As the tentacle lunged, a dark shadow whistled out from Richard's hand, swiftly pouncing toward the extending tentacle. After a clattering sound, the small canister-like object suddenly exploded into brilliant red sparks, shining like a sublimating fire lotus for a moment; unfortunately, the fire lotus was like a water lily, its beautiful image fleeting in an instant.
Richard still had the pull ring of the Thermite Grenade hanging from his middle finger. Hearing those screams of agony, a smile he couldn't suppress spread across his face. "I've been waiting for you; you've finally been driven to the wall, haven't you?"
"How dare you!" Henry roared in fury. Once the power of the Thermite Grenade passed, the tentacle had been forcibly shortened by a large section, and it recoiled partway back through the Gate to the Upside Down in fear.
"Why wouldn't I dare? You're nothing." Richard raised a middle finger—the symbol of civilization; he never spared any effort when it came to mocking his enemies.
Saying this, Richard stood behind Eleven and whispered to her, "Eleven, the one controlling that thing is the pervert who has been sending monsters to harass you all this time. That guy is Henry. Let's take him down together. Hopper and I will be right here guarding you, so just let loose. I'll prepare a delicious Manchu-Han Imperial Feast to celebrate your victory. I want to make you the happiest girl in the world."
Listening to Richard's enticingly magnetic voice and feeling his warm breath, Eleven's ears turned red, her heart inexplicably began to race, and her mental state reached a peak of intensity.
In an instant, Eleven felt her mind enter a state of absolute clarity. The world seemed to stand still, and everything before her became motionless. The tentacle stopped, revealing its body composed of black particles; the bullets fired by the soldiers vibrated at the muzzles of their guns; the jumping shells were erupting from the chambers; Hopper was looking at her with deep concern, and Richard was standing behind her with that gentle smile... In this world, she was the only one who could move, as if she were omnipotent.
Eleven realized this was the result of her mind expanding infinitely to every corner of the town. She summoned all her courage and concentrated her entire spirit on the tentacle and the Gate to the Upside Down from which it emerged, thinking: 'Let all calamity end here. I want to live a beautiful, peaceful life with everyone.'
With Eleven's sharp roar, the mental power spreading across the town acted like an invisible millstone, crushing everything she intended to attack. Time seemed to flow once more.
To Henry, it felt like a mere blink of an eye. In an instant, the power Eleven unleashed made him feel that immense terror and humiliation from three years ago all over again, and this time, the power was even more ruthless and overbearing.
The great battle between Eleven and Henry three years ago had been an unintentional explosion of potential; she hadn't been able to control the power hidden within her. The ability she used on Henry then was merely a banishment, exiling the evil and tyrannical Henry into the dangerous Upside Down. But now, Eleven knew very well that what she wanted to do was not banish Henry, but destroy this demon. Thus, the power she unleashed this time was one of merciless destructive force.
Henry watched helplessly as the Mind Flayer tentacle he had sent through the rift was ground into dust by Eleven's telekinesis, leaving not a single trace behind. He was suddenly struck by the fear of death and annihilation, and he tried to flee.
However, Eleven's telekinetic impact was like the Grim Reaper's scythe. Even though he was controlling the Mind Flayer remotely, Henry felt more than half of his spirit being ground away by the invisible force crossing the gate before he could withdraw it. Nearly a quarter of the Mind Flayer's massive swarm of black particles was directly destroyed.
"Agh!!!" Henry screamed in agony, his voice gradually fading away.
A large amount of blood gushed from Eleven's eyes, and the Gate to the Upside Down, which had been glowing with an eerie crimson light, finally closed, bringing all the wails and screams from The Upside Down to an abrupt halt.
The gate was finally closed. Deprived of the Hive Mind's guidance, the Dimo Creatures seemed to have their life force cut off. Like kites with severed strings, they fell limply from the rock walls they were climbing, crashing heavily to the ground. Some shattered into pieces, others shriveled into puddles, and all ultimately met the fate of rapidly turning into decaying corpses and foul-smelling sewage, dying completely.
Facing the empty, dark wall, Eleven remained in her state of activated power for several seconds. It wasn't until Hopper's broad hand was placed on her shoulder that her stiff body regained its human softness, and she suddenly closed her eyes and fainted.
Chief Hopper held the sleeping Eleven, whose face was covered in blood. Without the slightest hesitation, he nuzzled her cheek, full of tenderness and heartache. "You did well, you did so well, my daughter..."
Upon returning to the surface, Richard found that the fire set underground had finally spread all the way to the basement of The Lab and was climbing upward, rushing into The Lab's lockdown zone.
Seeing this, The Lab's security personnel picked up fire extinguishers and hoses to put out the flames, but Owens' voice rang out in every corner of The Lab: "No need to put out the fire. Let it be. No one needs to do anything. Everything related to The Lab stays where it is. Just evacuate the personnel..."
The Lab members froze in place, looking at the speakers and their colleagues in confusion, or toward Dr. Owens in the main control room.
"Nothing here is worth commemorating. Everything here, except for our lives, is meaningless. I have decided to proactively shut down this lab. This fire is a cleansing; let all the sins be buried within it," Dr. Owens said with emotion. He had just received news that Troy had woken up, and The Upside Down power that had remained in his body had been forced out by the high temperature of the sauna, meaning he would no longer be disturbed by The Upside Down from now on.
For Owens, all suffering could end here. Although he had only taken over The Lab for less than two months, he felt utterly exhausted.
Saving the children and solving the town's life-and-death crisis—this was the outcome he wanted to see.
Hearing Dr. Owens' words, although some in The Lab were reluctant to give up their research on The Upside Down, after struggling for a moment between humanity and research, they chose to act as people of conscience. They resolutely abandoned these inhuman yet highly valuable studies and evacuated The Lab with the main group. They watched as the fire consumed The Lab, watching it collapse in the flames like a defeated dragon... Standing on a distant hillside, Nancy stood beside her boyfriend Steve, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She felt that the dark clouds hanging over the town had finally dissipated, and the firelight was like a bright sun.
"So, all the justice can be exposed now, right?" Nancy held a floppy disk in her hand, which contained the carefully selected—not earth-shattering, but certainly evil—inside stories of the experiments that Richard had curated. She had been carrying this disk for a long time, and now she finally had the chance to expose it.
Tomorrow, through the channels of the eccentric reporter Murray, the evil Hawkins Lab would be exposed to the largest newspapers and news media in America, letting the truth be revealed to the world.
Of course, Nancy also followed Richard's suggestion. When sending the truth, she would include an article she wrote herself, as this would also serve as her springboard into the media industry.
In Nancy's heart, Richard had always been so incredible, considering every detail with a maturity beyond imagination.
In reality, Richard was simply sharing his miserable job-hunting experience from before his transmigration, as someone who had been through it, with friends who might face similar setbacks in the future.