Rhodes Island does not exist.

"Skadi will do."

“Alright, Skadi,” the doctor continued, “Have you been to the eighth floor before?”

“I’ve been there,” Skadi nodded. “But there was nothing there except rows and rows of white beds, though those beds were quite comfortable.”

"...You slept in those beds?" the doctor exclaimed in surprise.

“Oh, no.” Skadi shook her head. “In that kind of empty, white environment, I don’t think anyone could sleep soundly. Plus, those white beds were really suspicious, so I left quickly.”

"In other words, you don't actually know what's on the eighth floor," the doctor pondered.

Skadi nodded slightly in agreement.

The doctor's thought process began to kick in.

If Skadi's information is accurate, then this phenomenon is quite interesting.

Skadi experienced almost none of the events that the Doctor had encountered.

The fourth floor was empty in Skadi's eyes, the eighth floor was just a hospital bed, the collector's room on the tenth floor was empty, and even the huge monster that had just appeared was something she was seeing for the first time.

what does this mean?

The doctor's mind cannot yet reach a definitive conclusion.

After all, the intelligence he possessed and his understanding of Rhodes Island were not enough to allow him to fully consider this matter.

He couldn't even find any basis for his guess.

However, at least this incident proves one fact.

That is, there is a discrepancy between the intelligence information held by Skadi and the Doctor, and the reason for this discrepancy may be himself.

Therefore, the places Skadi visited may not be reliable references for the Doctor.

So what intelligence did Skadi provide to the Doctor?

A six-story shop.

Skadi said she had never encountered anyone in the sixth-floor shops and that it was safe. But now it seems that may not be the case.

The doctor thought that if he actually went up to the store on the sixth floor, he might see a completely different scene.

However, Skadi's memory of the Rhodes Island route has never been wrong, so we can still trust her on this point for now.

"I understand."

The doctor glanced at Skadi, who was leading the way, and said, "I think there will probably be more dangers on our journey ahead."

“I think so too, but I hope not,” Skadi nodded.

-

The two of them walked one after the other down the stairs from the tenth floor to the thirteenth floor.

For this section of the stairwell, the thirteenth floor is the end; there's nothing above that, just a cold floorboard.

As for the eleventh and twelfth floors in the middle, the two merely passed by without opening their doors.

After all, these places were not on their itinerary, and visiting them would not only waste time but could also cost them their lives.

"There is an elevator on this floor, an elevator that goes to the third floor."

Skadi stood in front of the door on the thirteenth floor and gently pried open a crack with the tip of her sword to test the safety.

Nothing happened, except for a slight breeze seeping through the crack in the door.

The air seeping out from the cracks in the door was mixed with a sweet fragrance.

"This smell...? I've never smelled it before."

Skadi frowned and sniffed lightly, her eyes filled with doubt.

Seeing Skadi's changing expression, the Doctor realized that this was yet another instance where his presence had led to an intelligence error.

In that case, we must be extremely careful.

After all, if another sudden event of similar magnitude and level of danger as the one that occurred on the tenth floor occurred, they might all perish here.

Unless he can use the same trick again to lure the danger away with the seawater, he will only die if he confronts it head-on.

Just kidding, what can I do if even Skadi can't beat her?

"Take two steps back, I'm going to open the door." Skadi grasped the doorknob and gestured to the Doctor behind her.

Although she didn't trust the doctor, she still chose to protect him.

"squeak--"

The rusted hinges emitted a wail that the doctor had long since grown accustomed to.

I suppose all the doors on Rhodes Island are in this state of disrepair.

"what happened?"

Skadi, standing in front of the door, asked another question.

The doctor stepped closer and saw only a narrow corridor. At the end of the corridor was another door, slightly different in appearance, directly opposite the first one.

It seems that the layout of this floor is significantly different from the other floors.

"What's on the other side of the door?" the professor asked.

"No, I don't know, I really don't know..." But Skadi's expression had lost its usual calmness and was filled with questions.

“The layout here has completely changed,” she murmured. “It’s completely different from when I last came here.”

The doctor understood now.

