Want to be human, but cube-like

But the spread of the cracks could no longer be stopped.

Biting her lower lip tightly, Alex didn't have time to check the mini-map. She followed the witch's hands and leaped into the air, taking two steps to climb higher and stand on the witch's arms.

Alex forcefully plunged the tip of the knife into the witch's arm, gripped the hilt tightly, and ran towards the witch, leaving a gruesome wound in her wake.

The intense pain forced the witch to loosen her clenched hands. She raised one hand to grab Alex, but Alex immediately drew her sword and used the Phantom Sword to teleport above the witch, dodging the attack.

Having witnessed her use this move multiple times, the witch seemed to have finally memorized Alex's location. The moment Alex appeared, she raised her other hand and struck her, even deliberately covering the distance where Alex might use Flash Step to dodge.

By the time Alex realized what was happening, the enormous palm was already right in front of her.

The distance Alex could cover with her Instant Step was not enough to completely dodge the attack that was specifically aimed at her location. She had no choice but to draw her sword and slash downwards, adding another wound to the witch's palm while causing herself to plummet to the ground.

The location was too high; if she simply used Instant Step to fall, the height would be enough to kill her.

"Crack!"

However, it was this very downward strike that completely exhausted the last bit of durability of the nameless sword [Puppet].

The katana, emitting a mournful cry, broke free from Alex's grasp, spun as it fell, and embedded itself in the cracked ground beside her.

The punch that came again dashed Alex's hopes of finding time to reassemble a katana.

Alex, who landed at the edge of the huge crack, only had time to slam three or four reinforced concrete blocks in front of her as a cushion before she was sent flying far away by the clenched fist and the broken blocks.

"boom!"

Alex, who crashed heavily against the wall, endured the excruciating pain that felt like her bones were being broken, and glanced at her health points.

There are three spaces left.

However, since she had just eaten steak, her full saturation level immediately began to restore her health to a healthy state, and Alex breathed a slight sigh of relief.

This is the first injury Alex has suffered since the start of the battle.

She could only be thankful that the witch's attack power wasn't as exaggerated as she had imagined, or perhaps the attack itself wasn't very strong.

If it were just now

He figured he was probably back in the burger joint, stunned, after that heavy slam that cracked the ground.

But now that he has lost his sword, how long can he hold on?

With a furrowed brow, Alex took out a piece of steak and stuffed it into her mouth. Then she slammed the workbench next to her, intending to completely ignore the witch's actions and try to synthesize a new katana before being hit by the witch.

After all, without drawing her sword, she was in no condition to withstand the witch's fierce attacks.

It's just a matter of dying a second earlier or a second later.

But she didn't get to see the witch's next attack.

Perhaps because the fight had finally reached its peak and she had finally hit Alex, the witch stopped and began to weep, covering her face—if the front of that roulette head was indeed her face.

Is this considered crying tears of joy, or excessive sadness and anger?

Unlike before when it slowly seeped out from the edge of the roulette wheel, the golden liquid poured into the tunnel like a floodgate being opened.

An ominous premonition rose in her heart, and Alex quickly quickened her movements.

But just as she finished crafting the wooden sword, she heard a loud crashing sound of rushing water.

Before Alex could react, a surging torrent of golden liquid, like giant waves, completely engulfed her.

In an instant, Alex was swept up by the viscous-looking golden liquid and rushed into the depths of the tunnel.

Then, she finally understood the pain that the familiar she had just kicked into the liquid had felt.

The burning pain and weakness were the first sensations that came over me. Then, the golden yellow in my vision began to twist and sway, making me feel nauseous, and I even began to feel that the surroundings were becoming unusually dark.

Her limbs were getting increasingly tired. Even though she had just eaten a large piece of steak, her stomach felt flat again. The intense hunger turned into discomfort, stinging her stomach.

Alex struggled, desperately flailing her limbs to fend off wave after wave of water crashing against her, and finally surfaced before her oxygen ran out completely.

Despite the discomfort of the familiar negative status effects clinging to her body, Alex looked up at her surroundings. Although she could only see two or three meters away from herself, she could guess that the tunnel was probably completely submerged.

Because of the huge crack in the middle of the tunnel, the water depth in the vicinity is now unknown. She has no way to float on the surface of the water, so she can only drift with the current for a while.

I opened my backpack and checked my status bar.

Poisoning, weakness, nausea, blindness, digging fatigue, slowness, hunger.

There are a total of seven negative statuses, and the icons alone almost completely fill her status bar.

Perhaps because Alex is still soaking in this golden, viscous liquid that can be described as a pool of poison, these seven negative statuses are constantly refreshing the duration of (01:30).

Now, the potion of weakness is ready.

For some reason, a thought suddenly popped into Alex's little head, which was already feeling dizzy from all these negative statuses.

…………

P.S. Just a heads-up, we're about to suffer a setback, but honestly, for the Fangkuai people, does that even count as a setback?

Well, I'm just worried people might think I'm just being pretentious, so I'm saying this in advance.

Volume 1: Chapter 53 The Exit

"Huh...huh..."

Panting, Xiangzi gripped the two wooden blocks in his hands tightly and ran without stopping or looking back toward the place Alex had indicated.

Two hundred meters is not a long distance. Even in the past, during physical tests at school, she had run it more than once, and her speed had always been above average for her grade.

If she were in the present day, having trained for a few months while working, she probably could run even faster than before.

