Mystery: The Stars Returner

After the viscous and slippery liquid entered the body along the mouth, it gradually became overwhelming.

The internal organs also began to become disordered and torn, and the skin under the fine fabric began to develop fleshy bumps, which were itchy and numb, and tentacles seemed to grow out of them.

The originally clear sense of reason gradually began to fall into chaos, and all kinds of messy thoughts were flying around in his mind.

But no matter what changes occurred in his body, Hastur still stood upright with an expressionless face, while trying his best to suppress the various changes in his body.

On one side is the cold rules and order, on the other side is the lively and extreme chaos. Reason and chaos are constantly colliding and tearing, as if they are tearing his body in half.

In such a torn and entangled situation, he seemed to see chains of black rules extending vertically to the sky from every place in Backlund, eventually converging into a large mountain of rules, steadily pressing on everyone's heads.

The hard and cold chain of rules is difficult to shake, but there is a lingering shadow surrounding each chain of rules.

Especially right below the regular mountain, the light of the crimson moon at the top is reflected, forming a shadow of order on the earth.

No matter how strict the rules are and how consistent they are, wherever rules are born, there will inevitably be a shadow of order.

As the vision deepened, he saw an individual under the chain of rules, perhaps no longer able to call them human beings.

Those are twisted lines, and they are being alienated, or should be said to be domesticated, by the so-called rules.

Obeying the law is itself a process of domestication.

Just like the turkeys on the farm, the farmer only provides a delicious meal at twelve noon and five o'clock in the evening every day.

At first, the turkeys thought about foraging on their own, but as they got used to having two meals of feed a day, every time it was time to eat, they would run from various places to the feeding point.

Those turkeys that stubbornly insist on themselves can only starve or be beaten. After this behavior continues a few times, when it comes time to feed food, they will obediently follow other turkeys to the feeding point and start to grab it. food.

If there is a scientist in the turkey who is good at summarizing, he can summarize a set of rules applicable to the turkey group based on daily life experience.

This is another story.

When chaos and reason were slightly balanced, Hastur braced himself, left the dinner, got on the carriage and left.

The carriage slowly moved forward along the street. Hastur opened the windows on both sides. The cool breeze blew on his face, which slightly weakened the chaos in his mind, and his reason temporarily prevailed.

In the mysterious world, chaos is the permanent resident, and reason is only a temporary visitor.

So after taking the magic potion and being promoted, he must hurry up and return to South Wales.

In that country where he has only one voice, his chaos will not be noticed by others.

If he continues to stay in Backlund, his abnormal behavior that occasionally falls into chaos will definitely be noticed by others, especially the Loen royal family.

So before taking the chaos mentor potion tonight, he had already made some preparations.

He had already asked someone to buy a ticket to leave Backlund tomorrow afternoon. He only needed to maintain his sanity for half a day, and he didn't have much to worry about.

As for King George III, he had already taken care of it and there was no need to report anything more when he left.

He also took the time to visit Gray Linte, Greco, Professor Wayne and others, leaving only Miss Audrey who he had yet to see.

I can just visit her tomorrow morning and meet Susie by the way to see how she is doing in her studies during this time.

As for the matter of dealing with the Abraham family and the followers of the Stars, leave it to Bernadette. She alone is worthy of the entire Abraham family today.

While Hastur was thinking, his reason was swallowed up by chaos again, and his eyes were blurred, at a loss and at a loss.

Back home, Butler Neil asked the maid to bring the sweet soup for sobering up. Hasta took a sip and frowned slightly: "Sweet? Is this what sobering soup should taste like?"

"Don't you like sweet food? You even asked the chef to develop this sobering sweet soup."

“I like the spicy hangover soup, so I’ll remember it next time.”

"..."

The maid looked at Hasta's back upstairs in confusion. Spicy hangover soup?

Do you want to put chili pepper segments into the hangover soup?

But wouldn't it taste weird?

Perhaps his lordship's eating habits have changed due to his life in South Wales.

She didn't understand but was shocked. She turned around and headed to the kitchen to convey the latest instructions from the Earl to the chefs.

In the bathroom, Hastur habitually took a bath before going to bed, but he brushed his teeth. After brushing his teeth, he shouted toward the door: "Send some breakfast."

breakfast?

Shouldn't it be time for midnight snack?

The two maids guarding the door looked at each other and interpreted this sentence as using breakfast food as a midnight snack.

After finishing a breakfast in the bathroom, Hasta remembered to take a bath.

