The surroundings were dark.

Pitch black.

In the darkness, only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

"Are we...in?" Da Xiong asked, his voice a soft murmur.

"Is that even a question? How long have you been with me? Da Xiong, you can't just grow muscles and not brains," Caihongtang retorted, equally hushed and annoyed.

"It's fine as long as you're here," Da Xiong replied softly.

"Tch." Caihongtang huffed in displeasure but knew this wasn't the time for bickering.

She fumbled with the watch on her wrist and tapped it lightly.

A spot of bright white light bloomed from her left wrist, like a sphere, encompassing several meters around them.

Thick shadows stretched out long behind them.

Caihongtang used the light to look ahead.

Silent, gray-black stairs stretched before her, leading down and around a corner.

There were eight steps in total.

She and Da Xiong were standing on the first.

Caihongtang took a deep breath and scanned left and right with her watch-light.

Both sides were pale white walls.

She looked up. The same white walls were above her.

"A completely enclosed stairwell is a little strange. Where in reality would you find a stairwell without any windows?" Da Xiong wondered aloud, seemingly trying to ease the tension by talking.

"Who knows? I've come prepared this time. Look at this super-high lumen light source I had custom-made! It's theoretically usable for one hundred and forty-eight hours! It can also be manually charged, and I brought spare batteries," Caihongtang scoffed.

"Last time the light was too dim, and we couldn't see anything. This time, I'll blind it!"

She glanced back with the light.

Behind them was a rectangular landing, connected to the stairs leading up.

The light could only hit the white walls, casting shadows.

It couldn't reach the stairs that curved around the corner.

From where they stood, it felt like a terrifying monster might leap out of the darkness around that corner at any moment.

"What do we do now?" Da Xiong asked.

"Test the contingency plans. See which one works. Dead ends like staircases usually have some kind of pattern to escape. Maybe ours is one of them." Caihongtang calmly bit down on her lollipop, swung her backpack around to her chest, unzipped it, and took out the items she had prepared in advance, one by one.

"First, we'll try making marks on the walls and then look for patterns based on the marks."

"The stairs are all the same. How do you make marks?" Da Xiong asked, puzzled.

"Sensors. With enough sensors, plus a signal amplifier, I can expand our reconnaissance range to dozens of floors above and below.

I'll be able to detect any movement from this terminal." Caihongtang replied seriously.

"You have to understand that there is no truly infinite staircase in this world.

So, as long as we find the points where the infinite changes, we can discover the pattern."

As she spoke, she took out a fist-sized, silver-white box.

The surface of the box was engraved with a word: Weibang Energy.

"Check out this good stuff I had my dad buy for me," Caihongtang said, ripping open the lid of the box and turning it upside down.

Instantly, a dense swarm of tiny silver spiders poured out of the box.

Each of these little spiders was only the size of a fingernail.

They were all silver-white, made entirely of metal, and had three miniature surveillance eyes on their heads to observe their surroundings.

A large number of small spiders separated and crawled up and down the stairs, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Only a faint, rustling sound of crawling could be heard, gradually fading into the distance.

"Amazing! The latest spider probes from Weibang Energy!" Da Xiong clapped softly.

"This cost my dad over thirteen million! Crazy expensive, but it's very useful!" Caihongtang said smugly.

"The terminal is this box."

She pulled up on the metal box lid, and a sturdy black screen emerged.

The screen slowly lit up, displaying the distribution of a total of one hundred and ninety-nine mechanical spiders.

"They even have automatic self-destruct attack capabilities! Hey, it's expensive, but the sense of security is explosive!!" Caihongtang's lips curled up.

In the darkness she couldn't see.

A large number of small silver spiders scurried quickly down the stairs.

They moved much faster than she could descend herself.

When they reached about the 200th floor.

The first spider in the lead suddenly stopped, raising its mechanical compound eyes and peering down the stairs into the darkness below.

In the hazy darkness, a blurry black figure, wearing an old, dirty black dress, was walking slowly towards the deeper depths below, her hair disheveled and hanging loose.

In the darkness, the mechanical spider's compound eyes seemed unable to scan any traces with infrared night vision, but dynamic capture was still able to detect the silhouette.

So, the intelligent chip quickly made a decision.

*Pa.*

A tiny beam of light shot out from a raised foreleg of the spider, landing in the darkness ahead.

Although the light was very weak, it was enough.

The blurry figure that was walking downstairs stopped instantly.

The figure slowly stiffened, turned slowly, as if drawn by the light, and began to walk back up the stairs.

One step, one step.

Before long, she passed the side of the mechanical spider.

Silently, the light on the spider's head dimmed, and the electronic reflection in its compound eyes automatically went out.

As if it had lost its power, it stopped completely in place, no longer moving.

