Free Web NovelChapter 10: Coffin Calamity (True Form)
The rooftop split open like an infected wound.
Moonlight poured into the building—but it didn’t reach the floor.
It was swallowed halfway down, as if the air itself was no longer empty.
Something vast was inside the water tank.
Not waiting.
Not sleeping.
Breathing.
The entire structure of the apartment block groaned in response, like a body reacting to pain it had been suppressing for years.
The superintendent fell to his knees again, both hands gripping his head.
"No... no... I sealed it... I sealed it properly..."
The stitched mouths beneath his eyelids tore open wider, bleeding black ink-like fluid.
The bride stood rigid beside Shen Yu.
For once, she wasn’t attacking.
She was watching.
Listening.
The sound from above grew clearer.
Child laughter.
Dozens of voices layered together.
Soft.
Wrong.
The black water rising from below suddenly stopped.
Then reversed.
Flowing upward.
Like it was being recalled.
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
"It’s not coming down anymore."
The bride turned sharply.
"What?"
"It’s going back to the source."
As if responding to his words, the entire lobby trembled violently.
The walls began to shift.
Not collapse—
Rearrange.
Doors that weren’t there before slowly formed along the corridors.
The building was changing shape.
The superintendent screamed.
"STOP IT—DON’T LET IT REMEMBER THE ROOF—!"
The giant shadow creature was already gone.
Consumed.
Erased.
Only the old man remained now, kneeling in the center of a collapsing system.
Shen Yu took a step forward.
Then another.
The black water beneath his feet parted automatically.
Like it recognized him.
The bride noticed immediately.
"...it’s reacting to you."
Shen Yu didn’t answer.
Because he felt it too.
Not fear.
Not hostility.
Recognition.
The water was responding to him like a key to a lock.
Above them, the rooftop tank cracked further.
A massive metal groan echoed through the entire building.
Then—
Something broke.
A sound like glass shattering across reality itself.
The water surged upward instantly.
The entire building became weightless for a moment.
Then—
It flipped.
The concept of "up" and "down" twisted violently.
Shen Yu felt his body lift without movement.
The bride grabbed his arm tightly.
"What is happening?!"
Shen Yu looked around calmly.
"The dungeon is folding."
"Folding?!"
"Into itself."
As if responding, the environment peeled away layer by layer.
Lobby → stairwell → corridors → rooms
All of it unraveling like pages being turned backward.
Until only one space remained.
The rooftop water tank.
And inside it—
A world.
Shen Yu opened his eyes fully.
They stood now on a vast metallic surface.
The inside of the tank was enormous.
Far larger than any physical structure should allow.
Water stretched endlessly beneath them like a black sky reflected downward.
Floating above it—
Bodies.
Not corpses.
Not fully alive.
Memories given shape.
Children drifted through the water, their forms incomplete, constantly shifting between human and liquid.
The superintendent collapsed to his knees again.
"...I didn’t want this..."
His voice cracked completely.
"I just wanted them to stop screaming..."
The mother entity appeared at the center of the water. fгeewebnovёl.com
This time, she was no longer bound to form.
Her body stretched upward like a tree made of drowned sorrow.
Her face remained human.
But behind her—
Countless silhouettes moved.
The lost children.
Merged.
Awake.
The bride whispered quietly.
"...this is the dungeon core..."
Shen Yu nodded.
"Yes."
The mother looked at him.
And smiled.
"...you came."
The water beneath Shen Yu rippled again.
His vision blurred.
Fragments of memory surged violently.
This time—
Clear.
A man standing inside the apartment years ago.
Himself.
But not him.
Older.
Different.
Standing in this same place.
Watching the tank being sealed.
And whispering:
"If they ever wake up... the world will remember what we buried."
Shen Yu staggered slightly.
The bride grabbed him.
"What did you see?!"
Shen Yu exhaled slowly.
"...I’ve been here before."
Silence.
Even the mother paused.
The superintendent lifted his head slowly.
"...you were one of the engineers..."
Shen Yu didn’t deny it.
Because the memory was too vivid now.
He wasn’t just a player.
He had been part of the system that built this prison.
The dungeon trembled violently again.
The children inside the water began screaming.
Not in pain.
In recognition.
The mother’s voice deepened.
"...you forgot us."
Shen Yu closed his eyes briefly.
"No."
He opened them again.
"I sealed you."
The water surged violently upward.
The bride stepped back immediately.
"Shen Yu—!"
But he raised a hand.
Stopping her.
Because something had clicked.
Death Echo wasn’t just a combat skill.
It was synchronization.
And this dungeon...
Was synchronizing with him.
The mother extended her hand.
Black water rose like a bridge between them.
"...then finish it."
The superintendent suddenly screamed.
"DON’T TOUCH IT—IF YOU COMPLETE SYNCHRONIZATION YOU’LL BECOME PART OF THE CORE—!"
The bride’s expression changed sharply.
"What does that mean?!"
The superintendent laughed bitterly.
"HE WON’T BE A PLAYER ANYMORE."
"He’ll be the next lock."
The water surged higher.
The children inside it reached upward.
Shen Yu stared at them quietly.
Then spoke softly.
"...you’re not hungry."
The mother froze.
Shen Yu stepped forward.
"You’re trapped."
The water stopped moving.
Even the children inside it paused.
Silence spread across the tank.
The bride stared at him like he was insane.
The superintendent whispered:
"...don’t..."
Shen Yu continued.
"You’ve been repeating the same moment for years."
"Waiting."
"Remembering."
His voice softened slightly.
"And I think you forgot something important."
The mother’s expression shifted slightly.
"...what?"
Shen Yu looked at her directly.
"You were human first."
The water went still.
Then—
For the first time in the entire dungeon—
The mother cried.
Not blood.
Not ink.
Water.
Pure water.
The children inside the tank began to dissolve.
Not dying.
Releasing.
The superintendent screamed in panic.
"NO—NO—DON’T LET THEM REMEMBER—!"
But it was too late.
The dungeon core began collapsing inward.
The entire structure of Coffin Calamity cracked like broken glass.
Shen Yu’s body was pulled upward violently.
The bride grabbed him.
"WE’RE GETTING OUT!"
But Shen Yu didn’t move.
Because the system notification appeared in front of him.
[Final Choice Detected]
Option 1: Escape Dungeon
Option 2: Become Core Anchor
The mother reached out again.
This time not as a monster.
But as something waiting.
Shen Yu stared at the collapsing world.
Then smiled faintly.
"...interesting."
And he stepped forward.
Into the water.
Everything went white.
