Entering the Apocalypse

In the dark world, gray mist surfaced all around me.

When I said "around me," I actually meant that I could no longer find where my own body was. In this realm filled with gray mist, I had become like the "ghost view" after dying in a shooting game. I could not feel my hands or feet, speak or move, breathe or blink, smell anything, or hear anything.

I did not even know whether it was because I could no longer sense my physical body, but I had lost all emotional fluctuations as well. I should have been extremely shocked and frightened, yet at some point, I had already accepted everything, facing this mysterious space with an equanimity I had never imagined possessing.

After pausing for a moment, I began trying to control my field of vision, turning it and moving forward.

With no points of reference, I had no idea whether I was actually moving. I simply focused all my attention on the thought of "moving" in my mind. Perhaps I was moving forward now. I could only choose to believe so.

I did not know how much time had passed when something new appeared ahead of me.

Several dozen meters away, I saw eight seats carved from white stone. Of course, "several dozen meters away" was also a description lacking any point of reference. It only felt that way. Seven of those stone seats were larger than ordinary armchairs and stood in a row, while one was twice as large and set farther away, facing the other seven.

Sitting in that enormous stone seat was an abnormally huge figure, seemingly godlike. Because of the mist between us, I could not make out its exact appearance or clothing. All I could see was a black shadow, like a blurred flower seen through fog.

After drawing closer, I discovered that there were figures in the other stone seats as well, though only two of them were occupied. The remaining five seats were empty. The two figures sat in the two seats on the left. The one in the far-left seat was a tall, lanky shadow, while the one beside it was so small that it looked like a child.

Compared to the godlike figure, those two shadows were at least around the size of ordinary people.

Slowly, curiosity began to arise in me—who were they? Why were they sitting here?

I clearly should not have been capable of feeling anything, yet I could not suppress my curiosity.

Suddenly, I felt that I was about to wake up. It seemed that this was merely a dreamlike realm, and regaining normal thought meant that I could no longer continue dreaming.

Just then, the tall, lanky shadow on the far left seemed to notice my presence.

He abruptly turned his head and spoke in a low, hoarse voice. "Who are you?"

"Hm?" The small figure beside him, which looked like a child, also turned around.

The enormous, godlike figure remained as motionless as a statue,

I was just about to answer him when I realized that I should not have been able to feel my mouth. Then all the seats, along with the mist, vanished from before my eyes.

So I had already awakened.

I opened my eyes. The space filled with mist was gone. I was still standing before the basement wall, the black jade in my hand.

-

Only then did I belatedly break out in goosebumps.

What had just happened? Had I actually been dreaming while standing?

No. Rather than dreaming, it was more like I had been dragged into some world of illusions...

Was this black jade responsible?

I immediately placed the black jade on the ground, then quickly backed away several steps and cautiously watched the mysterious object. This time, however, the black jade displayed no mysterious power. It simply lay on the ground like an ordinary stone.

Nothing unusual? But this thing had clearly taken control of my consciousness just now... No, "taken control" was not quite right. It had not brought me any danger. It had merely made me experience a strange illusion for no reason.

What did that illusion mean? A realm filled with gray mist, eight stone seats, and three strange figures... Were they all human? Or were they mysterious creatures inhabiting that illusory realm?

There were too few clues. I could analyze nothing, so I could only pick up the black jade first.

I knew that this black jade might still contain other unfathomable dangers, but since I had come this far, I could not simply throw it away. If it were clearly some harmful substance, that would be another matter. But since I could not yet determine its true nature, I had to take it back and study it carefully.

If I had been afraid of danger and stayed away from strange objects, I would never have come to this basement in the first place.

I also planned to investigate this basement for a while longer. Although I estimated that I had probably found almost everything I would tonight, the basement was completely empty. It was obvious at a glance whether something was there or not, and the "Fireflies" I had placed everywhere had observed it down to the finest detail. Still, this was a space that "did not exist in reality." Its very existence was fascinating enough to captivate me.

Suddenly, I sensed that something was wrong. Compared to when I had first entered, something in this basement seemed to have changed. Something extremely important—

I abruptly turned around.

The stairs I had used to come down had vanished, and the ceiling was perfectly flat. There was no entrance or exit at all!

In that instant, a horrifying feeling welled up inside me. It was as if several ice-cold cockroaches were crowding together and crawling from my tailbone up along my spine to the back of my head.

The exit was gone? Why?

