Chapter 9 The Basement on the Fifteenth Floor 3
The person most surprised to see the wooden lid in the center of the magic circle was not me, but Chang'an.
Before I could even comment on it, he couldn't help but let out a strange cry, his eyes fixed intently on the wooden lid.
A moment later, he shouted excitedly, "It's here...it's here! I knew it wasn't my imagination...Cheng, you saw it too? You saw it too, right!"
“I saw it,” I replied simply.
"...You don't seem very excited?" Seeing this, he calmed down a bit, then asked with a puzzled look, "Aren't you most interested in this kind of thing?"
"I am very interested, but what I see now is just a piece of wood."
I won't "pop the champagne" until I see the basement Chang'an mentioned with my own eyes. That being said, I'm only being very calm verbally. Based on my basic trust in my friend, I'm actually getting restless now, and I can feel my blood rushing.
I didn't rush to lift the wooden lid; instead, I squatted down and began to examine the magic circle on the floor.
This magic circle, composed of numerous twisted lines and symbols, possesses an unmistakable order, preventing it from being mistaken for chaotic graffiti. As for Western mysticism, I possess only a fragmented and disorganized knowledge, making me completely ignorant of its application to analyzing this magic circle. However, there is one thing I have noticed.
I reached out a hand and gently touched the lines of the magic circle, picking up a tiny bit of the black paint used to draw those lines. After rubbing my fingertip slightly, I was completely certain. The paint was blood that had oxidized and dried.
Considering the clue of "a bizarre murder that once occurred in this house", could it be that the person who drew the magic circle was the murderer, and the paint was the victim's blood?
Assuming this is the case, what was the killer's purpose, and why did they leave the magic circle in the house?
Is the murderer still keeping an eye on this house?
"Shall we open the lid and take a look?" Chang'an asked tentatively from the side, but dared not step forward to lift the wooden lid himself.
"Okay." I nodded, stood up, and stepped forward, directly into the center of the magic circle.
The wooden lid had no handle or groove, so I bent down and dug my fingers directly into the gap between the wooden lid and the floor.
Immediately, I lifted the wooden lid high, and what was below came into view.
At that moment, I reflexively held my breath.
As Chang'an said, what appeared beneath the wooden lid was a dark entrance, and below the cave was a bottomless staircase leading to the basement!
But this is the fifteenth floor!
Chang'an seemed to hold his breath as well, then said in a tone as if afraid of disturbing something, "Did you see that? I didn't lie to you..."
I stared intently at the steps in front of me.
The steps were made of grayish-white concrete, with no decoration on the outside. One part was bare and exposed to my eyes, while the other part disappeared into the darkness, as if leading to an unknown and terrifying underworld. Just one look at it sent chills down my spine.
For a moment, I felt as if countless chaotic images flashed through my mind.
This bizarre sight was like a meteorite crashing into a lake of the heart, creating ripples and bringing to the surface all the efforts made in the past to explore the strange phenomena.
Even the words that Ma had said earlier came to mind.
—Comparing the present world and the post-apocalyptic world, the biggest difference is time and space—time and space are distorted in the post-apocalyptic world, and survivors may encounter strange and bizarre phenomena at any time.
The end of the world will not come suddenly, but will have its signs and preludes, but people have not paid enough attention to them.
—Inconceivable phenomena, or bizarre monsters... such things must have already appeared openly in this era.
Could this be what Asaho was referring to as the sign and prelude to the end of the world?
However, judging from the magic circle at the scene, this seems to be a strange phenomenon with human intervention, rather than a natural disaster… No, wait, I'm just being prejudiced. Who says that what brings about the apocalypse is always a natural disaster, and not a man-made one?
Could this strange phenomenon be related to the doomsday signs mentioned by Asahi?
Wait, wait, my thoughts have wandered off course. Don't jump to conclusions about things that are far-fetched and lack evidence. What should I be doing right now?
"Chang'an, wait for me here. I'm going downstairs to confirm something."
After saying that, I walked out into the hallway, leaving a "firefly" inside the house.
At this crucial moment, I found myself still plagued by anxieties, fearing that this bizarre and strange event would ultimately turn out to be another elaborate deception. So instead of immediately sending the "fireflies" to explore the space below the cave, I had them monitor Chang'an from there.
I first leaned against the railing in the corridor to look at the scenery and calm my racing mind. Then I went downstairs and pretended to be a visitor who had knocked on the wrong door.
While the resident opened the door, I secretly put a "firefly" inside and explored the room.
Just as Chang'an had described before, there were no descending stairs to be seen from there, nor were there any caves in the ceiling.