It seems that even on the Rhodes Island route, Skadi can no longer be trusted.

-

Thank you segment.

Thank you to Tokisaki Yoruzo for the monthly pass from Mami-senpai, the War of All the Corrupt Monks.

Thank you for the monthly pass, the razor blade, and the spicy snacks.

Chapter 33, Thirty-Three: Accumulating Honey, Eventually Building a Tower

The door was gently pushed open by the doctor.

This time he walked ahead of Skadi.

Because Skadi was caught in self-doubt, she lost the ability to guide others in this sudden and completely unfamiliar environment.

But none of this matters for a PhD student.

After all, this is his own business, and it doesn't matter whether Skadi is by his side or not.

"Um……"

A sweet, cloying fragrance wafted from the crack in the door, a scent even more intense than what they had smelled at the bottom of the stairs.

It's as if behind this door is a small dessert shop located on a street in Victoria.

If so, that would be best.

If not, then the doctor hopes it is.

“Be careful, the more attractive something is, the more dangerous it is on Rhodes Island,” Skadi warned him from behind.

“I understand, that’s common sense,” the doctor nodded. “But someone has to go in and take a look.”

The air wafting through the crack in the door was not only filled with fragrance, but also with a faint glow.

However, this light was extremely faint, comparable only to the flickering flame of a firefly.

"squeak--"

A sharp, screeching sound rose from the base of the door and traveled to the doctor's palm.

This indicates that the two doors in front of us haven't been opened for a long time.

Everything inside the door gradually came into view before the doctor's eyes.

It was an empty world.

Like starlight, the lights flickered in the dim space, and everything sank into darkness, as if it were a dream from which one had never awakened.

"Skadi, prepare to draw your sword. Something's not right here...Skadi?"

The doctor instinctively took a step forward and called out to the huntress behind him, but received no response.

When he tried to turn around to look for Skadi, he found that the door that should have been there behind him had disappeared.

In that instant, he felt as if Skadi, Rhodes Island, Specter, and everything else from the past had been left behind.

He had no way out.

Dark, viscous blood, like ink, completely enveloped him.

Along with them surged countless streams of consciousness and fragments of memory.

The violent impact dealt a heavy blow to the doctor's spirit.

-

Rustling.

The sounds of frogs, birdsong, and the buzzing of mosquitoes and flies.

The faint sound waves swirled around the doctor's ears, slowly drawing his consciousness back to reality.

"Don't make a sound..."

"I...he's not...wanting to wake up..."

"No... indeed."

The fragmented words couldn't form complete sentences, but the doctor could at least hear that there were indeed people talking around him, or rather, something talking.

So what are those things?

The doctor didn't understand.

He probably won't understand until he opens his eyes.

"Uh."

The doctor raised his voice, carrying air from his throat, signaling to the outside world that he had awakened.

Then everything fell silent.

He opened his eyes.

Before me was a dim, solitary lamp, hanging in the old but tidy room.

If I had to say, it's probably much better than my room on the fourth floor.

So, where am I right now?

He pondered this most important question at hand, struggling to sit up.

"call."

There are no problems anywhere in my body.

The doctor then realized that the reason he had fainted was because he was enveloped in eerie darkness after arriving on the thirteenth floor, not because of any external trauma.

That means that the reason someone moved to this room must also be related to the darkness that was engulfing them.

"Am I trapped in a den of demons?" He looked around and muttered to himself.

The room layout is somewhat similar to room 403, except that the sofa has been replaced with a bed, and the surroundings are much cleaner and tidier.

But if he had to choose, the doctor would prefer to live here.

After all, there are no ghost sharks here.

However, one thing is one thing. Since the doctor was able to sleep here peacefully without any injuries, it means that the owner of this floor did not intend to harm the doctor, or at least did not intend to harm the doctor for the time being.

what does this mean?

Does the doctor possess something that can be exploited? Or does this strange creature simply enjoy storing food?

If it's the former, the doctor thinks it's worth trying to negotiate. But if it's the latter, then the only options are to find a chance to escape or fight to the death.