Chapter 569: 11.95 First Green Star - Punishment World: "Labyrinth - The Creepy Clown" (25)
After being saved by Chu Mo, Eddie was shocked when he saw a boy of his age fall from the sky. With a flip of his hand, a wind tornado appeared around him to protect Eddie and himself inside while the rest of the ghost in the illusion was instantly destroyed.
Eddie said in surprise, "Huh? It"s gone?"
"Of course, Kid. That"s not real but just a manifestation of your fear. But your fear... Hehehe~" said Chu Mo.
Eddie felt embarra.s.sed that he was being teased; he knew that his fears were a bit too superficial. He might not know who that man is in front of him. But just the fact that he had saved him is enough for him to give the latter his trust.
"Anyway, who are you? Why did you save me?" asked Eddie.
"Oh. The name is Chu Mo. Call brother Chu. I actually didn"t save you because my task is to protect you from it."
Chu Mo pointed at the angered clown from a distance. Once both of their eyes landed on the clown they noticed its eyes turned red from rage. There"s a fierce glare coming from the clown and it even gave Eddie a cold glance. Making the child tremble in fear, the clown"s eyes were saying that it was not over.
But most of his anger was for Chu Mo and his team, ever since they"ve to save Georgie things for him had gotten harder. He needed more sacrifice to gain more strength. So instead of the main target, he would attack the other children in the town instead.
The creepy clown smirked and said, "This is not the end~" then suddenly all the red balloons he was holding had popped causing a startling sound in the area. Even Eddie unconsciously hid behind Chu Mo when he heard that.
Eddie said, "Is he gone, Brother Chu?"
"For now at least. Unless you guys find his house and destroy it then he will continue to exist," said Chu Mo as he noticed the abandoned mansion before his eyes.
He had a feeling that the clown is more powerful at this moment than when they first met him as he targeted Little Georgie. He thinks that there is something wrong with this mansion and chooses to enter it to check. Eddie, who was afraid of being left alone, couldn"t go home and followed Chu Mo who went inside the ruined house.
Upon entering, the sight of abandonment is more obvious inside. The old couch had been ripped into countless gashes and its cotton was spilling out. The corner of the room was covered in dust and spider webs. Wooden flooring creaked at every step. There are even some holes here and there.
Eddie covered his nose and started sneezing.
ACHOO~ Achoo!
Chu Mo looked at Eddie and commented, "Kid, you"re so delicate."
"I am sickly at birth okay!?" said Eddie.
Chu Mo said, "Huh? What nonsense!? You are eating vitamin tablets of varying colors as if candies and you say you are sickly. You are as healthy as a wild boar. It"s your mindset that is weak."
"Vitamins? What do you mean?" said Eddie as he pulled out his pillbox and looked at the various and colorful medicines of different shapes inside the pillbox.
Chu Mo said, "That... All of it is vitamins. Aren"t those placeboes?" Then he walks deeper inside the mansion investigating the feeling of demonic aura he is sensing.
Meanwhile, Eddie was shocked to learn that the medicines he thought of as lifesavers all this time are nothing but vitamins. He doesn"t know how he should react at this moment. Only when he saw that Chu Mo had gone a distance away from him that he put this problem in the back of his mind and followed after the former.
Eddie calls, "Brother Chu! Wait for me!!"
They roamed around the mansion and found nothing different except for all the ruined arrangements within the house. Eddie was following Chu Mo without knowing what he was looking for until he found him standing at the very center of the house looking down at the wooden floor under his feet.
Eddie asked, "Brother Chu, is there something wrong in this room?"
Chu Mo followed the demonic aura emitting yet hidden within the area. He stops at the place where the strongest aura is coming from. He lightly stomped on the wooden floor and heard a hollow sound. Clearly, there is some s.p.a.ce under the wooden floor. Something that is like a hidden bas.e.m.e.nt or something.
"Found it. The entrance to that stupid clown"s territory," said Chu Mo while whistling in joy.
Stomped! Crashed!!!
With one strong stomp from Chu Mo, the wooden floor under him collapsed leaving a large circle enough for a few children to fit in. Eddie saw the hole was looking dumbfounded by the scene. He couldn"t understand how one stomp from Chu Mo, a child like him, was able to destroy the wooden floor. They don"t even have an adult weight on him.
Within the hole is an undergone well connected to the sewers. The scent coming from the hole is astringent and disgusting. But for Chu Mo whose sense of smell is a hundred times stronger than a normal person, what he smells is the scent of blood, the flesh of decay, and death. He frowned, smelling these kinds of scents.
Eddie looked through the hole and was surprised himself. The stench was nauseating but as long as he covered his nose he would barely manage it.
"Whoa~ This thing stinks!! There is something like this in this place? Is it connected to the sewers? The barrens?" asked Eddie.
Chu Mo tried pa.s.sing through the hole to personally check what was inside but as soon as he tried to touch the hole. His hand was unable to move past or did not even get inside as if something invisible was blocking his way.
Then a holographic screen appeared before him.
{Requirements to enter the final domain have not been reached.}
{I repeat! Requirements to enter the final domain had not been reached}
{Please complete the needed requirement to open the final domain.
*Prevent all the deaths of the targets (5/8)
*All targets must learn about the history of the Clown.
*The seven targets except Georgie must meet together and work together in the progress of solving the mystery of the barrens.}
Seeing all these messages from the dungeon, Chu Mo knew that the dungeon core is making things stricter for their team. This is because of the overwhelming strength of Player Hei and Player Abyss which overwhelms even the Clown himself.
Chu tried grabbing the kid Eddie and entering the hole but had still failed to do so.
