Another D-Class Personnel stepped forward. You could see how nervous he was; his legs were trembling.
Number 2 also put on a helmet and entered the villa. After a few minutes, the captain spoke again.
"Number 3."
The guy next to him stepped forward. Lin Ye was Number 4.
The guy also put on a helmet and entered the villa. Lin Ye glanced at the heavily armed Regulatory Personnel nearby and gave up on his escape plan.
He couldn't outrun the barrel of a rifle.
A few more minutes passed. Just as Lin Ye's mind was wandering, his vision suddenly blurred without any warning.
………
Bzzzz...
Lin Ye opened his eyes. He was sitting in a moving prison transport, and next to him was the same guy who had just entered the villa.
【Remaining Simulations: 9】
Lin Ye: ...
Letting out a long sigh, Lin Ye ran his hands forcefully through his hair. It seemed he had just died, but he hadn't noticed a single thing.
'This is trouble. The first two who went in are most likely dead, but it's not safe waiting out here either...'
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'I have no choice but to go in and see what's happening.'
Just like in the last simulation, Number 1 and Number 2 entered the villa in sequence. But this time, when the captain called for Number 3, Lin Ye took a step forward.
"I can't take it anymore. Can you let me go in first?"
The captain glanced at Lin Ye but didn't say much, merely gesturing for a team member to put the helmet on him.
"Can you give me a weapon for self-defense? You want me to last a little longer, don't you?"
Lin Ye was hoping to get a pistol. Although he had never used one, he figured firing it wouldn't be hard.
The team member pulled out a dagger and handed it to Lin Ye without saying a word the entire time.
Lin Ye accepted the dagger with a sense of resignation. He knew they wouldn't give him a gun, but there was no harm in trying.
The villa had two floors. The entrance opened into a hall with a high, domed ceiling. On one side of the hall was a staircase leading to the second floor, and several corridors branched off from the hall to other rooms.
Lin Ye moved slowly, hugging the wall and using the moonlight to observe the hall.
The helmet had a headlamp, but he didn't dare turn it on. It was the middle of the night; switching on a light here would make him a living target.
"Go check the second corridor on the right. Don't go near the first one."
The captain's voice crackled through his earpiece.
'Did he talk to the other D-Class Personnel before?'
A trace of doubt rose in Lin Ye's mind, but he didn't disobey the order. He knew nothing about this place anyway and had no idea where to go.
Continuing to hug the wall, Lin Ye subconsciously glanced down the first corridor as he passed it.
An orange object was hanging at the end of the corridor. Lin Ye's pupils constricted. For the first time in his life, he felt that having good eyesight wasn't necessarily a good thing.
His fellow D-Class Personnel was hanging there. The body had been segmented and reassembled like building blocks, retaining a humanoid shape yet, upon closer inspection, lacking any human features. It hung there like a piece of avant-garde art. If not for the conspicuous fragments of the orange prison uniform, Lin Ye would have had a hard time recognizing what it was at a glance.
'Damn!'
Lin Ye jumped in fright, taking an involuntary step back.
The empty hall should have been behind him, but his back bumped into something.
Lin Ye tried to leap to the side as if scalded by boiling water, but his body failed to obey. In the final moment, he saw his own dismembered body.
………
Bzzzz...
The frantic pounding of his heart was deafening. Even with the gulf of time separating him from that moment, even knowing that thing couldn't possibly chase him here, Lin Ye still couldn't calm down.
His body was intact now, and he could move freely. But in less than half an hour, he would have to once again face the thing that could casually disassemble his body.
【Remaining Simulations: 8】
'Fuck, this is really...'
'What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do...'
'Eight more times...'
'What happens after that? Do I go back, or...'
An intense fear gripped Lin Ye's heart, preventing him from sorting through his chaotic thoughts. He slammed his fist against his head, forcing himself to calm down.
'Deep breaths...'
'The first floor is dangerous. There's a monster that can dismember people...'
'The two who went in first have already been dismembered...'
'Should I go straight to the second floor, or...'
'No, if I go in first, I might run into the dismembering thing...'
'Eight simulations left. I can try going straight to the second floor. If that doesn't work, I'll try going in first next time...'
...
The prison transport soon stopped in front of the villa.
Entering the villa for the third time, Lin Ye was already prepared to be killed.
This time, he was still the third to enter. Just like before, the captain told him to check the second corridor on the right.
This time, Lin Ye didn't follow orders. Instead, he dashed toward the staircase leading to the second floor.
Just as he had guessed, the dismembering thing was active on the first floor. He made it all the way to the second floor without being harmed.
The staircase opened directly into the second-floor living room. One side of the living room was lined with large floor-to-ceiling glass windows, while the other sides connected to various rooms.
On the coffee table in the center of the living room sat an unusually eye-catching jet-black box. Though it was darker than the night itself, it was impossible to ignore.
The lid could be slid open horizontally. It was already three-quarters of the way open, with only a quarter of it still covering the box.
Lin Ye walked unconsciously to the coffee table. The box was a cube, about the length of his forearm. It was pitch-black inside, making it impossible to see what it contained.
"Open the box completely, and your mission will be complete. After that, you can shed your status as D-Class Personnel and be free to either leave or join the Organization."
The captain's voice sounded in his ear. Lin Ye subconsciously raised his hand, but a sense of wrongness held him back.
'Open the box...'
'The first time, I was outside, but I died suddenly...'
'Hurry and open the box...'
'The captain didn't speak when Number 1 and Number 2 were exploring...'
'Open the box, and all the pain will end. You will receive your due reward...'
'Will it really end?'
Lin Ye slowly retracted his right hand and turned his head. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, four pairs of eyes were staring intently at him.
The captain and his three team members were all impaled on black pillars, smiling as they stared at Lin Ye. In the distance, more black pillars sprouted from the ground, each with a person impaled on it.
"Number 4, open the box."
The captain's emotionless voice came through the earpiece, urging Lin Ye to act quickly.
Without hesitation, Lin Ye turned and moved to close the box.
The lid was cold, so cold it reminded Lin Ye of the bone-chilling water from a pipe in winter.
As Lin Ye pushed the lid, he felt the 'warmth' inside his body continuously draining away. Before he had even pushed it halfway, he could no longer feel his own body.
Some vital component within him was completely depleted. Not long after, Lin Ye lost consciousness entirely.
………………
Bzzzz...
Lin Ye once again awoke from the nightmare, the familiar guy beside him.
【Remaining Simulations: 7】
Proofreader: Peter Pan