Chapter 571: 11.97 First Green Star - Punishment World: 'Labyrinth - The Creepy Clown' (27)

Richie's house was safe due to people's presence. Pennywise skipped him due to an incompatible

Meanwhile, in the house of Beverly.

Beverly had just gotten home and as soon as she entered the living room of her house she saw the television on in a muted version and darkroom. It made the receiving area gloomy and made Beverly nervous. Because she knew that that person he dislikes is definitely home.

The man that created and the very same person that wishes to destroy him. It was Beverly's father who was s.e.xually abusing her. It was because of this man that Beverly hated the fact that she is a woman.

"You're finally home, my girl. Why did you get back late? Are you playing with boys again?" asked her father.

Beverly s.h.i.+vered in fear. She was reluctant to meet her father's eyes, making her look guilty. Plus, she was even stuttering when she spoke, making her father even more annoyed.

Beverly spoke, "N-No, Dad. Today is the last day of school. S-So... It takes... longer to go back... home."

"Is that really is, my girl? You are not playing around with boys in your school?" said her father.

Beverly was afraid yet in rage. This man would always blame her one-sidedly. It was because of this person that her school life was no better. As everyone in the town already knew how he had been treating her. In some. In a place unknown to her, her father was already claiming her as his own woman, making the people in the town look at her with eyes of biased disgust and hate.

Beverly spoke, "I told. There are no boys I'm close too!" Then she ran off towards her room and left her father alone while she locked herself in her room.

She hated her life, her father, and this town. Why do they look at her like she is something dirty? Nothing was her fault. She is a victim but she couldn't ask for help. Her mother is gone, she is alone in this h.e.l.lhole and there was no one who could save her at all.

Beverly cried alone in her room. Sitting in some corner, she hugged her knees and lowered her head as he cried silently. No one could even hear her pleas.

Wuwuwu~

But unknown to her, Zane Hillari was there in the dead corner of her line of sight. Avoiding her eyes and watching her in silence.

Zane could see his lover Sylvie with this little girl. His beloved is a human hated by his own kin and race. He was abandoned in the wild forest where he had hidden his mansion. Betrayed by his family and his village. In this forest, lives aggressive wolves that eat humans and those who left him in that place wanted Sylvie to die. For some reason, they treated him as a star of calamity. One which would bring destruction to their town.

Sylvie is a very pretty young man. He looks feminine by nature and his features were a bit Asian making him look even younger than those of the same age in their foreign land. Most people in Zane's country were built bigger than Asians. Their skin was white and not yellow. Plus their faces were more angular and fierce making them look older than their age and for mixed Asian blood like Sylvie, he wouldn't look completely like them but his Asian blood made him look softer and smaller than the rest of them.

Sylvie was also voiceless as he cried for help. He didn't want to die and crawled deeper into the forest trying to escape and hide from the wolves living within the forest. He called out for help but no one in that place who could hear his pleas had helped him. Plus those villagers that had left him alone were waiting for the wolves to eat him alive. Uses him as bait to catch wolves for food.

It was him who had saved Sylvie from his impending death. It was just one his whim as he was bored. But who would have thought that he would fall even deeper for this person who gave his life for him, just because hame had saved him once? It was unexpected and unfair but fate made them meet each other yet at the same time separate them when they arrived in the Abyssal World.

Zane watched as Beverly entered the bathroom after she had finished crying. He didn't follow him into the bathroom and only listened to the water sounds coming from inside. He was more silent than he usually is while playing with a small crystal ball in his hand. This crystal is something Lan She had given to him. Of course, the same thing was provided for Han Ya and An Yuan.

The only use of the crystal is to detect a demonic aura within the area they were in. This is to know the arrival of the clown coming out from h.e.l.l. The little girl inside the bathroom only took half an hour to finish her bath. That was when the clear crystal in his hands suddenly turned completely black under his naked eyes.

Zane mumbled, "Finally, he is here..."

