After saying this, Asuna herself was a little surprised. She looked at the hideous blood face pressed against the observation window and hesitated.
"So... it's not trying to get in, but wants us to open the ward door and leave here quickly?"
"Of course, just look..."
Asagiri raised his hand and pointed at the hideous blood face, saying with a smile.
"Look how anxious this guy is? He's here for a Martian rescue for us, and..."
At this point, Asagiri paused slightly before continuing.
"Judging by its appearance... It's not a living person. And based on the word 'Caregiver' in the hint, I speculate that it is the ghost, Banshee, or lingering resentment left behind by a 'Caregiver' in this sanatorium after they died due to certain events. Its anxious behavior, wanting to persuade us to leave, also confirms your previous guess. An hour... no, now there's only a little over fifty minutes left. After fifty minutes, some kind of anomaly will occur in this sanatorium, and at that time, no one will be able to leave here."
"g-g-ghost?"
Asuna's face turned pale, and even her voice began to tremble slightly.
"Are there really ghosts...?"
"Hmph, what's so new about that?"
Asagiri said nonchalantly, "Even something like suddenly appearing in another location can happen, so the existence of creatures like ghosts and Banshees isn't surprising, is it? Besides, this might not even be the world we originally came from."
Then, without waiting for Asuna to speak, Asagiri suddenly changed the subject.
"However, no matter how much we analyze or speculate, there is only one way to verify whether our guess is correct: open the ward door and walk out. If our guess is wrong, we will probably be attacked by the guy outside the moment we open the door. So the question is, you or I, who will open that door?"
Hearing this question, Asuna looked again at the hideous blood face outside the observation window, and fear enveloped her heart.
That's right.
No matter how many deductions are made, no matter how much information supports them, who can guarantee that the result they speculated is definitely correct?
There is only one way to verify it, and if the speculated result is wrong, the consequences are self-evident.
If they quickly close the ward door again as soon as they see the 'Caregiver' outside making aggressive moves, the person remaining in the room might have a chance to survive.
To be honest, Asuna was very afraid. She didn't want to face the hideous blood-covered monster, and even less did she want to die. She really wanted the other party to open the door and verify whether their guess was correct.
But...
Why?
During the analysis process, this mysterious person calling himself "Lucifer" was the leader, and she just followed his line of thought, offering speculations that any normal person could think of. Now, she was asking the other party to risk their life to open that door and face that terrifying monster?
Even though she was scared, Asuna did not feel that, as a 'Player', she had the right to ask another 'Player' to bear all the risks for her.
"I... I..."
Asuna took a deep breath, her hands unconsciously clenched.
"I'll go open the door. If I'm attacked, I'll do my best to push the guy outside away, and you can take that opportunity to close the door again."
Hearing this, Asagiri didn't hesitate and immediately cleared the way to the ward door, even making a gesture of invitation.
"Oh, that's great. Lady Asuna is righteous, I am deeply impressed. I am a gentleman, come, come, ladies first."
Seeing his actions and hearing his words, Asuna was at a loss for words for a moment.
It was true that she had made the decision to open the ward door—but the problem was...
You're being way too impolite, aren't you?
"You're a strange person..."
Asuna said helplessly as she walked towards the ward door.
When she reached the ward door, she looked at the hideous blood face outside the observation window. Due to excessive tension and fear, she felt her limbs becoming numb, and her mind was almost blank.
In the dead silence, Asuna slowly gripped the rusty doorknob with her trembling right hand.
Just as she finally braced herself and began to turn the doorknob, her wrist was suddenly grasped by Asagiri beside her.
"Alright, that's enough."
"Huh?"
Before Asuna could react, she saw Asagiri had already walked to the door, holding the chainsaw in one hand and directly gripping the doorknob with the other. Without the slightest hesitation, he directly opened the door and even said with a relaxed and leisurely tone.
"Chainsaw Man is here~"
*Click*
The door was pulled open by Asagiri, and the scene that came into view made Asuna feel as if all the blood in her body had frozen.
It wasn't until this moment that she finally saw the true face of the hideous blood-faced monster.
Its body was clad in tattered, blood-stained, and soiled light blue work clothes, and it wore something that looked like an ID badge. Most importantly, the blood-covered monster's posture at this time was incredibly bizarre. Its body was not upright, but like an old hunchbacked man, it was bending over, trying to get its face close to where the ward observation window had been.
Seeing Asagiri open the door, the blood-covered monster slowly straightened its body. At this point, its head was almost touching the ceiling of the corridor. Asuna roughly estimated that the other party's height was at least close to three meters.
Facing this exaggeratedly tall oppressive presence, Asuna's breathing stopped for a moment.
But the next second, this oppressive atmosphere was instantly broken.
"Excuse me, coming through~"
Asagiri's tone was still so relaxed, as if he felt no fear at all even when facing a blood-faced monster nearly three meters tall.
What Asuna didn't expect was that after he said this, the exaggeratedly tall blood-faced monster actually retreated a distance, clearing the way at the door.
"What are you still spacing out for?"
Asagiri walked directly out of the ward, then turned around and looked at Asuna, who was still standing in the ward, urging her.
"Time is precious, it might affect the evaluation and rewards given after clearing the dungeon, so hurry up, let's go."