[Game time limit has expired]
[Unfortunately, you have failed to clear this game]
[You have lost the qualification to access the true path]
[May you find a way to escape this game and rest in peace]
[C wishing you good luck]
The cold game prompt sounded in his ears, but Gao Hai had no time to pay attention to such things.
He rubbed his hand forcefully against the rock wall until the skin broke and bled, then stopped.
Then, he let his blood soak into this ring, ensuring that after his death and reset, he could obtain this core Obsession Item.
Although this instance still displayed as Twilight-level, it was because the instance was still in the fixation phase, and this damn Sacrificial Game would show the original game difficulty during fixation, leading to this mismatch between actual difficulty and rating. But without a doubt, the ring now in Gao Hai's hand, capable of granting players temporary immortality, was a Dim Night-level core Obsession Item.
Soaked in blood, after death and reset, this thing would be his.
As for how to die, how to reset, Gao Hai had no answer; he simply forced himself not to think about the possibility of being trapped here forever unable to die, continuing to motivate himself inwardly, continuing to think if there were any other ways to break the situation.
"Hoo..."
But just as Gao Hai was struggling to think, he suddenly felt a strong squeezing sensation assaulting him from front, back, left, and right, instantly forcing out the last bit of air left in his lungs.
What was going on?
"Urgh... hoo..."
Indescribable pain continued to intensify layer by layer.
The rock walls silently narrowed again, almost deforming Gao Hai's entire body.
If earlier Gao Hai could at least barely move his hands, now even his fingers were firmly pressed by the rock walls, leaving almost no part of his body that could twitch even slightly.
"Urgh... hoo..."
He could no longer breathe.
His chest cavity was completely locked, leaving not even the slightest space.
Gao Hai fell into suffocation again, and this time, the suffocation would not gradually subside like before.
Oxygen deprivation plunged his brain into chaos once more.
Gao Hai fainted on the spot, then awoke again from the intense pain throughout his body, repeating this several times before forcibly adjusting with his strong willpower, regaining his thinking ability.
Why was this happening?
Gao Hai felt his body had almost been squeezed into a different shape by the rock walls, on the verge of losing its original human form.
Intense pain stimulated his nerves; he could vaguely feel that even in this state, the rock walls were still slowly changing, becoming narrower, more curved, crushing his bones and flesh, intending to fully integrate him into the rock walls.
Could it be... because I took the core Obsession Item?
No, that's not right; taking a core Obsession Item shouldn't cause such a big reaction.
This feeling... it seems like the nightmares of those trapped here resonated with Andres's core obsession, forming this.
Squeezed by the cavern.
Lost in the darkness.
The existences of those who perished here, living worse than death, resonated with Andres's formed obsession, causing the cavern itself to distort even more severely.
"Urgh... woo..."
The surrounding rock walls underwent even more severe distortion.
Gao Hai's arms were completely broken, twisted by the deformed rock walls into near-twisted shapes.
His chest and abdomen were almost folded at right angles, his legs broken into seven or eight different segments.
Even his skull was pressed by the curved rock walls, bit by bit, his head almost folded into a bent triangle.
Even so, he still could not die.
The intense torment from thirst and hunger continued, every cell and nerve in his body transmitting signals of pain.
Only the narrow slit above remained, still dripping foul-smelling blood, drop after drop, unchanged from beginning to end, just like that silent corpse hanging upside down in the rock cave.
Drip—
Drip—
"Urgh ah... urgh..."
Drip—
Gao Hai's pained voice mixed with the dripping sound.
In the darkness enveloping everything, everything was so prolonged, as if it would never end, continuing endlessly.
Day 16, day 18, day 20...
Every day felt like a whole year had passed, so long that Gao Hai gradually became numb to time.
The rock walls continued to distort bit by bit.
Gao Hai's body was gradually torn into a twisted, unbearable form, almost merging with the rock walls.
The pain continued.
But when the pain lasted too long, what remained was only numbness.
Gao Hai could already feel this numbness.
