Chapter 87: Don’t run!

In truth, what Rover wanted was to hunt down more monsters to boost his Omni Points.

Even though he didn’t know what kind of monsters he would run into next, it would be safer for him if the [Eye of Truth] could be upgraded.

Of course, there was no way he’d say that out loud.

Jonathan and Laura felt like he’d lost his mind, but he was the one calling the shots here, so they couldn’t exactly say much.

In the end, they could only follow his lead.

BAM!

“What the hell?!”

“Agh!!”

Laura and Jonathan jolted, looking toward a steel door in the distance.

Nanoe frowned. “That sound came from over there.”

Rover nodded. The noise, like someone kicking a metal door hard, really was coming from that direction.

He walked in front, with Nanoe at his side, still gripping the gun in her hand. Jonathan and Laura didn’t want to go anywhere near it, but being alone here was even more dangerous, so they had no choice but to trail behind Rover.

The four of them stopped in front of a room. The rusted steel door looked like a prison cell door, with only a small viewing slot near the top.

There was a metal cover over the slot, but it had been welded shut, impossible to open.

BAM!

Another impact slammed into it, hard enough to make the door shudder violently. The echo tore through the silence.

“Oy! You… what are you trying to do?” Jonathan frowned.

Rover shrugged. “Just want to see what’s inside.”

Jonathan: “…”

He couldn’t understand Rover’s thought process at all. Was this bastard trying to die?

“The door is locked,” Laura said. “Let’s look for clues somewhere else, then come back here later, okay?”

Rover ignored Laura’s advice, staring at the door. Even if it was locked, he could use his ’Repair’ ability to fix the lock.

’Weird…’ Rover thought. ’This door can’t be repaired. That means I can’t open it, and it also isn’t important to completing the mission.’

Yeah. He’d already realized that while searching the first and second floors.

He’d realized that he couldn’t use [Repair] on everything.

Only things tied to the mission, things that were critically important, would allow him to use [Repair] on them.

But… the sound coming from this door meant there was something inside, yet it wouldn’t let him open it. Did he need to find clues before he could unlock this door?

Nanoe frowned and said softly, “Do you hear that?”

The others fell silent, focusing on the sound.

Rover said, “Someone… is talking…”

He pressed his ear against the door at once. A broken, intermittent voice slipped into his ear.

“A perfect loop… hahahaha… insane…”

“No, that’s not right. This loop… needs a lot of conditions…”

“This world… he created it…”

“He stuffed ugly things in here, hahahaha…”

BAM!

Right after that, another heavy crash hit the door, startling Rover back.

He took a deep breath, baffled by the lines he’d just heard.

’Is that a hint for clearing this mission?’ he thought.

Rover considered it for a moment, then pressed his ear to the door again, but he couldn’t hear anything anymore. Total silence, as if whoever was inside had vanished.

He looked at Nanoe and shook his head. “Nothing now.”

Nanoe sighed. “Maybe we should search somewhere else.”

Laura and Jonathan were the most miserable ones here. If they’d known this cursed mission required puzzle-solving and facing countless horrifying monsters like this, they wouldn’t have wanted to come at all.

But if they could use their powers here, no matter how hopeless it got, they could still find a way to cling to hope.

Now it was different. Their abilities had been sealed, like having both hands and feet bound before being tossed into the sea.

They searched across the entire third floor, but contrary to what Rover expected, there was nothing here at all. Only a few clue-like scraps meant to locate the key to open the door up to the fourth floor, with no monsters and no danger whatsoever.

Rover frowned and said softly, “Then… let’s go to the 4th floor.”

Everyone agreed. They all wanted to finish this damn mission as fast as possible.

He headed to the stairway up to the 4th floor, used 10 Omni Points to Repair the door, then climbed the stairs and went up.

Rover walked in front. After taking a few steps, he frowned, feeling that everything had suddenly become strangely quiet, with only the sound of his own footsteps remaining.

He turned back, frowning. “You guys… huh?!”