The closed doors of the bathroom didn't hinder his entrance, he just had to turn into a blood mist to enter the gaps in the door. Inside the bathroom, Beverly had just barely finished putting on her clothes and was about to brush her teeth when suddenly a few hairs came out from the sink of the bathroom.

It slitters out of the sinkhole surprising Beverly. These hair strands were as if it was alive; it caught her and restrained her movements while trying to drag her towards the sinkhole.

Beverly was panicking as the hair was trying to drag her toward the sink.

"Ah... Ah~ no. NO!"

This was the scene Zane had witnessed when he reappeared inside the room. Zane immediately saved her by cutting the hair that caught her and hindered her from moving.

Zane is a pureblood vampire even in reality. His nails turned sharp and cut that hair so easily which directly saved the little girl who started crying.

Beverly was stunned to see Zane once again. This is the person she had seen in her school, in the female's bathroom when she was getting bullied a few hours ago. Before she could question him, he had run off without looking back.

"You... Why are you here? How could you enter my room!?" asked Beverly.

Zane only glanced at her once and looked at the hair which was now dripping with blood targeting him and her. Seeing this Zane knew that the fear of this young lady is not over yet.

"You are afraid of blood?" asked Zane with a frown.

Beverly replied, "J-Just a bit."

"You do know that IT's strength comes from the fear you guys are so afraid of?" said Zane.

Confused, Beverly asked, "Whose is 'IT'?"

"I see you haven't met him. He is a demon who uses the figure of a clown. He scares children to provide his power. At the same time, he is also the reason why children of this town would sometimes disappear. Because for him, the fear you guys have are his greatest supplements." said Zane as he saw the hairs suddenly pulling back to the sinkhole and felt things aren't going to end that easily.

Zane pulled a defensive talisman from his inventory just in case there would be some ambush. He approached the sinkhole alone and smelled a strong scent of blood making his eyes turn even redder in excitement and desire. As a vampire, blood is his source of power yet he made a disgusted expression on his face when he smelled the scent of decay and death coming from the hole as well.

"This is tainted blood. Yuck!" murmured Zane as he suddenly heard a surging sound coming from the sinkhole and knew things would end up in something he couldn't stop with his powers.

He ran back towards the little girl and stood in front of her. Zane activated the defensive barrier on time, a veil made from mana surrounded him and Beverly created a barrier around the two of them.

In the split second after the barrier was made a fountain of blood spurted from the sinkhole. The thick scent of blood spread within the room. It even painted the walls and ceiling the color of blood.

Zane and Beverly were stunned when the original white room turned into a red room in a few minutes.

"This is disgusting!" said Zane as checked on the crystal which suddenly turned clear once again.

Beverly was shaking in the presence of the room covered in blood. She is a clear example of someone with hemophobia.

Zane covered her eyes and said, "Close your eyes for a moment, please."

Beverly did as she was told and heard Zane click his tongue. Without her sight, she didn't see Zane bringing out a few cleansing talismans to clean the whole room. Didn't take long for the room to come back to its original state of cleanliness. He even pasted a few purification talismans on the walls of the room preventing the whole thing from happening once again.

Zane spoke, "You can open your eyes now. Follow me outside."

Beverly meekly followed him outside the bathroom and sat on her bed while Zane sat on the floor. There was silence in between them and Zane even noticed Beverly looking towards the door of her room. Zane thought she wanted to call her father.

"No need to call that trash father of yours. I can only be seen by a few chosen people targeted by that demon clown," said Zane.

Beverly was surprised to hear that she wasn't the only person being targeted by an evil ent.i.ty.

"I... I wasn't the only one?" asked Beverly.

Zane said, "No. There are 8 of you in all. My teammates had split to protect each one of you. Since I was the one who found you, I was given the task of protecting you. I'm supposed to leave as soon as I finish protecting you for today. But you seem to have a lot of questions. Go ahead. I shall take my leave once I answer all your questions."

Beverly spoke, "First, what is your name?"

