Where Exactly Is This Place?

The nine continued walking with their heads down.

The fat man carried the table leg over his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the carpet beneath his feet. "Don't look, don't look, don't look," he muttered over and over.

They walked down the corridor for a long time, rounding countless bends and passing through the halos of countless incandescent bulbs.

Lin Yang felt the carpet beneath his feet growing drier. Before, he could feel moisture squeezing out of the padding when he stepped on it. Now it was gone!

The beige carpet had turned dry and rough. The musty smell in the air was fading too!

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief and glanced at Chen Yu. "How did you know this place was dry?"

Chen Yu was leading the group. "Well, I spent a few years in a shady line of work. Picked up a few skills."

The fat man looked surprised. "What skills? Don't tell me you robbed tombs?"

Chen Yu said nothing. It was hard to tell whether he was admitting it or meant something else.

Lin Yang stopped. Only then did he dare raise his head and look around.

"The light's bright, and the ground's dry. We're safe for now."

The nine leaned against the wall, breathing in great gasps, but none of them dared let their guard down completely.

A jumble of footsteps came from behind them!

The newcomers had caught up, stumbling toward them from the other end of the corridor.

There were two fewer of them than before.

Two people were supporting Blondie. The knife wound on his back was still seeping blood, leaving a broken trail across the beige carpet!

His face was as white as paper, his lips purple. The mocking smirk he'd worn before had vanished entirely.

Lin Yang was a little surprised. "He's still alive? He's got a tough life."

The people around Blondie had quieted down too. No one was talking about "escape rooms" or "transmigration novels" anymore.

The makeup on several finely dressed girls' faces had run, their tears washing their mascara into two black streaks.

The fat auntie brought up the rear with the boy in her arms, too breathless even to shout.

When she could run no farther, she fell to the ground. The brat's face was cut in the fall, and his nose was bleeding!

"Please! Can we come with you?!" someone shouted, their voice thick with tears.

"What's going on here? Is this really not the real world?"

"Save us! You obviously have experience. Please save us!!"

The fat man glanced at them.

His gaze settled on a girl wearing a JK miniskirt and white stockings.

He turned to Lin Yang and hesitated. "Brother Lin, what about them..."

Lin Yang glanced at the newcomers. They were all wailing and full of regret!

Then he looked away and turned to face the depths of the dry corridor.

He said nothing, but the survivors all followed him.

"Current survivors: 17, number of Facelings: 4"

Everyone rested in the dry area for less than fifteen minutes.

The beige carpet no longer gave that damp squelch underfoot, the musty smell in the air had faded, and the incandescent bulbs overhead lit the corridor brightly.

Lin Yang sat down against the wall and broke the last half-piece of chicken in his backpack into portions, handing them to the fat man and the others.

It was the last of the food they had brought out of the Faceling school. The meat had gone completely cold, and the fat had congealed into a white film, but it was still a little springy when chewed.

The newcomers rested too, looking around in confusion, fear in their eyes.

"Where exactly is this place?" someone asked.

It was the skinny man who had been knocking on the walls earlier. His voice carried a delayed tremor.

"No idea." The fat man swallowed the tentacle meat and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth.

"Anyway, besides those pitch-black monsters, there are Facelings among us. Four of them!"

A girl in a JK miniskirt raised her head.

She was about seventeen or eighteen, and half her makeup had been ruined by tears. Her voice was very quiet, as though she were afraid something might hear her.

"What exactly are Facelings?"

The fat man looked at the beautiful girl, chuckled, and lowered his voice.

"Fakes wearing human skin. They look just like you, can talk, can laugh, and can make friends with you. Then, when you're not paying attention!" He suddenly clapped his hands with a sharp smack.

"They eat you!"

The girl screamed and scrambled back half a meter, her back hitting the wallpaper as she shook like a leaf.

Seeing that she was genuinely frightened, the fat man hurried over again, smiling and waving his hands.

"Hey, don't be scared. With Brother Fatty here, the Facelings can't hurt you!"

He reached out to pat her shoulder, but the girl kept pushing him away, muttering, "Go away, go away."

The fat man had no choice but to pull back.

Shen Yue rolled her eyes beside him and stuffed the last bite of meat into her mouth.

Lin Yang glanced over the group.

"Enough. Besides the Facelings, there are Faceless Ghosts here, and who knows what other ghosts might be around. Save your strength for dealing with them!"

That quieted everyone down.

He wasn't exaggerating. He was simply stating a fact, and the fact itself was frightening enough.

"Then how do we get out of here?"

The girl in the miniskirt asked. She had stopped rubbing her hands. There was a patch of dirt on her skirt, but she didn't brush it off.

"Wait," Lin Yang said.

"Wait?" A boy with a bowl cut stood up beside Blondie.

He was young, probably around eighteen too, a young fellow in a tight T-shirt. His face was round, and his brow was tightly furrowed.

"Isn't waiting just waiting to die? You're telling us to wait, but what if we die? Who's going to take responsibility?"

The fat man thumped the table leg against the floor. "If you won't wait, then get lost. Nobody's stopping you."

The bowl-cut boy opened his mouth but didn't dare answer.

He glanced at the knife wound on Blondie's back and swallowed the rest of his words.

Just then, the announcement came on. The voice seeped from some corner of the corridor ceiling, unhurried and measured.

"Friendly reminder: there is a Seer among you. He can check monsters' identities or obtain information. Please follow the Seer's guidance and let him lead you out of here. Of course, the Seer will also attract special attention from the Facelings. Please be sure to protect him."