Li Youcai, Xu Jiazhen.
The ones who had tormented that poor girl throughout her short life. In Gao Hai's eyes, they were worse than beasts—to even compare them to beasts would be an insult to beasts. Now, they were gradually losing their status as products of the horror story, slowly beginning to regain their human side.
Of course, this did not mean they would survive, nor did it mean they could leave this place and start over as humans.
The power of the horror story had completely transformed them. Even if they regained their consciousness, as the anomaly's power gradually dissipated, these two were destined to disintegrate and perish along with these ruins. There was no possibility of them living on.
And it was precisely because they realized this fact that they could not forgive their daughter.
Why should you get to rest in peace?
Why should you be able to escape this place and find peace, while we have to die here?
*I want... to kill her...*
The furiously roaring woman stared at the sky, her eyes wide with rage, desperately trying to get closer to the door of 309, wanting to drag the girl who had entered back out.
Thump!
Then she was kicked in the chest by Kaguya. Her body twisted, and she fell to the ground with a wail.
*Don't... let me... let me leave!*
On the other side, the man roared and charged, trying to punch Gao Hai away, but Gao Hai grabbed his arm and executed a throw, slamming him to the ground. He followed up with a kick between the legs, causing the reeking man's eyes to roll back as he let out a piercing scream.
This was no fight.
This was, for all intents and purposes, torture.
Having lost the power of the anomaly, unable to pour boiling water on Gao Hai and Kaguya or sew their mouths shut, Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen were now, aside from being durable, essentially devoid of any supernatural abilities. They were nothing more than two human-shaped punching bags.
Pow!
A vicious punch sent the man sprawling on the ground.
Gao Hai followed by stabbing down with the scalpel, cleaving the man's head in two with a single slice.
Although the anomaly's power healed the wound in the next instant, the inescapable, intense pain made the man howl. Gao Hai then dug his fingers directly into the man's eye sockets and squeezed, crushing both of his eyes on the spot.
Crack!
With the sound of shattering bone, Kaguya broke the woman's limbs for the third time.
The woman wailed as she lay on the ground, struggling helplessly. She wanted to escape, but before she could get up, Kaguya's next attack would follow, trapping her in an endless cycle of torment as her bones were broken and healed repeatedly.
Miwa Maeda, who had been sitting in the ruins crying, was completely dumbfounded. She had been in despair, convinced she was going to die, and had stopped paying attention to her surroundings. But then Gao Hai and Kaguya came down and proceeded to beat two people to a bloody pulp. The almost performance-art-like brutality left Miwa Maeda momentarily confused about what was happening.
"The ruins have stopped rising. It seems this is the limit for these two."
After venting his anger with a thorough beating, Gao Hai looked up. He saw that the constantly collapsing ruins had finally stopped about a hundred meters away from Room 309. He couldn't help but sigh softly, a look of resignation on his face.
He had actually wondered if the ruins could hold out until they reached 309, but from the looks of it now, even if he and Kaguya had done nothing, these two wouldn't have been able to make the ruins rise to 309, let alone get close enough to the curtain hanging below it.
*Why... Why are you stopping us?*
Li Youcai, whose body was already covered in cracks large and small, looked up and asked Gao Hai.
The man was nearing his end. His humanity had returned to its peak, but the residual power of the anomaly had almost completely dissipated. As a result, his body, like the ruins, was beginning to crumble.
*You two heartless bastards, why are you doing this to us?*
The woman screamed and wailed, crying as if she were the victim of a great injustice.
Of course, her body was also covered in cracks. It wouldn't be long before death claimed her completely.
"Doing this to you? What are you talking about? I'm just taking out the trash. People like you are the most disgusting, most worthless trash in this world. Since I can't get out of here alive anyway, it's better to keep vermin like you here. I won't let you out to harm others."
Gao Hai sneered. As he spoke, he launched a kick that sent the man tumbling. He then backhanded the woman, knocking her to her knees, and followed with a kick to her face that sent her rolling across the ground.
Kaguya, somewhat tired from the fighting, stood to the side, simply watching Gao Hai continue to punish the two.
She didn't share Gao Hai's thoughts; she had no desire to teach the two scoundrels a lesson. She had initially just decided to vent her frustration since she was going to die anyway. As for now, she found that punishing people with her fists was actually quite satisfying and could be a good way to relieve stress.
She wondered if this was a similar feeling to what Hayasaka experienced when she watched those strange stress-relief videos.
Rumble—
With the sound of the ground trembling, the ruins had reached their final limit.
Gao Hai looked down and saw cracks spreading across the ground beneath his feet.
"Looks like this is the end. Are you scared?"
He said to Kaguya beside him.
"What's the point of asking that? Are you scared?"
Sensing that the ruins were about to collapse completely, Kaguya's expression grew tense, but she still responded to Gao Hai's question with a forceful tone, her brow furrowed.
"Of course I'm scared. My first two deaths were incredibly painful. If it's just as painful this time, I really don't know if I can hold on for a fourth time."
Gao Hai sighed, shrugged, and answered honestly, then kicked Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen as they tried to get up again.
"...I'm scared too. I don't want to die here, but... I can't think of any way to save myself now."
Kaguya lowered her head slightly, sighing as she confessed her true feelings.
He looked up.
Gao Hai stared silently at the point of light in the sky above.
To have come to the very last step, only to fail at the final hurdle.
This feeling was truly infuriating.
He didn't want to die.
Death was just too painful.
And every reset was a form of torture—appearing in and then leaving that blood-colored city, feeling himself getting closer to that bizarre place with each loop, realizing that once he used up his twelve chances, he would be trapped there forever. When he realized that, he became even more terrified, even more unwilling to die.
Still, he felt that he couldn't abandon someone who had genuinely helped him.
Gao Hai had no desire to be some kind of saint. So if Miwa Maeda couldn't keep up, she couldn't keep up. He wouldn't care whether she lived or died.
But Kaguya had truly fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him, helping him along the way. Even if she was a bit forceful and sharp-tongued, she was always reliable when it mattered, someone you could trust. For that reason, he had no excuse to abandon her.
But he still really didn't want to die.
The pain of death was something that even Gao Hai's resilient will was unwilling to experience repeatedly.
So, I...
*Hold on, we're coming to get you out!*
He heard someone's voice.
A voice calling down to him from above.
Gao Hai looked up and saw a long rescue ladder being thrown down from above, from the doorway of Room 309.
"Kaguya!"
Gao Hai roared. Kaguya Shinomiya, already realizing what was happening, shot out her hand and grabbed the rescue ladder. She was immediately pulled upwards, drawn towards the pure white light above.
A second and third rescue ladder immediately followed, one landing beside Miwa Maeda, the other in front of Gao Hai.
Realizing she was saved, Miwa Maeda quickly grabbed the ladder and was pulled up. Gao Hai let out a soft sigh and grabbed his ladder as well, preparing to ascend.
Creak—
But his rescue ladder didn't move immediately.
Even after Miwa Maeda's ladder had gone up, Gao Hai's moved with excruciating slowness, unable to pick up speed.
"Seriously, I've already vented my anger and can't be bothered with you anymore. Do you really have to seek death at the very end?"
Turning his head, Gao Hai stared down at Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen, who were clinging tightly to his legs. His voice turned ice-cold.
It wasn't just them.
Gao Hai could also see fragmented black arms, broken porcelain dolls, and the gradually appearing figures of what seemed to be debt collectors.
These monsters born from the horror story, these abominations that were dying as the core anomaly collapsed, were now grabbing onto him. Perhaps they didn't want him to leave, or perhaps they wanted to use this opportunity to achieve their own hopeless escape.
*Let me go, please, let me leave!*
*I'll kill her, I'll kill that little bastard who ruined us!*
The bodies of Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen were shattered beyond recognition, but their shrill screams continued to echo as they climbed, trying to crawl over Gao Hai's body.
"You really don't want to die, do you..."
Slowly, a smile formed on Gao Hai's lips.
He released his left hand, holding onto the ladder with only his right. He licked his lips, glanced at the watch on his left wrist, and then cast a gaze so cold it no longer seemed human upon Li Youcai, Xu Jiazhen, and the broken, twisted things below.
"Very well...
Gao Hai spoke slowly.
"How about I grant you eternity?"
A crack opened on the black watch.
Without even a chance to scream, the figures of the man and woman were sucked into the watch, along with all the monsters behind them.
They were nourishment.
Nourishment that could be absorbed and utilized after the core of the horror story was destroyed.
Yes, they would achieve eternity.
A fleeting eternity as sustenance, as fuel.
Click—
With a crisp sound, the hand on Gao Hai's watch slowly turned back from the 3 and returned to the 2 o'clock mark.
The next moment, the ladder shot upwards, pulling Gao Hai into the light, towards the door of Room 309.
