Luca watched Arknight calmly walk out while the others were still wondering when these two had even planned this.
Rivenhart was also helpless; he looked at Sol and Luca.
"They'll have their way. We just need to gather more information."
Rivenhart walked away, and Sol followed, while Luca watched the arms on his shoulders. He knew they were probably going to another floor or doing something else; after all, it wasn't his business.
Luca had to go alone now. He stepped out of the garden, looking at it as if for the last time. Perhaps, before he walked away.
Luca entered the mansion once again, this time with a plan, so he quickly went up the stairs to the second floor.
The second floor was a long corridor with rooms that, for some reason, made him feel quite unsafe. This floor was unusual in one respect: it was surprisingly normal and tidy, and the floor was gleaming. At that moment, he felt hands on his shoulders constantly tugging at his shirt.
"You want to warn me?"
The arms twitched even more forcefully, and Luca understood it as agreement. Luca didn't quite believe it, but currently, it was the only thing that could protect him, so he had no choice but to trust it. The first rooms on the right were very ordinary; for some reason, most were guest rooms. They were simple and convenient, but they were very clean, as if no one had ever stayed there.
Everything was normal until he went past the first door on the left… It was very strange.
First, the black arms were jerking more violently than usual.
Second, if you looked closely, you would notice a darker brown tone inside compared to the doors on the right.
Finally, it was probably just his instinctive fear of ghosts, because his body, which had been perfectly normal, suddenly started trembling uncontrollably like a fan running at full speed.
Luca knew that, so he left immediately, even though he needed the information; he wasn't going to be foolish enough to risk his life... but life isn't always a dream, and he ran into an acquaintance.
Lys appeared, her face expressionless, wearing a maid's outfit so long it covered her legs, even longer than her first maid's outfit, which only reached just below her knees.
"Welcome, please come in and help with the cleaning."
"Can I go clean another room…?"
Luca forced a smile, hoping to escape this trap. Lys, no, now Laria, was still looking at him with a very artificial smile… the arms on Luca's shoulders gradually disappeared, leaving only one arm, but it was also half-dead.
At this point, Luca was about to run while he still could, but life isn't that rosy… and then Luca was pulled into the room by an arm that was actually much bigger than Luxie's arm on his shoulder.
CRASH!
As soon as he stepped inside, the door slammed shut, and the large arms that had pulled him in vanished, leaving him standing in a clean, tidy, and perfect room with a long dining table in the centre, surrounded by red carpets as if preparing for a party. He didn't know, but it looked very grand.
Laria appeared at a distance close to him, yet close enough so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable. She looked at Luca.
"Are you cleaning here? I've already cleaned."
Luca was even more confused now. Wasn't she the one who called him in to clean? Now she was saying something different. Luca also noticed that his arm was still trembling. It seemed that everywhere was dangerous; there was no normal place.
"But sir, I still can't be sure you're the person we hired. Please answer a few questions."
Luca stared at the butler, not out of courage, but because he was trembling with fear, sweating profusely, and his heart was pounding. Luca looked utterly terrified; his skin had turned pale as if he were about to faint.
The butler said nothing, merely observing for a moment. With an air of effortless composure, he elegantly raised his hand. A file appeared on the long table behind him, as if it had instantly materialised.
"You have to answer truthfully. Only the truth."
Luca stood there, unsure how to respond, or perhaps even wanting to lose his ability to speak, even though Laria didn't seem scared at all… IT WAS A LIE!
She looked perfectly normal outside, but for some reason, she seemed very strange once she was inside. One possibility was the room itself, another was that she looked that way, and finally, Luca must be hallucinating…
Laria still wore her maid's outfit, but her face was drastically disfigured. Her hair covered her entire face and clung to her neck. Her pupils were small and sunken into their sockets. Her skin was pale, as if she had drowned.
A large gash had appeared in her mouth… but what was particularly striking was that Laria had burn marks, or rather, the aftereffects of an electric shock.
Luca was sitting there, staring at Laria's horrified face, then immediately looked away, not wanting to see it at all. Laria, however, didn't care, using her power to force Luca closer to a nearby chair to sit down.
After all, Luca didn't look like someone who could stand and answer questions, especially in his current state.
"What's your real name?"
Luca sat there. What was his real name? What was his NPC's name? Who was he, really? Not a moment went by without him unconsciously questioning his own identity.
This game seemed to be deliberately making him think about his past, his memories, and everything about him that he had unconsciously forgotten.
"I don't remember."
[Floor 2: Lie detection mechanism is activating.]
[Player is about to receive a penalty.]
Laria just stared intently at Luca, who was still looking down at the ground, not daring to look her in the eye.
"One more time, sir."
