"Eh, Mr. Takumi? You're all right? That's great—really."
Rex, who had not expected Takumi to appear so suddenly, froze for a moment, then abruptly turned his head. Upon seeing that it was Takumi, he let out a sigh of relief, smiled at him, and spoke.
"What are you touching that thing for?"
Takumi, however, did not exchange pleasantries. He simply looked at the other party and asked.
"If I pull down this switch, there's a chance to escape this place, right? Since that's the case, of course we have to try it, Mr. Takumi. There are still many players trapped here and unable to leave—we have to do our best to help them."
Rex seemed unable to understand why Takumi was stopping him, and he explained himself earnestly, with a hint of urgency, as he spoke.
"To leave this place, there's no need to activate this switch. Don't touch it. If you do, many players may get a chance to live—but another group of players will die by your hand."
Grabbing Rex's fingers, Takumi pried them open one by one.
With strength far exceeding the other party's, Takumi spoke in an unhurried tone as he calmly pulled Rex's hand away from the switch.
"Another group of players? Are they in that 'place' mentioned on the notice? Then what should we do to help those people? We can't just watch them suffer. Mr. Takumi, is there anything I can help with?"
Hearing this, Rex froze slightly, then quickly showed an expression of sudden realization.
Takumi could feel the intense goodwill coming genuinely from the other party.
No matter how many times he judged it using the power of blessing, the result was always the same—what existed within Rex was nothing but a mode of thinking embodying pure truth, goodness, and beauty, with no abnormalities whatsoever.
It was as if this person had no selfish or self-serving thoughts at all.
"I do indeed have a way to help players leave. In fact, it was only after seeing this document that I came up with this method."
Takumi maintained a calm expression and communicated with Rex without revealing anything unusual.
Kaguya had been detained in the research base's hidden area, and then that very night, an eerie being bearing Vernon's appearance directly launched an attack on Maki and Chika. Meanwhile, Takumi himself had stayed in this shelter for more than ten hours without seeing a single person, then went out to help Maki and Chika out of danger and returned—only to find, in less than ten minutes, that Rex had appeared, with his hand already on the circuit breaker. If Takumi had not been fast enough, this guy would definitely have pulled the breaker down already.
It really was an astonishing coincidence.
"I know what that terrifying thing mentioned in this message actually is, and I'm also confident that I can draw its attention. Since you really want to help, I can act as support and take those trapped players away from here."
As Takumi said this to Rex, he did not forget to maintain communication with Maki in his thoughts.
{Takumi: How is your situation right now?}
{Maki: We're about to enter the [Research Area]—mm, we're already inside. This place is much larger than the Analysis Area, and here… uh, I'm not really sure what these machines are used for, but Fujiwara-san says she might know what this place is for. She said this is a place for researching bullets?}
{Takumi: Researching bullets?}
{Maki: Fujiwara-san said it might be the kind of bullets you know. Wait—why does the way this sounds feel like some kind of secret between you and her?}
{Takumi: At a time like this you're still getting hung up on that? Ask her whether she's really sure this is a place for making bullets. Also, what's Shinomiya-san's situation?}
{Maki: I—I was just asking casually. Oba-san is doing fine, it's just that the person locked up next to her seems to be talking to themselves again. Oba-san is a bit worried about whether that thing is human or eerie, and whether it might do something to her, so she didn't sleep well the entire night.}
{Takumi: I see. All right, I roughly understand the situation. Be extra careful.}
The communication between the two sides did not take very long.
...
On the first floor of the research base, Maki and Chika had already stepped into the range of the Research Area.
Behind them, the heavy protective door slowly closed.
Maki's gaze had already swept over the copy of the Research Area rules assigned to each person.
They were, so far, the simplest set of rules she had ever seen.
[Research Area Rules and Notices]
[1. This area is under the charge of Professor Vernon. Professor Vernon is the overall person in charge of all affairs in this area. Research personnel must comply with Professor Vernon's instructions.]
[2. All research work is arranged by Professor Vernon. Research personnel must obey Professor Vernon's instructions.]
[3. When research personnel find it difficult to complete the work they are engaged in, they may submit a request to Professor Vernon.]
[4. Research personnel must properly complete the work assigned to them. Otherwise, Professor Vernon has the authority to punish them.]
[5. During working periods, Professor Vernon must not be disturbed. Research personnel are required to focus entirely on their own work throughout. Otherwise, they will receive severe warnings and punishment.]
[6. Unless authorization is obtained from Professor Vernon, research personnel are not permitted to enter the Cryogenic Area. Only holders of Level 4 or higher clearance may apply for entry into this area.]
It gave off a feeling as if "Professor Vernon is God" had been written straight into the rules, which was honestly quite uncomfortable.
And besides—was this thing really even a set of rules? It felt more like something hastily thrown together at the last minute just to get by. From start to finish, it was all basically an attitude of "ah yes, yes, the boss is right, the superior is right, yes, yes, yes"—an extremely perfunctory kind of feeling.
Although she really wanted to complain like that, on the surface Maki continued moving forward without saying a single word.
