Everyone immediately covered their ears as the corruptive and strange repeating sentence began to play out.
The voices continued to plead and repeat themselves, making it difficult for anyone to remain calm as the recording went on.
I wanted to cover my ears as well, but I couldn’t move in my doll form. All I could do was remain still and listen to the strange sentence being repeated over and over again.
Ugh... I’ve read about how corruptive and dangerous these things could become once you heard them. The wikis in [Arcana] and the books really weren’t lying.
Even now, I could feel my emotions fluctuating. It was difficult to explain, but the longer I listened to the recording, the harder it became to keep my thoughts in order.
Adrian stepped forward and ejected the audio tape from the player. He couldn’t help but grunt as he did so, before turning his attention towards us...
No, more specifically, towards the door behind us.
Knock. Knock.
Elias and Samuel, who were closest to the door, immediately ran towards it and positioned themselves in front of it, seemingly attempting to block whatever was on the other side from entering.
The knocking grew more aggressive, with each successive knock sounding louder than the last.
However, after a while, it eventually began to calm down.
Adrian signaled for everyone to remain quiet, and nobody disobeyed his order.
Using my limited vision as a doll, I observed the situation, trying to make out what was happening around me.
My field of view was rather restricted, making it difficult to keep track of everyone’s movements.
Just as everyone began to believe that the situation had finally calmed down, a doll-like voice suddenly came from me as I spoke up.
[Come in.]
Marcus looked at me in confusion, seemingly caught off guard by my sudden words.
"What?-"
Adrian and the others barely had any time to process what I had just said before Elias and Samuel were suddenly flung away from the door as it opened.
Everyone immediately backed off into different corners of the room, trying to put some distance between themselves and the entrance.
Meanwhile, Shucky continued to stand guard, keeping his attention on the waving silhouette of the man outside.
Nervousness was apparent on everyone’s faces. No one seemed to know what was about to happen next.
"Fuck... control your companion!"
Vincent cursed at Marcus, who was still holding me in his arms.
Marcus simply remained quiet in response.
Even Elias and Clara did not rebut Vincent’s words. In fact, neither of them could say anything, because all three of them knew that I wasn’t actually just a doll.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps could be heard, but... no one was visible.
Judging from the sound alone, it was clear that something had entered the room.
However, there was no figure or shadow to indicate who, or what, had just crossed the doorway.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
More footsteps began to sound out, one after another, as more "things" entered the room. The sounds seemed to come from different directions, yet there was nothing for us to see.
Even Shucky, who had been standing guard by the window, could not help but whimper.
He seemed uncomfortable with the presence of the things that had just entered, despite being unable to see them either.
SLAM.
The door suddenly slammed shut, and the entire room fell quiet.
After a few minutes of silence, I spoke up once again.
[Continue.]
Hearing my voice, Vincent immediately turned towards Marcus.
"Hey, seal your companion before it causes any more trouble."
Marcus glared at him, seemingly wanting to rebut his words.
However, before he could say anything, Adrian, who had been staring at me, suddenly asked a question.
"Your supernatural companion is an entity that can foresee fate, correct?"
Marcus nodded in response.
Adrian continued, his attention still fixed on me.
"Can it be trusted?"
Marcus nodded again, his tone sounded as though he quite sure of himself.
"Yes... our companion is trustworthy."
It felt a bit strange hearing those words from Marcus.
Still, he was right.
The reason why I had allowed those entities to enter just now was because, when I observed everyone’s [Augury], I noticed that their colors were gradually turning black.
The longer the strange knocking continued, the more their [Augury] darkened.
It was a clear indication that the situation was getting worse, and whatever was outside seemed to be connected to it.
I didn’t know what would happen if I continued to keep them out, but based on what I had observed, allowing them inside seemed to be the only way to prevent things from getting worse.
Thus, I theorized that whatever was outside "had" to be let inside.
Even so, I could not help but question why Marcus had suddenly begun to trust me, especially when he had still been doubtful about me just yesterday.
Ah, right. He liked to say "Just a feeling..." whenever he made decisions. That most likely had something to do with his strange [Augury] constitution.
"Alright, someone play the next audio tape. Now."
Seeing as nothing seemed to be happening despite having allowed those strange, invisible things inside the apartment, Adrian immediately issued his next command.
"I’ll go."
Samuel was the one who spoke up next as he walked towards the table.
The sixth recording began.
...
"I talked to someone."
...
A long pause followed Daniel’s words, with only strange noises filling the room. The sounds were difficult to make out, and they continued for a while before Daniel spoke again.
...
"She... told me that I’m in hell now. That the place I’m in... it’s supposed to be hell."
"I don’t think I doubt her."
"I can hear... so many of them. Outside... inside... they’re everywhere. I can hear them screaming for help. I don’t know where they’re coming from anymore."
"I want to get out of my room, but the hallways... they seem even longer than before. I can see things crawling outside my door. I think they’re people whose legs have been cut off..."
"There are others, too, chained up and dragging themselves along the floor. And the monsters... they’re just standing there, laughing at them... laughing at me..."
"Just... where am I? That’s what I asked that woman."
"And she told me I already knew. She said I knew what this place was."
"This was [The Backwards Farm]."
"She told me that, since I was new and my soul hadn’t been tainted yet, I still had a chance at redemption. A chance to escape this hell... where everyone is being tortured constantly. She said I hadn’t lost that chance yet, that there was still something I could do."
"She told me I just had to feed the pig tomorrow..."
"I don’t know who that woman was... but she told me I’d regret it if I didn’t feed the pig."
"T-that was all she said... Why am I even recording this? Fuck... I can’t think straight anymore. Those screams... that laughter... I can’t stand hearing them! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!
...
A great deal of sobbing and crying followed. Daniel’s breathing was uneven, and it took a while before he was able to calm himself down enough to speak again.
...
"Feed the pig... that’s all I have to do... right?"
...
The audio ended there.
No one did anything yet as we all waited to see if anything would happen in reality.
Daniel’s final words still lingered in our minds, but the room remained quiet.
Everyone cautiously glanced around, keeping their attention on the room as they waited for some kind of reaction.
Then, Nica suddenly raised her hand and pointed towards the edge of the door.
A woman’s face was peeking out from the bottom of the doorway.
Half of it remained concealed behind the door, leaving only one eye visible.
It was staring directly at us, seemingly aware of our presence.
Considering the situation, there was little doubt that this was the same woman Daniel had encountered in the audio recording.
She was the very "person" he had managed to converse with.
Adrian, who was quick-witted enough to grasp the situation, was the first to speak.
"Can we help you, miss?"
Since Daniel had been able to communicate with the woman through the recordings, Adrian seemed to have realized that the same might be possible in reality.
Rather than immediately reacting to her unsettling appearance, he decided to see whether she would respond to them.
Taking the opportunity, he cautiously initiated a conversation.
Truly, a D-classed Response Unit was more qualitatively experienced and quick-witted than my entire Response Unit F-5....
— e-e-escape... you want to escape... right?
The scrappy, high-pitched voice of an old woman sounded from behind the door.
Although we couldn’t see her entire face, let alone the mouth she was using to speak, there was little doubt that the voice had come from her.
"Yes... other than feeding the pig, is there another way for us to escape this place?"
Adrian asked.
It wasn’t exactly the most optimal question to ask, but given how sudden the situation was, it was good enough.
Everyone had already come to the conclusion that "feeding the pig" was something dangerous.
The woman’s eye, which had been staring at us from behind the doorframe, suddenly curved as though she were smiling.
— y-y...es... i-if you give me the doll... I will help you escape.