chapter 32

The Timer began its final minute countdown.

In the silent air, the ticking of the Second Hand grew louder with each passing notch, sending chills down their spines.

Luo Jia Bai was drenched in sweat. “Are you sure we dig down from here? This spot is really off to the side.”

Together with him, Lu Li had dug a deep hole in the Sand Pit. Just before reaching the bottom, they finally felt something different.

“Found it!”

They unearthed Buck’s intact Corpse.

It was carefully wrapped in a White Cloth.

When Lu Li lifted the Corpse out, he realized that, stripped of the eerie and horrific elements of the Instance, Buck was actually just a small Black Dog.

So small and so light.

Buck’s soft head rested in the crook of Lu Li’s arm, drooping downward.

The four suspended Facility Floors were on the verge of collapse. As the countdown entered the last ten seconds, Lu Li called out Nuo Nuo’s name.

He raised Buck in his arms. “Is this what you were looking for?”

The Black Dog’s drooping head shifted direction, its hollow eyes facing Nuo Nuo.

The ticking of the Second Hand, which had echoed throughout the space, abruptly stopped.

“Beautiful guest. Congratulations, you answered correctly.”

“Buck.” Nuo Nuo looked at its Corpse, her expression relaxing as she softly called out, “You’re so naughty. So it was you hiding behind and spying on us.”

A whimpering sound of a puppy acting spoiled came from outside the house.

“My loyal and brave Buck.” Nuo Nuo lowered her head, her shoulders trembling as if she were petting the dog outside the Castle. “You like my friends too, don’t you?”

Lu Li raised his eyebrows slightly.

Why did Nuo Nuo say Buck was loyal and brave?

Buck had been dismembered, dying a tragic death.

What exactly had happened before Buck died?

He recalled the first Player in the Instance.

Trying to be clever, he climbed outside the Castle, fell, and was eaten by the dog.

Before Fatty died, his screams were about a dog outside with only a head.

The first distraction Lu Li had found in the Sand Pit earlier was also a dog’s head.

A thought struck him.

Lu Li lifted the White Cloth wrapping Buck. Around the Corpse’s neck was a circle of white thread, exactly where the head had been neatly severed, matching the suspicious detail in the Family Portrait.

But the real thing had more details than the photo.

Now he could clearly see that the white thread was made up of messy stitches.

The thread had been sewn by a person, and because the sewing was poorly done, it was crooked and uneven.

Not just the neck. There were also stitch marks at the joints of the limbs and the tail.

After Buck was dismembered, someone had boldly and carefully stitched the Corpse back together and then buried it.

Who was this person?

Now that they were sure they’d cleared the Instance, Luo Jia Bai grew bolder. He bent down to examine the Corpse and could see the front of the dog’s head from an angle Lu Li couldn’t. “This dog died with its eyes open. After being buried for so long, its eyes are still staring straight at one spot. I wonder what it saw before it died.”

Luo Jia Bai clicked his tongue in amazement. “Its expression is fierce, and its cheeks are puffed up, like it’s biting something.”

Hearing this, Lu Li’s expression shifted slightly. “Help me pry open its mouth.”

Luo Jia Bai’s face changed dramatically. He was now easily startled, feeling as if everything in the Instance might mutate at any second. “I was just analyzing offhand. There might not actually be anything inside.”

Lu Li made as if to hand him the dog. “You hold it for me, I’ll pry it open.”

Luo Jia Bai’s expression stiffened. “I’d better do the prying.”

Frowning, he reached out and found it went more smoothly than he’d expected.

There really was something in Buck’s mouth.

“A piece of Denim Fabric.” Luo Jia Bai’s face was grave as he pulled out the saliva-soaked fabric. “Buck must have bitten this off someone before he died.”
[Congratulations, Player, you have discovered Key Clue 3.]

[Loyal and docile Buck, why are you so angry? What did you see?]

As the mechanical voice sounded, Buck’s Corpse in Lu Li’s arms turned to sand, slipping through his fingers.

“Boom-!”

The Sand Pit let out a loud noise and began to shake, the sand rapidly flowing toward a single point.

The space tilted 45 degrees, turning into a funnel shape.

The corner where they stood became the very tip of the funnel.

Both of them were swept into the center of the quicksand.

“Lu Li?” Luo Jia Bai coughed violently from the sand, rubbing the grains off his face but still unable to open his eyes.

He couldn’t find the thigh he wanted to cling to.

Suddenly, two light sources appeared below.

Left and right.

A hand reached over and grabbed Luo Jia Bai’s arm tightly, pulling him into the light source on the right.

–

“Cough, cough, cough!”

After landing, Luo Jia Bai knelt down, coughing his lungs out, and complained loudly, “This Instance even changes terrain without any warning! I just ate a mouthful of sand!”

He exchanged a bottle of water, tilting his head back to wash the sand out of his eyes and off his face.

Lu Li looked up at the place they had just fallen from.

“We fell out of that Television.”

The room they were in now had walls densely lined with countless square, old-fashioned Televisions.

There was even one in the center of the ceiling.

The Television above was still pouring out a large amount of sand.

“Snap!”

A bloody hand trembled as it gripped the edge of the Television, struggling to crawl out.

With a dull “thud,” a “person” covered in filth crawled out of the Television along with the sand, landing headfirst heavily on the ground.

The severed arm was shocking, the head mangled beyond recognition by a Doll, and only the faint outline of facial features could be seen through the hair.

After falling, this “person” seemed to have exhausted all their strength, struggling a couple of times before lying still, with only a faint rise and fall of the body.

“It’s Zhu Yue.” Luo Jia Bai wiped the water off his face and leaned forward to check Zhu Yue’s breath. “She’s not dead yet? She’s really hard to kill.”

Zhu Yue suddenly convulsed, reaching out to him, blood dripping thickly from her fingertips, looking especially terrifying.

Luo Jia Bai recoiled in fear. “The Death Countdown has started above her head. She’ll last at most five more minutes. To survive this long with such serious injuries, her will to live is really strong. Maybe we should just leave her alone… Hey! Where are you going?”

Lu Li walked over and squatted down beside Zhu Yue.

“I have something to ask her.”

Zhu Yue’s trembling hand almost touched Lu Li.

Luo Jia Bai frowned as he saw the Death Countdown above Zhu Yue’s head suddenly disappear.

Lu Li opened his Wristband, showing Zhu Yue his Points Shop interface. “I can exchange a Life-Saving Item for you. Do you want it?”

Luo Jia Bai was puzzled. “What are you doing? Why spend so many Points to get her a Life-Saving Item!”

Zhu Yue looked up at Lu Li, her eyes flashing with a terrifying light, her twisted expression full of resentment and anger. She trembled as she spoke, “Yes… I want… to live…”

Lu Li gently tapped the “exchange” button.

“I’ll do you a favor, and you’ll do one for me.”

He glanced sideways at Luo Jia Bai, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Dog eat dog-I like to watch that too.”