[Interview Record No. 6073]
[Interviewee: Howard Smith]
[Recorded during the formal lockdown phase of the Red Nut Grey Cave]
[Interviewer: Mr. Smith, hello. According to the information we have on hand, before the Red Nut Grey Cave was completely sealed off, you and your team were the last to enter and exit that place, and you were the ones who blew up the cave entrance to seal it. Is that correct?]
[Smith: Since you already know it was me, why are you asking?]
[Interviewer: Please correct your attitude, Mr. Smith. We invited you here because we require your cooperation with our investigation. I believe you are well aware of what measures we will take if you refuse to cooperate.]
[Smith: Like how you left that hellish place unattended until things went wrong beyond your ability to contain them?]
[Interviewer: Do you need me to help you recall your life in prison over the past two days?]
[Smith: …]
[Interviewer: Very well. Then let us return to the main topic. For quite a long period before this, the Red Nut Grey Cave experienced, hmm… certain minor issues, and your people were always the ones responsible for handling such matters. What we wish to understand is whether you know how all of this eventually developed into that incident. Although it was indeed a once-in-a-century torrential rainstorm, according to our understanding, the Red Nut Grey Cave had been flooded during heavy rains on more than one occasion. It was only after the tourist park was established, and the entrance was obscured, that it was no longer flooded.]
[Smith: I do not know the answer to that question.]
[Interviewer: Sir, I hope you can take our questions seriously.]
[Smith: Do I look like some kind of expert who studies mysterious phenomena? How would I know why that hellish place would inexplicably drag tourists under the Big Slide, or why, despite a wall being built to block people from passing through, the wall would inexplicably collapse. I was just the one dragged in to clean up the mess. If I knew what was going on, I would not be sitting here. But if you insist on making me say something, then fine. I guess it was because it was "full."]
[Interviewer: Full?]
[Smith: That's right. Full. Do you know how many people were trapped down there? I went in three times. On the third time, I entered the "Blood Vessel." I passed through that area and reached the Large Space, and then I saw countless pieces of clothing piled on the ground.]
[Interviewer: Clothing? You mean you only saw clothing, and did not see any people?]
[Smith: That's right. Piece after piece of clothing—men's, women's, children's—clothes of every kind, all of them casual outfits like those worn by tourists who came to sightsee, piled everywhere throughout the entire cave. I can be certain that no one other than me had entered. I could tell from the traces inside the "Blood Vessel" that no one had crawled through that passage for many years before me. Yet now it was filled with clothing, while all the people who had been wearing those clothes were gone. I do not know where they went, but I always feel that they did not completely disappear. They are actually still inside that cave—I just cannot see them.]
[Interviewer: So you believe that the cave was filled with people and had no more capacity, and that is why that incident occurred?]
[Smith: That is the only explanation I can think of. That rainstorm was not normal. None of the weather forecasting systems detected it, and the area it covered happened to be only this city—only the location of that damned cave. Do you believe that was a coincidence? I certainly do not.]
[Interviewer: Very well. Then the next question—during the rescue operation, which areas did you enter in total? We need to understand the course of your actions.]
[Smith: The entrance, Stone Forest Path, the Plains, and the large square—only those four places. We searched for survivors only in those four areas. We brought out everyone who could still clearly remember their own name and identity. But in the end, we discovered that only "Explorers" and "Tourists" could still be saved. No—actually, it was basically only "Explorers" who could still be saved. Although I do not quite understand how there could be Explorers inside, they were indeed the people trapped there—the ones we could rescue. By contrast, among those Tourists, the vast majority could no longer be taken out of the cave.]
[Interviewer: How do you know those people could not be saved?]
[Smith: You can find the answer to that question just by going through the rules and action records we compiled. Those people could not be taken out. Even if we led them to the entrance, once we went outside, what we had left in our hands was only a set of clothes. They had already been left inside. They were already never going to come out again. Even if you "rescued" them, you would only be rescuing a phantom.]
[Interviewer: You did not enter the Big Slide itself. Why? In your previous rescue operations, you clearly went deep inside it multiple times and returned unscathed—why did you not go in this time?]
[Smith: …The floodwaters had already submerged the great cliff. Because the Big Slide is a slope, the current was extremely rapid. Going down was far too dangerous. And at that time, the situation inside the cave had already clearly changed. We had to act in accordance with the rules—rash action would only lead to pointless sacrifice.]
[Interviewer: In other words, you judged that the people under the Big Slide could not be saved. Is that correct?]
[Smith: Even if there were still living people inside, in reality they could no longer be saved. Aside from the first two groups who left, the people after that would never be able to climb back up again.]
[Interviewer: Why?]
[Smith: I cut the Big Slide's safety rope. Anyone without professional training could not possibly climb up a 30-degree slope against that kind of current.]
