Chapter 414


    ?


    Frustrated and angry, Ished out with a kick at Dn, then turned my attention back to the screen with a sense of panic.


    True to his word, ten minutester, the lights in the escape room flickered on... For a brief three seconds, the floor was awash in blood... and bodies.


    The man in the mask was dead. James seemed to be injured as well, with a stab wound on his thigh.


    But the lights went out quickly, leaving them unable to even remember where the attacker had been.


    Once plunged into darkness again, they hesitated to move, fearing they might identally harm one of their own.


    "Shoulder to shoulder, call out your names!" In the dark, Colin''s voice rang out, instructing everyone to link up by touching shoulders and announce their identities.


    "Robin."


    "Ste." Ste''s voice quivered with fear.


    Ste reached for the person in front, who responded, "Dexter."


    "Melody."


    "Finn..."


    "James..." James'' voice sounded strained, likely due to his injury.


    In the darkness, James spoke again as he touched the shoulder in front of him. "Name yourself! Why aren''t you speaking?"


    In that moment, the room was thrust back into darkness. "Hmm!"


    James had the misfortune of encountering the murderer or, to put it another way... the person set on killing him during those fleeting seconds of light. His target was James.


    I feared that at this point, James was probably dead.


    With James'' death, the killer would be exposed, and Robin and Colin could seize the chance to subdue him.


    But the room was pitch ck, and it felt like Schr?dinger''s cat scenario; without the lights on, it was impossible to predict what might happen next.


    I lost control, throwing the mouse across the room and turning to confront Dn. "What do you really want? The people from the orphanage who hurt you are almost all dead! What more do you want? Colin is innocent, that cop, Ste, they''re all innocent!"


    Dn looked at me, his voice hoarse. "Phoebe... being part of the game means being in a trap. You, me... we''re all pawns."


    His gaze was deep and sorrowful.


    He seemed to have epted James'' death.


    The person he wanted dead was no longer alive.


    Is


    el.n


    "People say... that in the afterlife, souls are caught in a vastwork, trapped on Earth forever... I hope my soul can also vanish. This world. inherently a purgatory, where everyone ys different roles, tormenting each other..." To Dn, the horrors of hell weren''t about the ce or its punishments.  Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.


    But about the people.


    The tortures human beings inflict on one another.


    Abandonment by family, betrayal by friends, separation from loved ones, a partner''s stab in the back...


    Researchers at the Gene-Forge


    Collective, after advancing their gic studies to a certain degree discovered that the more a human''s intelligence is artificially enhanced, the colder and more merciless they be, devoid of any emotion.


    Because the enhancement of intelligence means the diminishing of feelings. In other words, only those devoid of emotion can reach higher levels of intelligence.


    Coldness bes the armor of highly intelligent beings, and heartlessness is their invulnerability.


    "This life... has been too bitter for me, truly too bitter."


    "My suffering isn''t because I lost my legs, but because I''ve lost all hope in humanity."


    "Open the escape room''s mechanism. With Colin''s intellect, he''ll find a way out..."


    "What are you nning to do..." My eyes burned as I looked at Dn wanting to rush to him, but it was toote. He retrieved a gun from the corner and pressed it against his temple.


    A gunshot echoed.


    The control room fell into silence.


    Hisst words to me before his suicide. "Phoebe... survive."


    He told me to keep living.


    Yet, he himself chose death so decisively, without a moment''s hesitation.