Xu Dengming opened all the cabinets in the bathroom but found no trace of anything resembling a child’s toothbrush, as if Guo Jiajia had no need to maintain oral hygiene.
After leaving the bathroom, she walked to the master bedroom door.
Before entering, Xu Dengming glanced at the clock-it was already past nine.
Based on her experience from the previous loop, the woman who had gone out to buy groceries would soon return.
Xu Dengming hoped that in this round, both the woman and the food in her basket would meet a more fitting end.
The colors inside the master bedroom were monotonous, giving off a dull, grayish hue.
The view outside the window was equally bleak, making Xu Dengming feel uneasy as she entered to investigate.
She almost wondered if her eyes had been clouded by dust.
“Creak-“
A gentle breeze pushed open the door Xu Dengming had left ajar.
The dim light made it increasingly difficult for her to see clearly.
She strained to move her eyes, but her vision felt sluggish and unresponsive.
Xu Dengming’s body swayed abruptly as a wave of weakness washed over her.
She braced herself for the familiar sensation of “returning to blue,” but within a second, she completely lost the ability to swallow.
The last pill lodged in her throat, like a steel nail driven into her windpipe, hard and reeking of rust.
As her strength faded, Xu Dengming inexplicably recalled something she had seen online: certain hotels in the inner city prepared enticing chocolate fountains for children.
On the warmly decorated dining tables, the once-solid desserts gradually melted under heat, then flowed down sweetly under the eager gazes of onlookers.
Now, Xu Dengming had become the fountain in this house.
Her skin, bones, and flesh began to flow downward, like an ice cream left under the scorching sun.
Her vision uncontrollably lowered until her entire body lay evenly spread across the floor.
Bright red, sticky blood pooled on the ground, spreading like mold from the bedroom to the living room.
Xu Dengming felt her perception extending outward with the blood’s flow, though this expansion was beyond her control.
At 10:17, familiar footsteps sounded outside the door-the woman had returned home once more.
Xu Dengming’s current state was highly abnormal.
Despite the door separating her from the woman, she could somehow sense everything happening on the other side.
The woman didn’t fumble for her keys.
She had already noticed the red message left on the door.
Her face paled in shock, her cheeks tensed, and her gaze remained fixed on the colorful crayon writing on the door panel.
She closed her eyes tightly, and the emotional turmoil in her gaze subsided, replaced by cold calculation and planning.
“How could I have forgotten my keys? Well, I might as well go buy some beans, or else dinner won’t turn out right…”
A murmur filled with everyday life echoed as the woman spoke to herself in a tone that starkly contrasted with her expression, quickly fabricating a reason to leave.
Her voice sounded natural-either the result of extensive training or an innate talent for performance.
Then she called the man, using an outdated communication device that exuded a sense of the past:
“Yes, it’s me… I didn’t bring my keys today, so I can’t get in. Can’t you come back right away? Otherwise, I’ll come find you, and we can eat out before returning.”
She spoke casually, then turned and walked away.
The woman’s footsteps gradually faded, disappearing swiftly but without panic from Xu Dengming’s perception.
Time began to pass rapidly, and Xu Dengming’s awareness suddenly weakened.
At times, she could clearly sense that she was in the second week of the game, while at other times, she felt as though she had naturally become a part of the floor.
Her body had long since merged with the house, inseparable.
After the woman and the man left under the pretense of dining out, they never returned.
The teapot on the cabinet gradually emptied, the light in the room brightened and dimmed, and the old woman in the corner of the living room withered away inch by inch, turning to dust.
On Xu Dengming’s dried blood, vibrant and lively moss began to grow.
“Bang!”
After an unknown period of time, Xu Dengming’s perception was triggered again.
Many strange and disjointed images flashed before her eyes.
She clearly saw an old-fashioned car being flipped over.
Accompanied by a loud explosion and the screams of onlookers, an orange-red flame burst into life, and the shattered remains of the car flew in all directions.
The man’s brain matter and the woman’s blood mixed together, their ordinary and indistinct faces crushed into pieces by the immense force.
The images vanished with the deaths of the characters, and the color of the flames slowly faded until Xu Dengming’s vision was left in complete darkness.
Only then did the system’s prompt leisurely appear-
[Second Week Completed. Player Achieved [No Escape].]
After the second week’s test ended, Xu Dengming found herself back in her living room.
She leaned silently on the sofa, one hand propping her chin.
Having been passively flattened on the floor twice, Xu Dengming had grown somewhat accustomed to the one-centimeter height of her field of vision.
