"Merry Christmas, Jonathan, what are you doing?"
"Merry Christmas, Barbara." Jonathan listened to the greetings on the phone, the corners of his mouth slightly curved, and the depression in his chest eased a little, "Of course Christmas will be spent at home."
"Mrs. Joyce and Will are here too?"
After hearing this, Jonathan looked back at the empty and deserted living room. The lights of the Christmas tree illuminated his face with a trace of depression. "No, they went to the city to reunite with Lonnie."
"Why didn't I take you with me?"
Jonathan was silent, recalling the time spent with Barbara during this period. She was undoubtedly a good friend worth making. He couldn't help but confide, "I don't want to go. I don't like that man. He and Joe Yisi often beat me before the divorce, and I don’t want to see this bastard unless necessary.”
"Sorry to bring up your sadness." Barbara hesitated on the phone, "But it's too lonely to spend Christmas alone. If you don't mind, come to my house for dinner. My mother is roasting turkey and pudding."
Jonathan's heart moved when he heard this, but he shook his head, "I've eaten it."
“What’s Christmas complete without turkey?”
"But this is a day for family reunion. Will I, an outsider, affect you?"
"It doesn't matter. We have dealt with those terrible future killers together through thick and thin, and we are already the most staunch allies. I told my parents about your help to me, and they are very grateful to you." Barbara strongly invited, "Come on , why don't you bring your camera and take a family photo for us."
"Okay, wait a minute." Jonathan glanced at the dark sky outside the window, "Joyce drove away the car, so I can only go there by bicycle, it will take some time."
"How can you ride a bike when it's snowing outside? How about I drive to pick you up?"
"No, I'll just wear a hat."
"Then be safe."
"Um."
Jonathan rushed to the full-length mirror in the bedroom, combed his messy bangs, put on a knitted hat and scarf, and showed a stiff and shy smile.
With the camera and red wine in hand, the cart left the yard and followed a path wrapped in snow-colored shrubs for a third of a kilometer before turning onto a road.
The car lights illuminated the unusually empty road and the dark forests on both sides. It was obviously Christmas night, but Jonathan's home was in a remote northern suburb. It was so quiet that not a passing car could be seen. Even the moon was not visible. It was off, and there was no other light except the car lights.
The darkness seemed to weave a huge mouth of the abyss in the distance, swallowing up the black snowflakes falling in the night sky and this hurried passerby.
The cold breath was like a steel needle hitting his cheek. Jonathan shivered with cold, and the breath exhaled from his mouth and nose turned into a long white stripe. But when he thought of his friend's invitation, his heart felt warm, and his hands moved as he pedaled. My legs are getting stronger.
Barbara's chubby face appeared in front of Jonathan's eyes, and it quickly overlapped with another delicate face.
It would be nice if Barbara and Nancy switched roles and Nancy was so interested in him.
Of course, this can only be an unattainable dream.
The last time there was a party at Steve's house, Jonathan had already discovered that Nancy was holding hands with the rich second generation, and the two of them were getting closer and closer.
The joy on Jonathan's face dimmed, and he lowered his head in despair. The car lights suddenly went out. When he looked up, his pupils shrank into slits.
A tall and thin figure appeared in the middle of the empty road ahead. The light was too dark to see clearly, but his limbs were disproportionately slender and slender. Coupled with an oval head, he exuded the look of a scarecrow in the forest. A sense of eeriness and horror.
"who?!"
Jonathan turned the handlebars and swung the direction. The figure swung a slender arm and hit the bicycle with a snap. It was like a swift and powerful whip that made the bicycle lose control and drove Jonathan into the woods beside the road.
Plop!
Jonathan fell hard into the snow, but his body that had been transformed by the badge was not so easily injured. He stood up in a hurry, and with a glance, the entire car basket was twisted into a ball by the huge force.
Not far away, there was a rapid popping sound of heavy objects crushing the snow. He followed the sound and looked over. A figure rushed towards the road, lying on all fours like a beast, with a roaring sound breaking through the air.
Christmas night.
In the dark forest.
Jonathan lifted the bicycle and held it in front of his chest, like a warrior holding a shield high, facing the attacker tremblingly, fearfully, and excitedly.
…
"Jonathan, why do you think Lonnie invited us to spend Christmas for the first time? He won two thousand dollars in the lottery, so his conscience found out." Joyce, who was tired of life, opened the door and put away a bunch of large and small bags of things. Throwing it to the ground, he raised his lips and said, "Come here and get your Christmas gift!"
Will, dressed like a little snowman, rushed out from behind his mother and rushed into his brother's bedroom as a gift, "Lonnie bought your favorite David Bowie tape, let's listen to it together! Hey, no one !”
