'It just looks scarier.'
In the game, players' pain feedback is greatly weakened. As long as one can overcome visual and psychological fear, reaching a hand through the blade net to grab a key from the conveyor belt is not difficult. Caleb felt that the third level was actually less difficult than the second, at least players didn't have to worry about mortal danger.
He stopped in front of the 'Thief' device, his eyes fixed on the five vertically arranged steel wires and the blades sliding back and forth on them. The blades did not slide quickly, but the five blades moving back and forth in a crisscross pattern naturally formed a tight formation. Even if a player had a chance to reach in, it would be very brief. Moreover, even if one managed to pass a hand through the blade net without injury, if the timing of the key delivery on the conveyor belt wasn't perfectly matched, one might not get anything, wasting the effort. If he didn't want to return empty-handed, he would have to endure the cutting damage from the blade net on his arm.
Caleb took a deep breath and slowly moved his hand closer to the blade net. His heart rate was still at a normal resting rate, and the adrenaline secreted maintained his keen senses and extraordinary dexterity. Enhanced dynamic vision provided a slow-motion analysis of the blades. The blades slid ever so slowly, and the impenetrable blade net immediately revealed a gap wide enough for an arm to pass through.
It was already difficult for an average player to get their hand through the blade net, and grabbing a key from the conveyor belt was entirely up to fate. Caleb was different. The rolling blade net, with its slowed speed and exposed gaps, allowed him to reach much deeper into the box.
'Now!'
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he struck like lightning. Before the conveyor belt could transport the key to a suitable position, he passed his entire arm through the blade net and effortlessly grabbed a black key that had just been sent up from the bottom of the box.
— Item detected…
— You have obtained [A Key of Indeterminate Authenticity].
'Heh, that was simple.' The corner of this 'cheating' guy's mouth curled up in a smug grin as he glanced at the key in his hand.
[A Key of Indeterminate Authenticity]
[Type: Common Item]
[Effect: Perhaps it can shut down a certain device!]
[Weight: 1]
[Can it be taken out of the scene: No]
[Note: Try inserting it into a keyhole and turning it. Maybe you're incredibly lucky today.]
Ah ah ah!!!
On the 'Liar' device, the thin young man, Allen, was still screaming his throat raw. He was drenched in sweat, his face pale, and his voice was already hoarse, operating completely beyond his limits. Noticing Caleb approaching with a key, his eyes, as he looked over, held a desperate longing for release.
'Don't get your hopes up too high.' What if it was a fake key?
However, it turned out that Caleb's luck was indeed very good today. He succeeded on his very first try! The black key smoothly inserted into the keyhole and successfully turned halfway. The sharp iron pillar, which had descended to less than 20 centimeters from Allen's face, immediately stopped, hovering steadily in mid-air.
Phew~ Allen's expression instantly relaxed. He stopped screaming, and his taut body deflated like a balloon.
I'm saved! I don't have to die.
He took a couple of breaths, and remembering that he wasn't fully unbound yet, he felt uneasy and wanted Caleb to help him release the chains on his body.
"I… Woo… ah…" But his voice was completely hoarse, able to produce only a few monotonous, raspy syllables. The continuous screaming had severely overtaxed his throat.
Fortunately, the silver-haired young man who saved him understood his meaning and stepped forward, pulling hard on the chains twice. The chains couldn't be released; the six iron chains binding his limbs, waist, and neck converged beneath the iron bed, locked tight by a large padlock. The silver-haired young man shook his head at Allen, indicating he was powerless.
"No… please… please find… a way." Allen refused to give up, pleading. But the other party wore a grotesque mechanism on his head and couldn't make a sound. He shook his head at Allen, and in his eyes, as he looked at Allen, there was a strange pity.
Behind the corner camera, in the dim monitoring room, the scarred man had already left. In the surrounding darkness, faint footsteps slowly approached the monitoring station. A moment later, the owners of the footsteps arrived in front of the monitors. They emerged into the light, revealing themselves to be four strange individuals, just like the scarred man, wearing black and red cloaks and Pig Head Masks.
The four Pig Head Mask strange individuals exchanged glances. The tallest 'Pig-face Mask' among them turned to another companion and said: "The betrayer has completely fallen and cannot be redeemed. Go tell the others that there's no need to show him mercy anymore if they encounter him." The Pig Head Mask companion acknowledged the order and slowly retreated into the darkness, disappearing.
The tall 'Pig-face Mask' stood in front of the monitors for a moment, staring at the surveillance footage on one of the screens. In that surveillance footage, Caleb was taking a key from the 'Thief' device and successfully shutting down the 'Liar' device.
"Good skills."
...
In a derelict, filthy toilet. The scarred man, clad in a black and red cloak, stood before a grimy mirror.
"No! Not a single one of them is worthy of salvation!" The scarred man impulsively punched the mirror, which immediately cracked. His grotesque face was replicated in each shard of the broken mirror. He was extremely agitated, his teeth clenched, and veins bulging on his forehead. He reached out and grabbed several glass shards from the sink, using their sharp edges to cut the skin on his arm. His skin was cut by the shards, and blood immediately gushed out, dripping onto the dirty sink.
The scarred man's erratic and violent emotions seemed to subside. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again, a firm and terrifying gleam beginning to show in his eyes.
"Unforgivable, they cannot be forgiven!"
Then, he snatched the Pig Head Mask placed nearby and solemnly put it on his head. Afterward, he fumbled in his pocket for something resembling a small remote control and decisively pressed the red button on it.
Without warning, the sharp iron pillar, suspended in mid-air, suddenly reactivated. The pulley system made a clanking sound, and the chains wrapped around it rattled loudly.
'What's going on?' Caleb, who was looking for a way to free Allen, looked surprised.
He saw the iron pillar, suspended in mid-air, quickly retract upwards for a section. After a half-second pause, it rebounded downwards, like a pile driver, violently and heavily slamming towards Allen's face.
Ah ah ah ah!!!
This time, even if Allen screamed until his throat tore, the descending pointed iron pillar showed no sign of slowing down.
Pfft!
The iron pillar struck Allen's head, shattering it with a single blow. Blood splattered all over Caleb's body and face.
'Alas, he couldn't escape death after all.' Although this was an outcome Caleb had anticipated from the beginning, the ease with which he had obtained the key to shut down the device earlier had made Caleb think, 'Perhaps I can save him'—all he needed was a suitable tool to break the lock.