"These platforms... seem to be approaching each other bit by bit. There's a tendency for them to regather."
Maki Shijo looked at the floating rock fragments around her, keenly noticing that many pieces were gradually drawing closer to one another. It looked as if they were about to reunite.
With the link of Andres missing, the Red Nut Gray Hole instance was equivalent to being half-destroyed. However, Hedal's obsession had still not found rest. This meant the instance could not be thoroughly destroyed; everything would re-condense and restore to its original complete structure. Though, it was hard to say clearly what specific changes might occur during this process.
They could not wait for this place to re-condense. They had to resolve the problem of Fulen before that happened.
Not far away, Hedal—that anomaly in a blood-red dress with resentment soaring to the heavens—had stopped her attacks, merely standing blankly on the spot. Meanwhile, Fulen, who had completely transformed into an anomaly, was still struggling and squirming, attempting to complete his experiment despite being beaten into a pile of rotten meat.
The essential mechanistic nature of anomalies was displayed vividly at this moment. They would only act according to fixed behavioral patterns and would not consider the actual situation at all. To be honest, Maki was actually quite curious: these horror stories, these obsessions, these anomalies—what exactly were they? Why did they possess such strange and terrifying power, yet were so rigid and inflexible, completely restricted to death by rules, as if they were deliberately shaped this way?
Even if abnormal individuals appeared among them—such as Xusheng and the couple Li Youcai and Xu Jiazhen from Shirakawa Apartments, or Fulen from Red Nut Gray Hole—these obsessions, despite retaining a certain amount of humanity, still could not defy their own rules and would be thoroughly restricted by them.
But who exactly wrote these rules?
Why are these things specifically restricted by various rules, possessing various weaknesses and defeat conditions just like a game?
Furthermore, leaving other things aside, the Red Nut Gray Hole—this lengthy instance spanning decades—and the [Black Blood Bullets] connected to it had already proved that, years ago, the existence of anomalies and horror stories could actually be perceived by everyone in the world, understood by anyone, and researched.
But Maki knew absolutely nothing about such things. All Players knew nothing about such things. Everyone only knew that the first game appeared roughly two years ago. The players who survived from that period were called the First Generation Players. Those who had experienced a full twenty-plus games and stood at the apex of the player base—even in the various information passed down from them, there was absolutely no content regarding "whether horror stories existed in past history." No threads discussing these matters had ever been found on the forums either.
This thing that obscures cognition and separates ordinary people from Players—when exactly did it start existing? Where did it come from? Was there someone behind the scenes creating this phenomenon? And this so-called [Sacrificial Game]—what kind of role is it truly playing between Players, humanity, and anomalies?
And even if we don't talk about those distant matters, Red Nut Gray Hole has always been just a novice instance. The area of the Research Base never appeared before this game session. Theoretically, this part of the area should have been in a dormant, sealed state before. So, how did the American Players' [Black Blood Bullets] come about? During the unfixed period, Red Nut Gray Hole should only have been accessible to those with the Tourist identity; there should have been no way to obtain the raw materials for [Black Blood Bullets], right?
Perhaps... those Black Blood Stones in the Prison Area had been taken out of this instance in the past and could continue to maintain their existence outside the instance, just like Obsession Items?
Maki suddenly thought of a reasonable explanation.
That's right. Just as Obsession Items can continue to exist after leaving an instance, the raw materials for [Black Blood Bullets]—those black blood stones transformed from living people—possessed anomalous properties themselves. During the period when the Research Base still existed normally, Black Blood Stones were likely already taken away from here to be researched, produced, and maintained in other places. Since this thing could be mass-produced using human lives as raw material, those Black Blood Stones that made it to the real world could probably be used in the same way, even if the users had already forgotten the place known as Red Nut Gray Hole.
If that were the case... then wouldn't the American Players' Black Blood Stones all lose their effect once this instance was cracked by Hai-kun and the entire instance fell into destruction? If the source of the [Black Blood Bullets] was Red Nut Gray Hole, wouldn't destroying this instance make them the enemies of all American Players?!
This possibility made Maki shudder with sudden fear.
However, there was no road for regret to walk on now. From the moment they entered this instance, Hai-kun had to destroy the instance to clear it due to the restriction of that strange watch. All I can do is assist him, and face the potential storms that follow together with him.
No matter what difficult things might be encountered next, Maki did not intend to break away from Gao Hai. Instead, she would firmly stand by his side, doing her utmost to help him.
The turmoil in the girl's heart subsided quickly at this moment.
