The Endless Game: Olivia's Trials

Chapter1: First Judgement-The World Beyond the Window...

The creak of the door made Olivia turn her head. Upon seeing Eric, her lips curved into a mischievous grin, blood still fresh on her hands.

"Come quick!" she called out with unsettling cheerfulness. "What do you think of my clown artwork?"

Eric's face remained stern, unable to match her levity. His brows furrowed with concern as he spoke in that characteristically gentle voice of his, "Please stop this. Don't you want to survive? No matter what evil they've committed, we shouldn't descend to their level. If we do, we'll truly be trapped in this hell forever."

Olivia's playful demeanor instantly vanished, replaced by annoyance. "What are you, some preacher from ancient times? Always sermonizing... I was helping you, you know."

"You were helping me," Eric acknowledged with a knowing look, "but you also enjoyed it, didn't you?" His sigh carried both resignation and worry.

"Way to kill the mood," Olivia snapped. She hastily wiped her bloodied hands on the corpse, a gesture deliberately provocative, before storming back to her room. The door slammed behind her with an echoing bang that resonated through the hollow corridor.

Eric stood there for a moment, massaging his temples as he silently recalled everything he knew about her – information that seemed to weigh heavily on his conscience. After a long sigh, he approached her door and knocked softly.

Inside, Olivia lay on her bed, absently toying with her knife. Though she recognized Eric's presence, she maintained her stubborn silence.

"The situation is becoming more dangerous," his voice came through the door, gentle but firm. "It's not safe to venture out alone anymore. Whatever you plan to do, please come to me first."

'Tch, such a saint,' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes as she tossed her knife aside. She pulled a face at the door, childish defiance masking something deeper.

The sudden sound of dragging broke the tension – something heavy being moved across the floor. Curiosity got the better of her, and she peeked out to find the corpse had been relocated to Eric's doorway, leaving a dark trail of blood like macabre breadcrumbs.

Time passed, and Olivia found herself needing to use the restroom. Knife in hand, she stepped out, her feet carefully navigating the dried blood trails that painted the floor. As she approached the stairway, she paused at Eric's door, contemplating before finally knocking.

Eric responded quickly, opening the door with that ever-present gentle smile – like warm water, neither hot nor cold.

"I need to use the bathroom," Olivia stated plainly.

"Alright."

"Why haven't you moved the corpse downstairs?"

"It would leave blood trails all over the stairs."

Olivia gave him a sidelong glance, sliding her body along the handrail as she descended. "How much water do you have left?"

Eric considered for a moment. "About two-thirds."

"Would you give me some if I ran out?"

"Yes."

Olivia's face lit up with amusement. "I was lying – I have plenty! But I like your attitude. You really are a good teammate!"

Eric chuckled softly. "Then if I run out..."

"Then you'll have to drink blood," she replied without hesitation.

"..." He smiled helplessly. "You didn't even pause to think about that answer."

After returning upstairs, Eric retrieved a fallen blind box from the floor and returned to his room. Moments later, he took some water to give to the man with glasses.

Olivia scorned his saint-like behavior, but since he was using his own resources, she saw no reason to comment.

Night fell once again.

On the fourth day, it wasn't the usual morning announcement that woke Olivia, but rather a blood-curdling scream that pierced through her dreams. She sat up groggily, her head spinning from hunger. It took her several moments to process what she was hearing.

By the time she opened her door to investigate, another corpse had joined the collection in the hallway. It was the man with glasses, his spectacles shattered on the floor beside him. He lay dead just outside his room, with the bald man hunched over his neck – drinking blood like a vampire.

Eric too had just emerged from his room, his hair disheveled from sleep, shock evident on his face at the grotesque scene before them.

Olivia looked across to the half-open door opposite hers, where the tattooed man leaned against the doorframe. She whistled at him playfully, "What's the story here?"

The tattooed man's attempt at a sinister smirk came across more awkward than menacing. "The baldie went crazy. Snuck up to the second floor early morning, waited outside glasses' door like a hunter. The moment the door opened, he pounced like a wild beast, killing and drinking."

He explained how he'd needed to use the bathroom since midnight but hadn't dared leave his room due to the rules. When he finally went downstairs at dawn, he'd spotted the bald man heading up to the second floor. By the time he returned, the man was already positioned outside the victim's door.

The bald man had been so fixated on his chosen prey that he hadn't even glanced at anyone else passing by.

Olivia clicked her tongue, surprised at how far into madness someone could fall.

Eric, unwilling to watch anymore, retreated to his room.

Minutes later, when the bald man had finally drunk his fill, he frantically carved new wounds to extract more blood before running downstairs, cackling madly.

