Led by the balding doctor, Duanmu Huai and the others finally met the unfortunate Vyncourt in the isolation ward. The man was gaunt-faced with disheveled hair, his eyes bulging and bloodshot, looking very much like someone deep in the grip of addiction. He was bound in a straitjacket, trussed up where he sat.
"His violent tendencies have been getting worse by the day."
The balding doctor, having given up on resistance, now stood outside the cell door and introduced the patient to Duanmu Huai and the others.
"At first he only sat in the corner, staring around himself in terrified anxiety. But later, even the slightest disturbance would send him into an extremely violent and erratic state. He started physically attacking nurses and orderlies — on one occasion he very nearly beat an orderly to death. So we had no choice but to restrain him...…"
"Open the door."
"I feel I should warn you — this man's delusions are extremely severe...…well, go in and see for yourself."
As he said this, the balding man unlocked the cell door.
"Nnngh!!!"
At the sound of the door opening, the restrained Vyncourt began struggling violently. He twisted and contorted his body, staring at the entering Duanmu Huai with eyes wide in absolute terror — the fear in his gaze intensifying with every passing moment. He tried desperately to push himself backward, but the heavy restraints made any movement impossible.
"Damn it! He's having another episode — I told you bringing you here was a bad idea!"
Seeing Vyncourt on the verge of a complete breakdown, the balding doctor looked extremely flustered. Duanmu Huai, however, paid no attention, simply turning to look at Mary.
"Over to you."
"Hm? To me?"
"That's right. Ranni should have taught you, didn't she."
"Ah, you mean Composure? Yes...…but here...…"
As she said this, Mary glanced somewhat awkwardly at the balding doctor beside her.
"Don't worry. This is a psychiatric hospital. If he doesn't want to go from studying others to being studied himself, he should understand what that means."
Duanmu Huai wasn't the least bit concerned about the balding man going around telling people. He was perfectly free to — but the result would most certainly be a single room prepared for him in this very facility, and he ought to understand what that implied.
"Well...…alright then."
Since Duanmu Huai had put it that way, Mary had nothing more to say. She drew her staff from her side and walked toward Vyncourt.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing — he needs medical treatment!"
Seeing this, the balding doctor made to intervene, but Duanmu Huai grabbed hold of him. Meanwhile, Mary came to stand before the terrified, shaking Vyncourt and raised her staff.
"Composure!"
In the next instant, a brilliant blue magic circle appeared at Vyncourt's feet, and several rays of blue light rose from his body. The previously frantic, terror-stricken Vyncourt gradually began to calm down — at the very least, his expression was no longer as twisted and rigid as before.
"What...…what was that?"
The balding doctor who had witnessed all this was equally astonished, staring wide-eyed and unable to believe what he had just seen. Duanmu Huai, however, gave no answer to his question. He simply walked forward, pulled the restraint ball from Vyncourt's mouth, and looked at him.
"You're Vyncourt. Correct."
"Yes, yes I am — who are...…who are you??"
Vyncourt looked at Duanmu Huai, then at Mary standing beside him with her staff, and his expression was one of pure bewilderment.
"We're here to investigate the incident that occurred at the manor you purchased. What exactly happened there?"
"The manor...…"
Hearing that, Vyncourt's expression began to contort once more.
"No, no, no! That godforsaken place — I don't want to...…!!!"
Just as Vyncourt was on the verge of another hysterical episode, Mary quickly gave him another dose of Composure, and only then did he settle back down again.
"I'm, I'm sorry, but I don't want to remember what happened that day...…"
"We didn't come here to waste your time, Mr. Vyncourt. We came to deal with this matter and resolve it completely. Your information is very important to us."
"R-really?"
Hearing this, Vyncourt looked at Duanmu Huai.
"You can really deal with those monsters?"
"Of course. That's why we're here."
"...…"
Hearing this, Vyncourt studied Duanmu Huai carefully. In the end — perhaps it was that ferocious face that gave him a measure of confidence — Vyncourt gave a nod.
"Alright...…I'll tell you everything."
What follows is the content of Vyncourt's account as recorded by Mary with a dictaphone.
"I bought that manor in the first place simply because it was cheap. It was in a state of disrepair, but the location was good, and the price was right. So when I came back to Cornwall, I set my sights on it and bought it. Of course, the original structure was beyond saving, so I decided to have it fully renovated. I brought in old Cott and his construction crew — the old man charged a fair bit, but his work was solid and his crew were efficient...…sorry, I'm getting off track. In short, I had old Cott's crew begin the renovation work on the entire manor, pulling down the dilapidated sections and rebuilding them...…"
"...…It happened on the afternoon of the third day. Old Cott came to find me and told me they had discovered a hidden passageway beneath the floor in the northeast corner of the manor's study. Out of curiosity, I went with old Cott and the others to the study, and there in the northeast corner we did indeed find a hidden passageway — it appeared to be something left over from a very long time ago. Everyone was quite excited, and I was excited too. After all, this was a hidden passage no one had ever discovered before — perhaps the previous owner had left gold or silver hidden inside? So we decided to go in and see what the passage contained...…looking back now, I wish we had never gone in. We should never have done that. Damn it...…ugh...…damn it all...…"
(Mary used Composure.)
