"In this state… you actually went into 304 and came out alive?"
A surprised voice sounded beside him.
Takumi turned his head and saw Tanaka holding a skinned human head.
That faceless head still seemed to be a living thing, its pale teeth—uncovered by any lips—constantly opening and closing, as if it were still breathing.
Just staring at that head made Takumi feel a chill spread through his entire body, and the chaos clouding his consciousness seemed to ease slightly. It was as though… several different eerie existences could influence one another, slowing the rate of mental erosion? Takumi wasn't sure of the principle behind it; he only took a step back, cautiously keeping his guard up.
"No need to be so on edge. I don't worry much about people who are about to die. Even if you managed to leave 304, from the moment you bore that forbidden curse, you were never going to live. Even now, the boiling water is still flowing from your body. Haven't you noticed?"
"I thought you might turn out to be a troublesome rival, but you actually went and stupidly walked straight into 304. Heh, forget it—enjoy the little time you've got left. I'm not going to waste my energy here on a dead man."
Tanaka didn't look particularly hostile. He simply waved a hand at Takumi, then turned and walked off in another direction.
Watching his back, Takumi thought about whether he should try performing True Name Release once more—to speak that name that should never be spoken aloud.
But although the man turned away, the head he was carrying in his hand remained facing him. Takumi had the distinct feeling that if he uttered even a single word, the man would instantly act and kill him right there.
However… could he even die so easily in his current state?
"Huff—"
Taking a step forward, Takumi followed in the direction Tanaka had gone.
Almost at the same moment he began to move, Tanaka suddenly stopped and turned back, his expression cold as he looked toward him.
"I told you I didn't want to waste energy on you. Why don't young people ever understand reason?"
Speaking in a low voice like that of an elder, Tanaka released the hand holding the head. The head dropped to the ground—and then vanished instantly.
"You—"
[Bang, bang!]
The moment Takumi spoke his first word, two bullets had already struck him—one pierced through his mouth, the other through his throat.
Just like that woman who had disguised herself as Maeda Miwa, Tanaka—also a veteran player—clearly knew much about the apartment. He had been wary of Takumi using verbal interaction to utter forbidden information, and so he acted at once, eliminating Takumi's ability to speak.
It hurt.
But it seemed he still couldn't die.
Even with his throat shot through, Takumi realized he wasn't suffocating—only feeling pain.
After all, he was part of the rescue team. It wouldn't be that easy to die. All right, it's time to go to the first floor now. I'm part of Team 1. I need to assist… I'm Takumi. I'm still Takumi. I'm still Takumi now…
His consciousness began to blur again.
Takumi found himself no longer certain who he really was.
But he still knew what it was he most wanted to do right now.
Before completely losing himself, he would beat that troublemaker of this instance so badly that even his mother wouldn't recognize him.
Takumi took a step forward.
[Crack!]
Then, amid the sound of something chewing, he fell to the ground.
Looking down, he saw that his right leg had already disappeared at the knee, and a faceless head was wide-mouthed, chewing beside the stump of his leg.
[Tick—tick—]
More water still seeped from the life jacket.
With the physical damage, Takumi realized that his identity seemed to be accelerating its transformation.
[Evacuate…the people in this apartment…
Probe…this Tanaka bastard's trump card…]
[No, no… I must save people… No… I must kill this son of a bitch… No… who am I again? Why am I in this place? What… what am I supposed to do?]
He could no longer sense the other half of his torn consciousness; that painful scalding-stitches execution ultimately lasted about fifteen minutes, and the half of his mind that had been ripped apart was the first to falter and die.
Now, the consciousness torn out from 304—the one polluted and transformed by the rescue team badge—was also nearing its final collapse.
"First-floor rescue team uniform? That only appears in this game, and it can produce Obsession Items? An Obsession Item that grants the ability to survive multiple lethal injuries—seems like a pretty useful Obsession Item."
Tanaka, standing not far away, continued observing Takumi as he lay on the ground struggling, being gnawed by the faceless head.
He didn't think the man still posed any threat.
After all, once this man had borne the 304 curse, there was no way he could survive. Tanaka only needed to wait until he was near death to recover the Obsession Item, then use another Obsession Item to suppress the target's transformation into an eerie being, and then move on to the familiar corpse-touching routine.
Tanaka had run this whole process many times. While he might not be the strongest against the anomalies, he had a reliable method for dealing with other players. The combination of Obsession Items and firearms could easily kill most players who relied on Obsession Items, even those far more famous than him. In his view, this case would be no exception—no one could retain consciousness after bearing the core anomaly's curse. This pathetic man must have already descended into complete chaos and probably been nearly fully transformed into part of the eerie.
Thinking this, Tanaka suddenly saw Takumi jerk his head up.
'I am Team Rescue. I must evacuate people from here.'
Takumi told himself in his mind.
'I will pull this person out of Shirakawa Apartments and take him away!'
His gaze locked onto Tanaka a few steps back, who had drawn a gun with caution; in his mind Takumi resolutely spoke to himself.
The next moment Takumi rose to his feet and strode toward Tanaka.
"Still moving?! No—how did the transformation finish so quickly?"
Seeing Takumi in front of him instantly heal all his wounds, and his attire completely transform into that of a rescue worker, Tanaka immediately realized that something was wrong.
This rate of transformation was utterly abnormal. The rescue team was merely a derivative anomaly of this apartment—how could it possibly transform someone so quickly?!
Could it be that this man still had conscious awareness?
And while remaining conscious, he was even actively allowing himself to transform further?!
What… what was the point of that? Wouldn't that only make you die faster? Was it just to drag someone else down with you? How could there be such a disgusting bastard?!
[Bang! Bang! Bang!]
Several consecutive shots pierced through Takumi's knees, yet failed to stop his movements.
The Obsession Item—a human head—lunged at him, bit down hard on Takumi's body, then automatically released, seeming to fall briefly into a state of confusion, before dropping lifelessly to the ground.
Tanaka realized that the man before him had already been almost completely transformed into a bizarre entity. And somehow—he didn't know how—before the transformation was even complete, the man had managed to redirect the anomaly's activation rule toward himself, making himself the target of that rule's execution.
So how the hell did he even pull that off? There couldn't possibly exist someone with that kind of willpower, right?!
Activating a charge of high explosives, he flung it forward.
Tanaka spun sharply around and rolled behind a twisted wall for cover.
The next moment, a violent explosion spread outward, blowing the wall to pieces on the spot.
But as Tanaka climbed out from the rubble and took his first step, Takumi—half his face now that of a rescue worker—reached out, grabbed him by the collar, and punched him square in the face.
[Crack—]
Several teeth flew out from Tanaka's mouth.
With a crisp shattering sound, that punch nearly smashed his jaw.
[Don't be afraid, I'm here to save you.]
After throwing the punch, Takumi spoke to Tanaka with utmost sincerity, then clenched his fist again and punched him in the face once more.
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