Maki Shijo was furious.
She was more furious than she had ever been before, so angry that she felt like she was about to explode.
Over the course of twelve hours, she and Kaguya had carefully explored the third-floor entertainment area and managed to acquire a soldier's uniform, which they hid in the second-floor dormitory area. Then, after the first night had passed, Kaguya, wearing a researcher's uniform, was responsible for infiltrating the command room, while Maki donned the soldier's uniform to go to the personnel lounge, bring Gao Hai and Chika Fujiwara out for a basic check-up, and then escort them to the Quarantine Zone.
Throughout the entire process, Maki and Kaguya were extremely cautious. In a place teeming with bizarre entities, one wrong step could lead to total annihilation.
In the second-floor dormitories, they saw figures lying on the beds. Some were completely dehydrated, almost mummified, and covered in a thick layer of sand and dust. Others were grotesquely swollen, their bodies bloated and rotted beyond recognition. Still others were completely flattened, presenting a devastation of mangled, fragmented flesh and blood.
Despite this, the two girls couldn't smell the stench of the corpses, not even a hint of blood. On the contrary, they could even hear these things snoring or chatting amongst themselves, as if they were still alive.
When they reached the third-floor lounge, the situation was even more severe. The place was spattered with blood, and fragmented bodies were everywhere. Yet, they were all dressed in researcher or soldier uniforms, drinking and playing with the various entertainment facilities as if they were alive, creating a cheerful atmosphere. Some even invited Maki and Kaguya to play with them.
What seemed to maintain the vitality of these things was the set of clothes on their bodies.
As long as they wore the clothing that 'represented an identity,' these things would be completely unharmed, no matter how severe the damage they sustained. It was as if they had transcended the cycle of life and death, no longer bound by the laws of nature, able to live on forever and ever.
Maki and Kaguya didn't dare try any of the games in the third-floor entertainment area. The two of them carefully scouted one room after another. Finally, in a small room in a corner, they seized the clothes from one of two fragmented corpses at the very moment the two were flirting with each other.
To be honest, the sight of two human-shaped piles of mince, looking like they'd been run over by a truck, embracing each other intimately was enough to leave one with deep psychological scars. At the very least, Maki, who witnessed this scene, was so deeply disturbed she nearly threw up on the spot. Incidentally, after the clothes representing their 'identity' were removed, the two things quickly began to emit a foul stench. Chunks of flesh started falling off their bodies, and blood spurted out, which nicely explained why there were bloodstains all over the third floor.
Putting on that uniform was a huge test for Maki. The inside was stained with blood and even had fragments of bone and bits of flesh still stuck to it.
But in order to confirm Gao Hai's safety as soon as possible, to see with her own eyes that he was okay, Maki ultimately overcame her psychological and physiological discomfort and forced herself to put on the soldier's uniform.
Strangely enough, although the soldier's uniform was clearly several sizes too big for Maki, it fit her perfectly once she put it on, as if it had been tailor-made for her. It was remarkably comfortable and suitable.
With a deeper understanding of 'role-playing an identity,' Maki then proceeded to the personnel lounge, arriving in her capacity as a soldier to escort Gao Hai and the other exploration personnel.
And then she saw Gao Hai, holding Chika Fujiwara tightly in his arms and not letting go.
"The second exploration mission is about to begin. You two, please get moving immediately."
Maki's voice was cold, her face expressionless, and there was even a faint hint of killing intent. Upon seeing her, Gao Hai immediately let go. Finally free, Chika scrambled off of Gao Hai, panting, her face flushed as she stood to the side.
That was too intense.
Clutching her chest, Chika felt like her heart was about to stop.
She had only been asleep for a short while last night. Unable to fall into a deep slumber, she suddenly felt a slight movement beside her. Before she could understand what was happening, Gao Hai had turned to face her, reached out, and pulled her into an embrace, drawing her entire body into his arms.
There was a nearly thirty-centimeter height difference between Gao Hai and Chika, which resulted in Chika being practically kneaded into his chest, her entire body forced against his.
Compounded by the absolute disparity in strength, Chika's struggles were completely futile. In fact, her efforts seemed to trigger some instinctual reaction in Gao Hai, like a villain getting excited by a flurry of ineffective blows, causing him to hold her even tighter.
Unable to break free, the girl eventually gave up, exhausted from her struggles and having confirmed that Gao Hai was genuinely asleep and not taking advantage of her. She could only resign herself to her fate, curling up in his arms and using his body as a bed to close her eyes and sleep.
The experience was thrilling.
At least for Chika Fujiwara, who had never been in a relationship and had barely had any close contact with the opposite sex, it was incredibly intense.
This was especially true the next morning, when Gao Hai's body had its natural morning reaction. The thrill became even more potent, so powerful that Chika thought she was going to stop breathing on the spot and pass out.
Thankfully, the appearance of this soldier who came to her rescue prevented a certain extremely unfortunate development from occurring.
Thinking this, Chika looked up, only to be utterly shocked to find that the soldier was none other than Maki Shijo. Her mouth fell open, and she was speechless.
"Please put on your designated uniforms and follow me for your medical examination."
