The beam of the flashlight swayed as the elevator descended, forming irregular spots on the ground.
Jiang Yuanrou leaned forward. Her gaze followed the direction of the light to his fingers, and asked with some doubts, “What’s wrong? Did you find anything?”
Mo Yi stretched out his palm to Jiang Yuanrou, showing the thin layer of silver-white powder on his fingertips, which not only felt slippery and weird to the touch, but also shimmered under the light.
He opened his mouth and said, “This powder was on the metal wall which was caved in. I think it is similar to scale powder.”
Jiang Yuanrou was stunned for a moment, then took a closer look at the powder on his fingertips, and continued asking.
“You mean… similar to the ones on the wings of butterflies and moths?”
Mo Yi nodded, his expression looked a little solemn with the backlight. Patting the scales on his fingers off, he then stood up.
His eyes were still locked on the irregular hole at the bottom of the elevator, while deep in contemplation. The sharp edge shone with some fluorescence under the light, which was likely due to the scale powder.
This ‘butterfly’ had been entangled with them like a ghost since the start of this instance.
Whether it was the blood-drawn butterfly which would appear after each illusion, or this scale powder on the butterfly’s wings they found in this elevator, the entire instance seemed to be closely entangled with this little insect from beginning to end.
Mo Yi had an inexplicable premonition in his heart—they were about to touch the core of the entire instance.
The elevator, which was akin to an enclosed iron box, shuddered twice suddenly, then slowed to a stop. Mo Yi looked up at the faintly glowing screen. The number on it flashed an ominous bloody light: -3.
This was where it all started.
Mo Yi took a slow and deep breath. He fixed his eyes on the two tightly closed metal doors, watched them form a gap, and then slowly parted further to the two sides.
A faint smell of blood mixed with the smell of stale and rotten dust slowly wafted in from beyond the open metal door. The cold air of the corridor came from the depths of the darkness, and when it entered the enclosed and warm elevator, made them feel the sudden drop in temperature.
This cold air pierced through the thin fabric of his shirt and permeated his skin, making Mo Yi shiver slightly with a layer of goosebumps rising on his skin.
Jiang Yuanrou exchanged a look with him. She then walked out of the elevator, and moved towards the depths of the corridor.
The corridor here was not as empty as the one on the previous two floors, but was messily strewn with countless sundries.
Under the light of the flashlight, these trinkets, which were piled up in the middle and blocking their way, formed countless fuzzy and undulating shadows.
Everything seemed to be exactly the same as before he left.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The yellowed pieces of paper and documents scattered on the dirty floor, the broken desks and chairs with missing arms and legs lying in a mess in the corridor, the incomprehensible graffiti on the walls illuminated by the flickering flashlight, and even the dried patches of dark brown blood on the mottled walls forming countless crazy scribbles.
Ktf mbgglvbg kjr oliifv klat jc lcvfrmglyjyif ragjcuf rwfii, ktlmt rffwfv ab yf j wlzaegf bo atf rwfiir bo vlrlcofmajca jcv yibbv. Ktlr rmfca rffwfv ab milcu ilofifrris ab atf fcalgf vjgx mbgglvbg, mbivis lcnjvlcu atf qijsfgr’ gfrqlgjabgs agjmar.
Ktf vbbgr bo atf fifnjabg mibrfv ribkis yftlcv atfw, ifaalcu bea j rwjii wfajiilm ugbjc.
Mo Yi was more familiar with this floor while Jiang Yuanrou basically knew nothing about its layout as she had woken up directly on -2F.
He pursed his lips slightly, and shone his flashlight into the room beside him.
The flickering light illuminated the scene in the room next to the elevator. The corpses and messy items inside which were hidden in the deep shadows were revealed under the flashlight.
It was no different from when he left.
Mo Yi turned to Jiang Yuanrou who was standing beside him, and asked in a low voice.
“Where are we going next?”
This layer should be the deepest layer. According to the prompt in this instance, this layer should also be the highest layer of Edwin’s consciousness, but despite this, they were still inside Edwin’s spiritual world.
Furthermore, from Mo Yi’s memory, there was no other elevator they could take.
So how should they proceed?
Jiang Yuanrou turned her head to look at Mo Yi. Her features, which were blurred in the pale peripheral light of the flashlight, lifted in a wry smile.
“Actually… I don’t know either.”
She took a deep breath and said slowly. “The exit should be on this floor, but… I really don’t know where it is or what it looks like.”
Mo Yi lowered his eyes and nodded to show that he understood. He pulled out the map he’d previously found on this floor, and unfolded it under the light of the flashlight.
“This is the map I found on this floor before, maybe we can find some clues.”
Jiang Yuanrou nodded. She leaned closer to look at the paper in his hand.
