62 The Investigation

"AHow many people are still alive?"

Elizabeth pondered upon hearing that delicate question. There were a total of eight people at the party that day. Three of them had fallen into an indefinite coma, leaving five who were still conscious. In other words, apart from her and her best friend, there were three other living people.

Anton considered it for a moment. According to this girl named Elizabeth, there were eight people involved with a dark entity. However, mysteriously, Elizabeth's parents and younger sister were also involved with the dark entity, even though they were not the ones who initially invoked it. Taking this into account, Anton doubted whether the real story was as Elizabeth told it. It's not unheard of for a child to hate their parents for certain reasons, especially when life is not easy, particularly during adolescence.

For Garnica Anton, he still didn't rule out the idea that Elizabeth might be seeking revenge on her parents, possibly with the help of an intelligent dark entity. Of course, there was also the possibility that the dark entity would retaliate upon seeing the young people avoiding sleep to avoid entering its domain.

"How come the students are still in a coma, and you can wake up?"

"It's because we weren't marked." Elizabeth clarified this fact with a bit of fear. "While we sleep, we are sent to the labyrinth, and we must find the exit if we want to leave that place. However, there are also different types of beings in the labyrinth that are not peaceful. If a monster injures us in any way, we can't exit the labyrinth unless we find the exit."

After saying this, Elizabeth continued, "If we don't find the exit within our dream's duration, we won't naturally wake up once we finish sleeping."

"According to the words of the smiling doll, it established that marked people couldn't wake up until we escaped from the labyrinth. In the early days, we went in groups to the labyrinth, but then we appeared alone in the labyrinth, and that's when we decided to sleep as little as possible. As long as one of us finds the exit, the smiling doll assures us, letting us go completely."

"He assured us to let us go, but when three of our comrades fell into a coma, we were terrified of being the next."

"So..." Anton frowned.

"Our purpose in the labyrinth is simply to escape, find the door, and avoid being seen by the things that wander around. We can only run and hide. After all, once we meet the smiling doll, we will definitely die at its hands."

"Contact all of them immediately. When all of you gather, we will take care of eliminating the smiling doll."

After Anton said that, Elizabeth fell silent. The reason was simple. It was very difficult for them to trust Anton's words, considering the warnings of the smiling doll. Under the scheme of the smiling doll, she and her friends couldn't tell anyone else about the existence of the labyrinth. Once the smiling doll found out that someone had told the story to someone else, the next time they entered the labyrinth, they could never come out alive.

Those were the rules of the smiling doll, which could cause a great internal conflict.

"Those must be your brother's friends, right?" Anton showed a picture on a smart tablet with all the faces of the students who were involved with the dark entity.

Elizabeth nodded in surprise. While she was talking about the existence of the smiling doll and the labyrinth, the man in front of her took charge of identifying all the affected ones.

Clearly, now she felt a little more relieved to receive help from an unknown person. She didn't know why, but she felt that Anton was special.

"Have your best friend contact them. Tell them you found a way to avoid being victims of the labyrinth. If everyone gathers now, we can help them get out of this situation. Whether you can believe me or not depends on you."

After Anton said that, Elizabeth called her best friend. She repeated everything Anton said. Due to the existence of the smiling doll, everyone was desperate to free themselves from the clutches of the labyrinth.

Once the smiling doll caught them, they would definitely die.

Of course, Elizabeth didn't want to see such a scene.

"You can rest for now," Anton said as he looked at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's dark circles were ridiculously deep. They were the deepest, darkest circles Anton had ever seen. It was as if someone had drawn them with a marker. Elizabeth hadn't slept much since she knew that they could fall into a coma if marked by the smiling doll. Once it happened, she would have nightmares and quickly be dragged into the labyrinth; it was too terrifying.

"Okay."

Although Elizabeth had never seen Anton's abilities, she already fully trusted him because he was able to notice her problem without her directly telling him.

Elizabeth leaned over the coffee table and soon fell asleep.

"Sir, won't she be dragged into the labyrinth?" Rafael asked with doubt.

Anton shook his head and said, "The dark entity has already noticed our existence; maybe it's evaluating us now."

After Elizabeth fell asleep, Anton silently watched her.

