Wang Qiu had been utterly broken as well

Moments later, a blazing bonfire was rekindled at the center of the pitch-black Main God Plaza.

Yet the people gathered around the fire no longer shared the joyful camaraderie of feasting and drinking as before.

"...I've tried just now—none of the doors around the plaza can be opened. Alas, my precious collection, trapped in there!"

Wang Qiu emerged from the darkness, flashlight in hand, and slumped beside Doraemon with a look of dejection.

"...Why don't we put our heads together and think of a solution to this impasse? Are we really to find a way to restart this damned thing?"

He raised with one hand the 'Main God,' now reduced to the size of a baseball and resembling a silvery metallic sphere, letting the firelight reflect off its surface for all to see.

"...Though restarting it isn't entirely impossible, I strongly advise against it. It could trigger unpredictable dangers,"

Nagato Yuki replied with her ever-calm poker face.

"...That conclusion was derived after repeated calculations by the Data Integration Thought Entity."

"...But we need a way to get home, don't we, cool big sis?"

Shinnosuke Nohara moaned as he rubbed his head.

"...If I miss dinner again, Mom will definitely pile my plate high with those nasty green peppers..."

—To think he's still worried about green peppers at a time like this?

Then again, considering his age, perhaps it's too much to expect better.

"...If it were just me, the Data Integration Thought Entity could manage it. But for the rest of you, it's impossible,"

Nagato answered earnestly.

"...Because it would require converting my body entirely into information and re-materializing it outside."

"...Oh no you don't, Yuki-chan! Why should you be the only one who gets to leave?"

Suzumiya Haruhi exclaimed, then threw her arms around Nagato's shoulders, shaking her wildly.

"Take your great brigade leader with you, or else—punishment time!"

"...I'm sorry. That request exceeds the capabilities of the Data Integration Thought Entity..."

Even as she was being violently rocked back and forth by the unreasonable Haruhi, Nagato's answer remained unchanged.

Left with no other option, Wang Qiu reluctantly stuffed the 'Main God' back into his storage space, deciding to examine it again later.

Just as everyone was wallowing in despair, Doraemon suddenly smacked his own forehead as if struck by epiphany.

"...Oh, right! How could I forget that trick?! The Anywhere Door may not work here, but this just might!"

He spoke with renewed excitement as he unfastened the four-dimensional pouch from his belly.

"I actually have two of these dimensional pockets—one I wear, and the other I keep under my pillow as a spare.

More importantly, the two are linked across time and space. If I'm elsewhere, Nobita can reach me using the backup pouch.

He's done it before, during our adventure in the Platinum Maze of the Magic Checker Planet. (See Doraemon: Nobita and the Platinum Maze.)

So now we just reverse it—enter from this pocket here, and emerge in the closet where I usually sleep…"

This unexpected stroke of luck made Wang Qiu's eyes light up, his face beaming with joy.

Even if he couldn't return to his own world, escaping to Doraemon's dimension was still vastly preferable to this accursed Main God Space.

Haruhi, however, eyed the pouch Doraemon had just removed from his stomach with evident distaste.

"...Ugh. Climbing into such a filthy bag? Do we really have to? Can this even work?"

"...In theory, yes... but let me test it first,"

Doraemon said, his eyes shifting uncertainly. He cautiously slipped one foot into the pouch, then the other—

and finally, his whole round, plump body vanished into the pouch, no larger than a pair of briefs.

The bag didn't even bulge—an unsettling sight to behold.

—Fortunately, in the terrifying world of infinite dimensions, Wang Qiu had seen far worse. He was long past being fazed.

Under the anxious and hopeful gazes of the others, Doraemon's round head eventually poked back out from the pouch.

"...Success! The other side leads directly to Nobita's room. The spare pouch is lying on the tatami...

Tch. That kid must've been sneaking gadgets again while I was gone. Hopefully he hasn't caused a disaster."

Grumbling to himself, Doraemon vanished back into the pouch.

"Come on! We can still make it in time for dinner!"

"...Alright! Make way! Your great brigade leader goes first!"

True to her unyielding nature, Suzumiya Haruhi lunged forward—but rather than dive in blindly,

she slipped the dimensional pouch over her head and crawled forward like a cat squeezing through a hole.

Then Nagato followed in the same fashion, and after her came Shinnosuke Nohara.

Once all three had passed through the pocket, Wang Qiu was left alone once more in the Main God Space—just as he had been before being sent into Resident Evil 1.

Casting one last glance at the dark, empty surroundings, Wang Qiu sighed with a trace of melancholy.

Then he crouched down, grasped the pouch's opening with both hands, and slowly pushed his head inside.

But at that exact moment, a mechanical, monotonous voice rang out once more through the Main God Space:

"...Forced logout initiated!"

—In an instant, the entire Main God Space collapsed—utterly, completely, without a single trace remaining.

And our protagonist, Wang Qiu, vanished from it a heartbeat before its destruction...

...

After a brief wave of dizziness, Wang Qiu felt as though he had been transported into another world.

The scorching summer sun beat down on his body, accompanied once again by the incessant chirping of cicadas—and barking dogs?

Dogs?

A jolt of alarm surged through him. He hastily pulled the dimensional pouch from his face and looked around.

He was still at the far end of that stifling, grimy alleyway.

Still wearing the temporary urban management uniform.

Still clutching that rusted watermelon knife.

Still facing that same snarling pack of wild dogs…

Everything was exactly as it had been the moment he'd received that fateful call that led him into the Infinite Space.

—But the once-cornered intern in city management had become someone entirely different.

Smirking, Wang Qiu raised the rusty blade toward the barking hounds, ready to exact vengeance with newfound confidence—

Only to realize, mere seconds later, that all his enhancements and combat skills had been stripped away.

The smirk froze. Then vanished.

Moments later, the narrow alley echoed with furious barking—and the outraged howls of a man.

"...Damn that dog-spawned Main God! Give me back my physical enhancements and martial arts skills! I curse your ancestors to the eighteenth generation!"

—Following the crash of the Main God System, it seemed fate had also decided to thoroughly toy with our dear Wang Qiu…