I'm afraid of non-human beings

"Just go down here?"

"Well," Duke replied vaguely, "probably."

He can't guarantee that his memory is completely correct. After all, the map drawn by hand is just a few special places marked as much as possible.

They are now standing at the stairs where the lights are dimmed compared to other places, looking at the steps leading to the downstairs hidden in the darkness, they know that as long as they go straight down and turn left, they will be the destination this time.

"I came up from the floor below."

Duke sighed: "At least it was safe then, now..."

It would take more than an hour to stay upstairs no matter what. This hour is usually not long, but there may be too many variables here, who knows what other moths are waiting for them.

"On the bright side," Xia Zuo said reassuringly, "Three of the 'Seven Mysteries' have been identified, and the key to getting us out of here is probably hidden in the other one."

"Also, I also know that there are 'Hanako in the toilet' and 'bust portrait' left."

Lin You took the conversation, held up the mini lighter that was brought in from Duke, and took another photo, "Exclude the one upstairs, there is a high possibility that Hanako is on this floor, and I will go to the perfect art department later You can just drop by the front of the studio and have a look."

Duke: "..."

...Why is this "by the way" so natural!Are you going to the supermarket to buy food? !

Without further ado, Lin You was the first to walk down carefully protecting the firelight.

The small flame swaying in the wind was more than enough to light a hanging rope, but it was not enough to illuminate it, so she could barely see the step under her feet.The three of them struggled to go down the stairs more or less. When they finally got through the darkness in the stairwell, after walking a few steps, they saw the sign of "Art Room" hanging on the wall. .

"I opened?"

Lin You held her hand on the doorknob and turned her head to ask the two of them for their opinions.

"No, no," Duke hurried forward, "I'll do it."

Lin You didn't refuse, she took a step back and gave way to him.

After using the card transformed from a severed hand once, she also figured out the principle of her profession.

——After collecting the guy who promised to be used by her in the illustration book through various methods, she can use that card to summon the corresponding ghost as long as she thinks about it.

But now, Lin You secretly opened the illustration book and took a look. No matter which card it was, it was covered with a light gray layer. Although it was different from the rest of the locked card slots, it was obviously unusable.

She has played a lot of games, and she looks a little suspicious that it is something similar to a cooling CD, but in any case, this ability cannot be used in a short time.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to let Duke, whose combat strength is basically on the surface, take the lead.

With a "click", he bravely unscrewed the handle.

The studio slowly opened the door in front of them, and the darkness stretched as far as the eye can see, which proved that the place was still very spacious.Feeling inexplicably uneasy, Duke, who was the first to enter the door, reached out and groped on the wall, and it took him a while to find the switch.

The benches were placed under the podium in a disorganized manner, some of the canvases on the easels were smeared with a few strokes, and some were simply blank, and the paint trays thrown aside were covered in dust.

There are plaster busts with different expressions on the cabinets of the display stand. When Lin You passed by, she didn't notice anything unusual. Duke glanced over there, and when he took it back, his arms were full of shock. Goosebumps.

"This, this plaster head," he said uncertainly, "didn't you just look in that direction?"

Could it be that he moved——

Lin You immediately came over, "Where is it? Let me see!"

...Duke now feels that his previous description is very accurate.

Wasn't it when she was shopping in the supermarket? Her gaze, looking at each one, didn't look like she was looking at a plaster statue that might be haunted, but more like trying to pick out the most mellow and juicy Chinese cabbage.

No matter how tense and horrifying the atmosphere was, it had to be disturbed by this moment. In addition, Lin You looked back and forth, left and right, and there was no movement at all in those plaster heads, and his heart that was suddenly suspended was relieved. Slow down.

"There's no reaction at all here." Lin You looked back a little dullly, "Then it really is the ones on the wall."

Having said that, the note originally said "bust portrait".

The problem is-

She looked at the eight or nine portraits of people scattered on the wall.

Which one is it?

Except for two that are blank for some reason, all of them are busts without exception.There are men and women in the portraits, some with their hands crossed in front of their bodies, or others sitting sideways naturally.

"Anyway, everyone is here." Xia Zuo suggested, "Why don't we take a look separately, and save time."

The next step is decided in this way.

Lin You strolled up to the two paintings she was in charge of, and her eyes circled around the portrait of the unknown woman and the other blank canvas, but no matter how much she looked at it, she couldn't spot a flower in the painting .

They just hung there neatly, not to mention the slightest strangeness, if Lin You didn't know that she was standing in one of the "Seven Mysteries" places in this school, Lin You might not really think that this is an ordinary studio .

"No," the other two also found nothing, Duke shook his head helplessly, "I can't see anything."

He obviously also became suspicious, "It shouldn't be, is there another studio?"

"I don't know." Lin You said.