The second-floor hallway now displayed two corpses like macabre exhibitions.

Olivia wrinkled her nose in disgust. Noticing the glasses man's door still open, she dragged his body back inside. As she turned to retrieve the second corpse, something unusual caught her eye.

While the single bed was positioned identically to her room, there was a small nail on the left wall – clearly meant for hanging a mirror. Broken mirror shards littered the floor directly below.

This was definitely where the mirror had been mounted, but why was it on the left wall when her mirror was on the right?

Her mind working quickly, Olivia rushed to knock on Eric's door.

Before he could finish asking "What's wrong?", she pushed past him into his room. There she found his mirror hanging on the right wall.

After a moment's contemplation, she darted out and down the stairs, with Eric calling after her, "What are you doing? Be careful!"

Olivia waved him off, making straight for the scarred man's corpse downstairs. She rifled through his pockets until she found a key – Room 203.

Eric caught up, puzzled. "Have you discovered something?"

"Let me verify first," she mumbled, searching the middle-aged man's body for his key before rushing back upstairs.

The middle-aged man's room was 204, next to Olivia's. Inside, the mirror placement was different – neither left nor right, but directly opposite the door.

When she opened Room 203, her theory was confirmed – there was no mirror at all.

She gestured for Eric to follow as she returned to her room and removed her mirror, then began tapping the wall behind it.

"Knock, knock, knock" – she turned to Eric. "Doesn't it sound hollow?"

"This trial indeed isn't as simple as it seemed."

Eric had already begun to understand when he saw the mirror positions in the other rooms. The mirrors were positioned on the back, left, and right sides relative to the building's main entrance – none on the same side as the entrance.

If the mirrors were viewed as windows, each room had one "window" looking outside, except for the wall facing the entrance.

Room 203 lacked a mirror because both its side walls connected to other rooms, and its remaining wall faced the entrance, leaving no suitable direction for a "window."

"May I borrow your knife?" Eric asked.

Olivia handed it over, and he began chipping away at the wall. The plaster fell like snow, revealing what lay beneath. Instead of concrete, they found... a wooden board.

[Chat comments scroll rapidly]:

"Damn, I'm not educated enough for this – all I can say is HOLY CRAP"

"Wait, this girl's actually brilliant?! I've watched several streams and never noticed this!"

"Respect... crazy but strong."

"This trial is getting stranger... is this more puzzle-solving than werewolf now?"

[Gift]: Received Pardon Ticket x1

[Gift]: ...

The wooden board proved easy to break. Within five minutes, they'd created a large hole.

During this time, the tattooed man from across the hall had come to investigate the noise. He offered no questions, just repeated "Awesome" over and over.

When the board finally gave way, a natural white light fell across Eric's face. He squinted slightly before removing the remaining wood.

Behind it was a window opening, barely the size of a basketball. Though it had no glass or frame, it was far too small for anyone to pass through.

Moreover, through the opening, they could see dense white fog beginning about a meter away from the building. The fog rolled and churned, as if concealing some terrifying monster within its depths.

"Ugh, now what?" Olivia perched at the window, frowning at the white mist. "There's no clue out there."

Eric thought for a moment before saying, "Let's check downstairs."

In the hallway, he retrieved the key from the mustached man's corpse – who should have been staying on the first floor – then returned to get his mirror.

The three hurried to the first-floor room, finding the nail for hanging the mirror directly opposite the door.

Eric sighed softly, "If everyone had trusted and cooperated from the beginning, perhaps no one would have died."

Their mutual suspicion and hostility had kept everyone's doors tightly shut, preventing anyone from noticing the patterns in other rooms. Even Eric and Olivia had never entered each other's rooms.

There was another obvious clue they'd missed – the scarred man's room. His box had contained a knife, and his key was for the only room without a mirror.

If he hadn't given in to murderous impulses and gotten himself killed right at the start, he might have questioned why he alone had no mirror when others were using mirror shards as weapons. This could have led everyone to discover the truth.

Even if the criminals had been less comfortable with corpses and moved the scarred man's body into his room, they would have discovered the truth earlier.

But whoever designed this trial had clearly anticipated the selfish nature of these cold-blooded criminals.

Eric quickly broke through this window as well. Like upstairs, there was only white fog, though this window was much closer to the ground.

He peered out before turning back. "Of all the possible hints and items they could have used, they chose mirrors. This suggests they're more than just potential weapons."

He carefully passed the mirror through the window opening and dropped it outside.

The mirror shattered with a crash, and in its broken pieces, they glimpsed a fragmented reflection of something that chilled them to their cores.