For Lao Guo, known as 'Old Ghost Guo,' he never imagined that he would one day stumble and fall because of such a young brat—and fall so spectacularly.
Thump!
Gao Hai, while yelling about saving him, threw another punch, shattering Lao Guo's nasal bone on the spot and practically caving in his entire nose.
[Are you okay? You're badly hurt. Don't worry, I'll get you out of here.]
Gao Hai then offered these words of comfort with immense concern, before clenching his fist and punching him again.
[Please don't worry. As long as I'm here, you'll be fine.]
Gao Hai's voice was filled with sincerity, and the fist he brought down was filled with realism—so real that one of Lao Guo's eye sockets cracked open on impact, his entire eye flooding with blood.
[Come with me. I'll protect you.]
To the sound of yet another heartfelt sentiment, Gao Hai's fist smashed into the top of Lao Guo's head, nearly knocking him unconscious and leaving his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
There was no way to get away from him.
On the verge of being completely transformed into an anomaly, Gao Hai's physical prowess had far surpassed the limits of a human being. Lao Guo's own constitution, though much stronger than an ordinary person's, was as helpless as a child's before him.
Dong!
Under Gao Hai's immense, heavy force, Lao Guo's face, like that of the woman before, was beaten to a pulp.
If this continues, I'm going to be beaten to death right here.
Lao Guo wanted to howl in agony, but the moment he opened his mouth, Gao Hai slapped him hard across the face, sending the few remaining teeth in his mouth flying out in shattered pieces.
"You... bastard..."
In a daze, his face covered in blood, Lao Guo finally found an opportunity. He painstakingly reached into his pocket, pulled out a small vial, uncorked it, and violently flung the powder inside at Gao Hai.
The next moment, as if electrocuted, Gao Hai shot back a step, his body briefly stiffening. Lao Guo rolled across the floor and scrambled to his feet. After a moment's hesitation, he gritted his teeth and threw even more of the powder in Gao Hai's direction.
It was an anomalous bone ash, a very precious Obsession Item capable of temporarily suppressing the process of a dead person turning into an anomaly. While it was also effective on a living person undergoing such a transformation, the effect was very limited. Conversely, it was completely useless against a true anomaly.
For players of the Sacrificial Game, this special bone ash was extremely important. In the bloody games woven from one rules-based horror story after another, the dead rarely rested in peace, instead being transformed into appendages of the horror story's anomaly or some kind of activation medium. Therefore, items that could suppress a corpse's transformation were exceedingly precious and vital within the instances of the Sacrificial Game. This was especially true for extremely difficult and dangerous high-level instances, such as the 'solidifying' Dark Night-level and Red Moon-level games. In these instances, where the death rate was sky-high, team wipes were common, and all participants were veteran players carrying Obsession Items, this bone ash was even more indispensable.
This was not something that could be squandered. Precisely because of its value, the demand for bone ash among top-tier veteran players had always been high. But Lao Guo, being an unpopular player with an extremely bad reputation for frequently attacking others, found that many player-run shops simply wouldn't sell to him. The supply channels he could find were not only unofficial and thus extremely expensive, but the quality of the goods was also not guaranteed.
But now, to save his own life, he couldn't worry about any of that.
As it turned out, Lao Guo's decision was absolutely correct. The powder he'd thrown just now had only stalled Gao Hai for less than three seconds. Without the second wave of the ash attack, he would have been immediately caught by a charging Gao Hai.
I have to escape, get away from this transforming bastard. I need to find a way back to the second floor and find the wall clock to initiate a rewind.
To be held up by a kid on the verge of death, unable to retrieve the faceless head—losing this Obsession Item, which was most effective against the living, was an unacceptable and major loss for Lao Guo. He had to find a way to get it back, he absolutely had to recover this loss!
With these thoughts, Lao Guo stumbled away in his escape. He threw a wooden puppet from his pocket, which expanded in mid-air, becoming a corpse whose joints had been ripped out and replaced with wooden structures. It then reached out and seized the pursuing Gao Hai, preventing him from giving chase.
Schlick—
The next moment, a sharp scalpel easily sliced through the flesh-and-blood puppet's hands.
