I am Zhuang Cheng.

  I’m not someone who can't tolerate solitude, but when forced to stay in a confined space for an extended period, unsure whether I can return to civilized society, even I find it difficult to maintain a normal mindset.

  The clues in this basement are too sparse, and there aren't many objects that could help me make positive connections. Before long, my mind started to wander aimlessly, like I was watching a documentary on the universe. In a way, I felt like one of those bored people who, without their phone in the bathroom, ends up contempting the meaning of life and the end of the universe. It's not that I don't want to think through a way to escape; it's just that I'm currently in the bathroom.

  However, after a while, as I y on the floor like a fish washed up on the beach, trying to find some insight from the patterns on the concrete ceiling, a spark of thought suddenly fshed in my mind.

  I suddenly sat up, repeatedly searching through my memory, pondering the inspiration I had just received.

  I think I’ve figured out the pattern behind the appearance and disappearance of the basement.

  The disappearance and appearance of the basement likely follow the same set of rules. At first, I thought that "just knowing why the basement disappear isn’t enough," but I was wrong. Agent Kong and the demon huntress might have thought the cause of the basement was outside the ritual formation, but that’s not the case. The answer lies within the "ritual formation."

  Agent Kong once mentioned that the purpose of the ritual formation was to "open certain parallel spaces that overp with the current space-time," and the reason it was deemed a failure was because it "cked the final part of the magical symbols."

  I’m not entirely sure what the magical symbols are, but since the basement appear, it must mean that the missing symbols in the ritual formation were somehow filled in by an accident.

  So, what exactly filled in the missing magical symbols of the ritual formation?

  At this moment, my suspicion is on that bck plush carpet.

  To be more precise, it’s the letter patterns on the bck plush carpet.

  It’s not that the letters themselves are magical symbols, but perhaps the lines that make up the letters happen to match the requirements for magical symbols. At the same time, I have evidence that supports this line of reasoning.

  If I think carefully about the instances when the basement appeared and disappeared, every time I and Chang'an performed the action of covering and uncovering the bck plush carpet, the basement would switch between appearing and disappearing.

  This morning, Chang'an and I uncovered the carpet, and the basement appeared; then we covered the carpet, and when we uncovered it in front of Agent Kong, the basement disappeared. Later in the afternoon, when Agent Kong was checking the room alone, he casually covered the carpet, and when I came back alone at night and uncovered it, the basement appeared.

  The same thing happened the night before yesterday, when Chang'an first witnessed the basement. After he uncovered the carpet for the first time, he discovered the basement and called the police. Then, in front of the police, he "uncovered it again"—yes, when he was telling me the story, he clearly mentioned "uncovered it again," which implies that he had covered the carpet before the police arrived.

  Why did he cover the carpet in the middle? Because he was afraid. He told me today that he was worried whether there might be something evil hidden under the basement, so the night before, he decided to seal the wooden lid and the carpet together.

  In this series of events, the bck plush carpet seems to have acted as a "switch," with all the changes directly reted to it.

  Is my reasoning correct? Can I be sure of this?

  No, wait, wait... I've missed one very important piece!

  That is, why did the entrance and exit of the basement disappear after I entered it?

  If only the action of covering the bck plush carpet causes the basement’s state to change, then the basement shouldn’t have disappeared by itself after I entered.

  Unless... unless, after I entered the basement, someone "whose identity is unknown" sneaked into the fifteenth-floor room and sealed the basement.

  I have indeed been monitoring the surroundings, but right now, the one thing I cannot monitor is the real world outside the basement. Moreover, the basement disappeared while I was pulled into the illusion by the bck jade stone, so it was even more impossible to observe if anyone was outside the basement during that time.

  And there’s another despairing issue with this reasoning.

  That is, just as I initially feared, the opening and closing of the basement can only happen from outside, not from this side.

  I am really at a dead end.

  No, I can’t give up now. It would be too ugly to surrender like this. Since I yearned for an adventure beyond reality, I shouldn’t simply sit and wait to die. I must struggle until I take my st breath, that’s more in line with my aesthetic.

  So, how should I struggle? The location I’m in and the ritual array outside aren’t even in the same space-time... Wait a minute, Agent Kong previously mentioned that this otherworldly space is overpping with the real world. Since it’s overpping, it cannot simply be treated as "separate."

  In other words, if I draw the letter patterns from the bck plush carpet on the ceiling, could it overp with the ritual array outside?

  There's still a problem. First of all, the surface of the ceiling and the surface of the floor are not exactly on the same pne... but the patterns on the bck plush carpet and the ritual array on the floor aren't exactly on the same pne either. If it works over there, maybe it could work here as well. Though the degree of deviation is quite different, how thick is this floorboard again...?

  Forget it. There's no point in overthinking it. It's better to try it out!

  I raised my right hand and pointed my fingers at the location on the ceiling where the basement's entrance originally was. Suddenly, fmes appeared out of thin air, moving like thin snakes through the air, climbing up the surface of the ceiling.

