U!
Mono patted Six's head: "Then don't think so much. Watch where you're going, otherwise if you fall, you won't get a chance to taste it."
Six was as easy to coax as ever.
"Mm..." Six responded once more, her cold little hand gripping even tighter.
Mono didn't delay any longer and continued climbing up the ladder.
After climbing for a long time, they finally reached the very top of the ladder.
The top of the iron ladder led to a corridor also covered in iron plating, the end of which was still impossible to see.
Mono suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
This feeling was strange, yet very real.
"What is it?"
Mono stared silently into the depths of the corridor, attempting to see any clues.
He didn't doubt his intuition; since entering this territory, he had escaped danger many times by relying on this Ability.
"Six, turn off the lighter..."
Mono turned and said to Six.
Six obediently extinguished the flame, and the surroundings instantly fell into darkness.
After adapting silently, his naked eyes could faintly see some blurry outlines in the darkness.
"Let's go... be quiet..." Mono walked forward slowly, maintaining his usual cautious attitude.
Six didn't say a word, just silently holding his hand.
After walking down the pitch-black corridor for a short while, they reached the end.
At the end, the path was blocked by a large door.
And on the door, right in the center, hung a giant eye.
From the very first glance, Mono no longer had any doubts.
"Damn it, it really is you damn things again!!!" he cursed under his breath.
Without a doubt, they were definitely inside the The Maw now. Mono felt depressed.
Why did all this bad luck have to happen to him?
If he could, at this moment he really wanted to create some Alchemy products and directly blow this place,
including the entire world, to bits.
This world was just too unfair.
As he was thinking, a cold kneading sensation came from the palm of his hand.
Looking back, he saw Six silently watching him, her eyes filled with confusion, seemingly not understanding what problem he had encountered.
Mono set aside his emotions and pointed at the eyes on the door.
Six looked up, and when she saw the eyes on the door, she just silently...
...stared for a few moments.
She didn't know what the eyes represented.
When they entered the tenth floor of the Signal Tower, Mono was the first to be targeted and dragged into the illusion, so she didn't have to witness it.
In the end, she only saw those remaining active fleshy eyes.
As for the true horror hidden behind the fleshy eyes—trapping people in desires they cannot escape, falling into painful negative emotions and gradually twisting into monsters—she didn't experience it again as she had in the game.
So her definition of the eyes remained only on the surface...
...she only knew that Mono wasn't fond of these fleshy eyes.
Mono didn't explain; he just pulled her along, crawling along the corner of the wall...
...silently scouting the surroundings.
Soon, he found a hole at the edge of a broken wooden wall. Patting the Six beside him, Mono pointed at the hole.
Six understood instantly, nodded, bent her waist, lowered her head, stuck out her bottom, and crawled in.
Crawling through holes was something they were already well-acquainted with.
Mono followed closely behind.
After crawling through the hole, the two successfully reached the room behind the door.
There was nothing on the floor of the room, just a few damp wooden boards and several rolls of toilet paper piled haphazardly in the corner.
Mono's attention wasn't on these things, but rather on the long figure beneath the roof beam.
It was a corpse, an adult's corpse. There was a chair beneath his feet; it looked like he had hung himself from the crossbeam of the house.
Was there something he couldn't get over?
Mono thought silently as he moved his feet slowly, walking until he was beneath the...
...figure.
The slender figure looked like it had been dead for a long time. Except for the coat draped over its body, which was still somewhat intact, everything else had rotted.
The face was indistinguishable.
However, Mono could still guess that before this person hanging from the beam died, they must have encountered something that made them feel desperate and unable to cope.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have used such a foolish method as suicide to end their tragic life.
Without sympathy, Mono pulled Six and continued forward.
Not far along, a sound suddenly came from ahead. Mono quickly slowed his pace.
Listening carefully, he found the sound very rhythmic, solid, and heavy.
Silently approaching and crossing the threshold, he discovered it was a huge ventilation room.
Fan blades as large as a basketball court were constantly spinning, making a humming sound and sucking away the slightly murky air in the room.
In the huge room, there was also a refrigerator.
The rock wall above the refrigerator had collapsed, pressing directly onto the top...
...of the refrigerator.
"Let's go over from the top," Mono pointed in the direction and said to Six.
Six nodded.
Walking to the refrigerator, he saw a black bloody handprint slanted across the edge of the refrigerator door frame.
It seemed someone had been killed here.
Mono had seen many such scenes.
Wherever shadows covered, innocent lives were always harmed. He silently grabbed the edge of the refrigerator door and pulled it open.
Suddenly, a dark shadow lunged out from behind the newly opened refrigerator. Mono instinctively kicked it.
*Bang!*
The kick felt a bit soft, as if he had kicked a lump of flesh. *Thud~*
The dark shadow was kicked flying and hit the wall hard. After wobbling for a while, it silently crawled back up.
Mono also saw its appearance clearly.
The figure's overall shape consisted of a sharp triangular head and a human-like body.
Its entire body was grayish-white, dull and lackluster.
With just one look, Mono recognized the identity of this little thing, which was about the same size as them.
Gnome? No, perhaps calling it a Crispy Corner would be more appropriate. (Because Gnomes look very much like Crispy Corners.)
These were "people" transformed by the Owner of the The Maw—the woman who always wore a Japanese kimono and a weird white mask—using Little Person.
The Crispy Corner in front of him was transformed from one of their own kind, a Little person like them.
Mono silently retracted his foot.
He wouldn't feel guilty; who told this guy to hide in the refrigerator and jump out without a word?
Although he thought this, Mono still pulled Six and slowly walked toward the Gnome in front of him.
He hadn't seen such an existence before and couldn't help but feel curious.
Six also looked at the white little thing with questioning eyes.
However, "seeing" the person who had just kicked it flying walking toward it with someone else who also had "unfriendly eyes," the Crispy Corner-like Gnome quickly started running toward the darkness on the side.
It seemed to be frightened.
"Hey, wait, we mean no harm," Mono quickly called out.
He wanted to use these guys to understand the situation of this ship. But how could it listen to the words of a "villain"?
The Crispy Corner jerked and, in the blink of an eye, disappeared into a crack.
These little things seemed very good at scurrying around everywhere.
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