Rumble—
Inside the cave, the sound of flowing water had already changed from a rapid current into a raging flood.
Large amounts of rainwater mixed with mud and sand—along with railings, signboards, all kinds of trash, and even random things like tree branches, pillows, and stockings—were all swept together, surging and churning through the cave in a single mass.
In such violent currents, ordinary people had no way to keep their footing and would be easily dragged into the rushing water.
Sato Takao was knocked to the ground almost the moment the water level began to rise, then was immediately grabbed by Takumi, who reacted quickly and reached out to pull him back. Fujiwara Chika, who likewise could not stand steadily, reacted extremely fast; she instantly grabbed Takumi's shoulder and was almost hanging off him entirely.
Takumi himself stood firmly in the rushing water, showing no sign at all of being swept away.
The physical enhancement brought by blessings and buffs granted him bodily qualities that surpassed human limits. Although these turbulent currents were powerful, they still had no way to shake Takumi himself.
Why was the world corresponding to the security guard identity the correct exit?
This question surfaced in Takumi's mind and lingered there, impossible to suppress.
The objective of the mission was to reach the "true ground." Takumi had thought many times about what this "true" represented, and his final conclusion was that many false grounds existed here, with only one ground being real and capable of allowing escape. And that "true ground," according to Takumi's thinking, should exist in the world located at the very end of the timeline.
Following this line of reasoning, shouldn't the world where the security guard was located not be the exit?
The Big Slide was properly sealed off.
Although the security guard rules contained various uncanny aspects, it was completely clear from the rules that, during the period to which they belonged, security guards were fully able to enter and leave the Red Nut Grey Cave safely. This was a time before the true disaster that led to the outbreak of Horror Story power had occurred.
So why was the ground at that point in time considered "real"?
Could it be that the condition of the "true ground" was actually defined from the specific perspective of a certain individual?
Takumi was unable to arrive at answers to these questions right away.
And this was not the time to be thinking about such questions anyway.
Because those Tourists—those things that had stood up from the water—had already surrounded him one by one.
And the things wearing bloated rescue suits, crawling out from the hole behind them, were also closing in.
Takumi had already been locked onto by some uncanny existence that had yet to reveal itself.
The malice of that thing was incomparably intense. Even though it seemed to be blocked by some kind of separation, unable to truly exert its power on Takumi, the sheer intensity of the malice conveyed through blessings alone already surpassed, in Takumi's view, that pair of beastly parents from the Shirakawa Apartments.
It also seemed that, because of that thing's gaze, his very existence had become marked as well, making it easier for the various uncanny beings within the cave to lock onto him.
However, this was still far from the moment of despair and surrender.
Snap—
A black umbrella was suddenly opened, enveloping Takumi and partially shielding the bodies of Sato Takao and Fujiwara Chika.
This black umbrella Obsession Item, provided as friendly assistance by players from the Women-Face Gang, had a very simple function: once the umbrella was opened, it could conceal the presence of those beneath it.
Whether human or uncanny, neither could easily detect the umbrella holder. Unless physical contact occurred, discovery was essentially impossible. Of course, this item could not block the effects of blessings, because the umbrella holder's own emotions were not concealed. It was for this reason that Takumi had been able to discover this hidden player—someone he should not originally have been able to detect—when he encountered the players from the Women-Face Gang.
At this moment, those things that had originally been approaching Takumi all stopped one by one, no longer able to accurately locate his presence.
"Go. Leave this place."
As he said this, Takumi stepped forward and began to move with difficulty through the raging current.
"Takumi-kun, where are we going next? Can we get out from here?"
Hanging onto Takumi's back, Fujiwara Chika struggled against the force of the rushing water and spoke to him.
"No. The area corresponding to the rescue team uniform is a closed loop. After we leave the cave, we'll only trigger a restart, and we'll once again play the role of rescue personnel, reenacting the process of entering the cave to carry out a rescue operation. There's no way out."
Takumi shook his head, giving a negative answer to Chika's question, and handed the rescue team rule sheet to her.
The girl took the rule sheet and, amid the rapid current, struggled to steady herself as she read its contents.
In order to maintain her balance, she had no choice but to press herself even closer to Takumi, to the point that the soft sensation behind him was almost completely overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, Takumi truly had no energy to pay attention to that right now. After opening the umbrella, those Tourists were unable to discover him, but the presence of Fujiwara Chika and Sato Takao would still draw their attention. At this moment, as Takumi continued moving forward with the two of them, the surrounding things were also gradually gathering closer. However, seemingly due to some special property inherent to the rescue team uniform itself, these Tourists that had already completely transformed into uncanny beings did not actually come into contact with them, merely following along step by step.
"The rescue team rules… are connected to the Explorer rules, but why is there water everywhere here? When we were below earlier, there wasn't any of this water. In that case, the timeline doesn't line up, does it?"
Chika had already quickly finished reading the rescue team rules and leaned close to Takumi's ear to ask.
"Who knows. The clues are a complete mess, scattered everywhere, and I can't draw a conclusion right now. Maybe there were two separate instances of the rescue team entering the cave to carry out rescues, and we've only arrived at one of them. In any case, the only thing we can be sure of right now is that the rescue team identity can't clear the game."
