A blood-red city.
He had arrived once again in this silent, crimson city.
The pain was gone.
That nightmarish experience was like a dream; upon waking, the hurt was no more.
There was only the pervasive blood-red color.
Only the silent city before him.
No, this time, it seemed he could hear something.
Sounds of wailing and screaming, of difficult struggles, of terrible torment.
Emanating from somewhere within the crimson city, the sounds echoed ceaselessly, reaching Gao Hai's ears.
What was going on?
Gao Hai looked toward the source of the sound.
Every time he arrived in this city, he would appear in the same plaza.
But this time he noticed something different—a long fissure on the plaza ground that hadn't been there before.
He walked to the edge of the fissure and looked down.
He saw raging flames spreading beneath the entire city.
And struggling within the flames were two twisted figures, along with several phantoms that had already dissipated.
Li Youcai, Xu Jiazhen—it was that pair of beastly parents.
For some reason, the two of them remained completely intact within the fire. They were being burned ceaselessly, endlessly suffering the agony of extreme torture, yet not a single wound appeared on their bodies. They could only repeat this pain over and over.
Aside from these two, the porcelain dolls, those illusory humanoids, had almost completely faded away, with only a few remnants left.
Anomalies derived from obsessions, lacking a true foundation, would quickly burn out and become pure nourishment. But anomalies that possessed self-awareness, those directly transformed from humans, would they endlessly repeat an infinite agony, continuously drained like a battery?
Gao Hai now understood why he had uttered the words 'I grant you eternal life' at the moment the Shirakawa Apartments collapsed.
He had indeed given these two people eternal life. Or rather, the power of the 'watch,' the power of this city, had given them eternal life.
As long as Gao Hai continued to possess this watch.
This city would continue to sustain the existence of these two people.
Or perhaps, they could no longer leave the city's providence. Once deprived of the city's power to sustain them, they would lose their foundation of existence and collapse into nothingness.
The reason for sustaining their existence was simple. Their pain and despair, as the power of Obsession anomalies, would be ceaselessly converted into power for the watch. With enough accumulated time, it could help the watch recover one rewind charge, giving him another chance to start over.
"I see."
Gao Hai understood now.
At the moment the Shirakawa Apartments were destroyed, the hand on his watch had moved from 3 back to 2. That was because the watch had digested the derivative anomalies like the porcelain dolls and the invisible footsteps. These things had no foundation and were quickly digested like food, so the watch had instantly recovered one charge.
But these two people, their existence was of a higher order than those foundationless derivative anomalies. Although not comparable to a core obsession, they could be reused, serving as a long-term source of energy production.
It was just that this process of utilization was perhaps a bit inhumane.
They had truly obtained eternal life.
An eternal life of repeating extreme torture within flames forged from anomalous power.
Unless Gao Hai, the holder of the watch, decided to grant them death. Otherwise, in theory, they truly could attain eternal life—though it was an eternity they would likely never accept under any circumstances.
"Then again, a normal person's will would collapse in this environment before long, right? Why are they still screaming so vigorously? Are their memories periodically wiped?"
Gao Hai was still a bit puzzled, but the watch had no intention of answering him.
In any case, a stable method of recovering rewind charges had now presented itself to Gao Hai.
Incidentally, he also now knew the recovery speed of his rewind charges with these two obsessions as an energy source.
Currently... it would still take 893 days for the watch to recover one charge, to provide him with one new rewind.
A full two years and more? Isn't that too long?
Gao Hai was a bit disappointed. Based on his faint suspicion that this watch would force him into high-stakes games, these two scum weren't nearly enough fuel. It seemed if he wanted to link the fire—bah, if he wanted to create a virtuous cycle, he would have to liberate more core obsessions, destroy more instances, and absorb more and more obsessional existences. Only then would he have a way to cope with the increasingly difficult situations to come.
Although, he couldn't even handle the instance right in front of him, so whether there would even be a 'future' was hard to say.
"The research base... is it a place of certain death with absolutely no escape?"
Having personally experienced the female specter's execution, Gao Hai now understood that the world of the research base was where her true body resided. Finding a safe way to resolve her obsession there would be extremely difficult. Especially after being 'watched,' it was uncertain if Gao Hai could even go to the research base after reviving.
And yet, Maki and Kaguya's starting point was inside the research base.
