As they drew closer to the ward where Victor had stayed, the hospital director's legs shook more and more violently. By the time they reached the door, his whole body was trembling. It took him a long time just to align the key before he finally managed to shove it into the keyhole.
Once the lock was turned, the director was in tears and drenched in sweat. He pleaded with all his might, "This is far enough, isn't it? Please, just let me go. I don't want anything to do with whatever happens next. Please, let me leave."
Richard and Hopper glanced at each other. Not wanting to make things difficult for him, Hopper nodded and said, "Go ahead."
The director fled as if he had been granted a divine amnesty, running away in a state of ecstatic relief, leaving behind a foul stench of urine.
Richard and Hopper stepped aside in disgust as the director rushed past them. Once he was far enough away, they reached out to turn the doorknob and opened the ward door.
The moment the door opened just a crack, a dark shadow shot out from the gap like a projectile.
Richard reacted quickly, pushing Hopper aside before grabbing the agile tentacle. He felt that the owner of the tentacle was quite strong, but it was still within the range of what an adult could handle. To him, it was nothing more than child's play.
He gave it a powerful yank. As if it were being torn off, the creature was easily flung out from the gap by Richard.
With a forceful swing, Richard slammed a creature that looked and sounded much like a bat heavily onto the floor. However, the creature had a tail as flexible as an octopus tentacle and a mouth like a chrysanthemum located on its abdomen.
The moment it hit the floor, the bat-like creature was flattened into mush by Richard, splattering blue-green bodily fluids everywhere.
"Fuck!" Hopper cursed the moment he saw the thing. He stared wide-eyed, examining the mysterious creature's physical traits. It perfectly matched the appearance of a Reverse World Creature. He immediately spat, "Is this damn thing a new creation from The Upside Down?"
"Probably. I haven't encountered one before either. Let's call it a Demo-Bat for now," Richard said.
Hopper looked at Richard, somewhat speechless. This guy actually had the leisure to name such a beast.
Subsequently, Richard peered through the crack in the door to check the situation inside the ward. He discovered that a Gate to the Upside Down was slowly expanding in the room. Vines from The Upside Down were gradually crawling all over the walls, and the passage seemed to be growing.
"This will be hard to handle. This is a genuine passage; it can't be destroyed just by burning it," Richard said as he closed the ward door without hesitation. He then turned to Hopper. "Contact everyone and Dr. Owens. Tell them The Upside Down is back, and this time, the passage wasn't opened from the outside—it was opened from the inside."
...Soon, under Dr. Owens' energetic coordination, the patients and staff of the mental hospital were evacuated overnight. Owens' team temporarily took control and cordoned off the area.
However, to Hopper's surprise and fury, Dr. Brennan was actually part of Owens' team, and he seemed to hold considerable influence and a pivotal status within the group.
"Calm down, Hopper!" Owens restrained Hopper, who wanted to step forward and give Dr. Brennan a beating. He quickly consoled him, "Don't be like this. When it comes to dealing with The Upside Down, we still need to rely on him. He is a very important consultant."
"I don't trust him!" Hopper shouted angrily. "If I had known you were still in contact with this guy, I never would have called you here."
Hearing this, Owens said helplessly, "Actually, even if you hadn't called us, Dr. Brennan and I were planning to return to the town. Brennan sensed something unusual about Hawkins."
Following the conversation, Brennan looked at Richard and explained, "I saw Jonathan Byers' announcement about his plan to film a new movie and noticed it was another story about Henry. I felt there might be new trouble on the side of The Upside Down, or perhaps you were planning something new. I was very concerned, so I wanted to come and investigate."
Richard squinted and said, "I'm afraid it's more than that. Dr. Brennan isn't the type of person to act rashly based on a single suspicion. You likely have other channels for gathering information."
"That's impossible, he's been under my surveillance—" Owens began, waving his hands dismissively. But he suddenly seemed to realize something. Looking around, he saw that the behavior of all the Federal Agents present was extremely suspicious; they were actually making moves to draw their guns. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he barked at Brennan, "Brennan, when did you buy them off?!"
"When?" Brennan smiled and said calmly, "Did it never occur to you that they have always been my people?"
Only then did Owens realize that Brennan had never actually been under his surveillance. The man had simply been going along with it while remaining behind the scenes. In reality, Brennan had been monitoring every move in Hawkins Town the whole time. Owens' informants in the town were actually Brennan's informants.
Dr. Brennan looked at Richard with surprise. "I didn't expect you to actually guess it."
Richard said bluntly, "I've always known. The area around my house has been under surveillance. If they were Owens' people, there's no reason why he wouldn't have handled it after I dropped hints multiple times. It was clearly someone else. At first, I thought it might be the military, but then I realized the military's style doesn't require monitoring or gathering evidence—if they find me suspicious, they'd just strike with overwhelming force. So, I guessed that person might be you, hiding behind the scenes."
Dr. Brennan clapped in approval. "As expected of the psychic I believe can rival Eleven's talent. I didn't realize that in addition to your extraordinary regeneration and slight mediumship, you also possessed such keen perception and insight. I'm truly wanting to study you more and more."
"I suggest you'd better not do that." Richard patted the backpack behind him. Suddenly, the zipper of the backpack opened automatically, and a blast of cold wind rushed out. While everyone was dazed and confused by this eerie scene, a group of wraiths hiding in Richard's backpack possessed the Federal Agents one by one, seizing control of their bodies. Only a few agents with stronger willpower weren't immediately controlled, but they were frozen in place, unable to move as they struggled against the wraiths' mental control.
Dr. Brennan looked at Richard in shock. "What did you do?"
"Nothing, just a little hypnosis," Richard said with a slight smile. He certainly wouldn't mention that those things were wraiths.
Dr. Brennan fell silent. After a long moment, he backed down and said, "Fine, you win. My men and I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do."
"Get one thing straight: your life is in my hands now." Richard stepped forward and gave the old man a slap, leaving him dazed and falling to the ground like a frail woman.
Richard looked at Dr. Brennan, who was clutching his face and staring at him in disbelief. Smiling, Richard said, "Actually, I don't care at all whether you live or die, nor do I need you as a consultant. Owens cares about your talent, but I don't. You're probably aware that there's a group of superhumans at my house right now. They're very fond of you; some have been looking for you for years."
"I'm keeping you alive purely so I can hand you over to them. If they don't have the heart to do it, I might just do the honors for them, you old fossil."