He was in a dream.
In a trance, Gao Hai inexplicably understood this fact.
Everything around him was tinged with a dreamlike, hazy quality. Inside the dilapidated Room 204, he saw Kaguya Shinomiya resting on the bed, and next to Kaguya, he saw himself—the one whose head had been crushed by a truck.
So that's how it is.
In his daze, Gao Hai finally understood his identity.
Room 204 wasn't without a corpse; rather, someone had taken the corpse's place. That person was him.
His identity on the 2nd floor was not that of a resident, but of a corpse.
Even though he himself was a living person who breathed, had a heartbeat, and body temperature, according to the apartment's judgment system, he was actually fulfilling the role of [the corpse in the room].
Why?
He wasn't a corpse; he was a living person.
The invisible knocking horror could affect him, the anomaly that stole a living person's appearance could identify and track him, the open window could contaminate his mind, and the doll-like children he met on the third floor had boiled him alive.
All of this clearly proved the fact that Gao Hai was completely and utterly a living person.
Of course, his willpower was extraordinary, so he could struggle and resist everything except for the "children," which was a direct plot-mandated death. But this did not conflict with the fact that he was a living, breathing human who could be injured, feel hunger, and die.
In other words, I've merely substituted an "identity"? Is that it?
It was like exploiting a bug. He would be hunted by the powers of the horrors just like a normal player, and he had to be constantly vigilant about his own safety and act cautiously. When he was hungry, thirsty, or needed to defecate, he had to take action to meet those needs. But in addition to all that, he possessed an identity that a normal player would not have—an identity that fit the apartment's rules better than "player," one that could earn a degree of recognition from the apartment. And his identity in this instance was "corpse."
This identity was useless when he directly confronted the various threats in the apartment, because he was, after all, a living person, and his cover would be blown at a glance. But regarding the apartment's formless rules, he had indeed glitched his way in, disguising himself with one of its identities.
And the advantage of this was that if they needed to move at night, he and Kaguya would not be tracked by the corpses. Although the dangers of the night itself still existed, the most troublesome and inescapable problem of corpse-tracking was something he and Kaguya didn't need to consider.
It wasn't a huge advantage, but it was definitely useful to some extent.
But, why?
Why could he obtain such an identity?
Gao Hai slowly crouched down, looking at the mangled corpse lying on the bed.
He knew the origin of this corpse's image.
It was the image he had imagined of himself after death in his past life. After all, based on the last thing he saw before losing consciousness, the truck's tire should have rolled over his head and then crushed half of his chest. Considering it was an overloaded heavy truck, Gao Hai figured his corpse wouldn't be a pretty sight, so he had come up with that image.
And now, in this lucid dream, what he saw was a corpse that looked exactly as he had imagined.
"Is it because of you?"
Gao Hai lowered his head and looked at the watch on his wrist.
This peculiar object of unknown origin, full of secrets and hidden dangers, had nevertheless given him a genuine chance at rebirth.
It was linked to a vast city.
A city long dead, where the corpses still replayed the scenes of their lives, where everything repeated the final moments before destruction—a shattered city.
Could this thing have altered his original player identity, allowing him to exploit this bug?
If so, did it mean that to clear this game, he had to operate at night? To find the real truth, to find the correct path to survival, were there certain things he had to investigate at night to get the right answers?
And what did this lucid dream I'm having right now mean? Why have I fallen into this strange dream at this time to see my disguised identity in this instance? Is this dream my own, or is it the dream of something else?
Gao Hai turned and looked at the living room door of 204.
The corpse and Kaguya on the bed remained completely still.
And he had already walked to the doorway.
He reached out and grasped the doorknob.
Creeak—
Beyond the slowly opening door was a dark hallway.
Gao Hai could see every furnishing in the hallway, every floor tile, every crack in the wall.
At this moment, the darkness no longer seemed to obstruct his vision.
So he stepped into the hallway, closed the door, and then walked toward the main entrance, stopping before the security door that Sun Dajun had repaired.
It seemed someone's voice could be heard from outside the door.
Gao Hai took a step closer and pressed his ear to the crack of the door.
[Team 1 reporting, all 25 residents on the 1st floor have been evacuated.]
[Team 2 reporting, all 27 residents on the 2nd floor have mostly been evacuated. We are now escorting the residents of 204 out. This is the last group from the 2nd floor.]
