{Without shoes, your speed was limited. The Man in the Black Trench Coat was closing in fast.}
{You could even hear the heavy thud of his footsteps just a few meters behind you.}
{A powerful sense of danger surged through your body, triggering a massive rush of adrenaline. Your pace picked up slightly, barely enough to keep a bit of distance between you and him.}
{At that moment, you finally reached Building 4!}
{You rushed into the stairwell and began sprinting toward the fifteenth floor with everything you had.}
{Stairs, with their constant turns, didn't allow for full sprinting speed. Here, endurance was everything.}
{Gritting your teeth, you powered upward, while the Man in the Black Trench Coat followed close behind.}
{Fourth floor.}
{Fifth floor.}
{Your legs grew heavier with each step. You were slowing down without even realizing it.}
{Seventh floor.}
{Eighth floor.}
{You could no longer run upright. Clinging to the handrails, you pulled yourself upward, panting, gasping for breath.}
{Eleventh floor.}
{You had reached your limit. You couldn't go on. The Man in the Black Trench Coat was only half a floor behind.}
{On all fours now, you tried to crawl upward, but your progress was painfully slow. He was gaining on you with every step.}
{When he was just three steps away, you looked up. You were halfway past the eleventh floor.}
{You stopped the simulation.}
{Simulation End. Duration: 3 hours and 53 minutes. Current Mental Value: 57.}
Consciousness Return. Andrew collapsed on his bed, gasping for air, drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through in an instant. He was completely exhausted.
Though it was only his consciousness that had entered the simulation, the kind of exhaustion that came from pushing past all limits was like a memory etched into the soul.
The livestream viewers were stunned. They couldn't understand how Andrew, who had been calmly lying in bed just a second ago, now looked like he had run a full marathon.
"Did we miss something just now? I only blinked!"
"Can anyone explain what happened? Why does Andrew suddenly look like he's about to pass out from exhaustion?"
"Did we all just black out for a moment?!"
Even the international research teams were baffled. They had no clue what had happened, but they were certain something had.
They replayed the footage again and again, frame by frame, but couldn't find a single clue. Still, something about it all felt off
"Could it be… invisible rules? A ghost?"
A researcher finally offered a theory. It seemed the only logical explanation.
But even that didn't quite add up. In the Rule Horror, ghosts were visible. If Andrew had triggered a rule, he would have been wiped out, not reduced to a sweaty, panting mess. It's like someone who had just run 20 kilometers straight.
"Bring me Andrew's medical file, right now!" The lead researcher barked, brows furrowed tightly.
Everything on screen looked normal, yet every second dripped with uncanny tension.
They pored over Andrew's file again and again. There were no signs of asthma, no relevant medical history.
"What in the world just happened?!"
At that moment, over a billion viewers worldwide were frowning, trying to figure it out.
And then one bullet comment flashed across the screen, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Doesn't it look like Andrew just woke up from a nightmare?"
Under normal circumstances, this would be dismissed as nonsense. After all, Andrew had been wide awake just moments before.
But somehow, the theory fit. Perfectly.
The way he had suddenly sat up—panting, sweating, shaken—it was exactly how someone looks when jolted awake from a horrific nightmare.
So what if… he had just experienced a nightmare in that single moment? A nightmare so terrifying it left his body exhausted?
Ridiculous. And yet… oddly convincing.
Back to Andrew.
Because his body hadn't actually collapsed from physical exertion, he recovered quickly. After a few deep breaths and a long drink of water, he lay back down and reentered the Simulator.
{Simulation Start!!!}
{You checked the time, it's 8:15 PM. The rooster crow would occur at 0:13 a.m., which meant you had 3 hours and 58 minutes to prepare.}
{Plenty of time. You vowed that this time you would be ready and you would succeed in one go.}
{You closed your eyes, recalling all the problems from the last simulation, and began working through them one by one.}
{Two and a half hours later, wearing your fastest running shoes and a backpack filled with gear, you silently slipped out of your house and headed to the basement.}
{Before entering, you checked the time, it's 10:31 PM. You took a deep breath and stepped inside, heading toward the spot where you had last encountered the Man in the Black Trench Coat.}
{This time, you were deliberately arriving early, to test whether he only appeared near midnight.}
{You found the black Passat but saw no sign of him. It was 10:34 PM.}
{You remembered that when you had come down here to find the Basement Chapter rule, it had also been night, but you hadn't encountered the Man in the Black Trench Coat.}
{You guessed it wasn't the location, it was the time. He simply hadn't appeared yet.}
{While waiting, you started laying traps to buy yourself more time during the eventual chase.}
{You set an alarm for 11:00. When it rang, there was still no sign of him.}
{Frowning, you wondered. Would coming early prevent him from appearing?}
{You shook your head. No, it must be the time. You resumed laying traps along the stairwell.}
{11:10 PM. The alarm rang again. Still no Man in the Black Trench Coat.}
{Deeply puzzled now, you stopped your preparations and returned to the black Passat to wait.}
{You were about to consider leaving and re-entering later when suddenly you heard footsteps. And the distinctive sound of suitcase wheels scraping against the floor.}
{The Man in the Black Trench Coat had appeared.}
{You glanced at your watch, it's 11:13 PM.}
{You frowned. Another thirteen minutes past the hour?}
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