Numb to the point where even thinking was almost interrupted, leaving only the instinct to breathe.
"Urgh..."
No, even breathing could no longer continue; it was just self-deception.
Feeling nothing.
At the end of the pain was a void of feeling nothing.
An endless void like this darkness.
Drip—
Only the sound of the water drop falling remained.
Perhaps his nerves had reached the brink of shattering.
But perhaps due to the effects of the Blessing and enhancement, he remained sober, still able to think, still able to face the cruel reality before him.
Unable to die.
No matter what, unable to die.
Gao Hai seemed to understand.
Under this core obsession's power, what the only path to liberation was.
External force.
Whether other players or something else, or unforeseeable natural disasters like floods submerging the cavern. Only forces completely unrelated to the trapped person, beyond their expectations, could kill them.
The so-called core obsession's execution was often the manifestation of what the obsession itself encountered before death.
Just like in Shirakawa Apartments, where the core obsession's execution was scalding water poured in and needle-and-thread sewn mouth, this obsession formed after Andres's death would recreate those cursed by it in a situation similar to his. So no matter what, he couldn't die; even if Gao Hai used lethal Obsession Items, they would be invalidated because he [knew and used] them, unable to kill Gao Hai.
Only [external forces] he didn't know about, couldn't control, could change this.
In other words, unless someone entered this cavern, safely reached the fork and entered the [dead end] area, found him, and killed him, he could truly die.
Was such a thing really possible?
Gao Hai forcibly concentrated his mind to think about this question, then fainted again from the intense pain, awakening soon after.
Was there anyone who could do this?
Who would... come...
...
Half-dreaming, half-awake.
As his consciousness collapsed even more severely, Gao Hai gradually couldn't distinguish whether he was in the dark cavern or somewhere else.
Hallucinations began to appear and quickly worsened.
Sometimes Gao Hai felt he had returned to the past, helping small bosses investigate matters they couldn't handle personally, or after tiring of the boring job, going to code and write books, then blinking, back in the dark cavern.
Sometimes Gao Hai felt he had solved all the world's horror stories, ended all despair, finally able to enjoy a happy life, then taking a step realized he couldn't move, only then aware he was jammed in the rock walls.
Sometimes Gao Hai felt he was sitting at home gaming, then Maki leaned from behind, gently hugging him, constantly disturbing him from focusing, so finally angered, he turned and pounced on her, and put Maki... No, this should be a dream, right? Would that girl do such a thing?
This time Gao Hai awoke early, but doing so seemed meaningless...
And sometimes, Gao Hai seemed to see other things.
Like other people's past experiences, residual images from certain places, seen by him beside the core obsession.
He saw Pedi announcing with a helpless face that the Great Slide was officially sealed, a wall built, and a monument commemorating Andres left at the cave entrance.
The stone tablet read:
[A tragedy beyond recovery occurred here]
[A respectable father, a good man, a child's long sleep here]
[In memory of Andres, may he rest in peace]
The tablet also had Andres's photo, and for a long time, people came to offer flowers.
But later, the tablet disappeared, and information about things behind the Great Slide was sealed, no longer disclosed.
Initially due to security guard disappearances, wall collapses, eerie events, Pedi hesitated then decided to suppress it, continue operating the increasingly prosperous park. Werbo argued with him several times, but issues minor then; Pedi thought to handle when truly uncontainable.
Then one day, a noble figure visited, recognized the site's potential. He told Pedi he decided to support construction, no worries, just state needs, he'd fulfill. He'd make the site famous, let Pedi earn big, needing only a bit of fame from its prosperity.
While these outside events happened, in the silent darkness, in the quiet depths' narrow rock cave, Andres remained dazed. Unaware of his death, endlessly repeating that day's pain. Repeating, repeating, still endlessly repeating, like that day with no end in sight, forever unchangeable, repeating the pain of death day.
For a moment, Gao Hai felt his self-consciousness almost completely dissipating.
He felt he was Andres, about to become Andres himself, Gao Hai's own personality and memories gone, nothing left.