Gao Hai resumed his pursuit of Lao Guo, but he still couldn't pick up speed.
The ground beneath his feet seemed to be turning into a swamp, bit by bit.
Looking down, Gao Hai saw rotting flesh-and-blood dolls stretching their hands out from the mire, grabbing his feet and trying to drag him in.
He couldn't break free.
Gao Hai struggled forward with all his might but was unable to escape their pull.
I wonder if I've forced out all of this old bastard's trump cards.
To successfully kill him in the next loop and eliminate this huge hidden danger, I have to force out all of his trump cards and figure out all his tricks before I die in this loop.
But now, this guy...
I... Rescue Team... I am... Gao... I...
His will, already at its breaking point, was beginning to collapse. No matter how tenacious Gao Hai's spirit was, it couldn't change the fact that he was at the end of his rope.
Up ahead, Lao Guo had stopped.
He hadn't run far, even stopping within Gao Hai's line of sight. He then took out a small, dark red key and inserted it directly into one of the doors in this chaotic area, opening it.
Beyond the opened door, Gao Hai saw the second-floor hallway.
He's going to the second floor, to the same floor as Maki and the others!
[Ah... oh...]
He could no longer produce normal sounds.
Gao Hai strained to move forward, dragging one flesh-and-blood puppet after another as he closed the distance.
It's no use, I can't catch him. I'm not fast enough like this.
On my own, I can't catch up to that guy.
I am... Rescue Team...
I... Rescue Team... I am...
Rescue Team... team...
A large hand reached out from the side, grabbing Gao Hai's shoulder and pulling him out from among the flesh-and-blood puppets.
Several soaking wet figures, also dressed in rescue uniforms, stood silently by Gao Hai's side, moving in unison with him.
That's right, I'm a member of the Rescue Team.
We join hands, we advance together, to save every single person who needs our help.
Therefore, we won't face danger alone. We will act together, advance together.
In that moment, Gao Hai's sense of self was about to vanish completely.
In his daze, he didn't even know where he was. He just kept repeating the target 'Lao Guo' in his mind, telling himself over and over to go [rescue] this man, trying in this way to ensure he wouldn't forget his objective.
It seemed he heard something.
Coming from the second-floor hallway, a girl's cry of alarm, Lao Guo's vicious threats, and the sound of his own footsteps.
His vision suddenly sharpened.
At one end of the dimly lit second-floor hallway, Lao Guo opened the door to 208 and rushed inside.
The door to 206 was broken, with scattered bloodstains indicating that the people inside had made a hasty retreat.
Faintly, he seemed to see Green's shattered face appear in mid-air before quickly vanishing. It seemed the man had turned into an anomaly after death, and Kaguya and the others had been forced to flee 206 to escape it.
Where would they be now?
Gao Hai looked toward Room 208, where Lao Guo had just rushed in.
Were those chaotic, jumbled sounds the sounds of a life-or-death struggle?
I am Rescue Team... I must go to the second floor...
I am... no... I'm Gao Hai. That's right, I'm Gao Hai...
I have to find them. I can't let that bastard hurt anyone else. At least this time, I can't let her die before I do...
His forward stride came to a difficult halt.
Gao Hai slowly turned and walked out of the Rescue Team formation.
His mind nearly splitting in two, his consciousness flickering between clarity and chaos, he stepped into the hallway of 208 and walked all the way into the living room.
Kaguya, with one hand wrapped in gauze, and Maki were confronting the intruding Lao Guo. Meanwhile, the cold, frozen corpse from the kitchen had emerged, its vacant face locked firmly on Gao Hai himself as he entered the room.
He couldn't make out who was saying what; he was unable to distinguish the sounds around him.
He only seemed to see continuous flashing sparks and hear a man's despairing howl.
The noises around him grew even more chaotic.
All sorts of furniture were being torn apart, and more and more cracks appeared on the walls and floor.
Someone had followed him in, wearing the same uniform as him. Right, they came with me. We have to save Lao Guo. Yes, we have to save him.
It felt like someone was constantly interfering with him, something very, very cold, and very powerful. So many of us together couldn't subdue it.
