If one were to ask the fastest way to understand something, generally speaking, personal experience is always the most direct path.
At least for Kaguya, who had just undergone the nightmarish experience of her body being torn apart, disintegrating, and vanishing, she now had an incredibly profound understanding of the horrors concealed beneath the apartment's dilapidated surface.
"You turned back the clock's time, so we returned directly to the very beginning?"
Kaguya quickly got up, opened the living room door, and then looked at the wall clock in Room 204, discovering that the time on it had indeed returned to the very beginning.
Could such a thing really be possible?
Just by turning back the time on a clock in the room, one could actually make time flow backward.
Kaguya Shinomiya felt that all the common sense she had learned over the past decade and more had completely shattered in that instant.
"It certainly seems so. In any case, we need to get out of here as soon as possible. If we've truly returned to the beginning, then in a little while, the woman in the room next to ours will start summoning that unseen thing with her screams."
As he spoke, Gao Hai picked up the sheet of rules from the bedside table, folded it, and stuffed it into his pants pocket. Then, he glanced at the mysterious black watch on his left wrist.
In truth, during that critical moment, his very first attempt was to move the hands on the strange watch on his left wrist.
After all, Maki and Kaguya beside him were beginning to disintegrate, and his own body was breaking apart as well. Under those circumstances, he didn't dare touch either of them and decided to first try moving the watch on his own hand.
It's just that he couldn't move the thing at all.
This battered, strange watch only had a minute hand left, yet it was unbelievably sturdy, as if welded to his hand, making it impossible to move the hand.
Seeing the situation grow increasingly dire, with everyone on the verge of falling apart, Gao Hai had no choice but to risk touching Kaguya and try to move the hands on the wall clock she was carrying. This time, it finally worked.
Perhaps this watch on my hand isn't within the scope of the rules?
But if that's the case, why did it appear on my hand, and why can't I take it off at all?
Gao Hai pondered silently, his feet never stopping as he walked ahead of Kaguya.
"Thank you. If it weren't for your actions just now, I don't think I would have survived."
From behind, Kaguya took the wall clock from Room 204, caught up to Gao Hai, and thanked him with a solemn tone.
"Don't thank me just yet. We haven't confirmed the specific effective range and characteristics of this clock's ability. Be extremely careful after I open the door. We don't know if only we, the ones who held and turned the clock, retain our memories. We also can't be sure if the three people who turned into... monsters... have returned to normal. If something unexpected happens, you must turn back the clock immediately. If we can't meet up with Miss Shijo, we'll only have one chance to test this."
Taking a deep breath, Gao Hai forced his somewhat weakened body to keep moving forward.
"Only one chance?"
Kaguya Shinomiya realized the meaning behind Gao Hai's words.
"Turning that clock isn't without a cost. First, the amount of time we can turn back is likely limited to the time we've already spent in this apartment. Before the reset, I tried to move the hour hand further back, but I couldn't. It was as if it was stuck, I could only move it back a short while. Second, the person who turns it once probably can't turn it a second time. It's even possible they can't even touch it again."
As he spoke, Gao Hai reached the main door. He turned back, glanced at the wall clock in Kaguya's hands with a slight smile, then turned to look outside the broken main door of Room 204, which he had already pushed open.
He didn't look at the human head Kaguya was holding.
A damaged human head, identical to Gao Hai's own, with three clock hands dangling from it.
From beginning to end, the head's gaze remained fixed on him, a stare that Gao Hai could clearly perceive at all times, no matter where he was.
He had a premonition that even if he managed to survive this bizarre and terrifying place, that gaze would never leave him.
For every day, every moment, in every place from now on, he would forever feel that stare, feel those cold eyes from the darkness. He would never be able to escape that gaze until he stopped breathing and his consciousness ceased to exist.
So, is that why the rules sheet didn't explicitly state the method of using the wall clock for self-rescue? Because doing so would essentially place a lifelong burden on the user?
Even so, they could have written it more clearly! Do you have any idea how much trouble we're facing because of your vague and outdated crappy rules...
Gao Hai complained several times in his mind, but it was just complaining.
He knew full well that whining wouldn't change anything; action was what was needed now. Therefore, he didn't even voice these complaints, merely venting a couple of times in his mind before stopping. He didn't even dare say more, afraid that some mind-reading entity would respond.
Creeak—
Opening the door to 204, Gao Hai immediately saw Maki emerging from 208, her eyes slightly red, holding another wall clock. She had acted even faster than Gao Hai and Kaguya, apparently forcing herself to regain composure at top speed, grabbing the clock, and rushing out.
