Blind Spot
Chapter 144 - 133 coincidence? Three

Chapter 144: 133 coincidence? Three

It was very dark all around.

You couldn’t see your hands, though you spread them out before you.

In the darkness, the only sounds were the breathing of two people.

"Have we... come inside?" Da Xiong asked in a muted voice.

"Is that even a question? How long have you been with me? Da Xiong, you can’t just have a big chest without a brain." Rainbow Candy said dissatisfiedly, her voice also lowered.

"It’s fine as long as you’re here," Da Xiong murmured a response.

"Tsk," Rainbow Candy let out an annoyed hiss, but knew that it wasn’t the time for horseplay.

She groped for her wristwatch and lightly tapped it.

A bright white light emanated from her left-hand watch, like a spherical halo, enveloping a few meters around them.

Their heavy shadows were cast behind them, stretched long by the light.

Rainbow Candy looked ahead, courtesy of the light.

The quiet, ash-gray stairs stretched down in front of her, all the way to the corner.

There were a total of eight steps.

She and Da Xiong were standing on the first one.

Rainbow Candy took a deep breath and used her watch light to look around.

Both sides were met with pale walls.

She then looked up at the ceiling, which was the same white color.

"A fully enclosed stairwell... It’s somewhat abnormal. In its real-world counterpart, where would you find such a stairwell without any windows?" Da Xiong spoke up beside her, seemingly trying to alleviate his tension through talking.

"Who knows? I’ve come prepared this time. Look at my custom-made, super bright light source. It’s theoretically capable of running for one hundred and forty-eight hours! It can also be manually charged, and I brought spare batteries," Rainbow Candy said with a cold laugh.

"Last time, the light source was too dim, we couldn’t see anything. This time I’ll show it what ’dark’ is!"

She looked back with the light.

Behind them was a rectangular expanse leading up the staircase.

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

It was unable to reach the steps above that turned the corner.

From where they stood, it always felt like some terrifying monster could rush out from the dark corner at any moment.

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

"We’ll test the pre-arranged plans to see which one is successful. The blind spots in staircases usually follow certain patterns when we try to escape. Maybe our case is one of them," Rainbow Candy calmly responded, clenching the lollipop in her mouth. She shifted her backpack to her front and unzipped it, taking out various prepared items one by one.

"First, we’ll try making marks on the wall, then look for patterns based on those marks."

"If all these stairs are the same, how do we make marks?" Da Xiong asked, puzzled.

"Sensors. With plenty of them and signal amplifiers, I can extend our scouting range to dozens of floors up and down.

I’ll be able to detect any movement from this terminal here," Rainbow Candy answered seriously.

"You have to know, in this world, there’s no real infinite staircase.

So as long as we find the point where the ’infinity’ changes, we can discover the pattern."

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

The box had an inscription on the surface: Weibang Energy.

"Look at the nice little thing my dad helped me buy," Rainbow Candy said proudly, flipping open the box lid and tipping it over.

Suddenly, numerous tiny, densely packed silver spiders scurried out of the box.

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

All of them were shiny silver, made entirely of metal, with three miniature eyes on their heads to scan the surrounding environment.

The multitude of tiny spiders split up and started crawling up and down the stairs, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

The only scant sound was the faint crawling that gradually faded away.

"Amazing! Weibang Energy’s newest spider detection robots!" Da Xiong applauded softly.

"This one cost my dad over thirteen million. It’s so expensive, but it works great!" Rainbow Candy boasted.

"The terminal is this box."

As she lifted the metal box lid further, a sturdy black screen unfolded.

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

"They even come with an automatic self-destruct attack feature! Hey, it might be expensive, but the sense of security is through the roof!" Rainbow Candy curled her lips into a smirk.

In the darkness unseen by her,

a swarm of tiny silver spiders rapidly scuttled down the stairs.

Their speed was much faster than if she had descended the stairs herself.

When they reached around the 200th floor,

the very first spider at the front suddenly paused, raising its mechanical eyes, gazing down into the darkness below the staircase.

In the faintly lit darkness, a vague shadow in an old, filthy black dress moved slowly, her hair disheveled as she walked down into the deeper levels.

In the dark, although the mechanical spider’s eyes seemed unable to detect any trace through infrared night vision, the dynamic capture system managed to outline a silhouette.

Thus, the smart chip made a swift decision.

Click.

A small beam of light shot out from one of the raised forelimbs of the spider and landed in the darkness ahead.

Despite the light being very faint, it was enough.

The vague figure that had been descending the stairs halted instantly.

The shadow stiffened slowly, then turned around as if attracted by the light, beginning to walk towards the direction of the upstairs.

One step, then another.

Soon, she passed by the side of the mechanical spider.

