"Could it be that the numbers are drawn consecutively? Let's try another one." Qin Ci turned to look at the newcomers behind him. "Who's next?"
No one stepped forward. Xu Zhen looked at Mu Yiran and Ke Xun: "Since it's been confirmed that the numbers are drawn consecutively, I think we don't need to try again. Let's use these two numbers to see what they do."
Ke Xun glanced at Xu Zhen and curled his lips.
This woman is quite cunning. She suggested that each of the new and old members, male and female, take a number card, probably just to trick someone into taking one to experiment. Once there's a result, she'll immediately back down.
"Only two numbers aren't enough to verify the drawing pattern," Zhu Haowen said expressionlessly.
"But the reason we need to take numbers is to find a way to open this iron gate, isn't it?" Xu Zhen argued confidently. "I think our primary goal is to open this gate first, and then see what's down there."
Zhu Haowen seemed too lazy to talk to her anymore and pressed the number-taking button.
A-184.
"They are indeed consecutive numbers." Several veteran members exchanged glances.
"Don't press any more," Xu Zhen frowned as she saw the three veteran members' numbers were linked together. "Why don't you check how to open this door first?!"
No one paid her any attention. Ke Xun took his number card and turned to search the iron gate. He finally found a device resembling a time clock on the wall next to the door.
"Shall we go down and take a look?" Ke Xun turned to Mu Yiran.
"Yes." Mu Yiran nodded and glanced at Qin Ci. "You stay here for now."
Qin Ci understood and nodded.
Ke Xun put his number card into the time clock. He heard a "click," and the mechanism in the iron gate seemed to be activated. Ke Xun pushed it, and with a "creak" of rusty iron, the gate opened.
"In that case, can we get in without taking a card?" Xu Zhen asked.
"So, do you want to come in?" Ke Xun turned back to look at her with a half-smile and gestured for her to enter.
Xu Zhen shut her mouth.
Although the iron gate was open, indicating that anyone could enter freely, Mu Yiran still inserted his obtained number card into the card reader, which clicked, as if it had been recognized.
Zhu Haowen didn't speak, but did the same, following Ke Xun and Mu Yiran through the iron gate. Just as he entered, the iron gate slammed shut again with a "clang," as if blown by the wind.
The three inside turned around at the sound, seeing the people outside looking at them with complicated expressions. Xu Zhen's gaze was even like that of someone looking at three dead men.
Separated by the gate, the two groups of people inside and outside suddenly seemed to be isolated in two worlds. It was unclear which group was in the mortal realm and which was in the underworld.
The three inside didn't linger. They turned back in unison, without any hesitation or retreat, calmly and resolutely walking down the narrow, cramped staircase into the endless darkness.
The staircase was indeed very narrow. Even someone as tall and strong as Ke Xun could only pass through one person at a time, so the three of them had to line up in a row. Ke Xun led the way, Mu Yiran was in the middle, and Zhu Haowen brought up the rear.
Ke Xun used his phone to shine a light, but the dim yellow light only illuminated less than a meter in front of him. Countless dust particles and microorganisms swirled in the light, like the static on an old black-
and-white television when there was no signal. This level of visibility was practically useless; instead, it made the surrounding darkness feel even more oppressive and heavy. The narrow walls on both sides seemed to be constantly squeezing into the narrow staircase in the middle. With each step forward, the darkness in front of him and above him seemed to rush towards him as if it were a tangible force, leaving a fuzzy, gritty feeling on his skin.
The steps under his feet were narrow and steep, and the cement surface was worn uneven, making it very difficult to walk on. Every few steps, the staircase would turn, spiraling downwards, so that there was always a brick wall blocking his way, making him feel suffocated and oppressed.
The cramped space was incredibly uncomfortable for Ke Xun, who had long arms and legs. The feeling of being unable to move his legs or arms, if prolonged, would create a suffocating sensation, like being tightly bound by iron hoops. After walking for a short while, Ke Xun felt his muscles begin to ache.
Extrapolating this, Ke Xun figured that Mu Yiran, who was no shorter than him, must be experiencing no better conditions descending in this place. Just as he was about to stop and let the three of them catch their breath, Mu Yiran suddenly spoke in a deep voice: "Stop for a moment, there are words on the wall."
Ke Xun stopped, and together with Mu Yiran and Zhu Haowen, they held up their phones to shine on the wall.
It was an old-fashioned red brick wall, only coated with a layer of cement on the outside, without even a coat of paint. Due to its age, large chunks of cement had crumbled, revealing the faded red bricks underneath.
Where the cement hadn't crumbled, there were writings of varying shades, thick and dark at the beginning, but almost colorless at the end of each stroke.
The color of the writing was difficult to discern in the dim light, appearing to be either earthy yellow or dark brown.
The three carefully examined the writing on the wall, noting it came from different times and different people.
—Devil! All devils! They are all devils!
—Let me die, let me die, let me die.
—Save me! Save me!
—Don't come in, please don't come in, don't come in…
—Kill you! I'll kill you all! Kill them all! Kill!
The three remained silent for a long time before Mu Yiran finally broke the silence: "These words were written with fingers, and as for the ink, I think it's blood."