"Which name do you want me to say? My real name in the game, in real life, or from before?"
[Floor 2 Lie detection mechanism is activating.]
[Answer being verified]
[Loading…]
[WARNING!!!]
[THAT IS A QUESTION, YOUR ANSWER IS NOT ACCEPTED]
[YOUR BUG IS NOT ACCEPTED]
Luca felt an electric current run through him, straight to his heart, making him want to faint on the spot, but luckily, he gritted his teeth and let it go.
"Next"
Laria was probably a new NPC, so she flipped through the file for the first time, looking at it for a while before glancing at Luca, who was injured and sitting in a chair.
"Which player scares you the most?"
Luca could only chuckle softly this time. He knew that if he answered this question wrong again, he might be finished.
"It's…you."
Luca wasn't actually afraid of anyone, but Laria, or rather Lys, who was currently a former player, was the one he feared most.
A green light flashed through him, confirming his suspicions.
"Next"
"If you had to save only one player, who would you save?"
Me saving someone?
Luca was a selfish and weak person; he could barely take care of himself, so how could he possibly save anyone else?
"There's no one, or rather, I can't save anyone."
A green light flashed through him, confirming his statement.
Laria remained silent as she continued flipping through the pages of the file, and in her silence, she gazed at Luca, this time stretching her neck down to the floor and staring intently at him.
Seeing Laria's face, Luca wanted to scream; his eyes welled up with tears. He was so scared that if he hadn't been glued to his chair, he would have collapsed to his knees.
Seeing this, Laria's mouth widened into a big smile.
"You... will get a new set of questions."
Luca just wanted to curse; she was deliberately making him stay here longer while he wanted to get out as quickly as possible.
"When was the last time you left this room?"
Luca, with his eyes closed, was a little calmer now, but the feeling of that terrifying face staring at him was enough to make him tremble again.
At that moment, a hand gently gripped Luca's shoulder, trying to get him to focus on Laria's question. Luca began to concentrate, but… he hadn't left this room before, had he? What exactly was this question implying?
"I never left."
[Floor 2: Lie detection mechanism is activating.]
[Player is about to receive a penalty.]
Luca was bewildered, unable to understand how he hadn't left. What was going on?
"I did leave."
Luca quickly corrected himself before being electrocuted again.
A green light flashed through him, confirming it.
But it still electrocuted him, though this time more gently, for only a few seconds. Luca gasped for breath.
What was going on? This was his first time here!
"If you didn't exist, would you be happy?"
Everything became unusually silent; even Luca had to think deeply. He truly didn't know why he even existed anymore…
He remembered almost nothing, though he did recall some information from his lost memories, things like searching for a needle in a haystack… but the word 'home' was always on his mind… home?
What exactly was home? What was the definition of home… For him, this word was perhaps special…
"Wait, give me a moment."
Laria just looked at Luca, who had his eyes closed, without saying anything. These requests weren't part of an NPC's programming.
Luca swallowed hard, trying to calm himself. His heart was pounding so fast his ears were ringing.
"If you didn't exist, would you be happy?"
"Yes and no, I still have a goal… home is where I must return… if I find that it doesn't exist, I'll still be happy…"
Luca trembled slightly as he answered. Everything he saw was just black, but he could feel the cold hand touching him, the terrifying gazes—though he couldn't see, Luca could sense it all.
A greenlight ran through him, confirming his answer.
"If love hurts you, will you keep the flower or break off the thorn?"
Luca was a little surprised; finally, he had a question about the truth of this mansion. For some reason, hearing this question made him think of blood and suffering.
This was a terrible question; how could he possibly know the answer?!
Choosing either option is equally bad; it's just a matter of which one suffers the most. Luca sighed; nothing is ever easy.
"I don't choose."
[Floor 2: Lie detection mechanism is activating.]
[Player is about to receive a penalty.]
A weak but persistent electric current ran down his spine, causing his entire body to convulse uncontrollably. Luca felt his teeth clench together until they bled.
This time, the electric current was twice as strong as before, perhaps because the change in the set of questions had both given him more opportunities and plunged him into an inescapable quagmire.
Luca, at that moment, slightly opened his eyes, and the sight he saw was unbelievable… he probably wished he had never opened his eyes at that very moment.
Laria's flesh was torn apart; she no longer looked human at all, her appearance even more horrifying than the typical anatomical models found in hospitals.
Laria moved by dragging her body, each step a horrifying, wet sound. Her form constantly changed, sometimes resembling a human, sometimes a grotesque mass of flesh with superfluous limbs.
She circled Luca as if looking at a strange entity.
Luca was no longer able to think; only fear remained. Perhaps because he had run out of questions and was too terrified, he fell to the floor, his wrist aching, but that pain was insignificant compared to the thing crawling toward him.
