So this is a dungeon within a dungeon?
An inappropriate thought popped into Xiao Cheng's head.
When the dizzying sensation finally subsided, she suppressed the urge to vomit and steadied herself by leaning against the wall.
She was in an extremely narrow cubicle, completely white all around, so white it was almost blinding and made her head spin.
Once the discomfort subsided, she began to carefully examine the cubicle again.
The place was eerily quiet, and even the gun she had been holding earlier began to pixelate the moment she entered, before disappearing without a trace.
Xiao Cheng tentatively tapped the wall; the sound was muffled, and the texture was somewhat like a sponge.
But she would never have imagined that the walls here would be as fragile as a sponge.
There were too few clues to be found. She had hoped there would be a hidden door, but unfortunately, there wasn't even a crack, let alone a hidden door.
This is a completely enclosed space.
"Is anyone there?!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.
But the only response he could hear was his own echo.
We've tried everything, but to no avail.
Xiao Cheng simply sat down on the ground and began to calculate how long it would take before he suffocated due to lack of oxygen.
Being locked up here alone, her sense of time seemed to stretch out infinitely. She couldn't tell how much time had passed. Feeling somewhat tired, she leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the ceiling.
If this is the experience of the nineteen siblings, does it mean that their room for subjective manipulation will be infinitely compressed?
In other words... we can only wait and see how things go for the siblings.
This feeling of placing her hopes on others made her feel uneasy.
Doubt, anger, and all sorts of negative emotions began to surge up, and Xiao Cheng's mood was at its lowest point.
She didn't trust Shijiu and his siblings, but now she was powerless to do anything about it.
If it weren't them, if it were...
etc.
If it were someone, would I trust them unconditionally?
Unexplained thoughts disturbed her emotions. Xiao Cheng frowned in confusion, feeling as if she had forgotten something.
I had this feeling ever since Fang He appeared, but I had ignored it before.
But in this situation where there's nothing to do, this subtle feeling is deliberately amplified, to the point that it's impossible to ignore it any longer.
She had a premonition that her relationship with Fang He was definitely not as simple as he had previously claimed.
Just as she was lost in thought, a creaking sound suddenly came from above her head.
To be precise, the noise should have come from the ceiling.
It's like... above her, there's another identical compartment, where someone else is also trapped.
Xiao Cheng stood up with some confusion, looking up at the direction from which the sound came.
A short while later, she saw that the ceiling suddenly cracked open like a broken eggshell, with several fine cracks appearing.
Soon these cracks began to thicken and deepen, eventually breaking off under the weight and revealing a narrow hole.
Immediately afterwards, a person fell into the hole and landed heavily on the ground, looking rather disheveled. Then, the hole rapidly healed itself at a speed visible to the naked eye, all the cracks disappeared, and not even a trace was left.
Xiao Cheng stared blankly at Fang He in front of her.
"You...traveled through time?" she asked, somewhat uncertainly.
“I didn’t time travel. A hole suddenly appeared in the floor, and I was tricked.” Fang He’s expression was not good. He looked up at the ceiling. “This place is strange. The gun I was holding and my throwing knife turned into pixels the moment I came in.”
“This place is rejecting anything from the outside,” he concluded. “In short, the longer we stay here, the more dangerous it becomes for us. After all, we never know when we might disappear like guns and knives.”
“Pixelation… it does feel a bit like dimensional reduction.” Xiao Cheng miraculously calmed down and even began to carefully recall the scene where the gun disappeared from his hand earlier.
“From three dimensions to two dimensions? That’s possible.” Fang He nodded thoughtfully, then fell silent, pondering something without uttering a word.
"Don't even think about it, you won't get out no matter how hard you try." Xiao Cheng said quietly, pouring cold water on him. "If I'm not mistaken, what tricked you just now wasn't the floor, but some mechanism that Nineteen and the others encountered, and it was just a chain reaction."
"I know, I didn't think of that." Fang He lowered his eyes slightly, looking at her very seriously, his gaze appearing exceptionally deep, as if he wanted to imprint her image in his heart.
"So what are you thinking about? Me?" Xiao Cheng couldn't help but tease him.
To everyone's surprise, Fang He nodded earnestly and replied, "Yes, I'm thinking of you."
It doesn't sound like a joke.
This left Xiao Cheng a little confused.
She felt a rare blush creeping up her cheeks, and her ears began to burn.
She looked away somewhat awkwardly: "So...we must have known each other before, right? We must have known each other more than just being fellow players, right?"
“Yes,” Fang He replied with complete composure, “but you forgot.”
His tone carried a hint of almost imperceptible grievance, so subtle that Xiao Cheng initially thought she had misheard.
She coughed twice, feeling a little guilty, to cover up her embarrassment.
"So... so what exactly is our relationship? Tell me, I'll accept it even if it's money or points owed, just tell me, maybe I'll remember."
"What do you think, Xiao Cheng? I'd like to know your guess," Fang He countered.
Xiao Cheng was silent for a moment, then cautiously asked, "It's not... friends with benefits, is it? It's not that I'm overthinking it, but your expression right now really makes it seem like..."
Her voice trailed off: "Like someone who's been used and then abandoned... um."
Fang He was so angry he almost laughed. He couldn't help but tap Xiao Cheng on the head: "What are you thinking about all day long? Do you think you donate your brain?"
Xiao Cheng: "..." Looks like we're not friends with benefits.
fine.
She insisted that she could never be the kind of irresponsible, scumbag woman!
Xiao Cheng suddenly became proud and said with great confidence, "Then it seems you are my creditor! Tell me, how much do I owe you? Although I can't remember now, I am definitely not the kind of person who doesn't pay back debts!"
Fang He: "..."
"Who gave me the right to be your creditor?" He smirked coldly. "At least you didn't say I was your secret lover."
Xiao Cheng felt a chill run down her spine for no apparent reason.
That familiar sarcastic tone.
I remember now, I think I can remember now.
Many fragmented images swirled in her mind, making her head feel slightly swollen.
These fragmented memories, seemingly without beginning or end, were pieced together again, and the merman's words resounded in her ears once more.
"The stakes include... a piece of your memory."
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