i-eeeeek!
The rusty parts screamed in agony with a metallic sound.
As if it were slowly revealing a long-forgotten secret room, the heavy door creaked open with a moan.
In the meantime, was it due to a malfunction of the mechanisms controlling the closed door?
Thud! With a loud noise, the door that had been struggling to open swung wide open.
“…Can you see anything outside?”
From the gap between the outside and the elevator, a voice seeped through.
No one could ever say it was normal, not even as a joke, after the rough and wild ride of the elevator had ended.
The elevator they were on was stuck ambiguously between floors.
Beyond the open door, there was nothing but a concrete wall, with only a narrow gap that barely looked like it could allow a single person to pass through.
“A long hallway. Other than that, I can’t see anything else.”
Elijah replied.
He was currently hanging on the wall, carefully peering beyond the narrow gap.
What reflected in his eyes was just an ordinary hallway scene.
Of course, a hallway engulfed in pitch-black darkness had the power to terrify people just by its mere appearance, but for those who had been trapped in the elevator that had been plummeting without end until just moments ago, such a fact was not a significant concern.
“Don’t see anything strange?”
“Yeah, it seems like nothing out of the ordinary.”
Huff! Just as that sound echoed, the man hanging began to push himself through the gap.
He was on the larger side among men, so Cooper expected it to be quite strenuous for him to slip through the narrow opening, but fortunately, no unfortunate incidents of getting stuck occurred.
“How about you? Can you make it out?”
“Uhh… I think I’ve settled down somehow…”
The weak reply came from Eleanor.
Just moments ago, she had been suffering greatly from the aftereffects of mental pollution, but now, even though she was still not fully recovered, she was at least in a state where she could move her body thanks to the shock from the elevator’s sudden stop.
“…Um, um, thank you.”
Hearing her voice expressing gratitude, Cooper turned around.
“What for?”
“For saving me. I was nearly done for, and you pushed me away.”
She recalled what had just happened.
Two men who had pushed her down just after the sound of a gunshot.
It was rough, but their intent had been to prevent her from harming herself.
As a result, she was still alive, so she wanted to express her utmost gratitude to the man in front of her for saving her life.
“If you want to thank someone, thank this guy. If he hadn’t pulled the trigger, we wouldn’t even have had the chance to act.”
However, instead of accepting her thanks, Cooper pointed his thumb at his side.
The place his finger indicated was the girl, the one who had turned the elevator off, now barely resembling a mystery.
“…Ah, ah!”
At that moment, the memory of what had just transpired resurfaced.
The small hand that had grabbed the gun just before the flash.
The memory she had intentionally avoided due to being moments away from death had returned, causing her to feel nausea and vertigo once more.
But after tightly closing her eyes and enduring, she managed to suppress the bile that threatened to rise.
“Thanks to you, 19th…”
Just after barely enduring the unpleasant feeling, she attempted to express her gratitude to the girl.
Before her words could be fully uttered, the girl turned to Eleanor and said,
“It’s nice to hear thanks, but at least save the vomiting for after we get outside…”
She reminded Eleanor of the fact that her arm was still stuck in the elevator’s wall.
With a troubled expression, she earnestly requested that they leave this place as soon as possible.
“Ugh, s-sorry!”
Her face flushed, she quickly ran toward the entrance of the elevator.
However, the narrow gap high above was not easy to navigate with her unsteady state.
So, she had to endure the gazes of those inside the elevator for quite a while…
“Ugh, c’mon…!”
With a determined shout, Eleanor’s body squeezed through the elevator’s gap.
Someone from outside was pulling her strongly.
Even though she was struggling to keep herself upright from the aftereffects of mental pollution, thanks to the help from the man who was already out, she was finally able to escape through that narrow space successfully.
“You okay? You don’t seem too accustomed to mental pollution attacks.”
Elijah asked as he helped her back on her feet.
She looked much better than before, but he could still tell she hadn’t completely shaken off the aftereffects.
“Yes. I’ve experienced it during training, but it’s nowhere near this level…”
“Is this your first time experiencing it in a real situation? For that, you adapted remarkably quickly.”
Cooper thought that contrary to how she looked, she had a rather strong mental fortitude.
There are various types of mental attacks, but those that alter perception typically have very severe aftereffects.
Especially when one has been pushed to the brink of taking their own life, most people are often immobilized for long periods due to the vivid fear of death.
Of course, the fastest reason she could shake off the mental pollution was most likely due to the shock from the sudden stop of the elevator and the quick responses they had, but regardless, stabilizing herself enough to proceed with the mission in such a short time was impossible without considerable aptitude.
“If possible, it would be best not to recall the memory of just now. The more you dwell on it, the more confused your mind will become rather than dulling it.”
“Th-thank you for the advice…”
She slightly bowed her head.
It wasn’t just a gesture of gratitude; she also felt as if she could see the figure of her superior in the man.
“…So, where exactly are we?”
After briefly surveying their surroundings, she spoke up.
All she saw was a plain wall, a ceiling, and a dust-covered floor in the hallway.
Given that there was no information about this place, nor even a simple sign indicating the floor number, Eleanor hoped that they hadn’t fallen too far in time, and she asked the nearby man if he had any information about this place.
“I don’t know. But considering the time we fell, we should be at least 1 kilometer underground.”
“1 kilometer underground…?”
However, what came from his mouth was a location that exceeded any expectations.
Had they fallen that far? She attempted to recall the memory of just moments ago, but then remembered the advice she had just received and shook her head.
“Did this facility really have such deep locations?”
However, even without considering the fall time, the idea that this was such a deep place was hard to accept.
Though having heard only a brief briefing about this place, she was neither a staff member of the facility nor anything like that.
Still, she knew that this place was supposed to be a normal nuclear base at the very least.
Unless there were some secret laboratories lying beneath it, she had never heard of any facility having such depths in the information about this base.
Moreover, it didn’t look in any way like a research facility to her, so she was doubting that it was indeed that deep.
“There isn’t! This isn’t a mine, there’s no way they would dig that deep underground!”
They heard someone shouting from the narrow gap of the elevator.
When they turned their heads, they saw Cooper’s figure, struggling to push himself out from the gap.
“It’s typical for missile silos to be around 30 meters deep, and even if they dig deeper, it would only be a few hundred meters. Besides, it’s common sense not to build corridors where people can walk if they dig that deep!”
He was wrestling with the narrow space, seeming considerably strained, but nonetheless, he didn’t cease his explanations.
“Well then, does that mean we haven’t fallen that deep?”
After listening to his explanation, Eleanor showed a bright expression.
Even though the masked man had said they were deep underground, he was now contradicting that notion, saying such depths wouldn’t be present in this facility.
Between the two conflicting stories, it was logical that the words of the person who was actually an employee of the facility would be more accurate.
“…No, sadly, considering the time we fell, that guy’s probably right.”
But unfortunately, what came out of his mouth was not a reassuring message for her.
Instead, it was a declaration that solidified the not-so-promising situation they were in.
“The time we fell was at least over 20 seconds, and considering gravitational acceleration…”
A tiny murmuring sound came from him as he half-extricated himself from the outside.
He seemed to be calculating something.
Thunk! He slapped his palm down onto the ground.
Then, after a moment, he stopped murmuring to himself and looked at the two of them as if waiting to say something—
“…Ayo! Would you mind coming over here and helping me already?! This place is so damn cramped, I can’t get out!”
