Mr. Gao's... side?
Hearing Gao Hai's question, Miko paused for a moment. She then realized that although she hadn't said anything while they were in the living room, Gao Hai had already deduced from her gaze that something was wrong.
He had realized the problem, yet he didn't speak up, waiting until now to ask?
Miko's gaze shifted to the area around Gao Hai, scanning his body.
It was gone.
That fragmented, grotesque anomaly had already vanished silently while the two of them were going up and down the stairs earlier.
Now, there were no abnormalities whatsoever on Gao Hai's body or in his surroundings. He was completely, utterly normal—so normal it couldn't be more normal.
Where did that thing go? Did it leave on its own?
She couldn't understand. Why did it suddenly appear and then suddenly disappear?
However, at least for now, she truly didn't see any further anomalous situations.
After observing seriously for a while, Miko shook her head slightly at Gao Hai. Seeing this, Gao Hai relaxed a little and turned his head to look at the stairs in front of him.
Time was running out.
After stepping into an area one shouldn't have, it was hard to say how time flowed here. For all he knew, the remaining ten-plus minutes could vanish in the blink of an eye. Therefore, he had to figure out a way to leave this place right now.
Gao Hai looked to his side. He had reached the end of the corridor. Apart from this downward staircase, he couldn't see any other path.
This is blatant sensory obstruction.
How on earth do I break this?
In a situation like this, what exactly can I do to crack it?
Wait...
Gao Hai recalled that corridor filled with twisted flesh he had encountered before.
In that corridor, because the ground was littered with corpse remains and chunks of flesh, neither he nor Miko could walk properly, often stumbling with deep and shallow steps.
Actually, at that time, if he had carefully distinguished his sensations, he might have realized that he was essentially walking downstairs. But due to the overly shocking visuals and the need to guard against whether the corpses were anomalies, he hadn't been able to notice this point. But thinking back on it now, the sense of dissonance had always been there; it was just masked by the more concrete visual imagery.
So, this anomaly's power can deceive my vision, make me smell the stench of corpses, and make me feel like I'm stumbling through a pile of bodies. But my perception of 'going downstairs' wasn't completely masked; it was just hidden by a more obvious, false perception.
So now, what I need to do is find my true perception. I need to find what I 'truly' feel.
"From now on, don't speak. Keep quiet. I need to focus."
Gao Hai spoke seriously to Miko, then took a step, making a motion to go downstairs.
But his foot didn't actually step onto that downward flight of stairs. Instead, it hovered for a moment before he quickly retracted it.
He turned around and walked to the wall beside the staircase.
Gao Hai kicked the side of his foot against the wall, let it land, and then took a step back.
He walked slowly along the corridor, occasionally making sudden turns, walking backward, kicking the wall next to him, or abruptly freezing in place.
Miko couldn't understand these strange actions at all, but she obediently stuck to Gao Hai's side, advancing and retreating step by step along with him. After all, her hand had been held by Gao Hai the entire time. Since Gao Hai himself never let go, Miko could only move with him. For a moment, the two of them in the gloomy corridor looked like they were performing a comical mime act—you move, I move. The only difference was that Gao Hai was acting with extreme seriousness, while Miko beside him was just nervously and chaotically mimicking him.
What exactly is Mr. Gao trying to do?
As this continued, Miko became increasingly confused. She had completely lost track of what she was doing, to the point where even the fear in the bottom of her heart was diluted somewhat.
But just then, Gao Hai's footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Then, he turned his head and looked to his side.
The next moment, he took a step forward, planting his foot directly into the empty air.
Eh?
This surreal scene made Miko freeze slightly, but she remembered Gao Hai's instructions and continued to maintain her silence, not saying a word.
And so, following that, she was pulled forward by Gao Hai. She followed him and stepped into the empty air.
Then, she was shocked to discover that she had actually stepped onto something. She really found steady footing in mid-air.
"Damn, it's a Dark Souls invisible bridge, is it?"
At this moment, Miko heard Gao Hai muttering in a low voice.
By now, half of Gao Hai's body had merged with the wall, and his head had completely melted into the ceiling.
He looked as if he were stuck in the wall. In Miko's vision, he was indeed stuck there, motionless. Yet, that hand gripping hers tightly continued to exert force forward, dragging Miko upward.
Could it be that all of this is just an illusion?
The girl closed her eyes, mustered her courage, and followed that force to take a step forward.
Step— Step—
Amidst the clear sound of footsteps, she could feel herself stumbling up more than ten steps. Her vision, meanwhile, passed through the wall, entering a world of total darkness where nothing could be seen.
Here... where exactly is...
Piercing noise suddenly erupted from ahead.
Miko suddenly found that she could see Gao Hai.
She saw a Gao Hai whose entire body was tattered, his internal organs rolling out of his chest cavity, yet he was looking back at her with a smile.
The road ahead was densely packed with sharp spikes, stained with speckles of blood, looking incredibly terrifying.
Flames were burning, spreading rapidly from the surroundings. Even from a distance, she could feel the scorching heat.
Miko closed her eyes.
She continued to let Gao Hai pull her, moving forward.
Mournful wailing rang out around them.
Breathing hit the back of her neck.
She even heard her mother's voice calling her, and the voice of her father who had passed away years ago, and Hana's voice.
Disordered footsteps closed in from all directions.
Viscous liquid dripped onto her body.
A sudden dragging force grabbed her other hand, grabbed her hair and ankles, trying to pull her in other directions.
But the girl just continued to walk forward.
She simply continued to follow the hand that had held hers from the very beginning, following that person as they continued all the way forward.
Click—
She heard the sound of a door opening.
In that instant, it drowned out all the twisted, insane noises.
