At the entrance of the rental apartment. Seeing that everything inside was normal, Mo Xin pushed the door open and entered. Yunli sat naturally in a chair, holding a candied hawthorn, looking leisurely and content.
After Mo Xin closed the door, she suddenly felt the need to use the restroom.
"Yunli, I'm going to the restroom for a bit."
"Oh, just remember to be quick." Yunli responded nonchalantly, her gaze immediately locking back onto the delicious treat in front of her. However, she still glanced at the other girl from the corner of her eye from time to time to ensure no accidents occurred.
Mo Xin didn't dawdle either, turning to enter the restroom. Just as everything seemed perfectly safe...
"This is...?" Yunli's calm expression vanished as her pupils suddenly constricted. She sprang from her chair and rushed toward the restroom door with hurried steps.
"Mo Xin, come out quickly! Something's happened!" Yunli's tone was somewhat anxious.
She had originally thought those Ability Users hiding in the shadows were just some heinous thugs whose goal was simply to kill her or the people in this residential area. But just a moment ago, the surrounding environment abruptly underwent a certain change. This change was like a bolt from the blue, instantly shattering the original peace.
This seemed to imply the opposition had other schemes; following this logic, the existence of this space might not be what it appeared on the surface, but rather a cover to hide an unknown secret. This made Yunli feel a faint sense of worry. She wasn't afraid for herself, but she had to ensure Mo Xin's safety first.
"Mo Xin! Mo Xin!"
However, after calling out several times, Yunli was shocked to discover the problem. "No, after she entered the restroom, no sound seems to have come from inside at all."
Thinking this, Yunli didn't care about much else, raising her jade-like foot and kicking the door open.
"Mo—"
But as soon as Yunli entered, she was completely dumbfounded. "Isn't this the first-floor hallway?"
The scene on the other side of the door was indeed the first-floor doorway, but wasn't the rental apartment they were in on the fourth floor? More importantly, Yunli discovered that the originally clear and bright sky had been violently torn open as if by an invisible giant hand, instantly plunging into darkness, as if the entire world was shrouded under a heavy shadow.
"What on earth is going on?" Yunli constantly looked around, her gaze sweeping through every corner like a hawk. Soon, her sight locked onto a spot—on the roof of the building opposite where she stood, an eerie green light flickered like ghost fire, appearing exceptionally piercing in the darkness. Thick black mist, driven by some kind of power, continuously surged from it, making one hold their breath in concentration.
Yunli focused her eyes, staring dead at that spot. 'There's definitely something there!' she muttered to herself. But the key issue now was that Mo Xin's whereabouts were unknown.
'I blame myself for being too complacent. I was meticulous enough back when I was Acheron, yet now I'm so careless that I failed to anticipate this.' Only now did Yunli suddenly realize the difference between herself and Acheron. However, she failed to notice that her own temperament had already become no different from a child's.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Yunli stopped complaining, focusing instead on solving the problem at hand.
Bang!
Using the same method, her feet easily kicked open several doors. Yunli found that the scenes behind the doors were incredibly varied. Some led directly to bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, or bathrooms, and some even led straight to the second-floor hallway. There even seemed to be a door connecting to another door on the first floor; when Yunli tried to step through, she found herself coming out of a doorway right beside her.
This was no longer a matter of interior renovation. The current situation was just like opening a blind box; there was no telling where the door would lead.
"It seems like if I close a door and then open it again, the situation inside changes once more... I can't rely on memory to find her."
After several successive attempts, Yunli gave up on this meaningless search. She began to ponder what to do. At that moment, Yunli's gaze unconsciously drifted toward the rooftop opposite her. Her stagnant thoughts quickly expanded, and she made a decision in her heart.
'As things stand, I can only strike directly at the heart of the matter!'
"Old Mettle!" Yunli raised her hand to summon Old Mettle, easily shouldering the massive heavy sword on her back. Simultaneously, flames faintly erupted around her body. The flames were like fire dragons coiling around her, emitting a powerful aura. Fire ignited in her golden pupils as her sharp gaze shot like an electric bolt toward the "crime scene."
She growled low, "Let's go, Old Mettle!"
'In a sense, I have no more worries now, so I might as well settle this quickly!' Since she couldn't find the person she needed to protect, she would just insta-kill the final boss before anything happened to her!
Yunli broke into a run, sprinting like an arrow released from a bow. In the silent night, a petite figure appeared exceptionally conspicuous in the pitch-black darkness. Upon reaching the bottom of the building, she bent her knees slightly and her small white feet slammed against the ground. She leaped up like a spring, targeting the roof...
"Phew~~ that's much better!" Mo Xin felt much more comfortable now. "But why did it feel a bit chilly just now?"
Mo Xin shook her head, not taking the feeling seriously. She then opened the restroom door.
Mo Xin: (●—●)
Then she froze right where she was.
'Isn't this... the hallway?'
The toilet door slowly opened, and outside was an unfamiliar, pitch-black hallway, as if leading to another unknown world, striking fear into one's heart.
Mo Xin tentatively poked her head out, looked left and right, then slowly retreated back into the restroom and calmly closed the door. Then, her whole body leaned stiffly against the door, cold sweat pouring down her back, as if she could hear her own heartbeat echoing in her ears.
'Oh my god, wasn't it broad daylight just now? Also, I couldn't have transmigrated, right! Is this some kind of Midnight Horror hallway world?'
Mo Xin gently patted her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. After taking a few deep breaths, she gripped the doorknob again.
'I can't just transmigrate just because I went to the toilet, otherwise it'd be too embarrassing, right? Right! It must be that my way of opening it just now was wrong! It must be that!'
As the saying goes, the best way to overcome fear is to face it. Mo Xin repeatedly encouraged herself, her expression brightening, and then she slowly pushed the door open again. She tentatively opened a crack and peeked out with one eye. This time, after opening the door, she found it was indeed her familiar rental apartment, and she felt much more at ease.
"Scared me to death. It really was just the wrong way of opening the door. Next time I must remember to step out with my left foot first."
After a bout of nonsense, Mo Xin went to the living room only to find that Yunli was nowhere to be seen.
"Yunli? Yunli, are you still there?"
This caused Mo Xin's newly calmed expression to freeze. She tentatively asked twice, but no one responded.
'Could Yunli have been harmed!'
This terrifying thought quickly surfaced in Mo Xin's mind, but she immediately dismissed it. 'As an Ability User, regardless of her strength, Yunli should not have just vanished without a sound.'
After clearing her thoughts, it could only be Yunli's own doing. Thinking of this, she pursed her lips and looked at the bag of candied hawthorn on the table.
"Could it be that from the very beginning, Yunli didn't want to involve me, so after sending me back to the room, she went to solve the problem alone while I was in the restroom!"
Thinking of this possibility, a warm current surged in Mo Xin's heart, her eyes moistening as tears faintly flickered.