Superpowered Individual vs. Fallen Demon Hunter 1

I am Zhuang Cheng.

I'm not someone who can't stand being alone, but when forced into prolonged isolation, with no certainty of returning to civilization, even I can't think with a normal mindset.

There were too few clues in this basement, and not many objects that could help me form positive associations. Before long, my mind, like a cosmic documentary playing, drifted aimlessly. In a sense, I was now like those bored individuals who go to the bathroom without their phones, forced to ponder the meaning of life and the end of the universe. It wasn't that I didn't want to figure out how to leave this place; it's just that I was on the toilet.

However, after some time, as I lay on my back on the floor like a fish washed ashore, trying to find some revelation in the texture of the concrete ceiling, a spark of thought suddenly flashed in my consciousness.

I sat up abruptly, sifting through my memories, pondering the inspiration I had just received.

I think I know the pattern of the cave's disappearance and appearance.

The disappearance and appearance of the cave likely follow the same set of rules. At first, I thought, "Just knowing why the cave disappears isn't enough," but I was mistaken. Agent Kong and the Demon Hunter woman might have thought the cave's origin was outside the ritual array, but no, the answer was "the ritual array."

Agent Kong once mentioned that the purpose of the ritual array was to "open certain other dimensions that overlap with reality," and it was deemed a failure because it "lacked the final set of magic symbols."

I'm not entirely sure about the specific principles of magic symbols, but since the cave can appear, it means the missing magic symbols of the ritual array were somehow supplemented by accident.

So, what exactly supplemented the missing magic symbols of the ritual array?

My current suspect is that black plush rug.

Strictly speaking, it's the letter pattern on the black plush rug.

It's not that the letters themselves are magic symbols, but perhaps the lines that form the letters perfectly match the requirements of the magic symbols. At the same time, I have circumstantial evidence to support this theory.

Let's recall the instances of the cave appearing and disappearing. Every time Chang'an and I performed the action of covering and uncovering the black plush rug, the cave's state would switch between appearing and disappearing.

This morning, Chang'an and I uncovered the rug, and the cave appeared; then we covered it and uncovered it again in front of Agent Kong, and the cave disappeared; later, Agent Kong casually covered the rug while inspecting the room alone in the afternoon, and when I came alone at night, I uncovered it, and the cave appeared.

The same situation occurred the night before last when Chang'an first witnessed the cave. After uncovering the rug for the first time, he discovered the cave and called the police, then "uncovered it again" in front of the police—yes, he explicitly mentioned "uncovered it again" when recounting it to me—meaning he had covered the rug before the police arrived.

Why did he cover it in between? Because he was scared. He told me today that he was worried there might be something nasty hidden beneath the cave, so he chose to seal it up with the wooden lid and the rug the night before last.

In this series of events, the black plush rug acted like a "switch," with all changes directly related to it.

Is my reasoning correct? Can I be sure of this?

No, wait, wait... I've missed a very crucial part!

That is, why did the cave's entrance disappear after I entered it?

If the cave's state only changed after the action of covering the black plush rug, then the cave shouldn't have disappeared on its own after I entered.

Unless... unless after I entered the cave, an "unidentified individual" snuck into the Fifteenth Floor room and sealed the cave.

I was indeed monitoring my surroundings, but I couldn't monitor the real world outside the cave. Moreover, the cave disappeared while I was being pulled into a hallucination by the black jade stone, making it even more impossible to observe if anyone was outside the cave.

And this reasoning has another despairing problem.

That is, just as I had feared from the beginning, the cave's opening and closing can indeed only be done from outside the cave, and cannot be opened from this side.

I'm truly at my wit's end.

No, it's too ugly to surrender without a fight. If I aspire to adventures that transcend reality, I shouldn't just sit back and wait to die so easily. Struggling until my last breath is the only way that aligns with my aesthetics.

So, how should I struggle? My current location and the ritual array outside aren't even in the same space-time... Wait, Agent Kong mentioned before that the other dimension here should overlap with reality's space-time. If it overlaps, it can't simply be considered "not together."

In other words, if I draw the letter pattern of the black plush rug on the ceiling, could it also overlap with the ritual array outside?

There are still some issues. First, the surface of the ceiling and the surface of the floor aren't perfectly on the same plane... But the pattern on the black plush rug isn't perfectly on the same plane as the floor either. If it works over there, perhaps it can work over here too. Although the deviation between the two is vastly different, what's the thickness of this floorboard...

Never mind, thinking too much is not as good as trying. Let's try it first!

I raised my right hand, pointing my finger at the ceiling, at the original location of the cave's entrance. Then, flames suddenly appeared out of thin air, like slender snakes writhing rapidly in the air, climbing onto the surface of the ceiling.

