The dark building had only a single light in the center of the second floor.
It was like the only flickering bonfire in a dense forest, luring instinctively light-seeking moths.
Sophia frowned: "What is that place? I haven't been inside yet."
"It's a studio, for mechanical research."
Li Andy squinted, looking at the light.
That was Professor Higgins' studio; he had been there once in Molly's body.
"Ah! Ah!"
Just then, a crow cawed in the air.
The sudden sound startled Sophia, making her tremble, but then she looked up at the dark sky, sighed in relief, and mumbled: "Scaring myself..."
...Li Andy gave her a strange look.
"Why are you looking at me? Let's go..."
Sophia pouted in confusion and walked ahead.
Li Andy shrugged and followed closely.
The two of them moved stealthily, their nerves on edge.
To their surprise, the journey was incredibly smooth, almost abnormally so.
The expected scenarios of monsters jumping out or ambushes from the bushes didn't happen; it didn't feel like a horror game at all.
They arrived not far from the studio entrance.
Sophia suddenly stopped.
Li Andy didn't react in time, and his entire body pressed against her back.
The girl's body temperature dispelled the chill of the night wind.
Perhaps due to nervousness, Sophia seemed to have broken out in a light sweat.
"There's a smell of blood..."
Sophia pulled a small cleaver from her long stocking, her expression tense.
Li Andy looked over her shoulder towards the studio.
Through the crack in the door, he saw Professor Higgins cutting and carving a strange human figure.
Gears, steel bars, and wooden blocks were intricately arranged.
The entire scene contained no red, yet there was a faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood in the air.
Li Andy patted Sophia's back, and as she looked at him in bewilderment, he walked to the studio and grandly pushed open the door.
Professor Higgins looked up, stopped what he was doing, and asked with surprise: "Who are you?"
Li Andy didn't answer but asked in return: "Professor, it's very late now, aren't you going home?"
"Is it late?" Professor Higgins seemed a bit confused, as if he couldn't see the night outside the window.
"Yes, your family is still waiting for you."
"Oh, right! My family is still waiting for me!"
Professor Higgins suddenly understood, but his gaze immediately dimmed.
"But... I have to finish my work before I can leave. Otherwise, those guys will fire me."
"I see, what are you doing then?" Li Andy asked again.
"I'm modifying a puppet! This is a great work!"
Professor Higgins showed them the incredibly crude puppet on the table.
"Look, doesn't she look very human? This skin, this hair, this eyeball..."
Sophia frowned at the puppet and mumbled: "Where does it have skin and hair?"
Then she sniffed, and suddenly felt the smell of blood in the air seemed to grow heavier, and her right hand behind her couldn't help but tighten its grip on the cleaver.
"Professor..."
Li Andy pointed to the table and said, "That's not a puppet, that's a person."
Professor Higgins was amused, "Student, you really know how to compliment people."
"I'm not complimenting anyone, Professor, would you take another look?"
Professor Higgins lowered his head again and froze.
For some reason, the simple wooden puppet suddenly had half of its body covered in crimson, rotting flesh.
The puppet's half-flesh face stared at him with an empty, desperate gaze.
Skin adhered to iron plates, steel pipes pierced through fat, and gears were embedded in muscle.
It was as if a living person had been brutally transformed into this appearance.
Watching the sudden change in front of her, Sophia covered her mouth in horror: "Andy..."
Li Andy turned back, soothed her with his eyes, and then continued to face Professor Higgins: "Professor, who do you think this person resembles?"
"Resembles whom?"
Professor Higgins was stunned.
"She is... She is Shirley! My daughter!"
"Wuwuwu... Shirley, Shirley! My daughter!"
Professor Higgins started to cry.
The surrounding air began to twist with his cries, and the once clean studio transformed into a red slaughterhouse.
Various limbs and organs adhered to the parts and machinery in the room, twitching slightly as if in symbiosis.
Sophia's hair stood on end, her teeth chattered uncontrollably, and her fingers gripping the cleaver turned slightly white.
She gritted her teeth and whispered, "Andy, what did you do? He... how did he become like this? I... I don't want to die yet..."
"Shh—be quiet."
Li Andy grabbed her other hand and asked Professor Higgins: "Professor, what did you remember?"
Professor Higgins clutched his head and painfully knelt on the ground: "I remembered, I remembered my daughter... I made her into a puppet... She died!"
"Wuwu..."
"No, that's not right!"
"I died too!"
"But I came back to life!"
"Mother, it was Mother who made me open my eyes again!"
"But she said... we don't have real heartbeats..."
"We are all fake..."
Wuwuwu...
Professor Higgins cried and pounded his head.
Li Andy swallowed hard and continued to ask: "Then where is 'Mother' now?"
Professor Higgins suddenly stopped, and the air became eerily quiet.
A few seconds later, he cried out again, tears of blood streaming down his face!
The flesh and blood in the room trembled with him, as if wailing in unison!
Li Andy felt a chill down his spine, and it seemed as if something was moving in his pants pocket.
He pulled it out and found that the muzzle of the ancient revolver had somehow transformed into a long, slender mouth.
It turned its "head" and shouted at Andy in a sharp voice: "Mama!"
"Holy crap!"
Li Andy threw it away, then grabbed Sophia's hand and ran.
"Wha-what's going on?!"
Sophia's arm was covered in goosebumps.
"This place is about to become a 'Domain,' hurry and get out!"
Li Andy said as he ran, kicking open the door that had grown eyes.
"What 'Domain'?" Sophia asked, catching her breath.
"A Domain is an area where reality and illusion are intertwined!"
Li Andy quickly explained, "This is an occult phenomenon caused by the invasion of the spirit world!
If you compare the spirit world to a real shadow, then the current situation is that your shadow is fighting with you for dominance!
To put it simply, it's a distorted reality dungeon!"
Dungeon?
What is that?
I don't understand...
Sophia's expression froze for a second, and she decided to give up thinking. She gritted her teeth and quickly caught up with Andy, walking beside him, "What happens if we can't escape?!"
Li Andy's face was grim: "If we're lucky, we can survive for a few days inside, find the anomaly, then break it down and finally leave;
If we're unlucky... we'll be assimilated by this area and ultimately lost forever!"
He remembered very clearly that the game's ending was the entire world transforming into a Domain, with everyone sinking into it, unwilling to wake up, and finally being dragged into the Lost Realm!