  The letter patterns on the bck plush carpet spell out "carpet," I remember that clearly. Then, the style and size of the font... I recalled while adjusting the fmes, shaping them to match my memory.

  After completing the task, I let out a long breath and anxiously watched the ceiling.

  No change.

  I couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed.

  Is this still not working? Is it because it's not in the same space-time, or is it because the floorboard is too thick, causing too much deviation between the two pnes?

  Or maybe it’s because I shouldn't be using fmes to draw the pattern? The ritual array was drawn with blood, so maybe I should have used blood... but the letters on the bck plush carpet weren’t made of blood, right? Could it be that the dirty carpet, as a crime scene object, soaked up blood stains...?

  I tilted my head and observed, moving around to look at the fme letters from different angles. After all, I might have made a mistake in spelling the word.

  Walking around like this with my head tilted easily made me dizzy. Before long, I felt a bit uncomfortable, so I lowered my head and closed my eyes to rest for a couple of seconds.

  When I opened my eyes again, something incredible happened.

  A concrete staircase appeared in front of me at some point without my noticing.

  After a brief moment of shock, my gaze moved up the staircase, and at the end of it, on the ceiling, I saw a light brown wooden lid.

  The entrance to the basement had appeared again!

  ---

  Why the entrance didn’t appear immediately after I drew the letter pattern with fmes is something I only came up with a theory for afterward—and even then, I can’t say for sure if it’s correct.

  The theory itself is a bit amusing. At first, I was standing directly beneath where the basement was supposed to be, and the concrete staircase ter appeared in that exact spot. Like in a strategy game where new buildings can’t overp with existing structures, it’s possible that because I was occupying the staircase’s position, the staircase and the entrance couldn’t manifest immediately.

  To avoid any further mishaps, as soon as I saw the entrance, I acted quickly. Climbing the staircase, I reached the wooden lid and pushed it open, returning to the floor of the fifteenth-floor room.

  I had finally returned to the real world.

  I looked around and let out a long sigh of relief.

  At the same time, I could feel that the near-enlightened state of mind I’d experienced in the basement—when I was faced with solitude and the prospect of death—was now slowly receding.

  That enlightened state must have been a special mindset that arose under those unique circumstances, something I can no longer sustain now that I’ve survived. But I believe that moment of crity left a sting imprint on my heart.

  The me standing here now is no longer the same as the me who had not entered the basement.

  I mulled over my reflections before turning back to look behind me.

  Setting aside abstract questions for now, let’s deal with the practical ones.

  When I pushed open the wooden lid, I didn’t feel the bck shag carpet that was supposed to be covering it. And now that I’m out, I can see the carpet is still lying off to the side, exactly as it was. This means that during my time beneath the basement, no “unknown individual” entered the fifteenth-floor room to pce the carpet over the lid.

  Since my actions successfully allowed me to escape, it confirms that my reasoning about the basement’s appearance and disappearance was correct. But if there was no “unknown individual,” then how can I expin the earlier disappearance of the basement’s entrance?

  I couldn’t wrap my head around it, so I turned to look at the basement entrance once more.

  This basement, this underground chamber… I thought I had figured it out, but there’s still so much I don’t understand.

  For instance, I still have no idea what the bck jade stone I obtained from the chamber really is. Nor do I understand the misty illusion I saw earlier, or the three shadows within it.

  There are still secrets hidden below that I do not yet understand.

  What if... I go down there again?

  Although it might seem a bit reckless to consider going back right after narrowly escaping death, this basement will be destroyed by tomorrow. If I don't finish exploring it now, I might never get another chance.

  I genuinely had this thought, but soon after, another anomaly made me put the idea on hold.

  All the "fireflies" I had deployed in the real world had disappeared. This, of course, was due to losing connection with them while I was in the underground chamber. The bigger issue, however, is that I had now lost my surveilnce of Ma Zao.

  This made it impossible for me to stay calm.

  Ma Zao occasionally talks about leaving me. If I’d only lost track of her briefly, it would have been fine—I could quickly leave and return, which was my initial pn. But now, I’d lost track of her for a long time, which changed the nature of the situation entirely. If she really left during this time, I might never find her again.

  It’s possible that Ma Zao’s jinx-like presence is what brought me into contact with these strange occurrences. I’m not so shortsighted as to not differentiate between “a single satisfying meal” and “constant sustenance.”

  I couldn’t explore the underground chamber while simultaneously deploying "fireflies" to my house. I had no choice but to put this side of things on hold for now.

  Before leaving, however, I made sure to take photos and videos of the ritual array and the bck shag carpet from various angles. Perhaps I could replicate this ritual array in another location someday.

  After finishing everything, I turned and left the fifteenth-floor room, making my way out of the residential building.

  Gazing at the moon in the night sky, I finally felt a sense of "returning to the world."

  However, I hadn't gone far when, ahead in my line of sight, a bizarrely shaped shadow appeared in an eerie manner, blocking my path.

  Support me on paetron for advanced chapter:patreon*com/DeCakraWnloverz