I had been using the surrounding "Fireflies" to keep watch over the stairs and exit the entire time. When had they disappeared?

Was it while I had been trapped in the illusion just now?

I immediately went to inspect the spot where the stairs had been, but no matter how carefully I examined it, I could not tell that there had ever been stairs there. The same was true of the ceiling. Even the slightest concrete texture seemed to say that it had always looked this way.

This was absurd beyond belief. If there had never been an entrance or exit from the beginning, how had I come down here?

I had to calm down and think carefully about what to do next.

The cave's appearance and disappearance should follow some established pattern. As long as I found that pattern, I should be able to reopen the exit.

However, "everything in the world follows a pattern" was merely a common principle humans had summarized through their analysis of nature. What I was facing was a strange event beyond the limits of common sense. Perhaps there had never been any pattern from the beginning, and all my thinking was pointless.

It was true that the cave had appeared within the ritual formation, and the ritual formation had been created by humans. But Agent Kong had also mentioned that the ritual formation itself did not possess the ability to open the cave. This might be an unknown phenomenon beyond the Fallen Demon Hunter's understanding, something that had escaped the boundaries of human creation.

By tomorrow morning, the female Demon Hunter would come to the Fifteenth Floor room. Whether she intended to erase the ritual formation or break through the floor of the Fifteenth Floor room, in the end, she would use her own method to bring the cave's strange incident to a complete end.

That meant I would never live to see the day the cave opened again. I would be trapped to death in this space that did not exist in reality.

This was truly a desperate situation!

Still, this was the bitter fruit of my own actions.

I absolutely would not say something cowardly like "If only I had known..." At least, not now. I had to think in a positive direction. Perhaps this was a trial. Sometimes, people had to put themselves in desperate situations before they could understand themselves. Had I not always wanted to know how I would behave when facing a hopeless crisis? This was that crucial moment.

First, I should analyze how the cave appeared. What had I done just now to cause it to disappear?

No, I should change my angle of thought... Could it be that "the cave disappeared because I did nothing"?

When I had been trapped in the illusion, I had temporarily lost the ability to monitor the cave and stairs. The cave and stairs had disappeared during that period... Then... could the answer be that "the cave disappears when nobody is observing it"?

This hypothesis seemed quite reasonable.

During the day, Agent Kong had knocked on the door and arrived, and Chang'an had temporarily covered the cave with a carpet. When the carpet was opened again, the cave had disappeared. Without a doubt, during that time both Chang'an and I had lost sight of the cave.

The first time Chang'an encountered the cave's strange phenomenon, he had temporarily left the Fifteenth Floor room to confirm whether the cave led to the floor below. In that state, he had certainly also lost sight of the cave. Then he had called the police, and after the police arrived, the cave had disappeared... But had he gone back to the Fifteenth Floor room to observe the cave again before calling the police? He seemed never to have told me.

Even if my hypothesis was correct, I had only learned why the cave disappeared. What I needed was to make it reappear.

And on that point, I truly had no idea what to do.

If the conditions for the cave's appearance could not be fulfilled inside the basement, and could only be fulfilled outside the cave, then I would truly be helpless. Was I supposed to hope that someone else would enter the Fifteenth Floor room and coincidentally fulfill the conditions for the cave to appear? The problem was that no one would be coming to the Fifteenth Floor room now—except the female Demon Hunter, who planned to eliminate the cave's strange phenomenon.

Perhaps I needed to change my angle of analysis again and broaden my perspective.

Why did I have to follow some clue-free pattern to resolve my current predicament? I was not an ordinary person without special abilities. I was a superpowered individual. Why not look for an "outside move" and try to break through the deadlock by force?

But... unfortunately, my superpower did not seem well suited to this situation.

My superpower was first-rate when it came to killing people and causing destruction, but when it came to solving puzzles, it was like using a chainsaw for delicate surgery. It would probably only make a complete mess.

Right. Speaking of breaking through by force, there was a question I had apparently never considered before.

This basement was a "space that did not exist in reality." So what was outside the basement? By "outside," I did not mean the Fifteenth Floor room that could be reached through the cave's exit, but rather "the other side of the walls."

I did not believe that breaking through the walls would lead directly to the real world. But at this moment, I was completely at a loss, and any new discovery might become a clue to breaking through the deadlock.

More importantly, I was curious.

With that thought, I walked to the wall and raised my right hand.

I activated my superpower.