"Where are you going so early in the morning?" Joyce walked into the living room and took a look. The table was piled with half-eaten stew and pepperoni pizza. She couldn't help but put her hands on her hips and sighed, "The plates are not washed, and it's wasted. Food, is this entering the rebellious phase early?"
Joyce tiredly turned on the TV, put on an apron and plastic gloves, and entered the kitchen with a pile of tableware, ready to wash it and do some general cleaning.
And there was a morning news broadcast on the TV——
"We received reports of power surges occurring across the county last night. Hundreds of homes north of Hawkins were affected and were plunged into darkness overnight. The cause of the outage is still unknown. We contacted Ron A spokesman for the county's Department of Water and Power said it only takes a few more hours for the power supply to return to normal."
Jingle bell…jingle bell…
The phone rang in the living room. Joyce put down the rag and walked over to pick it up.
"Mrs. Joyce?"
"it's me."
"I'm Barbara, Jonathan's classmate." A struggling female voice came on the phone. She seemed to hesitate for a long time before making the call, "Well, last night I invited Jonathan to spend Christmas with me at home. He I agreed, but he didn’t come.”
Joyce smiled. A girl actually invited her son to spend the holidays together. When did this lonely boy become so popular?
There was an obvious intake of breath on the phone, "Can you put Jonathan on the phone?"
"The child is not at home."
"Ah? When did he go out?"
"I don't know, but Jonathan usually doesn't break an appointment. If he agrees to something, he will definitely do his best."
"Mom, I checked..." At this time, Will took the tape and walked to the phone, raised his fair and delicate face like a girl, showing a trace of nervousness, "Jonathan took the camera and rode away on his bicycle. He also took a bottle of red wine, he could only be visiting friends."
"Wait!" Barbara's tone instantly became tense when she heard the words, "You mean he went out last night?"
Joyce recalled the food on the plate, which looked nothing like breakfast.
"Yes, the morning news said that there was a power outage in our north last night. Maybe Jonathan went out because of this?" Joyce comforted himself like this, but his temples kept beating. He took off his apron and threw it on the sofa, "Forget it. Well, I drove to the place where he works and asked his colleagues."
"Okay, I'll ask my classmates too," Barbara added,
"Let me know if you have any news."
"OK."
Joyce hung up the phone, her haggard face bloodless.
Will took her hand, "What's wrong, where is Jonathan?"
"It's okay, he should spend the night at a friend's house." Joyce forced a smile. The attack on Jonathan had just come to an end. He would not have encountered new dangers so soon. God would not torture him all the time. "Will, Just stay at home, okay? I'll be right back."
"Um!"
Will watched his mother close the door and immediately walked over and dialed the phone.
"Dustin, what are you doing?"
"Sleep at home. I need a long rest to recover all my spells, and then I can use all my strength to deal with Demogorgon in the afternoon!"
"Don't be too busy restoring spell slots. I have an emergency." Will gripped the phone tightly and his fingers turned white. "Jonathan is missing!"
"What do you mean? Are you sure you are missing and not going out to date your girlfriend?"
"A girl asked him out on a date, but he didn't go to the date. This is not the Jonathan I know."
"According to my experience, men who are coquettish even dare to let women off. The seriousness of the problem is unimaginable. Let's meet outside the school at nine o'clock. Someone may be able to help."
…
On the other side, Barbara hung up the phone from Joyce and immediately called Nancy, "Honey, what are you doing?"
"I'm reviewing, and I've fallen behind a lot in my chemistry class, so I have to make up for it during the holidays."
"That's enough. Your grade point has reached 3.9999, which is far ahead of the entire grade... You should let yourself relax occasionally."
"Speaking of relaxing, Steve invited me to go for a ride in the car this afternoon," Nancy said. "Can you come with me?"
"Have you decided to date him?"
"Not yet, but I think he is nice, cute and humorous... It's just that he wants to be as fast as a rocket, and I'm not the kind of girl who will be taken to the sky by a rocket."
"As long as you haven't been carried away by love yet, don't let him succeed," Barbara breathed a sigh of relief and changed her tone, "But I have to leave the joyride for another time."
"What's the meaning?"
"Jonathan is missing. My intuition tells me that he is in danger. We must contact Dean immediately. By the way, call Steve, Golan, and Hala!"
…
Catherine's house.
"Okay, I'll be there soon." Dean put down the milk and touched the corner of the woman's mouth next to him, "Something unexpected happened and I have to go out."
"Should I accompany you?" Catherine's expression tightened, and the contours under her close-fitting sweater were very eye-catching. She has become even more clingy since she was approved by Lena and Paqui yesterday.
