046 A Reliable Back
"Those are all the precautions for your characters. The next set of warnings I'm about to mention has nothing to do with the filming locations, but it's something you must be careful about." Richard crossed his arms, his expression turning serious as he spoke earnestly. "You should all be aware of that case we looked into last time, where an entire family of four met with tragedy. I went to check out that house later, and it is indeed haunted."
"What the hell!?" Everyone's jaws dropped. Seeing that Richard didn't look like he was joking, they immediately understood the gravity of the situation.
Richard told everyone about his findings and theories, and they all found it hard to believe.
They had thought that matters related to The Upside Down were gradually moving away from them, but they hadn't expected things to still be so complicated and far from simple.
"Regarding the Fact That the Big Bad Behind the Upside Down Creatures Attacking the Real World Is Actually Our Fellow Townsman."
"Our filming location will naturally be changed; we'll choose another abandoned house in town for the shoot. I'm telling you this to make you realize how serious the situation is. No one should ever set foot in that haunted house out of curiosity. Even if you aren't immediately killed by Vecna's mental invasion, it would be like being cursed—you'd be marked. That guy has a seriously twisted streak; he'll slowly torture you and then kill you one day using his favorite murder method, just like how he killed his whole family." Richard warned everyone.
Recalling the feeling of his previous confrontation with Henry, Richard could clearly sense the guy's depravity. Even if the other guy hadn't gained psychic powers, becoming an antisocial psychopath would have been inevitable.
Hearing this, everyone sighed and nodded, once again feeling the deep sense of helplessness that comes with being ordinary. Because they lacked the ability to protect themselves, it was only natural for them to choose to run rather than face it head-on...
"What the hell is this?" In the dim AV room, several teenagers were gathered around a transparent plastic terrarium. Lucas pointed at the tadpole-like creature wriggling inside and asked Troy.
The "resurrected" Troy had successfully replaced the original Will and earned the title of "Zombie Boy." Moreover, because the truth couldn't be exposed, Troy had no way to explain things to those who mocked him. Consequently, he was bullied and isolated at school due to his "uniqueness," and was forced to join Mike's group—the only ones willing to accept his existence.
It was pretty ironic. This small group was clearly the bunch of nerds he used to look down on the most, but now, he had become a freak in everyone's eyes too. And his labels were even worse than Mike and the others' tags of "geek," "science nerd," and "D&D dork."
This was because the classmates and friends who went missing with him had already been confirmed dead. Their remains were actually retrieved by Richard from The Upside Down. The official public statement still attributed the cause of death to the original reason—accidental drowning after falling into the quarry. His survival was described as being swept away by an underground current after falling into the water, allowing him to narrowly escape.
He had truly experienced how frustrating and helpless it was to be the target of wild conspiracy theories. Now, Troy wasn't just labeled "Zombie Boy"; "Murderer" and "Coward" were the labels that hurt him the most. They were like words branded onto him with a branding iron, impossible to ever remove.
Everyone said that his friends died so that he could live. Even if he hadn't done anything to harm them, the fact that he abandoned them to survive alone was considered an act of a "coward."
This kind of unreasonable and even illogical malicious speculation seemed stupid to rational people, but it was provocative and inflammatory enough to stick. That was all that mattered; the public didn't care what the truth was, they only cared about the narrative they wanted to believe.
If the adults in town were gossiping like this, it was even worse for the students, who lacked the ability for independent, critical thinking.
Furthermore, Troy had been a bully in the past, so everyone was eager for a chance to tear him down.
Back to the present, hearing Lucas's question, a pale Troy could only shake his head and say, "I don't know. I accidentally coughed this up a few days ago. I think it might be some kind of Upside Down creature."
"Could it be the Demogorgon at a different growth stage that Richard mentioned?"
Dustin tore open a small pack of nougat he had with him and tossed some into the transparent terrarium. Although the little tadpole-like thing appeared to have no eyes or ears, it immediately sensed the nougat falling into the box and unhesitatingly snatched it up to eat.
"It's actually kind of cute." Dustin grinned, showing his signature toothy smile, and pointed at the little thing staring back at him curiously through the box. "Maybe it's just an unknown species of salamander."
Hearing Dustin's words, the other boys looked at him like he was crazy. They couldn't see how this thing was cute at all. Mike pursed his lips and quipped, "Dustin, there are no salamanders in this world that eat nougat."
"That's why it's a new species!"
"You're insane. This is clearly an Upside Down creature." Mike switched on the room's overhead light. Instantly, the room was brightly lit. The "tadpole" in the box immediately acted like a vampire exposed to sunlight, letting out a raspy shriek and quickly hiding under a small pebble in the terrarium to avoid the light.
"See, it's afraid of light and heat." Lucas squinted at Dustin, pointing a finger at the hiding "tadpole."
Dustin's smile froze on his face. Faced with his friends' "you absolutely cannot keep it" looks, he could only pout and lower his head in disappointment.
Will said, "Should we tell the adults about this?"
"Aside from the people at The Lab, telling other people who know the truth should be fine." Dustin thought for a moment before giving his opinion.
"Why can't we tell Dr. Owens?" Troy looked confused. Although he had escaped The Upside Down and been saved, his body and mind seemed to have been affected, and he had been receiving free help from The Lab. To him, the new Lab director, Dr. Owens, seemed like a kind and caring old doctor.
Dustin explained, "I know Dr. Owens and his team are being really nice to you right now, but they're still part of the Federal Government. If they find out that monsters are growing inside your body, will they start seeing you as a dangerous liability? At that point, they might not treat you as a patient anymore, but as some kind of dangerous specimen that might need to be 'contained'."
Troy gasped, getting a bit anxious. "Then what should we do?"
"Finding Richard is the best option; he knows a lot." The four boys, including Mike, said in unison, their minds instinctively picturing that person who always provided a sense of security.
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