Maki simply continued speaking, her expression blank. At that moment, her aura was so cold it reached an extreme, almost making Gao Hai wonder if she had been completely assimilated by some strange power and turned into an inhuman monster. Fortunately, thanks to his Blessing, Gao Hai could still confirm that the girl in the soldier's uniform was indeed an ally. It was just that her emotions now carried a hint of subtle malice—not genuine hatred for him, but a level of ill will that simply meant she was extremely displeased with him.
As for the source of this malice, Gao Hai was naturally well aware.
Awkward.
At this moment, Gao Hai's heart was filled with awkwardness.
Just a moment ago, it was a terrifying, hardcore rules-based horror game. How did it suddenly turn into a lover's quarrel? There's definitely something wrong with this development, right?
Not knowing what to say, Gao Hai could only quickly straighten out the yellow-and-white striped Exploration Personnel uniform he was wearing. He then gestured for Chika to follow him as he fell in step behind the departing Maki to go for the so-called medical examination.
After about ten minutes, which just involved a few scans from some instruments, he and Chika were told to proceed to the Quarantine Zone as soon as possible to begin the next round of exploration.
"Be careful of everything."
Although her gaze towards Gao Hai still carried a hint of resentment, Maki ultimately relayed to him all the intelligence she and Kaguya had gathered. This included topics discussed by the 'researchers' on the third floor, such as 'the base still hasn't found a stable production method this year,' 'we're running low on exploration personnel from the prison again,' and 'a hapless soldier disappeared yesterday for not following the rules,' as well as other data collected from various sources.
Maki even gave Gao Hai a rough, hand-drawn map of the base's first and second floors. As for the third-floor entertainment area, she and Kaguya hadn't fully explored it, so there was no accurate map available yet.
Gao Hai didn't hesitate either. He took the opportunity to share the information he and Chika had gathered, which surprised Maki. She had never imagined that the different identities of 'Explorer,' 'Rescue Team,' and 'Security Guard' could lead to being teleported to different points in time, or that the depths of the Red Nut Gray Hole hid such a variety of bizarre phenomena. She fell into deep thought, troubled by how to integrate all this information to find a logical course of action.
Aside from the uniforms Maki and Kaguya were already wearing, they had a spare researcher uniform for Maki and the uniform of the other soldier they had stolen from the embracing pair. According to their plan, they were originally going to use this opportunity to have Gao Hai and Chika change clothes, allowing them to escape the exploration mission that would likely involve all sorts of unknown dangers. However, after some thought, Gao Hai chose to refuse. He decided to enter the Red Nut Gray Hole of this timeline to properly assess the situation inside.
As for Chika Fujiwara, although Maki was already extremely displeased with the well-endowed girl, she wasn't so petty as to disregard her life over a minor emotional tiff. Thus, after Gao Hai decided not to change, she gestured for the girl to change clothes and alter her identity.
Unexpectedly, she was refused again.
"Gao-kun saved me several times during the previous investigation, and we've worked together many times. So, I'm going with him again this time. That way, if we encounter any unexpected situations, I believe Gao-kun and I can coordinate our actions effectively."
As Chika Fujiwara said this, the blush on her face had not faded, but her attitude was firm, showing no intention of changing her mind.
And so, Maki's fists clenched a little tighter.
Oh, great. So these two have already become so close that they can trust each other and work together as a team.
While I was working my ass off investigating this research base, what have you two been up to?
And calling Hai-kun 'Gao-kun' and all that... you sound pretty intimate.
Maki Shijo's gaze towards Gao Hai seemed to burn with a fiery passion. She held it back, then held it back again, ultimately suppressing her emotions so as not to affect the current mission. In the end, she just gave Gao Hai's leg a light, powerless kick before walking away in a huff.
To be honest, seeing her react like that, Gao Hai felt quite guilty.
But the problem was, thinking back, nothing had really happened between him and Chika Fujiwara, had it? Whether it was ripping her clothes off, showering together, or sleeping in the same bed while holding each other... okay, while the starting point for most of these things was born out of necessity, they were indeed a bit inappropriate.
But for now... ah, forget it. Better not to think about such things. First, let's figure out how to survive.
Forcing himself to ignore the gaze of Maki, who was standing in the corridor leading to the Quarantine Zone, deliberately choosing a spot far away from him, Gao Hai continued forward. He stepped through the gate into the spacious hall of the Quarantine Zone, a place known as the 'Preparation Room.'
He could see more than ten machine guns and automatic cannons aimed in his direction with just a glance, and he could also sense more than one twisted, hostile presence in the shadows.
However, judging by the angles at which these weapons were aimed, they didn't seem to be prepared for him, who had just entered, but rather for something emerging from the direction of the cave.
Not far away was a glass wall. When he entered, Gao Hai could see his own mismatched appearance in the yellow-and-white striped uniform reflected on the glass. At this very moment, behind that glass wall, Kaguya stood in that room, watching a group of researchers who were monitoring various data feeds in front of her.
"Exploration personnel in position. Headcount, 3... Headcount 2? Headcount... 2. A total of two exploration personnel. Please notify the command room to commence the operation."
A cold voice spoke. A researcher whose entire face was a mangled wreck turned his head and gave the order to Kaguya.
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