The corridor was very quiet. Evans confirmed once more that the prison compartments on both sides were indeed empty.
Faced with this incomprehensible situation, he didn’t overthink it or check the other cells. Instead, he chose a direction at random and walked forward along the center of the corridor.
He wanted to leave this area first, then figure out who he really was.
The corridor was long. Evans walked for ten minutes before encountering a closed metal door.
He pulled the door handle but found the metal door locked, completely unable to open.
Just then, Evans suddenly saw a silhouette behind him reflected on the metal door. That silhouette was raising some kind of weapon, preparing to strike his head.
Evans forcefully sidestepped a big step to the left, dodging the attack.
Clang!
A metallic impact sound rang out on the door, but Evans didn’t see anything hitting it.
He retreated warily to the wall, but the silhouette on the metal door had already vanished.
‘What the hell are these things?’
Evans pushed the metal door again. After confirming it wouldn’t open, he turned around and headed back, intending to check the other side for an exit.
But just as Evans turned, that violent impact sound echoed through the corridor once more.
Thump!
The impact sounds were rapidly approaching Evans through the empty corridor. He had no idea what would happen if that sound “touched” him.
Evans lunged toward the nearest prison cell. He didn’t check what was inside through the small window; instead, he tried to open the prison compartment door.
But the prison compartment door was locked tight, and he couldn’t even find where the lock was.
Evans could only frantically dart left and right, searching for an unlocked cell. Just as the sound drew near, he finally managed to pull open a cell door on his fifth try.
Thump!
The impact sounds closed in. Evans rushed into the cell and shut the prison compartment door behind him.
As soon as he closed the door, the impact sounds in the corridor abruptly ceased. Everything returned to that quiet state.
Evans ignored the noises outside and quickly scanned his surroundings, observing the inside of the cell.
This cell was no different from the previous ones. Evans relaxed slightly, but he soon tensed up again because a line of neat handwriting appeared on the wall in front of him:
“Who are you?”
Evans didn’t answer. He wasn’t about to communicate with some strange thing like this.
“I have no memories of the past. Are you the same?”
Another line of text appeared beneath the first, written in the same handwriting.
Evans hesitated for a moment but finally spoke aloud:
“Can you hear me?”
No new text appeared on the wall.
Evans walked to the wall and used the mirror shard to carve a line beneath the two messages:
“I’m the same. Where are you? Why can’t I see you?”
Soon, a new reply appeared below:
“I’m inside this very cell. I can’t see you either. I don’t know why.”
“Then what do you know? I want to escape from here first. Do you know how to leave?”
Seeing that the other person was in the same situation as him, Evans felt a bit reassured. He began communicating through the carved messages.
“I only know it’s dangerous outside. Better not go out. That’s all I know.”
“Then why did you message me? How did you know I was here? How did you know I could see your messages?”
“Because the door opened. I also tried other ways to communicate.”
“I’m Evans. Do you know who I am?”
“Hello, Evans. I don’t know who you are. I don’t even know my own name.”
“I want to go out and find a way to leave here. Do you want to come with me?”
“No. It’s dangerous outside. I suggest you don’t go out either.”
“How do you know it’s dangerous outside?”
“When I regained consciousness, I only remembered one thing: it’s dangerous outside, and I mustn’t leave the cell. That information is probably more important than my own name.”
“So something happened here, and each person can only remember one piece of information? And I only remembered my own name?”
“That seems to be the case.”
“Then I must be really stupid.”
“Are you still going out?”
“That’s right. I won’t sit here waiting to die.”
“Wait. I think I hear footsteps.”
Just as he saw this message, Evans also heard footsteps. The footsteps were neither hurried nor slow, and they weren’t coming from the corridor.
They were coming from behind the wall.
From behind that very wall covered in carved words.
Evans slowly retreated to the door. He prepared to pull it open and enter the corridor, but then that impact sound suddenly erupted again in the hallway.
Thump!
Just as Evans was deliberating whether to go out, his body was suddenly pierced by some sharp object. Before being stabbed, he hadn’t noticed any sign at all.
Evans didn’t try to escape. Instead, he grabbed the object lodged in his body with one hand and slashed forward with the mirror shard in the other.
The mirror shard cut into something soft, but as a weapon, the mirror shard was inadequate.
Evans drove the mirror shard with all his strength into that soft thing, but the shard soon broke. The object stuck in his body was also pulled out by the other party.
Blood gushed out like a spring. Evans collapsed to the ground. He wanted to do something, but now there was nothing he could do.
His vision grew blurry. Right before losing consciousness, he saw two crooked characters appear on the wall across from him:
“Information!”
…………………………………
[Remaining Simulation Attempts: 9]
Evans clutched his chest, breathing heavily as he stared at the wall in front of him.
‘Where is this?’
‘Didn’t I die?’
‘What are remaining simulation attempts?’
‘Is this some kind of game?’
Evans’s mind raced with questions. A flood of baffling thoughts consumed his brain, making it hard to breathe.
‘Don’t panic. First, ignore those meaningless questions for now. Think about how to get out of here.’
‘First is the simulation attempts. If this really is some kind of simulation game, then I have nine more chances to start over.’
‘This time, I have to seize the opportunity. I need to gather more information about this place.’
‘Information… That must have been that person’s dying message… Memory is also information. We both lost our memories, so what’s happening here is related to information?’
‘But that person definitely hid some information. About the carved word communication part…’
Thump!
The knocking sound echoed through the corridor again. This time, Evans didn’t wait for the door to be opened. He took the initiative to walk over and open it.