Luca struggled to get up and run, resorting to his old tactic of biting his lip to make the pain distract him, but it didn't work much!
Luckily, the arm Luxie had left behind came into play; it transformed into a large pair of scissors, the hole through his arm pulling him away from that thing that looked like a lump of flesh.
The monster's sounds behind him were irregular, like an erratic heartbeat. Each time he turned his head, its form changed, as if it hadn't decided what it should be, perhaps even forgetting whether it should be in the form of Laria or Lys.
The corridor opened before him, long and narrow, the lights flickering erratically. Luca ran, relying on the scissors that pulled him along, so he could still run even though… with all his remaining strength, his lungs burning, his feet slipping on the wet floor.
No more questions arose, but Luca was answering them by running, by not turning back to see what that thing really was; one slip of the foot and he would be gone.
When the gap appeared before him, he didn't think twice and rushed in immediately. Only when he fell out, crashing hard onto the cold ground, did he realise that the greatest punishment wasn't the pain, but the fact that he would never know if he had chosen differently, whether the monster would have existed or not. If it hadn't existed, he wouldn't have ended up like this.
Luca's entire body slammed hard against the surface, the impact causing all the air in his lungs to be expelled with a choked "ugh" in his throat. That's what happened.
The pain was truly excruciating.
It wasn't the vague pain of irritated nerves, but the pain of bones, flesh, and joints being stretched beyond their limit. He lay curled up on the floor, his limbs trembling, his eyes wide open but unable to see clearly.
The light here was dimmer, a pale yellow like the old lights in an underground parking lot. The ceiling was higher, but it made the space feel eerily empty.
The smell of dampness and rusty metal mingled, assaulting his nostrils, a stark contrast to the previous room.
He took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. The feeling of being crushed in his lungs still lingered, as if the pressure from the first question hadn't gone away.
Each breath brought a sharp pang to his chest, reminding him that the punishment and the chain of events were far from over, even though he had escaped.
With his remaining strength, Luca propped himself up. His wrist was still bleeding, the metal cut now bruised and edged with dark red. When he moved his fingers, a tingling sensation spread through his arm, as if a nerve had been pulled out of place.
"It's okay…it's okay…it'll be alright, I probably won't need to buy medicine."
Luca muttered to himself, as if to reassure himself while his wallet was nearly empty, though he didn't believe it himself, and even if he did, he wouldn't buy the medicine.
He looked around; it was another hallway. To be honest, he was starting to get obsessed with hallways. Metal doors lined both sides, all closed, with no numbers or nameplates. At the end of the hallway, a light bulb flickered slowly.
Luca stood up, his legs trembling, but after two steps, his knees gave way, and he nearly fell. His head was still spinning. Every time Luca tried to concentrate, another thought would interrupt him, like how much the pain had hurt…
"Shut up, for heaven's sake! How can I think like this? It's really not a good idea to go alone!"
The scissors were still there, only they had shrunk into arms and rested on Luca's shoulder, but now only four of the five fingers remained.
They existed like cracks in his thoughts. Every time Luca tried to think of something else, they would resurface, steering his thoughts back to the very spot of pain.
A click sounded behind it, not loud, but clear enough for him to hear it distinctly.
Luca froze, his heart pounding so fast it made him dizzy. He didn't dare turn around. For a few seconds, he just stood there, listening, his body tense like a taut string.
Click.
This time it was closer. He spun around, only to find the hallway empty except for a door behind him, a door Luca was certain hadn't existed just moments before. It was slightly ajar. From inside, a white light shone out, accompanied by a familiar, unsettling feeling: the feeling of being stared at.
"I'm not sure if I should go back."
The pressure in his head increased instantly, like a warning. Luca realised something terrifying: Laria, or rather, the monster, didn't need to be in front of him to continue punishing or questioning him.
The question had been unconsciously planted within Luca himself, and Luca was unconsciously answering it, whether he wanted to or not.
The door behind him creaked open a little more, and a voice emerged. It wasn't Laria's voice, nor the butler's, but his own, albeit a more weary, deeper version, as if he'd said these words countless times before.
But honestly, when was Luca ever not tired?
"You haven't finished answering."
"No! I'm out!"
Luca shook his head repeatedly. He didn't really care, but having a voice constantly echoing in his head was becoming a nuisance.
The voice wasn't loud; it spoke in a monotonous tone, like repeating an obvious truth or reading from a book, a pre-written script.
"You answered the first question with fear, you answered the second with avoidance. Do you think running away will solve everything? If so, what was the point of me asking?"
His head ached, fragmented images flooded back, moments of choice and refusal, of silence instead of decision. Roses, thorns, and blood.
