Chapter 6: The Second World

“No! Neither of us killed him!”

“We’ve never even seen him before. Why would we kill him?!”

“Then what about the petals? How do you explain that?” Number Two pressed. “Why have you two been dodging the question this whole time instead of answering directly?”

“Those petals came from the fourth floor.”

Six spoke up. She pointed to the fourth floor. “There was a rose bush on the table in the fourth-floor hall. I saw it when I was up there.”

Numbers One, Two, and Three lived on the second floor, Four, Five, and Six on the third, and Seven through Ten on the fourth.

“You’re from the third floor. How did you know so much about the fourth floor?” Number Eight asked. “What were you doing up there?”

“Seven was on the fourth floor. I went to find her.” Six replied, not seeing anything wrong with it. “Besides, that rose bush was blooming so beautifully. It was hard not to notice.”

With the doubt resolved, everyone turned back to Seven.

Seven nodded. “Six really did come to find me. When she came upstairs, I said I was a little hungry, so she handed me some chocolate.”

With that, she pulled an unopened bag of chocolate from her pocket.

“I don’t really like chocolate, so I hadn’t eaten it yet. I got so hungry in the middle of the night that I came downstairs to cook. I’d just fried an egg and was about to eat when… I saw that head…”

“So what exactly were you two doing out there?” Number Two asked.

“You can’t explain why you went outside, or is there something that forced you two to go out?” Four glanced sideways at the flustered pair.

It had to be said—Four’s words were incredibly sharp. She always zeroed in on the key points and turned them back on them.

Three and Nine exchanged a glance before deciding to come clean about everything.

“It’s not that we didn’t want to say. We just couldn’t. From the moment you first asked, we wanted to tell you, but our mouths wouldn’t form the words…”

“In real life, the two of us are a couple. I couldn’t sleep at night and planned to go up to find Nine so we could go downstairs together to eat something.”

“As we passed the third-floor hall, I saw something moving inside. I thought it was just the wind at first and didn’t pay much attention. It was pitch black over there anyway, and I couldn’t see a thing…”

Two hours earlier.

Three went up to the fourth floor and knocked on the door with Nine’s number.

“It’s me.”

His voice sounded hollow, echoing through the fourth floor.

Click. The door opened, revealing Nine’s face lit up with wild joy.

“What’s wrong?” Nine asked. He tugged at the man’s clothes with some reproach. “It’s so late. Why aren’t you sleeping? What are you doing up here?”

“Are you hungry? Let’s go downstairs to eat.”

With that, he kissed him. Without waiting for Nine’s response, he pulled Nine downstairs.

The building was dim. Three found it odd. “I swear I turned on the lights earlier.”

“You must have remembered wrong,” Nine said, not paying it much mind.

Three cautiously kept Nine behind him. The air carried a damp smell, the kind that made him nauseous, like slime clinging to his skin.

Blue shrouded everything in front of him—like a vast ocean, or like a fish market stall where the catch had been dead for hours, starting to stink. Flies swarmed the chandelier, maggots crawling from the fish’s eyes. Behind it writhed countless more maggots.

The fish arched its body with all its strength, its tail slapping the cutting board, sending scales flying…

“Shanzi, snap out of it!”

A heavy slap landed on his face. Three stood frozen at the stairwell entrance, finally coming back to himself a little.

The air reeked. Three looked dazed. He shook his head lightly, trying to shake out those bizarre hallucinations.

“No, Xiao Jiu…”

Three hurriedly pulled Nine close. His expression turned grave, his breathing rapid. “Hold on to me. Don’t look back! Something’s wrong here. Let’s go to the first floor.”

A brown vine snaked out from the corner, lunging toward them at high speed. Nine felt a chill creeping up his foot—something unknown latched onto it.

“Ah!”

Nine shouted. He screamed and tried to shake it off, but no matter how hard he flailed, the thing held fast. It neither advanced nor retreated.

In his peripheral vision, the dark hall crawled with a dense mass—unseen things wriggling in the darkness. Rustling sounds pierced his eardrums. His mind hit its limit, as if it would explode the next second.

Warm hands covered his eyes. A low voice said, “Don’t be afraid. Close your eyes. We’ll run!”

“Too late. I can’t go.” Nine’s voice trembled. He urged, “You go. Between us, at least one of us should survive…”

Three caught the clue in his words. He looked down and saw countless vines climbing up Nine’s legs.

In their moment of panic, the vines seized the chance, swiftly wrapping around Nine.

“Damn it!”

The vines dragged Nine slowly from the stairs into the hall—and a little further would be right into the cluster of those things.

Three looked up and met a vibrant flower—a large, pale pink rose. It arched its stem, petals facing right above Three’s head. Green leaves brushed his arm.

A sharp sting hit instantly. The leaves had tiny barbs, and beads of blood welled up on his arm.

He pulled a folding knife from his pocket, its blade gleaming coldly.

