Chapter 130: Cracked Open |
The Esper known as "The Room," real name Carpenter, was a mixed-race individual.
He had existed on this land for so long that even he couldn't remember exactly how long, possibly dating back to a century ago when foreigners rampaged through the area, maybe one of the children born from those atrocities.
Due to this, Carpenter was abandoned at birth and never received proper education.
Throughout the century, he wandered like a ghost in all human settlements, becoming the "room" where murders occurred.
Any place with a house could be his habitat.
Carpenter's ability, as Guan Shan guessed, relied on reality to create a completely sealed "phantom space" where he could set time rules.
The people inside this space, from a positional perspective, remained in the original room.
However, their actions couldn't affect the original room, even though they appeared to be inside it and could see the outside world as usual.
In a way, Carpenter's ability was closer to what Guan Shan initially thought the simulator was.
The price for this was that he could never leave there, unable to affect people outside the space.
Once he left, the rules would fail, and his time would start flowing again, leading to his death.
The ones who couldn't leave were merely victims of accelerated time, not Carpenter himself.
"No one can leave after stepping in here, including myself."
Carpenter had once taken this as his motto.
This time was no different.
—At least, he was confident about this.
Therefore, after mocking the group, Carpenter calmly left the separate space trapping Guan Shan and the others, continuing to oversee the "maze" he had constructed from a god's eye perspective.
Over the years, although still C-level, Carpenter's ability had evolved far beyond creating a single space. His power allowed him to stack twenty parallel spaces in the same room.
However, this was only for trapping ordinary people.
When it came to Espers, the burden increased with the target's energy level, affecting the number of spaces he could create.
At this moment, he had trapped three Espers, one C-level, one B-level, and one non-powered Guan Shan, creating around five spaces.
Carpenter was the ghost in the room. Although he wasn't in reality, he could gather some information by shaping an identical parallel space.
Thus, he knew about Lu Mingyi obtaining the [Ksitigarbha Statue], that the detective Bai Ye helped Lu Mingyi to get the [Ksitigarbha Statue], and even placed a micro-camera in Lu Mingyi's study to monitor him.
"Heh, Bai Ye's ability is strong, being a rule-type 'unlocking,' but unfortunately, he met me. In an environment detached from the original space-time, there are no elements to 'unlock.'"
Carpenter's gaze fell on a middle-aged man sitting desolately at a table in another room, sneering, "What a pity for a naturally B-level strong Esper. If he could grow continuously, his future would be limitless. Unfortunately, he will die soon."
His voice transmitted to the room where Bai Ye was, "Have you reconsidered cooperating with me? I appreciate your ability, but as the Chinese saying goes, 'A wise man submits to circumstances'..."
"Or has the past month not made you realize the reality? You can't leave here. Give up. You have two choices: die of old age here or tell me the clues you found and help me locate the other half of the Ksitigarbha Statue."
"You're only 19, awakened for less than three years, with such means already. Do you want to die here, achieving nothing? Aren't you unwilling?"
Carpenter's words were filled with temptation and mockery, which he had repeated hundreds of times over the past month. Bai Ye had never responded.
Thus, Bai Ye had aged from a teenager to a middle-aged man.
This time, Bai Ye opened his eyes, snorted coldly, and raised his middle finger, "Idiot."
Carpenter froze, then angrily said, "You..."
Bai Ye sneered, "Even if I told you, you'd adjust the time flow to normal at most, not let me leave here. Then you could continue to threaten me, making me find the Ksitigarbha Statue for you and then kill me."
"If you let me out, your 'no entry, no exit' aura would be gone, and you couldn't stand that, right? I guess you want the 'life' of the Ksitigarbha Statue to extend your life."
Bai Ye raised his head proudly and righteously said, "So, whether I die or not, I won't let this world have one more heinous criminal. Let's go to hell together. I'll be waiting for you on the Yellow Springs Road!"
Completely guessed right, Carpenter, though not furious, felt anger. "Fine, very well. I didn't want to do this to my future ally, but now, wait for your parents to join you here..."
Bai Ye's face changed, but he tried to stay calm, feeling uncontrollable anxiety.
Carpenter finished his harsh words and suddenly felt a foreboding feeling.
He turned his attention to the room where Guan Shan and the others were, hearing a crisp "crack."
It was as if something had shattered.
"What..."
For the first time, Carpenter's created phantom space developed a crack.
"Damn! That non-powered guy is a space-type... or a rule-type?!"
Carpenter felt like his body was splitting, panicking and trying to regenerate a space to fix it, only to see Guan Shan holding a Crowbar, prying open the space's seal.
Irresistible, unstoppable! "Crack!"
The sound was even crisper and louder, and the entire space split completely, with the overlapping phantoms sliding apart.
The people who had been in the same room but different spaces, like Guan Shan and Lu Mingyi, now appeared in separate rooms.
The door connecting them was pried open by the Crowbar.
"This must be a rule-type! That Crowbar, is it a Panspirit Object?! But why doesn't it have an energy response?!"
Carpenter panicked, no longer caring about Bai Ye, and began manipulating the space.
On the other side, Bai Ye also vaguely heard the shattering sound, feeling a surge of hope, "Could it be... the Special Security Group finally came to rescue me?!"
He was overjoyed, guessing, "Someone who can counter space-type... could it be the A-level 'Traverser'? Is this a bit too much? But considering 'The Room's' peculiarity, it's possible..."
Bai Ye couldn't help but feel nervous and excited. This was his first time meeting an A-level "big shot"!