Bronze Corridor

"The chance is here!"

Dust, noise, toppled toys, and scattered papers instantly filled the room, which was already resonating with strange sounds.

The Pale Giant outside the door violently shoved it open and impatiently squeezed his bulky body into the room. He didn't even bother to look closely, just eager to reach the depths of the room to see those screaming dolls.

His eyesight was poor, but he was sensitive to the dolls' reactions.

However, just as he rushed in, Han Su darted out from behind him.

The door, already half torn off by the monster's forceful entry, couldn't be closed. Seizing this opportunity, he quickly approached the monster and grabbed at its waist, shouting:

"Go!"

Moments ago, he had explained the route to Manman: go left, and he would try his best to lure the monster to the right, giving her as much space as possible to escape to the door.

This distance of over ten meters, she should be able to manage, right?

Though young, this girl had always been sensible and well-behaved.

Even if she didn't understand what he told her, she always managed to complete it perfectly...

But just as Han Su shouted and reached for the monster's belt, even preparing to lunge to the right, he suddenly froze.

The moment he entered this bunker, he had observed that the brass key was tied to the Pale Giant's waist. This was also why he decided to escape on the first night; with the key on the monster, it was the easiest to obtain.

But now, as he looked, the monster's waist was bare, empty. No key, nothing.

Just a few hours ago, the key had been hanging neatly at the Pale Giant's waist.

"Damn it!"

Han Su was stunned for a moment. Was some damned mysterious will toying with him, or had the key, due to some rule, transferred to another monster during this time?

"Fuck!"

Han Su only had time to curse before pushing off the ground and agilely rushing out of the room.

Behind him, the Pale Giant had also noticed Han Su, which angered it. It laboriously turned around, trying to grab Han Su, but Li Manman, remembering Han Su's instructions, stood on tiptoe even harder, shining the mirror towards another doll.

Thus, the second doll also collapsed, screaming in despair.

This sound caused the Pale Giant to hesitate for a moment. It turned and walked towards the glass cabinet. Amidst the doll's desperate cries, its massive figure gradually obscured the terrified Li Manman.

She dazedly looked up towards the doorway. That brother had said he would take her out.

But he seemed to have already left...

Before her stood the enormous and ferocious Pale Giant. Beside her, two collapsed plastic dolls inside the glass cabinet desperately pounded on the glass, cursing the Pale Giant and also cursing Li Manman for making them see their own reflections.

Li Manman, who had just mustered the courage to help Han Su with these things, finally felt fear again. She slowly hugged her knees and squatted down.

"She will be punished..."

Meanwhile, Han Su, having escaped the room, felt his heart constricting uncontrollably.

He hadn't expected the key to transfer in such a short time, and his carefully laid plan had fallen through.

Manman had enraged the two dolls in the glass cabinet, and also enraged the Pale Giant. What would happen to her next?

But as this guilt began to well up from the bottom of his heart, he gritted his teeth fiercely and threw all these useless emotions out of his mind:

"There will be a chance, there's always a chance..."

"..."

"..."

"Fifth floor!"

He ran with all his might to the end of the corridor, jumped onto the stairs, and rushed up to the next level.

He remembered this pattern.

After Xu Ji was rescued, the key appeared. But every time he returned, the key would be on a different monster. However, it usually stayed with that monster and didn't change in between.

Why had it suddenly changed this time?

Was it because his return this time wasn't within the normal interval?

Han Su didn't have time to ponder these things. He just recalled the pattern of every previous time he had seen the key and guessed that the key should be on the floor above.

The previous transfers of the key had been similar: this time it was on the Withered Butler on the first floor, next time it would appear on the mysterious Meat Horn Madam, and the time after that, it would be on the crazy and bizarre half body woman on the third floor.

Looking at it this way, the probability of the key being on the fifth floor now was the highest.

He couldn't be sure, and even if it was there, he hadn't figured out how to get it, but he had no other way out. He had to go to the fifth floor first.

The fifth floor was a place Han Su had never been to before. The monsters on the fifth floor had also never come downstairs.

