"Merlin Beard..." Chloe groaned, speechless.

Anker, as always, paid no attention to anyone and ran away.

The other three followed closely, and no one dared to joke with their lives. At this moment, the street was swallowed up by the fog, and almost nothing could be seen. The man who transformed into a centipede twisted in an extremely weird posture and chased after Hoffa.

.

"Where should we go!?" Chloe asked anxiously.

"How do I know where to go?" Hoffa was going crazy. He pointed at Aldo while running wildly: "Ask him! These are all projections of his subconscious!"

"Hey, cheer up!" Chloe encouraged Aldo.

Aldo breathed quickly and wanted to look behind him.

But Chloe held his head firmly, preventing him from looking back: "Quick, think quickly, where is the safest place for you!?"

Chloe's words seemed to have a strong calming effect, Aldo's mood became more stable again, and the thick fog dissipated a lot in an instant.

This time, a hilly mountain forty to fifty meters high appeared in the fog. In the middle of the mountain was an old and abandoned pit. The pit was paved with railroad tracks. It was probably a mine tunnel that once produced a coal mine.

Without further reminder, the four people rushed into the mine one after another.

As soon as they entered, the huge half-human, half-insect monster behind them hit the pothole hard. The whole mountain shook, and gravel fell straight down.

There was a large amount of wood and stones piled up in the cave. Hoffa did not dare to hesitate and directly broke the wooden beam used as support at the entrance of the mine. Without support, more gravel fell straight away under the violent impact.

It wasn't until the narrow entrance was completely sealed that stability could be restored.

There was no light in the cave. He panted and backed away. He stepped on someone's leg and fell to the ground with a thud. He was too tired to move and couldn't get up at all.

"hiss!!"

The monster outside the cave made a frightening insect chirp, and countless legs and feet pierced in from every corner of the stone wall, like extremely sharp metal javelins.

An absolute nightmare.

"Hush! Hush! Hush...it's all over, it's all in the past, it all doesn't exist."

Chloe pressed Aldo's shoulder and spoke very fast into Aldo's ear. Finally, after his mood gradually stabilized, the monster's voice outside the cave subsided, and those belly legs slowly disappeared.

Chloe stopped comforting each other and leaned against the wall. She was too tired to say a word. The other three were not much better. Anker was breathing heavily and he was running the fastest just now.

Aldo was still breathing poorly due to excessive fright. Huofa seized all the time to meditate and did everything possible to try to restore his magic power.

After an unknown amount of time, a glimmer of fire lit up in the dark cave.

It was Anker who lit a fire.

Hoffa found himself leaning on Aldo's lap and moved away in disgust.

There were many old and decaying wooden boxes placed in the cave. Anker collected some of them and lit a pile of flames among the four people.

The fire illuminated the cave, and there was actually a huge shadow lingering in the cave. When several people saw the shadow, their hearts skipped a beat.

However, the shadow remained motionless. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a rusty steam locomotive, more than ten meters long. It was probably part of Aldo's childhood memory.

A false alarm.

Several people wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads almost at the same time.

Hoffa: "Aldo, is this cave safe? If the monster breaks in again, the cave is so narrow, we have no place to hide."

"It's absolutely safe here." Aldo's voice was as thin as a mosquito's fly. "When I was a child, all my treasures would be hidden in this cave. I was... I would often come and sit in this cave when I was in a bad mood.

A moment."

"Tch," Anker snorted disdainfully, "don't say that these things are not worthy of you. I see that you have won the attention of the higher-ups in the association. I didn't expect that the real you is so unbearable. You can't even withstand the torture of this inner demon.

.”

Aldo did not refute and sat in the corner without speaking.

"When you go back this time, don't blame me for reporting this matter in writing. Your state is too unstable. I really don't know how you passed the assessment in the first place."

Anker kept yelling, but Hoffa stopped him.

"Okay, stop talking. Besides, if he is emotionally unstable, the monster will become stronger again."

Anker was full of opinions, but he was also very afraid of the monsters in nightmares, so he simply chose to keep his mouth shut.

The four people stopped talking and sat in a circle around the fire. A certain pessimistic mood began to spread among them.

Under the blessing of darkness, the brain seems to have wings of fantasy, and it begins to endlessly outline things that may appear in the darkness.

