The navigation app showed that Gray was on the right path to the CompSci buildings. In fact, it showed that he should arrive if he just walked for a few more minutes.

  But while the app showed that, Gray's eyes told him a different story. Especially since there wasn't anything but grass around.

  Maybe it was just the back part of campus...?

  Gray hadn't taken much time to explore since he enrolled at the university. And since he had been pretty spaced out this morning, it was possible that he had just wandered off somewhere far... maybe...

  The excuse sounded flimsy even in Gray's head.

  But Gray decided to believe in that flimsy excuse for now and keep walking, following his navigation app. Maybe, just maybe, things would make sense if he did.

  Silence. A faint breeze, the warm sun, and shifting grass.

  Gray walked along the dirt road, following the navigation app which... was leading him to that abandoned building? He paused and did a double-take. "...I swear to god, if this takes me to somewhere dangerous..." He grumbled and subconsciously shifted his grip on his phone to make it easier to sm into someone's face if he needed to.

  More silence. Just shifting grass, wind, and footsteps.

  And then, after a few minutes...

  *You have arrived at your destination.*

  "Like hell I have." Gray grumbled and tucked his phone away before looking up at the building in front of him.

  It already looked ruined from a distance. But up close, it *definitely* was ruined. The brown brick had crumbled and fallen in pces, revealing entire rooms. The windows were a lost cause, shattered and missing long ago. Even the door for the entrance was just a steel frame, the gss and handles completely missing.

  "...Whatever." Gray sighed. "Might as well look around to see if I can figure out what the heck is going on..."

  ===

  The inside of the building was dark, lit only by the faint sunlight that managed to filter in through the crumbled walls.

  Gray carefully stepped around, taking a cautious gaze at the interior.

  The most notable thing was the fact that everything seemed old. The paint on the inside walls were peeling. Vines and greenery had started to grow over the crumbled brick walls on the exterior. And the tiled floor looked dangerously cracked in some pces too.

  Gray grimaced as he heard a sharp crunch, gingerly stepping back to a more stable looking portion of the main hall. "This is a terrible idea..."

  The air in the building was wet. Damp, like mildew, and with a sweet cloying scent that seemed to cling to the lungs.

  It made Gray want to gag. But he covered his mouth and kept walking.

  It was objectively reckless. But it was either explore this pce for clues and potential supplies or wander around for miles in the grassnd and risk getting lost.

  Gray would rather stick to civilization, even if it was crumbling and on the verge of colpsing. So, with that decision, he continued exploring.

  There were outlets. Lamps and LED lights. Bookshelves and tables... Overall, the pce looked like a normal campus building. Just... old.

  Gray contempted calling out to see if anyone was around. But he decided against it.

  This pce reeked of danger. The sort of pce that human traffickers and drug dealers used to move their goods.

  Although unlikely considering how close this should be to campus, Gray wasn't about to risk finding out. So he shut his mouth and poked around the few rooms by the entrance where the floor looked sturdy.

  Crumbled books. Paper that looked to once have some writing, but whose ink had long been washed away. Some tattered school bags and brittle pstic fkes...

  'Just where *is* this?' Gray frowned after he carefully flipped over a book with his foot only for it to crumble into dust.

  It didn't make sense. This pce was definitely a campus building... the yout was fairly familiar. But everything seemed... old. Like hundreds, no, THOUSANDS of years had passed. That was impossible though... Right?

  Gray frowned and turned around. 'Yeah, time to leave.' He'd rather risk his luck in the open fields dying from thirst and sunstroke than spend another minute in this creepy pce.

  A faint breeze drifted past, almost sounding like whispers.

  Gray shivered and quickly walked off.

  *CRACK*

  'Fuck.' Gray froze, slowly looking down. And when he did, he saw a swiftly expanding spiderweb of cracks. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

  The floor had looked unstable in general.

  But Gray thought that the portion he walked on looked stable enough. CLEARLY he was wrong. 'Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.'

  The cracks had stopped spreading. But from how many there were...