As Takumi spoke, he continued moving forward and glanced back. Only then did he notice that those bloated rescue team members had been steadily approaching from behind. Unlike the dazed, wandering Tourists, these things that had crawled up from beneath the Big Slide seemed, to some extent, able to resist the black umbrella's concealment effect and lock onto Takumi's position. Of course, it was also possible that they were trying to attack Sato Takao and Fujiwara Chika, who were with him.
By now, the three of them had reached the Stone Forest Path area, and the water level inside the cave had already risen to thigh height, making movement increasingly difficult.
However, the rescue team members behind them did not slow down in the slightest, and the distance between the two sides was being shortened bit by bit.
"We need to change clothes—change into something other than rescue team or Explorer attire, but we can't change into Tourist clothing."
As Takumi spoke, he observed the surroundings. Although the rules emphasized that one should not pay attention to things in the water when the water level rose, it now seemed extremely difficult for them to safely return to the ground. Takumi had no choice but to begin considering changing identities right here.
Although the Tourists' clothes had already disappeared, turning into pale figures standing in the water, along the way Takumi had still seen some clothes floating on the water's surface.
What could still be tried now… staff clothing, Tourist clothing… no, he could not be sure what staff clothing even looked like. Up to now, Takumi had never seen anyone playing the role of staff. As for Tourists, they looked even more dangerous. From the existing rules alone, it was completely clear that the Tourist identity was heavily targeted and carried extremely high risk…
"Try the yellow striped outfit. After I put on the security guard uniform, I vaguely saw a few figures wearing yellow striped clothes. One of them looked a bit like Kaguya. The yellow striped outfit might be able to do something—maybe it can let us rendezvous with Kaguya."
Chika spoke at this moment, telling Takumi the information she had previously not dared to write down in detail because she could not confirm whether it was real.
The rescue team members behind them were already getting closer and closer.
Takumi steeled himself, reached out and grabbed Sato Takao's shoulder, took a deep breath, bent his knees and lowered his body, then suddenly exerted force, directly throwing Sato Takao several meters away, sending him landing ahead in the spacious cave area of the Stone Forest Path.
"Run out. These things aren't targeting you right now. Go back to the ground and trigger a restart—then you'll be safe."
After shouting this to Sato Takao, Takumi then fished a yellow-and-white striped piece of clothing out of the water.
Was it this one?
In a daze, Takumi saw that this piece of clothing seemed to change, as if it were nothing more than an ordinary yellow T-shirt and yellow pants.
Ah, right.
At this point in time, those yellow-and-white striped clothes should not exist.
But when Takumi looked carefully again, he found that this piece of clothing was indeed a yellow-and-white striped uniform.
Clothes that should not have existed at this point in time—yet had still appeared.
There was no time to think about the specific reason behind it.
Takumi tossed the clothes to Fujiwara Chika behind him, then grabbed the girl and lifted her up, helping her climb onto a higher platform within the Stone Forest Path.
When he turned back again to look for a second yellow-and-white striped uniform, a rescue team member had already closed in right in front of him.
Bloated.
This was Takumi's immediate, instinctive impression of these things.
The heavy uniform on its body had been completely stretched tight, and one could vaguely see something like pus seeping out from the seams of the rescue suit.
The head exposed outside the uniform was likewise swollen, its eyeballs squeezed to the point of nearly popping out of their sockets. That horrifying face made Takumi involuntarily think of bloat, and he immediately realized that these rescuers had probably all died in the water.
A bloated, oversized hand was already reaching out toward Takumi at this very moment.
But with a sharp crack, the entire arm was snipped off by Takumi.
Fresh blood dripped down from the scissors.
The uncanny being that had lost one hand reached out with the other—only for it to be cut off again—followed by the head, and finally the legs.
Unlike the previous instances where uncanny beings rapidly recovered after being cut open by the scalpel, this time the uncanny did not recover immediately. Instead, it was truly cut into several pieces, which were swept away by the violent current and carried back behind the Big Slide.
Blood Scissors.
This was another piece of loot from the Women-Face Gang, and also one of only two Obsession Items that Takumi's team had obtained so far from that group of players.
Its function was simple: to cut living things. From fingers to thighs, to heads, to every part of the body—even things that looked far too large to be cut by ordinary scissors could be easily severed by this item.
At first, Takumi had thought it was like the scalpel, merely a tool that could be used to attack players.
But after personally using it, Takumi realized the true value of the Blood Scissors.
It could cut corporeal uncanny beings, and prevent these materialized uncannies from easily healing their wounds, forcing them to remain in a split, fragmented state for a period of time.
As long as it wasn't a Horror Story like Refrigerator Bro—one that could strip away a person's life from a distance—then those entities that possessed a physical form and had to rely on bodily contact to exert their bizarre power could all be temporarily weakened and sealed by these scissors, forcing them into a debilitated state.
Of course, correspondingly, the risk of this thing going out of control was extremely high. Even Takumi had to immediately return it to the watch after using it.
The remaining swollen rescuers had not yet approached and were still keeping some distance.
Takumi did not hesitate. He quickly searched through the water and found the second yellow-and-white striped uniform he had been looking for.
With a trace of surprise on his face, Takumi extended his fingers into the water and seized the garment in one swift motion.
Good. As long as he hurried and changed into this uniform, he would be able to—
Splash—
A pale hand that emerged from the water grabbed Takumi's arm.
He was given no time to think or react. In the next instant, accompanied by an enormous force, Takumi was dragged straight down into the water.
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