Chapter 12
1756words
The breath of death rushed toward him!
Owen closed his eyes in despair.
Just as the vines were about to pierce his body——
"Hum——!"
A grayish light screen appeared without warning in front of Owen!
The vines slammed hard against the light screen, producing a "sizzling" sound of corrosion, emitting bursts of black smoke, and frantically recoiling!
Owen Grant suddenly opened his eyes!
He saw that the "Employee Handbook" he was clutching tightly in his hand was emitting a strong gray light from its cover! Like a solid shield, it was protecting him inside!
It's this! This handbook again!
"Argh—!" The Dancer monster let out an angry howl, more vines surging from inside her body and from the doorway of "The Garden," frantically whipping against the gray light screen! The barrier shook violently, its light flickering unstably, clearly unable to hold much longer!
"Go!" A hoarse, dry voice sounded behind Owen.
Owen turned around abruptly!
It was the Blurred Face "person" from the front desk! He had appeared in the hallway somehow, hunched over, his hat brim pulled even lower.
"Go to... the basement..." The Blurred Face's voice carried a strange urgency, "The truth... is there... key... booklet..."
Booklet? Key?
Owen Grant looked down at the glowing booklet in his hand.
"Hurry!" The Blurred Face violently waved its hand, and an invisible force pushed Owen toward the depths of the corridor, away from the Dancer monster and the entrance to "The Garden"!
Simultaneously, the Blurred Face's body suddenly expanded and twisted! His uniform tore apart, revealing underneath... countless writhing, root-like black tentacles! He let out an inhuman roar and lunged toward the Dancer monster and the emerging vines!
The two monsters instantly became entangled! Growls, the sound of breaking vines, and the slapping of tentacles were incessant!
Owen's heart raced wildly! He understood! The Blurred Face was using itself to hold back the contamination from "The Garden"!
The basement! The truth!
He hesitated no more, clutched the glowing booklet tightly, and sprinted toward the depths of the corridor!
He remembered that the rulebook had never mentioned a basement! Yet the Blurred Face said the truth was down there!
At the end of the corridor was a wall. Hanging on the wall was a huge abstract painting depicting twisted vines and flowers.
The gray light emitted from the booklet, as if guided by something, shone on the center of the canvas.
"Hum..."
The canvas rippled like water, slowly parting to both sides, revealing a dark stairway behind it that extended downward!
A more ancient, colder air mixed with dust and rust rushed toward him!
Owen Grant took a deep breath and stepped onto the descending stairs.
The staircase was long, spiraling downward. The gray light from the booklet was his only light source, illuminating the dust-covered steps beneath his feet.
The further down he went, the colder the air became, and the stronger the smell of rust grew.
Finally, he reached the bottom.
Before me was an enormous space, like an underground cavern. The walls were rough stone, covered with dark red, vein-like patterns that pulsated slightly, emitting a faint red glow.
In the center of the space stood a massive, complex apparatus constructed from countless metal pipes and gears. At its core was a transparent cylindrical container filled with pale blue liquid.
Floating in the liquid was a "person."
No, it could no longer be fully called a "person."
He wore tattered, ancient-style uniform (even older than the one worn by Blurred Face), his body withered like dead wood, skin a deathly gray color. Countless tiny, fiber-optic-like transparent tubes connected to various parts of his body, with their other ends disappearing into the surrounding metal apparatus and the vein-like patterns on the walls.
What made Owen's scalp crawl was that this "person's" face—was exactly the blurred face of the "Administrator"! Only it was more distinct, and more... deathly still.
On the base of the device, a weathered inscription was carved:
[Twilight Funeral Home Core—Soul Furnace (Damaged)]
[Administrator: Alan Grant (Consciousness Dormant)]
Alan Grant?!
Owen felt as if struck by lightning! Alan who died in a car accident five years ago! Vivian's fiancé! He... he is the Administrator of the funeral home?!
"Surprised, Owen?"
A cold, emotionless electronic voice echoed directly in Owen's mind. No longer the system's notification sound from before, but something more direct, more... humanized?
Owen jerked his head up.
Above the device, a phantom silhouette composed of pale blue light slowly materialized. The phantom's features were indistinct, but its form... vaguely resembled the mummified Alan inside the container.
"Who are you?!" Owen gripped the booklet tightly and asked harshly.
"Me?" the electronic voice carried a hint of mockery, "You can call me 'the System', or... the lingering obsession left in this body. Alan Grant's obsession."
The shadowy figure pointed to the mummified corpse in the container: "This is the real Alan Grant. In that car accident five years ago, only his physical body died. His soul, due to his intense obsession and guilt toward Vivian Miller, was captured by this 'Twilight Funeral Home' that has long existed, becoming its 'fuel' and... Administrator."
"Vivian..." Owen Grant recalled client No. 044.
"Vivian was severely injured and fell into a coma, her soul separated from her body and was likewise captured by the funeral home. But her obsession is Alan, that ring, and that belated apology." The electronic voice narrated dispassionately, "Alan, as the Administrator, couldn't help her directly, so he could only list her as a client, publish last wish tasks, and guide 'employees' like you to complete them, helping her find release."
"Employees like me?" Owen caught the key point.
"That's right." The electronic voice was cold. "The funeral home needs to operate, and the 'Soul Furnace' needs fuel. What is the fuel? It's those souls that cannot dissipate due to 'rule pollution' or 'deep obsession'! Complete their last wishes, resolve their obsessions, and their pure soul energy will be absorbed by the furnace, maintaining the operation of this place, and at the same time... also maintaining the existence of Alan Grant's remnant consciousness."
"What about 'The Garden'? What is the source of pollution?" Owen Grant pressed.
"Source of pollution?" The electronic voice let out a cold laugh. "No, you've got it wrong. 'The Garden' is not a source of pollution, it is... a purification device."
"What?!" Owen was shocked.
"This funeral home, along with 'The Garden', is part of an ancient and vast 'soul purification and recycling system'." The electronic voice explained, "'The Garden' is responsible for absorbing and breaking down those heavily polluted souls that are too impure to be resolved through last wishes, converting them into harmless energy. But five years ago, the system was severely damaged due to unknown reasons, and 'The Garden's' core program was corrupted, transforming it from a purification device into... a leaking source of contamination. That cloying floral fragrance is the escaping high-concentration soul pollution!"
"The 'Sleepers' in the Stasis Chamber are heavily polluted souls that have been temporarily frozen. The Night Patroller is the system's cleaning program, responsible for removing violators and 'Residual Entities', and guiding unprocessable contamination sources toward 'The Garden's' entrance."
"That gray Teddy Bear from task 077..."
"That is the materialized product of 'The Garden's' contamination infiltration. A malicious 'pollution seed.' You violated the rules by communicating with No.077, giving it an opportunity to attach itself to you, following you into the Stasis Chamber, and even attempting to interfere with Mission 013, accelerating the opening of 'The Garden's' entrance!" The electronic voice carried a tone of accusation.
Owen Grant finally understood! Everything connected together!
"Then why did you choose me?" he stared at the apparition, "Because I share the Grant surname? Because of my car accident?"
"Not entirely." The electronic voice paused, "Your near-death experience gave you a slight Spirit Perception, providing some resistance to rule contamination. More importantly... you and Alan Grant share a blood relation. You are his... cousin whom he never met."
Blood relation! That's why he could trigger the contingency Alan had left behind—this special "Employee Handbook"!
"This booklet..."
"It's the 'key' and 'firewall' that Alan created with his last strength before his consciousness fell asleep," said the electronic voice. "It records the true rules, possesses partial system privileges, can resist the contamination of 'The Garden', and can also... shut it down."
"Shut down 'The Garden'?" Owen's heart stirred.
"Yes. Completely close The Garden's leakage point and repair the purification program." The electronic voice carried a hint of urgency. "But someone needs to enter The Garden's core for manual operation. And the only one who can safely enter is you, who holds this booklet and possesses both Alan's bloodline and Spirit Perception!"
"Now, The Garden's entrance has been forcibly opened because of the Dancer, client 013 (she was a friend of Alan and Vivian, also died from contamination, with dancing as her obsession), and the contamination is spreading faster! Once the entrance stabilizes, the entire Twilight City, and even places further away, will be devoured by the contamination!"
"Why should I believe you?" Owen gripped the booklet tightly, his gaze sharp. "Isn't all of this caused by your ghost system in the first place?"
"You may not believe me." The electronic voice was cold, "But look up! Listen to those sounds!"
Owen Grant concentrated.
From the rock dome overhead came violent tremors and roaring sounds! It was the battle between the Blurred Face administrator (the puppet controlled by Alan Grant's remains) and the Dancer monster (Vivian's infected friend)! And the sound of vines growing wildly!
"Bang!"
A tremendous noise! The entire basement was shaking!
A piece of rock fell from above!
"There's no time left!" The electronic voice carried a trace of humanized anxiety, "Shutting down 'The Garden' will not only stop the pollution from spreading, but also... liberate all the souls trapped here! Including Vivian Miller, including Child No.077, including... Alan Grant!"
"Liberate?"
"Yes! When the furnace stops and the system shuts down, all the bound souls will be freed to enter the true cycle of reincarnation!" The electronic voice was resolute, "This was Alan's final wish! And the reason he made this booklet!"
Owen Grant looked at the withered "Alan Grant" in the container, and then at the book flickering with light in his hand.
Above, were countless trapped souls.
Below, was the impending world-ending pollution about to erupt.
He had no choice.
