"Tap... tap..."
Footsteps echoed through the corridor formed by pitch-black pipe walls, a place that had once been silent. Chiba walked forward slowly. Without the night vision of Gate of Pain Mode, the corridor was nearly so dark that he could not see his hand in front of his face. He moved carefully, occasionally reaching out to steady himself against the pipe walls.
Yet his brows were tightly furrowed, and a faintly pained expression rested on his face.
The corridor outside the detention cells was simply too dark. Though he occasionally felt the doors of the cells along the pipe walls, in such absolute darkness, he had no way of knowing whether the door he touched was the one he was looking for.
Besides, the landmark the guard had specifically mentioned—his old detention cell—was something from years ago. Back then, he had been wholly absorbed in training and cultivation, and had never taken detention and self-reflection seriously. How could he remember where his own cell had been?
In other words, he had no idea which way he should go. There had not been any forks in the path yet, so all he could do was keep walking forward.
The shock he had felt earlier over the guard's identity, prompted by the warning not to cause trouble and get thrown into detention, had now been entirely replaced by the faint anxiety of not knowing where to go.
Chiba was no longer paying attention to the question of who that guard was.
Haven't I arrived yet? I've been walking for ten minutes already, haven't I? Did it really take this long when I left this detention cell back then?
There's no sign of Yukina either. Is there still a long way to go? Could it really be this far? As he walked