At the same time, Qiao Can, who suddenly remembered something, was shocked.
She didn't care whether she would also plunge into the water, so she rushed over desperately.
Jian Mingjia: "Hey!"
Her yelling didn't help much, Qiao Can did it without hesitation.
The machete dragged by the triangular head came loose from his hand when he fell, half of which remained on the ground, and was sliding downward due to the weight of the other half.
Qiao Can slipped his hand several times, and finally grabbed the back of the knife at the last second, his whole body was pushed down by the inertia.
Anyway, it was caught.
The long machete was about an inch away from the surface of the water. After all, it didn't really fall in, and Qiao Chan's hanging heart also fell back to the real place. It's just that the heavy machete made it a bit difficult for her to keep her balance, let alone pull it up with her own strength.
"Come on," she gritted her teeth, "give me a hand..."
Jian Mingjia was quite frightened by her sudden action, and now she came back to her senses, and rushed over in a hurry while guarding against the loosening of the nearby iron net.
Grabbing one side with Lin You, the two of them worked together, and a severed hand helped stabilize them, and finally dragged Qiao Can and the metal block she was holding back to the iron net.
The machete hit the ground with a "bang", and the group of people wiped off their sweat.
"It's too risky," Jian Mingjia gasped, "Just in case you put yourself in it—"
The triangular head that had been teased by them was still sinking somewhere.
"so far so good."
The person who almost fell into the water didn't show much fear on his face, but was quite excited because he bought such a large item, "It's worth it in exchange for it."
The surface of the water under the barbed wire has not yet stirred up a wave, and I don't know how Triangle Head will feel if he knows that his long knife has fallen into their hands.
The weight of this machete is unclear, and the triangular head, which won't feel top-heavy even with a big metal helmet on it, can swing it freely, but it's a bit strenuous to land on Qiao Can.
She was thinking about stuffing it into her backpack when she suddenly stopped because of a faint, unknown sound.
"Did I hear wrong...?"
Qiao Can was not sure, she asked suspiciously: "Hearing hallucinations?"
"No."
Lin You's eyelids twitched.
"I heard that too."
A furtive rustling, like something crawling, getting closer as it gets closer.
Jian Mingjia, who was holding the flashlight, endured the numbness in his back, and used the light to shine on it.
Everything in the other world is mostly severely damaged remains, and a beetle almost the size of a fist crawled out of the hole in the wall.
It's just getting started.
Qiao Can: "... oh my god."
She stared at the brownish-yellow wall that was about to be dyed black by worms, her scalp was about to explode. Following the leading beetle, the surging "waves" were still some distance away from them, but they were indeed getting closer.
It was coming towards them.
Even if you haven't seen the movie, you can fully imagine how they climb up your body. People will always burst out with unexpected power in critical moments. Qiao Can's mind was buzzing, and he even lifted the long knife that he couldn't easily hold just now.
"Get down!" she screamed.
Lin You immediately lay down on the ground. She felt something hot above her head that made the air scorching hot. She instinctively covered her ears—
She is right.
This made her seem to be back in front of the cave in the last dungeon. The heat wave hit her face, and her ears could be hurt by the loud noise through the palm of her hand.
The severed hand that was almost blown away was tightly grasped on her shoulder, fluttering and fluttering.
—something exploded over there.
The raised flames crackled, completely blocking the path of the beetle swarm.
"... yes..." Jian Minjia's voice was indistinct in the flames, "what..."
"I want to use that knife... bazooka!"
Qiao Can raised his voice, but was interrupted intermittently by that, "But it didn't have enough time... It looked like it was going to explode... I just threw it out!"
Lin You: "..."
Jian Mingjia: "..."
Bombing is okay.
But it worked.
Everything that could be burned was burned up decades ago, and the fire gradually extinguished, revealing charred bodies all over the place. Even so, the power of the explosion was not small. Fortunately, they had already avoided the nearest section of barbed wire—several pieces were shaken off the screws and fell into the pool.
However-
In the other world, there is really no second to relax. Lin You thought when she heard the drizzling sound from below.