She continued to hide behind this rock with Chika, observing the building fragments not far away. There, Fulen was still struggling and squirming, attempting to carry out his research work, while Hedal stood beside him, seemingly fallen into a crashed state because she had been unable to kill him for so long.
It seemed the situation here was relatively stable; there shouldn't be any major problems.
"Those who seek to usurp the divine throne shall eventually eat the bitter fruit of their own evil and find no rest."
Chika Fujiwara spoke softly at this moment, muttering to herself in a low voice.
"Eh? What are you saying?"
Maki turned her head; she hadn't heard clearly what the pink-haired girl beside her was saying just now.
"I was talking about Fulen. A person who thought he could escape all punishment and become the god of a new world, yet in the end, he could only be reduced to such a state—becoming an obsession that wanders inside an instance, forever awake and unable to rest. For this person, there shouldn't be any punishment more painful than this, right?"
There was a tone of lament in Chika's words.
When Gao Hai arrived on the second floor of the Research Zone and entered Shegera's office to obtain authority, Chika Fujiwara had searched through the materials in passing. As a result, she found another one of Auston's notes that Fulen had collected back then in Shegera's office, as well as some records left by Fulen himself. It seemed these things he thought he had hidden very secretly had actually been discovered by Shegera long ago; perhaps Shegera just didn't take them seriously, so he left them in the office without touching them.
Because she had read them not long ago, Chika could even recall the records she had seen word for word.
*[Auston's Note 2]*
*[I found quite a few animal bones inside the rift in the "Gentle Slope" area. The Qichazhaola tribe of the past seemed to use this place as a site for sacrifices. They believed this was the mouth of a god; food thrown down from here would be swallowed by the god, and then they would receive blessings.]*
*[Also, according to the records left by these natives, it seems approaching this rift during non-sacrificial periods is dangerous? And one would be punished by the god? I don't really understand. Who would be simple-minded enough to fall into a rift that can be seen at a glance?]*
*[Auston's Note 3]*
*[Okay, I take back what I said before. Damn it, I just wasn't paying attention for a moment, and I fell into that broken hole.]*
*[Being stuck inside feels truly awful. My back and knees are all scraped up, and I scraped my hands trying to climb up. Fortunately, it's quite narrow down here; at most, you get stuck a little distance in and that's it. It's not too big of a problem to extricate yourself, provided you've undergone professional training and are a qualified cave exploration expert.]*
*[If this place is to be developed into a scenic area, it's best to fence this place off. I highly suspect tourists might accidentally fall in. Rescuing someone from such a narrow rift is not an easy task.]*
*[But honestly, I'm actually quite curious. If the god of these Indians really exists, and is as impressive as they say, why didn't they survive?]*
*[Haha, perhaps the false god was scared away by the Lord's radiance.]*
*[Fulen's Record]*
*[God does indeed exist. Testing of the "Great Rift" confirmed an energy reaction similar to that within the "Blood Vessel." There is no mistake; a high-intensity energy reaction once existed in the "Great Rift." Its energy magnitude... is more than 500,000 times that of the "Blood Vessel" where Andres is located.]*
*[But that existence is no longer inside there now.]*
*[Tests show that the existence in the records left at least seven thousand years ago. Since that day, what remains in the "Great Rift" are merely the traces of that god. Yet, merely a few traces are enough to make ignorant fools worship it in prostration.]*
*[Those traces have almost lost their power now. They only induce people to fall into the rift, but given the size and width of that broken rift, falling in doesn't do a damn thing to a person. At most, they scrape some skin and feel uncomfortable for a week, and then it's over.]*
*[What is this? Is my research ending just like this?]*
*[I struggled to pursue this for so long, and the result is just finding a footprint from several thousand years ago? No, no, no, I won't admit it. This is not an ending I approve of.]*
*[Let me think... Sacrifice? Ah, that's right, sacrifice. Those idiot natives would throw meat and grain into the rift and then pray. They believed the god would receive the food they offered and then bless their tribe's reproduction. Although they were just a bunch of stupid things destined for elimination, their line of thinking might be worth borrowing.]*
*[Auston was a fool, and his successor Pedi was a fool among fools. Clearly, the legacy of such a great existence existed within the cavern, yet they had absolutely no way to discover it, no way to utilize it. That is why they ultimately failed, and I should be the one who can win until the end.]*
*[Then let's begin. Hmm, if we are to conduct sacrifices, sacrificing animals seems pointless. Let's try sacrificing living humans. It just so happens that, judging from the translated ancient texts, sacrificing captives from other tribes seems to be the highest grade of sacrifice. The effect should be quite good.]*
*[For the next exploration operation, let's just let the explorers stuck in the rift not come back. Hmm, in that case, it's best to tamper with their equipment a bit, to avoid them struggling to climb up or something. That would be boring.]*
*[Very good. Heaven never bars one's way. I can always think of a method. I will definitely continue walking down this path. I will definitely succeed.]*
*[God. True God.]*
*[Sooner or later, I will arrive at that step.]*
*[I have already paid so much time. I must succeed. I absolutely must succeed. I will absolutely not allow the possibility of failure to appear!]*
The notes suspected to be Fulen's diary became increasingly filled with hypnotic words towards the end. In the notes, Fulen praised himself with all his might, encouraged himself, and constantly wrote down words like [I will succeed, I will become God] to himself. Perhaps it was because he also bore quite a lot of pressure during the research process, but Chika had to admit that after seeing those words which were like madness, she was still somewhat afraid of the person known as Fulen.
