In Virtual Reality 63☆ Red Stairwell (END)

With a swift slash of the kitchen knife, the chestnut-coloured wooden door split open, sending wood chips flying everywhere. Unfortunately, one of the chips scratched the character avatar's face, leaving a thin, red line on their fair skin.

The countdown timer in the upper right corner was entirely covered in a layer of grey-black, rendering it completely frozen.

Peeking through the partially broken bedroom door, Xu Jin Yi caught a glimpse of the familiar living room.

At that moment, a whistling sound came behind her, causing Xu Jin Yi to spin around and swing her kitchen knife towards the not-yet-completely shattered wooden door.

The person in the pink hoodie fell backwards, and the female ghost's twisted fingers pointed towards the direction she fell, revealing a distorted expression on her stitched-up face. With a swift and strong throw, Xu Jin Yi saw the blade hit the female ghost's chest, causing it to momentarily pause in movement due to the huge force. Fortunately, this pause allowed Xu Jin Yi to slip into the room from outside the door.

She could hear the crisp sound of her character's tailbone as she hit the ground.

Xu Jin Yi looked up at the opening she had just fallen through, but to her surprise, it wasn't the wooden door but a theft-proof iron door that led to the hallway in the lobby. Unlike the dark green theft-proof iron door, this door was black.

Xu Jin Yi rose to her feet and grasped the door handle, but it refused to yield. The shoe cabinet adjacent to the security door was open, holding two pairs of shoes: black leather and white high heels.

"That...." suddenly, a woman's voice spoke.

Xu Jin Yi spun around abruptly. In the living room, a man and a woman were seated opposite each other, separated by a small coffee table.

The man's back was facing her, obscuring his features. Conversely, the woman lowered her gaze and spoke softly, "I'm pregnant."

Xu Jin Yi used the opportunity to inspect her surroundings. The placement of objects remained unchanged, akin to a monochrome photograph, save for the colours and the man and woman.

In this grayscale world, an uneasy silence hung over the room.

Xu Jin Yi strode forward, even patting the thick sofa, but failed to capture the attention of the individuals in the black and white photo.

This place seemed different from before. Could it be her so-called "inner world"?

Pondering for a moment, Xu Jin Yi surveyed the area. Everything appeared identical except for the bedroom door, which had been locked and then dismantled by Xu Jin Yi with a kitchen knife. However, it had vanished without a trace, replaced by a pallid white wall. She reached out and touched it, but there was no interactive button.

It was as if it had always been a wall.

Then she heard a sound behind her.

"Pregnant..." The man hesitated before uttering hoarsely, "We cannot afford to raise a child; you must abort it."

"..."

The sound of the bowl and chopsticks clashing was sharp, and the man's chewing was equally so. The woman's breathing grew weak at that moment.

"I have found a job," the woman spoke softly, still obediently. "At Sunflower Primary School. You know, I have some musical knowledge. Once the child is born, the elementary school there provides staff benefits..."

"I have told you before! Get an abortion!" The man exclaimed. "Where did you get the money to have a baby? You don't even work. I work hard outside, and I'm exhausted. Aren't you the one who doesn't care about me?"

"I didn't mean that," the woman explained hurriedly. "I, I have been posting ads lately. When students around here see them, I can earn some money by tutoring them. I can also share the earnings with you, so we don't have to abort the baby..."

"Are you mad?" The man slammed his chopsticks onto the table with a loud pop. Like a raging bull, his slightly inebriated face turned entirely red. "What money can you earn? How much can you earn? I have been single-handedly supporting this family for years; what have you done?"

"Oh! I just cleaned the house, bought some things, and cooked a little," the woman replied.

"While I was bowing and scraping to others outside, you were enjoying comfort at home. And now you want to have a baby? As if having a baby dosn't costs money! You haven't earned any money, so you don't know how difficult it is to earn it!"

The man unsteadily stood up, grabbed a chopstick carelessly, and thrust it straight into the woman's eye, who was now terrified.

"Ah!!!"

A thunderbolt roared across the sky and drowned out the woman's screams.

"How dare you look at me like that..." The man stumbled past Xu Jin Yi, knelt down, and gazed at the bleeding woman on the ground, revealing a twisted smile. "You are nothing," As his hand made contact with the woman's face, he savoured the sound of her shattered scream and relished in her pain. "You're nothing!" he sneered. "Without me, you're nothing!"

Xu Jin Yi hesitated, wanting to intervene, but her outstretched fist passed through the man's body without any effect. She tried to use the deadly chopsticks or the kitchen knife, but they remained unresponsive.

A sudden clap of thunder marked the moment when the man began to beat the pregnant woman to death, and Xu Jin Yi could only watch in horror.

Even after he regained his senses, the man showed no remorse as he dismembered the body and destroyed the evidence.

In this black-and-white world, the colour of blood was the only thing that remained vivid.

Silent and still, Xu Jin Yi stood in the living room, her gaze fixed on the frozen timers in the upper left and right corners of her vision. She couldn't help but notice the clock above her head, and her eyes trembled slightly.

The slow-moving pointer suddenly accelerated, circling round and round as if to match the racing of her heart.

Finally, after eight dizzying loops, the clock finally returned to its slow-moving pace, like a turtle retreating into its shell.

The man's house was once again peaceful, with the rain the only thing breaking the silence.

Now wearing a sweatshirt, he descended the stairs, and Xu Jin Yi followed.