"You can call me Zane. We are what you call players. This world of yours is a dungeon and the owner is that demon clown. You guys are non-player characters. You do whatever role you have and..."

Zane was suddenly cut off when he heard an announcement of warning ringing in his head.

{Warning. Player Zane is forbidden from telling NPC the truth of their worlds.}

{I repeat! Warning. Player Zane is forbidden from telling NPC the truth of their worlds.}

{Continuing doing so, Player Zane would be deemed to receive a penalty.}

Tsk!

Zane looked at Beverly and said, "I got warned. Just ask within the topic about your situation."

"Okay. Who were the other targets?" asked Beverly.

Zane answered, "You knew them I think. The names are Bill and his group, Bill's younger brother, the meat seller Mike, and the transfer student, Ben."

"Oh~ it's them," said Beverly.

Zane spoke, "Yes. They must have experienced the same time you had witnessed today. Better ask them yourself."

"We are not close," said Beverly.

Zane spoke, "Well there is time. You will meet them soon enough. I need to get going now." He then once again turned into a blood mist and left the house of Beverly.

Beverly didn't stop Zane from leaving as she knew that the man was not here to protect her all the time. He was only here today because he knew that she would be attacked. After everything was done, he had taken his leave as expected

Beverly looked at the window where Zane had pa.s.sed through with no expression on her eyes and saw the traces where the hair had clutched on her skin. It was quite evident on her skin as it left a few light bruises despite that her father didn't even notice it as if he could not see it at all.

That night before she closes her eyes to sleep, Beverly mouthed the names of the other targets that Zane had told her about.

Beverly whispers, "Bill. Is it the same Bill I know? One Henry likes to be bully because of his stuttering. But he seems to be a better guy than that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Henry. Sigh~ let's just leave to fate, for whether I would have the chance to meet them or not."

Nightfalls.

Everyone had returned to the mansion and reported everything that had happened during their missions of protecting the targets.

Lan She spoke, "IT didn't come for Stanley in person. Just a wisp of his demonic energy in this red balloon."

Seeing Little Georgie looking at the balloon with bright and excited eyes, Lan She happily gave it to Georgie. The traces of demonic energy in the balloon was cleansed by Lan She after all.

Georgie happily received the balloon and went to the corner to play with Hei Anjing who just woke up from his nap this afternoon which is why Zhi Yang was the one who accompanied Little Georgie to his home.

"Thank you, Brother Lan." said Georgie.

Han Ya and An Yuan reported that nothing unusual happened from their sides. Their target mission was to be safe and sound all day.

Zane spoke, "Same situation as Doctor Lan. No clear reappearance but detected demonic energy during the attack."

Chu Mo reported, "He appeared in person. Must be because of the location. Eddie was attacked in front of the abandoned Mansion. We found the entrance but I was not able to enter as it needs the targets to show the way down instead."

Ye Xiajie spoke, "In the abandoned Mansion on the 13th street."

"You knew, boss!?" said Chu Mo.

Ye Xiajie replied, "Noticed it on my way to the town. I've already worn the target. It is up to them to gather and go to that place."

"Boss, I was actually given a warning when I introduced myself to the target about my ident.i.ty as a player. That seems to be not allowed," said Zane.

"If it's like that. No need to introduce yourself as a player. Just tell them we are here to help them defeat the clown." said Ye Xiajie as he stood up, ending the meeting abruptly. "Meeting adjourned."

Chu Mo hugged his lover and acted spoiled, "Honey~ I'm hungry~"

"Sigh~ I will go cook dinner," said Lan She.

An Yuan also stood up, "Brother Lan I will help as well."

Lan She nods his head in agreement. But when the other three stood up wanting to go with them in the kitchen, Lan She stared at them wordlessly.

Chu Mo asked, "W-We can help as well."

"No need to crowd. We will call for help when it's time to bring out the food," said Lan She.

"Okay," said Chu Mo, a bit depressed.

While Han Ya and Zane sat back down and just waited for the food to be done.