The light was dim, and silence reigned.
Despite the favorable situation, he had used an excessively intense stimulus to send Miss Wen back to bed in a single second. Now Fu Qian had finally gotten his wish and returned to a familiar place.
And, as expected, a different situation made the world feel entirely different.
Now that he had officially joined the Corridor as part of its great collective, even this gloomy scene, unchanged as ever, seemed much more familiar at a glance.
It was still the same long corridor, with the same five doors of varied shapes. Before, they had seemed merely sinister; now, he could even savor their timeless grandeur.
The only regret was that the one who had once guided him, shared his experience clearing the place, and served as its famous, low-key undercover envoy—Brother Persuader—was nowhere to be seen.
His impassioned words about how the young would one day rise above their station still rang in Fu Qian's ears. Yet an old friend had come to visit, and there was no longer that hearty laugh to greet their reunion, nearly one-sixth of a year in the making.
But Fu Qian was not someone who lacked perseverance or sincerity. For him, standing in the snow outside Cheng Yi's door was nothing.
He said nothing and didn't move. Feeling his left arm grow more and more vigorous, and the sense of belonging grow ever stronger, Fu Qian simply stood there in silence, without even glancing at the door beside him.
"You absolute... lunatic!"
At last, a long-awaited call came, flowing into his heart like a warm current.
Arthropod limbs, a gray shell, sharp bristles, colorful wings.
And a powerful abdomen dragging along the ground, to boot. A figure slowly appeared beside another door in the distance.
Such