Basement 3 of the Fifteenth Floor

The person most surprised by the wooden cover in the center of the Magic Circle was not me, but Chang'an.

Before I could even voice my thoughts on the matter, he let out an involuntary, strange cry, his eyes locked firmly onto that wooden cover.

A moment later, he shouted excitedly, "It appeared... it appeared! I knew it wasn't just my imagination... Acheng, do you see it too? You see it, right!"

"I see it," I replied simply.

"...You don't seem very excited?" Seeing my reaction, he calmed down slightly and asked with confusion, "Aren't you the most interested in this kind of thing?"

"I am very interested, it's true, but what I'm looking at right now is nothing more than a wooden board."

I wouldn't be "popping the champagne" until I saw the basement Chang'an had spoken of with my own eyes. That said, I was only keeping my cool verbally. Based on my basic trust in a friend, I was actually itching to move, and I could feel my blood flowing faster.

I didn't rashly lift the wooden cover; instead, I crouched down to observe the Magic Circle on the floor.

This Magic Circle was composed of a large number of twisted lines and symbols, yet it contained an obvious sense of order that prevented one from mistaking it for messy graffiti. As for Western occultism, I only possessed unsystematic and scattered knowledge, and I was completely clueless when it came to analyzing this Magic Circle. However, there was one thing I could discern.

I reached out a hand and lightly touched the lines at the edge of the Magic Circle, picking up a tiny bit of the black pigment used to draw them. After rubbing my fingertips together slightly, I was completely certain. This pigment was blood that had oxidized and dried.

Combined with the clue about the "bizarre murder case that once happened in this house," could it be that the perpetrator of the murder case drew the Magic Circle, and the pigment was the victim's blood?

Assuming that was the case, what was the killer's goal, and why leave the Magic Circle in this house?

Was the killer still keeping an eye on this house?

"Should we open the cover and take a look?" Chang'an asked tentatively from the side, though he didn't dare step forward to lift the wooden cover himself.

"Yeah." I nodded, stood up, took the initiative to step forward, and walked straight into the center of the Magic Circle.

The wooden cover had no handles or grooves, so I bent down and hooked my fingers directly into the gap between the wooden cover and the floor.

Immediately, I lifted the wooden cover high, and the sight beneath it entered my vision.

At that moment, I reflexively held my breath.

What appeared beneath the wooden cover, just as Chang'an had said, was a pitch-black entrance, and beneath the hole was a bottomless staircase leading to a basement!

But this was the Fifteenth Floor!

Chang'an seemed to hold his breath as well, then said in a tone as if he were afraid of startling something, "Do you see it? I didn't lie to you..."

I stared fixedly at the staircase before me.

The material forming the staircase was gray concrete, with no decoration on the exterior. Part of it was exposed bare before my eyes, while the other part plunged deep into the darkness, as if leading to an unknown and terrifying netherworld; just looking at it made one's blood run cold.

For a moment, I felt countless chaotic shadows flashing through my mind.

This eerie scene was like a meteorite crashing into the lake of my heart, stirring up a thousand waves; all the efforts I had made in the past to explore the strange and anomalous surfaced one after another.

Even the words Maza had spoken earlier joined in, floating to the forefront of my mind.

--Comparing the current world to the apocalyptic world, the biggest difference between the two is time and space—the time and space of the apocalyptic world are distorted, and survivors may encounter strange and bizarre phenomena at any time.

--The apocalypse did not descend suddenly; it had its signs and preludes, but people today have not yet given them enough attention.

--Inconceivable phenomena, or strange and grotesque monsters... things of this nature must have already appeared openly in this era.

Could it be that this was what Maza called the signs and preludes of the apocalypse?

However, judging from the Magic Circle at the scene, this should be an anomaly with human factors, not a natural disaster... No, wait, I was being biased. Who said that what triggers the apocalypse must be a natural disaster, and not a man-made catastrophe?

Could this bizarre phenomenon before me be related to the apocalyptic signs Maza mentioned?

Wait, wait, my thoughts were running too far ahead. Don't start associating things that are far away and lack evidence. What should I be doing right now?

"Chang'an, wait for me here. I'm going downstairs to confirm something."

After saying that, I walked out into the hallway, leaving a "Firefly" behind in the house.

At this critical juncture, I found that I was still anxious, afraid that this bizarre and strange event would turn out to be a carefully planned hoax. So, I didn't immediately manipulate the "Firefly" to investigate the space beneath the hole, but instead had the "Firefly" monitor Chang'an there first.

As for myself, I first leaned against the railing in the hallway to look at the scenery, calming my racing mind, and then went downstairs, pretending to be a visitor who had knocked on the wrong door to ring the doorbell of the resident below.

Taking advantage of the resident opening the door, I secretly slipped a "Firefly" into the room and searched around inside.

Just as Chang'an had described earlier, there was no descending staircase to be seen from there, nor was there a hole in the ceiling.

