"Royce, your left arm has been taken care of."
Spring spoke in the same calm, even tone as always, breaking the gloomy silence that had settled over the entire room.
"Yes. Thank you."
"I left it in the laboratory on the third floor. Go get it reattached as soon as possible so you can get back to work. There's more than enough work waiting. Why do you always let yourself get injured?"
"It's not like it was my fault."
"By the way, could you two escort Elder Fidelis and Mrs. Mariposa back to the first floor for me? Visiting hours are over."
"No need. I came here on my own. I can leave on my own."
Elder Fidelis jerked his arm away from Royce.
Disgust was written all over his face at the touch of the young Vampire. In response to the Elder's attitude, Royce merely shrugged and gave an awkward smile, as though he had long grown accustomed to being treated this way.
Watching the scene, Ethan felt indignant on Royce's behalf. At the same time, he couldn't help wondering. Just what had Royce gone through to remain so composed in a situation like this?
"Elder Fidelis, Mrs. Mariposa, I think you should let these two young men escort you. After what just happened, the way back is no longer the same as the way in."
Spring turned his sky-blue eyes toward Elder Fidelis and his wife.
Although his gaze showed no visible emotion, Ethan instinctively knew - through Bloodbound - that Autumn's eldest brother was restraining his emotions with everything he had.
Spring was a doctor. He had taken an oath, just like every other physician. And someone had abused the privilege of parents visiting their son, nearly costing him one of his patients.
"Hmph!"
Elder Fidelis let out a snort before trudging toward the door.
His broad shoulders had slumped, while his arms hung limply at his sides. The vitality that had once seemed so abundant had all but drained away from the man, making him look far older than his forty-five years.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Mariposa still refused to leave her unfortunate son, who lay motionless in bed. She remained seated beside him, gently stroking his hair and whispering words of love into his ear.
"Mariposa. Are you coming home with me… or are you staying here with those vampires?"
Mrs. Mariposa did not answer her husband. She sat there in silence like a statue. Perhaps she no longer wished to argue with him. Besides, this petite woman simply did not have the strength left to fight with him anymore.
"Just remember this: the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the jewelry you put on, and the medical expenses for your monster of a son…"
Elder Fidelis left the sentence unfinished.
Yet the pressure of money, food, and livelihood took effect immediately.
Mrs. Mariposa froze. She embraced and kissed her son one more time, ignoring her husband's warning glare.
Afterward, she thanked Dr. Spring and pleaded with him to help Kai recover as quickly as possible so he could return home to his mother. Naturally, there was no way Spring could bring himself to refuse such a desperate mother's plea.
In the end, realizing she could delay no longer, Mrs. Mariposa wiped away her tears, slowly rose to her feet, and absentmindedly followed after her husband.
Seeing this, Royce and Ethan quickly fell in behind the two adults like prison guards escorting inmates.
"What's happened?"
Mrs. Mariposa cried out in alarm after the four of them had walked only a short distance.
Ahead of them was a four-way intersection. And Ethan was certain that intersection had not been there before.
The two adults and the two teenagers stared blankly at the corridor, then exchanged bewildered glances. None of them understood what was happening in the B3 basement corridor anymore.
Because, just as Spring had warned them…
…the way back was no longer the same as the way in.
"So… what now?"
Ethan asked Royce quietly while they waited for Elder Fidelis and his wife to recover from their shock.
"Don't worry, bro. I've played a game like this before."
"I'm not exactly surprised. But this is real life…"
"It was Parasite Eve I, released in 1998 by Square Soft for the PlayStation."
"Square Enix, you mean?"
"No, bro. Back then, Square Enix was still called Square Soft."
"You've actually played a game that old?
Wait… what does Parasite Eve I have to do with this?"
Ethan was beginning to lose his patience. Royce had fallen back into his habit of going off on long tangents again.
"Alright, bro. I'll keep it short. After you finish the main game, EX Game unlocks a location called the Chrysler Building on the second day of the in-game timeline. Every floor of that building is laid out like a maze, with one staircase leading up, one staircase leading down, an elevator, a few rooms containing rare equipment, and plenty of dead ends."
"Right… Is that your version of 'keeping it short'?"
"Be patient, bro. If you clear the first ten floors and defeat that section's boss, you'll receive a key that unlocks the next ten floors of the Chrysler Building. But you can only explore those newly unlocked floors after beating the game again - in other words, during your next EX Game playthrough. Fortunately, in subsequent EX Game runs, you don't have to solve the maze from the beginning again. You can simply take the elevator straight to the highest floor you've already unlocked."
"Sigh… Another infodump…"
"Just hear me out. What makes the Chrysler Building in Parasite Eve I so terrifying is this: if you die before defeating the boss of the current section, or you're forced to leave the maze for any reason, you'll have to solve that entire section from scratch. Because the layout of those floors changes completely."
"Hmm. This maze mechanic reminds me of the dungeons in Diablo. Mementos in Persona 5 works somewhat like that too."
Ethan thoughtfully shared his opinion. He still had no idea what Royce was trying to get at.
"But in Diablo and Persona 5, you can see the map on the game's interface. In the Chrysler Building from Parasite EveI, there's no map at all… just like our current situation."
Elder Fidelis and Mrs. Mariposa had barely recovered from the shock of seeing the corridor change before their eyes. Listening to Royce analyze their predicament only unsettled them even more.
"Those damned bloodsuckers!"
Elder Fidelis cursed. Then he spun around and sprinted toward Hospital Room B3-13. Someone had to be held responsible for this. And who else could that be besides Dr. Spring?
Suddenly, a massive metal wall began descending slowly from the basement ceiling. The path back to Room B3-13 was about to be sealed off.
Even so, Elder Fidelis charged forward without hesitation. When he was only a few meters away from the descending barrier, he dropped into a slide, attempting to slip through the rapidly narrowing gap between the wall and the floor.
Bang!
The color drained completely from Elder Fidelis's face.
He had come within inches of having half his body sliced clean off. Fortunately, Royce reached him in time and yanked him back just before the metal barrier slammed shut, splitting the passage in two.
Yet, instead of offering even a single word of thanks, Elder Fidelis glared at Royce with even greater resentment as though Royce were somehow the one to blame.
Royce, however, paid no attention whatsoever to the Elder's open hostility. Instead, his face lit up with excitement - the unmistakable excitement of someone who loved dangerous games.
"Heh heh. This game just keeps getting more interesting. What do you think, Ethan?"