Meanwhile, the trio and the Narrator are running across the hallways.
The cracks on the walls became much more prominent, and the place continued to shake occasionally.
"Where are we going?" Lanora asked the Narrator, looking at him, "Isn't this not the way back to the main room?"
"It's not, but it's better to have gone over this path." Narrator said, "This place is breaking down, the layout won't be the same."
"How? Is this some kind of countermeasure? Why would the saferoom layout change so suddenly?" Lanora asked again.
"The saferoom will regenerate itself when something from the outside is trying to break in, but in doing so, it'll break down by itself. Some rooms might be non-Euclidean due to its effect of regenerating itself countless times." The Narrator answered.
"Will we still be able to reach the main room this way?" Lanora asked again, still running, "It doesn't look like we're getting any closer."
The Narrator then looks elsewhere, as if he had seen where the room is.
"We're not far from it, turn left from here." The Narrator said, as he suddenly speeds up a bit, going past Syle, who was in the front.
The Narrator then turned to the left, the others behind him followed.
More cracks formed on the wall, something shining white behind it.
Suddenly, part of the ceiling breaks apart above them. Dagus, who was behind them, was right underneath the collapsing ceiling. Just before the ceiling crashes down on him, Lanora pulls his hand quickly.
"You're so damn slow, you almost got yourself killed." Lanora said, "You could've gotten crushed from that."
"I know, thanks anyway." Dagus said, Lanora sighing as she continued to run after him.
Dagus looked behind at first, seeing how beyond the ceiling is the same white space.
He began to run again after that.
In front, the Narrator continues to run through countless hallways and corridors.
Syle looked very focused on running, following the Narrator from behind.
Despite how long and seemingly infinite some corridors are, the Narrator seems to be navigating just fine. Another left there, another right there.
Beside Syle, a wall just broke down after the crack got too big, it reveals the blinding white space behind it, "This place was built over the white space?"
He continued to run while asking that question to himself, "Was this place even built? He said the saferoom 'regenerates' by itself..."
Slowly, Syle noticed that the room is... getting smaller and smaller with each corridor. Not small enough for them to not pass through, but small enough that it's starting to get harder trying to move.
"Hey?! The room is shrinking!" He said, shouting at the Narrator in front of him, "Are we sure this is the right path??"
"Yes, we're going on the right path!" The Narrator shouted, "Just keep following me, we're almost there!"
("Despite looking like an old man, he can run really fast.") Syle said, ("Does he not feel any back pains from this?")
Suddenly, a wall beside him broke down from the growing cracks, "Huh?!"
He looked to the side and saw some big chunks of wall coming down at him from above, but he dived forward and rolled when he touched the ground before getting himself up and running again.
He looks behind them, Lanora and Dagus avoided the cracks carefully while still running, ("They're safe.") Syle looks forward again.
They continued to run through several more hallways and corridors, with some of them looping around, but the Narrator managed to fully navigate through.
It's as if he memorized the path of an ever-expanding place, being able to see this place further in.
"This way." The Narrator said, "We're almost there."
He then took a sharp turn to left, and the other three followed. But what they weren't expecting is that...
"... What?!" Lanora said, before stopping midway, "It's a dead end!"
"Narrator, you trapped us!" Syle said, stopping midway as well.
"It's not a dead end." The Narrator said, he suddenly began charging forward, "It's a..."
The Narrator charges towards the wall before him. It looks like he wants to break through it. There's no sign that the wall is cracking and breaking apart.
The Narrator speeds up throughout the charge and when he's reached the wall.
CRASHH—
The wall suddenly breaks down easily before turning into dust.
The Narrator then continued his word, "A fake wall."
... The trio behind them have their eyes wide open.
("It's a fake?") Syle thought to himself, ("Another countermeasure?")
"Come, now!" The Narrator shouted from in front of them as he ran forward.
The trio got back to their feet, running along the path the Narrator has revealed.
Meanwhile, in the main room, the group was able to hear something breaking down near them.