At the same time, I also completed the crucial confirmation through the "Firefly" monitoring Chang'an—Chang'an had not closed the wooden cover during this time, and I could still continuously observe the existence of that hole.

Now, I could finally confirm it one hundred percent.

That hole truly led to a "space that does not exist in reality."

-

The strange thing I had dreamed of, searched for until now, and only ever glimpsed in fantasy stories, was real!

I had imagined the scene of finally verifying this fact countless times in the past. And now, I had finally verified the existence of the anomalous with my own eyes, yet I wasn't as ecstatic as I had imagined.

It wasn't because I was afraid, or because my passion for the incredible had suddenly ebbed at such a critical moment. I think the emotion I was feeling now should be quite universal.

It is said that many people, when suddenly encountering a major change, do not behave as exaggeratedly as they do in movies. For example, people who suddenly learn they have won the lottery jackpot, or those who receive the tragic news of a family member's death... they don't immediately experience extreme joy or extreme sorrow, but must spend a long time digesting the overwhelming fact.

As if falling into a dream—perhaps that is the most suitable phrase to describe my state of mind right now.

I couldn't even tell if my feet were firmly planted on the ground.

Today was an exceptionally important day in my life, and even this feeling of my feet hovering in the air was precious. If I could, I would really like to immerse myself in this dreamlike experience a little longer.

However, I must regain my ability to think normally as soon as possible. The more I face grotesque and bizarre events, the more I need a clear head. Many characters in horror stories die when they lose their composure, and I have no desire to be that pathetic.

Furthermore, I must now seriously confront a very important question.

Since what Chang'an said is true, the credibility of Maza's claim that she is a "jinx" rises accordingly. And if Maza truly brings disaster to those around her, could this malicious influence extend to the "people around the people around her"?

In other words, could the reason Chang'an encountered a bizarre event be because he is my friend?

I met Maza last night, while Chang'an encountered the bizarre event the night before. Judging by the chronological order, Chang'an's experience and Maza's disaster-attracting constitution do not form a normal causal relationship. However, when it comes to the bizarre, one cannot treat it with common sense, and the possibility of effect preceding cause must also be considered.

That is: because I met Maza last night, Chang'an encountered a bizarre event the night before, and the purpose was for him to respond to Maza's disaster-attracting constitution today and drag me into a bizarre event—such a bizarre causal relationship might actually hold true in the world of the supernatural.

If that is the case, how should I handle my relationship with Maza?

I returned to the house where the hole was located. Chang'an was standing outside the opening with a flashlight, cautiously shining it inside, seemingly terrified that some monster might suddenly crawl out. Seeing me return, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. By now, I had more or less sorted out my own state of mind.

"Sorry, Chang'an," I sighed. "Perhaps I'm the one who dragged you into this."

"What's wrong? Why say that all of a sudden?" he asked, startled.

"I'll explain later." I already had some ideas on how to handle that matter. "For now, let's focus on the problem at hand."

Hearing this, he stopped asking questions and followed suit, shifting his attention back to the hole.

With the light from the flashlight, I could clearly see the scene at the bottom of the stairs. The space below was only about three meters deep, with a gray concrete floor at the bottom; it really did look like a basement.

I observed the hole in silence.

Once I realized the supernatural nature of this hole, it held an irresistible attraction for me. It was as if the plug had been pulled from a bathtub full of water, and I was silently watching the water swirl and be sucked into that dark hole; it felt as if my very heart was about to flow down into the depths.

While savoring this demonic sensation in my heart, I took two more steps forward, wanting to get a closer look.

Suddenly, my arm was grabbed from the side. I turned to look and saw it was Chang'an; he had grabbed me, wearing a rare, serious expression.

"You want to go down?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

To say I didn't want to go down and take a look would be an absolute lie.

He stared at me, dumbfounded. "What kind of crazy talk is that? I didn't bring you here so you could go down there."

"You called me here, so how could I not go down and investigate it for myself?" I first asked him back, then suddenly realized something.

Right, from my perspective, it's impossible not to personally investigate a bizarre event from top to bottom, and I assumed others would view me that way too. Needless to say, as my friend, Chang'an must know my habits like the back of his hand.

But this time was different. Chang'an had likely experienced this bizarre event first, forming a preconceived notion that "this hole cannot be entered," and while telling me about it, he unconsciously projected his own judgment onto me—he never imagined that anyone would actually have the thought of going down to take a look.

"Don't worry, I'm not as reckless as you think. Even if I want to go down, I won't do it right this second."

As I said this, I used my body to block his line of sight and manipulated the Firefly to fly down into the hole.

However, at that very moment, something incredible happened.

When the Firefly entered beneath the hole—entering that "space that does not exist in reality"—the mental connection between me and the Firefly was severed, and the Firefly itself vanished into thin air, just like a candle flame blown out by the wind.