Chapter 3711 Evil Strength (12)

"Doctor Shiller! It's Doctor Shiller!!!" Many people started cheering. Watching the figure appearing on the screen, not a few film critics also smiled knowingly.

"No wonder he hasn't been accepting media interviews recently, turns out he's been shooting a new movie." Someone shook his head and said, "I thought so, when I followed his personal account before, he seemed quite amiable, not the type to put on airs. If it's for the sake of the movie's secrecy, then it makes sense."

"But he really is quite amazing." The person next to him said, "So many media and paparazzi camped out at the asylum for half a month, yet they couldn't tell that they were shooting a movie."

"That's because you don't understand. They're shooting a mockumentary. Didn't you see most of the shots could be taken with a camera hanging from the neck? Without a production crew, of course, you wouldn't realize it's a film shoot."

"I feel this isn't entirely a mockumentary though, there are quite a few monologues and explanations of past events interspersed in the editing. It's like a hybrid version of a mockumentary. The feeling is quite good."

"Did you know? This film reminds me of James Wan's 'Insidious' series and 'Sinister'. Both are very classic indoor horror films. Not too many scary scenes, but just enough to make your skin crawl."

"Did you notice? This doctor seems much kinder compared to his portrayal in 'Ilvermorny'. Is he trying to change the audience's impression of him with this? But it's a horror movie!"

The front-row audience continued discussing. The members of The Avengers sitting nearby were also not idle. Natasha leaned across the back of the chair and gave Shiller a thumbs up, saying, "I thought you didn't like acting, yet you've done two movies. What are you trying to promote with this one?"

"You'll find out if you keep watching." Shiller replied with a smile.

"By the way." Eddie spun his swivel chair with his foot, pointed at a certain spot on the screen, and looked at Shiller beside him, "You said to lay some foreshadowing here, but you just gave me a bunch of police investigation footage. How do you want me to edit it?"

"Of course, splice the footage together." Shiller said, "First capture the construction crew, switch the shot, film police cars driving into the community, use that shot of a bunch of police surrounding a house, then switch to the newspaper content."

"Are you trying to imply something happened in that house?"

"Exactly. But actually, nothing happened at all. Mephisto wouldn't be so bold as to steal ordinary souls right under the Supreme Magician's nose. So, he didn't commit any heinous acts. But to build the atmosphere, we'll just have to wrong him a little using modern journalism techniques."

"That's not journalism, at least not mine." Eddie rolled his eyes, but still did as he said, piecing together the footage to create a scene where a crime took place at a house, and the police came to investigate.

"Oh, my gosh, this newspaper shot won't work." Eddie said again, "You didn't even focus, the words are blurry. You should really learn some photography."

"I can't help it, I'm an amateur, and this time was a spur of the moment idea." Shiller shrugged, "Luckily I brought the original newspaper page, can you take a picture of it for me?"

Eddie took the newspaper from him and went to the table beside them, setting up the camera. The lens aimed at the front-page headline of the newspaper, which contained a fabricated headline by Shiller:

"The number of missing persons today has reached 23, with two new deaths. The police have completely locked down the community, and citizens are advised not to go out at night to protect their safety."

Danny put down the newspaper, took another bite of his sandwich, then moved a chair to sit next to Shiller, who was searching for information on the computer, and asked, "Found anything?"

"There's nothing particularly special about the head of the asylum, Dr. Rodriguez. His identity and academic background information are public, and he's even somewhat famous on the internet, also friends with the superheroes, so he likely isn't a heretic or anything. However, this asylum..."

"What's up with the asylum?" Danny asked curiously.

"Recently, the asylum underwent a renovation. Most of the buildings remained unchanged, but the hard and soft decorations were refurbished. Don't you find this a bit too coincidental?"

Danny thought for a moment and said, "Do you think the evil forces lurking around could be related to the renovation of the asylum?"

"If Mephisto wants to return to the world, there needs to be an entrance. He would need his believers to summon him, and to conduct a summoning ritual, a location is naturally required. These are the Google maps of the asylum before and after the renovation I found. Can you see the differences?"

Danny looked at the screen. On either side of the screen were satellite overview images from Google Maps, showing the various buildings of the asylum clearly. You could see that the walls and courtyard arrangements of the renovated asylum differed, but the main buildings were generally in the same place.

"Wait a minute." Danny said, "There's something wrong here. Was this a warehouse? Why was it removed? And what's this yellow thing?"

"There was indeed originally a warehouse there." Shiller nodded and said, "But in the renovated asylum, the warehouse was removed, and a sandpit appeared. Don't you find it strange? Why would an asylum have a sandpit?"

Danny thought for a moment and said, "It is quite weird. There are no children here, nor long jump athletes, what's the point of having a sandpit? It's not even as useful as the original warehouse."

"The problem might lie right there." Shiller said, "What can you do with a sandpit?"

"A sandpit has sand in it." After saying that, Danny was a bit embarrassed. He scratched his head, then shook it, clearly unable to figure out the connection between a sandpit and the devil.