Rover jolted, realizing there was no one behind him. Within a 5-meter radius around him, there was absolutely no one, only a stretch of space so quiet it was eerie.

“Where… is everyone?” Rover muttered.

He frowned and ran back, but he immediately stiffened. “What the hell? Where’s the door?!”

That’s right, the door from earlier had turned into an old, weathered wall, covered in countless handprints as if someone had tried to push it open.

“What the hell is going on? Where did those people… go?”

Rover was completely baffled, but he didn’t think any monster had appeared, because the [Eye of Truth] hadn’t signaled any danger.

So there was only one possibility… the door leading to the 4th floor automatically separated everyone.

Rover pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Woo… woo…

Suddenly, crying echoed out.

Rover froze for a second, then immediately turned his head, looking toward the end of the staircase near the entrance to the 4th floor. A shadowy figure stood there, twitching violently, its head spinning from front to back, then flipping from back to front like a helicopter rotor.

He could make out that blurry silhouette through the faint light of the dim ceiling bulb.

That wailing cry drilled into his ears, carrying a heavy, icy chill.

Woo… woo…

Rover tilted his head and looked closer, realizing it was a woman, because her frame was small. She wore a white dress smeared with blood, and her messy hair only got messier as her head kept spinning.

Most notably, her belly bulged hugely, and something even seemed to be wriggling beneath that thin dress.

“Oy! Are you a ghost?”

The woman in white: “…”

Not hearing any reply, Rover frowned and asked, “Do you live here? Or did you just get here? Do you know where my friends are?”

The woman in white: “…”

Seeing she still wouldn’t answer, he grew impatient, his voice turning a bit heavy. “I’m asking you! Wait, can you stop spinning your damn head for a second? Aren’t you dizzy?”

The woman in white: “….”

She swore she’d never seen a human like this. Wasn’t he afraid of her?

Of course, the answer was that he really wasn’t.

Was he joking? The Eye of Truth was still here. Even if he ran into a high-ranking demon, at the very least he’d still be safe.

Rover could tell that this white-dressed ghost woman wasn’t even stronger than the burning man from that room earlier, so why would he be scared?

Besides, monsters in this place were basically just a bunch of walking Omni Points to Rover.

“Hey! You don’t hear me talking? If you keep spinning that damn head of yours, you believe I’ll twist it off or not?”

The white-dressed ghost: “…”

It seemed she understood him. Her head immediately stopped, no longer spinning.

“Damn it!” Rover shouted impatiently. “Turn your head over here, face me. I’m right in front of you, why are you turning backward? Please, even if you’re a ghost, you should have at least a little manners, alright?”

Step… step…

The ghost backed away. Seeing that, Rover immediately said, “Oy! Don’t run! Don’t…”

Woo! Woo!

She didn’t run because she had no legs. Her body glided through the air, shooting off into the distance, toward the darkest part of this floor.

“Damn it! Don’t run!” Rover immediately chased after her.

In that heavy, gloomy atmosphere, the dim lights kept flickering like they could go out at any moment.

But right now, a ghost flew ahead, and behind her was a man, with a crystal eye giving off a powerful glow flying alongside him as he gave chase.

“Stop!” Rover shouted. “Stop, I just want to ask you something, I swear I won’t kill you.”

He wanted to cry, too. Even though he was more than capable of catching up to her, if he did, her body would enter the attack range of the [Eye of Truth].

The moment any monster appeared within that range, the [Eye of Truth] would turn it into ash in less than a second. And he couldn’t turn that function off. Even if he could, he didn’t want to.

So it wasn’t that he couldn’t catch her, it was that he was keeping his distance to keep her safe.

The white-dressed ghost wanted to cry, too. Blood poured from her empty eye sockets, forming two streams down her face as if she were sobbing.

Her already ugly face now twisted even more, grotesque with fear.

Whoosh!

Her body turned into a wisp of smoke, slipping through a door and darting into a room at the very end of the hallway.

“Ah! That’s…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep