Rover held the key and inserted it into the old iron lock.
Crack!
As soon as the key slid in, it seemed to hit something obstructing it, but the obstruction was easily pushed aside.
The grinding sound of gears and heavy metal echoed through the enclosed space. The door slowly shifted to one side, revealing a massive underground tunnel.
"This…" Rover stared at the passage before him, his expression filled with disbelief.
The tunnel wasn't large, about two meters wide and two and a half meters high. However, what caught his attention was how meticulously it had been constructed.
From the ground to the walls and ceiling, every inch was lined with tiles—tiles so solid it was hard to imagine they could be broken. They stretched endlessly down the length of the tunnel.
The ceiling had an arched structure, yet remained incredibly sturdy. At regular intervals, Rover saw metal reinforcement frames securing the tunnel's overall stability.
This was no longer something that could be considered a normal structure. It carried the feeling of both artistic brilliance and… military engineering.
Vivian, standing beside him, gasped when she saw the inside of the tunnel. She quickly said, "It seems… the rumors about this tunnel were true."
"Rumors?" Rover frowned in confusion. "What rumors?"
Vivian nodded lightly and said, "The information came from the person who gave me the key. She said this place used to be a facility operated by a secret government military division. But eventually, the cost became too overwhelming, so it was abandoned."
Rover found it strange. He asked softly, "Odd. Normally, places like this would never be repurposed for civilian use."
Vivian nodded. "Exactly. I was worried there'd be legal complications that might cause trouble for you living here. But she said that if the government has already released it for commercial use, then it means the site is safe and no longer holds any strategic value."
Rover found that explanation extremely reasonable and nodded. His gaze shifted toward a switch near the entrance.
He pushed the lever upward, and the screeching sound of rusted metal grated in the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The heavy hum of fluorescent lights filled the tunnel. Despite being abandoned for who knows how many years, the electrical and lighting systems were almost fully functional.
Light flooded the entire passage, revealing its true size. It was long, with many branching paths, and on both sides were steel doors leading into separate rooms.
Vivian shivered slightly at the sight of the tunnel and whispered, "Rover, I… I feel like this place is mysterious. Dangerous."
Rover nodded. He felt it too. In fact, thanks to his talent Ascended Lust, his senses were even sharper than Vivian's.
But if the government was confident enough to commercialize the place, then he believed whatever danger had once existed was no longer present.
Rover took the lead. Vivian hesitated for a moment, then decided to follow him.
Using the master key Vivian had given him, he tried unlocking the steel doors—indeed, the key opened every one of them.
However, contrary to his expectations, everything inside was completely normal.
The rooms were empty except for dust and their peculiar structure. Nothing seemed out of place.
There were a total of 18 rooms along the tunnel, divided across two floors, each floor almost 100 meters long, connected by two staircases—one in the middle and one at the end of the hallway.
Just as Rover had thought, if the government dared to release such a structure for commercial use, then it meant the mysteries here were gone.
'But…' Rover thought to himself, 'why does it still feel like something deeply hidden and terrifying is buried here?'
He shook his head, forcing the thought aside. After giving Vivian a few final instructions, he left.
Rover had no time to waste. Every hour, every minute, was invaluable to him now.
As he stepped outside, Lucia's voice suddenly echoed in his mind. "Aren't you going to use the Prophecy Card?"
Rover stiffened at her voice, but quickly regained his composure and responded through thought, "Should I use it right away? Isn't that wasteful?"
"Hahaha…" Lucia's seductive laugh sounded. "Right now, the Apocalypse hasn't begun. You should identify those who will become future overlords and secure them at your side. It's better to make them loyal to you early."
Rover immediately understood and nodded mentally. Then he activated the Character Prophecy Card.
The moment after, his mind was pulled into a strange space. It looked like a city long abandoned, covered entirely in snow, turning the world into a cold, white painting.
CLENG! CLENG!
A metallic clashing sound echoed through the frozen air.
Rover startled and looked toward the source of the noise.
In the sky, countless sparks and streaks of crimson-black light appeared and vanished in an instant, all firing toward a single point.
"Kaito?!" Rover clearly saw those red-black streaks target one location.
And at that location stood a figure Rover was all too familiar with – Kaito.
Right now, Kaito was on top of a collapsed building, looking utterly battered. The strange, custom-made combat suit he wore was in tatters, and his body was covered in bleeding wounds.
Rover was shocked. He never expected to see Kaito in such a pathetic state.
Gritting his teeth, Kaito glared toward a small dark speck in the sky and shouted, "Isabella, are you insane? I came here to save you, to give you a way out! If the government arrives, you won't escape. When that time comes, you'll…"
PEW!!!
A thin beam of intertwined black and red light shot toward him, carrying destructive force. Kaito couldn't dodge in time and the hair-thin beam pierced straight through his shoulder.
"AGH!!" Kaito screamed. His face twisted with agony and madness, fresh blood pouring from the wound like a fountain.
The flesh around the hole sizzled, turning black as though burned into charcoal.
The distant silhouette vanished, then appeared instantly before Kaito, hovering less than ten meters away.
Only now could Rover see clearly what that shadow was.
It was a beautiful woman, no less stunning than Selvia or Vivian, but her face twisted into a deranged, warped smile.
She wore a tattered cloak revealing large portions of her body, yet she seemed neither bothered by the cold nor by modesty. Above her head floated a glowing halo radiating a bloody light.
"You…" Kaito growled through clenched teeth, forcing himself to endure the pain. "What do you want? I… I told you from the start, I'm not here to fight you. I came to help you."
"The government will level this entire zone with nuclear weapons. If you stay, you'll die. If you come with me and submit to me, I swear I will…"
Before he finished speaking, Isabella sped forward, grabbed him by the hair, and laughed. "Hahahaha… then let's play a game. If you don't die, I'll follow you."
"Damn it! You're insane!" Kaito shouted in panic.
"Hahahaha… hahahaha…" Isabella's laughter was wild and unhinged. "Yes, I'm insane! Completely insane! Hahahaha…"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Still laughing, she smashed her fist into Kaito's face repeatedly. Each punch warped his features even further. His nose broke, teeth flew out, and his cheekbone shattered.
"AGH!!" Kaito suddenly roared. Space around Isabella sliced apart under a barrage of razor-thin light blades.
Tiny hairline cuts appeared all over her body, blood gushing out like streams.
Yet she didn't seem to feel pain. She kept laughing and punching Kaito's ruined face.
Taking advantage of the moment her grip loosened slightly, Kaito twisted free and bolted into the distance, shouting:
"Kill that lunatic! Nuke her or whatever it takes! Kill her for me!"
Isabella prepared to chase him, but from the sky, an intercontinental cruise missile streaked toward her.
She didn't flee. She simply laughed, ecstatic and deranged. "Hahahaha… what a shame, I won't get to see how this wretched world ends! Hahahaha…"
And then…
Rover's eyes snapped open. He realized he was still standing at the villa's entrance.
But now he possessed new information about the girl from that vision.
"Isabella, 25 years old, female, Mental Hospital No. 4." Rover muttered, repeating the data the prophecy had given him.
"To be able to beat Kaito to that extent… if I can recruit her…" Rover felt excitement rising in his chest.
Without hesitation, he hailed a taxi and headed straight for Mental Hospital No. 4.