At the same time, I also made a crucial confirmation by monitoring Chang'an's "fireflies"—Chang'an did not close the wooden lid during this period, and I was still able to continue to observe the existence of the cave.
Now we can finally be 100% sure.
That cave truly led to a "space that does not exist in reality".
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The strange thing I've been dreaming of and searching for all this time, which I used to only see in fantasy stories, actually exists!
I had imagined countless times the scene of finally confirming this. Now, I have finally verified the existence of the strange thing with my own eyes, but I am not as ecstatic as I imagined.
It's not because I'm afraid, or because my enthusiasm for incredible things has suddenly waned at this crucial moment. I think the emotions I'm experiencing right now are quite common.
It's said that many people don't react as dramatically as those in movies when faced with sudden upheaval. For example, someone who suddenly learns they've won the lottery jackpot, or someone who receives devastating news of a family member's accidental death... they don't immediately experience extreme joy or sorrow, but rather need a long time to process such a tremendous fact.
As if in a dream—perhaps this is the most fitting phrase to describe my current state of mind.
I can't even tell if my feet are properly touching the ground.
Today is an exceptionally important day in my life, and even this feeling of my feet dangling in the air is so precious. If I could, I would love to linger in this dreamlike experience as long as possible.
However, I must regain my normal thinking ability as soon as possible. The more bizarre and strange the events, the more I need a clear head. Many characters in horror stories die when they lose their senses, and I don't want to be that pathetic.
Moreover, I must now seriously address a very important issue.
Since Chang'an's words are true, the credibility of Mazao's claim that he is a "jinx" also increases. And if Mazao really does bring misfortune to those around him, will this negative influence extend to those closest to him?
In other words, could it be that the reason Chang'an encountered strange events is because he is my friend?
I encountered Mazao last night, while Chang'an encountered strange events the night before. Judging from the chronological order, Chang'an's experience and Mazao's trouble-attracting constitution do not constitute a normal causal relationship. However, when it comes to the strange, we cannot treat it with common sense, and we must also consider the possibility of reversing cause and effect.
In other words, because I met Mazao last night, Chang'an encountered strange events the night before last, and his purpose was to respond to Mazao's afflictive constitution today and drag me into strange events—this bizarre cause-and-effect relationship might also hold true in the world of the supernatural.
If that's the case, how should I handle my relationship with Mazao?
I returned to the house where the cave was located. Chang'an was standing outside the cave entrance, cautiously shining a flashlight inside, seemingly afraid that some monster might suddenly emerge. Seeing me return, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. I had also mostly calmed myself down by then.
"I'm sorry, Chang'an," I sighed. "Perhaps I've dragged you into this."
"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly saying this?" He was taken aback.
"I'll explain later." I already have some ideas on how to handle that matter. "Let's focus on the immediate problem for now."
Upon hearing this, he stopped asking questions and turned his attention back to the cave.
With the help of my flashlight, I could see the scene below the stairs. The space below was only a little over three meters deep, with a gray concrete floor at the bottom, and it really did look like a basement.
I observed the cave in silence.
Once I realized the cave's supernatural properties, it became irresistibly attractive to me. It was like pulling the plug out of a bathtub full of water and silently watching the water swirl and be sucked into the dark cave; it felt as if even my heart was flowing into the cave with it.
While savoring this bewitching feeling, I took two more steps forward, wanting to get a closer look.
Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm from the side. I turned around and saw Chang'an. He had grabbed me and was wearing an unusually serious expression.
"You want to go down?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
It would be absolutely impossible for me to say that I didn't want to go down and take a look.
He stared in disbelief and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't come here to ask you to go down."
"You've already called me all the way here, how could I not go down and investigate?" I asked rhetorically at first, then suddenly realized.
By the way, from my perspective, it's impossible not to personally investigate every strange event thoroughly, and I think others would see me that way too. Needless to say, Chang'an, as my friend, must know my habits very well.
But this time was different. Chang'an probably had a preconceived notion that "this cave is not to be entered" because he had experienced this strange event first. Then, when he told me about it, he unconsciously projected his own judgment onto me—he never expected that anyone would have the idea of going down to take a look.
"Don't worry, I'm not as reckless as you think. Even if I wanted to go down, I wouldn't do it right now."
As I said this, I used my body to block his view and manipulated the "firefly" to fly down into the cave.
But then, something incredible happened.
When the "firefly" entered the cave below—entering that "space that does not exist in reality"—my spiritual connection with the "firefly" was severed, and the "firefly" itself disappeared into thin air like a candle flame blown out by the wind.
(End of this chapter)
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