Day of Imprisonment

Luo Xi opened his eyes, slightly dazed.

The roaring in his ears quickly dissipated, fading into silence almost instantly.

Then, he realized he was lying in his bedroom.

“Has the Loop Day been reset? But I didn't die before, and I even got the [Amnesia Great Art].”

In that eerie computer room on the second floor of the Sunshine Internet Cafe, Luo Xi used some means to obtain the card from the person hanging there by their head.

The process wasn't complicated.

He used the corpse of the young man who had died on the second floor as bait to attract the ghost hand's attack, and used the time gap created by the bait to snatch the card from the other person's hand.

It went smoothly.

However, just as Luo Xi obtained the [Amnesia Great Art] and thought he had finally collected all the components of the class card, ready to activate the [Madman], suddenly, the ground began to shake, as if there was an earthquake.

Then, a loud bang.

“It seems like something exploded?”

Luo Xi sat up and turned to look out the window.

It was still dark outside.

“Wait a minute!”

Luo Xi had experienced several Loop Days, and each time the Loop Day started, he would wake up in his bed at home, and then the sky outside would already be bright, and the time would always be July 29th, Monday, at 6:09 AM.

But this time, the sky outside was even darker.

Luo Xi immediately picked up his fully charged phone and looked at the time.

July 29th, Monday, 5:09 AM.

“The wake-up time has been moved forward a full hour?”

Luo Xi immediately got out of bed.

At the same time, his phone received a call.

It was Ke Lan calling.

Luo Xi answered.

“Brother Luo, the time has been moved forward.”

“What did you call me?” Luo Xi was stunned. He looked at the number again, and it was indeed Ke Lan, not Qian Fatty.

Although it was only an hour earlier, the significance was extraordinary.

“An extremely special event must have occurred on the last Loop Day.” Luo Xi was already out the door at this time.

He didn't waste any time, and even forgot to take out the trash this time.

Walking out of the stairwell, it was only 5:14 AM.

The streets at this time had a different feel from the daytime. The vast majority of people wouldn't get up this early, and even the breakfast stalls hadn't opened yet. The streets were deserted, with almost no pedestrians.

“Some of the checkpoint scenes in the Loop Day follow time rules when they open, which can be understood as having fixed 'business hours'. This inevitably creates a possibility, which is that there must be checkpoint scenes that stop operating before 6:00 AM.”

Luo Xi said to himself at this time.

Although there was no evidence to support it, Luo Xi had already determined that this 'time advance' was not accidental, and it was definitely not a preset task within the Imprisonment Day. It must be a sudden situation caused by some kind of special 'accident'.

If you substitute this premise, there will be a possibility.

Will the wake-up time for the next Loop Day remain the same, continue to advance, or return to the original 6:09 AM?

If it's the last possibility, then it means that Luo Xi must race against time now and make good use of this possibly 'only' opportunity to investigate the truth.

Of course, this guess is very subjective, a bit neurotic, and completely untenable. It has a naive feeling that the world revolves around me, but for Luo Xi, no matter which possibility it is, seizing this fleeting time difference to investigate possible clues won't result in any loss, whether successful or not.

This time when he went downstairs, he was still holding that book 'Memory', but this time Luo Xi didn't enter [Nightmare], and he didn't have a splitting headache.

His condition was very good.

Terrifyingly good!

Because, he had just placed the last card component [Amnesia Great Art] into the card album on the way.

[Madman], Activated, Class Card, Activation requires component cards [Mental Confusion] × 1, [Insane] × 1, [Bewilderment] × 3, [Pain] × 2, [Amnesia Great Art] × 1, all obtained.

Activating this [Madman] and placing it in the class card slot of your card album will grant you the corresponding abilities.

[Lie], Activated.

[Absolute Rationality], Activated.

[Continuous Excitement], Added, Activated, you will be in the best mental state continuously, and no power can sway your beliefs—in conclusion, you are already the ultimate madman.

[Enchantment], Added, Activated, human nature can be manipulated, as long as the method is appropriate—everyone will become your pawn.

[Capture] and [Transfer] can be cast on the target.

【Mental Capture】: The target must have severe mental issues. You can acquire a 【Card】 corresponding to their mental illness through physical contact — Please note that you cannot cure them, and you absolutely should not attempt to.

【Mental Transference】: You can, and only can, use the 【Card】 you 【Captured】 to inflict it upon another target — Mental illness is contagious!

Luo Xi began to run.

Initially slowly, but soon it became a full-blown sprint.

