Do you remember the promise we made?
We met on the beach that night, got to know each other, and became friends traveling together.
You and I walked through the mountains and rivers of this country together. We experienced so many things together. We once both wanted to walk freely between heaven and earth, but we never thought that during this journey, we would meet the one who would make us willingly put away our prodigal hearts and willingly be bound within the cage named 'Family'—that person we loved so deeply.
Hedal, I will never leave you.
Whether in birth, old age, sickness, or death; whether in poverty or wealth, I will always be by your side.
After today, we will build a family. No matter if we encounter happy or sad things, we must share them with each other. No matter if we encounter good things or bad things, we must bear them together. We will have a healthy and happy child, perhaps several, and they will inherit the beautiful dreams and youth of our younger days. Perhaps they will yearn for adventure just like us, walking through every corner of this world, and maybe, just like us, they will encounter the ones they love during their journeys.
By that time, I think we might already be old, walking with stumbling steps and dim eyesight. Even then, we must still lean on each other, watching the children we raised live out their own lives.
Are you willing to welcome such a life with me?
My dear.
...
Hedal...
Hedal... I'm sorry...
I failed to fulfill my promise. I failed to stay by your side, failed to walk through the rest of life with you.
I do not want to leave you. I want to return to your side. I hope I can see you again.
But these thick rock layers have already buried me. I cannot escape; I no longer have any hope to speak of.
I'm sorry...
I didn't do what I promised...
I'm sorry...
I clearly loved you so deeply... but in the end, I failed your heart...
God...
If You truly exist, please save me...
I do not ask to live out my life like a normal person anymore...
I only beg to see her one more time, to speak with her again...
I want to tell her how much I love her. I want to tell her how much I regret this, how much I want to continue being with her...
I want to return to her side and say I'm sorry. As a husband, I was so incompetent, unable to realize the promise to my wife, unable to stay by her side...
I want to hug her one more time, and then tell her to forget me, to seek the happiness her life deserves. I already have no way to remain by her side. If I can still do something, at least let her make up for the regrets and sorrow, and not linger on me anymore...
I'm sorry... my dear...
I'm sorry...
...
...
.
She could still remember the moment she was happiest.
Sunlight spilled through the church windows onto her pure white wedding dress.
He was wearing a somewhat fitted suit, revealing a restrained smile as he walked toward her with awkward, fidgety steps, completely lacking the dashing posture he had when they trekked over mountains and rivers on adventures in the past.
Looking at him, she almost laughed out loud.
But when he walked in front of her, held her hand, and earnestly spoke his promises to her, she almost cried out loud.
The bell that day was exceptionally clear.
The kiss she shared with him that day was exceptionally profound.
The ring she exchanged with him that day was slipped onto her finger just like that, and from then on, it was never taken off.
Have you finally come back?
Once again feeling that familiar warmth.
Have you finally returned to my side?
Once again hearing that person's voice.
You have finally returned to my side, and won't leave again, right?
Once again touching that kiss that belongs only to oneself.
Just how many times have I seen the arrival of this moment in my dreams?
Just how many times have I woken from dreams, only to realize that everything had long become emptiness?
Scars will eventually heal.
Pain will eventually dull slowly.
The dead can no longer return.
And the living can only carry the heavy memories and continue walking forward.
But if you could come back...
If you could truly return to my side again...
Reaching out a hand.
Gently holding his hand.
That affectionate appearance in the memories has not yet faded.
I can still recall those times we spent together.
Finally seeing you again, finally returning to your side again.
I'm sorry... I came back too late...
It's okay... coming back... is enough...
Hands held tight.
Two people looking at each other, smiling at each other.
Is it time to go?
Just like those days we once spent, holding hands and walking forward together.
We used to look down on these small gestures between couples.
Now, finally...
"Your husband's death truly had nothing to do with us, haha. To be honest, we were actually quite worried at the beginning when he took the wrong path and got stuck to death inside."
"After all, we were originally only conducting low-intensity research on the various changes within the Red Nut Gray Hole. His death directly caused half the cavern to be sealed off, which was also a troublesome problem for us."
"But I didn't expect, I really didn't expect, that it was precisely his death that caused the mutation of the entire Red Nut Gray Hole, allowing my experiments to achieve a breakthrough. So, he died so well! Andres died truly too well! This is what you call dedicating oneself to humanity, hahahaha!"