Even with her eyes closed, she could still feel the warmth of sunlight shining on her body.
Miko couldn't help but open her eyes. She discovered that, pulled by Gao Hai, she was standing in the backyard she had seen before.
Only, last time it was a false illusion. This time, it seemed to be real.
Gao Hai's steps didn't stop.
He remained silent, pulling Miko along as they continued forward. They went straight through the backyard and arrived at the perimeter wall.
The next moment, he exerted a little force, pulling Miko directly into his arms. Holding her with one hand, he leaped abruptly, vaulting right over the compound wall and landing on the street outside.
Only at this time did Miko realize that Gao Hai's eyes were actually closed.
And just like that, with his eyes closed, he continued to pull Miko along, leading her all the way. Even though he clearly couldn't see anything, he walked along the sidewalk without any obstruction, step by step. Using the tactile paving to judge his position, he walked a distance of two blocks in one breath before stopping.
"Now, in your line of sight, where are we?"
Gao Hai, eyes still closed, turned his face toward Miko and asked.
"Ah, n-now we've already left the house. We're on the streets outside."
Miko, who hadn't expected him to ask this, was stunned for a moment before hurriedly answering.
The next moment, Gao Hai opened his eyes. He turned to look behind him, looking at his own house under the cover of that scarlet moon.
The fire brigade had already gathered at the doorstep. It seemed the power of that bomb was quite significant. However, the firefighters shouldn't be in any trouble. After all, the target of this anomaly's power currently appeared to be 'friends,' so these people coming to put out the fire wouldn't be attacked.
Miko was still clutching Gao Hai's hand tightly even now. It was obvious the girl was truly nervous. But since they had already reached this point, Gao Hai had nothing left to worry about. He let out a long sigh of relief and looked down at the girl with the somewhat timid expression.
"For the next while, you'd best not go to school. At least wait until no one in the school is discussing that shitty [Alice's Game] anymore. Ahem, my language might be a bit vulgar, but there's no helping it. Anyway, be extra careful yourself from now on. It's time for me to leave too."
Gao Hai was certain that he had indeed broken free from the affected area of the strange instance invading reality. When he tried to invoke Andres's teleportation Blessing, he found that the previously unusable Blessing had now been unlocked.
Without hesitation, he used the power of the Blessing directly. He vanished instantly from Miko's presence, arriving several kilometers away in a small room where Maki, Chika, and Kaguya were currently located, completely distancing himself from the area where the anomaly had descended.
This move of disappearing directly obviously gave Miko a fright. However, having seen far more heavyweight things earlier, the girl was only startled for a moment before calming down.
Mr. Gao really isn't an ordinary person. He was actually able to find the correct path with his eyes closed just now. Such a thing is truly hard to imagine.
The girl lamented silently, then furrowed her brows.
He... has definitely left, right?
If he has already left, then why...
Realizing something, Miko's pupils constricted slightly in that instant.
Slowly, she lowered her head.
And on her forehead, a drop of cold sweat slowly trickled down.
Meanwhile, Gao Hai, having finished his teleportation and seeing the worried faces of Maki and Chika rising to greet him, finally felt a burden lift from his shoulders. He let out a long breath.
It was truly too exhausting.
Relying on his decent spatial perception and recalling the architectural structure of his home from memory, he had ignored all sorts of messy, anomalous disturbances and finally found the correct exit, successfully leaving the house from the backyard.
The entire process was considerably troublesome and dangerous. Although closing his eyes could block out a significant portion of the anomalous interference, the resulting psychological pressure and discomfort were equally immense. Especially with the uncertainty of whether other anomalies existed or if closing his eyes would lead to attacks by other things, it was even harder to stay calm. Under these premises, Gao Hai even had to carefully discern his movements, as he would often find himself walking backward, or going up or downstairs while walking. This confusion and disorder of the senses were extremely dangerous; he had to keep his nerves taut at every moment to correctly judge what he was doing and ensure he wasn't misled.
"Hai-kun, did you use teleportation? Is your body okay now?"
"Thank goodness, Ah Hai..."
"Gao-kun, you made it out successfully! That's great. Take a good rest."
The voices of the three girls rang out one after another. Gao Hai, finally relaxing, sat down on the floor with a thud. He only had time to wave his hand, unable to say anything for the moment.
Then, he sensed a feeling of dissonance.
What is going on?
His left hand...
The left hand that had been holding Miko before, the one she had been gripping tightly. Even now, Gao Hai could still feel a hand firmly grabbing him—just like when Miko had actively grabbed his hand after he discovered the anomaly, holding on tight and not letting go.
So he lowered his head and looked at his left hand.
He looked at the pale, severed hand lying on the ground, gripping him.
Only at the moment of discovery did he feel the intense, bone-chilling cold from that hand.
Gao Hai finally understood the incredibly fatal oversight that neither he nor Miko had noticed from the very beginning.
Ding-a-ling—
Ding-a-ling—
The class bell rang.
The blood-red full moon in the distance had already begun to fade, gradually disappearing.
This eerie moon, imperceptible to ordinary people, returned to its original world, returned to the instance world of the horror story, under the gaze of the Players.
And Gao Hai, who could only sit paralyzed on the ground revealing a bitter smile, watched the panicked expressions on Maki and Chika's faces. He waved his hand at them feebly, and then, grabbed by pale fingers extending one after another from behind his back, he was dragged into the floor out of thin air and vanished.
Darkness shrouded everything in this instant.
And that low, hoarse, sinister laughter was already ringing in Gao Hai's ears.
The voice was saying:
[Welcome to Alice's School~]
[Come on, come play games with Alice. Come and become Alice's good friend~~~]
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