Gao Hai had a vague feeling that even if they obediently stayed in the research base, it wouldn't be long before they faced total annihilation anyway. Perhaps that time was 15 days. After 15 days, upon the game's clearance deadline, the female specter would enter the research base and slaughter everyone inside. Because the 'watched' Gao Hai had established a connection with that thing, his entry had caused this sequence of events to be restored ahead of schedule, leading to the premature arrival of destruction.
It was just like how Room 304 constantly repeated the events of a seven-day period.
This research base was likely also repeating various events that occurred within a 15-day period. Just as is characteristic of obsessions, they are always restoring past events in a twisted, chaotic manner, repeating a 'once upon a time' that has already been repeated countless times.
And just like Kaguya tearing off a calendar page, what Gao Hai did this time was something similar. He had prematurely introduced the power of the core obsession into the research base, causing the plot to be skipped significantly, resulting in an instant bad end and everyone dying.
Damn it, doesn't this mean that not only can I not enter the research base, but I also have to watch out for other players who change clothes and sneak in? If a 'watched' player runs into the research base, Maki and Kaguya will be finished ahead of schedule?
The various possibilities made Gao Hai more and more depressed, and he couldn't help but sigh again.
Dong!
The first toll of the bell rang out.
Gao Hai knew he was about to restart the instance in that twisted cavern.
At the same time, he could feel his connection to Maki and knew that he could use a rewind charge at any time to let her retain her memories of the first run.
But he didn't do it.
Maki had witnessed that thing's true form. She had seen that woman with her own eyes.
It was highly likely that she had already established a 'connection' with it and was now in a 'watched' state.
Her starting point was inside the research base. If she retained her memories, she would very likely be in a dead-end situation from the very beginning. So he couldn't let her keep her memories.
Tsk, in that case, the situation over there probably won't change at all, will it?
With no way to exchange information and no way to meet, how could he pass on the various pieces of intel from the first run that he had bought with his death? How could he let her know?
Dong!!
The second toll of the bell rang out.
At that moment, Gao Hai's pupils constricted slightly.
He sensed something a little different.
The connection established between him and Maki Shijo had changed slightly.
It was as if a new choice had appeared. He could choose to let Maki keep her memories, to have her rewind with him.
He could also establish a link between himself and her. Through this link, no matter the distance, he could proactively communicate with Maki, exchanging information. Maki could also tell him whatever she wanted to at any time. The two of them could achieve zero-latency communication regardless of how far apart they were. Moreover, this communication could be opened and closed at will; both parties would only let the other hear what they wanted them to hear, and nothing that shouldn't be heard would be transmitted.
"Because I wanted to achieve zero-distance communication, you gave me this power?"
Gao Hai lowered his head and looked at the battered black watch.
He had come to realize that with each of his deaths, and with the regrets and resentments born from the bottom of his heart, this watch was selectively fulfilling his regrets, helping him accomplish things that were difficult for him to do on his own.
But why? And what was the cost?
Currently, the only person Gao Hai could establish this communication link with was Maki Shijo.
Because only someone who truly believed in him, who was willing to trust him unconditionally, and with whom he had exchanged bodily fluids, could Gao Hai establish such a connection.
In other words, I can establish this connection with Maki thanks to that time I French-kissed her in the rain...
Once the connection was established, it was permanent.
And establishing a connection cost one rewind charge.
Dong!!!
After the third toll of the bell, everything began to dissolve. It was time for Gao Hai to return to the instance.
Without any hesitation, Gao Hai chose to establish the connection.
Even if it was poisoned wine, he had no other choice now. He had to grasp it firmly.
So, let's begin. Round two!
Click—
The hand on the watch moved from 3 to 4.
An invisible link now connected Gao Hai and that proud girl.
He opened his eyes, and darkness spread out as always.
And faintly, the presence of the girl, whose location was unknown, was already spreading in his mind.
{Did you sleep well?}
{Huh, Hai-kun? Where are you? Why can I hear your voice but can't see you?}
He sent a message to the girl that only they could hear and then heard her somewhat flustered reply.
Gao Hai stepped forward, moving toward the light within the cavern.
The girl with long pink hair soon appeared, meeting Gao Hai with the same panicked expression as in the first run.
Drip—
In the darkness, a drop of water fell from a stalactite, splashing on the ground with a crisp sound!
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