After the second week, the changes in the living room became even more pronounced.
Flickering water-like lights floated in mid-air, surrounded by an endless, deep-sea-like darkness.
Xu Dengming’s range of movement was further compressed, and the surface of the sofa had turned from a warm apricot color to a hard, pale stone-gray, its outline collapsing, with cracks visible on its surface.
The numbers on the wooden door on the wall had twisted into a vivid red “1,” and her mental state had also significantly deteriorated-
[Mental State: 72/120 (Moderate Insanity, Continuously Declining)]
Xu Dengming silently repeated the word “insanity” in her mind.
She still retained the ability to think and maintained a basic judgment of her situation.
The system was right; the buzzing in her ears was the sound of her rationality collapsing.
No wonder there were only three chances.
If she failed four times in a row, the player’s rationality would likely not withstand another round of testing.
Xu Dengming noticed a throbbing in her temples, and twisted veins bulged on the back of her hands.
It felt as though the blood vessels in her body had turned into long, thin worms, wriggling through her bones and flesh.
It was an extremely bizarre sensation.
Xu Dengming pressed hard on the back of her hand, her rational judgment constantly reminding her to stay calm.
At the same time, an impulse arose within her a desire to cut open her skin and pull out all the restless blood vessels.
She regulated her breathing, trying to shift her attention away from the current situation.
The lingering fear in her heart was forcibly suppressed.
Xu Dengming sat up straight, stared at the wooden door for a moment, and suddenly laughed, “What if I still don’t pass the game on the third try?”
The wooden door didn’t respond to Xu Dengming.
In this space, apart from herself, there was no other speaking entity.
After each test, the game would give Xu Dengming some time to rest and review.
Once she broke free from the madness, she began to sort through the clues she had just obtained in her mind.
In the second playthrough, after the woman and the man saw Xu Dengming’s message, they skipped the step of entering the room to investigate.
Without even packing their belongings, they decisively abandoned their current residence, leaving behind both the elderly and the child.
This revealed some information—the two had always known they were under some kind of threat, which was why they chose to cut their losses and flee immediately upon realizing the danger.
“Threat.”
Xu Dengming mulled over the word in her mind, then thought that perhaps the two hadn’t wanted to take more people with them.
It was just that the benefits tied to the elderly and Guo Jiajia weren’t worth the risk they would have to take.
Everything she experienced in the second playthrough flashed through Xu Dengming’s mind, and one question she had been pondering since earlier resurfaced-
Was Guo Jiajia really a family member of that couple?
According to the diary, Guo Jiajia believed she was related to the couple.
However, Guo Jiajia was just a little girl, easily deceived.
They might have simply used the concept of family as a reason to live together.
The couple’s final outcome also aligned with the game’s achievements.
The threat caught up with them, orchestrating that car accident.
The game wouldn’t allow testers to delay indefinitely, and Xu Dengming gradually felt the system’s silent urging.
She stood up, her expression cold, unlike someone being eroded by madness.
She took two steps forward and opened the oddly lined wooden door on the wall for the third time.
Behind the door was still Guo Jiajia’s small room.
But compared to the first playthrough, the colors around her were noticeably darker.
The graffiti on the walls had turned into eerie black and red, and all the furniture seemed to crouch in the open space, staring coldly with nonexistent eyes at everyone who entered from outside.
Xu Dengming knew they were inanimate objects, yet she still felt as if she was being watched.
She stood in front of the graffiti-covered wall, then turned around and once again saw Guo Jiajia, dressed in a modified sackcloth outfit.
Guo Jiajia stood on the bed, holding a cloth doll in her arms, staring at Xu Dengming.
Children often give the impression of innocence and cuteness, but at this moment, there was no expression on Guo Jiajia’s face.
Her round, pitch-black eyes were filled with indifference.
More than a living person, Guo Jiajia now resembled a doll, exuding an inorganic, inhuman aura, as if the happiness she had shown earlier was merely an act based on her own programming.
The child was the first to tear off the facade of warmth, scrutinizing the game tester who had entered.
As Guo Jiajia stared at Xu Dengming, Xu Dengming also stared back.
The little girl’s expression was numb, and in her lifeless gaze, Xu Dengming’s face was clearly reflected.
After a silent exchange of glances, Xu Dengming reined in the slightly neurotic smile on her face, her expression now calm and serene.
She spoke, her voice steady, showing no trace of madness:
“Although I can’t guarantee success, I will try again.”
The verification of the second loop had failed, but the process of failure had provided Xu Dengming with new information.