She looks down.
Through the barbed wire, an arm with protruding veins broke through the water and grabbed the guardrail on the edge of the fence below.
The metal polygonal helmet pointed out, and the triangular head grabbed the railing and climbed up again and again. The remaining drops of water rolled down along the edge, and the long cloth surrounding his lower body was also soaked in water, but this did not hinder his movements at all.
It's just that when he climbed halfway, his helmet seemed to be biased.
Along the direction he was facing, the three of them silently looked at a pile of charred bug corpses, where lay a few pieces of broken copper and iron.
... My good machete was harmed like this, and the triangle head was about to kill someone.
Yo, yo, hurry up!
Lin You was the first to get up, and she was still aware of the gap in strength between the two sides - Triangle Head's body was almost invincible, facing him head-on without any preparation, this deal was definitely not worth it!
Maybe you can try it with SCP-096, but the problem is that people can't see the face when they wear a mask!
After taking a few steps, Lin You was taken aback.
Vision lights up.
It wasn't the sudden brightness of the explosion, nor the white light of the flashlight. The corridor gradually regained the dimness it should have after the daylight under the sky full of ashes and the window glass.
The wall skin rose and closed in large pieces, and the barbed wire under the feet also returned to the original stone bricks.
They returned to the watch world.
The two people behind him breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground. When Lin You raised his eyes again, he saw a figure flashing past in the distance again out of the corner of his eye.
"... stop!"
She stomped her feet in place and chased after him. Seeing that the situation was wrong, Jian Mingjia and Qiao Can hurriedly got up to follow, while Lin You rushed to the stairs, looked left and right, but couldn't see any trace.
"Aretha?" she probed. "Is that you, Aretha?"
"I know what you want to lead us to discover."
Lin You raised her voice.
"But there is no need for that. I know who is lurking in this town, your experience, and the truth about the fire that year." She paused, "I can help you."
According to the background in the movie, the residents here are descendants of witch hunters.
To this day, they still operate secretly with the existence of the church, holding cult ceremonies that they believe can drive away uncleanness, so as to prevent the "apocalypse" of the end of the world from coming.
In this closed and conservative town, Alessa, an illegitimate child, is bullied only because no one knows who her father is. She was excluded and isolated at school, and was molested by the cleaner after hiding in the toilet, and her mother couldn't protect her.
And the leader of the church, her mother's sister, couldn't find out who her biological father was after several interrogations, and then regarded her as an "unclean" existence, and led a group of believers under him to forcibly arrest Aresa.
By the time her mother called the police from out of town, it was too late.
The ritual of burning the witch went wrong, the altar was overturned, and the flames spread throughout the town, which was the source of the fire that burned Silent Hill to its remains.
The police failed to save Aretha, and she didn't last long in the hospital after being tied to the torture rack and burned to ashes, but during this period, her hatred gained substance.
Above the stairs, a little girl's face appeared.
"I'm not 'Aretha'," she said.
Yes, she knew - Lin You thought, but until the person involved didn't admit it, it's better to pretend that she didn't know.
"I have many names." The little girl in a purple dress walked down the stairs step by step, holding on to the banister, "Of course, I am her dark side now."
"Aresha decided to cooperate with me on the hospital bed to take revenge on those who hurt her. Seeing that after so many years of operation, it is about to usher in the season of harvest, and there is another problem before us—"
"They were hiding in the church, and I couldn't break in alone."
As the "clone" of the dark side, she has a lovely face, which is exactly the same as Aretha before the burn, except that the black blood dripping from her forehead and her darkened lips make her look gloomy.
"We had other plans," she said, "but now you—you show up."
"I've been watching you all, and until now, you haven't met my standards. But you said 'I can help you'…"
The little girl looked her up and down with interest.
"Yes, I can sense some great power in you—where did they go?"
—I can actually feel it.
But it's not surprising... 096 has been chasing the girl with the gap for so long.
Lin You shrugged.
"Actually, there's no 'where to go', they're all still here."
