Chapter 10
1331words
At 23:50, Owen stood once more before the heavy wooden door of "Twilight Funeral Home" at 44 Wutong Lane, clutching tightly to the yellowed newspaper clipping.
This time, the fear remained, but was joined by a touch of determination. He needed to survive, and more importantly, uncover the truth behind all this!
He pushed open the wooden door.
The familiar scent of disinfectant and sandalwood. The front desk remained empty.
He did not see the "person" with the blurred face, and walked straight to the intern's room.
The third drawer was already open.
A black envelope lay quietly inside.
He picked it up and tore it open.
Last Wish List - Client Number: 013
Find 'her' dancing shoes. They are in the seventh slot of the third row in the 'Stasis Chamber'.
Give them to 'the Dancer at the entrance of the Garden'.
When you have finished all this, please say: 'It's time for the curtain call.'
Written in blood letters, exuding an eerily beautiful aesthetic.
Stasis Chamber? Dancing shoes? The Dancer at the entrance of the Garden? Owen's heart sank. It indeed involved the "Garden"!
Rule Eight of the handbook: [Sweet Floral Scent Warning]!
And what place was the "Stasis Chamber"? The handbook hadn't mentioned it.
He took out the "Employee Handbook" booklet and quickly flipped through it. In the last few pages, he discovered newly added content! [Permission Unlocked (Intern Level): Access to 'Level One Stasis Chamber'.] [Stasis Chamber Rules:]
[Item Access by Number]：Special items stored in the Stasis Chamber must be accessed strictly by item number.Do not touch any items not specified on the inventory list.
[Maintain Silence]：Any sound is prohibited in the Stasis Chamber. Any noise may awaken the "Sleeper".
[Time Limit]：Each entry into the Stasis Chamber must not exceed 5 minutes. Exceeding the time limit will result in unpredictable consequences.
[Anomaly Response]：If you hear whispering, crying, or laughter in the Stasis Chamber, hold your breath immediately, retreat slowly, and do not run.
[Item Handling]：After retrieving an item, immediately place it in the Isolation Bag provided by the system (available at the entrance).Do not directly contact or expose the item for more than 30 seconds.
The new rules are even more bizarre! What's stored in the Stasis Chamber? And what is the "Sleeper"?
The task requires retrieving dance shoes from the third row, seventh slot, and delivering them to "the Dancer at the Garden entrance"... This is like dancing on a knife edge!
But there's no choice.
He walked out of the training room. With his enhanced Spirit Perception, he felt the funeral home was unusually "active" tonight. Shadows seemed to squirm, and there was an almost imperceptible vibration in the air.
He needed to find the Stasis Chamber.
He tentatively walked toward the far end of the first-floor corridor, an area he had never explored before.
At the T-junction, he turned right (the direction where the crying woman had appeared last time) and after walking a short distance, a heavy metal door appeared ahead. There were no markings on the door, only a palm-sized card reader.
He took out his work badge and cautiously placed it against the reader.
"Beep." A green light illuminated. The heavy metal door silently slid open inward.
A chill colder than the interior of the funeral home, one that seemed capable of freezing the soul, hit him in the face! The air was permeated with an indescribable, pungent smell similar to liquid nitrogen. Behind the door was a vast space resembling a library's book repository. Rows of tall metal shelves were neatly arranged, reaching all the way to the ceiling. Each shelf was divided into countless metal compartments of varying sizes, like morgue cabinets, but each compartment door displayed a glowing blue electronic number.
This was the Stasis Chamber! At the entrance, there was a small stand with several folded silver bags that looked like they were made of tin foil material. Isolation Bags.
Owen Grant picked up one of the bags, and coldness spread from his fingertips. He took a deep breath and stepped into this frigid domain. The cold was bone-piercing. The light was a dismal blue, casting an unreal hue over everything. The surroundings were terrifyingly silent, so quiet that even his own heartbeat was clearly audible.
Rule: [Keep Quiet]!
He held his breath and lightened his footsteps, moving like a ghost through the maze of metal shelves. His gaze quickly scanned the numbers on the compartment doors.
First row... second row... third row! He found the third row.
One compartment... two compartments... three compartments... the seventh compartment!
The pale blue number flickered on the compartment door: 0307.
This is it!
He reached out his hand and gently pressed on the electronic lock of the compartment door.
Badge brought closer. "Click." A slight unlocking sound, particularly jarring in the dead silence! The compartment door popped open a crack. An indescribable, extremely delicate yet bone-penetrating sweet floral fragrance wafted out from the gap in the door! Owen Grant's body froze! Floral scent! Though faint, it was definitely the aroma of "The Garden"!
He fought against his palpitations and pulled the compartment door fully open. Inside the compartment, there was no horrifying scene as he had anticipated. Just a pair of shoes. A pair of red satin ballet shoes. The toe caps were worn, the satin somewhat faded, but one could still see their former exquisiteness. They lay there quietly, like a forgotten piece of art.
Were these "her" ballet shoes?
Owen Grant didn't dare to delay, according to the protocol: [Never directly contact or expose items for more than 30 seconds]!
He immediately grabbed the Isolation Bag beside him and carefully placed the ballet shoes inside, then quickly sealed the bag's closure strip.
The moment the seal was closed, that faint, cloying floral scent disappeared.
Owen Grant breathed a sigh of relief. First step completed. He immediately turned around, preparing to leave.
At that very moment—"tap...tap...tap..." An extremely faint sound, like barefoot steps on ice, came from somewhere deep within the shelves behind him! Owen Grant's blood instantly froze!
Stasis Chamber Rules: [If you hear whispers, crying, or laughter in the Stasis Chamber, immediately hold your breath, slowly back out, and DO NOT run]!
Footsteps! Though not whispers or crying, equally abnormal! He suddenly remembered the "Sleepers" mentioned in the rules! Had they been awakened?
He didn't dare to look back! Holding his breath, he forced himself to slow down his pace, step by step, moving toward the entrance. "Tap...tap...tap..." The footsteps followed behind him, neither too far nor too close, equally slow, as if mimicking his rhythm. A chill crept up his spine. He could feel a cold gaze fixed on his back. He stared intently at the metal door of the entrance not far ahead. Twenty meters...fifteen meters...ten meters..."Tap...tap...tap..." The footsteps still followed behind. Five meters...three meters...just as he was about to step out of the entrance!
"Hee hee..." A crystal-clear childlike giggle filled with endless malice suddenly exploded right beside his ear!
It was the laugh of that gray Teddy Bear! It had followed him here?! How did it get in?!
Owen Grant was absolutely terrified, no longer able to stay calm! He lunged forward, rushing out of the Stasis Chamber's door!
"Bang!" The heavy metal door automatically slammed shut behind him! It blocked out that eerie laughter and footsteps! Owen Grant collapsed on the cold floor, gasping for breath, his heart pounding uncontrollably.
But the danger was not over!
As soon as he looked up, he saw—at the end of the corridor, in the direction of the hall, a figure standing silently. It was a woman wearing a tattered, mud-covered white ballet dress.
She stood with her back to Owen, her figure slender. One foot was bare, covered in mud, while the other foot... wore a red ballet shoe. Identical to the one in the Isolation Bag in his hand. She slowly, extremely stiffly, began to rise onto her toes. Spinning.
