daniel had encountered trouble.
Julia, reluctant to accept this, voiced her concern, "What should we do now? Should we go look for Daniel, or..."
Wes cut her off, "We should run!"
"Even if we lure the monster somewhere else, it’s better than sitting here awaiting death."
Mike instantly disagreed, "You’ve seen how powerful the creatures here are. Bringing them into the city could lead to millions, even tens of millions of human casualties."
Wes became increasingly agitated, "But we are going to die, the common folk won’t last much longer either. It’s better to use them as shields to buy time; we might find a way to kill it in the process."
All of them, including Alex, were frowning deeply at Wes.
Mike was on the cusp of spewing out expletives in his anger when, suddenly, a voice echoed from beyond the door, "You reborn folks truly can’t find peace, even in death, can you?"
In the wake of the voice, a figure stepped into the hall. It was Daniel.
Leaving the T-junction, he had headed straight back to the inn.
Upon entering, he found Alex and the others staring at him with intense, wary eyes, as if facing a formidable adversary.
The sight left him completely bewildered.
"What is... going on here?" he asked, a look of confusion taking over his features.
Mike was fuming over Wes’s remarks.
Seeing Daniel appear, he assumed it to be another illusion created by the Blood-eyed Monster.
Grabbing a chair impulsively, he charged forward with a vehement rage, hurling invectives.
"You fucking bastard, planning to use the same trick on us again?!"
Crash!
The chair smashed onto the floor, scattering into pieces. Daniel, who had sidestepped just in time, looked at the shattered remnants on the ground, then back at Mike, his face a canvas of disbelief.
"Are you insane? Going for real?" he exclaimed, his eyes wide in astonishment.
Mike, undeterred, grabbed another chair in retaliation, "Oh, you can fucking talk now, huh? Got an upgrade, did you?"
"Fuck you!"
This time, Mike moved with swiftness, trapping Daniel between two tables, leaving him no space to dodge.
As the chair was seemingly about to connect with Daniel’s head, Daniel instinctively raised his leg to deliver a fierce kick.
Mike was sent hurtling through the air, drawing a graceful arc before he landed.
It was then that everyone realized, this Daniel... was indeed the real one.