Still within the darkness and quiet of the alleyways, a person ran wildly past. It seemed that only by running with all his might, panting heavily, and feeling his heart about to leap out of his chest, could he balance his overly active nerves and thoughts.

“Ha… ha…” Luo Xi gasped for breath. Sprinting at top speed couldn't last long, especially without long-term targeted training. Muscle soreness, numbness in the limbs, and the inability to maintain oxygen supply despite heavy breathing would inevitably occur, leading to breathlessness and suffocation.

But Luo Xi still didn't stop.

He only stopped when the phone rang.

He was completely exhausted, to the point where he was seeing stars.

Luo Xi took out his phone and looked at it.

It was Ke Lan calling.

He answered the call.

“Boss, I have something to tell you.” The other end of the phone was very noisy, it sounded like he was in a car.

“Huff, huff, are you in a car?” Luo Xi asked.

“Yeah, hey boss, what's wrong with you?”

“I'm running… Where did the car come from?”

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“Here's the thing.” Ke Lan briefly explained the situation.

Near where he lived was a gathering place for day laborers, a spontaneously formed casual labor market, so when he went downstairs and turned a corner, he saw a large group of people.

Ke Lan mingled among the crowd looking for day jobs and quickly noticed something.

“200 yuan a day, lunch included, 8 hours, landscaping.”

“400 a day, lunch included, painting walls.”

“2 cards, Chaos Scenario employee, one hour of work, transportation provided, no return transportation, payment settled after work.”

Clearly, this job posting was very 'outstanding' in this casual labor market.

It was too obvious.

It was outrageous!

“Did you get the job?” Luo Xi had caught his breath by now.

“Yeah, the boss seemed quite satisfied with me.”

“One hour, transportation provided but no return, because if you die, there's no need to send you back. Chaos Scenario employee, that's quite novel. Is it a temporary worker for the company? Or is it some administrator acting on their own? But 2 cards, without specifying what cards they are, and settlement after work, that's a trap. They want to freeload. Get out of the car.”

“Well, actually, I realized that too. I got carried away when I got in the car just now. Before calling you, boss, I was thinking about getting out, but, well, I can't get out now.”

“So, you're calling for help?”

“No, boss, you know me. I'm not as weak as Qian Pangzi. Even if it's a trap, I'm confident I can handle it. Besides, this can be considered a discovery, because they only appear to recruit during this time period, which means that most Memory Retrievers couldn't trigger this before this plot.”

Ke Lan lowered his voice for the last sentence.

What he said was true!

Investigating the specifically existing scenario during the hour before waking up, Ke Lan could indeed think of that.

Luo Xi ran out because of this too.

It was just that Ke Lan was luckier. Luo Xi ran all this way and didn't discover or trigger anything.

But Ke Lan's building had a casual labor market downstairs, which was like finding money right under his nose.

“Boss, I just want you to know that I have the confidence to deal with this trouble. Of course, I'm reporting it in advance just in case, so you don't, you don't know how I died this round. But speaking of which, the last round was a bit strange, we didn't…”

“Wait a moment, let's talk about this in the group.”

“Okay!”

“Hang up!”

After Luo Xi finished speaking, he hung up the phone directly.

Afterwards, Luo Xi added the communication numbers of several people, and then pulled them into a group.

Group owner Luo Xi, members Ke Lan, Qian Pangzi, Wu Rui, Mao Ge, and Guo Zening.

Suddenly, the group became lively.

Wu Rui first sent a photo, which was a night scene she took while driving, with the caption: The roads are so empty in the early morning!

Qian Pangzi: Beautiful Wu, can you give me a ride?

Ke Lan: Don't talk, I'm talking business with the boss.

Immediately afterwards, Ke Lan sent out his question.

“Boss, in the last round, I felt an earthquake, and I heard an extremely loud explosion, and then I woke up.”

Qian Pangzi: Me too.

Wu Rui: Me too.

Mao Ge: I thought I was hallucinating at the time, it turned out to be real.

Guo Zening: No, what are you talking about?

Qian Pangzi: Little Guozi, you died early last time, you don't know the situation, don't interfere.

Luo Xi looked at the messages in the group with a solemn expression.

He originally planned to talk about this in person, but since everyone raised it in the group, he might as well analyze it first.

“Wait a moment!” Luo Xi's phone rang again, this time it was Lin Qiqi.

“I was just planning to contact you!” Luo Xi answered the phone and pulled Lin Qiqi into the group.

Qian Pangzi: Hello, Sister Qi.

Ke Lan: Hello, Sister Qi.

Lin Qiqi didn't speak in the group, but said over the phone: "Luo Xi, would you like to know what happened in Yongge Supermarket after you left?"