"No, you continue to rest. I'll contact you if anything happens."
Dean said goodbye to Catherine in a hurry and drove to the open space next to Hawkins Middle School.
When he arrived at eight-thirty, Barbara was already waiting there with Steve and Nancy.
"Hala and Golan went out of town to spend Christmas with relatives and can't come back for the time being." Steve explained with disappointment, "So there are only three of us."
"Enough people, let's talk about it, what's going on?" Dean turned his eyes to Barbara. This fat girl was as worried as a tight wooden pillar, with obvious dark circles under her eyes. She obviously didn't sleep well last night. "Have a good Christmas, why is Jonathan missing?"
Barbara recounted how Jonathan left home and the state he was in when he disappeared, "Dean, I don't doubt you in any way, but was the badge issue really resolved satisfactorily last time? Will there be others? The killer attacked Jonathan while he was riding his bike to my house?”
"How can you let him ride a bicycle on a snowy day?" Steve complained, "Your attitude is not like inviting someone to dinner."
"My bad," said Barbara, her eyes red with guilt, "I should have insisted on picking him up."
"It's over now, there's no point in regretting."
Dean's spirit sank into the shallows in his chest pocket. The latter's sixteen eyes showed innocent expressions, and he tried his best to defend himself while opening and closing his mouth, "But I can guarantee you 100% that Jonathan's The matter has nothing to do with the badge, it may be due to other dangers."
The three people looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief. Steve shook the nose of the plane again and muttered,
"Then what's the situation now? Hawkins has been quiet for less than half a month, and another accident happened, and it befell us again. Are we cursed by a witch?"
"No matter what, we must rescue Jonathan!"
During the discussion between the three, a prompt flashed in front of Dean's eyes - you triggered the event: the missing Jonathan Byers.
On Christmas night, after Jonathan left home, he stayed away all night.
Relatives and friends are worried and are now trying to find Jonathan and find out the real reason for his disappearance.
Event Difficulty: Unknown
Progress: (10/100)
Deadline: two days
Reward: At least 80 experience points
…
Dean patted the three of them on the shoulders,
"Let's take action! Steve, drive me around the only way from Jonathan's house to Barbara's house, and we'll look for it along the way."
"OK, that section of road is not far from my home."
After getting into the back seat of the red convertible, Dean took out the photo he had taken with Jonathan from his arms, looking at every detail on his face, recalling his mother Joyce, brother Will, and goddam father Ron Relax your mind and body by reading all kinds of relevant information about Nigeria, and launch a “search” from God’s perspective.
For a moment.
Dean's vision dimmed, and his spirit fell into the deathly darkness of his mind.
The darkness is constantly flowing around the space like oil paint, faintly reflecting the changing contours and petroleum-like luster, and a wisp of white smoke meanders forward strikingly in the darkness.
Dean chased after him... Soon, a white scene in the distance became brighter.
Jonathan was sitting on the ground. The camera on his chest had lost its lens and his down jacket was full of holes. He hugged his chest nervously and fearfully, looking around as if he was hiding and guarding against something terrible.
But the environment he was in was covered with a thick layer of fog, empty and cold, making it difficult to see clearly, as if there was some deep-seated evil hidden deep inside.
brush--
Dean escaped from the dark realm of his mind and his face was stern. Although he saw Jonathan's state, he couldn't feel the specific location. He just felt that it was near and far away.
"Just alive...what hit Jonathan? He had to hide?"
…
"Did you notice last night?" Steve, who was driving, asked, "Many homes north of Hawkins were without power. Even my villa was without power for a while."
The two girls looked at each other and shook their heads.
"I felt something on Maple Street," Dean said. "The lightbulb flickered on and off, and the current was extremely unstable, as if it was interfered by some kind of magnetic field!"
"Everyone, we've arrived, right here." Steve drove the car to a remote and desolate narrow road in two forests.
Dean got out of the car and took a quick look around. "Accidents are most likely to happen in this kind of place. I'll go to the right, and you three go to the left to look for it. Don't go too far, or scream if there's any danger."
"Don't worry, I brought a gun for self-defense this time!"
Steve took out a revolver from the car locker and put it on his waist. He took Nancy and Barbara to the left side of the forest, while Dean got into the knee-deep snow on the right side.
Because it snowed heavily last night and many traces were destroyed and buried, he summoned the shadow to fly to the top of the pine tree, patrolling everything within two kilometers around him at a speed of 180 meters per second, and then put the things in his arms Take it out from the shoal and throw it into the air.
"Summon all the little animals in the forest and ask them to help find clues about Jonathan."
"As you command, Master..."
Shoal took a deep breath and issued a series of strange calls——
"quack!"
"Hiss..."
