Straw

Han Dong is a perceptive type of person.

The [Laughter] attribute I acquired from the Earl has significantly enhanced my perception.

Neither Cas nor Diana felt anything.

Han Dong had a vague feeling that he was being watched by something, seemingly right inside the convenience store.

"You guys eat first... I'm going to the restroom."

Han Dong deliberately walked close to the shelves, arriving at the back of the convenience store... The back door was slightly ajar, as if someone had just slipped out through it.

Just as Han Dong pushed open the door and stepped out...

A dark shadow suddenly loomed close in front of me.

It wasn't some Terrifying Existence, but rather an old man dressed as a farmer, struggling to carry a scarecrow... The scarecrow seemed to have been pecked to pieces by crows, so it was being brought back to be repaired.

Now that it's been repaired, it needs to be delivered to the cornfield.

"Hey young man! Can you lend a hand? This scarecrow is too heavy."

"OK..."

To be honest, a scarecrow is simply a straw figure tied to a long stick, dressed in tattered clothes, and used to scare away birds.

Two people could easily carry it, but when Han Dong took over, it felt unusually heavy.

"This scarecrow is a bit heavy," Han Dong couldn't help but complain.

"We just added some new straw. Besides, with your skinny arms and legs, you look like you're from the city. It's normal that you're not used to doing this kind of rough work... But thank you so much. You're getting old now, and you can't even carry a scarecrow anymore."

Young people, you're probably just staying temporarily, right? After all, a lot of people want to leave Maine as soon as possible right now.

"No, we might stay here for a day. My friend and I don't care about the disappearance." Han Dong deliberately pointed to the store, indicating that his friend was still inside.

The old farmer's voice changed slightly, becoming somewhat low:

"Missing? No... I advise you to leave us as soon as possible... What happened here is more than just a disappearance."

Didn't you feel the scarecrow was a bit heavy?

Besides, who brings back scarecrows from the fields to repair them... This isn't just any ordinary scarecrow; the one we're carrying is my son.

He contracted ' Straw Syndrome ' three months ago, and straws would grow from his skin pores every day... Even if he cut them off, more would grow back the next day.

Until a week ago, he had completely turned into a scarecrow.

These words were spoken.

Han Dong immediately feigned the emotional changes that an ordinary person would show, his face filled with terror, and he almost let go.

Suddenly, the old farmer burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Never mind, I won't scare you... How could such a strange thing happen? My son disappeared a week ago."

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

It would be good to let him stay in this field, to continue watching over this land, and to continue being with me.

Young man, you'd better get out of here..."

As the old farmer walking ahead spoke, he used his free hand to vigorously scratch his cheek... and with a very quick movement, snapped off the straw that had just grown out of the pores of his cheek.

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

As Han Dong returned alone, he kept a close eye on what was happening behind him through his Lesser Demon Eye.

However, what Lesser Demon Eye saw was a father and son leaning together... both of them covered in straw.

"This is really troublesome... It seems that once we entered the country road, we officially entered this special farm area."

If we leave now, we will lose our target when Miles reappears, as the Moonlight Imprint has been cleared and he will most likely stop chasing us.

They didn't want to give up on the bodyguards they had finally recruited.

Let's wait half a day... until the Moon rises, then we'll set off immediately.

scarecrow...

One of the most common monsters in foreign horror stories.

However, there seems to be something unusual in this farmland... perhaps a hundred times more terrifying than a scarecrow in the conventional sense.

"Could it be that we've run into another Hidden Resident...?"

When Han Dong returned to the convenience store, he bumped right into Cas, who had come out looking for him.

"Are you alright?"

"There's a small problem, we'll talk about it later. Has the shop owner found us accommodation yet?"

"We've already booked an ' Unoccupied Farmhouse,' it seems the whole family has disappeared...we can stay there for a day."

"That works too, an empty room would be even better. We'll set off as soon as the Moon appears tonight."

The shop owner helped him find an empty room, and Han Dong also gave him a small tip.

After walking along a country road several hundred meters long, we arrived at a two-story farmhouse with a cornfield attached, where a wooden windmill was still slowly turning in the yard.

"This family has been unlucky; they've gone missing one after another within a week... Since you've come all this way, you certainly wouldn't mind this situation."

"Anywhere you like is fine with me. Just call me if you have any questions."

"Thank you, boss."

The entire farmhouse was not locked at all, and no key was needed.

Han Dong first parked his Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, which was filled with gas, in the front yard, and then carefully checked the fuel tank to confirm that it was not straw that had been added to it.

A farmhouse with a redwood and gray roof.

The three of them squeezed into the fairly spacious Main Hall, where Han Dong recounted everything he had seen and heard.

"The Scarecrow..." Diana touched her chin with her index finger and then slowly said, "Before I was born, I experienced a Destiny Event related to the Scarecrow called ' The Possessed by a Ghost '. It was about the Scarecrow being possessed by Demon Possession lurking in the farm and killing people together with the crows."

"The situation here is a little different; the problem isn't with the scarecrow, this 'dead object'."

Instead, it seems that living people, for some reason, slowly transform into scarecrows.

As he spoke, Han Dong led the two to the top of the farmhouse, where they could look down at the surrounding cornfields from a higher vantage point.

Dense.

Compared to the cornfields that everyone is familiar with, there are at least ten times more scarecrows here.

"It involves a wide range of areas and shouldn't be something that can be easily handled... Once the moonlight comes out, we'll immediately drive away from this area."

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

Han Dong still trusted Miles quite a bit.

Make the most of every minute.

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

They took turns sleeping in the Main Hall.

"Hey! Nicholas, wake up! Something's wrong..."

When Han Dong woke up, not a single crow brought him any news of the crisis.

"What's wrong?"

"Tonight... there seems to be no Moon."

Han Dong followed Cas's gaze and looked out the window.

The dark clouds had completely obscured the Moon, and the professional bodyguard I had painstakingly hired had taken leave on his second day of work!