HM Chapter 21

Gold's suspicious expression was so evident that Curly hesitated, becoming a bit flustered and annoyed. "Can't you stop asking me everything first? What about you, what did you encounter?"

Seeing Curly’s guarded look, although it seemed like he was being defensive, Gold hesitated but decided to share her experience for the sake of information exchange.

"—I woke up tied to a cross, burned awake by a hot iron. A 'doctor' appeared, saying he would nail my hands and feet to exorcise the devil, and called for his two assistants."

"They looked just like you two." She glanced at Yuan Yuxue and Curly.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Gold continued, "I heard 'you guys' discussing killing me to use my organs as the task item. I was in shock for a moment, feeling hopeless. Then I noticed that 'Curly' was planning to kill me with a knife… let's put it this way, with Curly's skill, if he wanted to kill, he would do it thoroughly, without giving me a chance to resist, and it wouldn't be such a gentle death. So I observed for a while, realized something was off, and ended up killing them and escaping." Gold spoke earnestly, making Curly choke up a bit, and he retorted, "What do you mean, do you think I'm that ruthless?"

Gold remained silent.

Her face said it all.

Curly: “……”

Realizing that his less-than-ruthless image helped her see through the illusion, Curly's face darkened slightly.

For a moment, Curly wanted to avoid discussing how Yuan Yuxue had figured it out and took the initiative to say, "My illusion was similar to yours."

The only difference was that when Curly realized "Yuan Yuxue" wanted to kill him, he was genuinely shocked and emotionally dissected his feelings, expressing them passionately and earnestly. It was something like, "I treated you sincerely, and you want to kill me!"

Even thinking about it now made Curly’s face flush with embarrassment.

What a mess...

Curly didn’t want to recount his foolish behavior in the illusion and almost wanted to kill the dungeon boss on the spot. The most important thing was that he didn’t realize it until he accidentally knocked off "Yuan Yuxue's" mask, revealing a blank face underneath.

The information extracted by the illusion was based on their memories. Curly didn’t know Yuan Yuxue’s appearance, so in the illusion, Yuan Yuxue’s face was blank.

Curly was stunned for a good three seconds, almost getting counterattacked before realizing the impostor's identity. Furious, he killed them on the spot and left the illusion.

Now, standing in front of Yuan Yuxue, he couldn’t bring himself to mention the heartfelt but embarrassing moments and awkwardly mumbled, "When I attacked, I knocked off Yuan Yuxue's mask. Seeing there was no face underneath, I realized something was wrong and got out."

Curly added to Yuan Yuxue, "That's why I wanted you to take off your mask to check."

It made sense.

But Gold, looking at Curly’s uneasy expression, felt he was hiding something.

Having shared their experiences, it was Yuan Yuxue's turn.

However, Yuan Yuxue’s experience was straightforward.

Yuan Yuxue thought for a moment, finding no useful insights, and calmly stated, "I came out directly. Those two didn't look much like you."

If he could tell immediately, they must have looked very different.

Gold was curious, realizing the illusion could have such errors. She sighed, "You're lucky."

Yuan Yuxue seemed thoughtful.

He probably was lucky, avoiding the confusing setups the others faced.

Curly, feeling awkward, glanced at Yuan Yuxue with belated relief.

He thought, in such a single-player predicament, someone as fragile as Yuan Yuxue would be in great danger... luckily, his luck wasn’t too bad, sparing him a disaster.

He resolved to keep a closer watch on him. Curly thought.

Outside the room, the hundreds of "models" had presumably left, leaving it eerily quiet. Gold considered their next move and pulled out Yuan Yuxue's map, frowning slightly.

"Should we still head to the central area?" Although there were other paths to the destination, avoiding the dangerous morgue with the models would be time-consuming. Gold hesitantly pointed to several key intersections, "Detouring might lead to other dangers."

After all, this basement was unusually eerie.

"Let's go," Curly said without much hesitation.

Yuan Yuxue thought for a moment, "No detours."

The seemingly frail newcomer, in Curly's view, walked over to the mechanical chair, extracting a sharp knife from its upper part—due to its mechanical connection, the knife couldn't be removed directly. Yuan Yuxue simply used the blade to gently pry off a component from the chair.

Having just experienced an illusion and being in a protected period, they didn't trigger any hidden events.

Yuan Yuxue's fingers were long and beautiful, making the task look easy. Curly only saw him deftly handling the parts, quickly disassembling several silver cylindrical components from the chair.

The chair's structure was intricate and precise, impossible to affect without professional tools. But Yuan Yuxue had scanned every part of it, creating a mental blueprint. Used to disassembling highly sophisticated weapons, this relatively primitive equipment was simplified for him. He could achieve his goal even with crude tools.

Focused intently, his long lashes casting a shadow, Yuan Yuxue's dedication added a unique allure, making the scene seem like an art performance. His white fingers moved swiftly, soon dismantling several components of varying sizes from the chair.

He selected a few suitable, clean parts and distributed them to Curly and Gold.

Gold was surprised, then asked, "As a talisman?"

Yuan Yuxue responded, "…Sort of."

This was like scavenging for loot! Gold was inexplicably excited, admiring Yuan Yuxue's versatility—except for fighting, he could do almost anything, even dismantling dungeon props.

Curly held the small part in his hand, feeling its cool, smooth surface, his face heating up.

Was this... a gift?

Feeling awkward accepting it, Curly glanced at Yuan Yuxue and thought, since I'm taking this, I should take care of you a bit more.

After the chair was thoroughly dismantled and deemed useless, Yuan Yuxue discarded it. They carried their pieces and returned to the "morgue" that had given them some trouble.

The exact effect of the equipment was uncertain, so the initial plan was to quickly pass through the morgue, avoiding prolonged exposure to potential dangers. However, Gold couldn't help but observe her surroundings.

The models seemed to have returned, but some slots in the mortuary cabinet were still ajar. As they stepped inside, the chains and pulleys emitted faint creaks, like thunder in Gold's ears. She noticed the slots slowly closing, sealing shut.

Gold: “??”

The effect was quite...

Immediate.

Yuan Yuxue and Curly must have noticed too, but they swiftly moved through the morgue without discussing it, reaching the central area.

From a certain point in the corridor, it felt like crossing into another world from the rest of the basement.

Outside was decayed, dark, and old, with a musty smell from many years ago, featuring strange medical equipment akin to torture devices, covered in dust.

But the central area showed signs of modern renovation.

Curly and Gold felt it more clearly—this looked like a converted private hospital.

They didn’t have much time to investigate, staying briefly in each area to avoid potential dangers. As they delved deeper, the overhead lights grew dimmer, turning into an eerie pale blue, making it hard to see.

They checked many sections with regular medical equipment but found nothing.

Until they reached a locked cold storage area. Opening the lock, they were met with a bizarre scene, but the players seemed relieved instead of scared.

—They finally found it.

The pale green light illuminated rows of glass pods filled with viscous fluid, through which the contents were visible.

Hands, feet, eyes, organs...

These were the human specimens they needed to complete the game.

Hope of ending the game was in sight. Despite the gruesome scene, the fear was greatly diminished. Gold eagerly stepped forward, squinting through the dim light to observe the objects.

Although she hadn’t sensed danger, the next moment, Yuan Yuxue heard her gasp in shock.

She stumbled back, nearly collapsing from the sudden movement.

Yuan Yuxue: “?”

Gold’s legs felt weak.

Following her gaze with his excellent night vision, Yuan Yuxue saw, suspended in a glass pod, a human head specimen.

They were all too familiar with that face.