Chapter 616: 616: Straw

Chapter 616: Chapter 616: Straw

Han Dong was naturally sensitive.

The [Laughing Madness] attribute he obtained from the Count increased his perceptiveness a significant level.

Even when Cass and Diana couldn’t sense anything.

Han Dong had a vague feeling of being watched by something, as if it were right inside the convenience store.

“You guys eat first… I need to use the bathroom.”

Han Dong deliberately walked between the shelves, towards the back of the store… the back door was slightly ajar as if someone had just slipped out.

As Han Dong pushed the door open.

A dark shadow suddenly appeared in front of him.

It wasn’t some kind of horrific entity, but an elderly man dressed as a farmer, struggling under the weight of a scarecrow… The scarecrow appeared to have been pecked apart considerably by crows, and was being brought back for repairs.

Now that it was repaired, it was to be transported back to the cornfield.

“Hey, young man! Can you give me a hand? This scarecrow is quite heavy.”

“Sure…”

Strictly speaking, a scarecrow is just straw tied into a human-like shape, dressed in tattered clothes, and hung on a long wooden stick to scare away birds.

The two of them should have been more than sufficient to carry it, but when Han Dong lifted it, it felt unusually heavy.

“This scarecrow of yours is kind of heavy,” Han Dong couldn’t help but comment.

“We just added new straw, and besides, your skinny arms and legs suggest you’re from the city and not used to this kind of heavy work… But thank you nonetheless. I’ve gotten on in years, to think that even carrying a scarecrow is becoming challenging for me.

You all are probably only stopping briefly? After all, many people nowadays are keen on leaving Maine quickly.”

“No, we might stay here for a day. My friends and I aren’t phased by the disappearances.” Han Dong gestured towards the store, indicating his friends were still inside.

The old farmer’s voice changed slightly, becoming somewhat somber:

“Disappearances? No… I would advise you to leave as soon as possible… What happened here is more than just disappearances.

You noticed that the scarecrow is heavy, didn’t you?

Also, it’s not common for a scarecrow to be taken back for repairs in normal farming… this is not an ordinary scarecrow, what we’re shouldering is my son.

Three months ago, he contracted ‘Straw Disease’, and straw was growing out of his pores every day… even when cut down, more would grow the next day.

Until a week ago when he completely turned into a scarecrow.”

Upon hearing this,

Han Dong immediately put on the shocked face that a normal person should have and almost dropped the scarecrow.

All of a sudden, the old farmer burst into laughter: “Hahaha! Never mind, I won’t scare you anymore… There’s no such thing, my son just disappeared a week ago.

After thinking about it, I decided to put his clothes on the scarecrow.

So he could continue to stay in this field, watch over this land, and stay with me. That’s quite nice.

You, young man, leave here as soon as you can…”

While the old farmer was talking, he scratched his cheek with the hand he had just freed… With a swift movement, he plucked out the straw that had just grown from the pores of his cheek.

After helping to fix the scarecrow in the open space in the cornfield, the old farmer indicated that he would stay there for a while, and let Han Dong leave on his own.

As Han Dong returned alone, he watched the situation behind him through his Demon Eye constantly.

However, what was reflected in the Demon Eye was a scene of father and son, both covered in straw.

“This is troublesome… it seems that as soon as we drove onto the rural path, we officially entered this special farm area.

If we leave now, when Miles reappears, he will lose his target. Because the Moonlight Mark has been cleaned, there is a high probability that he will no longer pursue us.

I don’t want to give up on the bodyguard we’ve finally recruited.

We’ll wait half a day… As soon as the moon rises, we’ll set off immediately.”

Scarecrow… one of the most common monsters in foreign horror stories.

However, in these fields, there seems to be an unusual presence… maybe more terrifying than the ordinary scarecrows by a hundred times.

“It wouldn’t be another Other Resident, would it…”

When Han Dong returned to the convenience store, he bumped into Cass who had just come out to look for him.

“Everything alright?”

“A small problem, we’ll talk about it later. Has the store owner helped us find a place to stay?”

“He’s arranged for us to stay at a ‘deserted farmhouse’. It seems the entire family disappeared… we can live there for one day.”

“That works, an empty house is even better. As soon as the moon comes out tonight, we’ll immediately set off.”

The store manager helped them find an empty house and Han Dong also gave a little extra tip.

They walked down a few hundred meters of the rural path and came to a two-story farmhouse with an attached cornfield. The wooden windmill in the courtyard was slowly turning.

“This family had some bad luck, they disappeared one after the other in just a week… since you’ve come all this way, you probably won’t mind this situation.

You can stay as you like, and call me if you have any problems.”

“Thank you, boss.”

The entire farmhouse wasn’t locked at all, there was no need for a key.

First, Han Dong parked the Mercedes-Benz filled with gasoline in the front yard, then he meticulously checked the fuel tank, confirming that there was no straw in the tank.

The farmhouse, with its red wooden doors and grey roof.

The three of them squeezed into the relatively spacious main hall, where Han Dong recounted what he had seen and heard.

“Scarecrow…” Diana rested her chin on her index finger and slowly said, “Before I broke the Breed, I experienced a Fate event related to scarecrows called ‘Bewitched by a Demon’, which involved scarecrows being possessed by a demon lurking in the farm, killing people in conjunction with the crows.”

“The situation here is a bit different, the problem isn’t with the scarecrow, a ‘dead object’.

Instead, living people seem to slowly transform into scarecrows for some reason.”

Saying this, Han Dong led the two to the top of the farmhouse to get a better view of the surrounding cornfields from a higher vantage point.

Densely packed.

Compared to the familiar cornfields, the number of scarecrows here was at least ten times more.

“The scope of influence is broad, it might not be as simple to handle… As soon as the moonlight falls, we’ll immediately drive out of this area.

Even if scarecrows appear at night, our bodyguard can kill them all.”

Han Dong was still quite confident in Miles.

Making the most of every minute and every second.

The three first thoroughly inspected the current farmhouse, then released the crows to perch on the farmhouse and the nearby scarecrows, monitoring everything within a 500-meter range.

Taking turns sleeping in the main hall.

“Hey! Nicholas, wake up, something’s not right…”

When Han Dong woke up from his sleep, none of the crows had relayed any crisis information to him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Tonight… it seems that there is no moon.”

Han Dong and Cass looked out of the window together.

The dark clouds had completely obscured the moon. The professional bodyguard that he had hired with great effort decided to take a leave on the second day on the job!