Chapter 95: That why they tossed you out

Hearing Nanoe speak, everyone looked toward the door, which was completely out of place in this gloomy, spine-chilling atmosphere.

The door was blue, covered in scribbly drawings of all kinds of shapes, like something a kindergarten kid had made with crayons.

Rover tilted his head to look at Nick and said softly, “You coming with me?”

“What about John?” Nick frowned.

Rover looked at him like he was an idiot and said irritably, “Then stay here and wait. I’m going on ahead.”

“Wait!” Nick clenched his teeth, tossing aside the last shred of pride he had left. “I… I’m coming with you.”

Rover curled his lip, shot Nick a disdainful look, then took Nanoe’s hand and walked toward the door.

At this point, that female ghost also drifted along behind him, but he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to her anymore.

For fuck’s sake. She’d nearly gotten him killed just now, and he wasn’t making that mistake again.

If it weren’t because he sensed she still had some potential and wanted to bring her under his wing as an ally, he would’ve had the [Gate of Truth] burn her to ash a long time ago.

When they reached the door, Rover saw a keyhole, with a symbol above it that looked like an eye.

He didn’t think too much about it and tried sliding in the key with the circular symbol.

Crack!

A sound like a latch being pushed back rang out. Rover glanced at Nanoe, his other hand still gripping hers tightly, and grinned. “This way, we won’t get separated again.”

Nanoe’s cheeks reddened, her face full of warmth and shy embarrassment.

“Huh?!” Rover sensed something, turned around to Nick, and frowned. “Why are you grabbing my shirt?”

That was right. Nick was clutching Rover’s clothes, squeezing so hard his knuckles had turned white, like he’d never let go.

“I… I’m scared of getting separated.”

Rover: “…”

If Nick were a woman, Rover might’ve been able to accept it, but… Nick was a guy.

Rover frowned. “You’re a man. Why are you grabbing my shirt?”

“Men don’t have the right to be scared? That’s sexist.”

Rover: “…”

Nick said it so confidently Rover couldn’t even refute him.

In the end, Rover could only let Nick cling to the corner of his shirt, while he held Nanoe’s hand and slowly pushed the door open.

The door opened, revealing an unbelievably strange space inside. It looked like a children’s area.

The walls and floor were painted blue, covered with countless crude crayon drawings. But those drawings didn’t have any childish innocence or cuteness. They carried a twisted, horrifying vibe.

They depicted grotesque creatures moving around, eating other people, and men in white coats holding massive syringes, injecting them into children’s bodies.

Most notably, in every single panel, Rover could see drawings of eyes.

Rover let out a sigh. He hated this kind of game the most.

Normally, he only played stuff like MMORPGs, 5v5s, or some pay-to-win games that were actually fun.

He rarely, or even never, played puzzle games like this.

Why?

Because he found them exhausting.

Work and studying were already tiring. Coming home and then having to keep his nerves stretched tight to play something like this… he just couldn’t do it.

Rover didn’t feel like thinking. He glanced at Nanoe and asked, “Nanoe, can you see any clues?”

Nanoe shook her head. “No, but we don’t need to care about them. We just keep moving.”

Rover nodded, feeling what Nanoe said made perfect sense, so he kept leading her and Nick forward.

That female ghost still maintained a certain distance behind Rover.

He continued on. The corridor suddenly split into two paths, left and right, and between them sat a small carousel of wooden horses.

The horrifying part was what sat on the pedestal at the center of the carousel…

Nick’s eyes went wide the moment he saw it, disbelief flooding his face. His mouth stuttered, “La… Laura…”

That was right. On that pedestal was Laura’s head, her face still frozen in terror. Her long hair was a tangled mess, her mouth hanging open like she’d just seen something unspeakably horrific. Blood seeped from her neck, mouth, nose, and ears, forming thin streams that ran down below.

Especially her neck. It wasn’t a clean cut. It was gnawed through.

Like her entire body had been eaten, leaving only her head behind.

Even though Nick felt a stab of pain in his chest, he wasn’t stupid enough to go anywhere near that carousel.

He knew damn well his relationship with Laura was just cooperation, nothing close to real family.

Laura’s death shocked him a little, and he regretted losing an ally.