[Interviewer: You cut the safety rope? Why? Did doing that benefit you in any way?]
[Smith: Because I saw something else, climbing up along that rope.]
[Interviewer: Something else?]
[Smith: …]
[Interviewer: Mr. Smith? I hope you can describe what you know in a detailed and concrete way.]
[Smith: …If you do not see those things with your own eyes, you will not understand.]
[Interviewer: Mr. Smith?]
[Smith: I saw those people who were still alive. They were gripping the rope, struggling desperately to climb up. They were people who could still be saved. As long as they climbed up, we could take them out—we could take them away from that hellish place. But behind them came those things. They… also wanted to come out. They followed behind those people. There were still many people on the Plains and in the large square who had not been rescued. If those things came up, maybe the others would no longer be able to be rescued. I had to make a choice. I am the captain. I could not let my good lads do this kind of thing. This kind of thing could only be done by me. So I cut the rope, and did not give those things a chance to come up.]
[Interviewer: So what exactly were those things?]
[Smith: That is all I am going to say. I have had enough of all this. That place no longer has anything to do with people like us who survived. What you want to look for inside it is your own business. But believe me—other than death and despair, you will not find anything in there. Treating that place with arrogance and self-righteousness will not lead to any good outcome.]
[Interviewer: I do not think so. However, at least this time you were willing to cooperate with us in completing a normal interview process. Thank you.]
[Smith: Heh…]
[Interviewer: Then finally, I have one last question. During that rescue operation, aside from the firefighters and rescue teams, I remember that there were also some people with exploration experience who participated in the rescue. Do you know anything about their situation?]
[Smith: You should go ask the FBI about that question, rather than asking someone you have locked up for half a year.]
[Interviewer: It was five months and twenty-two days—less than half a year, Mr. Smith.]
[Smith: Heh…]
[End of Record]
In the dark bedroom, on two of the four beds lay researchers played by anomalies, both maintaining a completely motionless state, as if they had already become corpses. No—they were corpses to begin with. In that sense, this appearance could be considered a return to their original state.
Shijō Maki was still thinking about the interview transcript she had just finished reading not long ago, a written record she had taken out from the archives area.
Howard Smith.
This man appeared to be a firefighter, and after the abnormal events occurred at the Red Nut Grey Cave, he had, for quite a long period of time, been responsible for handling and covering up the issues within it, rescuing those who were trapped inside. It seemed that during the disaster in which the floodwaters submerged the Red Nut Grey Cave, it was this man who organized the rescue, and after everything had settled, he was apprehended by official personnel.
Combined with the information provided by Takumi, Maki had already been able to more or less sort out what had happened in this instance in the past, and to understand the basic timeline of how everything unfolded.
However, there were still some unresolved details, and the situation of this research base itself was filled with many more mysteries. For example…
What exactly was the [god] that this base was pursuing? In the world of Horror Story, could gods truly exist? And if they did exist, would a god allow something like Horror Story to bring disaster upon the human world?
So many mysteries churned endlessly in her mind, yet there was no one she could share them with or seek answers from. It was already lights-out. Kaguya was lying on the other bed, and unlike with Takumi, there was no team voice channel between her and Kaguya. As a result, Maki could only remain silent, continuing to lie there.
Over on Takumi's side, communication was still unavailable. He was likely still in an extremely dangerous situation. Earlier, he had said that he was going to pass through the [Blood Vessel]. That place was very likely one of the most dangerous areas of the Red Nut Grey Cave, and perhaps even now he still had not escaped.
Please don't let anything happen…
An extremely uneasy Maki prayed silently in her heart.
At the same time, Takumi slowly collapsed forward, falling onto… Fujiwara Chika's chest.
"Eh—eh—eh?"
Fujiwara Chika, who was likewise lacking in strength, widened her eyes, her face immediately flushing red. But after hesitating for a moment, she did not point out the situation to Takumi. Instead, she allowed him to remain lying there on her chest.
Even though Chika said nothing, Takumi quickly realized what he was doing. Struggling, he propped himself up, sat upright again, and then collapsed down beside Chika.
The place where the two of them were lying was the guard booth inside the Red Nut Grey Cave during the flood—the only place that would not be submerged by water, and where no water dripped down.
It seemed that due to the interweaving of different rule-based zones, as long as one did not enter the guard booth wearing a security uniform, this place could be used as a temporary safe area. One could rest here, and could also temporarily remove clothing tied to one's identity. However, the prerequisite was that the door must not be opened. If the door was opened while wearing the wrong clothes, problems would most likely arise.
Susan and Rex were sitting on the other side of the guard booth. Among them, Susan's condition also looked quite poor. Although Takumi had blocked most of the torrent, her physical endurance was, after all, still within human limits. Under the relentless pounding of the violent waterfall-like current, she had exhausted all her strength just to barely climb up the Big Slide.
