"You guys run! I'll hold them off here!" General Blue shouted to the fleeing group, then charged resolutely toward the security guard with a determined gaze.
"What a warrior!"
(That guy should be able to hold out for at least half a minute, right?)
Seeing General Blue do the exact opposite—rushing back to fight the guard head-on—they felt genuine admiration.
So in their hearts they sighed:
"He clearly could have run—why insist on charging back?"
But thinking about how he bought them even a little extra time, it was pretty good.
Crash!!
The sound of a glass bottle shattering. While running, the group glanced back and saw General Blue's lantern get smashed to the ground by the guard.
The light went out!
General Blue's figure was gradually swallowed by the darkness. A far more terrifying aura erupted around the guard.
Several shadowy figures lunged forward and tore General Blue apart in an instant, burying him in the darkness.
The whole process took less than half a second.
Xiao Chen helplessly slapped a hand to his face: "No way—he couldn't even last a second!"
(So weak. What a pointless sacrifice.)
"Holy crap, what the hell were those things? Way too terrifying!"
Saiki kept running while recalling what he'd just seen.
(If I didn't see wrong, those figures just now were the nurses we saw during the day... and the director!)
(But they also felt a little different.)
Bang!
The sound of a door slamming shut.
Saiki returned to his room as if nothing had happened, sat on the headboard, and placed the candle on the stool beside the bed.
Thud thud thud...
"Haa~ haa~"
Two sets of ragged footsteps and heavy breathing came from the corridor outside.
(Oh, they made it back too. Speaking of which, I remember their candles had already burned halfway!)
Saiki looked at his own candle—which had only burned about a third—and wiped his hand over it. It instantly restored to full height.
System: Saiki...
[If you have something to say, spit it out.]
"You're not going out tonight? It's only just past midnight ( ˙-˙ )"
[That's enough for today. I just want to lie in bed and think about everything that happened tonight. Sleep first.]
"Wow, that's rare. I thought you'd want to go pin down that guard, grab every ghost inside and outside, and interrogate them all."
Saiki lay on the bed and rubbed his nose.
[I did have that plan. Maybe in a couple days!]
"No way—you're actually serious (≖╻≖; )"
[Yeah! Let those ghosts strut around for a few more days. This is my last act of kindness.]
"(σ｀・д･)σ Hey..."
"..."
...
[Yare yare daze.]
Saiki stepped out his door and saw Lin Fan and Xiao Chen approaching slowly, both with faint dark circles under their eyes.
"Saiki, morning."
[You two look pretty energetic.]
"Last night felt like a complete waste..."
"Not entirely. At least we got to see the morgue on B1."
"But there's still B2. And when we got there—did you notice the morgue only had an entrance? No exit at all."
"How do you even get down to B2? What exactly is down there? Saiki, what do you think?"
[Well...]
"I think we shouldn't go down there. Too dangerous." General Blue walked out with even bigger dark circles.
[Oh, you're actually still alive!]
General Blue sighed, his expression full of helplessness and regret: "But I used up my revival card."
[There's such a thing?!]
"Of course there is!"
Lin Fan pulled a card from his pocket. The card had a blue vest-armor design on the back: "This is the revival card—Sage's Protection."
(Yeah, yeah, they didn't even bother changing the name, huh?)
"Sigh~ The stuff last night was way too scary. Had to burn my secret life-saver."
Xiao Chen: "It's your own fault for being dumb."
Lin Fan: "Exactly. Charging head-on against the enemy—what, you got brain damage?"
[Harsh, but it kinda makes sense.]
"No... you guys are seriously saying this about me?"
General Blue roared: "I only did it to buy you guys time! That's why!"
[You only bought like one second. Didn't really help much.]
"Yeah, you clearly could have escaped—why act like some noble self-sacrificing hero?"
[Performance art, probably.]
"Plus that guard's speed was nothing special. We still don't get why you suddenly lost your mind and went back to fight him head-on. If you'd just kept running, you might have made it."
"You... you guys..." General Blue's face flushed red as he pointed at the three who were tag-teaming him.
His body unconsciously trembled with rage, like someone having an epileptic fit.
Truth be told, even he didn't know why he'd turned around to fight when he clearly could have kept running last night.
"Alright, Saiki—let's grab breakfast first and talk about tonight's plan."
Lin Fan slung an arm around Xiao Chen's shoulder and waved at Saiki.
[I'm not eating. You guys enjoy. As for tonight—I already have a plan.]
With that, Saiki walked off in another direction.
The remaining three looked puzzled but didn't ask more. They headed downstairs for breakfast.
Sunset.
Night fell once again.
Knock knock knock knock.
Lin Fan knocked on Saiki's door.
Creak.
The door opened. Saiki stepped out holding his candle.
[Yeah, let's go.]
"Wait—before we head out, aren't you gonna tell us where we're going? After we split up this afternoon, you disappeared again."
