As I doom-scroll through the empty contacts on my spectral phone, trying to find a shred of hope, the ground beneath our feet begins to shake.

  BOOM... BOOM...

  It is not the slight vibration of traffic or subway trains. It feels like a T-Rex is stomping right outside the building. Sheets of drywall fall like confetti, and dust fills the air.

  "What... what is it this time?" I wheeze, clinging to a table leg to keep from toppling over.

  The sound is louder and heavier than any Executioner we have encountered so far.

  Then, darkness falls.

  Something massive blocking out the sickly red light streaming in from the window. I look up, and my heart skips a beat.

  Outside the thick glass of the 24th floor, hovering in the gloom, is a head.

  A head as big as an entire apartment block.

  "Oh my god..." I stammer, cold sweat pouring down my body like rain. "We are on the 24th floor! How tall is this thing?!"

  It is a terrifyingly magnified version of the usual Executioners. His skin is black and slick as tar, glistening and viscous. Two eyes burn red like pools of boiling lava, so large I can see my tiny reflection in them. And the mouth... a mouth grinning from ear to ear, revealing thousands of white, razor-sharp teeth.

  He is moving slowly, looming like a mobile mountain. But then, suddenly, he stops.

  The giant head slowly rotates. The bloodshot eyes lock onto the window of our room.

  He stares straight inside.

  "Take cover!"

  I hurriedly roll under an old desk, covering my mouth to stifle my gasping. Nanao and Xiaolang also vanish into the shadows behind ruined filing cabinets with blurring speed. The unconscious man is, by some miracle, already stashed in a blind spot.

  "Hey, cat," Xiaolang whispers through his teeth, trembling with tension. "Is your Seclusion technique defective? Why is he looking right at us? Did you buy it on discount?"

  "I swear I followed the manual to the letter!" Nanao whispers back, his cat ears pressed flat against his head.

  The giant does not look away. He presses his face against the glass, so close I can see the condensation forming from his foul breath.

  "KEKEKEKEKE..."

  His distorted laugh echoes through the glass, sounding like nails on a chalkboard amplified a thousandfold. It makes my skin crawl.

  I squeeze my eyes shut and pray.

  Don't look at me... I don't want to die yet... I haven't even received my salary...

  A minute passes, feeling as long as a century. The sensation of being watched by a powerful evil entity numbs my scalp.

  Suddenly, the ground shakes with a stronger impact. The giant snaps his head in another direction. It seems something far away caught his attention.

  He lets out a sky-rending roar, then turns and takes thunderous steps to chase the new target, leaving the skyscraper shaking violently behind him.

  The darkness fades, and the red light floods the room again.

  "Huff... huff..."

  I crawl out from under the table, collapsing on the floor, gasping as if I'd forgotten how to breathe. My whole body is drenched in sweat, and my limbs are too weak to lift.

  Nanao and Xiaolang slowly emerge as well, their faces pale despite the fur covering them.

  "That was... a close call," Xiaolang strokes his chest, his hackles finally settling down.

  "That thing..." Nanao mutters, staring out the window in fear. "If he took one swing at this building, the whole place would collapse for sure."

  The dusty air in the room settles into silence again, broken only by the steady breathing of the unconscious man and the soft snoring of the two gods snatching a power nap to recover their strength.

  I sit huddled in a corner, my back pressed against the cold wall. The tension is taut as a bowstring; if I just sit here waiting for death, my nerves will snap. I pull out the spectral phone, its pale yellow glow the only source of light offering a shred of comfort in this red-lit nightmare.

  No signal to the Nexus. Our route home, the elevator at the Keio Hotel, has been pulverized into concrete dust. We are minnows trapped in a shark tank, and the feeder has left the building.

  "Think... Kaito, you play puzzle games all the time, use your brain!" I tell myself, fingers flying over the Notes app.

  I list every variable, every possibility, no matter how insane. The words dance before my eyes, weaving together. Finally, a few feasible options, or at least options that sound feasible, emerge from the chaos.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I take a deep breath and crawl over to rouse the two gods.

  "Nanao-san, Xiaolang-san... wake up. I have an idea."

  Nanao cracks one eye open, his cat tail flicking with irritation at being disturbed, while Xiaolang springs up instantly, ears perked in alert.

  "Trouble?" Xiaolang asks.

  "No, but we can't just sit here forever," I say, holding up the screen. "I've drafted some tactical plans. Take a look."

  I swallow hard and present the first option.

  "Plan A: The Hyperspace Courier. One of you, whoever is faster, uses your power to tear through space, navigating raw hyperspace to the nearest universe with a signal. From there, call the Nexus for backup."

  Nanao yawns widely, displaying rows of sharp teeth, and shakes his head vigorously.

  "Forget it. Terrible idea. Do you have any clue how long it takes to traverse hyperspace without a portal? Weeks at best, months at worst. Leaving two frail mortals in this slaughterhouse without divine protection? By the time I get back, I'll only find two dried husks, or worse, have to dig you out of an Executioner's stomach."

  I cross out the first line. Fair point.

  "Alright, Plan B: The Distress Flare. Assuming Itsuki-sama is actively scouring the outside for us, we create a massive energy signature, strong enough to pierce the interference layer of this world. Like firing a flare gun."