Anton wanted to see what would happen after Elizabeth fell asleep.

About four or five minutes later, a faint trace of an unknown mark emerged on Elizabeth's right hand and gradually formed a connection with the paper on the table.

A connection?

Anton was curious.

The paper on the table slid toward the mark on Elizabeth's palm.

Then, Elizabeth's body began to tremble slightly, as if stimulated by something, and her expression became distressed.

Seeing Elizabeth in so much pain, Anton reached out and gently placed his hand on the dark mark.

"Don't try to scare us; we will definitely eliminate you in one way or another. Leave this girl alone." Anton drew his gun and aimed it at Elizabeth's head without showing any expression.

Rafael furrowed his brow but silently watched the methods Anton employed; he was definitely testing the dark entity.

Elizabeth's right hand was shaking and contracting continuously.

"Just wait; we will definitely meet again." Anton's mocking voice whispered in Elizabeth's ears.

Under everyone's gaze, Elizabeth's right hand held a fork and swiftly attacked Anton's face. The incredible strike caused the fork to injure Anton's right hand as he blocked the blow. Rafael, seeing Elizabeth's unexpected reaction, drew his weapon and aimed precisely, ready to open fire.

The other agents of the Light Association moved quickly and aimed at the girl named Elizabeth; they had all been trained to eliminate dark entities regardless of their appearance. Therefore, when they saw that Anton, whom they had to protect and serve, was attacked, they were ready to eliminate the threat.

"Calm down. Nothing is happening." Anton said, "Lower your weapons; we are attracting public attention."

Seeing that the mark on Elizabeth's right hand had disappeared, Rafael stopped and signaled for everyone to lower their weapons.

"Identify yourselves and maintain order; no one should suspect us." Anton said as he took a napkin and wiped the blood from his hands.

"Incredible, despite becoming stronger, Elizabeth's attack penetrated his skin, which means that it definitely isn't a simple dark entity." Anton thought to himself.

At that moment, Elizabeth woke up groggy as she slowly opened her eyes.

She had just had a nightmare.

In this nightmare, she dreamed that she had attacked Mr. Anton with a fork.

She quickly looked at Anton and found that nothing had happened.

Because she hadn't slept for so many days due to the fear of entering the labyrinth, her strength to stay awake had been diminishing. The purpose of the smiling doll was to torture them.

Right now, when Elizabeth was about to collapse, a warm current flowed through her body, filling her with an unknown strength.

She felt a wave of relief invade her, and the feeling of cold disappeared.

"Thank you!" Elizabeth knew that it was Anton who had helped her deal with the curse of black magic, so she sincerely thanked him.

Although she hadn't slept in two days, somehow the events of a moment ago had allowed her to regain some of her strength, and her dark circles were not as deep.

Elizabeth, at this point, looked at Anton with admiration.

From her point of view, Anton was the only person she could trust now.

Anton, on the other hand, frowned. Something unknown had happened that he couldn't detect.

"Elizabeth, you should eat your cake; I should talk to my colleague." Anton said this before getting up from his seat.

"Okay," Elizabeth said with a smile on her face.

Anton walked not far from Elizabeth, looked at Rafael, and said, "Now that this has happened, we have a more concrete idea about the dark entity."

Upon hearing Anton's words, Rafael fell silent.

"As we saw, the only thing we know is that the dark entity somehow hides in the dreams of these students. The cause of death is dying within dreams. However, we also know that it is the first dark entity of this behavior that the Light Association has encountered in a long time, so we must know how intelligent its behaviors are."

"The provocation from a while ago was to find out two things: first, to know if the existence of that dark entity only manifested when the students were asleep, and finally, to know to what extent that thing controls its anger. With the previous provocation, we know that it's not very intelligent."

Listening to Anton's words, Rafael completely understood the actions of a moment ago.

"Sir, knowing all that, is it possible for the dark entity to possess the bodies of the students?" Rafael asked, certainly confused.

"It seems it doesn't have the strength to do so; it should at least try to kill me if it had the chance." Anton said it with confidence. "Call for reinforcements and also have them identify the relatives of all those involved; we must be prepared."

"Yes, sir."