The letter pattern on the black plush rug, when put together, means "rug"—I remember that clearly. Then there's the font style and size... As I recalled, I adjusted the posture of the fire snakes, finally arranging them to match my memory.

After finishing the task, I let out a long sigh and nervously observed the ceiling.

There was no change.

I was inevitably disappointed.

It still doesn't work? Is it because we're not in the same space-time, or because the floorboard is too thick, and the deviation between the two planes is too great?

Or is it because I shouldn't have used flames to draw the pattern? The ritual array was drawn with blood, perhaps I should have used blood too... But the letters on the black plush rug weren't blood either. Could it be because that dirty rug, as an object from a murder scene, was stained with blood...

I tilted my head up to observe, moving around, examining the flame letters I had pieced together from different angles. After all, I might have misspelled the word.

Walking around in this posture is disorienting, and I soon felt unwell. I lowered my head and closed my eyes to rest for two seconds.

And when I reopened my eyes, something incredible happened.

A concrete staircase had appeared before me at some point.

After a moment of stunned silence, my gaze moved up along the staircase. At the end of the staircase, on the ceiling, was a light brown wooden lid.

The cave's entrance had reappeared!

Why the entrance didn't appear immediately after I drew the letter pattern with flames is something I only came up with a theory for afterward, though I don't know if it's true.

The theory is somewhat laughable. Initially, I was standing directly below the cave, and the concrete staircase also appeared in that spot later. It's like how the location of a new building in a strategy game can't overlap with other objectives. Perhaps because I occupied the space for the staircase, it was inconvenient for both the staircase and the entrance to appear immediately.

To avoid further accidents, I acted immediately upon seeing the entrance. I walked up the staircase to the wooden lid and pushed it open directly, returning to the floor of the Fifteenth Floor room.

Finally, I had returned to the real world.

I looked around and let out a long sigh of relief.

At the same time, I vaguely sensed that the state of mind, which had been close to enlightenment and had emerged when I faced loneliness and death beneath the cave, was now slowly receding.

That state of enlightenment must have been a special state of mind that only appeared under special circumstances, and I, having narrowly escaped death, couldn't continue to possess it. However, I thought, that state of mind must have left a special mark in my heart.

The me now and the me before entering the cave were already completely different selves.

I mulled over my thoughts and then looked back behind me.

Putting aside the abstract questions for now, let's look at the practical ones first.

In the process of prying open the wooden lid, I didn't feel the black plush carpet that should have been covering it. And after I came out, I also saw the carpet still piled up beside me as usual. This meant that during the time I was beneath the cave, there was no "unidentified person" who entered the Fifteenth Floor room to cover the carpet.

Since my actions allowed me to escape successfully, it meant my reasoning about the pattern of the cave's appearance and disappearance was correct. But if there was no "unidentified person," how could the disappearance of the cave's entrance and exit be explained?

I couldn't figure it out no matter how hard I tried, and then I looked back at the cave entrance.

This cave, this basement... I thought I had figured it out, but there were still many unknown things.

Not to mention anything else, I actually still didn't know what the black jade stone obtained from the basement was, nor what the mist illusion and the three shadows I saw earlier were about.

There were still secrets hidden beneath that I didn't know.

Why don't I... go down there again?

Although it felt improper to think about turning back right after narrowly escaping death, this cave would be destroyed tomorrow, and if I didn't complete the exploration now, I probably wouldn't have another chance in the future.

I actually had this thought, but immediately, another anomaly made me temporarily put aside this plan.

All the "Fireflies" I had set up in the real world had disappeared. Needless to say, this was because I had lost the connection with them in the basement earlier. And the biggest problem was that I had now lost surveillance over Maza.

I couldn't stay put any longer.

Maza had repeatedly proposed leaving me, and if I had only lost surveillance over her for a short period, it would have been acceptable. I could have just gone and come back quickly, which was my initial idea. But now that I had lost surveillance over her for a long time, the nature of the situation had to be considered differently. What if she really left during this time, and I could never find her again?

It was possible that Maza's Jinx constitution was what allowed me to encounter strange events. I wasn't so foolish as to confuse "one full meal" with "meals every day."

I also couldn't explore the basement while simultaneously sending "Fireflies" home, so I had to put this aside for now.

However, before leaving, I still took photos and videos of the ritual array and the black plush carpet from different angles. Perhaps I could replicate this array elsewhere in the future.

After doing all this, I turned and left the Fifteenth Floor room, walking all the way out of the residential building.

Looking at the moon in the night sky, I finally felt a sense of "seeing the light of day" again.

However, I hadn't walked far when, in front of my vision, a bizarrely shaped shadow emerged in a strange manner, blocking my path.