INSIDER Chapter 14

Doll and Bear Dancing

Lu Chu stepped into the dazzling white light and instantly felt enveloped by a warm glow, which inexplicably brought him peace. Even the nerves that had been tense since the day of his loss were eased. As the light faded, what appeared before him was a realm reminiscent of an alternate dimension—pure white and clean, with a few square screens floating in the air.

From the moment he arrived until now, Lu Chu’s mind had been bombarded with incredible so-called “truths.” Every word from the man’s mouth had overturned Lu Chu’s understanding of his past twenty years. Despite this, there were still many things he didn’t understand. What exactly was the “Game”? What was its purpose? Did the people generated by the “Game,” including himself, return to the starting point after each round, endlessly repeating the same life?

Such thoughts were countless and overwhelming. The most pressing question on Lu Chu’s mind was the role of the man called “7” in the “Game.” Without a doubt, the man harbored no ill intentions toward him and had even saved him. Yet, precisely because of this, the man’s identity, as if he had foreseen everything, became all the more mysterious.

While Lu Chu was lost in thought, staring at the floating screens, one of the square screens in the air suddenly moved and fell to the ground. This screen, from who knows where, sprouted paper-like limbs and struggled to bounce up, landing at Lu Chu’s feet.

After some contemplation, Lu Chu bent down and picked up the screen, thin as a paper wing. As he held it up to observe, a line of text appeared on the previously blank screen—

“Congratulations on surviving the last ‘Game.’”

Lu Chu stared at the words in silence, deep in thought. He recalled the man’s words about being “selected by the rules from the real world,” which perhaps referred to this moment.

Then, more lines of text appeared on the screen—

“Next, please enjoy your next ‘Game.’”

“Objective: Escape

Clue: Only one door is correct

Hint: At dawn, it will come humming a clear tune, stepping through the blood”

After the last line disappeared, a door suddenly appeared before Lu Chu. The door’s shape and size differed greatly from the one at the top of the tower, yet it gave Lu Chu the same feeling—on the other side of the door, there was surely another world. As Lu Chu pondered, the door burst open, revealing an abyss-like darkness, unimaginable as to what lay within.

Seeing that Lu Chu had yet to make a move, another line appeared on the screen—

“Resist, and be annihilated.

Countdown begins—10, 9…”

At that moment, Lu Chu deeply felt the loss of control over his situation. He didn’t understand what was happening, but at this point, he had no choice but to step through the door.

The best approach now was to take it one step at a time, Lu Chu thought, stepping through the door.

——————

In just a moment, after the whirlwind sensation passed, Lu Chu found himself standing in a narrow, eerie room.

As his vision adjusted, Lu Chu began to comprehend his surroundings. The room was sparsely furnished and cluttered, with items scattered haphazardly on the floor and tables. A single bed stood to one side, emitting a damp, moldy odor. The bedclothes were carelessly thrown together, and though Lu Chu couldn’t discern the color or material of the smelly, clumped substances on them, he felt an inherent discomfort.

Forced into this “Game” unprepared, Lu Chu didn’t immediately start searching the room. Instead, he recalled the words that had appeared on the screen.

The objective was “escape,” clearly indicating he needed to leave this place. Though his hometown had turned into a “Game,” all necessary details were intact, so even someone born blind like Lu Chu had heard of escape rooms. The clue “only one door is correct” suggested there were at least two doors. Lu Chu looked around; there was only one door that could be called a “door.”

More than two doors… he needed to find out where the other doors were to analyze further. Lu Chu began examining the room’s contents. The screen’s hint—“At dawn, it will come humming a clear tune, stepping through the blood”—indicated extreme danger at dawn. He needed to solve the puzzle quickly.

Resisting would lead to annihilation; failure in the “Game” probably meant death.

After a fruitless search, Lu Chu fell into deep thought. Quietly, he pondered the meaning of the “door” and, after a while, decided to move cautiously toward the door, placing his hand on the handle and gently turning it.

“Click—”

The door opened without any obstruction…

But Lu Chu knew that beyond this door lay no correct answer.

Having prepared for this moment, Lu Chu had his reasons for opening the door without fully understanding the situation. His hearing, not dulled by his newfound vision, had caught faint sounds during his contemplation—“click—click—click”—monotonous and rhythmic, like the ticking of a clock’s second hand, coming from outside the door.

He boldly guessed that his allowed activity area was not confined to this room alone; the outside was also within bounds.

As for whether opening the door would have severe consequences, Lu Chu had considered it. There might be an “opening kill” scenario he had occasionally heard others mention, but he trusted his instincts.

“Squeak—”

The door’s creaking sounded especially loud in the enclosed space. Looking into the corridor, Lu Chu exhaled deeply upon seeing it, then tensed up again as he remembered his current situation. He didn’t rush out to find clues but meticulously rechecked the items in the room. Finding an old flashlight, he hesitated, picked it up, and also took a rusty knife from under the bed before cautiously stepping out.

The corridor was pitch black and eerily silent. Lu Chu’s steady breathing and the ticking of the clock’s second hand were unusually distinct. He turned and saw an old clock on the wall. Though its hand trembled with each tick, it hadn’t moved past a single mark, making it useless for predicting “dawn.”

Luckily, Lu Chu wasn’t afraid of the dark. Carefully, he walked along the corridor, wide enough for four people to walk abreast, observing his surroundings and confirming there were indeed other doors.

After four right-angle turns and counting four more doors, Lu Chu found himself back at the starting point.

Standing silently before his starting door, Lu Chu walked the corridor again, soon returning to the same spot.

After several repetitions, he realized the corridor was structured like a “回” character, with his room in the central “口” and the outer walls forming the outer “口,” enclosing the corridor in between. Additionally, each outer wall corner had a door.