Luca almost wanted to scream, but he didn't. He just turned and ran. At this point, running away was the best option, even if it meant being ridiculed. After all, Luca knew he was a coward.
He ran down the corridor, past nameless and insignificant doors. Some doors began to shake as he ran past, as if something inside had heard his footsteps and responded. Knocking, scratching, indistinct whispers.
The pressure built up into nausea.
Luca finally gave up and collapsed, dry-heaving, but nothing came out except saliva and a little blood remaining from the kick earlier.
Behind him, the familiar scraping sound echoed; without even looking, he knew that monstrous thing hadn't disappeared yet.
The monster no longer had the clear form it once did, but its presence was three times more pronounced than before. Without a complete body, it existed as a distorted region of space, where light was warped, and the air grew heavier and heavier.
With every step he took, the pressure in his head increased, as if trying to restrain him, but compared to the bastard he encountered when he first entered this world, this was nothing! In short, the only thing he felt now was exhaustion.
So tired he wanted to stop, to sit down. To answer, whatever the answer, that would be the real punishment. Laria, or this damned game, didn't need to kill Luca; it just needed to make him want to stop thinking and give up.
A door at the end of the hallway swung open, letting out a cold, bright light. Luca didn't know what was behind it, but he knew for sure that if he turned back now, he wouldn't be able to run anymore.
Luca mustered all his remaining strength and lunged through the door. The door slammed shut behind him with a heavy crash.
Silence enveloped the space. Luca collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath, his whole body trembling; it was like when he had to flee from Luxie, but less intense, perhaps because he had overcome his fear… about 10%.
There was no hallway here, just a small, empty room with a large mirror hanging on the wall. In the mirror, he saw himself pale, with dark circles under his eyes, his wrists covered in wounds, in short, exactly like Laria.
But behind the reflection… something was off from him; a blurry figure stood behind Luca in the mirror. Its shape was unclear, just a human-like shadow… but it was standing, and very close, as if he could touch it if he turned around.
Luca wasn't stupid, so he didn't turn. Luca stared straight into the mirror and whispered, his voice almost as if he could give up with just a little more prompting.
"I'm not answering anymore…"
The reflection in the mirror trembled; it didn't disappear, but it didn't move forward or do anything as Luca imagined.
Somewhere deep inside Luca's head, a small clicking sound echoed, almost a disconnect from the events, a temporary pause. The pressure lessened slightly, just enough for Luca to realise he could escape, but the question would remain, and next time it might ask… in a different, even more difficult form.
However, this was also a good opportunity for Luca to truly rest. He hadn't expected the second floor to be so tense, perhaps because he was alone? In general, he had to thank this arm, which now only had four fingers.
Without it, he wouldn't have been able to run this far.
It could be an interesting and useful tool for someone who currently lacks any self-defence skills or weapons, and has to travel with strangers, with life and death hanging by a thread…
Anyway, Luca was about to check his two tools: an album containing only two photos he had collected, and the arm. He understood how to use the arm, but not the album. After looking at them for a while, he stopped, noticing some interesting details.
Time in this room didn't flow normally; there was no clock, no background sound, not even the wind, only his own breathing, at first rapid, then slowing, but never truly even.
The mirror remained. The shadow behind him in the mirror didn't move closer, but it didn't disappear either. It stood still like an indelible stain, existing only to remind him that what he had just escaped from wasn't over.
Luca closed his eyes immediately. The question returned, not in words, but this time through feeling, or telepathy. It was the feeling of someone touching an old wound; no question, no explanation needed, just the touch was enough to feel the pain.
Luca clenched his fists, his fingernails digging into his palms until they bled, trying to stay conscious.
"If you didn't exist then…"
Luca opened his eyes much calmer this time and noticed that the voice wasn't coming from the mirror; it was coming from inside his head as usual, though the opposite was true.
In short, all his thoughts were being crammed into it like a foreign object forced into his brain, trying to shake Luca once more.
"Still the same question? Are you out of questions?"
Luca was so exhausted that his fear was almost overwhelmed by fatigue; or rather, the things he saw now were only slightly frightening, so he could hide them.
The reflection in the mirror trembled slightly, existing as if standing still, making no other movement.
Luca stood up, his knees still shaking. Luca walked towards the mirror, standing before it slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal, closing the distance, unsure if it could still bite.
The distance between him and the mirror was only a hand's width when Luca raised his hand. The hand in the mirror also rose, but with a slight delay, too subtle for others to notice, yet Luca saw it clearly. Why? Perhaps Luca had looked at this reflection long enough to realise it.
The reflection was no longer perfectly synchronised with him.
"So you're in here."