Xiaolan gradually opened her eyes. The moment she did, a thick, dense darkness flooded her vision, making it completely impossible to tell where she was.
After quite a while, Xiaolan slowly adjusted to the dark. Although she could only see things very close to her, and even then not clearly, it was still much better than being plunged into total blackness and seeing nothing at all.
Once she could somewhat make out her surroundings, a question began to surface in Xiaolan’s heart: Why am I here? Wasn’t I just playing on the beach before? Where exactly is this place? Why is it so dark?
Staring at the pitch-black environment around her, Xiaolan was initially bewildered. But as her consciousness grew clearer, she started to recall what had happened earlier. She gradually remembered what she had experienced just before losing consciousness.
“Ah! Right! That woman with only half a face, the terrifying one! It was her! She knocked me out! I don’t know what happened after that, but she must have brought me here!”
After fully recalling the events before her blackout, Xiaolan couldn’t help but cry out loudly, as if doing so could alleviate some of the lingering fear brought on by the memory.
Unfortunately, even though her voice was loud, the surroundings remained as silent as the unchanging darkness, eerily quiet. Even though Xiaolan’s voice echoed faintly in the vicinity for a moment, it couldn’t ease the fear that was gradually spreading through her entire body as she realized just how dire her situation was.
After a moment of silence, Xiaolan tentatively spoke a few more sentences, but received no reply whatsoever. This made her, already frightened, even more panicked. She curled her entire body into a ball, staying right where she was, not daring to move a muscle.
‘Am I just going to be left here until I die?! That’s way too terrifying!!!’
Xiaolan wanted to suppress the fear threatening to overflow from her heart, but in this pitch-black, abnormally silent environment, she simply couldn’t maintain a normal state of mind.
Just as Xiaolan was about to be crushed by her own fear, an image of Laine suddenly flashed through her mind.
‘Right! Laine! How is he?! Is he here too? H-he… he should be okay, right?’
The moment she thought of Laine, Xiaolan pushed aside her fear, wanting to quickly confirm his current state. But when she looked around, all she could see was impenetrable darkness. She couldn’t even see her own feet clearly; she only knew from the sensation coming from her lower body that this was probably just ordinary ground, nothing special.
Looking around, Xiaolan’s desire to see Laine grew more urgent. She began unconsciously imagining scenarios where Laine had met with misfortune.
‘I can’t go on like this! I don’t even know if Laine is okay! At the very least, I need to figure out where I am now!’
Having made up her mind, Xiaolan looked again at the surrounding darkness. First, she reached out her hand, feeling around, trying to find something like a wall to serve as a support.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to grope for long. Just a few steps in front of her, she touched a hard, stone wall. Turns out she had been talking to a wall this whole time!
After touching the wall, Xiaolan’s confidence surged. Her concern for Laine temporarily suppressed the fear in her heart. Choosing a direction, she began to slowly walk forward along the wall.
Since she couldn’t see her own feet, Xiaolan walked in a half-crouch. If anyone could see her movements in the dark, they’d probably find it quite amusing. But this method was indeed effective and safe, at least preventing Xiaolan from tripping over her own feet or stumbling.
Even so, Xiaolan’s progress was still very slow. This was partly because she wasn’t used to moving like this, and partly due to her cautiousness, born from fear of what might lurk in the darkness.
In any case, several minutes had already passed, and she had only moved forward a few steps, probably not even three meters. This situation was a bit discouraging for Xiaolan, but the thought that Laine’s fate was still unknown forced her to steel herself and keep going forward.
After taking a few more steps forward, she felt something touch her foot. It didn’t seem like a rock or dirt, but something larger.
Xiaolan reached out a hand to check. The moment she touched it, it felt strange. The texture was somewhat soft—definitely not a rock. It felt more like… a person?!
Realizing this, Xiaolan was startled. She quickly withdrew her hand and took several steps back. But soon, she reacted.
‘Whoever this person lying on the ground is, I really do want someone to talk to right now. If I keep moving forward alone in this darkness, I can’t guarantee my mind won’t snap.’
Xiaolan returned to her previous position and reached out again, this time with both hands. She tried to ascertain the other person’s condition, but they showed no reaction to her actions, like a doll unable to move.
The moment this thought flashed through her mind, Xiaolan’s body stiffened.
‘This person… couldn’t be dead, could they? Or maybe… they’re not even human?! What if it’s something else?!’
The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became. Xiaolan began to hesitate about whether to continue feeling around. But the thought that the person lying on the ground might be Laine made Xiaolan grit her teeth and continue.
‘Hmm… Very soft. This body is well-maintained. The hands feel nice to the touch too. Ah! Sure enough, there’s a chest! This person is definitely female. Huh?’
After confirming the other’s gender, Xiaolan’s hands grew bolder, continuing downward, trying to find something that could prove their identity. But as her hands moved lower, she touched something very strange.
‘What is this? Fluffy… Is it some kind of accessory?’
Puzzled, Xiaolan brought the fluffy object she had grabbed up to her eyes. This action seemed to stimulate the person lying on the ground. They began to stir restlessly, wanting Xiaolan to return the thing in her hand.
But such a small struggle was certainly no match for Xiaolan, a former mercenary.
Xiaolan held the fluffy object up to her eyes. After looking at it for a good while, she finally realized what it was.
‘This… this fluffy thing looks a lot like Laura’s tail! No, it’s not just similar, it’s exactly the same! What are the odds of that happening… my foot! This is Laura’s tail! Which means the person lying on the ground is Laura?!’
Realizing who was lying on the ground, Xiaolan immediately put the tail back, apologizing non-stop as she did so: “S-sorry! I didn’t know this was your tail! I shouldn’t have pulled on it!”
But Xiaolan’s apology received no reply. Not only that, after Xiaolan returned the tail, the other person fell silent again, making no further movements.
This puzzled Xiaolan. She leaned forward, over the other’s body, and looked carefully at Laura’s face. She discovered… she was actually sleeping?! And seemingly sleeping quite soundly?!
Looking at Laura’s blissfully sleeping face, Xiaolan didn’t know whether she should wake her up or not.