[Interview Transcript #6073]
[Subject: Howard Smith]
[Recorded During Nutty Putty Cave Sealing Phase]
Interviewer:As the final team to enter before the sealing operation, you personally detonated the main entrance. Is this accurate?
Smith:You already have the answer in your files.
Interviewer:We could make your current detainment significantly...uncomfortable.
Smith:Like how your department ignored every warning until the body count became untenable?
[...]
Smith:The cave had reached "capacity." Three separate expeditions—on the third, I penetrated the [Blood Vessels]. The [Great Space] beyond...just endless piles of clothing. Men's. Women's. Children's. All empty. The people who wore them? Gone. But not truly gone. Still present...watching from where we couldn't see.
Interviewer:You're suggesting the cave's...occupancy triggered the incident?
Smith:That storm violated all meteorological models. No system predicted it. Yet it precision-targeted our county. That fucking hole in the ground.
[...]
Smith:We restricted rescues to four zones: Entrance, Stone Forest, Plain, Grand Plaza. Only [Explorers] could be extracted. The [Tourists]? Even when we dragged them to the exit...only their empty clothes remained in our hands.
Interviewer:Why not attempt the [Great Slide]
Smith:I cut the safety line.
Interviewer:Explain that decision.
Smith:I saw them—real survivors climbing up. But behind them...the other things. Wearing dead men's faces. If they breached the surface...I made the call. Severed the line.
Interviewer:Define "those things."
Smith:You'll understand...when they come for your team.
[Recording Ends]
In the lightless dormitory, Maki lay motionless while analyzing the transcript.
Howard Smith—the fire captain who maintained containment until the catastrophic flood.
The timeline crystallized:
Initial anomalies (disappearing tourists)
The unnatural flood event
Smith's failed rescue operation
The research base's subsequent cover-up
Yet critical gaps remained—particularly regarding this facility's obsession with [The God].
Do actual deities exist in this horror-ruled world? Would they permit such suffering?
No answers came. With lights-out enforced and no telepathic link to Kaguya, silent worry was her only option.
Kai-kun still isn't responding...he must still be in the [Blood Vessels], that deathtrap...
Meanwhile—
"E-eh?! Eep?!"
Chika froze as Takakai collapsed face-first onto her chest. After a stunned moment, she remained perfectly still—until he regained enough awareness to roll aside.
They'd reached the sole dry refuge in this drowned nightmare:
A security booth miraculously untouched by floodwaters, where uniforms could temporarily be removed...
...provided one never opened the door while improperly attired.
Susan and Rick sat on the opposite side of the security booth. Susan appeared equally exhausted—though Takakai had shielded her from the worst of the currents, her human-level stamina had been drained to the limit during their ascent.
The safety line had trembled three times during their climb. The first two instances only produced ghostly visions of the rope snapping, after which it would reappear intact. But after the third vision, the rope vanished entirely, forcing Takakai to rely solely on his iron spike to traverse the final stretch to the [Plain].
As for Susan? Once the rope disappeared, she became completely immobilized, clinging desperately to the rock face.
Had Rick not appeared at that critical moment to throw down a new line, Takakai and Chika might have made it safely—but Susan would certainly have perished. In his own precarious state, Takakai couldn't possibly have turned back to help her.
Hah...hah...
Takakai steadied his breathing, recovering his strength.
He'd pieced together the spatial relationship between the [Explorer] and [Rescue Team] zones, mentally mapping this layered nightmare.
Had the firefighters' area not become a closed loop, escaping [Explorers] might actually have found a way out. Takakai suspected this was Verbo's original intent—unlike the still-self-aware Xusheng, Verbo had likely been completely assimilated by the Red Cave, becoming another one of its horrors.
Though come to think of it...rescue teams are forbidden from entering the [Great Slide]—that veteran last loop vanished instantly. Yet as [Explorers], we climbed up from it. What a contradictory rule.
"Found anything noteworthy here?"
While Chika remained utterly spent, Takakai had mostly recovered. He turned his attention to Rick and Susan, his tone casual but eyes sharp.
These two were far from ordinary.
After everything he and Chika endured to reach this point, Rick and Susan had arrived first—with Rick even having energy to scout ahead. That alone warranted suspicion. Initially, Susan's apparent insider knowledge seemed more significant, but now Rick's unnatural composure made him the greater enigma.
"Not sure if this counts..." Susan hesitated, exchanging a glance with Rick before continuing, "...but this place feels familiar. Even ruined like this, I recognize these tunnels."
"Familiar how?" Takakai probed, though he already suspected the answer.
"I mean...I've been here before. Before becoming a player." Susan's voice grew steadier. "I don't remember specifics, but every section—at least the cave parts—trigger déjà vu. I must've come multiple times. Same with that fire station. The memories...they were buried, but being here is bringing them back. I think I returned for some operation? To rescue people? It's still hazy..."
Her genuine confusion suggested these were recently resurfaced memories.
Is she the [Curtain Call Actor]?
A tug at his sleeve interrupted his thoughts.
Chika's wide eyes silently directed his attention to the booth's window.
Outside, where only barren rock should be visible, a man in casual wear knocked insistently on the glass. No sound reached them—until Takakai focused on him. Then the knocking became deafening.
Thud-thud-thud—
[Help us! Please! Our friend's stuck in the [Blood Vessels]! He'll die if you don't come!]