At the same time...
While Naib was looking at the panel in front of him, deep in thought.
Outside the abandoned warehouse, the overgrown grass nearby noticeably began rustling eerily, and wind carrying unprecedented coldness started whistling around as if some evil entity descended from the sky.
Moreover, the shadows nearby began twisting bizarrely, showing an unstable humanoid silhouette that was moving at a slow speed—approaching the warehouse in unhurried manner!
Uwa!
Uwa~
"This, a child?"
Then, after a minute, an innocent cry of an infant suddenly echoed outside the abandoned warehouse, making the three unfold different expressions under the veil of darkness.
Jerome, being quite soft-hearted, immediately stood up, planning to open the door of the warehouse to look for the infant. Although he knew that he was taking a risk, he knew saving an innocent life had never been wrong.
"What are you doing!?"
However, before he could approach the door, Naib, who was behind him, suddenly grasped his shoulder, pinning Jerome in his place instantly.
"We need to help the infant. I know it's dangerous, but we can't abandon the innocent."
Saying those words, Jerome shook Naib's hand off his shoulder, immediately regaining his freedom, but only to be grasped again by another hand. This time, it was Hans who stopped him.
"Think of it carefully; how can there be an infant outside this building at this time of disaster? Moreover, I know all of the residents within the abandoned building, but I never encountered or heard about the infant before."
"This..." Hearing this, Jerome's face faltered, his eyes darted between the direction of the closed door and the two before eventually nodding his head.
Although something inside him was urging him to save the child, the reasoning of the two instantly made him doubtful regarding the origin of the infant.
Even ended up thinking that it's the trap laid down by the killer to force those people out of their hiding spot.
UWAAAA!
UWAAAA~
Soon, upon not getting a response, the cry of the infant intensified. From the initial innocence, it has now become laced with pain, making the expression of the three change in varying degrees.
Even Naib, who only cared for a couple of people, feels an urge to quickly go outside to save the infant. Fortunately, his reasoning told him that there was something problematic with the sound.
"Just hold it, the infant was surely problematic." Whispering those words through gritted teeth, Hans tightly grasps Jerome's clothes, fearing that the latter would act mindlessly.
Uwa~
Time passed by; amidst the tension, the cry of the infant finally started to die down... Taking another minute before completely halting, causing the three to heave a sigh of relief.
"Is it finally over? Did he/she finally leave?"
Removing his right hand from Jerome's shoulder, Naib, with his left hand resting on his waist—here his small knife was hidden— began approaching the closed door of the warehouse, planning to peek through the hole in it, wanting to see if there was someone outside.
In an instant, the scene outside was reflected within his eyes.
However, due to the darkness, he can only vaguely see three to four meters away from him. But, other than the disheveled grass around, a testament that someone was there earlier, Naib couldn't see anything else.
"Indeed, the infant earlier was problematic; it was probably a trap. Fortunately, we didn't follow the sound, or else we might be in danger right now."
Thinking to himself, Naib was about to retract his gaze from the small hole of the door when suddenly, something in the corner of his eyes caught his attention.
Immediately, upon landing his gaze on the thing, all of the hair on Naib's body stood up in fear, and his eyes trembled intensely as he forced himself not to shout.
There, in the southern part, 4 meters away from the door of the warehouse, an infant with a height of 1.5 feet, eyes as deep as an abyss, and sharp nails that were akin to knives, could be seen gnawing the long intestine of a human!
Although it's pitch black outside, Naib knew that the entity he was looking at was the missing statue within the shrine and probably the one who was killing the residents of the building.
Finally, the dots began connecting themselves!
"I... I finally understand; those shrines, the things they depict, and the statue within... They were all monsters!
"This, after the great darkness, there's still something much more terrifying waiting for us?"
Despair washed through his being, and memories from 5 years ago began replaying within his mind—when the great darkness was still rampant—however, despite this, Naib knew that he needed to back away from his location, making sure that the entity wouldn't notice his existence.
However, as Naib was about to retract his gaze from the hole in the door, the infant, which was gnawing the flesh on its hands, suddenly halted its action.
Slowly dropping its hands, the infant then turned its body toward the warehouse, grinning deviously as its eyes met Naib!
Uwaaa!
"F*ck!"
Without further ado, upon seeing a living being, the infant releases an unpleasant cry.
Tossing the innards it was holding away, the infant then stood on its 4 limbs, crawling at a swift speed, akin to a cat as it rushed toward the warehouse.
Bang!
Bang!
In an instant, the sound of the loud collision echoed through the silent place, making the expressions of Jerome and Hans become tense.
Although they didn't know what Naib had seen earlier, they knew that the one outside was probably the killer, making them grip the rusty pipe in their hand with force.
"Damn this life, what kind of monster is that?!"
Awakening from his fear and seeing the shaking door of the warehouse seemingly about to be broken at any second, Naib immediately backed away from the door, grouping with the two before taking out the rusty knife on his waist.
"Prepare yourself mentally. If you see something unexplainable, don't let fear cloud your mind. Kill the thing immediately."
Having no time to explain about the entity he had seen, Naib could only speak those words to the two beside him while waiting for the door to be forcefully broken...
Planning to use the opportunity when the entity had just broken down the door to deal devastating damage.