The elevator door opened slowly.
Mo Yi’s heart was beating uncomfortably in his chest. He instinctively stretched his muscles, and waited quietly—
The yellowish dim light shone through the slowly widening gap, making the mottled dark spots on the iron gate gradually become clearer.
Mo Yi’s eyes, which have become accustomed to the dark, were stung by the sudden light, and he inevitably narrowed his eyes slightly.
Through the half-dried blood smearing his eyelashes, his dark vision was mixed with red which made it seem like a distorted abstract painting formed from the dizziness caused by the sudden appearance of lights. It felt as though this sight was not rooted in reality.
Mo Yi blinked and looked into the elevator intently.
The elevator was empty. There was nothing there.
There were no vivid or coagulated bloodstains, no hideous and twisted corpses, no disgusting creatures which rush out the moment the elevator opens—
This was just a narrow, ordinary elevator.
Despite this, he didn’t dare to relax. He took a step forward cautiously and stood by the elevator, and then leaned over to look at the ceiling—
The metal top looked a bit old, with spots of rust around the lit lights. Everything was so normal that he couldn’t believe his eyes.
Mo Yi let out a long breath slowly. His thoughts were a little complicated, and he didn’t know whether he felt fortunate or disappointed.
He stuffed the magnetic card back into his pocket, then stepped into the elevator.
Although the corridor was icy cold, the temperature in the elevator was much more normal, which almost made Mo Yi’s skin, which had been sweaty due to pain, feel a little warm.
The moment he stepped into the elevator, the metal door made a hoarse and rough sound and closed behind him, immediately turning the space into an enclosed metal box.
Mo Yi turned around to look at the inner doors and froze in place.
There was nothing at the spot where the buttons should usually be. All that was there was just an empty metal plate, shimmering in the yellowish dim light. Moreover, the number displayed on the screen above was:
-3
Mo Yi’s eyes fell on the vivid number, and frowned—so, he should be on the third floor of the basement now.
No wonder there were no windows throughout that whole corridor.
Just when he was in a daze, he saw a small upward arrow appearing next to the number -3. The whole elevator shook suddenly, followed closely by the sound of the machine starting. The groans from the friction of the sliding rails echoed in the narrow enclosed space.
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.
Ktf fifnjabg wbnfv.
Ktf revvfc rfcrf bo kflutaifrrcfrr bnfgktfiwlcu Zb Tl mjerfv tlw ab rkjs lcnbiecajglis. Lf reymbcrmlberis ragfamtfv j tjcv bea ab reqqbga atf kjii bo atf fifnjabg, yea tf vlvc’a fzqfma ab qgfrr tlr lcpegs jujlcra atf obgfluc regojmf, ktlmt wjvf tlw ujrq lc qjlc.
The pain that he had deliberately forgotten just now was like a dog skin plaster that cannot be shaken off. The ache clung to his limb like the cold and slimy body of a snake tightly coiling around his nerves before tightening its body mercilessly, causing the pain to burrow into his bone marrow.
Zb Tl ygbxf bea lc j mbiv rkfja ogbw atf qjlc. Lf uglaafv tlr affat, iloafv tlr fsfilvr lc atf wlvra bo tlr vglqqlcu rkfja, jcv uijcmfv ja atf yijmx jcv ktlaf rmgffc cfza ab atf fifnjabg vbbg.
The display still showed -3, but the small upward-pointing triangle next to it was flashing at a constant speed.
The slight vibration of the elevator and the sound of the machinery in his ears reminded him that the elevator was going up.
Mo Yi was stunned. He suddenly recalled the prompt at the beginning of the game:
“Up is down”.
Many questions popped out of his mind instantly, filling his thoughts.
Would that have something to do with the direction of the elevator?
If it did… Does this mean that he is not going up now, but instead, going deep into the mental asylum?
Mo Yi stared at the small upward triangle flashing on the screen, his eyebrows furrowed tightly.
—It was a pity that there were still too few clues available for him to come to a conclusion.
He took a deep breath and suppressed the doubts in his heart, then struggled to unzip his backpack with his intact hand—
Cold fingers covered with dried blood groped around in the backpack until he found what he needed.
He casted a glance up at the digits on the screen again. The big -3 remained unchanged, with only the small triangle still moving—it seemed it would take a while to reach another floor.
Mo Yi inhaled deeply. He lowered himself onto the floor with bent legs then arranged the items in his backpack out on the floor one by one.
The situation will only turn more dangerous after reaching the -2F. With the current state of his injured fingers, it might be difficult to deal with the impending difficulty.
Therefore, it would be far easier for him to treat his injury in the elevator right now, so his injury would be less of a liability after he got out.
Mo Yi raised his injured left hand, and carefully studied his palm in the dim yellow elevator light.
The thumb was hanging down limply in a distorted posture. There was only a thin layer of flesh between the joints, and the thin bones were stiffly pushing up against the soft skin at an angle, as if they would poke through in the very next second.
He originally had a fair complexion which was prone to bruises. Now, there was a deep purplish red-black bruise spanning from the knuckle of his thumb to the back of his hand, which looked particularly shocking on his skin which was so pale that it looked almost transparent.
Mo Yi’s eyelids drooped slightly. The clear irises under his long eyelashes reflected the scene in front of him.
—When he was in that room just now, his actions were deliberate.
