"Do you know what happened to him?"
Seeing Richard directly bring up the issue with Ivis, I couldn't help but ask.
"If I'm not mistaken, your companion is not far from being assimilated here."
"He has fallen into darkness. I'm afraid you'll have to say goodbye to him soon."
Richard's words stirred up a storm in my heart, while Ivis, sitting beside me, showed no reaction, still engrossed in eating his chips.
"What on earth is going on?!"
I stared intently at Richard, hoping for a satisfactory answer.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but as I looked at Richard, my peripheral vision caught the window behind him, and I felt the black mist outside growing thicker.
"He is no longer a complete person. What sits beside you now is merely his shell and some residual memories."
"The real him has long been devoured by the master here, becoming a part of the darkness. Only his shell remains, wandering in the darkness day after day, searching for an exit that can never be reached, until he turns to ashes."
"But don't worry, seeing him like this, this process should still take some time. You'd best choose a burial plot for him. As long as he's buried directly when the time comes, there won't be any trouble."
Ivis is already dead?
Richard's words suddenly enlightened me, and all of Ivis's abnormal behavior along the way were reasonably explained!
The person now sitting next to me can only be considered a part of the original owner of the diary I found.
And according to what Richard just said, even the remaining part will gradually dissipate with the passage of time!
"Where is the exit here?!"
Ivis's situation aside, seeing him sitting on the sofa happily munching on chips, I figured he wouldn't die anytime soon.
Earlier, I caught the implication in Richard's words that this guy knew the true exit here!
"An exit? Forget about it. Since I came here, I've never seen anyone escape from this place."
"After all, you've already been noticed by Him."
Is Richard referring to the owner of the whispering voice coming from behind me?
"Who is He?"
Richard shook his head, his expression complicated.
"I can't describe what He is. After all, no one who has come here has ever survived after seeing His true form."
"He is the master of this place, and the most powerful hunter."
"All I can tell you is, while you still have a few days, you'd best eat well, so you can depart without regrets."
This guy is just assuming I'm not going to make it!
I instinctively wanted to retort, but the words caught in my throat as I suddenly realized something!
I could actually communicate with Richard without any hindrance!
When we were talking earlier, I was speaking Chinese, and Richard was responding in English. Although I passed CET-4 in university, after so many years since graduation, I've forgotten all those words. How could I understand Richard?
Recalling it now, Ivis had also been speaking English along the way, and I had chatted with him without realizing it.
Could it be that world unity is within reach, and the language barrier has been broken?
"How can you understand me!"
Richard extinguished his cigar and suddenly began to tell me a story.
"You know, in the Bible, Noah led the other survivors onto Noah's Ark, and only returned to land after the Great Flood subsided."
"And after that, Noah wanted to build a tower that reached the heavens. This was seen as a challenge to God Himself, and the tower was eventually destroyed by divine lightning."
"And legend has it that when the tower was being built, different tribes and races all spoke the same language. Only after God's wrath did everyone have their own language."
Could it be that our ability to communicate freely without any obstruction is because...
"You're saying this place is the Tower of Babel?!"
My eyes held a hint of strangeness. Firstly, the architecture of this city was too modern, and secondly, although some buildings were very tall, they didn't reach the height of the Tower of Babel.
"This is just a speculation, but you can understand it that way."
Richard drained the red wine in his goblet, appearing noncommittal.
Although it was strange for one person to speak Chinese and the other to speak English, yet they could communicate without barriers, it did resolve a doubt in my heart.
"Richard, how did you get here?"
Richard's expression stiffened slightly, then he looked confused.
"My experience and yours were similar; we were suddenly transported into this house. However, I was the first person to arrive here and was recognized by Him, becoming His master."
Listening to Richard's answer, I felt something was not right, but after thinking carefully, I couldn't find any loopholes.
"Then..."
Before I could finish my sentence, the light bulb flickered and then went out completely.
The entire room was plunged into darkness.
"Shh... Don't speak..."