“Look Jay, we need to find a way to leave here.”

Ever since they had been brought into the ArtTech suite, the air had been tense among Michael and the three other members of the team.

When facing the ArtTech employees and Marcus Johnson, the team seemed to stand firmly together, always upholding the same value and making the same criticisms. However, once the external threat is gone, the atmosphere reverted to a polite and distant feel that seemed overly odd for a group of people that had just walked along the edge of death together.

Michael’s main problem was dealing with his traumas of killing. He knew that a part of him was gone already. He could feel it. But from time to time, Jay would come often and often counsel to make Michael feel better, and surprisingly, Jay’s words seemed to have a magically therapeutic power that managed to numb and distract Michael. Michael is slowly reverting to his normal self.

“Before that, why don’t we have Mr. Wilde here explain who he truly is,” Alexandra interjected bitterly, asking the same question for the ten-thousandth time.

“What do you expect me to say?” Jay shook his head and motioned around. Jay had already hinted to them multiple times that he shouldn’t speak about this in front of all those surveillance cameras and microphones. Michael believed that this is a legitimate reason for Jay not to expose his identity. Alexandra and Nicholas felt that Jay was just trying to evade the question.

“And Michael, back to your question,” Jay twisted the topic back again, “I believe you are the only person who has the ability to lead us out of here. Could you still remember the path we took when they led us into this room.”

Although it had been five days, Michael could still remember the path perfectly. Had it been any ordinary building, Michael could easily create a mental 3 dimensional projection of the building from the fire escape plan. He would backtrace the paths they took and the doorways they entered and construct a mental model of the paths. Then he would mentally put the two projections together and walk through the projected map again. That way, he could draw a simpler path and erase all the redundant circles and confusing loops that the ArtTech guides made them walk.

However, this time it was extremely different. Michael could still easily recall how the guards led them in circles, but every time the circle seemed to be a little off from each other. Where a door used to be two minutes ago would turn into a solid wall the next time they walked over. Sometimes, they would hit the end of the building within a minute of walk, but other times, they would walk for three whole minutes in a straight line.

Michael could ascertain that the building was just the shape of a mixture of cube and sphere. The fire escape plan projected on the entrance screen mapped out the general skeleton of this building as a cylinder. Even with all the stylish arcs and angles propping out of the cylindrical skeleton, the building should still have a general fixed radius, meaning that it was impossible to have such a huge difference in the diameter he walked, unless…

“I believe the structure of this building is constantly changing.”

“I’m sorry what?” Nicholas sneered, “I’m sure a man of your IQ would have noticed a constantly transforming building before walking inside. Or at least, I would have seen it.”

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“Nicholas, please. Let Michael finish the talking.” Alexandra was also getting impatient. The five days of imprisonment had planted seeds of anxiety inside everyone’s brain. Furthermore, nobody knew what exactly was going on in the outside world. The last thing they saw was a group of highly educated intellectuals massacring each other.

Michael himself was also highly irked by Nicholas’ rude nature. Any tiniest trace of bonds he felt with Nicholas had now vanished.

“The elevator we took when we walked in! That was the perfect clue!”

“Michael, could you please walk us through step by step. We don’t have your talent over space.” Jay’s compliment soothed out the flames inside Michael’s chest.

“The way they walked us here, the loops and circles, the path they took. Those were different every time. The circles aren’t really circles but changing.” Michael became lost in his own thoughts again and drifted off in an incomprehensible speech.

The three team members still looked confused.

“Do you mean that although they are leading us in circles, the paths we took each loop still varied?” Alexandra tried to interpret what Michael was saying.

Michael took a deep breath and started rephrasing his speech, “Yes. What I meant was that, although I knew we were walking the same paths every time, I could still feel that we weren’t walking exactly on the same trail. Sometimes this difference is so big that it’s physically impossible in a building with fixed layout. For example, we had walked in a straight line so long that we would have walked out the window long ago.”

“Are you suggesting that the rooms and paths were shifting places as we were walking?” Jay asked.

“Yes…” Michael continued.

Nicholas suddenly interrupted, “So just like the elevator we took up here, which was in fact just a big room, are you saying all the rooms here can move like that?”

“Yes!” Michael said. Occasionally he was glad that Nicholas could always quickly grab his point. They could have been good friends if Nicholas was twenty times milder with his personality. “And you all saw what the ArtTech security did with the floor to that unionist with the knife. They somehow made it undulate like a wave under his feet. Then it wouldn’t be hard for them to make the floor retract like a treadmill to provide the illusion that we are walking when we area actually staying on the same spot.”

“So does it mean you can’t figure a path out?” Alexandra’s anxiety was growing.

“I could try to recall for patterns to see if the building alters in a specific pattern” Michael mumbled lightly.

The memory of the walk once again began to unfold inside Michael’s brain. They started off from the auditorium, and Michael labeled it with a red dot right in the center of the vacuum of his thoughts. Then he set off the dimension of time, letting the time seeping through the vacuum like water through sieves. The dot began to move as the team had walked out of the auditorium. Ever corner, every stairway, every left and right and up and down had been represented in this glowing red line.

All the time had passed through the vacuum, and a gigantic three dimensional structure had been created. Crimson lines intertwined with each other in a way that the individual strands were no longer distinguishable to the naked eye but only to the eye inside the mind. Michael began to backtrack through the time, trying to seek for significant repetitions in the way they walked. He could identify at least four major points where a significant amount of lines intersected at, but that wasn’t any helpful.

“I believe we should find another way to get out,” Jay suddenly spoke.

Michael didn’t respond and continued searching through the intricate model inside his brain. There were at least fifteen patterns that were prominent throughout the paths.

“Michael!” Jay said. “Even if you figured out, it’s not like they will open up the front door for us. They have the surveillance cameras and microphones everywhere.”

Michael gave up. It was too difficult.

“How about we try another idea? We use the fire alarm to get us out directly. A building as technologically advanced as this would definitely have an automatic fire escape protocol.”

Michael thought about it. This sounds like a good idea, except…

“Didn’t you just preach to us about all the surveillance cameras and microphones in this room? Whatever you just planned was now heard on the other side,” Alexandra spoke sarcastically.

“Yes, but one, the fire escape protocols would certainly be automatic; they couldn’t do anything to prevent it. Two, they won’t have enough time to react, because we are doing it now.”

Jay opens the fridge and produced a bottle of high-proof whiskey. Michael glanced at the tiny number 110 printed on the side of the bottle. 110 proof — that is enough for ignition.

Jay flipped a few switches on the electric stove. Despite all the previously set safety precautions, the stove still heated up. Jay soaked a few sheets of paper towel with the Whiskey and put them onto smooth scalding surface, and Michael could already foretell the alcohol getting evaporated by the heat.

Then Jay took out his electric cigarette lighter and produced a small flame. He tossed the lighter onto the stove. The alcohol fumes around the paper towels contacted the flame and, in a flash, the whole stove was covered with bright fire.

Immediately, the fire alarm system was triggered. The suite door opened. A set of green lights appeared on the floor and led to the emergency staircase. The team of four ventured into the outside world that they had long hoped to see and would soon regret seeing.