"What was that? It sounds very close to us." A man with horns said.
"See, they're leaving us to die! You can't trust such a person so easily!" The man with fangs said.
"It must be them, I hear their voices not far away." The girl with horns and a pointy tail speaks again.
"Now how can you be so sure of that?" The man with fangs said again.
But right after he said that, the Narrator entered the room from the entrance, and so did the trio.
"See, that's them!" The girl with horns and a pointy tail speaks again.
The man with fangs didn't say a word, "Tsk."
... The Narrator looks at the large group, "… Everyone's alright."
"Yeah, we're fine… When are we getting out?" A man with purple-ish blue skin said.
"I sent that guy in just in case, but it seems like it's not the case." The Narrator said, gesturing towards █████.
... █████ points at themselves, confused, "Dude I don't even know where to go! The last room I was in is looping itself around!"
"So does ours." Lanora said, "But I can't blame you either if I was supposed to 'guide' these people out."
█████ nods, "Right, yeah. Narrator, where are we supposed to go?"
"I don't mean like guiding them out of here literally, I thought the crack had shown up." The Narrator said.
"The 'what' had shown up?" The man with fangs said, confused, "A crack?" What are you talking-"
Suddenly, the whole place shook again, much more violently than before, some parts of the ceiling fell to the floor, and the walls began to crack more visibly.
"Are we going to die?!" | "Mom!!! Help!!!" | "We have to get out of here!" | "Can we call for the police here?!?"
Some people in the larger group are panicking from the last shake.
Another part of the ceiling went free, falling down towards a group of slime-like creatures.
SPLAT!!—
... The ceiling splattered the slime, leaving colorful stains everywhere on the floor.
The slime creatures that survived express terror, and they look agitated.
...
But almost no one in the larger group seems to care about them, let alone notice them.
("Oh damn.") █████ thought to themselves, ("No one cared about them because they're a slime.")
"Narrator! Where are we supposed to go now?" The man with fangs called, "You said yourself that you've been here before, surely you know a way out, right?"
"The crack should appear soon-" The Narrator tried to say before the man with fangs cut him off from speaking, "Crack this, crack that. There should be an exit to this place!"
But then they hear a roaring sound, far from them.
Not like a normal roar... It sounds like the roar was mixed with screams, glass breaking, high-pitched sounds from those PC speakers, and... some other unrecognizable sounds.
"That... doesn't sound like an animal." Dagus said.
"No shit, that thing is crumpled up with other noises." Syle said.
"EVERYONE." The Narrator suddenly shouted, taking all attention from everyone, "This saferoom is going to collapse soon, and I need you to cooperate so we can start moving."
"Whatever that was out there, don't even think of searching for it." He continued, "I know you people aren't dumb enough to do that."
"I need all of you to follow where I am going, this place isn't set for a crack to appear." He added.
"But some area was broken down, like the ones we went through." Lanora said, "Are you sure we should go back?"
"We have to. We won't be going through the same path anyway." Narrator said.
"Right." Lanora added.
"So, where do we have to go? Oh-so-called Narrator?" The man with fangs said, sounding annoyed, "I'm following you just because I have got no other choices."
"... Just follow me." The Narrator said, "Everyone! Come and follow me."
... The people looked at each other for a bit before coming up to him.
"Alright, let's go and be careful." The Narrator said, followed by another glitchy roar, it doesn't sound so far away now, "Move!"
The Narrator commands as he goes out of the room first.
One by one, the people followed behind him.
The 'main' group waits until they're all out.
Lanora speaks up, "What was that sound anyway?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it." Syle said.
█████ looks at the walls, seeing the shine coming out of the crack, "Sounds like beeps from PC speakers. Or someone's scream?" █████ then looks at the trio, "I don't know, but that's not important. Let's go after them."
When most of the people had gotten out, the 'main' group began to move out, leaving the main room empty and broken. █████ looks back for a moment, seeing the white space beyond the exposed part of the ceiling, and then they follow the others.