Rover glanced at Nick, then looked at Nanoe, feeling a bit emotional inside. Luckily, Nanoe loved him, so the bond between them remained strong even without the System’s constraints.

However, Laura’s death also proved one thing: this mission was nowhere near as simple as they’d thought.

“Hope Morie’s still okay…” he muttered.

The carousel and the crayon scribbles in this place no longer felt clean or childlike. Instead, they carried a bone-deep, unsettling dread.

Rover frowned, his gaze shifting to the left fork. “I’m taking the left.”

Nick didn’t say anything. He had no way to protect himself. Following Rover was his only choice.

Nanoe, of course, didn’t object.

The three of them started down the left path when suddenly, a black-and-white ball came flying at them, like someone had kicked it.

The sound of it bouncing off the floor shattered the silence. The ball rolled to Rover’s feet and stopped.

All three flinched and stared at the soccer ball that had appeared out of nowhere.

Nick frowned, lowered his head, and reached out to grab it, but Rover suddenly seized his shoulder and sneered, “You’re really going to pick that up?”

Nick looked at Rover, confused. Rover didn’t bother explaining, only pointed at the ball.

Nick turned back and looked again.

“AGH!!!”

He jerked back two steps, his face filled with terror.

A moment ago, he’d clearly seen a ball. Now it had become a human head.

It was Urlgun’s head, the one who’d been with Jonathan.

His face was still frozen in horror, twisted into something grotesque.

The atmosphere grew heavier and darker.

Nanoe frowned, gripping her gun tighter, aiming down the corridor.

At the far end stood a child, maybe five years old. Round-faced, pale-skinned, short brown hair, dressed in white.

The kid stood still, staring at them in shock. There was even a trace of fear and trembling in his eyes.

Nanoe’s brows knit together. The muzzle was trained straight on the kid, and she fired without hesitation.

To her, children, the elderly, women, anyone, none of it mattered more than Rover.

If anything posed even the slightest threat to his safety, she would shoot, no questions asked.

BANG!

The bullet flew toward the kid, but before it could touch him, it dissolved into countless specks of dust.

Nanoe fired again.

BANG!

This round flared with a bright red blaze as it shot toward the kid, but it vanished again, as if a black hole wrapped around him, refusing to let him take any damage at all.

Rover’s expression darkened. He turned, and his eyes grew even colder because a wall had appeared behind them, blocking the way back.

The kid watched them and began walking forward, step by step.

He walked while crying, tears streaming down his face, pitiful beyond words.

But the sound of that brat’s sobbing was razor-sharp in their ears, like someone was hammering nails straight into their skulls.

The kid stopped at the edge of the light that the [Gate of Truth] cast and stood there, crying nonstop.

The crying grew louder and louder until Nanoe and Nick couldn’t take it anymore, clutching their ears, faces contorted in pain.

Rover clenched his teeth and immediately stepped forward one pace, trying to pull the kid into the [Gate of Truth]’s attack range, but the instant he moved, the kid reappeared at the border of the light.

“For fuck’s sake!” Rover snapped under his breath, ordering the light radius to expand to the maximum.

But the kid reappeared again, farther away, still standing right at the edge of the light.

Rover ground his teeth. He was so fucking mad his lungs felt like they were about to explode. After this, he swore he’d never take a mission this goddamn twisted again.

“SHUT UP!!!”

When Rover’s shout tore through the kid’s crying, the air fell instantly silent.

He jabbed a finger at the brat and roared, “For fuck’s sake! Didn’t your parents teach you not to bother other people? What the hell are you crying for? Do you have any idea how annoying your crying is?”

The kid clearly wanted to cry again, but he could only hiccup and choke back sobs. In a voice that was terrifyingly wrong, he whimpered, “I… I don’t have parents. No one taught me that…”

Those words would’ve made anyone’s heart ache.

Nanoe guessed this child was probably one of the asylum’s test subjects, a pitiful little thing.

But if the kid was pitiful, what about them? Weren’t they pitiful too?

They’d been thrown into this alien world, forced to struggle to survive. If not for Rover, she would’ve died long ago.

Rover curled his lip. “You’re so worthless even your parents didn’t want you. Maybe the moment you were born, they knew they couldn’t teach you, so they tossed you out.”

The kid: “…”

Nanoe, Nick: “…”

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