{Incomplete requirements. All targets must be together. To be able to enter the final stage.}
Chu Mo said, "Huh!? That stupid clown must have complained to the higher-ups and made it so we can"t solve things on our own without involving the targets. Did they want to make sure that we take the burdens when fighting the final boss? Would those brats even be necessary when fighting!? Sigh~ anyway I should return first and report." he lets go of the kid and Eddie falls on the floor b.u.t.t first.
Hiss! "What is wrong with you?" complained Eddie but he was ignored as Chu Mo was focused on the hole under his foot. As if deciding something he just sighed.
Then grabbed the back collar of Eddie and left the mansion while dragging the kid.
Eddie, who couldn"t remove Chu Mo"s hand no matter how he struggles, gives up as he looks at the distant horizon. Chu Mo rode his bike and carried him like a puppy in one hand while controlling the other bike with another.
Eddie spoke, "This is a dream. That"s right I"m dreaming. There were no sickly zombies, thug-like heroes, and no clown. Un! All is a dream."
"Dreaming your a.s.s!" said Chu Mo as he threw the kid on his own house front door, "Wake up, kid. This is your reality. I got you back home. Make sure to tell your friends about that hole okay~"
Grabbing his hair in frustration, "Gaahh! It"s real. The pain is real!"
"Kakaka~ you"re a comedian, kid. Not only are you lame you are so silly as well," said Chu Mo.
Eddie glares at Chu Mo about cursing his whole family again when he sees Chu Mo looking at him teasingly.
Chu Mo spoke, "No worries, brat. As long as I and our team can enter that place we should be able to eliminate the clown but to do so you and your friends need to show us the way in it. Understand?"
Eddie unconsciously nods his head when he sees Chu Mo"s wide grin as if that creepy clown was something he could defeat anytime.
Then Eddie heard his mom coming over to welcome him.
"Eddie, honey. My son, are you home?" said his mom from inside his home.
Eddie replies as usual, "Yes, Mom!"
Chu Mo said, "What is this? Are you a Mama"s boy?"
"Mama"s boy your a.s.s!" retorted Eddie.
Eddie"s mom said, "My sweetie, who is talking to?" as the door to the entrance of the house suddenly opened.
Eddie panicked for a moment thinking that his mom would scold him if he saw Brother Chu Mo with him. Since this was his first time seeing Brother Chu Mo, it could only mean that the latter is an outsider. Adults in their town were not too welcoming of strangers in the town.
"No one, Mom. I"m just talking to..." Eddie"s words were cut off when he heard what his mother had said.
"Talking to yourself, Eddie. Don"t be silly and get inside the house," said Eddie"s mom.
Eddie turned his head to look behind him and only saw an empty road. He was shocked to see that his Brother Chu had suddenly disappeared into thin air. Just like how he had appeared when he had saved him.
"He"s gone?" mumbled Eddie.
Eddie"s mom dragged him back inside the house while saying, "The sun is setting. It"s getting cold out here. Get inside now, darling."
Once Eddie was dragged back inside his house by his mom, Chu Mo who had escaped to the sky was watching the mother and son converse. None of the two even notice the person above their heads.
Chu Mo remembered the requirements to enter the final stage, "5 out of 8. There are three more before the completion of the side mission to secure the safety of the targets. It should be completed tonight. Better get back and report as soon as possible." he controls all wind essence in the area and uses wind elements to teleport back to where they temporarily live.
---
Bill"s Point of View.
As soon as Bill got home this afternoon, his father had called him to the garage. His father had seen his structural pipe model and he scolded him. That model is the exact copy of the sewers lining the town. His father is the only architect in the town and the sewer project was made and designed by himself.
So when Bill"s father saw that model, the adult man knew that his eldest son was still looking for their youngest. Their missing youngest boy, Georgie. Someone who had gone missing for a month or so now. In this town, no one would still come looking for a missing child who had been gone for more than a month. This is because they knew that once a child had gone missing for more than a month, there is no way of the possibility of him being found. That"s an urban legend in this countryside town.
Bill was storing the pipe model he had dismantled in the bas.e.m.e.nt. After hiding the pipe model parts in a box, Bill sat at the staircase and covered his face in distress. He could still remember what his father had just said just now to him while yelling. His eyes were red in anger and depression.
Bill"s father said, "This is enough from you, Bill! Georgie is gone. He is nowhere to be found. A month has pa.s.sed. He is already dead. Dead okay!? Stop doing this anymore. He will never come back."
Then his father paused for a moment as he stared at him with a face full of sadness.
"Bill, let"s stop this okay? Your mother is already not doing well ever since Georgie had gone missing. Please... Please don"t go missing as well. You are all we have left." said Bill"s father.
Hearing these words, Bill couldn"t help but shut his mouth. He knew his parents had been suffering from depression ever since Georgie had gone missing. But like the other adults in this town, they had also given up when a month had pa.s.sed and we still haven"t found Georgie. It was as if the whole village had a tacit understanding that when a child had gone missing for more than a month, that child would never be able to return home.
Bill covered his face as his tears stroll down his face like a fall. He cried silently thinking of the last moment when he last spoke to his little brother.
"If only I know... If I knew you would have gone missing... I wouldn"t have made that paper boat and just keep you by my side even if I"m sick. At the very least wouldn"t that mean you would be safe by myself right, Georgie?" murmured Bill in that silent bas.e.m.e.nt.
No one knows the sadness and loneliness he is feeling. He acted normal in front of his parents and friends. But deep inside his heart, he couldn"t forgive himself for causing his beloved little brother to be gone forever.