Passing through the Artery, arriving at the Heart, and then returning to the Large Space.
Along the way, the corpses hanging overhead greeted Gao Hai enthusiastically, each one wanting to have some intimate contact with him. Every time he passed through a narrow area where he couldn't turn around, the voice behind him would sound like Chika one moment, then the four players the next, and even the voices of Maki and Kaguya popped up. It could be described as extraordinarily lively, giving Gao Hai a friendly feeling that there were "people" everywhere, making this narrow cavern feel not the least bit gloomy or cramped.
It was just that these things were really a bit too friendly. If possible, he would prefer they be slightly more tactful—at least stop constantly tugging at his clothes, pulling his pants, and touching his face.
Thinking this, Gao Hai wiped the bloodstains off his face, patted his head to shake off the maggots that had fallen on him, stretched his body, and let out a long breath.
Unlike the first run, the things Gao Hai saw in the "Artery" this time were no longer hallucinations; they had begun to be able to touch him, and even leave various marks on his body.
And what was certain was that as he learned more and more, the influence of these anomalous entities on him would inevitably become stronger. Yet, to clear the instance, he had no choice but to investigate further information, placing himself in danger time and again. This point made Gao Hai feel quite helpless.
However, compared to those ordinary players who only had one life and were thoroughly dead once they died, he considered himself lucky enough. Although this black watch was full of suspicious points and showed an increasingly spooky side, he had to admit that without the power of this watch, he would have died somewhere unknown long ago.
The distracting thoughts in the bottom of his heart merely stirred up a few ripples before Gao Hai actively suppressed them.
He made a rough estimate; this time, he and Chika Fujiwara had reached the Large Space very quickly. Currently, about fifteen to seventeen minutes had passed since they first set out.
It hadn't yet reached the check time mentioned in the Type-II Regulations, but it was better to confirm the situation in advance.
Thinking this, Gao Hai checked his own clothes. There was no phenomenon of adhesion to the skin yet, but he could already feel some discomfort when trying to pull his collar.
The check on Chika Fujiwara encountered a little difficulty. When Gao Hai first proposed a check, the girl thought he intended to do something terrible. She subconsciously covered her chest with her hands and took a step back, only awkwardly stepping forward after Gao Hai explained the reason.
Then Gao Hai discovered that the exploration suit on the girl's body had already developed slight adhesion. Although it hadn't fused with her skin yet, the situation was obviously not looking good.
"Change clothes. Move fast."
Gao Hai, who had picked up two exploration suits on the way, tossed one of them in front of Chika and spoke to her seriously.
Chika, receiving the clothes, subconsciously wanted to find a sheltered place to change. But thinking of those terrifying things they had encountered earlier, she finally took a deep breath, mustered her courage, took off her exploration suit in front of Gao Hai, and changed into the slightly dirty one they had picked up on the road.
It had to be said, her figure was really quite good. This child's nutrition—I'm afraid even Maki and Kaguya added together and multiplied by two couldn't catch up, right?
Gao Hai lamented in his heart, then quickly turned his head away, no longer paying attention to Chika's fair skin, beautiful body curves, cheeks rosy as apples, the volume below her collarbone, the slightly fleshy thighs, and the smooth calves and feet.
Speaking of which, a girl taking off her clothes voluntarily feels much lewder than doing it oneself. It's a wonderful feeling.
Especially that cute little face almost crying from shyness, and the slight trembling of her hands—it feels very, very nice. Hmm, especially when the tight-fitting top was taken off, there was a feeling like two little monsters jumping out with a "boing" sound.
Hmm, Gao Hai definitely didn't pay attention to the process of Chika Fujiwara changing clothes. This is serious.
{Auntie has entered the cave. According to what you said, Hai-kun, the first exploration will end safely, but the player playing C3 will be shot dead due to drastic actions, is that right?}
Just at the right moment, Maki's voice rang out in Gao Hai's mind.
{Yeah, yeah, that's right. So next you have to pay close attention to that C3. When I entered the cave to explore in the last run, this number had problems.}
Gao Hai answered the girl quickly, though for some reason he felt a little guilty in his heart.
{I feel like your tone of voice is a bit strange, Gao-kun. What's going on? What are you doing right now? Have you already returned from the "Heart"?}
Even though they were only voice chatting, Maki Shijo still detected the subtle change in Gao Hai's tone and immediately pressed for answers.
{Yeah, I've already come back from the "Heart". I have to say, this trip was quite exciting.}
However, Gao Hai immediately adjusted his tone to normal and calmly began to tell Maki about his experiences along the way.
