MOBA Game Apocalypse-Chapter 203: A Small And Large Cage

"Why do you have a room like that?"

Adam's voice was… still neutral. They'd locked Jin inside a highly reinforced cell minutes ago, just leaving him there before continuing on in their way.

Jimmy couldn't really answer right away; he flinched. His mouth trembling as his eyes darted to the floor. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"The room," Adam repeated. "I punched it. The walls caved in but didn't break."

Jimmy's throat bobbed. He adjusted his glasses with a trembling finger and swallowed hard enough that Adam heard it.

"It… it was made for you."

Adam stopped walking. His eyes went wide, just for a second, before the rest of his face caught up and flattened out again.

"It… They built it when they found out you were alive. The whole room. Reinforced alloy composite, eight feet thick on every side, embedded shock absorption. They… they told me it was so they could hold you and prevent…"

"Oh." Adam closed his eyes.

She hated you that much. She feared you that much. She really wanted you... caged.

He stood there in the middle of the corridor, fluorescent lights buzzing above him, and tried to reconcile the woman who'd wrapped him in a blanket with the one who'd built a cage strong enough to hold him forever.

What happened to you, Dr. Aniston?

He opened his eyes.

"How far are we from Dr. Aniston's office?"

Jimmy pointed ahead with a shaking hand. "Just around the corner. Her office is at the end of the hall because she—well, she basically lived here. I've… really only ever seen her leave the building once a month."

Once… a month? And she happened to spot you, Adam? Right at that exact moment?

Adam was quiet for a moment.

"What was she like?"

"Uh… she was the strictest person I've ever known. Hands-on with everything. Every procedure, every report, every patient rotation—she reviewed it all personally. Nothing happened without her stamp." Jimmy's pace slowed. "But I don't know about the new Doc—Huh?!"

And all of a sudden, a deep, guttural sound erupted from around the corner. Not an explosion. Not a scream. A… groan.

Adam broke into a sprint.

Jimmy scampered after him, telling him to wait for him.

Adam rounded the corner and stopped.

There, at the end of the hall, was a single door. And it looked… awfully normal. Wooden frame. Brass knob. Two potted plants decorated the entrance on either side, both brown and shriveled, their soil cracked and dry.

He stopped several feet away.

Then he started walking. Slowly. One foot in front of the other, like the floor might give way if he rushed.

Adam stared at the door.

"W-why…" Jimmy arrived behind him, bent over, hands on his knees, wheezing. He straightened up and looked between Adam and the door.

"Why… aren't you going in?"

Adam closed his eyes. Drew a long breath through his nose. Let it settle in his lungs until they ached. Then he exhaled, reached forward, turned the knob, and pushed.

The door swung inward.

"What the…" Jimmy gasped. Everything inside was destroyed.

Books scattered across the floor. A desk lay on its side, one leg snapped clean off. Papers, dozens of them, hundreds, were strewn everywhere, and most of them had been burned.

Jimmy stepped in carefully behind Adam, glass crunching under his shoes. He looked around, and then asked,

"What made the sound earlier?"

"Hm…" Adam only nodded and started looking around the room.

Even with the mess, it… looked like a normal room. Smaller than his old apartment, even. A narrow bed pushed against the far wall, sheets tangled. A reading lamp, knocked over. A mug on the floor. And books. So many books. On every surface, stacked in corners, wedged between furniture.

She… was living like this the entire time?

The walls had no decoration. No photographs. No paintings. Just books and work and a bed barely wide enough for one person.

And soon, Adam's gaze lowered to the floor as something caught his eye.

A long, deep scratch ran across the tile in front of a heavy wooden bookshelf against the left wall. The scratch was… new.

Adam grabbed the shelf with both hands and pulled.

"What… are you doing?" Jimmy asked. "Is there something—"

And as the shelf wiggled, the sound they'd heard earlier erupted inside the room, that deep, grinding crack. The remaining books on its shelves tumbled.

The wall behind it wasn't a wall at all.

"A secret door?!" Jimmy shouted, his voice cracking.

"Kh." Adam gritted his teeth. His forearms bulged as he dragged the shelf further. The entire room vibrated, dust raining from the ceiling tiles. And there, the hidden passage revealed itself— an opening barely wide enough for two people side by side.

A wave of air rolled out from the darkness. Musty. Earthy. Damp. The kind of smell that got into your clothes and stayed.

Jimmy covered his nose with his sleeve. "Mold?"

Adam breathed out through his mouth, tasting the rot on his tongue. He looked at Jimmy.

"Go in."

Jimmy hesitated. Only for a moment. Then he nodded.

Jimmy didn't know when it had happened…but he wanted to see this through now. Whatever this was. Wherever it ended, he was already invested—and it wasn't a curiosity as a scientist, even.

The two of them walked into the hallway. No fluorescent lights here. The walls were raw concrete, unfinished, and the air grew thicker with every step. At the far end, maybe forty meters ahead, a faint light glowed.

It took a few seconds. Their footsteps echoed in the narrow space, and neither of them spoke.

And then, they reached the light.

And inside was... outside?

No. It was a large indoor forest. At least, it looked like one. A sea of dead trees, their branches twisted upward into a vast ceiling that stretched at least thirty meters above them.

And the ceiling, although the light was faint and soft, it was clear what it tried to imitate.

The sky.

"What…" Jimmy whispered.

"What is this place?"