Rrrip—
The Rescue Team badge pinned to his shoulder was torn off.
His chaotic consciousness became clear once more.
Gao Hai saw Lao Guo surrounded by several rescue workers, struggling desperately but unable to escape. He was dragged down into the standing water on the floor along with the rescue workers and was completely submerged, leaving only a small, dark red key lying in the puddle.
The frozen corpse stood in the living room, watching him for a while before slowly turning around and walking back into the kitchen.
"Hai-kun! Hai-kun!"
Maki's cry sounded beside him.
His surroundings became a little clearer.
Gao Hai opened his eyes and looked at the ravaged living room, which looked as if a Category 10 typhoon had torn through it. He saw Kaguya, covered in injuries, sitting against a wall in the corner, and in front of him, Maki, kneeling on the floor. A sliver of his consciousness slowly returned.
"Lao Guo... is he dead?"
Gao Hai asked, his voice hoarse.
"He was dragged away by those rescue workers and disappeared into the water."
Maki, who was covered in injuries herself and even had a wooden splinter sticking out of her shoulder, nodded lightly, looking utterly exhausted.
"Is this... a lap pillow? Isn't this a bit too high-class for me?"
Gao Hai, his spirits suddenly much improved as if he'd recovered, only just noticed he was lying on Maki's lap and couldn't help but say with a small laugh.
"Well, if you hadn't rushed over, Grandma Kaguya and I wouldn't have been able to handle that man. He had some very strange abilities, we couldn't defeat him. A lap pillow isn't out of the question as a reward for our great hero. But don't get the wrong idea, okay? This is just a reward."
Maki sighed softly, reaching up to wipe the blood trickling down her forehead. Then she lifted her head, revealing her usual tsundere expression.
"Is that so? I was kind of hoping to get the wrong idea."
Gao Hai chuckled lightly. As he felt the rescue uniform on his body grow progressively heavier and more constricting, he looked up at Maki again, his gaze fixed on her until the girl's face began to blush with a hint of embarrassment.
"Hey, what are you doing? It's rude to keep staring at people like that."
Maki muttered in a small voice, avoiding Gao Hai's gaze.
Her face was even redder than before.
For this young lady, giving a lap pillow to a member of the opposite sex was clearly not as easy as her words suggested. It was just that she had finally found a chance to rip the badge off Gao Hai's uniform, and seeing his terrible condition, with the room so utterly wrecked that there was nowhere else to rest, she had no choice but to inconvenience herself and offer him her lap.
At least, in Maki's eyes, that was the reason she used to convince herself.
But now, seeing the strange expression on his face, she couldn't help but feel her heart race, and she began to wonder if the current atmosphere was a little strange.
Idiot, why am I thinking so much?
Just because he knows the me from the previous rewind, knows things I don't know now, does that mean I have to treat him differently, give him special treatment? This is clearly just a reward from a superior to a subordinate. Mmm, that's right, a reward... Wait, do superiors really reward subordinates with things like lap pillows?
"My time is running out..."
Her chaotic thoughts were cut short by Gao Hai's next sentence.
Maki whipped her head to look at Gao Hai, only to see that one half of his body was beginning to show signs of severe burns, as if his flesh was about to completely melt away, while the other half was undergoing an increasingly twisted transformation, as if turning into another person entirely.
"What... what is happening?"
Nearby, Kaguya stood up, clutching her injured arm, and cautiously stepped forward a little. Maki, however, asked in a somewhat frantic voice.
"I went into a place I shouldn't have and was hit with a severe curse. To deal with it, I had to borrow a dangerous item. My time is almost up. Soon, I'll die, and then I'll become one of the Rescue Team. At that point, I should automatically head to the first floor. These Obsession Items can be left behind."
Gao Hai knew he was about to reset, but the two young women before him naturally couldn't know that. Therefore, he decided to adopt the posture of a dying man to entrust them with his last words. Though, given his current physical and mental state, he could indeed be said to be in the final stages of life.
"How could this be... just when you finally came back..."
Unprepared for this turn of events, Maki's voice held a hint of a tremor.
"That woman destroyed all the wall clocks on the second floor before she made her move. If you die here, we have no way to save you. So, if you have anything else to say, you'd better say it all now."