It only lasted for a few dozen seconds, a little over half a minute.

Normally, it takes her at least half a minute to fully wake up and get out of bed. At the counter of the burger shop, she waits for customers to decide whether to add toppings, and this waiting time is far more than one or two half minutes. Sometimes, she even wastes countless half minutes by going to the kitchen to stare blankly at Alex who is making burgers after all the customers have ordered.

But in normal times, this would be a fleeting moment, a half-minute that even Xiangzi, who rushes around every day trying to earn a little more pay, wouldn't care about at all.

At this moment, however, it felt incredibly long to her.

Behind them, deafening collisions and explosions followed one after another.

Each loud bang was accompanied by a vibration powerful enough to shake the entire tunnel. The first few times, the unsuspecting Xiangzi would be startled and stagger a few steps, but the constant roaring and the sound of buildings collapsing no longer made her steps falter in the slightest.

The sound of her heart pounding like a drum gradually drowned out the vibrations behind her. Her blood flowed faster, causing her body temperature to rise, and a thin layer of sweat seeped from her forehead. Every cell in her body was sending signals to her lungs that she needed more oxygen, and her breathing became more and more rapid.

It wasn't fatigue that was causing her distress, but rather fear and anxiety, which, like threads, wrapped around her and gripped her heart.

This 200-meter stretch was much more difficult than any of my previous runs.

In the past, only time and money pursued her.

At this moment, it's not just about time and one's own safety.

And that lifeline belonging to Alex seemed to be trailing behind her, being pulled by her, never ending.

Faster...

Toyokawa Shoko wanted it to go even faster...

She had to find a way out.

Otherwise, how much longer can Alex hold on?

"boom--!"

Is this the time?

"boom--!"

Or next time?

At what moment, during what attack, will she give up?

What if it's because I was just one step too slow?

The resounding crashes urged Xiangzi on, making her exhaust herself and drive her legs toward any possible exit.

Silently counting the distance, near the coordinates indicated by Alex, Xiangzi paused slightly.

She didn't dare stand still and waste time, so she ran to the wall on one side, panting.

Like Alex, Xiangzi guessed that the exit might be in one of the rooms nearby.

But we'll have to check each room individually to determine which one it is.

It's also possible that there's no exit at all.

Biting his lower lip, Xiangzi forcefully suppressed the pessimistic thoughts in his heart.

"boom!"

There was no time for her to maintain those unnecessary aristocratic formalities. With a loud bang, Xiangzi pushed open a door, ran inside, glanced around to make sure she saw nothing amiss, and then turned and ran out.

One room, two rooms... three rooms...

Repeated fruitless attempts gradually sank Xiangzi's spirits to the bottom. She took a deep breath and ran towards the other side of the tunnel.

A room on one side.

Ultimately, in what form will exports exist?

They had no way of knowing.

Could it be that I just missed it? Could it be some kind of mechanism that I didn't notice?

Could it be that the exit isn't even here?

A jumble of chaotic thoughts flooded his mind, making it increasingly difficult for Xiangzi to keep his breathing steady.

"Boom--!"

Just as she reached the middle of the tunnel, a deafening roar erupted, far more terrifying than any before. The entire tunnel began to shake, and countless cracks appeared in the walls on both sides.

Xiangzi, who was momentarily unsteady on her feet, almost fell. After she regained her balance, she looked up and could even see that the walls of several rooms had crumbled and collapsed as a result.

Just as Xiangzi was about to continue running towards the other room, a huge crack spread out at an extremely fast speed, just about to pass under her feet.

Startled, Xiangzi suddenly recalled Alex's earlier use of blocks as stepping stones. Almost reflexively, she slammed a wooden plank block onto the ground where the crack was about to spread.

Then, he jumped up.

At the same time, a huge, canyon-like crack appeared beneath the block beneath her feet, and Xiangzi squatted down on the block that was suspended in mid-air.

She was panting, her heart pounding so hard it almost drowned out all the other sounds she heard.

"Crack!"

A series of cracking sounds came from the side. Xiangzi, still in shock, turned his head and saw that the wall of a room had finally given way because of the crack that ran through the middle, and the upper part was slowly collapsing outward.

"boom!"

Xiangzi, whose attention had been drawn to this, suddenly widened his light gold eyes.

She saw that in the room where the wall had collapsed, there was a distorted scene of space with a mosaic effect, and she could even vaguely see that the scenery behind the mosaic was the street they had looked out of the tram window before.

Could that be... the exit?!

Before Xiangzi, who was somewhat excited, could figure out what to do next, he saw a huge golden wave surging in like a flood from the side where Alex was fighting the witch.

She was so frightened that she took a deep breath, held her breath, and closed her eyes.

However, after the sound of rushing water in my ears, I did not feel anything unusual on my body.

Slowly opening his eyes, he realized that the huge crack beneath his feet had allowed water to flow in, even forming a massive whirlpool. Xiangzi was standing on a square in the middle of the whirlpool, completely dry.

"Alex!"

But more than his own safety, Xiangzi was concerned about what had happened in the direction from which the golden flood was coming, where Alex was fighting the witch.

"..."

There was no response for a long time, and her heart felt as if it were being squeezed.

Even if we find an exit, so what?

Alex, she already...

"Gurgle, gurgle...cough cough! Xiangzi?!"

Before the sadness could spread, a sound of choking on water caught her attention, followed by Alex's slightly anxious shout.

…………