He Gu felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the empty chair.
Just seconds ago, he had seen the puppet in the orange jumpsuit sitting there, and now it had vanished without a trace!
Could it be that the puppet could move on its own?
Not only had the puppet in the office disappeared, but an identical one had appeared in the storeroom behind, with the same ID number on its badge!
Could it be… what he had been seeing all along was actually the same puppet?
With this thought, He Gu’s heart tightened, and he quickly turned to look at the puppet in the storeroom.
As soon as he turned around, He Gu froze.
The puppet that had been standing next to the tool rack was now in front of it.
Most importantly, a hammer that had been on the rack was now in the puppet’s hand…
This puppet… it really could move!
Although it appeared completely still at the moment, He Gu was certain it had moved!
Looking at the hammer in the puppet’s hand, He Gu’s scalp tingled.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, an idea suddenly struck him.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the puppet, He Gu cautiously moved forward.
He quickly crossed the storeroom and reached the door at the other end, marked with a purple sign.
Throughout, the puppet remained still, giving the illusion of being just an ordinary puppet.
After reaching the door, He Gu took a few deep breaths, shifted his gaze from the puppet, and quickly turned to open the door.
The moment the door opened, He Gu whipped his head back around and to his shock, the puppet was now less than 2 meters away!
As He Gu looked back, the puppet remained perfectly still, but its position had indeed changed, and the hammer was now raised high as if ready to strike.
Looking at the hammer, a shiver ran down He Gu’s spine.
After a moment’s thought, He Gu looked outside the door, then quickly turned back to the puppet.
The puppet had moved closer again, now less than 1.5 meters away!
So it was true!
The puppet could move!
It seemed that the puppet only moved when not being watched, freezing into stillness the moment it was seen.
Red light, green light?
He Gu glanced thoughtfully at the puppet, then sidestepped through the door into the next room, keeping his eyes on it.
As soon as He Gu entered the next room, in the blink of an eye, the puppet in the storeroom disappeared!
He Gu’s heart tightened, and he quickly scanned the new room.
It was a conference room, about the size of a basketball court, lined with rows of folding chairs, and a podium at the front with a large screen on the wall behind it, now flickering with static.
He Gu stood at the lower right corner of the conference room, and diagonally across from him in the upper left corner, sat the puppet in the orange outfit.
The puppet was seated, its head turned towards He Gu as if looking back at him.
He Gu’s heart tightened again, and he quickly scanned the room.
There were doors next to each corner of the conference room, but only the one in the upper right corner had a purple mark above it!
After spotting the exit, He Gu turned back to keep a close watch on the puppet.
But in the three to four seconds it took He Gu to locate the exit, the puppet had already moved to the third row of seats!
Not daring to delay, He Gu kept his eyes on the puppet as he pushed past the folding chairs and hurried towards the exit.
Throughout, whenever He Gu glanced down at his feet or even blinked, the puppet’s position changed, each time appearing closer.
Fortunately, the conference room was large enough, and the distance between He Gu and the puppet was sufficient.
By the time the puppet had moved to a position seven or eight chairs away, He Gu had reached the exit.
After one last look at the puppet, He Gu stepped through the door.
Outside the conference room was a corridor.
At the other end of the corridor was an elevator.
At the same time, a sharp and unpleasant voice echoed in He Gu’s ear: “Almost there.”
“Take that elevator to B3.”
He Gu nodded slightly, first scanning the surroundings warily, relieved that the puppet hadn’t followed him into the corridor.
With a sigh of relief, He Gu walked quickly towards the other end of the corridor.
Soon, he reached the elevator and pressed the button.
“Ding—Dong—”
With the sound of the chime, the elevator doors slowly opened.
After entering the elevator, He Gu noticed there were only three floor buttons: B3, 1, 2.
He pressed the button for B3, and the elevator began to descend.
Shortly after, the elevator reached B3.
“Ding—Dong—”
With the chime, the elevator doors slowly opened.
He Gu stepped out to find himself in what seemed like an underground prison.
It was a circular hall, about the size of the lobby on the first floor, but with several irregularly placed load-bearing columns.
Each stone column was so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it, dividing the hall into different areas.
The lighting in the hall was very dim, with only a few yellowish wall lamps on some of the load-bearing columns.
From a distance, He Gu could see a ring of doors around the perimeter of the hall, enclosing it.
Standing at the elevator entrance, He Gu surveyed his surroundings, only noticing when he turned around that there was an A4 paper stuck next to the elevator door:
【Rule Nine】
Please escape before it kills you
……
Hidden message: Here, it only cares about the outcome, not the process; adaptability is the key to survival
……
Upon reading the rule, He Gu was taken aback. Escape before it kills you?
What was “it”?
And what did the hidden message mean, adaptability is the key to survival?
He Gu pondered the rule with a sense of confusion.
As he was deep in thought, he suddenly felt a tremor on his back.
“What’s wrong?”
He Gu asked in a low voice, suspicious.
The shadow fell silent, offering no response.
He Gu’s suspicions grew, and he was about to press for answers when out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a vague orange figure reflected on the frosted stainless steel of the elevator door.
Seeing the hint of orange, He Gu’s scalp went numb, and he spun around.
As he turned, He Gu saw the face of the puppet, barely a meter away…