Gao Hai didn't speak for too long.
Regarding the first exploration that only he remembered, he only briefly mentioned a few things: Maki investigating with him, the two of them getting trapped in a room on the third floor, and finally, the girl being killed by the frozen corpse.
Gao Hai ultimately didn't mention her taking a bullet for him, but what he had already said was enough to cause a significant change in Maki's expression.
"Dragged into a room together by a strange, dark hand... that's truly hard to imagine. And, in the end, I was killed by the corpse from my own room? That thing frozen in the fridge actually has that kind of power..."
The girl took a deep breath. Faced with the story Gao Hai had told, she was momentarily unsure how she should react.
After all, according to him, he had personally witnessed her death. While it sounded unbelievable, Maki's entire worldview had been completely upended by now, so she didn't doubt that Gao Hai was telling the truth.
Still, it sounded so hopeless. Everyone dead, grandauntie turning into a monster that wouldn't die even after being shot through the head, and then she herself dying before him. What was it like for him, experiencing all that, to persevere alone until he found the wall clock and completed the reset?
"Gao Hai... Um, if you don't mind, I'll call you Hai-kun. Is that okay?"
After thinking for a moment with her head down, Maki looked up at Gao Hai and spoke in a soft tone.
"Of course, that's fine. Just don't call me Tall-nut or something, Miss Shijo."
Gao Hai, unconcerned, nodded lightly, only for her to reach out and pat his hand again.
"You can just call me Maki."
The girl's brownish-purple eyes seemed to sparkle at that moment.
"Since we were once comrades who faced life and death together, a more intimate way of addressing each other is fine. Just call me Maki, Hai-kun."
A grin spread across her lips, revealing slightly sharp canine teeth as she smiled, full of confidence.
Maki stood up, reached out to pat Gao Hai's shoulder lightly, then turned to look toward the living room entrance, where Kaguya Shinomiya was opening the door and walking in.
"It's time to prepare for the second exploration."
Kaguya Shinomiya's tone was flat, as if she had just arrived and hadn't been waiting outside the door for a moment, eavesdropping on their conversation before coming in.
Of course, Kaguya wasn't eavesdropping for any trivial reason. After getting the second set of rules the day before and speculating on many things, she couldn't help but wonder about Gao Hai's true identity. Connecting it to the red and white stains on his body, she began to consider some unsettling possibilities, like Gao Hai actually being a dead person disguised as someone living. That was why she wanted to secretly observe Gao Hai's normal behavior a bit more.
However, based on her observations so far, her ideas were likely unfounded, so there was no need to worry too much.
"Ah, perfect timing, Miss Shinomiya. There's something I think is best said here. I've discovered that I seem to play a special role in this apartment. Hmm, it might sound strange, but I think... I might actually be the corpse of room 204 in terms of my identity."
The words that Gao Hai then spoke with a straight face nearly made the calm expression on Kaguya's face crack on the spot.
A few minutes later, in front of the hole in the kitchen of 206, Gao Hai jumped down first, landing in the standing water below.
His shoes, which had just barely dried, were soaked once again. Gao Hai had considered going into the water barefoot, but given the complex indoor environment, there was no telling if a nail might be hidden somewhere beneath the surface, so he ultimately decided to keep his shoes on.
Still, the feeling of water seeping into one's shoes was truly uncomfortable.
"Be extra careful."
Maki, standing guard by the hole, said seriously. On the other side, Kaguya was doing a final check of the rope tied around Gao Hai's waist—a makeshift line fashioned from bedsheets and quilt covers from various rooms, secured in the second-floor kitchen.
Unlike yesterday, for today's exploration, only Gao Hai would go down. Maki and Kaguya would stand guard at the hole in the second-floor and the kitchen door. Sun Dajun and Green would remain in the living room; the former was moving small wooden cabinets from other rooms, trying to saw them apart and reassemble them into a simple ladder, while the latter was responsible for turning the clock if necessary, preparing for the worst-case scenario.
The decision to have only one person explore—and to choose Gao Hai, who had the strongest resistance to all sorts of mental corruption and pollution—was mainly because after studying the second set of rules yesterday, Kaguya, Gao Hai, and Maki all agreed that sending multiple people down could lead to a total party wipe if even one person ran into trouble in that dreadful environment. Furthermore, considering the rule that forbids light, forcing them to operate in darkness, anyone besides Gao Hai, Kaguya, and Maki would be completely helpless. Thus, the decision was made for Gao Hai to go alone.