Hoffa slapped his head. He couldn't help but think of other people. He thought of playing Cowboys and Indians with two friends on the lawn of Hogwarts when he was in the first grade. His two friends would

Hide, peek out, then sneak to another tree and hide again.

At this time, Hoffa can see their skirts or robes swaying in the mottled light and shadow in the forest, and then he will "fire" at them with his wand. But even if he hits them, they are not willing to get their clothes dirty.

Now, I always refuse to lie down on the grass and pretend to be dead.

As for Hoffa, he died tragically and realistically every time. In his opinion, the purpose of the game was that his two friends wanted to see him die in various ways, and then watch him roll on the ground and get dirty.

Looking back on the past, Hoffa couldn't help but think that since he came here from England, he had not sent any letter to his friends or mentors. All his actions were secret from them.

Therefore, he did not receive a letter or postcard from Miranda, Dumbledore, or Osilvia. This is completely different from Harry's adventure in the future fifty years later. Maybe when he goes on an adventure, his owl will

Traveling around the world with letters in his mouth, he kept in close contact with the outside world.

If he writes a text asking for help and says he wants some chocolate cake, he should receive it in a few weeks.

Hoffa thought to himself that if he died in this darkness, no one would know. Maybe for those friends, he was already dead when he decided to lose contact. Maybe Chloe was right,

A double death had long since befallen him, he had become corrupted and fallen.

"Hoffa, how on earth are we going to get out of here?"

Chloe's question interrupted his fantasy. He raised his head and found that the two German wizards were also looking at him with bright eyes.

No one wants to stay in this terrible place anymore, they want to be able to give out some important information.

Hoffa sighed, shook his head and said: "There is too little observable information to fully understand the nature of this nightmare."

After a moment of silence, Anker stood up and said, "That's enough. This dark place is really annoying. Just sit down and wait for death. I think it's better to take the initiative."

"Without magic, what can you do to attack?"

Hoffa sneered, "Even if there is magic, the monster outside may not be able to defeat it."

"What if Aldo loses consciousness?"

Anker said, Aldo was horrified and looked at his cold-faced companion with a pale face.

Then, Anker suddenly pulled out a wooden stick that he had hidden at some point from behind his buttocks, and hit Aldo hard on the head.

Boom!!

There was a textured muffled sound, and Aldo fell to the ground.

My head swelled up into a big lump at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Chloe took a breath and shrank back. Hoffa immediately stood up, grabbed a torch from the fire, and stood in front of Chloe.

Anker threw away the wooden stick in his hand, spread his hands, smiled slightly, put his hands behind his back, and walked around the fire.

"I noticed when the nun was singing just now. The more stable Aldo's mood is, the weaker the monster is. Can it be understood that if Aldo loses his mood, the monster will disappear."

Hoffa couldn't say a word. He thought it was possible. But just because of this suspicion, he knocked his companion unconscious with a stick. This guy was too ruthless.

"Make a deal, Bach."

"What deal?"

"I'll collect the observation information, and you'll find a way to get us out of here. As a reward, I can let you and Miss Flamel leave after we get out. How about that?"

"Aren't you afraid that the people above you will blame you?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't care. Muller Mans is just a Muggle who can only draw cakes. My working under him is just an arrangement of the Imperial Wizards Association. Even if I can't complete his mission, he can't take me away.

how."

Hoffa looked at Aldo who was lying unconscious on the ground, and said slowly: "But if I still do the deal knowing that I will be betrayed, then I am too stupid."

"Don't be so hasty to draw conclusions, my dear Mr. Bach. This is just part of the observation. If the monster outside disappears, it means the nightmare is over. You will definitely make a profit. If not..."

"If not."

Hoffa interrupted.

"If not, we just have to continue the experiment." Anker smiled: "Until we find a way to leave the dreamland."

Chloe whispered: "Don't promise him, Hoffa." She walked to Aldo and pressed his carotid artery: "He just wants to use you."

"It's just mutual use." Anker said confidently: "It seems that Miss Flamel doesn't understand the world of men at all."

"What you said makes sense. I can't find any reason to refuse."

Hoffa nodded, walked to the blocked hole, and put his ear against it. Anker glanced at the angry Chloe and showed a sarcastic and mocking smile.

After listening for a moment, Hoffa turned his head: "There is no sound. What you did seems to be working."

"Great, is the nightmare over?" Anker excitedly picked up the torch and came to the entrance of the cave, putting his ear on it.
To be continued...