But he didn't have time to think about what was there. He swiftly ascended the thirteen steps, reaching the turn of the stairs. In his peripheral vision, he saw the Pale Giant chasing after him.

Watching Han Su's figure turn the corner and step onto the fifth-floor corridor, the monster let out an angry and disappointed roar, smashing its fist heavily against the nearby wall.

The moment he entered the corridor, Han Su quickly scanned both sides of the fifth floor, but only saw an eerie dead silence.

It was quiet here, with no wandering monsters. In fact, there wasn't a single sign of any living creature!

So, where was the key?

Han Su pressed his chest, forcefully suppressing his pounding heart, and slowed his pace. He stepped onto the thick, damp carpet and walked forward, little by little, slowly.

Meanwhile, on the fourth floor, roars could still be heard intermittently. It was the Pale Giant on the fourth floor, enraged. Unable to charge up to the fifth floor, it was pounding on something. The immense commotion seemed to shake the entire ancient castle.

Thump, thump. The smell of decaying dust filled his nostrils. Cracks appeared on the walls on both sides from the impact.

Something emerged from the depths of the cracks, lunging straight outward.

Tense, Han Su scanned his surroundings vigilantly. He clearly saw the appearance of those things: they were bronze statues.

They wore strange, intricate armor, each with a long, scaled neck, a flat, sinister head, and eyes embedded on either side, flashing with a dim red light.

They were, in fact, bronze statues.

Especially since the appearance of these bronze statues was so peculiar, as if the armor wasn't meant for humans, but for monsters with snake heads and human bodies.

They were embedded in the walls on both sides of the corridor. At first glance, they seemed to be part of the walls. Now, with the castle's tremors, they had loosened slightly. One of them lunged outward a bit, blocking Han Su's path.

"What the hell?"

Han Su didn't have the habit of jumping away or having other stress responses when scared. Instead, he stood his ground, staring intently at the bronze armor, confirming that it was inanimate.

Only then did he slowly circle around, inching his way past it.

His gaze swept across both sides, where bronze doors were embedded in the walls, appearing incredibly sturdy.

Beside each door, a bronze statue stood with its arms extended, gripping the door, like some ancient but intricate Machinery.

Han Su had no intention of admiring this mysterious technology. He simply walked slowly towards the faint light and shadow cast into the corridor ahead, his heart gradually rising into his throat.

He reached the light and shadow and saw a room with a half-open door. He held his breath and looked inside.

The room was decorated luxuriously like an ancient palace, but everything appeared exceptionally old.

And in the center of the room, a coffin was placed.

Two large white candles burned quietly beside the coffin.

By the candlelight, Han Su's eyes sharpened, and he saw the brass-colored key hanging next to the coffin.

"Found it!"

Han Su's heart skipped a beat. He braced himself and lightened his footsteps as he entered the room.

He silently surveyed the room. He saw no other living things. The entire room contained only that black coffin, adorned with intricate, bizarre copper patterns.

He continued to approach. Every step felt like gambling with his life, but Han Su still slowly walked to the side of the coffin.

Slowly, he took the key hanging next to the coffin into his hand.

Nothing happened.

"Thanks..."

Han Su thought to himself and backed out of the room. Unexpectedly, at that very moment, the coffin lid suddenly opened a crack, and a pale, withered hand grabbed his left hand.

The cold, stiff touch, like cast iron, made Han Su's left hand feel as if it were instantly trapped in a vise.

A chilling aura spread throughout his body. His entire body felt frozen, unable to move at all.

The withered palm slowly turned, as if caressing something.

The thumb, with its strange, coppery sheen, slowly scraped across the back of Han Su's hand, invisibly cutting open a wound on his left hand. Blood immediately flowed from the torn flesh.

As the blood flowed, Han Su suddenly felt his body loosen slightly. The body frozen in place seemed to gain a moment of freedom at that instant.

"Holy shit..."

Han Su's skin crawled, and he cursed under his breath.

Seizing this fleeting opportunity, he bit down on the key with his teeth, then violently raised the weapon given to him by the Irritable Kid Brother with his right hand and slashed down fiercely at his own left wrist.