"Or open those cabinets again," she looked around, "there may be—"

Her voice stopped abruptly, and Lin You could feel that the eyes of the two people opposite her were focused on her shoulders.

And she understood why—the reason why she stopped her voice was precisely because of the tingling pain that suddenly came from there.

Lin You suddenly lowered her head, and when she saw the pale fingers pierced into the flesh, she waved her arms without hesitation——

She opened that hand heavily, but at the same time, some sharp edge also brushed past her waving arm.

On the blank canvas that her back was facing, first an arm, then the whole head, someone came out with lightning speed.

With just a little effort, the entire frame fell to the ground.The long hair of the red-clothed woman who got out half of her body was unnaturally twisted at an angle as if her two arms were broken, and a chilling light was reflected from her strangely grinning mouth.

Lin You saw clearly that there were dozens of sharp teeth densely arranged, and knew that if she was just a minute or a second away at night, she would lose a large piece of meat now.

——It is even possible to be swallowed up to the bone.

There were two loud bangs.

A pitch-black bullet hole was left on the ceiling, and Lin You hadn't had time to look back from the suddenly moving picture frame to see what was going on.Duke, who drew his gun without hesitation, panted, turned his gun sharply, and fired his third shot.

He didn't even aim much, the bullet had already pierced through the woman's forehead without any mistakes.

The movement of the woman in the frame paused for a moment.

However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, she raised her head and gave them a dark smile.

The bullet hole in her forehead was scorched black, but the fluid oozed out—more like paint.

Even such a fatal injury couldn't stop her, and Duke, who couldn't think of any other means, cursed secretly, and hurriedly said, "What should we do now?!"

Lin You held the wound on her shoulder and gasped.

What else can I do—

Let's run first!

Even such a short period of time is enough to cultivate a tacit understanding. Without words, the three of them reached a consensus just by looking at each other.

Although it failed to cause any damage, the impact brought by the bullet also sent the picture frame flying backward for a short distance.

Even if it was less than one meter, it was enough for Lin You to escape.She was the last one to rush out of the door, and she didn't forget to turn around and close the door behind her.

Even if it doesn't help, at least it can delay the time a little bit.

As soon as she rushed into the nearest door, she heard the rustling sound of crawling outside the door,

There was darkness in front of her eyes, and the shadows of high and low shelves could be vaguely discerned—it seemed that she broke into the small warehouse of this school without knowing it.

Walking through the shelves, Lin You was just about to hide behind, when she felt her wrist tightened, and someone pulled her in hard——

"Hush," the man lowered his voice, "it's me."

With one or two beams of light coming through the gaps in the cargo box, she recognized Xia Zuo's face.

"This is tricky."

Hearing the approaching crawling sound outside, he worriedly said, "What else can that monster do?"

Lin You suddenly smiled.

"That's the end of show time," she said.

Xia Zuo didn't even move.

"What show?" he asked suspiciously.

Lin You just looked at each other and raised his eyebrows.

Until now, I am afraid that only Duke and she are the real players.

"I found a torn-out page in the library," she said slowly. "That's what it said."

"An archaeological team once went deep into the ruins of ancient Rome to investigate another possibility of the starting point of the worship of the sun god or the god of fire in later generations. It is considered to be a huge, constantly deforming living flame, and its name is—"

Lin You accurately recounted that paragraph of text, as well as a certain name from the Cthulhu Mythos that she couldn't remember at the time.

"—'Cthugha'."

The smile on Xia Zuo's face disappeared when he heard the name.

He was still leaning against the side in the same posture as before, but his aura was completely different.

"So," he scoffed, "what does that have to do with me?"

"as well as--"

Lin You slowly continued the words just now, "Nyarlathotep and Nyarlathotep are sworn enemies."

The so-called "Cthulhu Mythology", as a serious horror fan, Lin You certainly knows a lot about it - after all, its influence is too far-reaching, and many horror films have more or less shadows.

Myths are said to contain evil and ancient things.In this system, "Nia", one of the three pillar gods, symbolizes ridicule and contradiction.

He is keen to deceive and seduce human beings with various disguised incarnations. In this sense, in layman's terms, he is like a devil-like existence.

"Someone at this school wanted to summon one of your rivals, which is why you're here—am I right?"

"Xia Zuo" completely took off his mask.

In the dim light, he smiled playfully and carelessly.

"That's right," he said lazily, "Then what do you want to do now?"

Lin You smiled slightly.

After laying the groundwork here, it was only now that she reached her real purpose.

After all, there is another most important reason why the evil god in front of him is famous.

——I like to make troubles, I like to make troubles very much.

The sound of the portrait crawling near.

"I just had a good idea."

Pointing in that direction, she asked with a smile, "Would you like to cooperate a little bit?"