After taking a bath and going back to the room to rest, Hastur could not fall asleep while lying on the warm quilt.

There were all kinds of voices in his mind all the time, some urging him to sleep, some calling him to get up and get high, some wanting him to go out and become a thief at night, and another telling him to secretly go to Earl Hall. Home knocks on Miss Audrey's window.

How could he do such a disrespectful and embarrassing behavior?

……

Earl Hall's house.

Audrey did not attend the royal dinner tonight because she had declined the dinner a few days ago. She could only listen to her eldest brother briefly describe what happened at the dinner tonight.

It was past ten o'clock at night when she returned to her room after taking a bath. She stretched out, lay on her side on the bed, and told Susie not to stay up late reading.

"Audrey, don't you think that in the dead of night, it's best to quietly communicate with books?"

"I don't think that night is the time for sleeping, and daytime is the time for hard work. This is why the day is divided into night and day. Well, this is the intention of the Creator."

Audrey firmly opposed Susie's secret involution at night.

"Oh."

Susie couldn't resist Audrey, so she could only close the book, lie down in her doghouse and close her eyes to rest.

Satisfied, Audrey turned off the lights in the room, leaned on the soft pillow, and fell asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, there was a rhythmic knocking sound coming from the window.

Boom, boom, boom.

Susie, who wasn't very sleepy, woke up immediately. She crawled out of the kennel, her tail raised, her eyes widened, and she stared at the window as if facing a formidable enemy.

In addition to the sound of knocking on the window, a black figure could be vaguely seen hanging outside the window.

Like a giant humanoid bat?

Susie quickly ran to Audrey's bedside and barked loudly twice, causing Audrey to wake up with her sleepy eyes open.

"Susie, is it daylight yet?"

Audrey rubbed her eyes in confusion.

"Audrey, something is tapping on the window!" Susie tried to lower her voice for fear of disturbing the unknown creatures outside.

"??!"

Susie said this several times before Audrey suddenly woke up and subconsciously looked towards the window.

There was indeed a black figure that looked like a human being, and that figure was still tapping on the window rhythmically.

The Batman in folk horror novels?

This was the first thought that came to Audrey's mind.

In a horror novel she had read, there was a record of a kind of bat-man who was similar to humans and liked to come out late at night.

Along with the Batman, there are also the Mothman, Owlman, etc.

Audrey was a little scared at first, but she thought that she was already a Sequence 7 psychiatrist, so even if she did encounter some unknown creature, she would still have a certain ability to protect herself.

Besides, there is Susie next to me, so this is still my home.

Audrey regained her composure and looked at the unknown figure who was still knocking on the window, but she felt a strong curiosity.

She carefully stood up from the bed, put on a pink and white coat, gestured with her hands, and asked Susie to approach the window with her.

Getting closer to the window, the stars in the sky were shining brightly, allowing Audrey and Susie in the room to see more clearly the outline of the unknown creature outside the window.

Looks like a figure?

How could someone come knocking on her window in the middle of the night?

It must have been her imagination. Audrey shook her head and suppressed this absurd thought.

When Audrey and Susie were about to approach the window, the figure outside the window suddenly fell from the window as if it was frightened.

Audrey hurried to the window sill, opened the window, and looked below the window. She could only vaguely see a figure, which quickly disappeared into the night.

She blinked and asked curiously: "Susie, do you recognize what this unknown creature is?"

Susie came to Audrey, put her front paws on the edge of the window sill, tried to stand up straight, looked out the window, and said uncertainly: "Audrey, I seem to smell a familiar smell."

"A familiar smell?"

"I can't be sure, maybe it's really some kind of bat-man."

"What a wonderful night." Audrey sighed with emotion, and murmured: "I happen to be visiting Mr. Hastur tomorrow morning, and by the way, I want to ask him if there is such a creature as the Batman in this world."

"Audrey, I also want to visit Mr. Hastur."

Audrey thought for a while and frowned slightly: "Then you are not allowed to let Mr. Hastur send you any more messy books."

"..." Susie was silent for a while and said, "Audrey, I just want to learn knowledge."

Audrey said earnestly: "Susie, knowledge is poisonous."

"Audrey, but the book says knowledge is beneficial."

"Books are compiled by people, and there will inevitably be errors." Audrey sighed again: "You have to learn to have your own critical thinking skills, and you can't just learn the knowledge from books."

"Audrey, I understand!" Susie's eyes lit up, as if she had figured out an important point.

Audrey had a bad premonition, but she didn't have the heart to explore it now. She had to get some sleep.