Endless Staircase

Endless Staircase

The moment Luo Jun saw the first rule, half his heart went cold.

No running? Only one step per stair? When he had fled in here, he had jumped over half a flight in one go. Didn't that mean he had already broken the rule?

Could this darkness be the price of breaking the rule? What would happen next? Was there any way to break free?

Clinging to his last shred of hope, Luo Jun kept reading. By the time he finished the final rule, the remaining half of his heart had frozen solid as well...

To be precise, only the first six items on this sheet were actual rules. They were printed in a standard typeface, carrying the tone of an official notice.

The bottom two, however, had been added by hand. The handwriting was extremely scrawled, and it was obvious the writer had not been in a good state of mind at the time.

Luo Jun did not know what the writer had encountered. The problem before him now was whether these two handwritten rules could be trusted.

The last one was manageable—at worst, he simply would not go to the basement level. But what about the seventh? It was plainly at odds with the fourth.

If the handwritten rule was correct, then he absolutely could not follow the fourth rule. But if he encountered the Endless Staircase, what was he supposed to do?

Moreover, if the fourth rule was deemed false, then were the other printed rules true or false? The handwriting only pointed out that this one had a problem; that did not mean the others were fine. In that case, the entire set of rules was open to doubt. Even the one in the room could no longer be guaranteed authentic!

Luo Jun felt his scalp prickle.

He had thought that following the rules would let him clear this mission safely. He had not expected that even the rules were not entirely trustworthy!

Wait. If not all the rules were right, could the first rule he had broken also have been false? Could that jump have saved him instead?

That did not seem likely... After all, that rule looked the most normal...

His heart was a tangled stew of emotions, his thoughts in disarray. In the end, Luo Jun shook his head and forced himself to pull it together.

No matter what, he was already in the corridor. He could not just stop here. He could only keep going.

Besides, the sixth rule on the paper had reminded him of a crucial issue.

This was a hotel. If someone was locked out of their room, what should they do? Naturally, ask the Front Desk for help. The rules in the room had also indicated that the Front Desk existed. At last, he had a goal for his next move: go to the First Floor and find the Front Desk!

But should he go down or up?

The rules said the stairs did not lead to the First Floor and that he could only take the elevator... That went against common sense. Stairs served as fire exits, after all. If they did not lead to the First Floor, how were guests supposed to evacuate in an emergency?

Could this rule also be a trap, specifically meant to deceive people into taking the elevator? After all, in horror stories, elevators were places where accidents happened all the time.

Luo Jun stared at the rules, his brain whirring at top speed.

The Dice of Heavenly Secrets could not help with this situation. It could determine an outcome for you, but it could not make a choice for you.

You could fire an arrow, then ask the Dice of Heavenly Secrets whether it would hit the target. But you could not ask it whether you should fire the arrow or where you should aim. The Dice of Heavenly Secrets could not help with such matters.

Luo Jun gritted his teeth and ultimately made the choice himself.

Turn around and go up!

For the moment, he could not tell whether the printed rules or the handwritten rules were more trustworthy. But the rules both sides acknowledged had the highest credibility!

For example, the matter of not going to the basement level.

Why had they specifically emphasized not going to the basement level? The writer must have gone there, or seen someone go there. But why would anyone go there? Most likely because the stairs did not lead to the First Floor. Someone had followed the stairs downward, passed the First Floor, and arrived directly at the basement level, triggering terrifying consequences!

Thus, though they seemed unrelated, the sixth and eighth rules faintly corroborated each other.

Going down was extremely dangerous. Retracing his steps would be safer.

Following the rules, Luo Jun took one stair at a time and soon stepped onto level ground.

"Whew..." Luo Jun breathed a sigh of relief. While climbing, he had been on tenterhooks, afraid of encountering the Endless Staircase mentioned in the rules. It seemed he had finally returned safely to the Third Floor.

Luo Jun walked forward, then froze.

What lay before him was not the familiar Third Floor corridor, but a landing!

How was that possible? He had just come up from the landing between the Second and Third Floors. Why was there still a landing?

He turned his head in the faint light and saw the stairs leading to higher floors right beside him.

Had he finally encountered the Endless Staircase?

Luo Jun swallowed. What should he do? Follow the fourth rule and back down thirteen steps, or heed the seventh rule?

But the key was that the seventh rule only said the fourth was wrong. It did not say what he should do instead!

Wait. The previous rules had been posted on the wall of the landing. Could there be new rules this time?

With that thought, Luo Jun walked forward. Sure enough, he found a sheet of paper. Yet its contents were identical to before. Even the two handwritten rules at the bottom were exactly the same, down to every word, and the handwriting matched perfectly.

Clearly, this was the same landing as before. He had come back...

Luo Jun gritted his teeth and activated the Dice of Heavenly Secrets.

The dice would not choose for him, but he had already made his choice!

"Return to the Third Floor!"

That was his current objective.

However, the Dice of Heavenly Secrets did not activate successfully. It indicated that the event was too complex to determine.

He was just climbing stairs. What was so complex about that?

Luo Jun grumbled inwardly, but he knew that if the dice said so, then returning to the Third Floor would not be easy. There were too many variables involved. It was not something a few rolls of the dice could solve.

Even his cheat was useless. He had truly fallen into a Dead End...

Just as Luo Jun was at his wits' end, footsteps suddenly sounded from upstairs.

Something was coming!

Luo Jun looked up and saw a bizarre creature emerge from the darkness.

This guy had a long, narrow head. On its bald skull was only a huge mouth full of Sharp Teeth. On either side of its head, where shoulders could barely be said to be, grew two eyeballs, one large and one small. The larger one was as big as a basketball, while the smaller could rival an apple. The uneven eyes tilted its body to one side, and it came down the stairs on two malformed legs, swaying and twisting with every step.

Another monster!

Luo Jun's heart leaped into his throat. Every muscle in his Whole Body tightened, and the Dice of Heavenly Secrets stood ready, prepared for battle at any moment.

But he did not rashly make a move. Instead, he obediently stepped aside and stood against the wall.

The monster staggered past him. It even turned its head back and bowed to him.

From this, the third rule should be correct. The rules described how to handle encountering a creature in the stairs, without limiting it to humans. All creatures had to follow this rule... It seemed the corridor was likely a peaceful zone.

Watching the monster head downstairs, Luo Jun suddenly frowned. He then turned his head towards the rules on the wall, as if he had discovered something.

After pondering for a moment, his eyes lit up. "I understand!"

Then he focused his mind, ready to activate the Dice of Heavenly Secrets at any time, and headed upstairs.