{Mm... anyway, be careful. You must pay attention to safety.}
Although she still felt it was a bit suspicious, Maki ultimately didn't dwell too much on the tone issue. After giving a few final instructions, she stopped talking.
Due to this interruption from Maki, by the time Gao Hai looked at Chika Fujiwara again, she had already changed into the new exploration suit, taken a deep breath, and struggled to pull the zipper of the top up to her neck. In Gao Hai's line of sight, this scene showed the girl's fine curves being tightly entangled and suppressed by the clothes, yet still outlining a youthful and beautiful scenic line.
Gao Hai couldn't help but think of Maki's body curves, which didn't have much undulation, and the sensation he had felt on that rainy night.
Hmm... the small and the big, the hand feel should be quite different, right...
No, what am I thinking? Now is not the time to think about such problems.
Retracting his somewhat scattered attention and confirming that Chika Fujiwara had finished changing clothes, Gao Hai took a step forward, taking the lead to advance deeper into this area named the Large Space.
The gloomy and eerie cavern was filled with moisture, and with every breath, one could feel the temperature of the cave gradually dropping.
Those noisy sounds seemed to have no moment of cessation. Gao Hai could constantly hear sounds like people chatting and talking from all directions, yet he couldn't find the source of the voices.
The pink-haired girl beside him followed cautiously, not daring to make too much noise, advancing step by step in his shadow.
This place was a bit bigger than expected.
Gao Hai walked through the dense forest of stalagmites and stone pillars for a full five or six minutes, yet still hadn't walked out of this place.
He found quite a few traces left by explorers here, such as some damaged safety ropes hanging on the walls, a few abandoned tents, and some wrappers and small boxes discarded on the ground, which looked like packaging for instant food.
It was also in this place that Gao Hai and Chika Fujiwara encountered two people wearing exploration suits, a man and a woman, whom they hadn't seen before.
The other party seemed to have a lot of experience exploring caves and had noticed the appearance of Gao Hai and Chika early on. Of course, through the power of the Blessing, Gao Hai had also discovered their existence before seeing them. Both sides maintained a certain distance, sizing each other up with great restraint, before the two explorers spoke first.
"Explorer Lixer, also a player."
"Explorer Susan, also a player. Have you been to the 'Heart'?"
Both the man and the woman answered very calmly.
"Explorer Gao Hai, also a player."
"Explorer Chika Fujiwara, also a player."
Gao Hai and Chika Fujiwara also introduced themselves. After both sides confirmed each other's identities and that they could communicate normally, both parties breathed a reluctant sigh of relief.
It seemed the number of players who had entered this instance was quite large. Counting from the last run until now, how many players had he seen? However, since the difficulty of this instance was very low before the fixation, it was normal for it to attract players, even though this damned place had now turned into a land of death.
Unlike the previous four players, these two players held no malice toward Gao Hai and Chika Fujiwara; on the contrary, a certain degree of goodwill could be felt. Therefore, Gao Hai was willing to communicate with them a little.
"Are you planning to go forward? Be careful. The road ahead is not quite right. We walked forward three times, but each time the path was a bit wrong. How should I put it? The road ahead... has some things that fundamentally shouldn't exist in this kind of natural cavern. We really weren't confident in confirming the situation inside. If you plan to go in, be extremely careful."
The player calling herself Susan spoke seriously to Gao Hai and Chika.
"Thanks for the reminder."
Gao Hai nodded. Seeing that the other party was willing to actively share some intelligence, he told them about the rules regarding checking exploration suits that he had seen in the Type-II Regulations, and informed them about Kawano's group of death-wish experts so they would be extra careful. Then, he continued advancing along the cavern path with Chika.
Along the way, they passed through broad, relatively flat, and open caverns capable of accommodating many people. It had to be said, it was much more comfortable than the cramped environment in the "Artery" earlier.
But soon, as the two passed through the Large Space and arrived at the Stone Pillar Square, where stone columns stood in great numbers, and then explored further ahead of this square, Gao Hai began to understand why the previous two players had stopped and dared not advance.
"What is this situation..."
The rugged rock ground abruptly mixed with a cement concrete floor.
A few white lights illuminated the dark cavern.
And a sign reading "City Fire Station" hung right there on this wall built within the cavern—or rather, a wall that seemed fused into the cavern—right beside that large, ajar door.
The path ahead of the Stone Pillar Square actually led to a building?!
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