"Thirty minutes. We'll time it up here. After thirty minutes, we'll tug the rope once. You tug back once in response. Then we'll wait ten minutes. If you don't return within those ten minutes, or if you don't respond after we tug the rope, we will immediately rewind time."
"If the first exploration is completed successfully, I'll go down for the second, and Maki will go for the third. We'll operate in forty-minute cycles to ensure everyone has ample energy for exploration and investigation. Therefore, as the first explorer, your responsibility is the greatest of all. You absolutely must not push yourself too hard."
Kaguya instructed Gao Hai earnestly. Unlike Maki, she was colder but more rational, and she had now fully dedicated her cognitive abilities to the exploration at hand, causing her attitude toward Gao Hai to shift slightly.
However, perhaps this subtle change was also influenced by Maki's trust in Gao Hai, making her somewhat more willing to pay attention to him. After all, Kaguya Shinomiya was the product of a twisted, hierarchical corporate upbringing; the changes in her personality and her thoughts were still difficult to fathom.
"Well then, I'm off."
Gao Hai gave Maki one last peace sign, then stepped forward and began to move.
He opened the kitchen door and stepped into the gloomy living room.
Splish-splash—
As he walked, the cold water churned around him.
The dark living room was unchanged from yesterday, but this time, because Gao Hai needed to explore more carefully, he approached the altar table in the middle of the room to try and investigate what was being worshiped on it.
The table itself was covered in stains and signs of decay, and the statue enshrined on it was also severely corroded.
Even so, Gao Hai could still faintly make out that it seemed to be a statue of a kind-faced woman holding a child.
The Child-giving Guanyin?
Gao Hai himself was not a believer in gods or buddhas and didn't know much about such things. But he recognized some features of divine statues, such as the classic large, broad ears of this sculpture. The platform beneath the statue looked something like a lotus throne, and combined with the image of it holding a child, it immediately made Gao Hai think of the worship of the Child-giving Guanyin.
Was this statue enshrined in the home to pray for a child? Then again, is it appropriate to keep a deity like the Child-giving Guanyin at home? Hmm, maybe it's time to brush up on some folklore?
His mind wandering, Gao Hai didn't touch the decaying statue. Instead, he turned and walked toward the living room door.
Once again, he noticed a figure with its head hung low, sitting on the sofa not far from him.
Remembering what was mentioned in the rules, he didn't give it a second thought, simply pretending not to see it as he opened the living room door and stepped into the darkness ahead.
From this point on, the light filtering in from the kitchen reached its limit.
He would have to move in absolute darkness, advancing in an environment where he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
Huuuh...
Gao Hai could feel his breathing becoming heavier.
It's fine, it's fine.
Instead of worrying about what I might encounter in the dark, I should just push forward. It's just a little dark, what's there to be afraid of? Dammit, why does that feel like I'm jinxing myself? This feeling sucks.
Splish-splash—
Gao Hai continued forward, stepping into the darkness of the hallway.
Then, he heard a voice from behind him.
From the room he had just left, a man's voice suddenly spoke.
"Raise sons, not daughters, for raising daughters leads to suffering. I've suffered once already, I can't suffer again. Bodhisattva, you must bless me with a boy, you can't let my family line end!"
The man's voice was tinged with a certain wistfulness.
At the same time, it seemed he could hear the sound of a small child wailing and a woman sobbing softly in the room.
Splish-splash—
Gao Hai just pretended he couldn't hear the voices, pressing a hand against the wall to guide himself forward.
Splish-splash—
The sound of his legs wading through the water echoed in the darkness, seeming to muffle the sounds from the room ever so slightly.
Splish-splash—splish-splash—
But then, Gao Hai heard another sound from behind.
Following the sound of his own wading, another person's footsteps were sloshing through the water.
Splish-splash—splish-splash—
Someone had come out of the living room and was following silently behind him.
Splish-splash—splish-splash—
In the pitch-black hallway, two figures proceeded in silence, one behind the other, the only sound being two sets of footsteps sloshing through the water in alternation.
Splish-splash—splish-splash—
Gao Hai, walking in front, could hear the sound slowly approaching, closing the distance between them bit by bit.
Ten steps, nine steps...
Gao Hai could even feel the sensation of the current from behind him hitting the back of his calves and breaking.
Splish-splash—
The wall his fingers touched was damp, like the trace of moss.
The footsteps behind him drew closer again, so close that Gao Hai felt the person was just a single step away.
Splish-splash—
The next sound of splashing water that rang out was only his own.
As if it were just an illusion, as if the person following behind him didn't exist.
Huuuh...
Until Gao Hai felt the faint puff of breath on the back of his neck.
________________________________________
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