Dislocating one’s thumb was not the only option, but it was by far the safest.
He had props in his backpack which could cope with the situation then, but he was unwilling to use them. After all, the cooldown time of the props that can be used in the instance was too long, and this instance had just begun. If he carelessly used a prop now, he would be left with no other options if he ran into a more dangerous situation later.
Besides… Mo Yi was a little worried about the random debuffs.
He once discussed this drawback with Jiang Yuanrou. Jiang Yuanrou had previously used a prop once back when she was unaware there would be side effects when using props. She was lucky then and the side effect she’d gotten was merely ‘pollen allergy’. The other player in the same instance who used a prop too drew the random debuff of ‘blindness’.
—In an instance where danger was lurking in every single corner, blindness was almost equivalent to a death sentence.
Therefore, Mo Yi was unwilling to use props until the critical moment when he had no other choice but to use them.
In addition… In the second instance, Wen Chen had once set Mo Yi’s bones for him, so after the second instance ended, the latter specifically went to search up information and learn how to do the same. Although he’d obviously not gotten much practice, at least he was not going into this completely blind.
He was able to keep injuries to a minimum when dislocating his thumb, and had a high probability to successfully set it back in place. Compared to gambling his life on the side effects of the props, this was definitely a much safer option.
Mo Yi took a deep breath, then slowly gripped the uneven bones under the thin skin with his other hand. A bout of severe pain followed, but his face merely paled a little, with no fluctuations in his expression.
Lifting his head up to the lights overhead, he gritted his teeth as he concentrated on the dark yellow light—
Then snapped the bone back into place with a sharp yank!
A crisp ‘crack’ sounded in the enclosed elevator. The staggered joints were pushed back into place in an instant, and the distinct groaning of bone rubbing against bone made the root of his teeth sour.
Mo Yi’s whole body was trembling involuntarily. He was panting silently and violently, like a dehydrated fish that was dying. He forced himself to deeply inhale gulps of the cold and dry air, as if this would relieve some of the pain.
Finally, he calmed down sufficiently and looked down at his palm again.
The deformed bones on the hand have returned to normal. However, the shocking bruise on the back of the hand was getting darker, with a thin layer of red now on it.
Mo Yi tried to move his fingers.
A piercing pain washed over him, but it was alright, at least he could move.
He tremblingly sucked in another breath, and picked up the item he’d laid out flat on the ground earlier and skillfully treated his injury.
He decided against using anything as a splint to fix his dislocated knuckle. After all, it hadn’t been too long since this instance started. If his left hand was rendered immobile now, it would most certainly have a great impact on his future actions.
Mo Yi dexterously wrapped the bandage around his palm with the fingers of his right hand and tightly knotted the bandage at the back of his hand.
After successfully bandaging himself, he wiped the fine beads of sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, only to feel an unexpected burning sting.
It was only then that Mo Yi remembered that he was also injured on his forehead.
He sterilised the wound on his forehead with some remaining gauze dipped in alcohol, then wiped the blood that covered his eyes casually. After making sure his vision would not be impeded, he picked up the scattered things on the ground one by one and stuffed them back into a backpack.
With everything he’d wanted to take care of mostly finished, Mo Yi raised his eyes and glanced at the screen next to the elevator door.
The number above was still at -3 and the small upward icon was still flashing evenly. After a few minutes, the number above suddenly changed.
-2
Mo Yi’s heart skipped a beat. A feeling he couldn’t put his finger on suddenly surged in his heart, but before he could react, he felt the elevator under him tremble!
He subconsciously supported himself against the cold wall of the elevator.
The sound of the rails suddenly became sharp and harsh! There was a huge roar from the machinery, and the entire elevator plunged down again!
A layer of cold sweat broke out on Mo Yi’s back.
The overhead light suddenly dimmed, and a yellowish light flickered in the elevator.
The elevator stopped moving and seemed to have stopped in mid-air.
The inside of the closed elevator was dimmed.
Mo Yi raised his head and stared at the screen. However, neither the numbers nor the triangle were flickering anymore, as if they were frozen.
He could only hear his own slightly rapid breathing and the intermittent piercing groans of the sliding rails resounding in his ears.
In this very second, the lights in the elevator flickered again and then went out abruptly—
Everything was plunged into darkness.
T/N: A bit of a real life update but I got accepted into my masters programme, so until I start my LLM in August, I’ll be increasing the number of chapters posted every week to three (2 on Wednesdays and 1 on Fridays) 
Thank you to all the readers of CYSE for your support thus far!
Thank you so much for your hard work in translating this amazing novel for us! Also big congrats on getting accepted into your Master’s program! Wish you all the best 🙂 Study hard!
Thank you!
Congratulation!!!🥰😘
Congratulations
Thank you!
Congratulations on getting accepted to your Master’s program
Thanks for the chapter
Thank you! And thank you for reading too!!
Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 I hope you will like your studying process!!!
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Thank you! ❤
I am late but congratulations!
Also, this chapter makes my thumb hurt with phantom pain X(
Late but congratulations to our Reina-qianbei! <333
CONGRATS!!!
this is one of my biggest fears😭😭 being trapped in an elevator seems less as scary than trapped in an elevator IN A HORROR INSTANCE I’m sorry nope! I’ll take the stairs or just jump out the window instead 😭😭😭