“That… it’s quite heavy, isn’t it? Please put me down. I can walk myself.”
“It’s fine. It didn’t take much effort. You girls aren’t very heavy at all.”
This implied that Juncheng An had carried many people before.
That’s right. My first impression of him was a cheerful and handsome guy who readily agreed to my request to help me find Xi’er…
“Are you worried about Xi’er?”
Juncheng An suddenly asked, and I was a bit startled that he had guessed my thoughts.
“Why…”
“Ah-ha, I can sense it somewhat… It’s because I’ve been around mind-readers for so long that I’ve also learned to read people. Anyway, the only reason for your silence must be this.”
“Yes. I was originally planning to find Xi’er by myself, but I never imagined I’d be trapped in this kind of place and endure such humiliation…”
Juncheng An coughed a couple of times and said,
“Ahem, I think it should be fine… Well, before I came in here, the guy who took Xi’er has already been dealt with. What’s left is… uh, anyway, they shouldn’t do anything to Xi’er.”
“They?”
Was he talking about friends? Or companions?
If the person who took Xi’er was dealt with, it meant Juncheng An worked with his companions to do it.
Amazing…
“To put it bluntly, it’s my harem.”
“That’s quite direct.”
Harem, that’s the one, right? One man and multiple women.
I didn’t expect him to admit it so directly. It felt strange.
“Honestly, I’d rather say no, but if I did, I’d probably be dead. Well, in this situation, it’s practically the same as being dead.”
I somehow felt that his method was good. Logically, dating so many people would be considered being a scumbag, but Juncheng An saying it like this didn’t make him seem disgusting to me.
Curious…
It was then that I noticed Juncheng An had found a staircase leading down. Unlike the spiral staircase we took earlier, this was a common straight staircase, but it was deep… Hmm?
Is that… someone?
It’s really a person!
Suddenly spotting someone other than ourselves, I excitedly pointed ahead and shouted.
“Look! There’s someone ahead!”
“Oh! Really… Amazing, let’s go check it out. Ah! They’re leaving! Let’s chase them!”
Juncheng An started down the stairs, and the people opposite also began to descend. Thinking of catching up with them quickly, I started running down despite the danger, only for the people opposite to also start running down.
Wait… Why are they running away!
In a place like this, wouldn’t it be better for everyone to help each other!
…Can’t catch up…
“Are you alright? Please put me down…”
“Uh, just for a moment. Let me rest a bit.”
This time, Juncheng An put me down. It was then I noticed that the people opposite had also become two!
There was one person just now, and suddenly there were two? …Could it be!
“Um, can you give me my clothes back?”
“Hmm? Sure, but they’re not dry yet.”
“It’s okay, I’m not going to wear them.”
“Ah?”
After taking my clothes from Juncheng An’s hands, I didn’t even think and threw them down.
Then, the bundle of clothes scattered in the air, drifting towards the two figures ahead. Something covered their heads.
I picked it up, and it was my clothes that I had just thrown down.
“As expected… the people ahead were ourselves.”
“Ah… I was wondering if there would be something like that, and it actually happened.”
Juncheng An sighed and said in a helpless tone.
“That’s the Ghost Wall illusion, right.”
Ghost Wall illusion?
Infinite… which means we’ll never reach the bottom.
“This is terrible. The downward passage is an infinite loop. It seems we haven’t descended at all since we started. Let’s go back to the original room first.”
“Yeah, you don’t need to carry me anymore. My feet don’t hurt too much now.”
“Really? If it starts hurting again, be sure to tell me.”
This person is truly gentle. Gentle, handsome, and never shrinks back, which is why he can legitimately have a harem, I suppose.
Returning to the previous room, since the downward path was impassable, we moved horizontally to other areas and finally arrived at another staircase leading down.
This time, it was a staircase similar to the first circular one we descended, but this structure…
“It’s no good… A Penrose staircase.”
“Hmm? What’s that?”
“A famous geometric paradox. Whether you go down or up, you can never reach the end. The Penrose staircase might be known…”
“Ah, Escher, the master of optical illusions, I have some impression… So that’s it, the connected infinite staircase.”
“Yes, I believe this place is the same as the stairs earlier.”
Juncheng An went back to the neighboring room, grabbed a vase, and threw it down.
Then the falling vase appeared from above, accelerating under gravity, and finally reached terminal velocity.
“Whoa, so… if you peed here, it would rain down from above…”
“No, because it keeps accelerating, it will eventually break down into mist.”
“That makes it even more unpleasant.”
