Nikke, something’s seriously wrong with this evacuation point! Chapter 50 50: Haha, My 500k Is About to Slip Away

But the biggest anomaly of all… was the length of this corridor.

Starting from Room 315, moving forward all the way to 301… and then suddenly, 399.

Yes.

This single floor seed long enough to contain nearly a hundred apartnts.

But clearly, with such a strongly curved structure, it was impossible to physically fit that many rooms.

So this was another spatial anomaly.

He even spent three minutes running a full lap.

The result confird it–

the corridor really was that long.

Space here was being expanded in so strange way.

...

Then the question beca:

Where is 404?

No… that's not right.

The mont the number 4 entered his mind, he suddenly realized–

he had overlooked sothing.

He imdiately ran forward a bit and looked at a door number.

303.

Then he looked diagonally across.

That should have been 304.

But instead–

302.

Between 303 and 305, there was no 304.

Instead, there was 302, a number that should have been sowhere else.

That discovery made him realize the true nature of the problem.

The corridor itself was the hint.

The issue… was with space.

...

"Let's test it."

He stood between Room 302 and 306 and looked down at the carpet.

"…As expected."

A rare look of excitent appeared on Charon's face.

Because he noticed–

on this supposedly perfect carpet,

there was a subtle misalignnt in the pattern right between the two rooms.

And this place was called Perfect Apartnt.

Such an imperfection shouldn't exist naturally.

He estimated the misalignnt…

then took out his crowbar–

and stabbed it straight into the wall.

...

Crash–

The mont he pushed through, it didn't feel like solid brick–

but like piercing through a thin layer of paper.

And then–

he hit sothing solid.

The wall in front of him rippled like water, and vanished.

In its place–an elevator door appeared.

...

"…Huh?"

Charon had expected Room 404.

Not an elevator.

At that mont, heavy footsteps echoed from the other side of the corridor.

And as the elevator appeared, the footsteps began to accelerate.

Because of the warped space, he couldn't even tell how long it would take for it to reach him.

Did he trigger the apartnt's defense system?

Doesn't matter.

Get inside first.

...

He reached for the button, but froze.

There was no button.

His eyes widened.

"What the hell?!"

The footsteps were getting closer.

No ti to think.

Suddenly, the note he had read earlier flashed in his mind.

Without hesitation, he knocked on the elevator door:

two heavy, one light.

...

Ding–

Like an oven tir finishing,

the elevator door slowly opened.

At the sa ti–the footsteps sped up again.

He could feel it–it was almost there.

...

"Shit!"

Charon rushed inside and frantically pressed the close button.

The doors slowly shut–

And in the final mont before they fully closed–

he caught a glimpse:

a tall shadow

and a pair of furious, complex eyes.

...

No ti to process.

Inside the elevator, soft music began to play.

A pleasant voice announced:

...

[Scanning passenger composition…]

[Detected: Unauthorized intruder.]

[Judgnt: Neutralization.]

[Destination locked: Floor 4 · Digestion Layer.]

[Have a pleasant journey.]

...

In the next mont, the elevator began to rise.

At the sa ti, a strange sound ca from above.

Charon looked up–

The ceiling had turned transparent.

Above it–a red cable, and an elevator shaft that stretched endlessly.

...

"…Are you kidding ?"

Even for soone used to Zero Zone, this was too much.

Yes, these were all "first-ti kill" chanics.

Once understood, they'd just beco puzzle steps.

But surviving the first encounter–

that was the problem.

"If I didn't have this box, I'd just give up and reset…"

But with 500,000 on the line he wasn't quitting.

And honestly, he cared about what this box represented.

He didn't want that "obsession" to be consud by this city.

The elevator kept rising.

No visible floors.

Just a long vertical shaft.

And then, the environnt began to change.

The air grew damp.

Walls and floor turned into a disturbing red.

He looked up again and this ti, it wasn't darkness.

It was a face.

A massive head, mouth wide open, ready to swallow him and the elevator whole.

And only now did he realize, that red cable…

Was actually a tongue.

...

Floor 4: Digestion Layer.

Clearly, this had nothing to do with Room 404.

Danger alarms scread in his mind.

Adrenaline surged.

Charon exploded into action.

"No way I'm dying inside sothing's stomach!"

He grabbed the crowbar, and smashed the ceiling.

Once.

Twice.

Three tis–

Until finally, using its "always-open" property

, he pried it open.

He jumped up, climbed onto the ceiling, and attacked the "tongue."

The crowbar wasn't ant for cutting, but it worked.

He used it like a saw, cutting frantically.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

It splattered all over him, but he didn't care.

The monster scread.

And just as he began to feel the heat of its mouth, the tongue finally snapped.

In that instant–he hugged the package tightly–and began to fall.

Before dropping, he flipped the monster off.

...

He didn't know how long passed.

When Charon ca to, he was lying in a pile of garbage.

The air stank of rot and rust.

...

There was almost no sound.

The only light source was above, and it was slowly closing.

Like the shaft was just a garbage chute.

His entire body hurt.

Even with the garbage cushioning the fall, he couldn't avoid injuries.

His HP was down to around 10%.

Last ti he was this low, was when he blocked Raptures under the orbital elevator.

(Though he died shortly after back then.)

...

His body was covered in wounds.

All of them were the kind that caused bleeding over ti.

At this rate, he might last an hour at most.

"…Wait."

The package?!

He looked down.

The box in his arms was badly damaged.

...

[Package Durability: 5/100]

...

"…Still not broken."

Good enough.

Then he saw the tir.

...

[Ti Remaining: 3:23]

...

"…Haha."

"My 500k is about to run away."