Gao Hai slowly walked down the spiraling staircase, heading toward the large living room of a luxury villa below.
The sound of clamor rang out continuously; it seemed many people were moving about and chatting in the main hall.
Subtle depressions appeared from time to time on the floor covered with high-end animal skin rugs, and the flames in the fireplace were still burning silently.
Standing in the middle of the living room, Gao Hai looked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the house. Through the reflection in the window, he saw people dressed in luxurious clothing, saw the mayor in his suit looking like a man of talent, saw the guests laughing heartily around him, saw some scantily clad female companions, and... uh, and some who were also scantily clad but seemed to be less than 1.3 meters tall... No, I can't watch this anymore. It's one thing if it's 2D loli, but isn't this too beastly?
After truly witnessing the appearance of the high-ups of America, the Great Nation of Lolicons, Gao Hai's expression had completely shifted into the standard meme mode of the "Old Man on the Subway Looking at Phone"; he didn't want to spare even a single extra glance.
In short, this was the mayor's Land of Lingering Regrets.
He didn't know what clues would be left here.
Gao Hai opened a door on the side of the living room and walked in, discovering that it was a small office.
The commotion in the living room was becoming increasingly unbearable to the ears. While lamenting in his heart about how depraved the hookups of these people were, Gao Hai walked to the desk and then noticed a letter placed upon it.
[My Respected Grandfather Antonitovan:]
[I have made foolproof preparations for the ribbon-cutting ceremony being held tomorrow.]
[I have already greeted that Pedi and the Fire Department. Once the ribbon-cutting ceremony is over, they will be locked up in XX Prison. At that time, there will be no problem with however you wish to utilize that cavern.]
[Regarding those rumors about man-eating monsters in the cavern, I have also had the internet response department prepare countermeasures. You will see the results by the day after tomorrow at the latest; those foolish fellows will soon be unable to distinguish which news is true and which is false.]
[Furthermore, I did not participate in the cooperation between you and the military; please rest assured on this point. However, my subordinate responsible for road control discovered a miniature camera, secretly set up by someone from the Fire Department. regarding how to find and deal with this person, what is your opinion? Should we wait until after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, or detain him now?]
[Also, the capture of Werbo might be more difficult than anticipated. He went to Russia; our people would easily alert the enemy, so I only sent someone to monitor him. However, judging by his recent communication records and internet history, he does not seem to have any intention of exposing the situation inside the Red Nut Gray Hole. That guy seems to only be, uh, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, spending his days drinking like a waste. Of course, I know it is also possible that he wants to mislead us, so I will not relax my surveillance on him.]
[The location of the ribbon-cutting ceremony is set in an open space 800 meters away from the cave entrance, quite far from that damn place. However, I still feel there is actually no need for you to attend this ceremony. Of course, if you insist, I will forever follow behind you. My respected and dear Grandfather Antonitovan, your will is the direction in which I forge ahead...]
After the first third or so, which counted as having some concrete content, the remaining two-thirds of this letter were just praising Antonitovan in various ways. The wording was so impetuous, flowery, and disgusting that Gao Hai got goosebumps all over his body less than ten seconds into reading it. Yet, to ensure he didn't miss any useful information, he had to force himself to finish reading the letter, to the point where he was about to vomit by the end.
"The more he writes, the more it looks like a gay man confessing to his beloved husband. But considering the level of perversion of these high-ups, could it actually be true?"
Gao Hai, thinking of a certain possibility, suddenly felt like he was going to throw up.
{Hai-kun, how is the situation on your side?}
Just as he put down the letter and prepared to leave this area, Gao Hai received a message from Maki.
{It's okay on my side. What's wrong? Is there a situation on your end?}
While quickly replying to Maki, Gao Hai walked to the doorway. He then discovered a figure with a twisted body walking toward the office. Looking at the tattered suit on that thing, it seemed to be the appearance of that mayor.
{Ah, it's also quite good on my side. I was just concerned about the situation over there. Have you found any clues?}
Maki's voice seemed slightly flustered; Gao Hai could clearly feel that the girl was completely forcing herself to be calm while communicating with him.
{I found a letter written by the mayor to Councilman Antonitovan. It looks like these superiors intend to dispose of the relevant personnel after they finish utilizing the Red Nut Gray Hole. I haven't found anything more specific yet, but I think I should be able to dig up more useful things. What about you? Did you find anything?}
Gao Hai, holding up the black umbrella, stood by the door. He watched that thing open the door and enter, then brushed past it, walking out before the door closed.
Under the condition of multiple uses, this black umbrella was faintly beginning to show signs of losing control again; black and red blood began to drip from the edge of the umbrella. Gao Hai returned to the main hall, put away the black umbrella, and stepped into the corridor on one side of the hall. Before long, he arrived at a ticket hall.