  A single step and Gray would fall through the floor. He was sure of it. But the entrance was just a few feet away. 'Do I risk it?'

  A single jump should be far enough to reach it.

  And while Gray wasn't the most athletic, he was pretty confident in pulling himself up... maybe. But even if he wasn't, if he just stood in pce, he was just going to fall anyway.

  Jump and risk the floor falling all at once... or stay still and KNOW the floor would eventually crumble.

  'Screw it.' Gray took a deep breath and then lowered his body to prepare for a lunge-

  And then the floor completely colpsed.

  "GOD FUCKING-!"

  *CRASH*

  ===

  Dust. Rubble. The unsettling sensation of freefall... and then impact. And pain. Lots of pain.

  "Today... is not my day..." Gray groaned and slowly sat up.

  Light filtered down from above.

  For a split second, Gray wondered if he was dead. But then he realized that was ridiculous. Death was DEFINITELY not this painful... probably. "This day, I swear..." He grumbled and pushed himself to his feet, wincing.

  Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken.

  Gray looked down and saw that he had nded on a stack of dusty mattresses. "Thank god for some small miracles..." He shook his head and then took a closer look around.

  It was a small storage room. There was an old wooden door leading outside nearby, but other than that and the stack of mattresses, the room was empty.

  Gray brushed the dust off his clothes and then checked his bag. "...My ptop's a lost cause, right?"

  It had been a long fall, so it was probably shattered...

  "Huh? Lucky, I guess?"

  The ptop in his bag was fine. His phone was too, despite definitely nding on it.

  "Seems like someone's looking out for me at least." Gray chuckled and then started to head towards the door to try and find a way out. And then he noticed it. No, 'her.'

  Since his eyes were still adjusting to the sudden darkness, Gray hadn't noticed at first. But he wasn't alone.

  In the corner of the room, just behind where the door would open up, there was a young woman.

  'What the fuck is going on in my life today...?'

  The young woman was beautiful. Her hair was a shimmering silver hue, whether bleached or natural, it wasn't clear. But either way, it made her stand out in the dark along with her pristine skin.

  Still, that wasn't what really caught Gray's eyes.

  No, that was the fact that the beautiful woman was blindfolded, gagged, and tied up with rope and left against the wall like luggage.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]For a moment, Gray rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things again from being out of it. But no, that woman was still there. '...Just what the hell have I gotten myself into...?'

  The ruined building was already bad news. But now there was this beautiful woman who was undoubtedly a trafficking victim...

  Gray wouldn't be surprised if some creeps popped up around the corner any minute now with guns bzing. No, considering how loud his fall must have been... 'I am SO fucked.'

  At that time, the woman tilted her head.

  Gray froze, seeing the woman clearly turning towards him. 'Do I just... leave?'

  That was definitely an option.

  Gray could just... walk out. Pretend he never saw anything or anyone. Take the practical and pragmatic route of sticking his head in the ground like an ostrich. After all, he wasn't a hero. And it would already be a damned miracle if he could find a way out of here alive by himself, let alone with someone else.

  And there was the fact that the woman was a stranger too.

  Gray would definitely have remembered seeing someone that beautiful on campus. But he didn't.

  Plus, the woman was dressed in a ragged gray blouse and tattered skirt... she had probably been down here for a while. And also definitely a trafficking victim.

  So the smart thing was for Gray to just leave. Yes, that was the smart thing. Leave and do his best to avoid getting killed by the traffickers who were apparently good enough at their jobs to traffic a beautiful young woman so close to campus.

  The life of a stranger wasn't worth your own.

  That was a saying Gray lived by. Especially since he still had so many promises that he had to keep. Promises that he couldn't die until he fulfilled. So... leave her. Ignore her.

  Brush yourself off, turn away, and walk out that damned door.

  That was what Gray had to do. That was what Gray should have done. But...

  "Dammit." Gray grumbled, already in the middle of untying the blindfold on the woman. "I've been pying too many RPGs..."