A few minutes earlier.
"Are you really sure about doing this? If we split up and act on multiple fronts, I always feel that it's very easy for problems to arise."
Sitting on the small sofa in the power distribution room, Maki could not help but frown and voice her doubts after listening to what Takumi had said.
"In fact, the possibility of things going wrong is extremely high. After all, although we already have a certain degree of understanding of the strange horror phenomena within this cave, the countermeasures we have on hand are not many. Once we run into trouble, something could very well go wrong."
Takumi had no intention of concealing this and answered Maki's doubts very straightforwardly.
"Since you know things are likely to go wrong, then why do this anyway?"
Maki found it even harder to understand.
"Because Takumi-kun must have a reason why he has to do this, right? Acting on multiple fronts together would allow us to obtain the broadest range of clues in the shortest amount of time, and it should also help Takumi-kun achieve some other objective as well. Otherwise, Takumi-kun wouldn't choose such a risky course of action. Mm… could it be to restrain something?"
Chika, who was sitting on the other side, spoke up seriously at this moment. Her eyes sparkled, and she seemed to be getting a little excited.
"Mm, that's indeed the case. To be precise… I suspect that we are being subjected to some kind of guidance—that there is some force operating in the shadows, guiding our actions and placing limits on the information we can obtain. Although there is no concrete evidence yet, after reflecting on all of our experiences over the course of this day, I believe it is necessary to carry out a multi-pronged operation, and to try to break this possibly existing guiding force in this way."
Takumi nodded lightly, the expression on his face extremely serious.
If it were not for knowing about the existence of the research base, and knowing the situation on Maki and Kaguya's side, Takumi believed that, as an ordinary player who simply wanted to survive, when he found this power distribution room, he would have considered pulling down the power switch.
After that, Kaguya was locked into the prison cell. The thing living next to her—the one that called itself Howard—had mentioned many things while muttering to itself, repeatedly emphasizing that someone had stolen something extremely important from a certain woman, and had also said that the item had been thrown into some kind of fissure. This immediately made Takumi think of the Great Rift, think of that ghastly pale female specter, and he could not help but begin to ponder what that stolen item might be.
However, that was not right. He had already been killed once by that eerie entity, so afterward, Takumi realized that this line of thinking was incorrect.
The obsession of that white-skirted specter had absolutely nothing to do with anything having been stolen. It was simply consumed by pure rage, madly intent on slaughtering all living people—especially every living person within the research base. That fury, Takumi could personally attest as someone who had tasted it firsthand, was definitely not about "making the people of the research base return some item." It only wanted to kill—kill everyone, kill everything—leaving nothing behind but unbridled savagery, as if all reason had been completely shattered.
To analyze such an obsession, the only possible analytical direction would be to "hand over the enemy it hated the most," which might allow it to find peace. But without personally being put through the wringer, there was no way to know something like that. Therefore, after realizing this, Takumi could be one hundred percent certain that the information Kaguya had heard was problematic.
If these two matters were considered separately, there was actually nothing particularly noteworthy about them.
But when they happened one after the other—especially when combined with Maki and Chika being chased by an eerie entity, and then, after he rushed in to save them and returned to the power distribution room, discovering that Rex was trying to pull down the power switch—he could not help but begin to connect all of these events.
'I entered the power distribution room, but I did not choose to pull down the power switch. So the one guiding all of this realized that I might have learned of the research base's existence through some means, and that there were players I knew inside the research base, with the two sides possibly having some form of communication between them.'
In theory, the false intelligence Kaguya heard should have been known only to her and could not have been passed on to anyone else. However, if we were able to communicate with one another, then this misleading piece of intelligence could spread to everyone, establishing in our minds the erroneous belief that "there is some important item beneath the Great Rift of the Gentle Slope that might allow the core obsession to find peace." After all, prior to this, we had already learned quite a bit about Howard-related information, so we would naturally have no reason to doubt the righteous and benevolent side of Howard, and would believe the intelligence he provided.