But finally he awoke, continued arduously maintaining self, arduously breathing, enduring intense suffocation, enduring this desperate cavern rock walls' unrelenting torment every moment, continuing to persist.
What exactly he was persisting for, waiting for, Gao Hai himself couldn't say clearly, didn't know how to describe.
Maki and others who successfully escaped, would they know what happened to him? Impossible, right? They'd probably think he vanished, maybe used up resets unable to rewind? No, she's not that personality... But now trapped here, how would they know to find him, help him.
Players passing Blood Vessel not many, but definitely some, yet trapped here... how long? Days? Dozens? Never encountered others; perhaps all imprisoned in dark in separate areas, so even if others trapped, couldn't see, couldn't help each other find ways to kill.
"Urgh..."
In pained suffocation, Gao Hai's body trembled amid rock walls.
Drip—
Almost couldn't feel his body anymore.
Pain became the only sensation left.
What time was it now?
Where was he now?
Where am I?
Day 25, day 27...
He couldn't know these time passages.
Drip—
His consciousness continued scattering.
Scattering to where even past memories blurred.
Unable to die.
Still unable to die.
Still... still unable...
Drip—
"Gao-kun, you're here, right?"
Girl's voice.
Like from a dream, or beside him somewhere.
In daze, Gao Hai seemed to smell someone's scent.
Familiar, nostalgic, seemingly felt recently, even hugged scent.
Did he still have senses left?
In haze, Gao Hai tried opening mouth to respond, but couldn't make sound.
"No need to answer, I know, Gao-kun can't answer now. It's okay, I'm here, it's fine."
Relieved voice, felt warm touch blooming in his embrace.
Who was that?
Rock walls seemed to change.
In narrow rock walls supposed only for him, another squeezed in.
Why?
Who?
"The first to find you is me, great."
With girl's voice, past memories resurfaced bit by bit.
"You're really a sinful bad guy, stealing two girls' hearts. After discovering Maki really likes you, I decided to give up."
"But Maki never gave up searching for you, collected all intel she could, returned here, I did too. Then I thought, could I find you before Maki? And succeeded."
"Hehe, no way around it, after all, I crawled out of Blood Vessel with you, thought of this place first, found here first, definitely me, I'm smart."
Proud voice, Gao Hai gradually recalled her pink long hair, her quirky lively cute personality.
"So, after you reset, Maki will forget painful days losing you, and I... will forget time with you, right? I'll become newbie player just entered game, knowing nothing, following behind you, will you lead me forward like before, teach me survival here?"
Recalled more memories.
Struggling forward in cavern together, chatting laughing, side by side, step by step.
Why was she here?
This hellish endless dark world, she shouldn't enter.
No, why here? No, what was she doing?
"Anyway, this girl attracted by you, liking you, will disappear from your world next."
"As for starting-over me, hehe, what will she become? Maybe silly like me, attracted by you?"
"But my possessiveness is strong, so I want you to know difference between this me and future me, so you can't see us as same, only remember this me, firmly keep only this me in heart."
"One day's encounter, then month's longing, 720 hours, over 2.59 million seconds."
"This is all time after you entered my world, I used missing you, so..."
Boom—
Surging flames engulfed everything.
Before all shattered destroyed, Gao Hai saw girl's dirty little face full bloodstains mud traces, and her smile toward him, like first meeting, that silly smile.
Chika Fujiwara.
Her last words to tell him unspoken.
But Gao Hai knew what she wanted to say.
[So, please don't forget me]
[Please don't forget this girl who likes you]
Endless darkness boomed shattered this moment.
And girl's smile dissipated traceless in Gao Hai's gaze.
In shattered rock walls, Gao Hai's body twisted into fragmented bloody mess, finally freed from obsession power's bind, body began collapsing continuously, turning to dust, vanishing thus.
And that black watch fell, rolling among pile rubble.
Watch hands, in this unseen corner, trembled lightly, then slowly moved, from 4 position, to 5 mark.
________________________________________
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