Without a sound, the light atop the spider’s head faded, and the reflections in its electronic eyes went out as it seemingly lost power, coming to a complete halt.

However, at this moment, although the spider had powered down, the blurry figure did not turn direction again, but continued walking upwards.

*

*

*

Inside the bedroom.

Li Chengyi stood in front of the door, reached out, and grabbed the handle.

"Are you sure it can be opened to get out?"

"Brother, don’t worry! I’ve run into this several times, and it’s all good!" Yserine answered seriously from behind. "Safe houses usually have the longest stay time, although they change every once in a while. But as long as we avoid that black hand, we can quickly leave."

"You’ve never been out, have you? How do you know?" Li Chengyi asked.

"I heard it from an older sister who had been here before. She used this method to get in and out many times. But in the end... she was gone," Yserine said with a somber look.

"So, you’re saying that more troublesome dangers will appear afterward? The black hand is just the beginning, right?" Li Chengyi said.

"Yes..." Yserine nodded.

With her answer, Li Chengyi knew he must escape from the Tightening Grasp Blind Spot as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if Rainbow Candy entered the Blind Spot during this time period, it would indeed be dangerous.

Rainbow Candy was different from him, as the premonition would probably only come once. The second time, it would directly enter the Blind Spot.

So... it had to be fast!

The method of hiding under the bed and waiting for external changes three times was effective, but there was no time now.

Gripping the doorknob firmly and turning on the cellphone flashlight, Li Chengyi took a deep breath. The evolved Wisteria Floral Dress automatically merged with his clothes.

Whoosh.

Cold air flooded into the room.

He yanked open the door.

"Yserine, hide well," Li Chengyi said calmly.

"Yes!" Though the translator was gone and she couldn’t understand Li Chengyi’s words, Yserine quickly understood and hurriedly crawled under the bed.

Looking out into the rich darkness of the corridor.

Li Chengyi slowly lifted his foot and stepped out.

Click.

In an instant, he accelerated and dashed into the corridor like the wind.

The dark stairs were still the original ones of the Botanical Garden Dormitory Building, with an old-fashioned style.

Iron railings, square windows, and gray-white steps.

Under the light of the cellphone, Li Chengyi rushed downstairs, almost leaping down the nine steps at a time.

Turn the corner, downstairs.

Turn the corner, downstairs.

Whew!

Suddenly, a black hand reached out towards him.

In the darkness, Li Chengyi ducked, bent down, and the Golden Sword flashed, slicing instantly past the side of the black hand.

Without a sound, the black hand split in two, dissolving into the darkness.

After doing this, Li Chengyi sheathed the sword and continued downward, focusing all his energy, and his enhanced physique from the Floral Dress fully demonstrated its capabilities in all aspects.

This enhancement wasn’t just like modern medicine that could strengthen just a few aspects, but vision, hearing, reaction speed, strength, constitution, defense—enhancement without any side effects in all aspects.

Floor after floor in the darkness was rapidly traversed.

Ten floors.

Twenty floors.

Thirty floors.

Each black hand struck by the Golden Sword crumbled and vanished.

Finally.

On the forty-fourth floor.

A figure with a petite frame, wearing a charred long dress, stood in the exit of the last flight of stairs, blocking the door that led out.

The door was round-arched, totally black, made of metal, and completely different from the style of Li Chengyi’s Botanical Garden Dormitory Building.

Faint white light could be seen through the crack of the door.

But it was this door full of hope that was blocked by a charred petite figure.

Hiss...

The figure’s hands were dangling, and a pair of pitch-black palms rapidly grew out from the sleeves.

Watching the figure, Li Chengyi also slowed down his steps.

"Who are you?" He vaguely felt the figure was familiar, but couldn’t make out who it could be from its appearance.

"..." The figure lifted its hands, and red flesh rapidly grew over its body.

In no time, her face regained a pale but smiling familiar look.

Blonde hair and blue eyes, aside from a thick layer of white powder on her face, she looked exactly like Yserine.

"Indeed, it’s you..." Li Chengyi narrowed his eyes, recognizing her.

He had suspected all along that the terrifying human figure he encountered in the prototype of the dead spot, Mukesa Town, might be related to the black hand.

Now it seemed he was right.

"Brother..." This different Yserine lifted her head and spoke quietly in perfect Yi Country language.

"Can’t you just stay here with me, stay and accompany me?"

"Yserine... you’re not the Yserine from just now, are you?" Li Chengyi asked in a deep voice.

"I am the part she abandoned. All the pain, all the hatred, is here with me." Yserine gently lifted her hand, touching her own cheek.

"The older sister before was the same, she could’ve stayed here safely with me forever without worrying about other dangers."

Yserine said softly.

"When I’m here, nobody can hurt her! Why is it that she was like this, and you too!! Why do you all have to be like this!"