Aiming at the devouring vines, his gaze turned fierce. He waited for a chance to strike fatally. In an instant, he thrust fast, accurate, and ruthless into the thorns.

The blade sizzled. It sliced through like paper, spurting green liquid.

The knife hit resistance. Three gritted his teeth and pushed harder—but he didn’t dare use full force. Nine was still inside, and the blade was razor-sharp. He feared hurting him.

Three was strong and fearless. He hacked away like a madman. Vine fragments rained down. As the vines slowed, he seized Nine’s arm and ran.

They ran as fast as they could, unleashing unimaginable speed in that life-or-death sprint.

The wind whipped through the trees. At the front door, Three twisted the handle frantically and shoved Nine outside. His movements were lightning-quick.

“Run!”

Three gripped his hand. The wind howled past his ears. His throat felt like it held a knife—each breath deepened the pain.

They didn’t know how long they ran, only that they collapsed in exhaustion on the snowy ground.

The world was a vast white blur. No lights, nothing visible. They dared not go back and didn’t know if pressing forward would kill them.

This world had surpassed all imagination.

They rested briefly, then continued toward a glow ahead, planning to follow the light.

As they approached, they saw fireflies clustered on the trees, illuminating the ground below.

A strong wind blew, shaking petals from the branches. They danced on the wind, landing on the pair.

Three hadn’t looked closely before and couldn’t tell what kind of flowers they were. Now covered in them, he saw clearly—they were cherry blossoms.

After that incident in the villa, he was developing a psychological shadow toward flowers.

The wind kept blowing, snow swirling everywhere, cherry blossoms falling thickly. Vision briefly obscured, the warm yellow-lit little villa appeared before them again.

“Should we go in?” Nine asked. He was still scared. The things in the villa weren’t easy to deal with.

They’d barely escaped, and now the same villa tempted them back. It felt inescapable, like no matter how far they ran, they couldn’t break free.

“We’ll freeze to death out here eventually.” Three thought for a long time before sighing. “Maybe this wind will carry us back.”

“Wanna bet on it? You game?” Nine flashed a grin, like a gambler confident of victory.

“Bet on life or death.” Nine laughed, hugging him. “Inside or out, it’s death anyway. Might as well roll the dice.”

A sharp scream pierced the sky—from the nearby villa. The once-dark first floor lit up.

The two exchanged a look.

“I win. Carry me.”

Nine gazed at Three provocatively, his eyes full of mischief and smug triumph.

Appreciation flickered in Three’s eyes. He chuckled, wrapped his arms around Nine’s waist effortlessly, and carried him through the snow toward the door.

Until they opened that door…

“So why were you two hemming and hawing instead of speaking up?”

“How were we supposed to know if you were real or fakes? At first, we couldn’t even explain. It was only after Six mentioned the rose bush that the restriction lifted. Plus, we found the body right away, so we had to check things out.”

“Oh, and Two’s reaction was definitely genuine—no one could fake that. That’s when we relaxed.” Nine added the jab.

“That’s going too far.” Number Two got angry.

Weren’t they basically calling him an idiot? Bullying the honest ones.

“Wait… you said you screamed?” Ten asked, her tone calm and measured. “But I was on the fourth floor and didn’t hear a thing.”

“No way! We shouted so loud!” Nine was shocked. “Impossible! We ran out!”

“Did you close the door?” Lu Nan suddenly spoke up.

Three’s expression froze, puzzled why Lu Nan would ask something seemingly unimportant.

He shook his head. “No. In that panic, how could we remember to close the door?”

It made sense—who politely closes the door while fleeing?

In blind panic, not knowing where to run, the door was probably left half-open.

“When we came down, the door was fully closed.”

Lu Nan’s voice was cool, like a heavy hammer slamming into their hearts.

“No… impossible…”

“It was closed. When we came down, Seven was hugging the door crying,” Six said, turning to Seven.

Seven nodded too. She had indeed leaned against the door in fright. She was certain it hadn’t been opened.

“What proof do you have for any of this?” Four questioned.

It all hinged on their word alone. Without solid evidence, no one would believe them.

“We do!” Nine’s mind raced. He rolled up their sleeves, holding them up for everyone. “These are the scratches we got while escaping.”

The arms were covered in dense scars, now crusted over with beads of blood—like countless needle pricks.

“And our feet too.”

Nine pulled up his pant leg. The cold weather meant everyone wore thick cotton pants, making it hard to roll up. Pain twisted his face as he touched the wounds.

The injuries on his feet were less obvious but showed clear bruises, purple and blue patches.

This evidence backed their story. They’d clearly survived a deadly pursuit.

“Everything was fine when we came down. No sign of what you’re describing.”

“From what you two say, I suspect that at some point, this villa shifts into another world. In other words, you triggered the plot…”

“In that plot’s spacetime, everyone gets separated.”

“That’s probably why Ten didn’t hear you, and why you saw terrifying monsters. You existed in another spacetime—everything you saw was from that world.”