Twenty minutes later, the car stopped in an open space.

That two-story wooden house is just ahead.

The paint was peeling, the roof was covered in moss, the windows were dark, and a wooden sign stood crookedly next to it.

Yukino Yukinoshita parked the car, unfastened her seatbelt, and got out.

"arrive."

The night wind blew from deep in the woods, carrying the smell of damp earth and a faint, indescribable fishy odor.

Sylvie rubbed her eyes and got up from the passenger seat.

"Dad, are we there yet?"

"We're here." Mercury lifted her down.

"Daddy, are there monsters inside?"

"Don't worry, just follow me." Mercury held her thigh, somewhat expectant of a surprise.

Sylvie, blushing, leaned against him and nodded vigorously.

Zilema was the last to get off the bus, and she stood in the open space, trembling all over.

The aura emanating from beneath the wooden house was ten thousand times more terrifying than he had imagined; it was no ordinary monster!

"Baphomet! We might as well go back to hell! It's too dangerous out there!"

……

At this moment, Baphomet, who was flying in mid-air, was also completely bewildered.

"Where...where is this?"

Unconvinced, he flew around again, certain that this was the same place he had been before. But could someone tell him what was going on with the things underground?

It wasn't this scary last time, so why...?

Suddenly, as if realizing something, he took out his phone and opened his chat history with Furuta Nimura.

Despite the same unpleasant tone, this time he felt like he'd been tricked.

Clearly, he was fooled by Furuta Nimura!

What information he got from Trump?! Liar! This is clearly a trap set by those two!

Perhaps even during the last inspection, their senses were blocked by something!

"Evil humans, how could you lie to me!"

He roared, but he couldn't leave directly because Qilema was still down there. If he left, who knew if his old friend would die?

There's nothing we can do but take it one step at a time. Maybe something stronger underground will be more advantageous for him.

……

Let's turn our attention downwards.

The door to the wooden house was unlocked, and the group pushed it open and went inside.

Unlike the dilapidated exterior, the interior was intact, with trophies such as wolf heads and deer heads hanging all over the walls.

A table, a few crooked chairs, and a fireplace in the corner.

On the wall above the fireplace hangs a painting of a group of people surrounding an altar with a giant eye on it.

"Is this a surveillance camera?" Yukino Yukinoshita immediately noticed something was wrong and tore off the topmost surveillance camera.

Following the cable, she found several other surveillance cameras in the room.

"What is this? A toy in the Colosseum?" Hachiman Hikigaya retorted.

This is clearly man-made; they're being watched like monkeys.

"Interesting, very interesting." Mercury smiled and hugged Sylvie a little tighter.

Invisible fine salt began to float in the air, searching for its source.

……

Underground, third floor, control center.

On the huge circular screen wall, the originally densely packed images are disappearing one by one.

"Oh my god, how did they find it so quickly this time!"

"Where's John? Release the monster now!"

"Release the werewolves, alien beasts, hell lords, unicorns, and scarecrows!"

Before she could finish speaking, the woman sitting in front of the central control console suddenly stood up.

"Are you insane! We should offer sacrifices in order!"

"There's no order anymore! There isn't!"

The supervisor, who had been observing the surveillance footage, could no longer suppress his fear and roared at everyone!

"Switch to the backup line immediately! Activate the electric fence and release the monster!"

"The backup line is gone too."

The operator zoomed in on the image, and now they could clearly see particles that were almost invisible to the naked eye floating in the air, and even gradually spreading downwards.

"Is this thing interfering with the signal?"

"Let's stop discussing this! Shouldn't you give us an explanation?!"

Before the questioning had even faded, another voice came from behind – it was from the team responsible for in-depth surveillance.

"Report! There's an issue in the fifth-floor containment unit!"

"What happened now?"

"The thing inside... is starting to stir!"

The supervisor suddenly turned his head.

"Which one?"

"All of them!" The monitoring personnel's voice trembled. "All the contained objects on level 5 have become active, and that's not all..."

Upon hearing this, the supervisor rushed forward to check, and on the screen, the monsters that had been sleeping began to stir.

Some were frantically scratching at the isolation wall with their sharp claws, some were banging their bodies against the glass, and some were screaming inaudibly.

"They're scared." The supervisor lowered his voice, turning to look at everyone present, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes.

Are these children really going to be buried with us? That seems far too cruel.

"Marcus, stay strong." Another female manager approached. "Our sacrifice is worthwhile; it's all for the world."

"Ripley..." Marcus sighed, his eyes gradually hardening. "You're right, let that person slowly discover the truth."

After saying that, he went to the monitoring room and released the monsters one by one.

We're going to die either way, so rather than letting those monsters go out and harm people, we might as well have them eliminated!

……

In the forest surrounding the cabin, the lawn began to collapse, and the sound of gears turning came from deep underground as an elevator occupied a large pit.

"Click, click, click..."

In the shadows, a silhouette slowly emerged, its body pressed against the metal floor, like a spider, its limbs bent at impossible angles.

"Heh...heh..."

Immediately afterwards, the grass next to them began to collapse, and a second monster emerged.

This one was even taller, nearly three meters tall, as thin as a bamboo pole, and covered in black fur.

As soon as it came out, it started wailing at the moon.

The third one, the fourth one, the fifth one...

In the forest, on the lawn, in the lake...

They climbed out of the cage one by one.

Giant octopus, werewolf, clown, witch, evil spirit...

A picture of hell begins to emerge in this deserted forest isolated by an electric grid.

……

Inside the wooden house.

Mercury was squatting in front of the fireplace, controlling the fine salt as it continued to spread downwards.

"Dad, there's a noise outside," Sylvie whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Some intimidating-looking little toys."

Mercury paid no attention, and even deliberately dispersed the fine salt, trying to avoid touching those things.

Yukino Yukinoshita also heard the sound, walked to the window, and looked outside, but it was pitch black and she couldn't see anything.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Hachiman Hikigaya swallowed hard, his keen senses making his body tense.

In contrast, Zilema paid more attention to the thing underground, while cursing Baphomet in his heart for being such a jerk.

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