Their escape route had been completely sealed off. Thick mist had swallowed the way they had come, forcing Chi Yan and Xie Ying to continue upward.
Still, as far as they were concerned, as long as they did not actually cross the threshold of the fifteenth floor, they had not officially entered the forbidden floor. They would still have room to maneuver.
But when they reached the emergency door on the fifteenth floor, they saw the same thing Su Bai had: the door stood slightly ajar, leaving a long, narrow gap. Light spilled through it, a light that looked warm.
The door to the fifteenth floor remained completely intact, showing no signs of damage from the intense heat. Nor was there any sign of the air in the stairwell growing warmer.
It was as though the fifteenth floor was trying to tell them that there was no danger behind the door-that beyond it lay the place where they truly belonged.
This calm felt too deliberate, making it all the more eerie.
Chi Yan and Xie Ying were not about to be swayed by such temptation. Both stopped without taking another half step forward. Their instincts as veteran players warned them that continuing might lead them past the point of no return.
At that moment, Chi Yan turned to Su Bai, who stood at the rear of the group, and asked gravely, "Su Bai, what do you think? Should we... keep going?"
Su Bai did not answer immediately. He gripped the stair railing to steady himself against the dizziness caused by the disordered images coming through the Blood Butterflies' vision.
Then he slowly exhaled and said calmly, "The truth is, we've never had many choices in the Nightmare World."
"If I'm not mistaken, the mist behind us has already drawn closer."