According to the description of this floor on this map, -3F was actually much smaller than the other two floors. It had a straight corridor with an elevator at one end and a staff room at the other end, and several narrow wards along the way.
Jiang Yuanrou pointed at the blacked-out room, and whispered in a concerned tone.
“Do you know what this is?”
Mo Yi nodded.
“Yes, it’s where mentally ill patients receive treatment. This was the place where I entered an illusion for the first time in this instance.”
Jiang Yuanrou seemed to be deep in contemplation as she whispered, “It sounds like a very important place.”
Mo Yi nodded in agreement. He refolded the map and stuffed it into his pocket. “Let’s go and have a look, maybe we can find some new clues.”
After this conversation, they made their way towards the opposite side of the corridor one after the other.
Cautiously, they bypassed the sundries scattered on the ground, trying to reduce the risk of accidentally hitting something and making unplanned noises.
The only light from overhead illuminated a small area of the corridor under it—
As well as the half-coagulated dark red blood on the ground.
The strong smell of blood permeated their nostrils while the icy air infiltrated their lungs, bringing a cold, tingling sensation.
Mo Yi was slightly taken aback. He turned his head and exchanged the same puzzled and uneasy look with Jiang Yuanrou.
This scene… seemed familiar.
Mo Yi pursed his lips subconsciously. With his pale lips pressed into a straight line, he took a deep breath and subconsciously quickened his pace, walking towards the deep darkness of the corridor—
The light of the flashlight moved along with him, shining into the darkness ahead.
A dead body was nailed high on the wall. It looked just like an insect specimen, lifeless and stuck securely to the dirty wall, where dark red blood snaked down the surface and collected around the foot of the corpse in a half-coagulated pool.
It was a man. His neck was hanging limply as if broken and his pale face was covered by shadows.
Mo Yi moved to the side and changed the angle from which he could see the man’s face—
There was a huge and weird smile on the corpse’s face, his twisted lips stretching from ear to ear, while his eyes were two blood-red slits, staring blankly out at a point in the void.
After having seen a similar body before, Mo Yi was not as shocked as last time.
He frowned, slowly drawing his brows together. His gaze grew focused and slid down the horrific corpse, studying it inch by inch, until it finally stopped on the ground.
Jiang Yuanrou glanced at the corpse, then turned to look at Mo Yi:
“Is… Is this the boss of this floor?”
Mo Yi nodded. His pale lips were pursed even tighter and the expression on his face became a little gloomy.
Jiang Yuanrou took a shallow breath and continued speaking.
“Could it be that the one who killed them was the Edwin who was released on -1F? Is he…so scary?”
Mo Yi stepped forward all of a sudden. After a few steps, he crouched down without warning and reached out to touch the blood on the ground.
He raised his head to look at Jiang Yuanrou. With a pale face and solemn expression, he shook his head slowly.
“I don’t think it’s him.”
Jiang Yuanrou froze.
Mo Yi lowered his head and rubbed his fingertips together. The dark red blood between his fingers was smeared by his movements. The sticky touch was transmitted to the brain along the nerve endings. He paused, and then spoke again.
“The blood of the corpse on -2F was still fluid, but the blood on this floor has dried up.”
Jiang Yuanrou stood still for a moment. Her eyes flickered and steered the conversation in a low voice, “So… the -3F boss was the first to be killed, and the woman on -2F was killed after he died…?”
Mo Yi nodded with a gloomy expression. He pressed his palms on his knees and pushed himself back onto his feet, then turned to look at Jiang Yuanrou. “I might have encountered two bosses on this floor. However, since I was not sure if the person who pushed me was just part of an illusion, I didn’t mention it.”
Mo Yi paused. His voice slightly hoarse when he continued.
“… Now it seems that it is very possible that it was not my hallucination, but a real existence.”
Jiang Yuanrou raised her head slightly, staring at Mo Yi closely with her bright light brown eyes. There was a trace of disbelief when she opened her mouth to ask, “He has been following you…?”
Mo Yi nodded with some difficulty. He glanced at the hanging corpse with a complicated expression.
“Furthermore,I suspect that the one who made you fall into the illusion on -1F was not the locked Edwin, but the boss who followed me down. The reason why he tricked you into opening the branch line was not to let Edwin out… ”
Jiang Yuanrou’s face turned pale while the glint in her eyes became solemn and cold, as she finished the sentence on Mo Yi’s behalf.
“—but to let himself out.”
T/N: This is the last triple update. We will be returning to double updates on Wednesday from next week. Hopefully everyone reading has been enjoying the arc so far!
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the chapter
Mysterious
Thank you for your translation 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍
I caught up 😭
Thanks for the update ☺️
Aaaaa please tell me the ML is finally gonna appear I miss him sadge….thank you for the hard work!
👁👄👁 so other Edwin is still only into killing toys and small animals.. right?