A terrifying crash echoed out, and dust and debris billowed everywhere. Above, countless zombies still kept leaping down one after another like dumplings being dropped in succession.
Qin Guan clenched his jaw, took one last look at the scene that could only be described as hell on earth, then decisively pushed open the door to the elevator lobby and, following Lu Chuan’s instructions, entered the first basement level, never once looking back.
Don’t look back.
That was what the man had told him before leaving.
Qin Guan walked alone through the pitch-black corridor. There were no lights or any emergency lighting equipment here. The entire floor had not a single trace of illumination. Thick blackness gathered together, sticky and cloying like a swamp.
Qin Guan walked quietly along the way, his trench coat hissing through the night air and making faint sounds like a snake.
Though alone, he was not lonely.
In fact, ever since he pushed the door open and entered the first basement level, he had been constantly harassed by all kinds of bizarre sounds. It was precisely because of those strange noises that he came to understand more deeply what Lu Chuan meant by “don’t look back.”
“Heehee, handsome, stay and play with us…”
“Waaah, brother, I can’t find my way home. Can you take me out…”
“Stop! Take one more step and I’ll kill you!”
“Qin Guan! Qin Guan! Do you remember me? I came in with you… We’re teammates!”
The last voice belonged to a man. It was shrill and mournful, and it sounded somewhat familiar.
Qin Guan’s eyebrows lifted slightly, as if he had remembered something.
Seeing that he had reacted, the voice refused to let this fleeting chance slip by, seizing every opportunity to keep whispering in his ear.
“Have you forgotten? When that guy surnamed Lu rushed in to kill people, wasn’t I the one who stood in front of you?! I died because of you!!”
“We’re teammates. You have to get me out! I’m from the BM Foundation! You know the BM Foundation, right? They’re the largest guild in the Filth Room Atrium!”
“If you leave me here to die, then even if you survive and escape the instance to reach the Atrium, the Foundation will definitely hunt you down to the ends of the earth!”
That voice clung to Qin Guan like an annoying fly, chattering endlessly.
Qin Guan, however, looked as if he had heard something interesting, a trace of mockery flashing in his eyes.
“You were the ones who let him out, and you were the ones who agreed to the conditions. Now that you’ve become a ghost, you want to blame me?”
“When that guy lost control, were you planning to hide behind another girl and use her as a shield?”
The voice choked for a moment.
Qin Guan continued, “I only pulled that girl away…”
“As for trash like you,” Qin Guan’s eyes shifted slightly, revealing obvious disgust, “sorry, but I don’t think you even belong in the category of human beings.”
The dark corridor seemed to stretch on without end. Along the way, Qin Guan encountered several more similar voices. Some were resentful, some angry, and some pretended to be children while speaking of their helplessness.
Faced with the temptation of these things, Qin Guan eventually became too lazy to pay them any attention at all. His pale eyes remained astonishingly calm in the darkness as he continued forward along the long corridor.
Finally, after who knew how long, a pale green emergency exit sign faintly appeared ahead.
Was he almost there?
Qin Guan’s head was splitting from all the noises along the way. Seeing that the exit was close, he kept a straight face on the surface while subtly quickening his pace in secret.
However, at that moment, his leg was suddenly tripped by something.
The thing was soft, seemingly a human body.
“Sorry.”
In the pitch-black corridor, a young man said.
His voice was low and magnetic, with an indescribable weariness hidden within it.
Qin Guan had always had an excellent memory. This person’s voice was completely unfamiliar; he knew for certain that he had never heard it before.
Yet for some reason, his steps came to a stop.
On his right ear, the three cartilage earrings grew faintly hot, ringing softly.
A rustling sound came from the darkness, as if the person was making way for him.
“Sorry, I was blocking you.”
The other man continued.
Qin Guan slowly lowered his head. By the flickering green glow of the emergency exit sign, he could barely make out that what seemed to be a leg was stretched across the floor, but from the knee down, it was inexplicably empty.
Beside his ear, the three black earrings continued to tremble, hot enough to nearly scorch his ear.
“…Who are you?”
After a long while, Qin Guan heard himself ask in a hoarse voice.
The young man seemed to laugh at the question. “Me? I’m just an unlucky player. I accidentally broke my leg, but don’t worry. I just need to rest for a bit, and I’ll be able to get out soon…”
As he said that, his voice gradually weakened, replaced by unbelievable confusion.
“Wait… hearing your voice… you’re… Little Guan?!”
The young man said in disbelief, “Wait, you’re really Little Guan? How did you end up here?!”
Qin Guan only felt as if something were stuck in his throat. His voice was dry and hoarse, and he could not say a single word.
On the other side, the young man grabbed his hand and spoke in utter confusion: “Little Guan?! Why are you here… No, you’re fake, you’re an illusion… but you…”
The other man’s palm was warm and rough, covered with several horrible scars. On his ring finger, there was also a faint dent where a ring had once been.
The other man had clearly touched his ring as well. His voice carried a laugh, yet also sounded as if he might cry at any moment.
“You received my letter, didn’t you… Why did you still come? I clearly told you…”
“Little Guan… Little Guan, I miss you so much, Little Guan…”
“I can’t get out… It hurts so much… Can you turn around and look at me, Little Guan… I really want to see you…”
After a moment of silence, Qin Guan asked, “What’s your name?”
The young man’s voice instantly turned resentful. “Little Guan, I didn’t expect you to be so heartless that you don’t even remember my name.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know it either.”
“…”
“I thought your Grotesques would do decent background checks, but I didn’t expect you wouldn’t even know this.”
That voice became somewhat vicious. “Little Guan, after how much I love you, you’re calling me a Grotesque?”
“Then tell me your name.”
“…There’s some kind of strength blocking me, preventing me from probing your memories.”
Qin Guan sneered.
“Useless trash.”
With that, just as he was about to continue forward, a sudden and overwhelmingly forceful tug came from his wrist, so strong it nearly yanked his elbow out of its socket.
Caught off guard, Qin Guan was forced to turn around, and at that very moment, the lights in the entire corridor suddenly came on.
Only then did he see that at some unknown point, a large group of wooden puppets had tightly followed behind Qin Guan.
These things moved soundlessly, pressed almost against his body, leaning by his ear and continuously imitating all kinds of voices.
And the one holding Qin Guan’s hand at this moment was a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, his whole body covered in blood. Not only was one leg missing, but even half his face had been torn away, exposing a large section of stark white bone.
The man looked at Qin Guan and grinned.
A chill surged through Qin Guan’s heart.
This was… the psychiatric hospital dean who should have been dead long ago?!
With a loud crash, a sharp pain struck the back of Qin Guan’s head, and his body fell forward uncontrollably.
In the final moment before losing consciousness, he struggled to turn his head and happened to see Lu Chuan’s cold face.