What followed was Maki and Chika being forced to make their escape. The researcher identity is the one with the highest degree of freedom within the entire research base, and also the identity most tightly controlled by Professor Vernon. After escaping from the research area, Takumi's side had to carefully weigh the difficulty of playing the role of a researcher. If assuming an identity meant constantly encountering life-threatening danger, then it naturally required cautious consideration. On the other hand, if the soldier identity were chosen, patrol and guard duties would severely restrict movement, and places such as analysis rooms and research areas would be completely off-limits, further reducing the areas they could investigate and explore.
Could someone be guiding all of this from behind the scenes?
If so, then up to this point, the one with the greatest cause for suspicion—needless to say—would naturally be Professor Vernon, the one who differed in certain ways from ordinary eerie entities.
Takumi had considered whether to simply drag this guy out and use the power of the Obsession Item to throw this professor into the Great Rift, to see whether he might be the female specter's enemy.
But Takumi quickly rejected that idea.
If the other party truly was the one guiding things from behind the scenes, and had a way to know what was happening inside the Red Nut Grey Cave across different timelines, then after Takumi arrived at the power distribution room, this thing should have tried to stop him somehow. Yet the result was that not only did Takumi encounter no resistance, Rex had nearly managed to pull down the power switch.
Perhaps, even if the research base completely fell and was truly invaded by that white-skirted female specter, the other party would not be affected in the slightest?
If that were the case, then now, every place that could be tested had to be tested.
Splash—
Amid the sound of flowing water, the rescue team member transformed from Tanaka had already sunk beneath the water, swimming toward the depths of the Great Rift.
For an ordinary person, advancing in this kind of environment would be extremely difficult—especially when the target was a rock fissure that went straight down and grew narrower the farther one went. But for a rescue team member that was already non-human, this was nothing at all. Takumi could even sense that this thing had squeezed into extremely narrow gaps that a normal person could never possibly fit into, continuing to swim step by step toward even greater depths.
Found it.
Through the rescue team member's perspective, Takumi found a completely weathered infant's dried corpse, located within a rock crevice.
The swaddling cloth around the corpse had already faded, and there was no way to know how long this tiny body had been wedged here.
"…"
Takumi frowned and fell silent at that moment.
At the same time, in the prison block, the heavy cell door had already been destroyed by the cutting power of the Obsession Item surgical scalpel, which could slice through iron like mud. Kaguya cautiously stepped out, exchanged a glance with Maki, and after the two lightly nodded to each other, they headed toward the direction of the doorway.
Under the pallid white lighting, the corridor of the prison block held only the clear sound of the two girls' footsteps.
They did not move toward the direction of the exit. Instead, they walked toward the cell that Kaguya had previously determined was holding other people.
D5… D4… D3. Kaguya stopped, looking at the heavy door in front of her.
This specially structured door had no place to insert a key. In a sense, it was a countermeasure against the Blood Key. However, now that they had the surgical scalpel, that countermeasure was no longer much of a problem.
Faintly, it seemed possible to hear voices coming from the sealed, welded solitary cell, accompanied by some kind of struggling sounds—like a person stuck in a rock crevice, gasping with difficulty, making futile and powerless struggles.
Creak—
At that moment, the door of cell D4 abruptly opened.
Blood-stained black-and-yellow rocks mixed with chunks of flesh rolled out from behind the door.
A pungent, nauseating stench spread rapidly, as if hundreds or thousands of corpses were packed together behind that door—rotting together, being compressed together, and being crushed apart by disordered rocks—mixing into stones through which black, filthy blood flowed.
The corridor was changing.
This was clearly an indoor building, yet it now seemed to be gradually taking on the shape of a cave. Moreover, Maki could tell that this transformation in form was progressing toward the structural pattern of a Blood Vessel.
Trying to open the door to Cell D3 before that happened already seemed to be an impossible task.
At the same time, Chika had already reached the main gate of the Quarantine Zone.
Behind her, many soldiers were running around, searching everywhere for her whereabouts. Chika simply picked up a scalpel, cut open the tightly sealed gate in front of her, and then stepped inside.
Bang!
Amid the gunfire, a bullet pierced her body.
The girl merely let out a low grunt and then entered the observation area as if nothing had happened.
The wound was healing rapidly.