During their advance, the safety rope had swayed a total of three times. The first two times, although those bizarre phantoms and the illusion of the rope breaking appeared, once the illusion ended, the rope would reappear and return to normal. But after the third illusion ended, Takumi discovered that the rope had disappeared completely. He had no choice but to rely on a large iron spike to move with great difficulty, making it across the final several dozen meters from the Big Slide to the Plains.
As for Susan behind him, after the rope vanished, she was unable to advance even a single step. She could only cling to the rock wall, struggling to cling there, completely unable to move.
If Rex had not appeared in time and thrown down a rope at that moment, Takumi and Chika would certainly have been able to reach the Plains safely, but Susan would very likely have died on the spot. After all, in that kind of condition, Takumi could barely take care of himself, and there was simply no way for him to turn back and pay attention to Susan's situation.
"Huff… huff…"
Takumi quickly steadied his breathing, recovering the stamina he had expended.
He had already more or less figured things out, confirming the regional linkage between the Explorers and the rescue team, and had roughly sketched out a map of the area he was currently in.
If the area occupied by the firefighters had not already become a closed loop, those Explorers who struggled their way out might actually have been able to escape through this process. Takumi suspected that Wilbur's original intention had probably been exactly that. It was just that, unlike Kyosei, who could still maintain a sense of self, Wilbur should by now have been completely assimilated by the Red Nut Grey Cave, turning into an anomalous existence.
Come to think of it, rescue-team firefighters could not enter the interior of the Big Slide. In a previous run, there had even been an old player who went in and never came back. Yet when acting as Explorers, they had come up from the Big Slide instead. That contrast was truly strange.
"Huff… so then, did you find anything here?"
While Fujiwara Chika was still utterly exhausted, Takumi had already more or less adjusted his breathing. He then looked toward Rex and Susan, focusing on them as he asked seriously.
These two people were not simple at all.
He and Fujiwara Chika had gone through countless hardships just to finally reach this place, yet Rex and Susan had arrived one step ahead. Rex even still had the spare energy to carry out exploration and investigation in the surroundings. This point made Takumi extremely wary, and extremely vigilant. Originally, Takumi had thought that Susan—someone who seemingly possessed a certain level of understanding about this instance—was worth paying attention to. But now, he was beginning to feel that Rex was even more mysterious, and even more deserving of caution.
"As for finding something, I don't really know whether it counts as a discovery. I just feel that… this place looks very familiar. Even though it's a complete mess now, this cave gives me a very familiar feeling."
After hesitating for a while, Susan first exchanged a glance with Rex. Only after seeing him nod did she turn her head toward Takumi and Chika, hesitating as she slowly began to speak.
"Familiar? You mean that…"
Although Takumi already more or less knew what she was about to say, he still put on an attentive expression and followed up on her words with a question.
"Yes. I mean… I should have been here before. Before I was chosen to become a player, I had already come to this place."
After a brief hesitation, Susan finally nodded firmly and spoke with great sincerity.
"Although I can no longer remember the specific circumstances, I feel extremely familiar with every area here—at least with the cave areas."
"I must have come here more than once. And that fire station as well. I can't remember the exact reason, but I have definitely been there."
"How should I put it… these memories… it seems I had originally already forgotten them, but after I came back here, these memories started reviving again, and I began to slowly recall them little by little. I remember coming back here again. I-I was for… um, I think… it was to take part in some kind of operation. It was to… save people? It seems like that… Maybe I still need a bit of time. Those things can only be recalled slowly, bit by bit."
It seemed that even Susan herself was not very sure what was going on with her memories. The confused look on her face did not seem fake, and what she said carried obvious hesitation. But even so, that content was enough to make Takumi think deeply.
Could she be that [Curtain-Call Actor]?
Takumi could not help thinking.
At this moment, one side of his clothing was gently tugged.
Takumi turned his head and saw Fujiwara Chika's somewhat frightened, fearful expression.
She did not speak. She only signaled Takumi with her eyes, indicating that he should look to the side. So Takumi turned his head again and looked in the direction the girl indicated, discovering that the direction she was pointing to was the guard booth's window.
At this moment, outside the guard booth window was a pitch-black rocky cave. There was no floodwater, no floating clothes, and no firefighters or rescue-team members walking around.
A man wearing casual clothes stood outside the window, reaching out his hand and tapping on the window glass. Up until Takumi saw this man, he had not heard any tapping. But the moment he noticed him, the clear sound of this man tapping on the window immediately rang in his ears.
Thud, thud, thud—thud, thud, thud—
And along with that tapping sound came the words this man shouted, overflowing with anxious, fearful emotion.
[Help me, please, I'm begging you—hurry and help us!]
[We have a friend who got stuck down below, inside the "Blood Vessel." He's stuck in there and can't move—he can't get out! I'm begging you, please hurry and help us!]
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