[Just had something to handle.]
Saiki said as he walked.
[We're going to the 2nd floor now. When we ran up last night, I took a quick look at the differences from daytime. A lot more doors appeared. One of them had a red doorplate just like the one on the 1st floor. Let's check that one.]
They reached the 2nd floor.
Yao Yao was already waiting at the stairwell. After regrouping, they arrived at the very last door on the 2nd floor.
It was labeled "Storage Room"—but in that same blood-red color, like fresh blood. The letters even seemed to slowly drip, as if freshly written.
Lin Fan tried the knob and twisted: "Won't open..."
"Let me see." Xiao Chen shoved Lin Fan aside, raised his axe, and swung at the door.
Sparks flew instantly on impact.
"Made in China!!"
(Hey! Advertising even at a time like this?)
Xiao Chen pulled back his axe: "No good. Way harder than expected."
General Blue thought about trying his gun, but remembered the noise would attract unwanted trouble...
"There's a note!" Yao Yao pointed at the bottom of the door.
They looked down. Through the thin gap under the door, a skeletal hand suddenly reached out holding a slip of paper—then quickly retracted.
"..."
They picked up the note. It read: To open the storage room door, you must find the key. The key is on the conscious security guard and the director.
"Hey hey hey! That's asking way too much. We have to get it while the guard's conscious—and who knows where the director even is."
(Maybe he's in a corner watching us right now.)
"Honestly, I don't want to see the director."
"Me neither. Hey, Saiki..." Lin Fan started to suggest checking somewhere else—when he saw Saiki standing at the door, turning the knob.
Lin Fan walked over, about to say they should try other methods—
Click!
Saiki simply tore the door off its hinges.
"Ah le? (꒪⌓꒪ )"
Saiki casually set the door down as if he'd done something completely normal, then turned back to the others.
[Come on, don't just stand there.]
"No way, Saiki you..."
[No more questions. Let's go!]
"You're not even pretending anymore, huh?"
Saiki went in first with his candle. The others followed, all thinking the same thing at once: [Why did we even bother running last night?!]
Especially General Blue. Seeing Saiki's raw strength, he couldn't help wondering if Saiki could have soloed that security guard yesterday.
But instead he'd run away, gotten him killed once, and now he even suspected Saiki had done it on purpose.
In fact, Saiki had done it on purpose.
Otherwise how else could he clearly see which ghosts had attacked last night?
Once inside, they found still more doors—four in total.
General Blue: "What now? Split up?"
The others gave General Blue a look, then turned to Saiki in unison for his opinion.
"I think even though it's a bit risky, we should still go one door at a time together, right Saiki..."
Truthfully, without Saiki, Lin Fan and Xiao Chen might have suggested splitting up.
They were confident they wouldn't run into trouble and could move more freely alone—but with Saiki around, things felt way easier, so...
Saiki nodded.
[Fine then. We'll split up. I'll go alone. I pick the first door.]
"See, I told you..." Lin Fan started laughing, but stopped halfway and gave Saiki a strange look.
"No wait—you weren't like this before!"
[Before was before. And I think even if you go separately, you'll be fine. It'll be faster this way.]
[So that's it. Meet back at the entrance later. Bye.]
With that, Saiki glanced at the stunned Yao Yao, stepped forward, turned the knob of the first door, and walked inside—leaving the rest standing outside in a daze.
"What now?"
"What else can we do? Honestly, I think splitting up is fine too."
Lin Fan pinched his chin and looked at the three identical remaining doors: "Then one door each. As for Yao Yao..."
"Just stay with me! I'll protect you properly, Yao Yao!"
General Blue puffed out his chest and promised solemnly.
Yao Yao blinked blankly and nodded: "Mm, okay."
"You're just thinking your bad luck will get covered by Yao Yao's fortune, right? Better come with me instead."
Lin Fan stepped forward, patted Yao Yao's shoulder, and gave his best friendly big-brother smile: "Yao Yao, you've seen me and your Saiki-ge are kinda old friends, right? Leave it to me—stick with me, it'll be better."
(That's from a past life? I don't remember that.)
General Blue: "Hey, you can't steal my corner like that!"
Yao Yao looked troubled: "I..."
"Don't pressure the little girl!"
Xiao Chen quietly stepped up beside Yao Yao, cleared his throat, and whispered: "Actually, I'm really strong. How about you..."
"You sneaky thick-browed Xiao Chen—what're you trying to pull!"
...
System: "Hey Saiki, you left your little teammate outside—I bet they're fighting over Yao Yao right now. That luck ability should help a ton. Why didn't you bring her along?"
Saiki kept walking until he suddenly stopped at a river that had appeared out of nowhere.
[What nonsense are you talking? That Yao Yao—her ability isn't luck at all.]
Saiki ignored the system's meaningful smile. He stepped onto the water's surface and walked across it as if it were solid ground.
[She's... lying.]