Illusion Report

"The Nest gave us two paths," Mai Mingle said in a low voice. "...and both are dead ends."

'Has the opposition grown so powerful that they can completely alter the Nest's rules just to eliminate me, leaving me no chance of survival?'

'Then why didn't they just kill me from the start?'

"You're wrong. For me, both are dead ends."

Suo Beihua scoffed. "I'll die if I stay in the stairwell, but if I jump, what happened to Robert will happen to me. He was consumed by his own transformed state, so I'll probably suffer the same fate. But you don't have to worry. Haven't you already returned to normal?"

As she spoke, she gestured from her own snake tail to Mai Mingle's face.

Mai Mingle froze. It was as if a bolt of lightning had flashed through the storm clouds of her mind, faintly illuminating something.

"Wait, that's not right. What you just said..." She stared downstairs, murmuring, "Let me think."

"Think fast," Suo Beihua's voice was like a scream muffled by a pillow. "We're almost out of time."

Mai Mingle looked up. She understood.

She and the thing with three rows of nostrils stared at each other for a few seconds, her large eyes meeting its small, small, small ones.

Behind it, countless more faces were walking up and down the stairs, closing in on the two of them step by step.

'If they surround us, if they start pushing us downstairs, won't we eventually become one of them?'

'Just as I thought…'

Whether it was the appearance of these "people" or the way they were pressing in on her now, it all seemed designed to force Mai Mingle to jump.

At first glance, Robert's fate seemed to be a warning that downstairs was also a dead end. But in reality, wasn't it a hint for Mai Mingle, telling her that since she had returned to normal, it was okay to jump?

It seemed the Nest was using every method it could, a mix of threats and temptations, to make Mai Mingle jump.

"...So what are you getting at?"

By the time Suo Beihua heard her explanation, she was already completely blocked by the crowd. "That you can't jump downstairs either? Just like me?"

She, like Mai Mingle, was probably clinging tightly to the wall's edge to avoid being pushed off. On the countless dissonant faces around them, the same fervent expression flickered.

"No," Mai Mingle said, raising her voice. "I'm afraid our only way out is to jump from here."

"What are you talking about?"

"We'd never do what the Nest is trying to force us to do, right?" Mai Mingle said, her words quickening. "So if it's forcing us toward the only path to survival, wouldn't we instinctively avoid it?"

"But it could have predicted you'd think that way and be deliberately pushing you toward a dead end."

"Right. But you're forgetting, this is the floor where Chaisi appeared. That means the world outside this level should be the reality we came from. If that's not enough for you and you want more proof—you have a transmitter on you, don't you? The Kai Family Hunters can track its signal, right?"

Suo Beihua paused. "You mean..."

"Throw it out," Mai Mingle said.

Suo Beihua said nothing, but a moment later, a small black transmitter was tossed over the wall.

"Now, we wait as long as we can," Mai Mingle said, looking at the faces around them. "Let's see if the Kai Family Hunters appear outside, following the transmitter's signal."

Waiting for the Kai Family Hunters to show up while surrounded by the crowd was no easy task.

Though the force wasn't strong, several hands were now plucking at Mai Mingle's arms, trying to pull her from the edge of the wall into the crowd.

After a few tugs, Mai Mingle didn't move, so they grabbed at her again. Each time, the grip was slightly stronger than the last.

Someone was even lying on the ground, whispering persuasions to her ankles, telling them not to just stand there. Come on over, it seemed to say, there are many things your ankles will like waiting for you. It sounded ridiculous, until Mai Mingle suddenly felt a twitch in her right foot, as if it were about to step forward on its own. A cold sweat broke out all over her, and she hurriedly planted her feet firmly on the ground.

Suo Beihua suddenly cursed in a low voice, "Don't touch me!" After a brief rustling sound, one of the "people" suddenly stumbled and fell from the broken wall. The "person" landed in the grass and vanished as if swallowed by the earth, leaving no trace.

"...It's gone."

Through a sea of smiling faces, Suo Beihua called out, "That thing fell and just disappeared. Even after seeing that, you're still saying we should jump?"

Mai Mingle took a deep breath.

"...Yes. Robert never reflected on his condition. I think for him, it was perfectly natural, a matter of course. It was encouraged, overtly and covertly, by his biology, his culture, and his society, as if satisfying it was the world's responsibility. He never thought to examine it, to understand it, or to transcend it."

She hadn't been able to see Emily for a while, but she still glanced in her direction.

"The transformation seems to target our desires and weaknesses. If we want to jump from here without following in Robert's footsteps, I can only think of one way."

'Resist the transformation.'

She raised her voice and shouted, "Emily, can you still hear me?"

After a long moment, a faint "Mmm" came from behind the countless limbs, faces, and hands.

'That child seems to despise "weakness."'

'She wraps herself in a thick shell, refusing to help others and never expecting help for herself, as if that's the definition of being strong.'

'...Mai Mingle's fear was even greater than hers.'

"If we bow down and surrender to our own desires and fears, we'll sink deeper and deeper into this transformed state, unable to break free.

"I don't know if simply changing ourselves is enough to resist the Nest's influence... but I think, no matter what, it's worth a try."

Mai Mingle reached up and gently touched her own face.

What she was about to do was a greater risk, requiring more courage than breaking into the Nest or diving headfirst into a trap. Just thinking about it, her fear and reluctance nearly overwhelmed her.

"...Since it was my idea, let me go first.

"I haven't returned to normal. This young body *is* my transformation, because it's not my original state.

"In this world, my greatest fear is losing this young body; my greatest desire is to cling to it forever."

She didn't know why she felt like crying, or why her voice was trembling.

"I'm like a death row inmate on reprieve, brought back to the world of the living for a short time by a precious Illusion. Because I'm already eighty-six years old. Believe me... the thing I want most is to remain immersed in this phantom youth forever."