She rolled her eyes, "Want to meet them? Or better, maybe you can have afternoon tea together or something."
These words seem to be implied as if they were explicitly stated. It would be strange if "Aresha" could not understand. Lin You didn't point out that she would agree or what, but she didn't expect the other party to pick up the corners of her mouth in a weird way after hearing it.
"Perhaps I'll think about it."
The little girl said: "But before that, what is more important is Aretha's wish."
"They believe that they can call their gods in this way..." She stepped back step by step, "Aretha and I want to end this. I'm curious, if it were you, what choice would you make."
When the last word was uttered, the little girl's figure disappeared.
Qiao Can originally just stood behind, listening to the conversation between the two of them, he dared not speak out, but now he opened his mouth without losing admiration.
"In short," she asked, "you don't have to stay in this school now, do you?"
I personally blew up the triangular-headed machete like that, and I feel a little flustered waiting any longer.
"I've already seen the deity," Lin You said, "Of course it's not necessary."
The rest is... as the little girl who claimed to be the dark side of Aretha said, how they choose.
"After seeing it with my own eyes, I want to talk about it even more."
Jian Mingjia, who was silent for a while, finally spoke: "Purification? Judgment? Who are they stupid enough to think they are?"
Lin You: "What do you expect brainwashed cult members to understand?"
"They've been trapped here for so long by the consequences of their evil deeds," Qiao Can said, "Could it be that they still think so?"
"Not only did they think so, but they made it worse. A claustrophobic environment like this will only solidify their perceptions—see, it's because she's a demon that we ended up like this."
Qiao Can made a "tsk", and Jian Mingjia continued.
"In their eyes, as long as they have anything to do with witches, they will die on the stake. For example, that policewoman—"
She has a meal.
"Let's not talk about it, anyway, according to this point in time, it will only happen in the future."
Qiao Can: "..."
Qiao Can: "No, no, I beg you to speak quickly."
Otherwise, it will suffocate her to death.
"She was framed and burned to death because she was covering for the heroine to find her daughter," Jian Mingjia said.
"These guys..." Qiao Can couldn't believe it.
After returning to the watch world, they saw the monster knocked down by Qiao Can on the way, and carefully walked around the puddles of venom it splashed. At this moment, I have left the teaching building and returned to the empty street.
The ashes floating in the sky still showed no signs of stopping.
Some of the storefronts on the street are still closed, and some have been turned upside down—those believers have obviously visited here.
Lin You noticed one of them.
In this place, survival is a problem, and believers are obviously not in the mood to pay attention to electronic gadgets. Let alone them, when Qiao Can followed her in, Qiao Can was very dazed, but Jian Mingjia guessed her intentions—she had more or less heard what the other party said.
"Maybe..."
With a "click", Lin You held the Polaroid that she took off from the counter with one hand, and took down the photo she took casually that slid out, "I'm glad that the quality of this camera is still good after all this time?"
"Come on," she turned back, "close your eyes."
Two hours later.
It may be because of the agreement with Aretha, this period of time can be regarded as peaceful in a sense.
Except that Qiao Can melted the bullet with the iron rod he found, and knocked down a few monsters on the road, at least they didn't enter the inner world again.
Following the map, Lin You and the others successfully found the church in the southeast corner of the town.
This church can be said to be the most representative building in the whole town - a tall spire with a strangely shaped cross erected on it.
"You really want to go in alone?"
When crossing the open space, Qiao Can asked, "Will this be..."
"It's okay, it's okay." Compared with her, Jian Mingjia has long been used to it and has to get used to it, "Don't worry, she's not just herself, she can take care of it. We just need to be ready to deal with it."
When the darkness of the other world did not fall, the believers mostly scattered around the town to patrol—they carefully avoided many of them. The church that served as their refuge was now empty.
Not to mention Jian Mingjia and the others who were hiding not far away, when Lin You squeezed the sealed envelope and pushed open the door, she only saw a woman standing in the front and a few bodyguards around her.
"If anyone's name is not written in the book of life..."