This was the newly built ticket hall for the Red Nut Gray Hole scenic area. From the publicity board at the entrance, it wasn't hard to see that this place was originally intended to open on the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. That is to say, the entrance to the new scenic area was a full eight hundred meters away from the cave entrance. It was clearly just a mountain cave, yet they built such a huge zone; one could only say these rich people really couldn't find places to spend their money.
Gao Hai saw a somewhat exhausted-looking Lixer here.
"Phew, Mr. Gao. It's truly great to see that you are safe and sound."
Lixer, who looked like he had just gone through some intense exercise, smiled and said to Gao Hai.
"Did you gain anything? I only found some useless things."
Gao Hai first observed the area, confirming there wasn't an anomaly lying prone somewhere before walking a bit closer, looking at Lixer and asking.
"Regrettably, I didn't find anything either, and I was even chased by a group of very terrifying guys for quite a distance. But look, there seems to be someone holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony over there. Do you think there might be the clues we need there?"
The panting Lixer wiped the sweat from his forehead, then pointed toward the main entrance of the ticket hall.
Gao Hai looked in the direction of his finger. Through the transparent glass doors, he saw an open-air plaza outside where a meeting resembling a press conference was being held. Many reporters were sitting on chairs, and on the stage, a pot-bellied man was picking up a microphone, wanting to deliver a speech.
The color of the sky was changing rapidly.
Even indoors, Gao Hai could feel a gradually becoming obvious chill spreading out.
A rainstorm suddenly roared down.
And in the instant this curtain of rain descended, Gao Hai saw some things—some blurred figures appearing from the rear of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
They seemed to be wearing tourists' clothes, seemed to be wearing the clothes of Rescue Team firefighters. Despondent and downcast, they wandered silently just like that, then barged into the venue.
Whenever these things touched someone, that person would vanish instantly, disappearing together with that thing.
The panicked people didn't seem able to see these things, so they fled in all directions amidst screams of terror. As a result, they made contact with those things even faster, then vanished without a trace one after another.
When everyone had disappeared, these wandering phantoms also lost their traces.
But the rain curtain showed no sign of stopping; instead, it intensified, covering the earth as if pouring from a basin.
Amidst the rainstorm, Gao Hai saw a figure.
A blurred, thin figure that seemed to be wearing a white dress.
That person reached out a hand, reaching out toward those dissipating phantoms, reaching out toward the last phantom that had not yet dissipated, which seemed to be looking at her.
But in the next moment, that phantom lost its trace, leaving only that thin figure standing lonely in place.
Gao Hai realized something and couldn't help but take a step forward.
Then in the very next moment, the woman's figure had disappeared, and a roaring flood swept toward this ticket hall, slamming violently against the glass doors. With just the first impact, cracks large and small began to spread.
"The situation isn't right, we have to go!"
Lixer hurriedly stood up, shouted to Gao Hai, turned around, and ran.
Gao Hai took a step back.
In his line of sight, the thing that was almost completely pressed against the glass door was staring straight at him.
A pale face, eyes that were almost devoid of pupils leaving only the whites, and that incredibly intense resentment and hatred that was almost overflowing.
Damn it, why is it you again?
Gao Hai, who had already recognized this thing as the toothpaste-squeezing female ghost from under the great fissure, turned and ran without the slightest hesitation. He could clearly perceive that this thing's attention was now locked dead onto him. It was just that unlike at the research base, the ghostly thing appearing in front of him now didn't seem to be the main body, but just a wisp of resentment—probably something similar to an avatar. Therefore, it had no way to immediately drag Gao Hai into the fissure for execution.
But even so, the deep resentment radiating from the other party was enough to explain many problems.
Was the reason that kind of thing happened at the ribbon-cutting ceremony back then related to Andres's wife?
After she knew her husband had died, did she know someone wanted to use that cavern to do something? Who told her this matter? And why did she possess the ability to guide the power of the anomaly to attack the venue of the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the critical moment?
So perfectly timed.
Just perfectly, the Mayor, the Senator, and the Park Director's group related to this matter were all present.
It was like someone was arranging behind the scenes for all this to happen.
Like a perfectly fitting dramatic ending, dragging almost everyone related to the event into it in a sudden manner.
This thought made Gao Hai involuntarily think of Xusheng's message at the Shirakawa Apartments. He had said that the things happening in that apartment seemed to have a similar situation. And also, that mysterious person who called himself KP, whom he saw in an hallucination when everything ended.
Although thoughts were churning in his mind, there was absolutely no sign of Gao Hai's footsteps stopping.
He quickly ran back into the corridor from earlier. At this time, the end of the corridor was no longer the mayor's home, but had turned into a small town street that looked very Nordic in style.