The footsteps stepping forward slowly stopped.
The happiness of reuniting with family was already close at hand.
But why is there no way to continue moving forward?
"Stop howling. Isn't it just injecting a little something into your hand? Does it hurt that much?"
"Oh, you're talking about those two test subjects that came two days ago? They died long ago. It's a pity they couldn't withstand the experiments. A bunch of trash wasting my time, sigh."
"What? You say they were just children less than ten years old? Is that important? In the face of the great cause of humanity, this is nothing. You should be jealous of their good fortune. Clearly trash things that were completely useless, yet they were actually able to leave a mark in the experimental records. Such a thing is very rare."
Her body turned toward the side, bit by bit.
There was no way to forget such things.
Even if happiness is close at hand, there are still some things that cannot be forgotten, cannot be let go.
"Your child? Oh, I forgot about that matter. It died the second day you came in here. It seemed to be at the end of the surgical list that day."
"What kind of expression is that? What are you crying for? Alright, ignore her. Continue the experiment. The potential of this individual is truly unimaginable."
"Can you succeed? Can you become that final successful individual? You must hold on, my dear lady. Perhaps you will become the great cornerstone of entire civilization."
Her head also turned over, bit by bit.
Looking at that person's face. Looking at his high-and-mighty, smug expression, and the smile at the corner of his mouth.
"We need to further increase the stimulation. How about this: find all her family members and bring them over."
The images of happiness shattered piece by piece.
"Is there still no further reaction with this kind of stimulation? However, she seems to like children very much. Let's do this: how about getting some people from those immigrants and the slums to bring in here?"
All beautiful memories dissipated in the burning flames, leaving only piled ashes.
"Dead? ...So the result was just this. But the data and materials obtained were quite a lot. Forget it, at least it wasn't a fruitless endeavor. Well then, this one too—throw it down into the Great Rift. Let's see if there can be any changes this time."
In the end, all that remained was the flame itself.
The fire of resentment that could not be extinguished, and the distortion and madness that filled the heart after the will had thoroughly collapsed.
Thud—
The tattered body slid into the rock wall.
Yet her consciousness did not truly die.
She could still see, she could still hear, she could still feel everything.
Whether it was the intense pain coming from her body that continued every single moment.
Or the despairing wails constantly emitted by those corpses thrown down along with her in the surroundings.
And that man's self-righteous, smug voice ringing out from the end of the darkness, from that Research Base.
"The ladder of human civilization's progress shall be built by us."
He walked upwards step by step, repeating these words that he himself almost believed.
Meanwhile, her corpse rotted in the rift, sliding continuously towards the deeper places, bit by bit.
The piled corpses had almost filled this deep rift.
And her remains, rotten to exhaustion with almost only bones left, fell into the bottommost layer of this dark rift just like that.
She was buried here, never able to leave again.
"We are the new era. We are the future."
"Come, let us toast together to the future of humanity!"
Rage.
A rage that burned the soul to exhaustion, burned all self to exhaustion.
Not just her own fury.
But the fury of all those buried here, trapped deep in despair, unable to rest even in death.
She felt those burning flames.
So scorching, so real, just like the flames burning on her body.
So she began to climb upward.
Absorbing all the restless fire.
Bit by bit, concentrating all the rage and despair onto her own body.
Must kill everyone!
This insane obsession condensed, and the final result of the fusion was just such a simple thought.
Kill everyone in that Research Base!
Kill them!
Kill everyone!
All these people who hurt them and brutally slaughtered them; all these people full of righteous words, claiming to be the ladder of civilization; all these utterly disgusting people, comparing themselves to the cornerstones of humanity. Kill them all, kill every single one of them, kill them all without leaving a single one behind!
Kill!
Kill!!
KILL!!!
"Look at the appearance of you people. To be honest, I really feel nothing at all."
"I am the supreme leader of the entire Research Base. That General is just a fool who knows nothing; I am the one capable of dominating all this."
"I will walk step by step to a higher position, obtain more power, obtain more wealth, and become a superior person you could never understand in your entire lives."
"As for you all, haha, the progress of human civilization indeed has your contributions. But so what? No one will remember your names, remember your experiences. You are nothing, you count for nothing. That is the reality, hahahaha."