“Speaking of which, you mentioned peeing again. Was that intentional?”
“Ahem, no, no, it just came to mind naturally.”
Hmph, I’ll just assume that’s the case.
“But looking at it from a different perspective, this phenomenon isn’t necessarily a bad thing, is it?”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
Juncheng An crossed his arms and peered down, muttering, ‘I can see my own head,’
He pointed below and turned to look at me, saying,
“Because of this, it’s a perpetual motion machine, right?”
Perpetual motion machine? Oh… I see.
“Now that you mention it, that’s true. If we pour a lot of water here and install a waterwheel, we can get infinite power.”
“Humanity’s energy problem is solved. That’s amazing.”
She can still make lighthearted remarks. This person has a truly large heart.
Normally, a normal person would panic and do foolish things upon realizing they were trapped in an infinite loop.
Or perhaps he’s seen so many worse situations that he’s become accustomed to it?
Behind his calmness, there must be untold stories…
“Then it seems we have no choice but to use the last resort.”
“The last resort?”
“Prying open the floor!”
He said it and then immediately started prying open the floor.
“Hmm? It’s a different space.”
When the floor was lifted, it didn’t reveal more floor, but directly opened into another space.
“It seems the space in this damn place is completely chaotic.”
Juncheng An jumped into the newly appeared room first, then extended his hands towards me, signaling me to jump down, and he would catch me.
I feel like even if I wasn’t wearing anything in front of him now, I wouldn’t feel particularly shy… No, still…
At least I should cover my private parts, otherwise, I’d be too embarrassed to show myself…
I hesitated for a moment, then finally decided to jump, treating it like diving, closing my eyes so I couldn’t see anything.
I just jumped, and he held me in his arms.
After catching me, Juncheng An placed me on the ground without any further action. It was the same when he carried me earlier. This person has principles.
But in other words, he doesn’t consider me part of his harem…
No, there’s no reason to feel disappointed. Don’t be influenced by the bridge effect, me.
This isn’t love, definitely not.
“Generally, just like we thought at the beginning, as long as we keep going down, we’ll definitely reach the ground. But in this situation, coordinates and directions are useless because we have no idea where anything leads to… To put it simply, this place is…”
“Even in games like Portal, there are teleporters. Here, there’s nothing… Ha… However, among the people I know, there’s only one who can create this kind of paradoxical phenomenon… Ah, now there are two.”
“Someone can do that?”
“Yes, that pair of master and servant. Paradox demons have the ability to create paradoxes and distort phenomena. Miss Shirley has demonstrated it to me many times.”
“Then, could this all be due to that Miss Shirley…”
“No, it’s not her, and it’s not Lianbing.”
“Because Miss Shirley cannot possibly reach here, ever. She is Laplace’s Demon, the opposite of truth, the chaos opposite to the initial order. And this is the origin of all things. Even Laplace cannot touch this place.”
I don’t fully understand, but I grasp Juncheng An’s meaning. The person who can create this phenomenon couldn’t possibly be here.
“I told you before that this world was created by you.”
“Yes, and that I am the world itself.”
“I still think so now, and this phenomenon is the same. You said before that you wanted to become the ruler of this world.”
“I don’t know if that statement was the trigger, or if you were always the ruler here…”
Don’t look at me like that.
His gaze held no doubt, only certainty. His calm eyes seemed to see through everything.
Juncheng An looked at me quietly and asked,
“Lou Ling, don’t you want to leave here?”
I froze on the spot.
Do I… not want to leave here?
I don’t know…
If I had to say, I wouldn’t want to stay here for even a moment. Not at all.
I want to leave this damned place immediately. I’ve had enough.
If I don’t want to stay here, then why did I turn this place into an infinitely looping room…?
There’s nothing here. Not even a place to use the restroom…
What’s so good about this place that I have to stay?
There is…
He is here.
Looking at Juncheng An, I suddenly understood something.
Could it be… it’s not that I don’t want to leave, but that I want to keep him here?
I don’t want him to leave?
I don’t want to leave Juncheng An’s side, so I want to trap him here… So that’s how it is…
It’s not that I don’t want to leave, it’s that I don’t want to leave his side…
Suddenly realizing this, I hugged myself, overcome with shame.
It can’t be…
Everything has been seen.
Ah… Ahhhhhhh…
I feel so shy I could cry… My eyes are stinging, and tears are about to fall.
“Don’t… look at me…”
Suddenly, he pushed me down and pinned me underneath him.
“Is it me you desire?”