[This is the Command Post. What about Team 3? The weather is worsening severely, and the flood crest is expected to arrive early. Team 3, what's your situation?]
The voice of a young man, full of vigor, accompanied the sounds coming from a walkie-talkie.
In the distance, it seemed he could hear the sound of a broadcast outside, along with the honking of cars and the sound of an extremely fierce downpour.
[There's a situation with 304. The family won't open the door. They're refusing to evacuate.]
[What's going on? What's wrong with that family? Damn it, the water has already flooded half the first floor, and they still won't leave?]
[Captain, something's not right with this family. Requesting permission to break down the door. Also, could the brothers from Team 1 and Team 2 who haven't left yet please come up...]
Amid the clamor, Gao Hai heard footsteps rapidly passing through the hallway outside the door.
This seemed to be an echo left from a moment in the past.
When did this happen?
304... what on earth happened there...
Click—
Before he knew it, his fingers had unconsciously rested on the doorknob.
The roaring of the storm outside vanished without a trace.
And in the next moment, Gao Hai had already walked out of 204 and into the hallway.
[This way, old sir, I'll help you walk.]
A voice brushed past his ear, indistinct, as if from a great distance.
Gao Hai turned his head and saw two figures walking out from Room 204 behind him.
Many more people had appeared in the hallway.
Their faces were blurry, and their figures flickered unstably.
Gao Hai tried his best to observe them, but he could only just make out that these people seemed to be wearing orange-yellow rescue uniforms.
Rescue workers... evacuating apartment residents... flood... torrential rain...
He remembered when this had happened.
[Let's go, old sir.]
The two figures had already stepped onto the staircase.
It was only then that Gao Hai realized he had unknowingly arrived in the first-floor hallway.
Amid the rushing sound of water, filthy, muddy water had already risen past a person's calves.
And one after another, phantoms were now passing through the hallway, heading toward the apartment's main entrance.
Gao Hai saw many phantoms going up the stairs.
[What's going on up there?]
[I think the family in 304 discovered... How could this be...]
[Get the person under control and bring them out first. Don't disturb the scene. How did a perfectly fine evacuation turn into this?]
BOOM!
A heavy, explosive sound erupted upstairs.
A man's furious cursing and a woman's heart-wrenching scream rang out at the same time.
All sorts of sounds intertwined in a chaotic clamor, one after another, making it difficult to discern the situation upstairs.
Gao Hai couldn't see what was happening there.
His perspective seemed to be fixed on following the two phantoms before him, moving with them, bit by bit, toward the main entrance.
The sounds from upstairs were gradually getting closer, approaching him.
The man was still roaring, seemingly struggling with all his might.
The woman's wails grew sharper and more piercing.
And there were the voices of many other people, talking about something, whispering about something.
Splash—
The main entrance was just ahead.
Gao Hai wanted to turn back, to see the figures behind him clearly, but he found his body growing increasingly stiff. He could only face forward, toward the open door and the light beyond it, a light so blinding he couldn't see a thing.
[We're about to get out.]
The phantom beside him spoke.
But Gao Hai's feet could no longer move forward.
Someone had grabbed his pant leg.
Very small fingers, seemingly the size of a child's.
At some point, they had grabbed the cuff of his pants at his thigh, preventing him from taking another step.
Who...
This time, Gao Hai managed to turn his head back.
Splash—
The sound of rushing water surged violently.
And Gao Hai's gaze fell behind him, upon the small figure that had grabbed him.
Thud!
Gao Hai's eyes shot open amid a sharp pain.
He saw the light shining through the cracks of the boarded-up window and the wall clock placed against the wall, its hands already pointing to 8:10.
"You're finally awake. What's wrong with you?"
Kaguya stood beside the wall clock, her tone incredibly wary as she questioned him.
What's wrong with me?
Gao Hai blinked, his consciousness fully returning, and then he felt the discomfort in his body.
His clothes were almost completely soaked, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
What... is going on?
Gao Hai moved his body and immediately felt a pain on the side of his thigh.
"..."
He realized something, reached down, grabbed his pant leg, and rolled it up.
And then, he saw the source of the pain.
A small handprint.
A small, bluish-purple palm print, imprinted on his flesh.
It was so clear that Gao Hai instantly recalled the end of that lucid dream—the small hand that had reached out from the water and dragged his entire body under.
Knock knock—
The next moment, a light knocking sound came from outside the damaged living room door.
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