"Zhizhi..."
Puff puff... Shrubs and branches trembled, snow fell to the ground, and the hibernating dead forest suddenly glowed with charming life. Squirrels, crows, and even hibernating snakes came closer from the sky and the earth.
Hundreds of little creatures, yellow, black, and colorful, covered the white snow and tree trunks with a colorful carpet.
Yiantan took the photo of Jonathan from Dean's hand, passed by each small animal one by one, and succinctly described the bicycle he rode last night in the language of various birds and animals, giving orders like an instructor.
In less than half a minute, hundreds of wagging little guys dispersed like a tide.
…
Dean nodded towards the shoal, "If they can find clues about Jonathan, you will have done a great job, and I will allow you to go out to absorb emotions tonight."
Shoal pounced on Dean's instep like lightning, "My kind master, please allow me to offer you the highest respect!"
…
Although Dean had expected to find clues, he did not expect to find clues so quickly. Just five minutes later, a squirrel came back and took him three miles north. Under a tall pine tree, there was a thick pile of squirrels. A broken bicycle was found in a snowdrift.
It was subjected to a large number of violent external impacts. The upper and lower tubes were twisted into a ball, the tires were deflated and shriveled, the panniers were crushed into a pile, the seat cushions were pulled out... and they were almost dismantled.
After confirming that it was Jonathan's bicycle, Dean took out dozens of pounds of beef, eggs, and nuts from the space and threw them aside to reward the eagerly awaited little animals. Then he reached out and touched the claw marks on the frame, with four fingers. It was very sharp, different from the bear claws, cat claws, wolf claws, etc. that he knew.
He felt like some kind of monster.
"Some kind of clawed monster attacked Jonathan? Jonathan used his vehicle to defend himself..."
The event progress jumped to ten percent.
Dean scanned the nearby two hundred meters from his God's perspective. The snow fell too deep, covering up any traces of fighting and footprints that may exist on the ground. However, the bark that fell off due to impact, claw marks, and scratches scraped off by branches on the surrounding pine trunks There were a lot of crumbs in the clothes.
Dean followed these traces and soon discovered the dark red ice cubes frozen after the wine bottle was broken. He followed the ice cubes to the center of a dense forest.
Look around.
It was a vast expanse of white. Except for shrubs and pine trees, there were no ropes in the sky or even two hundred meters underground. The monster and Jonathan seemed to have disappeared out of thin air here.
Dean suddenly glanced at the watch on his wrist. The hands were affected by a mysterious magnetic field and began to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise uncontrollably.
He stared at the dial and kept circling in the woods until he found a pine tree with the hands spinning the most crazily. He stopped and checked again, but there was still no clue.
He squatted under the tree and thought about it, and several doubts flashed through his mind:
1. In the dark space of his mind, Jonathan had no obvious injuries on his body and could move freely. However, he did not return to the police station to call the police or come to him for help. He was obviously trapped somewhere.
2. I couldn’t find Jonathan’s exact location in the dark area of my mind. I just felt that he was both close and far away, so the location of this place was very special.
3. The traces of Jonathan and all the monsters that attacked him disappeared without a trace in the snow in front of him, and there was also a mysterious power that interfered with the hands of the watch.
Lots of doubts intertwined.
A bold idea came to Dean's mind - Jonathan disappeared in front of his eyes, or under this empty surface!
He activated his "skill", and a large dense space node suddenly appeared in mid-air on the snow.
Ninety-nine percent of them maintained a stable and constant brightness, but right in front of Dean, at the root of the nearest pine tree, an extremely unstable node shone like gold.
Dean squatted down, pressed the node with both hands and pulled it gently. This node was more fragile and easier to open than he expected, so it did not consume one-sixth of the usual energy, but only one-tenth.
The nodes quickly separated on both sides, revealing a tree hole. The hole was not too big or too small, and a human crawling on the ground could almost fit through it.
Inside the hole is not the black void that usually exists between worlds, but a sticky white wool-like spider web, dripping with disgusting mucus, exuding the smell of corrupt flesh, and exuding gray particles. tunnel.
To an unknown world.
The tree tunnel appeared, and the hands of the watch on Dean's wrist stopped completely.
"This place is actually connected to a different world. No wonder I can't find the specific location of Jonathan." Dean looked at the tree hole excitedly, then looked at the badge, "Shallow, is this the other world you mentioned yesterday?"
"A slave world that belongs to the main world like Limbo. It opens nodes to directly build tunnels and crosses two worlds without going through the void?"
"The slave world in Hawkinstown?"
"Yes, Master." Qiantan's eyes sparkled, "The boy you are looking for and the monster chasing him should be hiding inside."
(End of chapter)