The voice of the woman praying echoed in the hall, "They were thrown into the lake of fire."
She turned around when she heard the sound behind her.
"This is a sacred sanctuary," the woman said when she saw Lin You's face clearly, "I have never seen you, stranger."
From the posture of her and those people, one can guess that she is the leader here, that is, the one who executed Aretha...
"I'm Chris Bella."
She said, "Responsible for managing this church, how did you get here?"
"... I don't know either," Lin You's eyes wandered, "I found myself here when I woke up."
"I managed to find this place along the way, and in the middle... I found something, can I ask?"
Chris Bella looked her up and down.
"Come with me," she said.
Lin You followed Chris Bella up to the second floor of the church, and she noticed that the other party's bodyguards were all following behind her.
Chris Bella asked, "What do you want to ask?"
"There's only one thing." Lin You gave up trying to cover up, and she simply said, "Aleisha."
Her words seemed to have touched a forbidden word, and Chris Bella's expression moved slightly.
"We never mentioned the name."
She said: "That devil is the sin left by my sister... You seem to know a lot of things that you shouldn't know."
"I just 'investigated' something..." Lin You casually glanced at the envelope that she had been clutching tightly in her arms.
Chris Bella noticed her movement, "What's that?"
"nothing."
Lin You hid the envelope, "Why did you do this?"
"To stop the 'apocalypse,'" Chris Bella said.
"But Aretha is innocent."
As soon as these words came out of her mouth, Lin You knew what she was going to face. Sure enough, Chris Bella's eyes suddenly turned hard. She still continued: "Is it justice to designate your sister's daughter as a devil? You just—"
"Witch!"
Crisbella, who suddenly understood, interrupted her with an angry shout.
"I was skeptical at the beginning, but I didn't expect that you were—as expected, bewitched by the devil, and what you did was to shake our faith." Before Lin You could say any more, she said in a sad tone, and then shouted, "Catch me!" Hold her! Now!"
The tall man behind him hesitated for a moment, "But..."
"Do as I say!"
Her prestige among believers is real. As soon as these words came out, the men didn't hesitate any more. Lin You only felt that the other party's strong force twisted her wrist. She didn't have the upper hand in physical strength, and after struggling a few times, she was forcibly held down by the shoulder——
"The proof of her collusion with the devil is in that envelope!" cried Chris Bella. "Give it to me!"
"Let go! There's nothing in here—"
Just as Lin You was halfway through her words, her eagerness to defend herself fell into Chris Bella's eyes, which further confirmed the credibility of her thoughts. She sneered, and took the envelope that the believer snatched from her.
"It is faith that prevents the darkness of hell from spreading. This is the only truth."
she said coldly.
"In front of those with eyesight, the truth is extremely clear."
"You will soon face the same ending as that demon," Chris Bella opened the envelope and announced, "You deserve it."
The moment she saw what was inside, her expression changed.
"What is this—"
"Actually."
The flustered man just now interrupted her unhurriedly, "I think my acting skills are pretty bad."
She came here just to make sure that Chris Bella would read the contents of the envelope.
"But fortunately you are busy giving me a trial—let me think about it, were you also so impatient with Aretha back then?"
Lin You had already closed her eyes, leaving Chris Bella's face turning green and pale.
"You know, it's quite difficult to take a photo without looking at the camera," she said, "I don't even know if the photo was taken, and I plan to use plan B if it doesn't, but from your tone, it should be a success gone?"
Then she has to prepare compensation quickly. I don't know if a dozen paper bags are enough.
If it's not enough, I will add a few dozen more, the kind with patterns.
Chris Bella couldn't understand what she was saying, but just had a strong feeling of bad feeling. She opened her mouth, wanting to tell them to put this witch on the fire right now, but when she looked up, she saw them staring behind her with piercing eyes.
She squeezed the envelope tightly.
— there was only one photograph in it, with a pale, gaunt face in the corner.
With the rattling sound of the paper bag, shadows enveloped her body, and Chris Bella turned her head subconsciously.
The next second, she and SCP-096 let out a shrill scream at the same time.