Chen Junnan kept his eyes fixed on the direction they had come from while Qin Dingdong, Di Niu, and Kim Won-hoon destroyed the “doors” on both sides.
He felt something unusual seemed to be happening in the distance—the entire corridor was gradually becoming still.
“Something doesn’t feel right…”
“Not right?” Qin Dingdong and Di Niu stopped what they were doing at the same time and looked at Chen Junnan.
Chen Junnan couldn’t quite explain it either. Though there was nothing in the corridor, he just *felt* that something was coming.
It was an unfounded “intuition,” but Chen Junnan knew that the reason he had survived this long was precisely because of that intuition.
He walked up to one of the “doors,” took a piece of wooden shard from it, and with all his strength, hurled it far back the way they had come.
The wood fragment flew farther and farther in their line of sight, silently gliding through the air without anything strange happening.
But a few seconds later, the entire piece suddenly began to tremble, as if it had collided with something invisible.
Then, more and more things struck it, knocking the fragment into a twisted mess midair, producing a series of *crackling* sounds.
Those things had no shape and moved at incredible speeds.
“RUN!!”
Chen Junnan shouted, grabbing Qin Dingdong and sprinting away. Though they couldn’t see anything, those things were clearly already chasing them.
Kim Won-hoon activated his “Warp” ability at the last possible second, fleeing right behind them.
Di Niu wasn’t as lucky. She hesitated for just one second before something touched the center of her forehead, instantly paralyzing all her movements. Then her mind went blank, and she lowered her head, standing motionless.
Chen Junnan glanced back at Di Niu as he ran, a chill running down his spine. He had sensed something was off earlier.
Many “participants” and “Zodiacs” now stood frozen in the distance like statues—something major must have happened, something beyond the control of both “Zodiacs” and “participants.”
But where were they supposed to run now?
How close were those things?
With no visibility at all, he knew it was only a matter of time before they were caught. The only way to escape now was to pull off something unexpected.
Chen Junnan looked ahead at the seemingly endless corridor, then at the doors on either side that hadn’t been fully destroyed yet. They were already in the “Interview Zone.”
A desperate idea struck him.
“Won-hoon!” he yelled, still dragging Qin Dingdong along. “Keep your eyes on me!”
“Huh?”
The moment he finished speaking, Chen Junnan abruptly changed direction, dashing toward one of the doors and barging inside.
Kim Won-hoon hurriedly followed, warping into the room just as Chen Junnan slammed the door shut.
The three of them pressed themselves against the door, panting, still unsure what exactly they were running from.
“Omo… hyung…” Kim Won-hoon muttered, confused. “What *was* that? Is Di Niu-noona still alive?”
“Shh! Quiet!” Chen Junnan cut him off, pressing his ear to the door to listen.
But the outside was eerily silent—there was no way to tell if those things were still there.
“No idea what happened to her…”
“Doesn’t this feel like… the ‘Pegasus Hour’?” Qin Dingdong asked from behind.
Chen Junnan nodded, turning to face them. “Yeah, it does. But how could the ‘Pegasus Hour’ affect even the ‘Zodiacs’—WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Before he could finish, something in the room caught his eye.
The other two jumped at his sudden exclamation and spun around—but the room was mostly empty, save for some spikes on the floor and a few very old bones in the corner.
The only odd thing about the room was the faint sound of fighting that seemed to linger in the air.
“Why the hell are you screaming?” Qin Dingdong snapped. “I thought there was someone in here!”
“Nah, if there was someone in here, we’d be screwed.” Chen Junnan glanced at the spikes on the floor, then up at the ceiling and a strange lever beside the door. “Well, what do you know… this looks like *our* interview room.”
“Your interview room…?”
“Talk about coming full circle,” Chen Junnan muttered, eyeing the still-intact ceiling. “Even while dying, I can’t escape my roots.”
As they spoke, none of them noticed the faint anomalies beginning to appear beneath the door—as though something invisible was seeping in through the gap.
“This room looks ready for us…” Chen Junnan mused, staring at the ceiling. “Figures. If we fail, we’ll just end up back here on the second floor.”
But when he finished speaking, the other two didn’t respond. A bad feeling stirred in his chest, and he slowly turned—only to find Qin Dingdong and Kim Won-hoon standing motionless, their heads lowered.
With a gasp, he tried to bolt, but something cold suddenly touched his forehead.
Chen Junnan knew it was over. His mind began to blur, as if waking from a three-day slumber—he couldn’t remember who he was or where he was.
Right… who… *was* he again?
Why had he been running so desperately on what felt like a “train”?
He felt himself sinking into black water, all his senses and reason left behind on the shore. The deeper he sank, the farther he drifted from what was considered “human.”
But… was that so bad?
As the black water swallowed him, the light above shrinking to a pinprick, his thoughts began to loosen.
No more worrying about things that had always troubled him. No more waking up to scheming faces every day.
No more running day and night in a dim, foul-smelling world.
He wanted to rest. And maybe eat some tripe.
Or, if nothing else, fermented mung bean juice with fried dough.
Closing his eyes in the darkness, all his sorrows left behind on the surface, he prepared to drift into peaceful oblivion—until faint glows began to appear in the black water.
They emerged from all directions, like sharks circling their prey. Chen Junnan tensed, opening his eyes to try and swim away—but when he turned, he saw glowing orbs the size of basketballs surrounding him completely.
No place to hide, no way to escape.
Seconds later, the orbs rushed toward him. The first one touched his finger—and with a *pop*, it burst like a soap bubble, flooding his mind with countless chaotic images.
Then the rest of the orbs surged in, merging into his body.
The sensation was bizarre. Every time his sanity was about to slip away entirely, more orbs would appear, touching him and flooding him with strange visions, pulling him back from the brink of madness. But the more he remembered, the more he wanted to let go.
So, in the pitch-black water, Chen Junnan went mad, then woke, then went mad again.
In this endless tug-of-war, his memories spanned over seventy years.
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