"...…We entered the tunnel. There were two branches — the one leading east appeared to have collapsed long ago. We followed the other path forward, and then we found several human skeletons...…not recent, they looked very old, and the skeletons still had manacles on their wrists and ankles. That didn't dampen our spirits enough to stop us continuing, though. We pressed on and reached the end of the tunnel — where there was a brick wall. But that in itself struck us as strange. After all, if there was nothing on the other side, why would anyone have bothered to build a wall down there in the first place?"
"So we broke through the wall, and sure enough, behind it was another passage leading even deeper underground. At the time we all felt we had probably found something remarkable, and everyone was tremendously excited — but...…oh God, I should have understood right then and there that that wall hadn't appeared for no reason. I was completely out of my mind...…"
(Sobbing, wailing.)
(Mary used Composure again.)
"We followed the passage down below, but to our surprise it wasn't dark down there. Those caves...…they didn't look natural. They looked more like they had been excavated by hand. There was some kind of luminescent moss growing on the walls, and its glow lit up the cave. We walked in, and then...…God, we genuinely just wanted to know what was in there. No, we should never have gone in. We should have left right then, instead of blundering in like fools to our deaths!"
(Mary used Composure yet again.)
"...…I'm sorry. That cave. There was something in that cave — but honestly, I don't know what it was. To be frank, I'm not very willing to think about what happened then. I only remember that I was following old Cott at the front, and then suddenly a scream came from behind us. When we turned around, we saw several white, ape-like creatures that had seized one of the workers and were tearing him apart."
"The sight of it shocked all of us. Fortunately, we had considered the possibility of danger when we came down and had brought several firearms. We drew our guns and opened fire on those white-furred creatures, and they fled — they knew those underground passages far better than we did. We had no idea how to pursue them, and we watched helplessly as they dragged the poor man's body away."
"Everyone was terrified at that point. We wanted to leave immediately — but that was only the beginning. Before long, more creatures attacked us...…they were larger than those white ones, faster, and appeared to be completely unaffected by bullets. Old Cott's revolver had absolutely no effect on them! And then they grabbed old Cott's head and crushed it in one hand — just like smashing a watermelon! God...…that sight...…I...…I...…I...…"
(Rapid, ragged breathing, gasping.)
(Mary used Composure once more.)
"...…Thank you. And then I ran. Yes, I abandoned the others. My only thought in that moment was to get out of that wretched underground place and back to the surface. And so I practically crawled and scrambled my way back...…I could hear the workers screaming in my ears, and a rustling sound — like something was hidden in the darkness, just waiting to tear me apart...…when I finally made it back to the original passage, I found the explosives the workers had left there...…they had originally been brought for blasting walls and rocks. And then I thought — I can't let those creatures get to the surface. So I lit the explosives and brought the entire tunnel down...…"
"...…And then I escaped the manor. I found the police and explained everything, hoping they could do something — but they only treated me as a madman...…"
At that point, Duanmu Huai's voice cut in.
"Then where did the bodies the police found come from?"
"Afterward the police went to investigate based on the information I provided, but it seems they only found those bodies in a cellar somewhere nearby...they said it was the work of a criminal gang, because gangs used to dig tunnels in this area to traffic slaves or smuggle goods...but, but I know that isn't what happened! God, the point is — there is something evil and terrible beneath that manor! I...…I've had enough. Every day now I can hear that sound — that rustling sound. They're nearby. They'll come for me too, and kill me along with the rest. I...…I can't take it anymore!! I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die———!"
(Hysterical screaming, then silence.)
"So the situation is fairly clear."
Having listened to the recording, Duanmu Huai looked again at Mary and Lorena.
"These people inadvertently encountered some kind of subterranean creature and were attacked. Only Vyncourt made it back alive. The police went to investigate and found the unfamiliar bodies in the cellar — and so their conclusion was that Vyncourt and his crew had probably stumbled onto a secret tunnel used by local gangs to transport slaves and contraband, then encountered the gang in the middle of a transaction and were attacked."
"And...…what about the creatures Mr. Vyncourt described?"
"From the police's perspective, those were obviously hallucinations caused by extreme shock. Of course, for most people, that would be the only logical conclusion — this isn't a horror film, after all."
"But in that case, how do we investigate?"
Lorena raised her own question.
"Mr. Vyncourt said he already used explosives to collapse the passage leading underground, didn't he. In that case...…"
"Simple enough."
Faced with Lorena's question, Duanmu Huai looked entirely untroubled.
"If it's collapsed, we just dig it back open."
(End of Chapter)