> [November 10th] Something's wrong! Something's there! Something's hidden in the base! I know it! That damn thing is... the real experiment the higher-ups are doing! I have to get out of here!
>
Spencer paused his mouse clicks, his eyes fixed on the glowing log entry.
A damn thing? A biological weapon experiment?Spencer's eyes brightened. Good stuff... If used properly, it could be a devastatingly powerful weapon. Just like the rumors of superpowers secretly releasing viruses to destabilize other nations—sometimes even within their own borders to clear themselves of suspicion.
Biological weapons... The bizarre puppet was clearly just a prop used to cover up the truth of the bio-research. Spencer elevated the importance of the laptop in front of him even further. He eagerly scrolled to the next entry.
> [November 15th] Madmen! A bunch of madmen! My colleague has gone completely mad! He says he can see the 'Truth of the World.' He says he only has seven days left. I saw him shoot himself in the head, but he didn't die! He actually survived!? Unbelievable, this is a miracle!
>
> [November 16th] They've gone mad! They're using that immortal colleague as experimental material! But the prospect of immortality was certainly intriguing, so I agreed to join them. I removed all of my colleague's internal organs, and incredibly, he survived. A magnificent experiment! I finally understand the experiment the higher-ups are planning! This will be the beginning of human evolution!
>
> [November 22nd] My colleague died today. Nobody knows how he died. I don't know either, but I ate a piece of the flesh that had been removed from him earlier. I thought I would become immortal, but now it seems it's not that simple. This is terrible…
>
Madman! Spencer's heart pounded against his ribs as he read the grotesque experimental log. But the word "immortality" stirred his deepest, darkest desires.
Human evolution… What a magnificent phrase. Licking his dry lips, Spencer's eyes burned with greed. A great gift. This is a great gift from the mysterious mastermind to Great Britain… He mentally thanked his unknown friend.
He wanted to just unplug the computer and take it away, but the phrase "Seven-Day Ritual" remained a thorn in his side, subtly conveying a sense of deep, primal unease. So, Spencer forced himself to continue reading.
> [November 25th] I found it! I finally found it! That damn thing was indeed hidden in the base! Seven days! I must complete it within seven days! I understand everything now. That's not the human evolution I thought it was, but it is more perfect than humans! Eat it! I must eat it!!*
>
> [November ***] I ate the first one, and I'm going to eat the second one! You can't escape, I'll find you, hahaha… Zzzzz… zzzzzz… eat… zzzzzz… help… zzzzzz… hahahahahahahaha…!! I ate another one! I ate another one! They can't escape! I'm going to eat them all within seven days!
>
Suddenly, Spencer pulled his hand back from the mouse as if he'd been electrocuted, scrambling away from the computer desk.
The heavy "zzzzzz" static noise in his ears grew louder, piercing his eardrums. His bloodshot eyes stared intently at the desktop.
The grotesque wooden puppet doll had somehow returned to the desk.
Illuminated by the harsh glare of the computer screen, the puppet's terrifying, shadowed face seemed to pierce straight through his heart. Spencer's scalp tingled with pure dread as he stumbled backward.
What the hell was that thing!? What happened to the author of this log?! He ate them? His colleagues? No. This was different. This was definitely not the biological weapon experiment Spencer had initially envisioned. It was something far more evil, far more fundamentally broken.
To Spencer's absolute horror, the puppet slowly raised its heavy wooden head. Its ambiguous, carved smile remained unchanged, yet it exuded a chilling, suffocating malice.
The puppet's internal voice-generating device synchronized perfectly with the text violently typing itself out on the computer screen, reading a new, real-time entry verbatim to Spencer.
> [New Entry] Buzz buzz buzz… hehehehehehehehe… buzz buzz buzz… Help! Help!! Whoever is reading this! Help me!!! They're insane! They want to eat me!
The typing paused. The puppet tilted its head.
> They're crazy... wait, they're not crazy. It seems like I'm the one who's crazy?
> You're right, aren't you, Mr. Spencer?
!!?
An explosion of pure terror detonated in Spencer's mind. In an instant, he felt as if he had plunged into an icy abyss.
It was him! It was the author of the log! This puppet WAS the poor wretch! He didn't know why he was so sure. But looking at that wooden shell, he was absolutely certain. The twisted souls of the dead scientists were trapped inside it.
The Seven-Day Ritual…
Spencer's hair stood on end, his hands trembling violently. An evil, cursed thing. For some inexplicable reason—an instinct born of primal survival—Spencer immediately understood the rules of the curse staring back at him.
[Seven Days] He had exactly seven days left to live.
With a heavy thud, Spencer collapsed to his knees. His face was pale, and cold sweat drenched his tailored suit. He had been so wrong. He had thought too simply, viewing this trap through the lens of mortal politics and science. He gripped his blond hair tightly, blood vessels bulging in the whites of his panicked eyes.
He was entangled by an unknown evil. By reading the log and entering this building, he had unwittingly participated in the ritual. He didn't know exactly which part of the ritual had marked him, but this "Seven-Day Ritual" was clearly beyond the scope of human technology. It did not belong to the human world.
His vision blurred. He hallucinated the inverted shadow of the cross from outside his embassy window. He heard the ghostly echoes of the drunken vagrants from that night: "Monster... invisible..." Faced with this absolute supernatural horror, Spencer's mind desperately grasped at myths and legends. He thought of Gods and Buddhas. If there is an evil unknown, then there must also be a righteous unknown that can fight it!
He rose and lunged forward as if in a frenzy, his fear reaching its peak and transforming into desperate rage. He grabbed the wooden puppet with his bare hands.
"What the hell are you!?" he screamed.
Zzzzz... Zzzzz... Hehe...
He wanted to smash the puppet to pieces against the desk, but the primal dread of the curse prevented him from acting rashly. If he destroyed the vessel, would the curse accelerate? He dropped the doll as if it were burning coal, his mind racing.
Go! Go now! Escape from here! Escape from Japan!!
He couldn't stay in Japan any longer. The mastermind who sent the letter... the Metropolitan Police Department... they must have known about this place! He had been set up!
As Spencer sprinted blindly out of the abandoned laboratory, his pupils contracted sharply. In his mind, the weathered inscription on the Daikanyama stone tablet flashed like a neon warning sign.
"They are here. They have always been here…"
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