Chapter 101
He stayed at David's house until everyone else had left, then he followed suit.
In Randy's presence, the bee returned Emma's medal, reducing Emma's killing intent by one point.
In fact, losing the medal was the best outcome because it was like a ticking time bomb, tied to Mylo's death. If it was discovered, Emma would become highly suspicious, and it might reignite David's doubts, which could push the father and daughter into direct opposition.
If that happened, given Emma's personality, she might even turn on David and kill him.
However, Emma was quite attached to the medal.
Additionally, the map Randy had drawn was handed over to the bee, who would pass it on to Max and the others. With their help, setting up the grand formation would be faster; doing it alone would have been too much trouble for him.
After all, this was a fusion of multiple worlds, and the population and size of Derry had grown considerably.
Then there was Alexis. Although David had let it go, Emma, the killing machine, was not about to. Randy suggested they could fake her suicide, but Emma, being stubborn, insisted on doing it herself. So, they'd have to wait until the heat died down before taking action.
As for David, who was still in the dark, Randy bid him farewell and left. David was quite regretful and even tried to persuade him to stay a bit longer. Eventually, when Randy promised to visit another day, he relented.
After leaving the Upper Town, Randy didn't go home but headed straight to the West Town underground lair.
The bloom was ready!
And this time, two flowers had blossomed: one from Michelle and one from his wife and daughter.
Randy picked the smallest bloom, cut a wound, and grafted it into his body.
As the wound healed, it absorbed all the nutrients from the bloom.
Once the bloom had completely withered, Randy gained a new ability. His ears could faintly sense a strange vibration, like the cries of souls.
When he closed his eyes, the sound became clearer, but there was always a thin, blurry membrane blocking it.
Randy understood that his soul-summoning ability wasn't strong enough yet.
He cleared his throat, gathered his energy, and slowly spoke.
"Mike, Mike!"
His voice carried a strange, magical power, and he could clearly see the sound waves spreading outwards.
Randy knew his ability was still too weak, and the range of his soul-summoning wouldn't be large. Since Mike had died in the southern part of the city, his soul probably couldn't hear the call.
But unexpectedly, someone responded.
"Who's calling me?"
Pennywise emerged from the water, looking puzzled.
It had been hiding in the sewers, playing with toys, when it suddenly heard the summons.
Once Pennywise appeared, the soul-summoning ability formed a complete loop.
Randy quickly realized that Mike's soul must have been devoured by Pennywise. Since it hadn't been digested yet, Pennywise was summoned instead.
"It's nothing, just testing a new ability. You can go back to playing."
"Oh."
Pennywise nodded and submerged back into the water.
After it left Randy's perception range, Randy activated his soul-summoning ability again, calling out twice.
"Pennywise, Pennywise."
Soon, there was another response, and Pennywise reappeared from the water.
"Were you calling me?"
"This time, it's really nothing. You can leave now."
Randy confirmed that his soul-summoning ability also worked on monsters.
"???"
Pennywise was speechless, but it didn't say anything, only thinking Randy's new ability was really annoying. It seemed like from now on, it would have no private space and would be summoned anytime, anywhere.
Randy cleared his throat again and called out several names: "Bee, Queen Bee."
Unfortunately, after a long time, there was no response, and the sound waves he sent out eventually dissipated into nothingness.
"They're probably too far away, beyond my summoning range. Bee is in the Upper Town, after all."
Still, Randy was satisfied with his new ability. Being able to transmit sound across great distances was a remarkable power!
But then he remembered that cell phones had already been invented, and his satisfaction dropped a little.
Overall, though, it was still useful. Once his soul-summoning ability grew stronger, maybe he could even summon the souls of the living.
"Michelle really is a kind man," Randy mused.
He then cut open the slightly larger bloom, using the same method to graft it into his body.
Once the new energy had taken root and sprouted inside him, Randy opened his eyes again.
"His wife and daughter are kind too!"
This time, the surprise was much greater.
Because this new ability allowed him to become invisible in the darkness.
"Did I just get an S-rank ability, like a ninja?"
The underground lair was particularly dark, so Randy tested the ability. His body quickly disappeared completely. However, as he approached a light source, the stealth ability weakened, and his figure became visible again.
He wondered just how well the invisibility would hold up.
"Pennywise, Pennywise."
Using the soul-summoning ability again, Pennywise reappeared from the water.
It looked around but saw nothing.
Scratching its head in confusion, Pennywise muttered, "Am I traumatized from being summoned so much, or am I hearing things?"
Hearing this, Randy quickly made himself visible again. "No, I was summoning you just now."
He didn't want to set a bad precedent. If Pennywise started ignoring his summons in the future, mistaking them for hallucinations, that would be troublesome.
"I was just testing another new ability," Randy said with a smile.
This left Pennywise even more speechless, and a little scared.
It thought that it probably shouldn't have reminded Randy to harvest the blooms. If Randy developed some powerful, deadly ability, would he use Pennywise as a test subject?
"I definitely won't do that."
Randy saw through Pennywise's thoughts and laughed. "I originally intended to use Mike's soul for practice, but fate brought you here instead."
"Alright, I guess that's the price of being greedy."
This time, Pennywise didn't leave immediately. Instead, it asked with a flattering expression, "Do you need me to do anything else?"
"No, that's all for now."
Pennywise finally disappeared back into the water.
Randy checked on the other bloom. This one had been nourished by the essence of Mr. Whirlpool. It didn't need nutrients, as his followers would continually provide faith power to help the lotus bloom mature.
The last harvest was just the night before last, and now, a day and a half later, another bloom had begun to sprout.
With the purification of the lotus vine, this faith power would be even more suitable for Randy's use.
"I'll use this bloom's faith power to summon the river god."
The river god could immediately enhance one of Randy's blooms, and this enhancement might even trigger a transformation!
Randy checked his nutrient supplies as well. Thanks to the gravedigging rat acting as a deliveryman, the lair had gained a lot more nutrients, and it was no longer solely children.
Too many children's corpses would not be a good thing.
"It's starting to feel like I'm the mastermind behind this town."