He pointed to a lower area below the writing.
Ke Xun and Zhu Haowen moved the light from their phones to that spot and saw densely packed handprints.
The handprints varied in size and shape, some as small as a baby's palm, others clearly belonging to an elderly woman with white hair and wrinkled skin.
Each handprint was wet, as if dipped in thick paint.
"It feels like entering a prisoner's concentration camp," Zhu Haowen said quietly. "The walls are filled with pain and resentment."
"I want to know how these baby handprints were left," Ke Xun said expressionlessly, staring down at the bloody handprints below.
"We can continue," Mu Yiran said calmly. "Let's hurry."
Ke Xun continued ahead, quickening his pace down the stairs. After descending rapidly for a good half hour, his feet finally touched flat ground.
Perhaps because they had been walking through narrow stairwells with insufficient oxygen, all three experienced tinnitus and a slight headache upon landing. Zhu Haowen fared worse; his physical condition was not as good as Ke Xun's and Mu Yiran's. After descending this long, steep staircase, his legs were weak, and he was panting heavily, supporting his back.
"Haowen, your health isn't good," Ke Xun patted him on the back. "Why don't you wait here? Yi Ran and I will go ahead and take a look."
Zhu Haowen looked up and gazed ahead by the light of his phone.
This was another long, narrow corridor, with rooms facing each other on either side. The doors were labeled "Project A Experimental Area," "Project B Experimental Area," and so on.
"Go check the rooms. I'll watch the corridor from here. I'll shout if there's a problem. Don't dawdle, come out immediately," Zhu Haowen said calmly.
"If there's a problem, shout and run upstairs. Don't wait for us," Ke Xun added.
"I will," Zhu Haowen glanced at him. "I'm not you, I value my life."
Ke Xun smiled, winked at him, and walked down the corridor with Mu Yiran, holding his phone.
There was a time clock outside the experimental area room. Ke Xun casually inserted his SIM card, but nothing happened. He took it out, flipped it, and inserted it again, still no response. He tried pushing the door, but it wouldn't budge.
"What's going on?" Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran glanced at the sign on the door and gestured with his chin towards the door next to it: "This is the B project experimental area. Try the door to the A project experimental area."
Ke Xun did as instructed, inserted his SIM card, and heard a "click."
Zhu Haowen stood at the top of the stairs, calming his breathing. His gaze fell on Ke Xun, who was enveloped in the dim light of the corridor. In the heavy darkness, the man's face was strangely clear. His thin eyelids drooped, and his thick eyelashes cast crescent-shaped shadows on the wall beside him.
Most people can't withstand light shining from below; the uneven contours of their faces create shadows that make them look like a ghost mask.
But this man wasn't.
The light from his phone shone up from below, flowing smoothly across his cheeks, only outlining smooth shadows around his lips, nose, and eyes.
This made him look a bit like… a husky.
Zhu Haowen opened WeChat on his phone. Although there was no signal or data, he could still change the WeChat nickname.
After changing his friend's name from "Corgi" to "Husky," Zhu Haowen inexplicably opened the camera app.
The camera showed Ke Xun and Mu Yiran entering the experimental area of Project A. Below them, a grayish-white infant's arm reached out from inside the door and grabbed Ke Xun's trouser leg.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran didn't stay long in the Project A experimental area. When they came out, Zhu Haowen was looking for clues on the wall with his phone.
"Any findings?" Zhu Haowen asked.
"A strange room," Ke Xun said, gesturing as they walked up the stairs. "It looks like a nursery. There are several cribs inside, and the storage cabinets are full of baby supplies, but strangely, there are also some small cages in the room."
"For keeping babies?" Zhu Haowen asked.
"No," Ke Xun shook his head, "The cages are very small, only big enough for hamsters, or at most a rabbit. Besides that, there are tools like whistles, awls, and hammers. All these things together look quite incongruous."
"Indeed," Zhu Haowen pondered, "Small cages, tools, baby supplies—these three things in one room are very chaotic. But since the room is called Project A Experimental Area, what kind of experiments could be done with these things?"
"I can't think of anything," Ke Xun said. "If I hadn't found knives or axes, I would have even considered the heinous possibility of dismembering a baby, and there was no blood in the room."
"I think," Mu Yiran suddenly spoke up, "to find out the connection between these things and the content of the experiment, we need to open all the rooms in the experimental areas to get further clues."
Ke Xun looked up.
This meant that the remaining people also had to get number cards and come down to the experimental areas to open the corresponding doors.
The problem was that the number cards were issued in sequential order, meaning that only after all the number cards for Project A Experimental Area were issued would the number cards for Project B Experimental Area be developed.
Therefore, no one can expect the random distribution to happen to land in the hands of the first few people and distribute all the entrance cards for the experimental areas, thus sparing later people from having to take a number to enter.
To obtain all the clues, one must be able to enter all the rooms in the experimental areas; to enter a room, one
must obtain the entrance card for each room. Ke Xun believes that if he is not mistaken, "Hua" will ensure that, in order to guarantee that everyone must have a number card, the last entrance card for the experimental area will inevitably only appear in the hands of the last person to obtain it.
In other words, the last person to obtain a number card will have to operate alone.