While an intense car chase was unfolding in The Upside Down, a passionate song of fire and metal was being performed in front of Starcourt Mall in the real world. On stage stood a group of young men in leather clothes and pants, wearing smoky and demonic makeup. They were the rising rock band from Hawkins Town—Hellfire.
Countless town residents had rushed over upon hearing the news that Starcourt Mall, which was about to open, would be holding a grand music concert in the center of town to celebrate its opening in advance.
This was the metal rock band "Hellfire" that had emerged from their town and was gradually becoming famous; moreover, they were going to bring everyone a live version of their unreleased new album!
Stepping onto the stage, Eddie's gaze swept across the audience. The people in the front row cheering for him were still his fellow schoolmates. Seeing this, he felt deeply moved.
Once a small-time dealer who was spat on behind his back, someone considered a worshiper of demonic culture just for playing rock and DND, he was now actually so deeply embraced by the town's residents. Even those classmates who used to look down on him had started listening to their songs.
When exactly did things change like this?
Eddie could think of Richard's figure just by closing his eyes. Richard had always been the one helping all the friends around him; he was just one of them. Otherwise, he might have forever remained a small-time punk living in the trailer park.
Eddie was always grateful to Richard. Although he never spoke of it to anyone, he had secretly sworn that he would never betray Richard in his life. As long as Richard had a need or there was a place where he could help Richard, he wouldn't hesitate. This included today's concert, which he had flown back for, temporarily changing his tour schedule after receiving Steve's message.
When both backstage and frontstage were ready, the changing lights caught everyone's attention. Realizing the concert was about to begin, the crowd fell silent.
As the instruments struck their notes, a few ethereal electronic keyboard sounds emitted from the speakers surrounding the concert site. The Hellfire band roared out the first line of the first song, one of the two songs Richard had prepared for his new album.
"Crawling in my skin (The demon beneath the surface is stirring)"
"These wounds they will not heal (These traumas will never heal)"
"Fear is how I fall (What I fear is my constant fall)"
"Confusing what is real (What confuses me is the truth I can no longer distinguish)"
As Eddie roared with his voice strained to the limit, the machines around the stage sprayed brilliant sparks into the sky. The debut of the new song instantly bombarded the entire scene, the atmosphere waking up everyone's silent souls.
"Roar!!"
The crowd seethed. With bloodshot eyes, the audience excitedly waved their arms to the rhythm of "Crawling," their spirits immersed in Eddie's infectious vocals.
"Now's the time!" On the other side, seeing bursts of brilliant fireworks shooting up into the sky over the town center, Dustin turned back and said to everyone.
"Alright!" Steve gave a chuckle, then looked at Jonathan, Nancy, and the others nearby. "Time to get to work, guys."
Hearing this, Jonathan and the others also grinned. Each of the boys hoisted a speaker and hurled it toward the windows of the old Creel House. With several loud "clangs," glass shattered, and the speakers flew into the Creel family's old residence.
Every speaker was wired up and plugged into several emergency generators connected in series. As Dustin and the others flipped the generator switches one by one, the sound of engines starting up rang out, and all the speakers powered on.
"Does it work?" Steve turned back to ask Dustin, who was operating a machine resembling a telegraph. Dustin said this machine could directly receive the sound from Eddie's live concert.
If Richard were present, his eyelids would surely twitch as he secretly praised Dustin for creating a prototype of a mobile phone at such a young age. Although it was quite bulky, it was indeed very similar in terms of functionality.
Dustin patted his chest confidently and said, "Harrington, just trust me. This is going to be my entry for the summer camp competition. I'm planning to rely on it to make a big splash!"
Saying this, Dustin twisted a few knobs. Suddenly, the signal jumped to full strength. As the volume control knob was turned to the maximum, the sound coming from the old Creel House became earth-shaking.
"Crawling in my skin (The demon beneath the surface is stirring)"
"These wounds they will not heal (These traumas will never heal)"
"..."
"Awesome!" Steve praised loudly upon hearing the clear sound. He excitedly high-fived Dustin and asked in passing, "How did you do this? You actually managed to transmit the sound from the concert all the way here."
Hearing this, Lucas and the other boys immediately wore bitter smiles. Robin laughed and answered for them, "It's simple. They bribed Lucas's sister, Erica, with his future Heihe Tea discount coupons."
At that moment, hiding behind a curtain, Erica was happily sipping fruit tea while skillfully operating another machine invented by Dustin. She muttered to herself leisurely, "I just love this damn capitalism. This fruit tea, tsk, it's damn sweet..."
"There's something inside me (A demon hidden deep within me)"
"That pulls beneath the surface (Tearing at my shallow surface)"
"Consuming, confusing (Screaming at the top of my lungs, confused and frantic)"
Meanwhile, inside the old Creel House, Henry Creel, who was focused on perceiving the movements of the two groups in the real and Upside Down worlds, felt his perception abilities passively decline. The noisy music made it impossible for him to concentrate.
The lyrics seemed to possess magic. Henry felt a surge of discomfort, as if something unknown was truly stirring restlessly inside him. Under the assault of the noise, he became agitated.
"Mortals!" Henry was forced to wake from the spiritual space where he could perceive everything. Fury burned in his eyes. Black particles formed ripples in his eyes as they slid across his sockets, and the root-like conduits on his body flowed with a crimson-black glow.
Compared to a year ago, Henry looked much more irritable now. His body had become sturdier than before, his height reaching nearly two and a half meters, showcasing the explosive power of his physique.
From the anomalies showing on his body at this moment, it wasn't hard to see that in order to accelerate the restoration of his body and to counterattack the real world as soon as possible, he had performed even more excessive and taboo modifications on himself.
Just as he used the Mind Flayer's particles to wantonly modify life in The Upside Down—giving birth to abnormal 'Demo' series creatures like the Dimogogen Spiders and Demo-Bats—after his last failure, he hardened his heart and poured the Mind Flayer's particles into his own body. While it restored his physique, it also endowed him with even more powerful supernatural abilities.
This process had lasted for about a year.
After experiencing the power of absorbing the Mind Flayer's particles, Henry was extremely excited. He was so excited that he didn't notice his most important rationality was being slowly erased under the influence of the particles, causing him to become increasingly arrogant, greedy, and delirious by the day.
As soon as he recovered, he couldn't wait to start attacking reality. First, his strengthened perception allowed him to sense his biological father, whom he had failed to kill immediately in his childhood. He tortured the man to death bit by bit, finally absorbing his soul and knowledge for his own use, making his abilities stronger and stronger.
For his next target, Henry sought out Mike, whose mind and spirit had dark gaps. He originally intended to repeat his old tricks and then use Mike's death to give Richard and the others a warning. Who would have known that this group of people was not only cautious, but even more excessively, Richard actually kept a group of terrifying wraiths in reality. Those wraiths protected Mike, to the point where he had no way to lay a hand on him.
Now, Henry had intended to change targets for his attack, yet those mortals actually spread noise at this time, interrupting his super-perceptual channeling and making it impossible for him to find the next target.
Damn it, this was not how he imagined it would be!