After Chika swallowed a pill from the medicine bottle, even being hit by firearms no longer posed any problem for her.
However, ahead in the corridor, those expressionless soldiers and researchers had already packed the entire passageway, leaving no gaps at all, standing there shoulder to shoulder. The soldiers at the very front had already raised their guns, about to carry out a second round of suppressive fire.
Behind the large opening cut open by the scalpel, soldiers were also giving chase from the rear.
...
Takumi had already lifted his head, looking toward Rex, who was stepping forward from his side, appearing extremely exhausted.
"Mr. Takumi, why are you here? Didn't the rules say you're not allowed to go to the Gentle Slope? It's probably better not to get too close to that place. Also, Susan is missing—have you seen her anywhere? I can't find where she is at all."
With anxiety written all over his face, Rex walked up to Takumi, panting heavily as he hurriedly asked.
"Well, to be honest, I'm not very sure either. But your response was quite impressive. Your real objective is actually to maintain this place and keep it exactly as it is right now, isn't it? I acted on multiple fronts to try to disrupt your arrangements, and you went along with it, laying backup measures in several directions. To make sure everything was foolproof, you even came here specifically to confirm what I was doing. I have to say, you're quite capable."
Takumi looked at Rex, smiled at him, and spoke.
"Uh, Mr. Takumi, what are you talking about?"
Stunned by what Takumi had said, Rex stopped in confusion and asked him.
The power of blessing could still sense only goodwill.
That was only natural, because Rex truly harbored nothing but goodwill toward Takumi; there was no malice whatsoever in this person's thoughts.
Just like when Takumi and Kaguya were facing each other—if he were to produce some slightly improper, unharmonious lustful thoughts, Kaguya's blessing would react and detect Takumi's faint malice. Yet, when Takumi tried to direct bad thoughts toward Kaguya through his mental link with Maki, Kaguya's blessing showed no reaction whatsoever.
Only after this round of testing did Takumi come to understand.
"However, there's one thing I think you may have gotten wrong."
Takumi extended a finger and lightly waved it twice in front of Rex.
"Got it wrong?"
With a confused expression on his face, Rex spoke instinctively.
"That rescue team member wasn't actually summoned by me."
As he said this, Takumi shook the rescue uniform on his body. Rex lowered his head and only then realized that what Takumi was wearing was not a Rescue Team Badge, but a randomly found badge of a similar color—something that looked like the kind children might use.
The rescue team member who had gone deep into the rift had already disappeared.
It returned to the side of Maki, who was the one truly wearing the Rescue Team Badge at this moment, holding explosives in its hands, lighting them, and then charging toward the ever-expanding rock cavern.
Boom!
Amid the violent explosion, the rescue team member used its bizarre body to block the blast, leaving Maki, who was controlling her from behind, and Kaguya, who was destroying the prison door, completely unharmed. They were only left with their ears ringing from the massive explosion within the enclosed space.
"Of course, there's one more thing you got wrong as well. That key isn't a blood key that can open any door. I merely stained the power room key red."
...
Before the soldiers from the front and rear could catch up, Chika reached the door of the personnel lounge on one side of the corridor and inserted the blood-red key into the keyhole.
Click—
In the next instant, not far from Takumi and Rex, the door of the guard post slowly opened. Surging floodwater almost immediately rushed inside, spreading into the corridor in an instant.
The bizarre forces outside the research base were repelled by the base itself, so the clothes and some other objects carried within the water were unable to enter the base. However, the water itself posed no such problem.
Within the raging torrent, Chika had already crouched down in the corner of the wall, stabilizing her body as much as possible to resist the impact.
Although those soldiers and researchers possessed bizarre identities, because they were in the state of "role-playing," when the water slammed into them, they could not help but sway a few times. Even so, their formation did not fall into disorder and still left Chika no way through.
Thus, the girl took a deep breath and took out the explosives she had prepared in advance.
"Blow everything blocking the way sky-high—this is the way of game players."
Murmuring to herself like this, the pink-haired girl lit the fuse of the explosives and then threw them straight toward the spot where the soldiers and researchers were standing.
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