Chapter 1013

It seemed to have been forgotten for many years here. Except for the necessary corridor lights at the stairwell, there was no light anywhere else. Then, he saw the sign for the restroom.

Even when forced into such a position, he still hadn't forgotten the basic etiquette of society, for example, not spitting everywhere.

With a "waa" sound.

Adam's dinner was all vomited into the sink. Immediately, amidst the pain of his esophagus being burned and violent coughing, he felt much better.

When life is in crisis, the human body secretes a large amount of adrenaline, and now, the effects of those precious hormones had passed, and the aftereffects of excessive exercise were slowly emerging.

He couldn't run anymore, but listening to the sound, it seemed…… no one was chasing him?

This is very abnormal.

If the entire orchestra had been replaced, why would the monsters let him go?

He couldn't help but question himself: was that thrilling experience just some kind of sudden mental illness?

Raising his trembling hand, Adam lit a cigarette.

Instantly, smoke filled this narrow space, bringing him some comfort and allowing his thinking to return temporarily.

Adam had no history of mental illness, and in his family lineage, no relative had ever suffered from such a disease.

But what he saw on stage was too much like the dream-like delusions one sees after falling into madness, transcendental hallucinations.

But if it wasn't a mental illness, then what could it be?

Adam thought about it, and his meager relevant knowledge reserve only reminded him of rumors about junkies—some creators with dried-up inspiration would use illegal drugs to get material from hell.

It is said that the world seen after taking hallucinogens is just as crazy, just as chaotic, and just as illogical.

But Adam had been self-disciplined since childhood, fearing that those chemicals that acted directly on the nervous system would destroy his senses, making his fingers dull and his ears lose the ability to distinguish sounds.

So…… it wasn't what he thought.

What he saw, heard, and touched was mostly "reality," that the world had a problem, not that his cognitive system had a fault.

And there was one point that could not be refuted—Luján broke his violin.

When the violin was destroyed, his heart almost stopped beating; the pain, loss, and shock at that time could not be fake.

His relationship with Luján was limited to cold professional interaction, but Luján as a professional, and anyone in the orchestra, should not have engaged in behavior like destroying a precious instrument.

Undoubtedly, things were far from ordinary.

Everything was not right.

Except for himself.

He threw the cigarette butt into the toilet, pressed tightly against the edge of the washbasin, and stared at himself in the mirror.

When his gaze gradually focused, he was surprised to find that what was reflected in the mirror was not his figure.

It turned out that the mirror above the washbasin had been messily painted with a huge black rectangle, and from it came bursts of low mechanical roaring, as if from a distant sawmill.

"!"

Adam left the washroom in a hurry, closed the door hard, leaned against the opposite wall, and watched the tightly closed door vigilantly, as if something would open the door and chase him.

At this moment, a new detail surfaced in his memory:

There was also a blackened area on the wall of the dressing room, right behind his seat, facing the back of his head.

Logically speaking, no matter when, he should have been able to see it sitting there, but he didn't.

Not only that, there was the same black mark in his hotel room, right on the painting hanging at the head of the bed.

Did the hotel staff do this?

When and why did they do this?

Why did he only remember these at this moment?

That viral video was not a recent fresh thing either; why did he mistakenly think it was new before?

In fact, these videos had been circulating for months, lurking like ghosts in every corner of his life.

Whether it was in the cities of the tour, performance venues, or windows, billboards, even small rooms and transitional spaces, people were quietly painting these……

"Wait……"

Some memories surfaced quietly, and Adam was suddenly shocked at this moment.

——That was the symbol of a door.

Not only that, in those videos, there was also a second half, recording some unknown existence walking out of it, crossing over.

All along, these "anomalies" had been staged before his eyes time and time again, but they were filtered, locked in the backstage of the world, and isolated outside his consciousness.

Until this moment, they were shoved in his face.

Did I develop schizophrenia?

"No, the situation is not like this."

Adam continued to think, but before his thinking could unfold, a sense of unreasoned sluggishness spread through his brain.

The black symbol blocked his mind, interfered with his thinking, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't expel it.

Adam couldn't think of anything else.

Adam looked back at the narrow corridor he had just passed through; in the darkness in the distance, a standing black rectangle appeared clearly.

From that direction came increasingly dense footsteps; they were not running, but approaching with fast steps, as if driving him to act.

Adam had to escape this building and seek help.

But who to look for?

……

"Is the black rectangle a door? This setting is quite interesting, suitable as a setting in a superpower-themed work."

"If 3125's specific anomalies could be cracked and converted into technology usable by the galaxy, interstellar travel would be much more convenient, right?"

"Don't mess around. So many people died from the Foundation researching anti-memetic entities. Who knows what other big pits are in this field…… What's more, 3125 is classified as a supreme divinity. Even if He really fell, who can ensure that a supreme divinity won't really resurrect after falling……"

……

19:30.

Concert hall, first floor.

Run, run, Adam ran all the way toward the outside of the concert hall.

Adam was dizzy from winding through the maze-like corridors and stairs, but he finally ran back to the lobby, where there was a door leading directly to the outside.

But strangely, not only did no meat-block monsters try to intercept him along the way, but the stage and auditorium were also empty at this time, and the monsters were nowhere to be found.

"Where are the people?"

Adam was worried, but isn't the current situation quite good? The monsters have all left, and he can smoothly leave this blasphemous concert hall and return to the normal human world.

Outside the door was a narrow path, which clung to the back of the concert hall, ending in a dimly lit dead end and a loading area piled with goods, with a few lonely, silent trucks parked around.

Night had fallen, and the summer evening breeze was blowing gently, rolling away much of the heat from Adam's body.

But what truly made him feel cold to the bone was the scene he saw next.

Walking quickly along the path, Adam arrived at the main road. On the entire road, there were only abandoned vehicles.

They were all empty, and most of the doors were wide open, just like the scenes common in doomsday-themed movies where panicked crowds see the road blocked and abandon their vehicles to flee for their lives.

This is indeed the end of the world, Adam thought.

Huge figures were wandering the streets, moving more than ten meters with each stride. They were so dark and thin that Adam had almost not noticed them.

Not far from the main road, the terrified screams of a crowd rang out, but they were quickly covered by grotesque, terrifying shrieks.

That was the only way for Adam to escape.

In the middle of summer, Adam felt cold all over, his body trembling uncontrollably.

In the bottom of his heart, the last shred of reason echoed:

"It's not just the concert hall."

"Everyone has suffered."

But a last-ditch effort is always better than sitting and waiting for death. Adam took a deep breath, stabilized his mindset, and his goal quietly changed to living a little longer in this world-shaking anomaly.

Even if it's just one minute.

Adam approached the main road carefully, using the abandoned vehicles to hide his figure, and repeatedly confirmed that no monsters were staring at him before heading to the next cover.

Just when he thought he was doing a great job, a monster invaded by the anomaly suddenly poked its head out from the street corner, calling its companions in a strange language, pointing directly at Adam's direction.

Adam stopped immediately, his heartbeat like a drum.

In an instant, seventeen or eighteen non-human creatures swarmed over from the main road.

Two of them were carrying some kind of cargo—those were two lifeless, ragged humans.

Their clothes were roughly torn open, and the clothes inside were stained a shocking blood red.

One of the monsters, upon seeing Adam, threw the human in its hand to the side of the street without hesitation.

The person fell in front of the wheel of a car, emitting a painful moan upon landing, facing the ground. Only after the body became still did they take a deep breath, followed by a non-human and painful wail. ===== CHAPTER 1015 =====