Time in a collapsing world

Zijing followed Theresa's [smell] and found a mirror, and discovered that it was actually a hidden door. He pushed open the mirror and found Theresa squatting with her head in her hands, and her eyes closed, muttering "Can't see me, can't see me..."

Terrified.

Amethyst walked closer with a smile, her eyes turned blue-purple again, she squatted down in front of Theresa and touched her head, "It's me, it's okay now."

"……crystal?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Theresa dared to slowly open her eyes and looked up. She saw the boy in front of her with a warm smile that seemed to illuminate all the darkness around him. At that moment, the fear and tension accumulated in her heart seemed to be melted by this smile.

Suddenly, the emotions that had been frightening her all the way finally burst out, and Theresa couldn't help but throw herself into Zijing's arms and hugged him tightly. "Jing, I'm really scared, so scared..."

Amethyst patted Theresa's back gently, his voice soft and soothing. "It's okay, Theresa. It's over. You're safe now."

"Well... Jing, let's go outside..."

"Don't you want the Golden Hom King anymore?"

“But I have already failed…”

Theresa said as she took out her own decibel recorder, the value on it had already reached the red line.

"Okay, then hold my hand and don't let go this time. I'll take you out."

"Um……"

Zijing looked back and didn't notice that Alicia was following them. She immediately became alert, thinking that she had some trick up her sleeve and was planning to give them a surprise halfway.

So Zijing said to Theresa: "Theresa, lie on my back later. Don't look at anything, don't listen to anything, or something scary might appear."

"Ok."

Theresa hadn't realized that one person was missing, and now all she could think about was leaving this haunted house.

Amethyst squatted down with his back to Theresa, and the girl carefully pressed her body against his back, with her two small hands around Amethyst's neck. She waited until the boy stood up with her on his back before she closed her eyes with complete relief.

Zijing remembered the exit of the maze and walked out easily according to the previous route. Alicia did not appear along the way, and there was not even a ghost. All the mechanisms were closed.

Just when Zijing was puzzled, the haunted house's broadcasting voice sounded: "Hello, dear tourists inside, can you hear me? This haunted house is about to suspend business. Friends who are still staying inside, please come out as soon as possible. I will open a fast lane for you. Remember to pay attention to the left hand side on the way~"

Was it Wei Weiwei's voice? Suddenly, the business was suspended? Did something happen? Or was it just a cover-up, planning to release a ghost while tourists were off their guard?

While Zijing was alert, she was also looking at the wall on her left. She actually saw that a disguised door was opened a crack, and light from outside shone in through the crack.

Pushing the door open, Amethyst appeared on the second-floor balcony of the "castle" carrying Theresa on her back. A staircase was opened leading directly to the ground. Below, Vilvi, wearing a blindfold, was shouting with a loudspeaker, guiding the tourists and staff coming out of the haunted house to specific areas.

Is it really over?

Zijing carried Theresa down from the balcony and came to Velvet. When Velvet saw them, she held up a megaphone and said, "Hey, you guys are out. Did you have fun? Alicia had something urgent to do, so she left early."

"Is something wrong?"

Amethyst asked, putting Theresa off her back.

"It's that kind of thing." Wilvi prompted.

"..."

Something about the organization?

“Welcome to my haunted house adventure, and I hope you will leave a five-star review. Unfortunately, due to some unexpected circumstances, we have to end this experience early. If you are still interested next time, you are welcome to come again at any time, and we will provide a half-price discount... By the way, since the experience was not completed this time, this experience will be completely free and no payment is required.”

Weiwei spoke to every tourist in an official tone, and after sending everyone away, she went back to find Zijing and Theresa.

"Here, this is the prize for this haunted house tour. Consider it compensation. This little girl was frightened in there. I saw it clearly through the surveillance. If she has a nightmare after returning, I will feel very guilty~"

Velvi took out the limited edition gold Hom King and put it in Theresa's hand.

"Is this okay? Even if there were no accidents, I probably wouldn't be able to pass the level this time..." Theresa's screams had already exceeded the red line, so she was surprised and uneasy holding King Hom, and the model in her hand felt particularly hot.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I just do this kind of thing if I want to... Ahem, it's nothing. What I mean is that although this little sister didn't pass the level, your companion has a chance to walk out of my haunted house normally, so this prize should be given to him~"

Theresa didn't notice Vivi's slip of the tongue. She was already overjoyed hugging King Hom. Even though it was a knockoff, if it was the same as the original, what difference did it make whether it was a knockoff or not?

Theresa thanked Vivi repeatedly, and the latter winked at Zijing while responding.

"…Theresa, please go to the storage room and wait for me. I'll come over later."

"Eh? Okay..."

After sending away Theresa, who was unaware of the situation, Zijing was able to talk to Vilvi about the internal affairs of the organization.

"What do you want to tell me by keeping me here? When is the next time we can cooperate with the experiment?" Zijing asked. The girl in front of her took off her blindfold and swung the black cloak behind her. She changed her clothes with one click like a magic trick and changed back into the outfit that she often wore before, which was a mixture of a mechanic and a magician.

"No, no, no, this time I just want to tell you the latest news I just got~"

Weiwei shook her finger, then took off the magic hat on her head, took out a photo from it and handed it to Zijing.

Zijing took it and took a look. Inside was a...corpse lying in a hibernation capsule?

For some reason, Zijing was sure that the pink-haired boy sleeping with his eyes closed was definitely a corpse. Was the boy named Li actually already dead?

Zijing didn't ask this question, but Wei Weiwei explained: "You know, we are looking for someone, but this person has always been with us in a certain way. The one in this photo is his body that was supposed to be dead. We preserved it, but now, this body has finally reached the moment of extinction."