Within the Research Area were distributed even more complex instruments whose purposes Maki could not understand at all.
What she could see, however, were stones contained within transparent glass vessels.
Shattered chunks of stone that continuously seeped black-red liquid—stones that, even when completely sealed, still seemed to give off faint waves of a bloody stench.
The instruments here were analyzing these stones, observing them, and then classifying them. Some of the stone fragments would be discarded, while others would be transported away to some unknown location. However, more of the stones were processed directly here: they were ground into powder, then mixed with various other substances, producing all kinds of special reactions. In the end, these mixed powders were injected into smaller containers—containers shaped like bullets.
Maki did not know what was going on with these bullets, but Chika had already recognized what they were.
Black Blood Bullets.
During the second cycle, an item that had been used by Susan, originating from Rex himself.
A special type of bullet that, as long as it struck an eerie being, could temporarily force it to retreat. A rare consumable item circulated only within the United States, with very few ever making their way into the hands of players in other regions.
There was no mistake.
What was being manufactured in this Research Area was precisely this kind of bullet.
It was just that, compared to the bullets used by Susan, these bullets appeared structurally much cruder—almost as if… they were more like experimental prototypes.
[Welcome to the ladder of human progress. Here, we will lead our civilization toward greatness and glory.]
Standing at the center of the Research Area, Professor Vernon spread his arms. His gaze swept across the silent researchers throughout the area as he spoke in a cold voice.
After that, the man gestured for Maki and Chika to go to a certain section to carry out their work. He himself then turned around and walked toward another part of the Research Area—a place marked [Cryogenic Area]—and quickly entered it, disappearing from sight. It was unclear what he had gone inside to do.
Unlike the simple work in the Analysis Workroom, where things could be handled just by pressing buttons, every piece of equipment in the Research Area had extremely complex operating procedures and required researchers to continuously record various data changes. This was fundamentally not something non-professionals could cope with. Even though both Maki and Chika were top students who had received high-quality education, being thrown directly into a laboratory and faced with a completely unfamiliar field was obviously not something they could immediately master. And quite evidently, this caused Maki and Chika to become increasingly conspicuous among the group of silently working researchers.
These things… seem to be watching me and Fujiwara-san…
Standing in front of a large instrument control panel that she had no idea how to operate, Maki hesitated for quite a while and did not dare to press any buttons to try operating the machine. As a result, a researcher standing next to her—someone who seemed to be cooperating with Maki on the research—turned his head to look at her, apparently puzzled as to why Maki was standing still and not moving.
On the other side, Chika had clearly run into the same situation. However, this girl was a bit bolder, so she even tried operating the equipment. As expected, accompanied by a sharp alarm sound, the instrument panel in front of her immediately turned red.
This really was…
She secretly glanced toward the direction of the Cryogenic Area.
That professor was standing right in front of the gate to the Cryogenic Area, casting a distant gaze in their direction.
More and more researchers around them raised their heads, looking toward the extremely out-of-place Maki and Chika. Every single "person" wore the same expressionless face.
And then, in the very next moment, Maki and Chika vanished directly from where they stood.
Within a pitch-black cave, the two girls appeared abruptly. At this moment, the researchers' white lab coats were held in their hands. They then put on their Explorer clothing and quickly moved toward one side of the cave.
Passing through cave passages of varying widths, they arrived at the entrance to the Land of Regret—that is, the front gate of the fire station.
Maki and Chika stopped here, catching their breath for a moment. Then the door automatically opened. However, behind the transparent glass door was not the corridor it should have shown, but rather a somewhat dim room strewn with various electrical wires.
It was Takumi who had opened the door for the two of them from inside the room using the Blood Key.
"Yo."
Extending his hand, Takumi smiled and waved at Maki as he spoke.
"'Yo' my foot. We almost weren't able to get out of that place just now."
Walking into the room, Maki let out a long breath. It was obvious that after what had just happened, her mood was far from relaxed.
"Yo~ da~"
Following her into the room, Chika blinked and responded to Takumi's greeting with full energy.
Close the door and put away the blood key.
After that, the door no longer remained connected to the main entrance of the fire station, instead reverting to its original spatial structure.
Takumi's gaze lingered on the door, as though trying to see through the door itself and glimpse the scene outside.
The timing at which Maki and Chika were forced to teleport was just right—it happened precisely when Rex left, or rather, when Rex was forced by Takumi to be shoved out of the room. After Rex followed Takumi out and the door was locked, Maki and Chika, on the other side, were compelled by the situation to change clothes and teleport over. Fortunately, they had put on the other set of clothes in advance beneath the researchers' attire. As long as they removed the outer clothes and properly put on the other set, they could disengage instantly. That was how they managed to avoid being surrounded and attacked by those aberrations.
However, Takumi could not help but think about Rex's behavior just now—how no matter what was said, Rex refused to leave directly and instead insisted on dragging out the time by talking endlessly with Takumi.
If Takumi had not taken direct action and pushed him out, Rex should have been able to see Maki and Chika return here—almost as if it had all lined up perfectly.
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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
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