Standing to the side, Kaguya Shinomiya's expression also changed, but in the end, her calmer personality won out. She simply closed her eyes and spoke in a flat tone.
"...Hmph, should I say I'm not surprised? This so-called game is truly harsh when it comes to choosing teammates."
Gao Hai sighed. He had long guessed that the woman disguised as Miwa Maeda would have made preparations before daring to strike at that moment. The fact that no rewind had occurred since then also confirmed his thoughts. She had destroyed all the wall clocks on the second floor before revealing her true face, and then destroyed the one inside the room during the attack where she killed Green and severed Gao Hai's right hand, ensuring that Gao Hai's side could no longer use the rewind.
This was easy enough to figure out. After all, the opponent wasn't an idiot. Since she knew about the existence of the rewind, how could she not have a contingency plan for it when she acted? It was precisely for this reason that Gao Hai had quickly determined it would be impossible to catch her by conventional means, which was why he chose a mutually destructive strategy.
Looking at the final result, both of these shit-stirring veteran players, be it Miwa Maeda or Lao Guo, were well and truly killed by his methods once. He had to admit, he felt a lot better.
He now had a pretty good idea of both of their trump cards. If he reset... it would still be very difficult to deal with them. The woman disguised as Miwa Maeda had two incredibly sharp scalpels, a doll of unknown function, and the ability to completely impersonate someone, whether through acting or some anomalous item. The Obsession Items Lao Guo had revealed so far were a man-eating head, a flesh-and-blood puppet, a box of strange bone ash, and a blood key, in addition to weapons like guns and explosives. The only countermeasure he could find on his side was to take a badge from the first-floor Rescue Team, but the side effects of that thing were huge. He'd be better off as Ultraman, who could at least fight for a full three minutes.
If only there were some way to take those Obsession Items...
Gao Hai gazed at the blood-colored key lying in the puddle of water and couldn't help but lament inwardly.
His consciousness was beginning to blur again.
He knew that his second loop was about to end here.
"Do you have any last words you want to say?"
Maki asked softly in the end.
Gao Hai turned his head with some difficulty, looking at the girl's face before him, which had become a blurry mess he could no longer see clearly.
Her voice seemed to tremble a little. Could she be crying?
What a sentimental girl. In her eyes, I'm just a stranger she's known for less than three days.
In this final moment, Gao Hai suddenly couldn't resist a mischievous thought.
"Last words... should I call it a wish, or a fantasy?"
Gao Hai began to speak slowly.
"What is it? If it's something I can do, I'll do my best to fulfill it."
Hearing this, Maki replied hurriedly.
"Well, in my whole life, I've never been kissed by a girl. It'd be pretty lonely to die all by myself like this. So... if it's not too much to ask, could you kiss me? I really like you, Maki. If it's a kind and cute girl like you, I think I could die without any regrets."
And so, Gao Hai struggled to lift his left hand and gently patted his own cheek.
"Huh?"
As expected, he heard a gasp of surprise from Maki.
Haha, I feel like I'm being a little terrible right now. But I'm already in such a miserable state, so teasing her a little shouldn't result in any overly harsh treatment, right?
His vision had already gone dark, unable to see anything. Gao Hai lay there quietly. He was already prepared for an embarrassed and angry Maki to punch him or simply shove him off her lap.
But in the end, what he heard was the girl's soft words after taking a deep breath:
"I understand, Hai."
That delicate voice was like a secret whispered right by his ear.
No, that voice was truly right by his ear. He could even faintly hear her breathing, feel that breath fall upon his festering cheek.
The girl leaned down, showing not the slightest expression of disgust toward the horrifically ugly, scalded side of Gao Hai's face. She just spoke slowly by his ear in a gentle voice.
"Thank you for liking me, Hai. Thank you."
"If only I could have known you better, if only we hadn't met in a place like this..."
Then, there was a light touch that lingered on Gao Hai's lips, which had been ruined by boiling water.
Gao Hai had already lost his final sense; he could no longer feel her touch.
But in that moment, he felt as if he could truly perceive it—perceive the warm breath she was conveying to him.
It was captivating.
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