  "Or ringing the dinner bell for those monsters," Xiaolang interrupts, his voice dripping with skepticism. "You saw how many of them are out there. Too risky."

  I bite my lip. I strike out the second line. Despair begins to creep back into my mind. Is there really no way out?

  But then, my gaze lands on an old evacuation map peeling off the wall. This building... is also an office tower. It has at least thirty floors.

  And most importantly... It has an elevator.

  "There is one final plan," I say, my voice trembling with anticipation.

  The two gods stare at me intently.

  "We got here thanks to the Elevator Game," I explain, pointing toward the dark corridor. "If this building has a functioning elevator... why don't we try playing it one more time?"

  I look straight into Nanao's eyes. "If things go smoothly, it might dump us into another world with a signal. Or if the god of luck smiles on us... it might take us back to World 1031!"

  Nanao's cat eyes widen, pupils dilating. He strokes his whiskers, looking thoughtful.

  "Oh... The kid might be onto something. Not a bad idea at all."

  "But what if it doesn't work?" Xiaolang asks, arms crossed, maintaining his skepticism.

  I stand up abruptly, clenching my hand into a fist.

  "So what if it does work?! Even a one percent chance is better than zero! We have to try to know!"

  My determination seems to move the two gods. Nanao smirks, standing up and dusting off his clothes.

  "Alright, alright. Keep it down, you'll attract them. I like your guts, kid. Let's go find that elevator!"

  Nanao just dusts himself off and stands up, preparing for a sudden raid into the corridor, but I hurriedly raise my hand to stop him. A wave of unease keeps throbbing persistently in my chest.

  "Wait, Nanao-san," I whisper, my eyes darting through the narrow crack in the door. "Are you sure this building is absolutely safe? I mean, the giant one is gone, but what if there are small Executioners, the type with the wide, grinning mouths, lurking in the hallways?"

  Xiaolang, who is cracking his knuckles, freezes upon hearing this. His wolf ears twitch once.

  "The kid is right," he nods, his expression turning serious. "We cannot just rush out headfirst. Those wretched Executioners always play the calling game. If just one detects us and lets out a scream, this whole 'ant nest' will swarm to tear us apart instantly."

  Saying that, Xiaolang reaches into his pocket (which is actually a mini dimensional storage) and pulls out a tiny object. It is as small as the tip of a pinky, with wings vibrating to produce an extremely low buzzing sound.

  I recognize it immediately. It is the mech-mosquito used to record the century's battle between Itsuki-sama and Karasu-sama.

  "Go, my baby," Xiaolang whispers, releasing the mosquito through the door crack.

  Simultaneously, he activates the hologram watch on his wrist. A blue 3D screen appears in mid-air, beginning to map the structure of the 24th floor in real-time based on the data sent back by the mosquito.

  The more I look at the map being drawn, the colder the back of my neck feels.

  From the outside, this high-rise looks like a normal office block. But inside, it is an architectural nightmare. The corridors do not run straight but zigzag continuously, intertwining to form deadly intersections and absurd dead ends. It looks like a tangled mess of wires designed to drive office workers mad.

  "Found it," Xiaolang points to a blinking dot in the far corner of the map. "The elevator area is here. The distance from us... well, it is quite far. We have to pass through at least three major intersections."

  But the joy does not have time to spark before horror strikes.

  On the screen, the mech-mosquito flies past a dark corner of the corridor near the refreshment area. The camera scans over a pitch-black shadow standing motionless.

  He stands there, face pressed against the wall like a punished child, arms hanging down past his knees. Even though I only see it through a blurry hologram image, that gaunt, dark appearance and grotesque posture still make my spine freeze.

  "One," Xiaolang mutters, marking a red dot on the map. "He is in Standby Mode, but I bet just the lightest footstep is enough to boot him up."

  "So we must avoid that area," Nanao narrows his eyes. "Continue scanning."

  After about ten tense minutes, the map of the 24th floor is complete. There are a total of four red dots scattered everywhere. Four human-sized Executioners are either patrolling or standing silently, stalking prey in this maze.

  With a structure as convoluted as this, avoiding all four at once seems like an impossible mission for a normal human.

  "Alright, let's see how Asgardian tech performs," Xiaolang mutters, his finger pressing the [Optimize Route] button.

  Lines of binary code run down the screen. The algorithm begins to calculate, drawing a zigzagging green line that weaves through the corridors, staying far from the vision of the red dots.

  "This is the only path to survival," Xiaolang declares. "We must follow this route."

  "Look closely, you stupid dog," Nanao points at the screen. The red dots do not stay still forever. One of them begins to move slowly to the adjacent corridor. Accordingly, the green line immediately changes, redrawing a new route around a different direction.

  "The safe route updates in real-time," the Cat God warns, his voice tense. "The algorithm only predicts the next few seconds. We must move extremely fast and precisely according to your instructions. One wrong step means bumping into the Executioner immediately."

  I swallow hard, hoisting the unconscious man on my back (Xiaolang is currently possessing me to handle the extra weight).

  "Ready as I'll ever be," I say, trying to keep my voice from trembling.