Yes, of course, in Gao Hai's vision, that was another human head. Great. Now he felt a double dose of the stare. In a sense, as long as Maki and Kaguya were carrying these two damned clocks, he could locate the two beautiful girls at any time.
"Don't panic, it'll be fine. Ah, have three more people come out? Are you all okay?"
Lao Guo was in the hallway talking to the young Black man, calming his somewhat panicked state.
Sun Dajun was standing against the wall, his face filled with terror as he cautiously watched his surroundings. His expression was clearly one of disappointment when he saw Gao Hai's group of three emerge.
It seemed that the people who had disappeared in the hallway and turned into monsters were now completely normal.
Gao Hai noticed Lao Guo's gaze. Although it was just a seemingly casual glance, Gao Hai could distinguish the difference in that look. He was now certain that this man calling himself Lao Guo must have retained his memories and knew what had happened.
In other words, when using the wall clock to rewind time, does everyone who is still alive retain their memories and know what transpired?
Sun Dajun was about to step forward and walk toward Gao Hai's group.
It looked like he planned to ask the same question as last time, trying to deceive himself with the 'reality show' explanation.
However, before he could speak this time, the large white man who had previously wanted no contact with anyone suddenly pushed Sun Dajun aside and walked up to Gao Hai with an urgent expression.
"You're veteran players, right?"
The man's voice trembled slightly, and his gaze toward Gao Hai's group was filled with intense expectation.
"Just now, was it you who used an Obsession Item? There's actually an Obsession Item that can reverse time? Th-this is incredible! My name is Green. I can do a lot of things. Can you let me join you? Please, I won't cause any trouble."
Green.
The man stated his name.
Hmm, a very common, generic name, but still better than a dime-a-dozen name like Tom or Jack.
But, he said veteran players?
The existence of veteran players who had cleared the so-called [Sacrificial Game] didn't surprise Gao Hai; he had long suspected the man called Lao Guo was one. And now, what this man named Green said made him realize that he was likely a veteran player too, though probably the type who got lucky and survived one mission. Of course, this assumption was based on the premise that the guy wasn't putting on an act.
"What veteran players..."
Sun Dajun, who had been about to ask about the situation, hesitated to approach after hearing what Green said.
"Can you pick locks?"
Gao Hai hadn't yet decided how to answer when, from the side, Kaguya Shinomiya took a step forward, looked up at the over 1.9-meter-tall white man, and spoke in a cold tone.
The aura of the Ice Kaguya Princess was one honed within a true conglomerate family, completely different from Gao Hai, who was just a low-tier, struggling author. Even though she looked like a girl in her teens, the presence Kaguya projected at that moment was enough to intimidate Green, who had already formed a preconceived notion in his mind.
This kind of presence, this is what a veteran player should have.
That's right, just like in his last mission, with those veteran players who stood at the forefront, easily found the escape route, and got through from start to finish without any casualties. It was only by choosing to follow them that Green was able to survive that terrifying horror game, despite knowing nothing.
Therefore, the best survival method he had concluded was to cling to a powerful patron.
Find veteran players who are strong enough, cling to them, and follow their lead. It didn't matter if they were unwilling to protect him; as long as they were willing to act when danger arose, his own chances of survival would increase dramatically.
"No problem, I can pick locks, I can!"
Green, a former thief from America, nodded hastily, pulling a piece of wire from his pocket and approaching the door of Room 205.
"Are you trying to lure that thing from before back down with all that noise?"
Maki Shijo also spoke coldly, her tone every bit as icy as Kaguya Shinomiya's.
"Yes, I-I understand."
Green, who had now completely accepted the trio as pro-level masters, answered hurriedly, cold sweat beading on his forehead from anxiety.
Meanwhile, Gao Hai, having snapped back to the situation, looked at the cold expression on Kaguya's face to his front-left as she crossed her arms, and then at Maki's disdainful look to his front-right as she rested a hand on her chin. He couldn't help but marvel at how the two 17-year-old girls' reaction speed and acting skills in social interactions were so much stronger than his. He then turned his attention to the door of Room 205, the room of the loud-mouthed blonde woman who had been the source of their team wipe.
Click—
Following a crisp sound, the door to 205 slowly swung open.
In just over ten seconds, Green had successfully opened the old-fashioned security door, exposing the darkness behind it to the pale, white light of the hallway.
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