However, right now, these things weren't worth taking out to share and recount with Maki. After all, there were still more important things to do at the moment.
Having quieted down, Chika and Maki continued to monitor Fulen's situation just like that.
They had already prepared several different contingency plans to ensure that once Gao Hai arrived at the office and issued the command, they could subdue Fulen at the first opportunity, letting him be thoroughly killed by Hedal, thereby ending the final obsession in the Red Nut Gray Hole.
Under the prolonged waiting, Maki felt somewhat anxious at the bottom of her heart.
I wonder what position Hai-kun has reached.
She couldn't help but turn her head to glance in the direction Kaguya had left.
If Auntie Kaguya is by his side helping him, those two should be able to reach the office smoothly, right?
After all, although Auntie Kaguya is somewhat annoying as a person, her ability is very strong. With her assisting on the side, Hai-kun will inevitably be much more relaxed.
Thinking about it this way, this mission should be able to pass its final period smoothly and safely. It's just a pity... if only I were stronger, then it wouldn't need to be Auntie Kaguya going to help; it would be me going to help.
"..."
In the instant she sensed it, Maki turned her head.
In the space of a breath, she saw the gun muzzle aimed at herself.
The Blessing perceived brimming goodwill. It was a human; it was a person who was projecting goodwill toward her.
But in that person's hand, the muzzle had already locked onto her head. That finger placed on the trigger had already pressed down with force.
Click—
In the next moment, at the instant Maki immediately made a dodging motion, that gun failed to fire a bullet.
[Eh? How can this be? Why are the "Black Blood Bullets" all gone?]
Lixer checked the magazine with great confusion, discovering that there were actually no bullets existing inside.
He naturally wouldn't understand that after Andres's obsession dissipated, the Black Blood Bullets, as a derivative product, naturally lost their foundation for existence and thus vanished without a trace.
However, this didn't count as a major problem.
After confirming the firearm was useless, Lixer casually tossed the gun away, then fished out a sharp climbing axe from behind him.
[Please don't misunderstand. I am completely a good person. I came to help you all.]
Lixer cracked the corners of his mouth, smiling.
His body seemed to have only just re-aggregated from a pile of rotten meat, so much so that when he opened his mouth, he directly tore his oral cavity apart. And when he threw away the pistol, a finger even stuck to the gun and was thrown out along with it.
Maki's Blessing could still only sense goodwill, could only sense the [goodwill projected by Lixer as a human].
However, she did not feel surprised by this. Because Gao Hai, who had confronted Lixer face-to-face before her, had already figured out this person's specific situation. He knew that the so-called Lixer was merely a superficial shell. Substantively, the one controlling this person's actions was Fulen, who had modified Lixer into this appearance. It was just that... clearly those Black Blood Stones had disappeared, yet this person could actually still move. Was it Fulen's own anomalous power that awakened Lixer?
It looked like Fulen was quite clear about what result would occur if he didn't take action, so he decisively utilized Lixer once again. Even Gao Hai hadn't expected that Lixer, after having already dissolved into a pile of rotten meat, could actually re-aggregate and act again. It could be said that from the moment Lixer was seen through, Fulen had already used that to beat them at their own game and set up a backup plan, deploying it here.
[If possible, I hope you don't resist. That would be very painful.]
Hand clutching the climbing axe, Lixer jumped down from the platform, landing beside Maki and Chika, and turned around to speak.
Then Maki raised the pistol in her hand, aimed at Lixer, and pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang bang bang—
A textbook "American quick-draw." In less than three seconds, Maki emptied a magazine and rapidly reloaded, taking only 0.9 seconds to swap in a fully loaded magazine. She chambered a round again, and aimed once more at Lixer, who had been knocked to the ground by several consecutive shots.
________________________________________
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