"Sand is soft and can be dug up." Shiller said, "If you want to find an entrance to a hidden underground chamber, this would be a good choice. At least more discreet than a cellar door, right?"

Danny suddenly understood. Shiller continued, "Johnny said there might be some sort of Mephisto's power carrier within the asylum. If it's some object, that's fine, but if it's a person, he might be watching us right now. We can't act rashly."

"It's okay, the power is out tonight. We'll wait until a bit later and then go dig in the sandpit. If there really is an entrance, it shouldn't be buried too deep. We can go down and take a look. As long as we destroy Mephisto's teleportation portal to the world, the remaining power won't be a threat."

Shiller nodded, and then the two of them went to discuss this plan with Johnny. Johnny wasn't very supportive, but unable to resist their insistence, he could only nod.

When night fell, Johnny stayed in the asylum, keeping an eye on things inside. Shiller and Danny took advantage of the darkness to leave the main building of the asylum and head towards the sandpit.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the sandpit, Shiller crouched down, grabbed a handful of sand, and then said, "Something isn't right. It hasn't rained in recent days, and the temperature has been rising, so the surface of the sand shouldn't be this wet. Unless..."

"Unless someone has been digging recently," Danny also realized. He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the cross in his hand, once again sensing his connection with the Spirit of Revenge, and then said, "Perhaps he's inside right now. We have to go down and have a look; no more people should get hurt."

They picked up shovels and began to dig. The sand was quite loose, making it easy to dig. After just a few shovels, Danny probed downward with his shovel and then said, "It's hard underneath, this isn't right. A normal sandpit can't have such a shallow layer of sand."

They hurried up, digging for a while longer. Shiller crouched down, brushed away the last bit of sand, and saw a black door below.

"Sure enough. There used to be a cellar door in the original warehouse. After the warehouse was demolished, a sandpit was built here to cover up the cellar door."

"I have a question," Danny said, "Shouldn't only the owner of the asylum have the authority to build anything within the asylum?"

Shiller remained silent, exploring the edges of the cellar door with his hand. Suddenly, with a "click," the door opened a small crack. An extremely strong smell of burnt flesh wafted out.

Both of them were choked by it, coughing as they retreated, with Danny even falling to the ground, waving the cross in his hands continuously, trying to dispel this horrifying scent.

Shiller used the shovel to pry open the door, and a puff of ash flew out, slowly dispersing on the ground. Shiller peered inside and then said, "There seems to be light. Should we go down?"

"Let's go," Danny said, clenching the cross, "We must go."

Danny jumped down first, followed by Shiller. The ground below was very smooth, and even the initial intense burnt smell was absent. The two walked through the dark corridor.

"Have you seen Nelson?" Shiller asked.

"Who is that?"

"A patient in the asylum. After I posted an analysis about the behind-the-scenes manipulator in movies, he messaged me, telling me about all the strange occurrences in the asylum. He said someone here has already been possessed by demons, and the demons are also starting to appear in his dreams."

"Was he not bewitched by the demons?"

"I don't know. The Bishop told me he is special, but it's also possible that he has been bewitched. He contacted me on his own, perhaps to trick me into coming here."

"And the one who contacted us was the asylum's owner, Dr. Rodriguez. Who do you think is the vessel for the demons?"

"I don't know, Danny. It's possible that everything we see is just a facade, a trick by the demons to deceive us. Until we find the true source, we can't let our guard down."

Suddenly, Shiller twitched his nose and said, "Do you smell blood?"

Danny took a deep breath, nodded gravely. They continued further inside and saw a door at the end of the corridor. From beyond the door, a faint light seeped out, and the smell of blood grew stronger and stronger.

They approached the door, and Shiller opened it a crack to look inside. A young man in a hospital gown was crouched on the floor, and in front of him was a corpse with its abdomen cut open. His hands were covered in blood, which also smeared his mouth and face as he continuously dug out and consumed the body's internal organs.

His movements suddenly stopped, and he slowly turned his head.

The lights went out.

"Ah!!!!!"

A piercing scream echoed in the darkness. Danny clutched the cross tightly, completely at a loss. Suddenly, a flare stick was thrown out, perfectly illuminating a blood-covered, ferocious face.

Danny was knocked to the ground, the young man biting into his arm. Danny cried out in pain but mustered all his strength to throw off the young man. Shiller came over, intending to grab the young man's arm, but was flung away by an unknown force.

Danny quickly got up, smashed the cross on the young man's back, but it didn't cause any harm. Danny wanted to call upon the Spirit of Revenge, but the Spirit of Revenge did not react at all.

The two had no choice but to wrestle together. However, the opponent's strength was tremendous, tossing him to the ground with just a few moves. That blood-covered face was like a demon in the darkness.

As Danny gasped for breath, desperately backing away, he heard a "bang." The young man in front of him, like a hobgoblin, fell. In the faint light of the flare, Danny saw the face of Dr. Rodriguez, the owner of the asylum.