Chapter 8 Chapter Eight: The Grinning Figure

Two or three days after the turmoil in the department store subsided, one evening, Shimada-kun was wandering in his yard.The weather was gloomy, and it had just entered spring, but it was unusually warm. Shimada-kun's father was a rich man before the war, and now he works in a bank, but he still lives in the old mansion with a big yard.In front of the living room is a green lawn, a rockery in the distance, and a lush grove. Shimada-kun was having fun with the chickens in front of the chicken coop behind the house. After playing for a while, he got tired of playing and went to the lawn in the yard.At that time, the glass door of the living room was closed tightly, and the room was empty and quiet.The moment Shimada-kun rounded the corner of the house and was about to step onto the lawn, he froze.Because a bizarre thing happened on the lawn.

Mr. Shimada likes roller skating. He has a pair of roller skates, which have not been used for a while, and are placed under the verandah of the living room.Now, this pair of roller skates are actually in the middle of the lawn, not to mention, they are moving by themselves!In tandem and back, alternately forward, like someone wearing them rollerblading. I'm not dreaming - Shimada-kun thought.No, not a dream!I remember everything that happened after I got home from school until now, it can't be a dream. "Oh! Could it be..." Shimada-kun thought of something and shivered, as if someone had poured cold water from behind.He thought of the transparent monster: Isn't that what transparent people walk on roller skates?

After all, this is a lawn, so it can't be as smooth as on an ice rink, and the roller skates also walked a certain distance slowly.It is getting farther and farther away from the living room, heading towards the luxuriant octopus gold plate at the foot of the rockery. "Mom! Come here! Hurry up..." Shimada-kun couldn't help calling out loudly.It's kind of embarrassing in hindsight. However, at this moment, the roller skates had plunged into the clump of eight-claw gold plates.The branches and leaves swayed and rustled, as if someone was pushing through the bushes.Behind the Octopus Golden Pan are large and small evergreen trees, forming a small forest, and the light is even darker.

The mother and the servant rushed over when they heard the sound (the father hadn't come home at this time), and the whole family exploded immediately. They called the neighbor's uncle to help out, and called the police. They searched the yard all over, but found nothing. Abandoned roller skates were found deep in the clump.The weirdo must have taken off his shoes and escaped over the wall. Strange to say, why is the weirdo wearing roller skates?After investigation, the home was not stolen.In people's minds, this "air man" sometimes does some good things (such as helping the little shoe shiner who is being bullied), and likes to tease people, but why sneak into Mr. Shimada's house and rollerblade on the lawn?Could there be some conspiracy in it?Could it be that Shimada-kun has seen through his true colors, so he came here specially to take revenge?

One wave is not flat, and another wave rises again.Late the next night, another terrible thing happened. Mr. Shimada slept alone in his ten-square-meter bedroom.His bedroom has a window about two meters wide facing the backyard. The window is inlaid with frosted glass and has wooden panes outside the window, so the rainproof window is always open.In the middle of the night, he was awakened by the noise and opened his eyes involuntarily.I saw the lights in the distance in the backyard hitting the frosted glass, outlining a dark figure! The upper body of this black shadow is twice the size of an ordinary person. Based on this, it can be inferred that the owner of the black shadow is not clinging to the frosted glass.The strange thing is that this person doesn't seem to be wearing any clothes, and the lines of his muscles are clearly discernible.He has a sideways face, messy hair, sunken eye sockets, high nose bridge, open mouth under the nose... everything is vivid in my mind.This shadow itself is not thick black, but the outline is very sharp.

Shimada-kun was so frightened that he forgot to breathe. He clearly felt the turmoil in his heart, but he couldn't make a sound, as if controlled by some kind of magic power, he could only stare blankly at the shadow on the window. "Uh heh heh heh..." Shadow giggled loudly!The big mouth opened and closed, and the corners of the mouth grinned all the way to the ears, which really made the hairs stand on end.Shimada-kun couldn't take it anymore, his anger rose from his heart, and turned into courage that was fearless, jumped up from the quilt, and shouted loudly: "Who is it!"

At the same time, he dashed to the window and opened it—he was ready to confront the owner of the shadow head-on, and the moment he opened the window, he would use all his strength to roar. Unexpectedly, there was no one outside.Shimada-kun poked his head out and looked around, but found no sign of anyone.The shadow existed before the window was opened, but after the window was opened, the owner of the shadow disappeared. "Ichiro, what's wrong with you?" "Ichiro" is Shimada-kun's name.The movement and cry just now alarmed my father, and he hurried over to find out what happened.

"There was a weird guy standing there just now. But I opened the window and there was no one. Dad, maybe it was that guy." Father knew it when he mentioned "that guy"—clearly referring to the see-through weirdo.His expression turned serious all of a sudden, and the whole house became a mess.The lights in all the rooms were lit, everyone was woken, and the backyard was searched with flashlights and sticks, but found nothing.The dirt in the backyard was dry, so not a single footprint was found. So far, people have discovered another incredible fact: this monster, which is as transparent as air, has a shadow.After thinking about the situation at that time, this shadow is not as thick and clear as ordinary shadows, but like the shadow left by a light shining on a translucent object.Although the monster is invisible to the naked eye, it cannot hide its own shadow. When the light shines, it leaves a blurry figure.