Another member of the Class-D Personnel stepped forward. He was visibly nervous, his legs trembling.
Number 2 also put on a helmet and entered the villa. A few minutes later, the Captain spoke again.
"Number 3."
The guy beside him stepped forward. Lin Ye was Number 4.
The guy also put on a helmet and entered the villa. Lin Ye glanced at the fully armed Supervisory Personnel nearby and abandoned his escape plan.
He couldn't outrun rifle fire.
A few more minutes passed. Just as Lin Ye's thoughts were wandering, his vision suddenly blurred without warning.
Buzzz...
Lin Ye opened his eyes. He was sitting in the moving prison transport, beside the guy who had just entered the villa.
[Simulations remaining: 9]
Lin Ye: ...
With a long sigh, Lin Ye clawed hard at his hair. He seemed to have died once just now, but he hadn't noticed the slightest sign of anything happening.
This is trouble. Those two who went in earlier are most likely dead, but waiting outside isn't safe either...
I'll have to go in and see what's going on.
Just like in the previous simulation, Number 1 and Number 2 entered the villa in turn. But this time, when the Captain called Number 3, Lin Ye stepped forward.
"I can't take this anymore. Can you let me go in first?"
The Captain glanced at Lin Ye and said nothing more, merely signaling a team member to put a helmet on him.
"Can you give me a weapon to defend myself? You want me to last a little longer too, don't you?"
Lin Ye hoped to get a handgun. Although he had never used one, firing a gun wasn't difficult.
The team member drew a dagger and handed it to Lin Ye without saying a word.
Lin Ye reluctantly accepted the dagger. He knew these people wouldn't give him a gun, but it didn't hurt to try.
The villa had two floors. The entrance opened into a hall with a high, vaulted ceiling. A staircase on one side led to the second floor, and several corridors connected the hall to other rooms.
Lin Ye moved slowly along the wall, examining the hall by moonlight.
His helmet had a headlamp, but he didn't dare turn it on. It was the middle of the night, after all. Turning on a light here would make him a sitting duck.
"Check the second corridor on the right. Don't go near the first corridor."
The Captain's voice came through his earpiece.
Did he speak to the other Class-D Personnel earlier?
A trace of doubt arose in Lin Ye's mind, but he didn't disobey. He knew nothing about this place anyway and had no idea where to go.
He continued moving along the wall. As he passed the first corridor, Lin Ye instinctively glanced down it.
Something orange hung at the end of the corridor. Lin Ye's pupils contracted slightly. For the first time in his life, he felt that having such good eyesight wasn't necessarily a good thing.
His fellow member of the Class-D Personnel hung there, divided and reassembled like building blocks. He retained a human shape, yet on closer inspection had no human features at all, hanging there like a piece of avant-garde art. If not for the conspicuous scraps of orange prison uniform, even Lin Ye would have struggled to recognize what it was at a glance.
Holy shit!
Startled, Lin Ye involuntarily took a step back.
There should have been nothing behind him but the open hall, yet his back touched something.
Lin Ye lunged sideways as though scalded by boiling water, but his body failed to obey him. At the final moment, he saw his own shattered body.
Buzzz...
His violently pounding heartbeat was deafening. Even across the gulf of time, even knowing that thing couldn't possibly follow him here, Lin Ye still couldn't calm down.
His body was intact now, and he could move freely, but in less than half an hour, he would have to face that thing capable of dismantling his body at will again.
[Simulations remaining: 8]
Fuck, this is really...
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do...
Eight tries left...
What happens after that? Do I go back, or...
Intense terror gripped Lin Ye's heart, leaving him unable to untangle his chaotic thoughts. He pounded his head hard, forcing himself to calm down.
Deep breaths...
The first floor is dangerous. There's a monster that can cut people apart...
The two who went in first were already cut apart...
Head straight to the second floor, or...
No, going in first might mean running into that thing that cuts people apart...
Eight simulations. I can try heading straight to the second floor first. If that doesn't work, I'll go in first...
The prison transport soon stopped in front of the villa.
On his third time entering the villa, Lin Ye was already prepared to be killed.
This time, he was still the third to enter. Just as before, the Captain told him to investigate the second corridor on the right.
This time, Lin Ye didn't follow orders. Instead, he rushed toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
Just as he had guessed, the thing that dismantled people was active on the first floor. He made it all the way upstairs without being harmed.
The stairs faced the second-floor living room. Along one side was a row of large floor-to-ceiling windows, while the other sides connected to various rooms.
An unusually eye-catching pitch-black box sat on the coffee table in the center of the living room. Though its darkness was deeper than the night, it was impossible to ignore.
The lid could slide sideways. It had already been slid three-quarters of the way open, with only a quarter still covering the box.
Lin Ye found himself walking over to the coffee table. The box was a cube about an arm's length across. Its interior was pitch-black, making it completely impossible to see what was inside.
"Open the box all the way, and your mission will be complete. After that, you can leave your status as Class-D Personnel behind and freely choose whether to leave or join the organization."
The Captain's voice sounded in his ear. Lin Ye instinctively raised his hand, but a sense that something was wrong held him back.
Open the box...
The first time, I was outside, but I suddenly died...
Hurry up and open the box...
The Captain didn't speak while Number 1 and Number 2 were exploring...
Open the box, and all your suffering will end. You'll receive the reward you deserve...
Will it really end?
Lin Ye slowly withdrew his right hand and turned his head. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, four pairs of eyes were staring fixedly at him.
The Captain and three team members were all impaled on pitch-black pillars, staring at Lin Ye with smiles on their faces. Farther away, more black pillars grew from the ground, each with a person impaled on it.
"Number 4, open the box."
The Captain's cold voice came through the earpiece, urging Lin Ye to act quickly.
Without hesitation, Lin Ye turned to close the box.
The lid was cold, so cold that it reminded Lin Ye of bone-chilling tap water in winter.
As Lin Ye pushed the lid, he felt the "heat" inside him steadily draining away. Before he had even pushed it to the halfway point, he could no longer sense his body.
Something inside him that he depended on to live was exhausted. Before long, Lin Ye lost consciousness completely.
Buzzz...
Lin Ye woke from the nightmare once again, with the familiar guy beside him.
[Simulations remaining: 7]
Before you continue