*It's time to go. The exit is right ahead.*
Inside Room 309, figures of the Rescue Team stood, and their leader spoke softly to Gao Hai.
"Can't you guys leave?"
Gao Hai didn't leave immediately. Instead, he stood his ground and looked at the blurry figure before him.
Lin Xusheng.
Have he and the Rescue Team all recovered?
*We've been walking for a long time. It's about time we stopped to rest.*
In response to Gao Hai's question, Xusheng let out a gentle laugh and spoke slowly.
"...Is there anything you need me to say on your behalf?"
Understanding now, Gao Hai nodded slightly. He didn't linger on sentimentality, but simply took a breath and asked.
*No need. When this cage completely collapses, we can go home. It's all over. Those who forgot us will remember everything again, and the tragedy of this apartment complex will finally come to a close. We don't need to leave anything else behind. Please, leave with peace of mind. There is nothing left for you to worry about here.*
Xusheng's reply was calm, and the rescue team members beside him nodded one by one, clearly all having accepted their fate.
"I see. In that case, goodbye. And thank you."
He said no more.
Gao Hai offered a solemn thank you, then turned and stepped through the glowing bedroom door.
In the next moment, he stepped into an endless light.
And Xusheng's final words reached his ears.
*Thank you, for saving her, for saving everyone trapped in this place.*
The final voice gradually faded.
And Gao Hai couldn't help but let out a low laugh.
He's saying that, but without his efforts, without the efforts of everyone who struggled here, I could never have done this on my own.
Still, this is great.
Voom—
Amidst a shattering sound, Gao Hai looked back.
He saw the dilapidated Shirakawa Apartments.
He saw the people drifting out from the apartment, no longer trapped within.
Fridge Bro, Charred Bro, the ones who stayed on the second floor, who willingly died in their rooms under Xusheng's plan to become a protective mechanism, the youths in Rescue Team uniforms, all the people trapped here who had longed to escape.
At this moment, everyone drifted out from the apartment and vanished into the light.
Finally, Gao Hai saw the little girl, skipping happily.
The little girl who had changed into clean, beautiful new clothes, no longer dirty, no longer wounded, walking beside a young man in a Rescue Team uniform.
She was saying:
"Big brother, I want to eat cotton candy."
And the young man nodded gently, bent down to pick up the girl, and let her sit on his shoulders. Then he said with a smile:
"Okay, big brother will buy you anything you want to eat today."
The young man and the girl laughed together, walking further and further away into the light until they disappeared from sight.
And Gao Hai floated away in the light, until the endless brilliance engulfed his consciousness, until two soft points of light landed on him.
Before losing consciousness, Gao Hai heard the voices of the girl and Xusheng, speaking in unison:
*Thank you.*
The next moment, as the light swirled, an inky blackness spread over everything.
A piercing noise rang in his ears.
A bizarre voice, impossible to identify, suddenly sounded next to his ear.
*Congratulations on successfully clearing the Twilight-level Instance: Shirakawa Apartments.*
*Congratulations on dismantling the Twilight-level Instance: Shirakawa Apartments. You have taken the first steps on the path to the truth. We wish you success in truly reaching that path.*
*Player: Gao Hai*
*Now conducting player performance evaluation.*
*Your evaluation for this instance is: S*
*Congratulations on achieving the highest possible rating in a Twilight-level Instance. Your rewards have been distributed.*
*We wish you... bzzzt... success... bzzzt...*
The twisted voice seemed to be interfered with by something at the end.
Gao Hai opened his eyes. In a daze, he saw the cassette player, the small machine in the dilapidated room, playing the tape he had found in Room 109.
Then, he heard a voice coming from the machine.
*I don't understand. What is your reason for helping me?*
Sanchez's voice, tinged with confusion, came from the cassette player.
*Haha, I simply decided to help you out of sympathy and admiration. Besides, a game that doesn't run properly is very boring for us. If you can succeed, then of course, everyone will be happy.*
And then an unfamiliar voice, it was unclear what it belonged to, spoke up, carrying a hint of flippancy and an unconcealable snicker.
*I still don't understand. Who are you?*
Sanchez asked once more.
The voice conversing with him cleared its throat, paused for a moment, and then spoke slowly and deliberately:
*Me? I'm actually just a very insignificant fellow.*
*It's hard to give a name, but if you want to call me something, I think there's a title that fits quite well.*
*Just call me KP. Heh heh, that's right, KP is my name. Got it?*
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