"Hate all you want; you can't change anything. This world has no heaven and no hell. Look, a person like me should be considered unpardonably wicked, right? But I won't be punished. I won't go to jail, I won't be shot, and I won't suffer any divine retribution or the like. I won't encounter suffering like yours. No one will blame me; even if I make a mistake, I will definitely be forgiven. And one day, I will become a true god. I will become the supreme one reigning above everyone."
Darkness had already enveloped the entire Observation Area.
The woman with disheveled hair, that white dress soaked through with fresh blood, was completely covered by a crimson color.
The ground was vibrating violently. The ring in Gao Hai's hand had disappeared. Andres's obsession shattered at this moment; having been satisfied by returning to Hedal's side, it began to gradually dissipate.
But Hedal's obsession... within that obsession, the warmth and beauty of the past—if they still existed—seemed to dissipate along with Andres. What remained was a terror even more horrifying than before, a fury exhausting all madness.
The door in Gao Hai's hand had already landed on the ground, facing directly toward Hedal ahead.
And in the Freezing Zone, at the moment the power was reconnected, Chika Fujiwara dragged another door and barged in. Panting, she looked at Maki and Kaguya, who had already pressed Fulen onto the ground and snapped his limbs almost completely. Without hesitation, she turned and inserted the Blood Key into the keyhole of this door she had dragged over.
They could not wait for Hedal to arrive at the Research Zone.
Once this core obsession entered the range of the Experimental Zone, following the reenactment of history, the Freezing Zone would inevitably undergo a forced power outage. This place would revert to the stage of the original final day, and Fulen would transform back into the semi-anomaly, semi-human form. At that time, everything would be in vain.
Therefore, they had to think of a way to let Hedal make contact with the Fulen who was 'human' under the premise of 'not entering the Experimental Zone.' Only then did this core obsession have the possibility of being thoroughly resolved; only then did all this have a chance to welcome an end.
Under normal circumstances, for a Dim Night-level top-difficulty instance, Players who dared to challenge this level and attempt a perfect clear to resolve the obsession would inevitably be ones who had survived multiple Dim Night-level missions. They would have obtained at least A-rank Twilight buffs and Dim Night buffs, and possess a comprehensive array of Obsession Items for teleportation, attack, defense, healing, spirit, summoning, etc., or attempt such a mission only with a powerful team.
However, it was regrettable that Gao Hai had no way to do this. This cheat-like watch that gave him the chance to rewind time didn't reason with him at all; it directly threw him into this high-difficulty dungeon where only big shots could show off their skills, and insisted he achieve a perfect ending or else he couldn't leave.
But even so, he wasn't truly without options. Although the Blood Key, a wondrous item, would fail and couldn't be used when pointing directly at a core obsession—just like how the Blood Key couldn't open the main gate of Room 304—it was just like at Shirakawa Apartments where the Blood Key could open 'doors relatively close to 304.'
After dismantling the doors to both Shegera's and Fulen's offices, Gao Hai and Chika directly used these two doors as mediums and successfully connected them using the Blood Key.
"Urgh, aaaaaah——"
Fulen, beaten black and blue with his limbs snapped cleanly by Kaguya and Maki, let out a miserable howl the instant he saw the door in Chika Fujiwara's hand open.
And Hedal, who was originally about to execute Gao Hai immediately due to the rule of killing anyone she saw, had her gaze instantly frozen on what was behind that door in this moment. It froze on the interior of the Freezing Zone, which was still brightly lit at this time, and on the body of that Fulen who still 'existed as a human.'
SCREEEEEEEEECH——
A terrifying shriek almost shattered Gao Hai's eardrums, causing both his ears to start bleeding simultaneously.
In the very next instant, this blood-dress anomaly had arrived in front of the opened door. Then, taking a step, she stepped right into the Freezing Zone illuminated by the cold light of the electric lamps.
The next moment, the unsolvable loop in this instance that had lasted for who knows how many years collapsed right then and there.
With Andres's obsession dissipated, the instance collapse phenomenon brought about by the disappearance of the core obsession maintaining the 'Red Nut Gray Hole' area swept through wildly at this moment, accompanied by an incomparably violent earthquake.
Boom—
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