Refrigerator Bro.
Although the nickname makes him sound like a pretty ordinary guy—well, I guess his appearance is pretty ordinary too. Isn't he just a frozen-stiff corpse?
But right now, for this guy to suddenly pop up in this chaotic world, and in the same wall-smashing, charging style as a Tyrant to block the two of them—this was no small problem they could just brush off.
Crack—crack—
Shattered ice fell to the ground.
This stiff, completely pale figure slowly raised a hand as if trying to grab Gao Hai.
At that same moment, without a second's hesitation, Gao Hai instantly turned and fled, vanishing from the spot in a flash.
Running for a long time while carrying someone across complex, chaotic terrain was no easy task. However, to avoid the health problems that came with sitting and writing for long periods, Gao Hai had spent a lot of time working out before he transmigrated. As a result, his physical fitness was much better than an average person's, and he could still keep going.
He couldn't hear any footsteps behind him.
The stiff, frozen corpse didn't seem to be chasing him?
Gao Hai didn't dare stop to check on it.
In the dim corridor, the lights flickered faintly, then went out, like blinking eyes.
He couldn't hear any other sounds.
It seemed the entire world had been reduced to the sound of his own footsteps.
"Hah... hah..."
Deep breath.
Exhale.
His feet landed on the corridor floor, littered with trash bags and rubble, then pushed off again.
Gao Hai adjusted his breathing and running pace, sprinting forward as fast as he could.
Where could the wall clock be?
Logically, if I get close enough, I should be able to feel the gaze of the human-head wall clock.
But I don't feel anything like that now, which means there isn't one nearby. No, maybe I'm just not close enough. After all, this damn place is huge. The clocks might be very far apart, and I'll have to get closer to those areas first.
After passing through another winding corridor and running through a chaotic passage that was hard to describe in words.
Gao Hai's steps, however, suddenly came to a halt.
"Shijo?"
The girl on his back had gone quiet at some point.
She was growing cold to the touch.
When Gao Hai realized it, he discovered that Maki, who he was carrying, was covered in a thin layer of frost.
He crouched down, holding the girl from his back in his arms.
Gao Hai lowered his head and met her weak gaze. At this moment, large and small ice crystals were beginning to appear on her body. Just like the corpse from the refrigerator, she was freezing, bit by bit.
"So... cold..."
The girl's voice had become hoarse, devoid of its former spirit.
"...Can a corpse that has left its room impose its cause of death on others? Or is it because you woke up in that room, you're the master of that house, so you'll suffer the same death as him? If that's the case, then what about the two corpses from 205? The woman died of suffocation, and the man seemed to have died from some supernatural force. No... then again, I can't even be sure if it was the male corpse or the female corpse that came out of 205."
Muttering to himself, Gao Hai laid the girl, whose body was gradually stiffening, on the ground and held her already rigid, icy hand.
"Go..."
The girl's lips barely moved, almost unable to speak.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm leaving now."
He didn't look again at the tears freezing in her eyes, nor at the proud girl's look of fear and pain in her final moments.
Gao Hai let out a soft breath, stood up, and ran past the completely frozen girl, continuing forward.
He knew his own end wouldn't be a good one.
After struggling in this bizarre apartment for so long, after fighting with all his might to get this far.
This transmigrator's story, a story about a transmigrator's adventure in a god-awful rules-based horror stories game, was probably about to reach its final curtain.
How pathetic.
As a transmigrator who dreamed of being a harem protagonist who panders to otaku, he ended up watching a beautiful girl die right in front of him.
But even so, to just give up without a struggle... I really can't accept that.
Even if it's doomed to be futile...
Gao Hai changed his direction.
He circled around and started running back, heading for the blood-red door of Room 304 he had seen earlier.
Even if it was destined to be meaningless, at least before he died, he wanted to see what the hell was in the deepest part of this place, in the Room 304 that he was absolutely not supposed to go to.
Crack—
He thought he heard something shatter.
Gao Hai instinctively turned his head and saw the frozen male corpse, and standing beside it, the girl who had also become a frozen corpse.
In that instant, the two figures passed through an open doorway and vanished.
After the corpse from the room appeared, it recreated its form of death on Maki, the current master of the house, and then took her away.