The street was empty of people at this moment, looking somewhat desolate. Gao Hai had absolutely no intention of admiring the scenery. While running, he put the Rescue Team Badge on himself, then quickly ran to the door of a residence, took out the Blood Key, inserted it into the keyhole, and opened the door. Revealed behind the door was Werbo's office—that is, the place Gao Hai found in the second loop that was considered fairly safe.
The thing behind him was still approaching rapidly; Gao Hai could feel its approach. That thing didn't seem to be blocked by walls or the like and could always approach Gao Hai in a straight line. Therefore, Gao Hai hadn't been able to shake the other party off at all after running for so long; instead, the distance was quickly closed by that thing.
Enter the room, close the door.
The explorer suit on Gao Hai's body now showed signs of partially transforming into a rescue suit, but it was then suppressed by Gao Hai's own subjective will and did not convert completely.
It seemed he couldn't sense that thing's existence for the time being.
Gao Hai breathed a slight sigh of relief. Then, sensing something, he raised his head.
He saw that thing's eyes.
Lying prone on the ceiling, head tilted back, that thing was staring dead at him.
Then in the next second, it disappeared from in front of Gao Hai.
Not because it let Gao Hai go.
But because the Rescue Team member, summoned by Gao Hai and landing on that small town street just now, had shouted "I am human," successfully shifting this thing's attention away.
Additionally, this time Gao Hai didn't let that guy destroy the Rescue Team member. Instead, during the process where that thing was distracted and approaching the Rescue Team member, he canceled the summons. It wasn't certain what things he might encounter next; losing a summon like this would be somewhat not worth the loss.
However, this thing really is rigid enough. As long as someone says something like "I am human," it will definitely run over. If I get an audio file to automatically play this sentence, I feel like I could run this anomaly around in circles?
Thinking this, Gao Hai took off the Rescue Team Badge and put it back into his watch space. He stood up, patted the dust off his body, and then looked at this place where he had stayed during the second loop.
Just like last time, it looked no different.
Speaking of which, regarding that ticket hall just now, why would it attract that thing's resentment? And it looked like that thing locked onto me directly.
The reason Gao Hai paid attention to the situation outside the door was because of Lixer's reminder. Although even without the reminder he would have noticed that place and investigated quickly, this coincidence was not a good thing.
Gao Hai decided to return to that ticket hall.
Gao Hai had never found a place to use the item 'Key to the Power Distribution Area'.
By reason, this thing should be in some location in the ground area of Red Nut Gray Hole close to the cave entrance, but up until now, Gao Hai hadn't been able to find it, and attempts to use the Blood Key to lock onto the target hadn't succeeded either. Therefore, he guessed that he might find clues in the area where the ticket hall was located.
Insert the Blood Key into the door lock.
Open the door. The fragmented things in the hall turned their heads, looking at Gao Hai together.
"Sorry to disturb you."
Close the door again, turn the key again, open again.
An enthusiastic tour guide was leading many tourists walking toward Gao Hai.
"Sorry, wrong way."
Close the door again, turn the key again.
My luck shouldn't be this bad; I'm a man who can pull three golds in a ten-pull gacha.
Thinking this in his heart, Gao Hai opened the door again and finally saw the ticket hall, which had accumulated a layer of water and looked like a complete mess.
The resentment of that white-dress anomaly was no longer here. It seemed it would only be attracted over during the moment the [Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony] was reenacted. At times other than that, nothing seemed to be wandering here; it could be considered tentatively safe.
Walk out of the shattered glass doors.
Step into the scenic area under the gray rainstorm.
White fog permeated the surroundings, obscuring many areas. Gao Hai could vaguely sense that if he stepped into these areas, he would directly enter other people's Lands of Lingering Regrets.
He didn't find the entrance to the Red Nut Gray Hole in this area. Obviously, as an area presented as memory fragments, this place couldn't create an entrance to the Red Nut Gray Hole, not even a fake one.
But he did indeed find the Power Distribution Area, or rather, the location of the Power Distribution Room.
That was a low, single-story building under the rain curtain, a small flat house with a specially built rain shelter.
He inserted the key obtained from Werbo's office into the door lock and turned it gently.
Click—
After the crisp sound, Kaguya Shinomiya carefully stepped into the power zone. Her crimson eyes scanned the surroundings rapidly, and only after confirming there were no abnormal conditions did she quickly slip inside, then close the door.
Very good, successfully snuck in.
It looks like no one is left here to stand guard. This is truly suspicious enough. As a research base researching anomalous existences, shouldn't a place like the power zone be a top-priority security area? After all, once the power goes out, not to mention anything else, the security measures in the Quarantine Zone would likely fail easily, right? Once that place fails, aren't the people here afraid that something will rush out from inside and slaughter the base?
Thinking this, Kaguya gazed at the extremely complex circuit system inside the room. She walked a circle carefully in this room, which could be considered to have some size, confirming that nothing was hiding in the dark. Then, she soon noticed a document pasted near the main gate.
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