At this time, although the spider had stopped, the blurry figure did not turn around again but continued walking upstairs.

*

*

*

Inside the bedroom.

Li Cheng颐 stood in front of the door and reached out to grasp the handle.

"Are you sure this will open a way out?"

"Don't worry, Brother! I've encountered it several times, and it always works!" Yserin replied earnestly. "Safe houses usually have the longest stay time, although they are changed every once in a while. But as long as you avoid the black hand, you can leave quickly."

"You haven't been out, have you? How do you know?" Li Cheng颐 asked.

"I heard it from an older sister who came here before. She used this method to go in and out many times. But in the end...she was gone," Yserin said, her expression a little dim.

"So, there will be even more troublesome dangers ahead? The black hand is just the beginning? Right?" Li Cheng颐 said.

"Yes..." Yserin nodded.

Hearing her answer, Li Cheng颐 understood that he had to get out of the tight grip of the dead corner as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Caihongtang entered the dead corner during this time, it would be really dangerous.

Caihongtang was different from him. The omen would likely only appear once. The second time, she would directly enter the dead corner.

So...he had to hurry!

The method of hiding under the bed and waiting for the external changes to occur three times, although effective, was too slow now.

Grasping the doorknob tightly, turning on the phone light, Li Cheng颐 took a deep breath. The Wisteria Scale Armor, after its second evolution, automatically fused with his clothes.

*Whoosh.*

A gust of cold air rushed into the room.

He yanked open the door.

"Yserin, hide well," Li Cheng颐 said calmly.

"Yes!" Although she didn't have a translator and didn't understand what Li Cheng颐 meant, Yserin quickly understood and quickly crawled under the bed.

Looking at the dense, dark corridor outside.

Li Cheng颐 slowly raised his foot and stepped out.

*Pa.*

In an instant, he accelerated, his figure rushing into the corridor like the wind.

The staircase in the darkness was still the same staircase as before. That is, the old-fashioned style of the botanical garden dormitory building.

Iron railings, square windows, gray-white steps.

Under the light of his phone, Li Cheng颐 raced down the stairs, leaping down nine steps at a time.

Turn, descend.

Turn, descend.

*Whoosh!*

Suddenly, a black hand came at him, reaching out to grab him.

In the darkness, Li Cheng颐 ducked low, bent over, and his golden sword flashed, instantly slicing past the side of the black hand.

Silently, the black hand was split in two, dissipating into the darkness.

After doing this, Li Cheng颐 sheathed his sword and continued down. His mind was fully focused, and his super-strong physique, enhanced by the Wisteria Scale Armor, was now fully displayed.

This enhancement was not just like modern drugs that only enhance a few aspects, but a comprehensive, side-effect-free enhancement of his eyesight, hearing, reaction speed, strength, physique, and defense.

One dark floor after another was quickly passed.

Ten floors.

Twenty floors.

Thirty floors.

One black hand after another was struck by the golden sword, collapsing and disappearing.

Finally.

On the forty-fourth floor.

In the darkness, a petite figure wearing a charred long dress, stood at the exit door of the final stairwell, blocking the doorway to leave.

The door was arched, black all over, made of metal, and completely different from the style of Li Cheng颐's botanical garden dormitory building.

A faint white light shone through the cracks of the door.

But this hopeful door was blocked by a petite figure, covered in burns.

*Hiss...*

The figure's hands drooped, and a pair of pitch-black hands were rapidly growing out of her sleeves.

Looking at the figure, Li Cheng颐 slowed down his pace.

"Who are you?" He vaguely felt that the other person was familiar, but he couldn't recognize who it was, no matter how hard he tried.

"." The figure raised her hand, and scarlet flesh rapidly grew out of her body.

Before long, her face was restored to a pale but smiling, familiar face.

Blond hair, blue eyes, except for a thick layer of white powder on her face, the rest was exactly the same as Yserin.

"So, it really is you." Li Cheng颐 narrowed his eyes, recognizing the other person.

He had long suspected that the terrifying figure he encountered in the prototype of the dead corner, Mu Keisha Town, was likely related to the black hand.

Now it seemed that he was right.

"Brother." This different Yserin raised her head and spoke softly, using standard Iygor language.

"Can't you just stay here forever, stay here with me?"

"Yserin...you're not the Yserin from just now, are you?" Li Cheng颐 asked in a deep voice.

"I am the part she abandoned. All the pain, all the resentment, is here with me." Yserin gently raised her hand and tapped her cheek.

"The older sister from last time was like this too. As long as she stayed with me, she could stay here safe and sound, without worrying about other dangers."

Yserin said softly.

"I'm here! No one can hurt her! Why, she is, you are too!! Why do you all have to be like this!"

(End of chapter)