CH 45.1

Chapter 45.1

Bottom Floor (1)

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

“I Am Not Partial”

On the fifth floor of Stargaol, the moment Jiang Yiyi steps on, and before he can even make preliminary observations, the game first showers him with gifts.

The game UI that normally doesn’t have much presence is hopping in front of Jiang Yiyi’s eyes, blocking his sight with several windows.

Jiang Yiyi pauses, staring at them in turn.

“Congratulations on reaching the fifth floor of Stargaol! Achievement system unlocked, now awarding achievements…”

“Updating game status information, main quest reloading…”

“Patching completed. System update completed.”

Jiang Yiyi stares at the announcements for a few seconds, suddenly feeling much more solidly that he’s in a game——Ignoring that faint smell of blood in the air.

Yes, death and danger are always the themes of the day of Stargaol, and blood and corpses Her décor. They colour the place crimson. It is real, and it is horrible.

If this was a game, it would definitely have been an unpleasant experience——For most normal people.

Still, for Jiang Yiyi, right now, the only difference it makes being a game or reality is only to make the situation more or less farcical.

He’s read through the announcements, so he starts closing them one by one.

And therefore, the game quickly chimes in with other announcements.

“Congratulations on unlocking the following achievements: Fearless Newbie, Bloody Aesthetica, Dullard, Shadow of Death, Reaper…”

Jiang Yiyi has acquired quite the amount of achievements, forming a long string in the announcement panel, which is in fact still getting longer. He has lost patience already, though, so he just clicks on close. The last achievement unlocked, ‘Reincarnator,’ didn’t manage to make any lasting impression before disappearing among the rest of them.

“Story mission: The bottom floor of Stargaol seems to hold some great secret. It may be a good idea to greet Professor.”

Jiang Yiyi makes a mental note of the nickname ‘Professor,’ before closing this announcement.

“System update completed. Jian Si has been detected. Save/load functionality unlocked.”

Jiang Yiyi, seeing this, tilts his head slightly at Jian Si.

The guy observing his surroundings immediately notices, and turns around only to meet the gaze immediately.

A darkness beyond comprehension hits him head on and drags him deep into the abyss.

Jian Si freezes in place, the many thoughts in his head immediately vanishing, only leaving behind the visual image of a pair of slightly disappointed eyes, etched into his memory.

It looks like, he’s feeling somewhat disappointed for not having killed him?

Jian Si’s empty mind had the idea for a brief second before it is also wiped from his mind, leaving behind a blank canvas.

No thoughts. No emotions. An empty space where nothing reigns.

It’s a little troublesome for Jiang Yiyi, he thinks, because he never goes back on his word.

Again, his noble and upstanding nature means he will encounter occasional trouble like this. Even if Jiang Yiyi has a profound interest in this ‘Save/load functionality,’ but because of his previous deal with Jian Si, regrettably, he will have to keep his curiosity down.

He is not in too much of a hurry either, as he believes the promise will be broken eventually anyway, as long as Jian Si remains like this. In fact, that day is unlikely to be too far off.

Jiang Yiyi finally clicks away the last announcement latching on his iris. There are no more obstacles to him viewing this infamous bottom floor of Stargaol.

Jiang Yiyi notes the buildings in much the same style as those on the previous floors, and, disappointed, concludes that this floor of ill repute currently looks no different to the previous floors.

Magician is in no hurry to lead them inside. Instead, he is standing off idly to the side, seemingly waiting for something.

Unlike Jiang Yiyi, Lin Yi is more familiar with how Stargaol operates, and he can spot a difference in this floor more easily——Where there should be an open courtyard, is another grey building blending seamlessly into its surroundings.

If he wasn’t familiar with Stargaol’s layout, he might have overlooked it too.

The fifth floor has no courtyard? Or, is that the courtyard of the fifth floor?

“Finally? Took you long enough.” Magician raises his tone dramatically once a silhouette emerges from in front.

Lunatic is moving his gaze away from Jiang Yiyi for once, landing on the person, and he slowly changes into a defensive posture.

“How did he know someone was coming?” Lin Yi sees the unlit earpiece by Magician’s ear, and is certain it was not on before the person appeared either.

“Because he is stronger than you are.” The person approaching says, before he is even here.

Lin Yi, confused, asks again, “how did he hear me from that distance?”

“Because he’s… mega-duper strong.” Magician says with a smile, but is not looking at Lin Yi. Instead, he has his eyes on Jiang Yiyi. He even looks somewhat… scratch that, very excited when he asks Jiang Yiyi, “Doctor, what do you think?”

Jiang Yiyi observes the distant figure still approaching them for two seconds, until the word ‘Gatekeeper’ emerges in the silence. Outside of that, though, there are also smaller characters in red coming up. It reads ‘Peril.’

A new function from the game’s update, perhaps?

Jiang Yiyi turns his eyes where Magician is.

After the nickname ‘Magician’ is a word in smaller characters. ‘Peril’ as well.

Jiang Yiyi, deep in thought, now decides to cast his gaze to his side.

Lin Yi has a light yellow ‘Caution’; Lunatic has a pink ‘Danger’; while Jian Si…

Jiang Yiyi pauses his sweep. His eyes are fixated on Jian Si.

A red dark enough to pass as purple, and the word ‘Menace’ emerges above his head, without an accompanying nickname.

Menace…?

Jian Si has his eyes cast low to avoid Jiang Yiyi’s gaze, looking at the ground. Though he does not know why Doctor is looking now, but the sadness Doctor was exhibiting for not killing him earlier is still fresh in his memory, keeping him on his best behaviour.

The Emotions Chart is diligently revealing all that he is feeling – Anxiety, Fear, Suppression, Terror.

Hmm, normal, and even quite vividly layered.

Somehow, he is the most dangerous character he has met thus far.

Jiang Yiyi is very disappointed, almost enough for him to consider lowering his upstanding standards.

Before that can happen, Magician puts his thoughts to rest with a question, “Doctor, you appear quieter than usual?” He looks around with a smile, “are you perhaps feeling something? Would you like to share?”

Jiang Yiyi has his eyes on Magician.

It’s quite effective.

As he notices himself falling deep somewhere, Magician makes a 180-turn with a swish, avoiding Jiang Yiyi’s gaze.

“Doctor, do calm down. Gatekeeper is not as amicable as I am.” Though his back is turned, his words are as flippant as ever, keeping all his wariness hidden, “the Coordinator for the fifth floor operates on slightly different rules, and prison officers this floor have the right to self-defence.”

“In other words, we are permitted to use lethal force.”

“I have noticed that you have continuously tried to analyse my emotional responses for some time by now.” Jiang Yiyi warns the back of the head he can see calmly, “it is dangerous.”

While Jiang Yiyi has yet to see the full force of Psychology, he is certain it is far beyond the traditional scope of what constitutes ‘psychology.’

Instead, it is a full-fledged ‘game skill’ beyond what is scientific or reasonable.

“There is nothing here that wouldn’t be called ‘dangerous.’” Magician is still smiling, “Doctor, what you are doing does not yet reach what I deem ‘dangerous’ yet either.”

He says, with his back still turned.