My consciousness sank deep into that silent void. A sensation of suspension, of drifting, enveloped my entire body. Strangely enough, this nothingness no longer terrified me as it had the first few times. Perhaps this is the human "adaptation" mechanism at work when one becomes too familiar with the borderline between life and death.
Within this spatial cocoon, everything was peaceful. It felt like a brief pit stop, a place where I was allowed to let go of every thought, letting the pressures I had just endured dissolve into the darkness. At least here, there was no deformed Casino Boss, no blood-soaked gambles.
But that "rest" did not last long.
Yashu's urgent calls pulled me out of my trance. My eyelids felt heavy, sluggish, and unwilling to open, but the sensation of her hands firmly shaking my shoulders forced me back to alertness.
I opened my eyes. The surroundings were once again the familiar, dilapidated old neighborhood. The cold radiating from the pavement seeped through my clothes, as bone-chilling as if I were lying on a block of ice that had just begun to melt. In the misty sky, the colossal "Eye" entity began to loom behind the grey clouds, silently monitoring the world. It was probably around 5 AM, yet the street was completely void of people.
I pushed myself up, a sense of exhaustion still clinging to every muscle fiber. My mind was a chaotic mess of unanswered questions: What exactly was that grotesque appearance of the Casino Boss? How could such a massive casino vanish from the face of the earth in the blink of an eye like a ghost?
Those disjointed thoughts suddenly pulled me back to that fateful moment in the casino-the moment the emerald light from Yashu's hand froze that monster. I glanced at her, intentionally adopting a playful tone to break the thick veil of tension:
-"You've been hiding your skills quite well, haven't you? For a second there, I thought I was going to end up as demon bait."
Yashu paused for a beat, seemingly catching the hidden implication in my half-joking, half-reproachful remark. She turned to face me, a somewhat bashful smile playing on her lips, her eyes slightly downturned to avoid direct contact:
-"I'm sorry for keeping it from you. I really should have told you about this Gemstone sooner..."
I waved my hand, suppressing a sigh:
-"It's fine. In a place like this, everyone has their own secrets to stay alive."
I said that, but deep down, I understood the real reason behind her silence: Yashu didn't fully trust me yet. It was understandable. In this Eldritch world riddled with deception, trust is the most expensive luxury. Those who appear "gentle" and upright daily-who's to say they aren't a "wolf in sheep's clothing" just waiting for the chance to stab their comrades in the back?
Her defensiveness wasn't wrong; it just made me realize that even though we had walked through death's door together, the boundary between us remained an invisible yet formidable distance.
The atmosphere suddenly fell into an eerie silence. To break the suffocation, Yashu took the initiative to speak, her small hand starting to search for something in her pocket:
-"Ah, let me show you with your own eyes..."
She pulled out a small vial, radiant with a shimmering emerald hue. Elaborate, sophisticated patterns were carved onto the vial's body, emitting a faint, ethereal glow reminiscent of magic potions in sci-fi movies.
Approaching a Gemstone at such a close range for the first time, a spark of interest mixed with curiosity welled up inside me. Yashu cradled the vial in her hand, bringing it close to my vision:
-"My Gemstone is called 'Nine Heavens Frost Dew.' It possesses the power to freeze or stagnate the time of a specific entity, whether it be an inanimate object or a living creature. The maximum limit is 10 seconds, and it can only be used exactly 3 times."
She paused, looking at the fading green light within the vial, her voice dropping lower:
-"I've used it twice already. Once to pass the second mission, and the other time was just now at the casino. Currently... it only has one single use left."
Her words felt like a splash of cold water; "a miracle" in a brief 10 seconds sounded utterly cruel.
I asked softly, my eyes never leaving the emerald vial:
-"This thing... where did you find it?"
-"During the first mission." - Yashu recalled calmly, her voice sounding a bit distant. - "At that time, I took a risk to help a supernatural entity within the Demon Gate. Unexpectedly, it gave me this vial afterward. Honestly, even now, I still can't believe I possess such a powerful Gemstone."
Click.
The dry, crisp sound of an electric switch echoed through the silent night-a pleasant sound to the ear, yet one that sent a chill down my spine.
-"Sounds like you're very lucky." - I replied, trying to keep my voice steady as I stood up straight. - "Hide it carefully. Don't let anyone see it."
-"I understand." - Just as Yashu finished her sentence and was about to put the Nine Heavens Frost Dew back into her pocket, I suddenly stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.
This abrupt action made Yashu's small frame jump in surprise. She went stiff in my arms, her breathing becoming rapid. But before she could utter a word, I leaned close to her ear, whispering in an extremely serious tone:
-"Be quiet. Don't look around. Someone is watching us."
Yashu was stunned, her voice trembling slightly as she whispered back:
-"What did you say? Watching? How do you know...?"
-"That light switch sound just now." - I narrowed my eyes toward the dark corner of the alley. - "The motion-sensor lights in this area never turn on by themselves unless something is moving. Someone just slipped into the shadows the moment we were distracted by our conversation. They're still there."
I felt Yashu's body shudder slightly. In the stillness of 5 AM, it felt as though an invisible pair of eyes was pinned to us from within that thick, suffocating darkness.