Chief Hopper and Owens spoke privately for a full half-hour. When the Chief returned, both wore pleasant expressions, indicating that an agreement had been reached.
Seeing this, everyone present was very happy for Chief Hopper. The next happiest person was Mike; he had been thinking of Eleven for a long time. Perhaps Eleven didn't have a deep impression of or feelings for him, but in Mike's heart, he felt he had already fallen for her.
Chief Hopper put on his police hat, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and said to everyone, "No time to lose, let's get moving."
The first proactive offensive from the real world against The Upside Down thus began. The offensive force, led by Hopper and Richard's Strange Squad and The Lab with its Federal Government background, formulated an action plan.
First was a comprehensive survey of the town's land eroded by The Upside Down—specifically, the underground areas of the town where The Upside Down vines and Demodogs lived during the day—to determine the extent of the erosion.
Then came the second step of the operation: clearing the eroded areas of The Upside Down and closing the Gate to the Upside Down at The Lab. These two parts of the second step needed to be carried out simultaneously on both fronts.
The reason for simultaneous action was that when Eleven focused on using her powers, it might trigger a strong resistance from the Reverse World Creatures living in the eroded areas. At that time, Eleven would be at her most vulnerable, unable to spare extra energy to fight those hard-to-kill monsters. Therefore, another group was needed as bait to intercept and kill them.
The first step was very easy for The Lab. They had enough advanced reconnaissance equipment and quickly compiled the detected data into a detailed and thorough map. It wasn't hard to see that the erosion route of The Upside Down actually followed Hawkins Town's water network system.
The method of destruction was also simple. Based on the erosion routes, several combustion and demolition points were identified, and the fiercest fires would be set at the hubs of The Upside Down vines. If the plan went smoothly, the Reverse World Creatures in the eroded area would have no chance of escaping alive. Even if some did, it would only be a small, negligible number. Even if they really attacked the location where Eleven was closing the Gate to the Upside Down, Richard, Hopper, and The Lab's enforcers could protect her.
Dr. Owens might not have had confidence in everyone, but he was unexpectedly reassured by Richard. They had used the most primitive investigation methods to track Richard for several days and had long ago discovered what he had done at Henderson's doorstep. He killed those Demodogs, which were more ferocious and powerful than wild beasts, as if he were slaughtering chickens or ducks—no difference at all, with utter ease. Richard's extraordinary prowess was truly astonishing.
Once the action plan and personnel assignments were finalized, everyone began the operation tonight.
On the other side, Henry, situated within The Upside Down, was still constantly harassing Troy's mind. He knew Troy was about to break, so he increased the frequency of his intrusion.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about directly crashing into Troy's mind, but whenever he tried, Eleven would always appear in time to intercept his attack and help Troy escape.
Henry was extremely annoyed by this but could do nothing about it.
His current abilities were insufficient; the only targets he could lock onto were Richard and Troy because both had been marked—the former had entered his Haunted House, and the latter's body and mind had been modified by the vines.
If he could completely absorb the power of that black substance in The Upside Down, or consume the power of an esper like Eleven, with his ability to absorb and evolve, he would no longer need the help of The Upside Down's original lifeforms to invade the real world. He would be enough on his own.
Unfortunately, it was too difficult.
Originally, he wanted to target Richard. After all, in his eyes, Richard was also an esper. Although Richard was at most a physical-type esper unrelated to mental abilities before his mind merged with the Phantom Haunting Spirit, if Henry could devour Richard's soul, the resulting boost would be incomparable to that of an ordinary person—at least enough to allow him to erode the real world on his own.
But who could have imagined that Richard would merge with that eerie spiritual entity, causing his mental power to explode? Henry could no longer easily manipulate him. Not to mention, a group of terrifying vengeful spirits lived in Richard's house. Although they looked delicious, he didn't dare touch them. After all, no one would dare to provoke a large, irritable nest of ants while "bare-handed."
To this day, Henry still hadn't healed from the mental trauma Richard had inflicted on him back then!
But speaking of which... today seemed a bit strange. Henry realized he had been chasing Troy's mental body for half the day, yet Eleven, whom he considered his fated rival, had not appeared yet.
Henry was very cautious; he feared it was a trap. That hateful fellow Richard often instigated the simple-minded Eleven to do cunning things. It wasn't just once or twice that Eleven had suddenly ambushed him.
Damn it! Henry thought, the more he considered it, the more likely it seemed, and his face darkened.
Buzz—
Just as Henry was sinking into paranoia and fuming over his suspicions, he, who was mentally connected to The Upside Down's Hive Mind, suddenly sensed that the vines and Dimo Creatures he had sent into the real world—within the underground water network system of Hawkins Town—were under a powerful attack.
Those people had actually poured oil and fire into various key areas—the kind of fire that was difficult to extinguish.
Especially since it was broad daylight, the Dimo Creatures couldn't even counterattack if they wanted to. The fire swept through the entire Upside Down erosion zone like a cataclysm.
"Are these people crazy?" Henry couldn't believe it. He felt incredibly angry and then commanded the Dimo Creatures capable of moving freely to hurry and escape to the surface, where they could at least hide in the shade of the forest for the time being.
But the subsequent alarm in his brain gave Henry a shock. Eleven, who had been absent, had finally appeared, and she was currently closing The Upside Down passage at Hawkins Lab.
Those two groups who didn't trust each other... had actually partnered up!?
Henry was beyond furious. He commanded the Dimo Creatures to quickly move toward Hawkins National Laboratory. Even if they had to cross a sea of fire, he had to stop Eleven from closing the Gate to the Upside Down.
If the Gate to the Upside Down was closed this time, he didn't know when he would be able to return to the real world again.
"Right, the eyes!" Henry thought of the boy Troy. As long as Troy became his eyes, he could serve as a gate.
Facing such a crisis, Henry also exploded with effort. He did not hesitate to overdraw his life force in exchange for even greater mental power. This time, he had to make Troy his eyes—the key to opening the Gate to the Upside Down in the real world!