Dave had a lot on his mind. For one, most of his questions had been answered, but he still didn't know anything about the mushroom. 'One step at a time,' he thought to himself.
When he looked away from the phone, he realized it was already dark, and many street lamps were shining brightly, making the town look beautiful. Dave sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the view and the cool night breeze. Suddenly, he heard a sound from somewhere; it sounded very familiar, but he couldn't quite identify it. The sound grew louder until he couldn't tolerate it anymore. He covered his ears, but it didn't help. He started feeling dizzy, and soon he collapsed, everything going black.
Dave jerked awake, his chest heaving, the remnants of the dream still haunting him. His shirt clung to his damp skin, and the sheets were twisted around his legs like restraints. The room was dim, with faint sunlight casting thin lines across the wall. For a moment, he couldn't tell if he was still trapped in the dream. His heart pounded loudly in his ears—too loud, too real. He ran a trembling hand through his hair, trying to steady his breath, but the image from the nightmare lingered, cold and sharp, refusing to fade.
He was still unsettled and checked his surroundings. He was in his room, and the sound he heard was his alarm going off. He took a deep breath to calm himself, turned off the alarm, and lay back on his bed. 'So it was all just a dream?' he chuckled, thinking about the vivid nightmare.
Then he heard a pinging sound from his phone. He lazily grabbed it to check and, upon seeing the notification, a chill ran down his spine. The notification read, 'Successfully installed the app Lucid.' He was sweating, his hands shaking from fear. Why did this appear on his phone? He deleted it and threw the phone away. It landed against the wall and fell. He was too terrified to think clearly. He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and went to freshen up. He brushed his teeth and took a cold shower to relax.
A few moments later, he regretted slamming the phone against the wall; if something had happened to it, he would have to buy a new one. He sighed and checked what had happened. Luckily, nothing was broken before he could sigh in relief, but he heard a ping again. He had a bad feeling about it. When he saw there was a new notification, 'Successfully installed the app Lucid,' his eyes widened in terror, and he raised his hands to throw the phone again, but stopped.
He lowered the phone and stared at it for a few moments. He sighed and clicked on the new app. Its icon was simple, with the letter L floating on an island. The app opened and displayed various information:
Name: Devan Nair
Nickname: -
Health: 80/100
Stamina: 50/100
Spirituality: 1000/1000
Abilities:
Mutations: 0/7
Skills: -
Items: -
The information was very similar to his profile, but there was a new line called Items. He was slightly confused because he had bought the skill Basic swordsmanship and had two items, but here they appeared as empty. As he pondered, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He was hungry, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, and decided to get some breakfast.
He chose to go to the same place as last night. He was still skeptical about the restaurant, but if he did something suspicious, the person behind the mushroom could track him, so he decided to act as if nothing had happened. Approaching, he saw a few police cars parked near the restaurant, and many officers questioning the people nearby.
His stomach tightened, and he had a bad premonition. He turned back the way he came, but suddenly someone called out, "Dave over here."
"Dammit," he cursed under his breath and turned, offering a forced smile.
He was a middle-aged man with a soft pot belly that pressed gently against his shirt when he sat down. His black hair was thinning at the crown, with streaks of gray catching the light. A few wrinkles framed his eyes and mouth, hinting at years of quiet fatigue and laughter. He was Kumar, the owner of the restaurant and Priya's father. Dave approached Kumar, who was with an officer, writing something in his notes.
"What happened? Why are there so many police around?" Dave asked Kumar curiously.
Kumar sighed heavily. "My restaurant has been robbed, and what's worse is that the robbers are not just mere robbers; they are also murderers on the run," he said with a sad, tense voice.
Dave's eyes widened in surprise. "Robbery? Murders? What are you talking about?" he asked, slightly panicked.
The officer taking notes noticed Dave's panic and addressed Kumar suspiciously, "Who's this?"
"Officer, he's one of our regulars; he was one of the last customers yesterday," Kumar explained briefly.
The officer scrutinized Dave and asked, "What were you doing here so late at night?" His voice carried authority that made most people comply.
Dave was no exception. "I... I was working overtime yesterday, so I came here very late because I knew the restaurant would be open till midnight."
As the officer looked at Dave suspiciously, Kumar soon intervened. "Officer, I know Dave. There's no way he's the culprit," he said.
"That's not for you to say, Mr.Kumar; it's our job," the officer said sternly, looking at Dave. "Alright, Mr.Dave, stay here for a few minutes, we will have a small talk," he then walked away to discuss something with his fellow officers.
As soon as the officer left, he looked at Kumar with a deadly glare. Kumar gave him an apologetic smile and said, "Sorry for dragging you into this. The officers were planning to visit you soon because you were the last customer yesterday. Good thing you showed up."
Dave lampooned and asked, "What's going on? What's up with this robbery and murder?"
Kumar sighed and explained, "Yesterday, around 3 or 4, half a dozen people broke into the restaurant, but the weird thing is that they didn't steal anything; they just scattered all the ingredients we had. It looked like they were searching for something, but after they didn't find anything, they left in a hurry. Everything was caught on the CCTV surveillance camera."
"You have security cameras?" Dave asked, surprised. The restaurant was old and run-down, and except for the locals, no one usually came here. As far as he knew, they didn't have anything like video surveillance.
Kumar gave him a wry smile. "Yeah, we bought them cheaply a few years ago, and I installed them myself. Well, I wasn't very good at it and ended up installing them in an awkward position. Unless you know where to look, you won't even notice them."
"And what about this murder?" Dave urged him to continue.
"Early this morning, people found a corpse near the river. When police went there to investigate, they initially thought it was either a suicide or an accident. But after looking at the corpse, they soon realized it was murder. The person's rib pierced his lungs, and from the impact, it looked like he was struck with a hammer. When they searched nearby, they found a group of people carrying the person and dumping him into the river. The cameras didn't show how he was killed, only him being dumped. When the police arrived here, they soon discovered that the same group had broken in," Kumar explained.
That was a lot to digest. Who would have thought all this was happening in the same neighborhood where he lived? Thankfully, nothing happened to Kumar or his family. That was something, right? Just as he was about to ask more questions, the officer called out to him.
"Mr. Dave, have you seen any of these people before?" the officer asked, handing him a phone displaying photos of individuals in strange outfits. Even stranger, each of them wore a mask. One figure in particular stood out—a man in a red oni mask, its surface stained and darkened as if it had been soaked in blood too long to retain its color. Two jagged horns jutted from his head like a twisted crown, and long fangs curved upward from his lower jaw—cruel and gleaming.
A shiver ran down Dave's spine, and he took an involuntary step back. The officer noticed and narrowed his eyes.
"Mr. Dave, do you know something?"
Dave wanted to deny it, but he knew better. This officer had an irritatingly sharp intuition.
He drew in a slow breath to steady himself. He couldn't tell the truth—that he'd seen the man in a strange vision—so he bent the story slightly.
"I... I don't know about the others, but I saw this mask on someone's back. It looked like they were trying to hide it, but I caught a glimpse of it yesterday, on my way home after dinner."
The officer's eyes widened. "Do you remember what he looked like?"
"Yes, officer," Dave replied.
The officer nodded, gesturing for him to stay put before walking off.