As he strolled around the first floor, he noticed a high school girl named Fang Xiao Hong in her uniform.

He recalled the woman's words from a few days prior and observed as the high school girl hastily concealed a paper. Despite Fang Xiao Hong's feigned smile and clumsy excuse, the man discerned her 'true' intentions.

Summit's Second Gate High School, Sunflower Primary School...

Xu Jin Yi positioned herself behind Li Dong, gazing upon the familiar school uniform.

Her formative years were spent at Sunflower Primary School and Jiang City Seventh High School for high school. However, Summit's Second Gate High School was situated on the opposite side of the river from Jiang. When Xu Jin Yi visited the mall across the river, she saw numerous students dressed in the same uniform.

Suddenly, it dawned on her. Could this game be based on real-life locations?

Xu Jin Yi scrunched her face in thought and silently observed her surroundings.

Ever since she had entered this black-and-white world, she had been unable to interact with anything here. But on her last loop, she had hoisted the wooden plank high and struck the scoundrel with a dog's head, all while the world was still in colour.

But was this black-and-white world merely a reflection of the reality already etched into existence and couldn't be altered?

If so, why was she here?

Xu Jin Yi anxiously bit her lip, furrowing her delicate eyebrows as she pondered. Was the bedroom door just a gateway for players to unlock and discover the "truth"?

A single-player role-playing game must have a beginning and an end.

【BAD END（坏结局）】

【HAPPY END（好结局）】

【TRUTH END（真结局）】

【NORMAL END（普通结局）】

Games often offered players a variety of endings, with the most basic being good or bad. More complex games could have a greater range of conclusions to explore. For instance, Xu Jin Yi once played a mini-game with an astonishing 107 different endings!

In 《Red Stairwell》, being trapped in an endless loop with NPC 【Li Dong】 could be seen as an ending. This type of conclusion would typically be categorized as either bad or normal.

For players who enjoy exploring, leading NPC 【Fang Xiao Hong】 out of the residential building in 【Li Dong's Memories】 would be a good ending.

But what about the bedroom door that refused to open? In the black-and-white world, only blood-red history flowed.

Xu Jin Yi could not save the woman, nor could she rescue the high school girl before her. What kind of ending was this?

If no players had been present, like Xu Jin Yi who stood still, gazing blankly at the man smashing the girl's head against the wall, this was how the story would have been. Like a black and white film strip that had already been printed, the victim's pleas and cries were etched inside this old residential building, drowned out by the muffled thunder.

But who would have known?

Fang Xiao Hong's struggles gradually ceased as the man dragged the young girl up the stairs like an animal. Her raven locks were matted with crimson liquid and obediently adhered to her forehead and temples. She tightly shut her eyes, resembling a sleeping Snow White.

Oh, the princess in the fairytale never bled, but here she was.

Xu Jin Yi's throat emitted only a faint gasping sound as if it were blocked by numerous hair strands. She couldn't resist taking a step forward.

However, she felt powerless. The game development team had never allowed players to alter history. Behind the forbidden bedroom's door, in the monochromatic world, lay a narrative that could never be changed.

"Is this..." Xu Jin Yi struggled to speak, "...the true ending?"

'No, I can't concede defeat. It's just a game, perhaps there's something I haven't noticed. As long as I am more vigilant and engage in more experimentation and speculation, I will surely uncover the ending. This cannot be the true ending, can it?' Xu Jin Yi thought.

She shut her eyes and, upon reopening them, followed Li Dong's footsteps.

The grey-black timer in the top right corner abruptly began to jump vigorously. However, the initial countdown of roughly five minutes began to diminish at triple the speed.

At this rate, the timer would last only a minute and some seconds!

The sudden and rapid countdown gave Xu Jin Yi a foreboding feeling, but she couldn't find a breakthrough point based on the current situation.

Halting her thoughts, she frantically pressed buttons, taking three steps and a leap. This method was inefficient but effective in discovering any unnoticed interactive points. It had made Xu Jin Yi invincible in past games.

But as she climbed, she couldn't find any interactive points until Li Dong shut the burglar-proof door, dragging the girl up the stairs at an unknown speed. By the time Xu Jin Yi reached the top floor, the door was already tightly closed.

She stood outside, unable to open it, as the countdown in the upper right corner was shortened three times, leaving only fifteen seconds.

What should she do? Wait for the next restart?

Xu Jin Yi kicked the burglar-proof door hard, but an air wall stopped her, silencing her efforts.

...Wait a minute.

She suddenly turned around, and thunder outside the window flashed, illuminating the stairwell that was engulfed in darkness.

In the first 【Li Dong's memory】, when she carried Fang Xiao Hong down the stairs with a wooden board, she saw someone downstairs!

Xu Jin Yi's eyes lit up, and she glanced again at the upper right corner.

Thirteen seconds...

Xu Jin Yi gritted her teeth, took a few strides forward, seated herself squarely on the sleek black handrail, and slid down!

In reality, Xu Jin Yi's pants would have burst into flames from the friction. But, despite everything, when the countdown hit zero, all she saw was a boy's blue and white school uniform.

A flash of white light and Xu Jin Yi's vision returned to pure darkness.

She had entered the initial interface of the VR headset, a black space brimming with countless single-player games.

She blinked.

But the game she had just played, 《Red Stairwell》 was nowhere to be found.

——— Translators Notes ———

Sunflower Primary School 太阳花中学

太阳 (tài yáng) - sun

花 (huā) -flower.

中学 (zhōng xué) -middle school