The adrenaline began to fade, leaving Linus hollow and aching.
Around him, survivors laughed, cried, some even collapsing to their knees in relief. Alive. Somehow, they were still alive.
Linus didn't join them.
He lifted his head slowly, forcing himself to take in the chamber.
It was massive—far larger than any room they'd been in before. The walls carried the same cold, metallic sheen, but something about them felt… off. Subtly wrong. Like a pattern that didn't quite repeat the way it should.
A quiet unease settled deep in his bones.
Is this the trial?
Why drop us down here for nothing… or for something?
None of this makes sense.
Across the chamber, Maya stood with her team.
They felt it too.
This wasn't over.
"What kind of cheap scare tactic was that?" Noah snapped, still riding the edge of panic. "Bunch of pathetic cowards!"
"Shut up, you twerp," Lana shot back, rubbing her temples. "I'm trying to think."
Maya didn't respond. Her eyes were already scanning the room.
Ralf stood still, his gaze fixed on the walls. His expression had shifted—less relaxed, more… focused.
"What's wrong?" Maya asked.
Ralf didn't look at her. "Were the walls always like this?"
Lana frowned. "What do you mean? They've all looked the same. Am I missing something?"
"…Never mind," Ralf said after a moment, rubbing his forehead. "Probably overthinking it."
But his eyes didn't soften.
Those weren't there before…
No one else seemed to notice.
The walls weren't uniform.
Each of the four sides held a massive circular pattern embedded into the steel—subtle, almost hidden in the design, but unmistakably different.
Like something waiting to be used.
The lights above flickered once.
Then again.
The chamber dimmed.
And the voice returned.
Cold. Precise.
"TRIAL 3… BEGINS NOW."A deep mechanical groan echoed through the chamber.
The large circular patterns on the walls shifted. They slid sideways, smooth and precise, disappearing into the metal. Openings formed.
Tunnels.
All four walls had one.
Pitch black inside.
For a moment, no one moved.
"Yeah… I'm not going in there," someone said.
"What kind of game is this?"
"HAVEN'T YOU TAKEN ENOUGH LIVES ALREADY?! LET US OUT!"
No one stepped forward.
They didn't need instructions to know what happened if they stood around too long.
Linus felt it building again. The tension. The panic. It was starting to spread like heat.
Stay clear. Don't get dragged into it.
He shook his head slightly—instantly regretted it. Pain shot through the back of his skull.
"Damn…" he muttered, reaching back to touch the injury. Still tender.
He looked at the tunnels.
Four of them.
So we're supposed to choose?
What if one is wrong?
What if they all lead somewhere different?
"Could've at least given a hint…" he muttered under his breath.
Across the room, Maya and the others were dealing with the same problem.
"What do we do?" Lana asked, glancing between the tunnels.
"Pick one," Noah said quickly. "They all look the same anyway."
They both looked at Ralf.
He didn't answer immediately.
"There are four," he said slowly. "If they all led to the same place, we wouldn't need four. So… they probably lead to different outcomes."
"Which means guessing gets us killed," Lana said.
A middle-aged man who had been hovering near them spoke up. "Well do you have a better idea?"
He wasn't the only one. Others had started drifting closer. Watching. Waiting.
Looking at them like they had answers.
Lana noticed and frowned. "Hey—back up. We're not running a charity here. Do your own thing."
Nobody moved.
"They know something!" someone shouted from the crowd.
That made it worse.
More eyes turned toward them.
"Yeah, this is getting bad," Lana muttered, stepping back slightly.
Ralf exhaled.
"Enough," he said. Then pointed. "We go this way."
He walked toward the tunnel behind them.
As he got close, lights flickered on inside it, one after another, stretching into the darkness. The tunnel curved slightly to the right.
"Of course it lights up now…" Noah muttered.
"Well," Ralf said, stepping forward, "no point standing around."
He walked in.
Noah followed.
Then Lana.
Maya hesitated for half a second, then went in after them.
They disappeared into the tunnel.
The rest of the chamber stayed still.
No one knew whether to follow… or take another path.
Linus glanced over at the movement but didn't focus on it for long.
People panic. They follow whoever looks confident. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it gets them killed.
Better not to rely on that.
He looked back at the four tunnels.
Still waiting.Eventually, people started following the four into the tunnel.
At first it was hesitant. Then the fear of being left behind kicked in.
Soon the crowd flooded toward the entrance, pushing and shoving each other to get in. A few survivors chose the other tunnels instead. Those tunnels lit up too the moment someone approached them.
"I hope one of these actually leads outside," a skinny man muttered nervously before disappearing into one of them.
Linus stayed where he was, staring at the four choices.
There was no way to tell them apart.
No markings. No clues. Nothing.
This is so damn cruel.
Eventually, only a few people remained in the chamber. Three others besides him.
Linus exhaled slowly.
He chose the tunnel directly in front of him. Fewer people had entered that one. Maybe that meant less chaos.
Or maybe it meant everyone else knew something he didn't.
Too late now.
The moment he stepped inside, the entrance sealed shut behind him.
Linus instantly turned around.
The opening was gone.
Just smooth metal.
For a second, he stood frozen, waiting for something horrible to happen.
Nothing did.
"…Great," he muttered.
So he kept walking.
The tunnel curved as it went on, bending left, then downward slightly. The walls were still metallic, smooth enough to reflect the dim lights running along the sides.
His footsteps echoed softly.
The silence made him uneasy.
Eventually, he reached the end.
Linus stepped out into another corridor and immediately stopped.
It was completely different.
No more smooth metal walls.
This place looked old. Rough brick and concrete lined the corridor, cracked in places. Lamps were mounted along the walls, casting a dim yellow glow instead of the harsh white lights from before.
The air even smelled different. Dusty.
Real.
Linus slowly looked back toward the tunnel he came from.
Gone.
The wall had sealed itself shut again like it had never existed.
"…Damn," he said quietly.
Maybe following the crowd wouldn't have been such a bad idea after all.