Could it be... that thing was taking her back to 208?
Come to think of it, the rules mentioned that it was only safe to stay in [your own room] at night, and everywhere else was dangerous.
Is that what it meant?
When the master of a house stays in their room, the corpse inside becomes a form of protection. But once they leave, the corpse will hunt them down, killing the master with dangerous supernatural powers in the process?
There was no way to verify these thoughts anymore.
In his final moments, Gao Hai was just letting his mind wander.
What will I see next?
If I open that door, what will be behind it?
Gao Hai's feet kept carrying him forward.
He felt he was ready to face anything.
Until, up ahead, a small figure blocked his path.
[Big brother, why didn't you come home tonight?]
A child in clean, beautiful clothes looked up and asked innocently.
A child... right?
Gao Hai's steps slowly came to a halt.
[People who don't come home at night are bad children, you know.]
A giggling voice echoed by his ear.
Is it... a child?
A child in clean, beautiful clothes.
Giggling and laughing.
Eating a sweet, sweet cake.
Holding a pretty toy.
The children stood before him, laughing.
[Those who don't come home are bad children, unlovable bad children, you know.]
The sound of children's laughter rose up beside him.
In the corridor of hazy lights, Gao Hai slowly turned his head and saw a child run past him.
Is it a child?
He couldn't see their faces clearly.
They were just laughing.
Laughing so, so happily.
The laughing children came running out, one after another.
[Those who don't come home are bad children.]
The voice echoed in his mind.
[Those who don't come home are bad children, you know.]
Giggling and laughing.
[Big brother is a bad child, a bad child.]
Clapping their hands, they hopped merrily.
The children surrounded him, one after another.
They looked up, looked at him.
And let Gao Hai see them, these lovely children.
[Bad children must be punished, you know.]
He fell.
He fell amid the giggling voices.
The faces of the children were all smiling. No, were they smiling? Or were they expressionless from the very start?
His left hand began to throb with intense pain again.
But somehow... it didn't really feel unbearably painful.
It was almost as if it didn't hurt much at all.
No... that's not right...
Gao Hai forced his eyes wide, trying to see everything clearly.
Darkness.
A pitch-black darkness where he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
He reached out and touched only a wall.
In front, behind, to the left, to the right, below, and above...
There were walls everywhere, pressing in on his body, making it impossible to move.
Why am I here?
Was I supposed to be going somewhere?
What did I see?
He couldn't recall the specific image, only that he seemed to have heard the happy laughter of children.
Laughing and saying, saying...
[Bad children must be punished, you know.]
Whoosh—
Water splashed onto Gao Hai's shoulder.
"Argh!"
The searing pain made him cry out involuntarily.
Scalding water soaked through his clothes, raising blisters on his skin.
[Hahahahaha—]
The children clapped their hands, laughing loudly.
Whoosh—
More boiling water poured down from above, drenching Gao Hai.
"Aaargh!"
Agony.
Struggle.
There was nowhere to escape.
In this sealed, dark space, there was nowhere to hide.
Whoosh—
More boiling water poured down.
[Hahahahahaha—]
More children began to laugh.
Whoosh—
The children began to sing.
Whoosh—
The children began to dance.
Whoosh—
The children spun and spun, round and round, giggling and laughing around the punished bad child.
The gushing water began to flow out.
Hair flowed out with it.
Skin flowed out with it.
Flesh and fat and oil flowed out with it.
Glug glug glug—
In the small box filled with boiling water, the screams could no longer be heard.
The tiny person submerged in the boiling water also began to float.
[Hee hee hee hahahahaha—]
The giggling children laughed and skipped away.
Are there any more bad children who didn't come home tonight?
Hahaha—
Hahahahahahaha—~
The joyous children had gone far away.
And the punished bad child just floated there quietly.
Click—click—
Another sound seemed to quietly emerge.
Click—click—
On the arm where the flesh had been boiled away, the black watch trembled slightly.
Click—click—
The single hand suddenly began to twitch.
From the 0 mark.
From the mark that had never changed, it slowly began to move.
In this dark red liquid, in this blood-colored soak, it finally moved forward.
Click!
A crisp sound suddenly rang out.
The hand of the black watch moved from 0 to 1.
________________________________________
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