Chapter 7: Bubble

The moment she touched him, Duya immediately jumped back several steps.

He had to admit—this was absolutely the most terrifying moment he had ever experienced.

What was wrong with this woman?!

And the feel of that hand just now… cold and damp, like a waterlogged corpse.

Was she even human?

Duya watched the woman warily, afraid she might do something.

But fortunately, she just stood there, making no further move.

“What’s inside this room?”

Seeing Duya so stubborn, the woman suddenly let out a strange cackle.

She no longer tried to stop him.

She just raised her head, those hollow eye sockets fixed on Duya.

“You want to know? Then go in and see for yourself.”

“Good advice is wasted on the damned… hahaha…”

Laughing to herself, she walked deeper into the hallway.

Her footsteps made no sound.

Her body had no rise or fall as she moved—she seemed to glide as if on rails.

After making sure she was far away, Duya turned his gaze back to Room 204’s door.

From the aura here, it wasn’t hard to tell—Bubble Shadow was likely hiding inside this room.

Should he go in?

Duya thought calmly.

In the end, he placed his hand on the doorknob.

The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

The moment he spotted Bubble Shadow, he would immediately hit the logout button.

And just in case, in the real world, his sister was on standby.

If the logout button failed, he’d have her directly remove the brain-computer interface helmet for a forced logout.

With those two backups in place, Duya gently turned the doorknob.

The room door was unlocked.

To see inside, he turned on his phone’s flashlight, but that weak beam gave him no sense of safety at all.

As the door swung open, Duya peered inside.

Thankfully, the bedroom seemed empty.

No ghostly white hand suddenly reaching out to grab him.

No other eye staring back from behind the door.

Inside this empty room, everything was eerily calm.

The bathroom light was on.

Water trickled softly from the shower.

And on the bed lay a few pieces of a girl’s discarded clothing.

Duya looked at the clothes, a bit puzzled.

A monster that takes showers?

Curious, he tiptoed into the room, walked to the bed, and picked up one of the garments.

It still held a trace of warmth—clearly just taken off.

He gave it a light sniff.

The familiar scent of laundry detergent made his eyes sharpen.

That smell was all too familiar to an investigator like him.

Without exaggeration, he would never forget that scent in his lifetime.

It seemed… the person showering in the bathroom was none other than Bubble Shadow.

Duya looked toward the bathroom.

Since the walls weren’t frosted glass, he couldn’t tell if anyone was actually inside.

To confirm the intel, Duya held his breath and crept up to the bathroom door.

He pressed his fingers lightly against the door and pushed it open just a crack.

Through the steam and mist, a white-haired girl sat with her back to the doorway.

Her fair, baby-smooth skin glowed with a pearlescent luster under the warm yellow light.

Her naked body was enough to make anyone’s throat run dry.

There was no denying it—Bubble Shadow was truly, impossibly beautiful.

So beautiful she didn’t look human… well, she wasn’t human to begin with.

And seeing this girl, Duya finally couldn’t help but smile—a cruel, satisfied smile.

A silent exclamation rose from his heart.

Ah, Bubble Shadow.

I knew you were here.

But knowing her location meant he had to leave.

He knew full well that without weapons, capturing a high-risk Grand like Bubble Shadow was absolutely impossible.

So he prepared to press the logout button, return to the real world, and submit this crucial intelligence.

But when he pressed the logout button… something unexpected happened.

The logout button was lit up, but he couldn’t exit!

No matter how he tried, no matter how many times he tapped it, the logout button simply didn’t respond.

The bathroom’s warm steam suddenly felt ice-cold to Duya.

Just as he was about to message his sister to remove his helmet, a powerful suction force yanked him into the bathroom.

The moment he was inside, the bathroom door slammed shut behind him.

Discovered?!

Duya did a kip-up, springing to his feet and dropping into a fighting stance.

He pressed his back against the wall, staring at the naked girl before him.

Under his gaze, the girl slowly turned around, revealing her body without reservation.

Her snow-white figure made his blood rush… but as his gaze traveled upward, the sight above her neck made his scalp crawl.

Her face had melted and drooped like a wax figure under high heat.

Countless eyes of various sizes were embedded haphazardly across her features.

Just looking at that face was enough to make one’s skin crawl and mind shatter.

And that was without even mentioning the terrifying, deranged aura she radiated.

If Duya had been an ordinary person, seeing that face alone would have driven him mad.

Duya’s gaze swept over her body, growing sharper.

Though the monster before him had exactly the same figure as Bubble Shadow, this wasn’t Bubble Shadow at all!

Still, he had to admit…

If you ignored the face… she was actually quite pretty?

Not… entirely unacceptable?

Hiss—

Duya shook his head repeatedly.

How could he have such thoughts?

His mind must be affected by the mystery.

But since this wasn’t Bubble Shadow… then he could fight.

Duya took a deep breath, lunged forward, and grabbed the Grand’s face with one hand.

The creature hadn’t expected Duya to have such high mental resistance.

Caught off guard, it was immediately slammed to the ground.

“ROAR!”

By the time it tried to fight back, it was too late.

Duya was incredibly strong.

Pinned to the floor, the monster couldn’t even get up, forced to take blow after blow from his fist—each one like a sledgehammer—smashing into its head.

The relentless beating left the monster dazed, its strength gone.

But just then, Duya heard a fierce whistling sound behind him.

He turned his head and saw the real Bubble Shadow emerging from the water—holding his own large wooden club!

Duya tried to dodge, but the monster beneath him grabbed his thigh.

“Damn it!”

He broke free from the monster’s grip just as the club smashed into the floor.

Duya rolled aside, putting distance between himself and the two.

Bubble Shadow’s mocking voice whispered in his ear.

“A hound of the Containment Facility… what a pity.”