28 Const Orphanage 24

At this moment, Elvira was hidden under a table, his view obstructed, completely unable to catch sight of the child. He could only hold his breath, the sound of his heartbeat echoing in his ears.

In the silence, time seemed to slow down.

Fortunately, the child didn't linger and eventually moved away from the expanded section of the laboratory. Elvira breathed a sigh of relief and immediately dashed to the end of the laboratory.

There stood a door. The black door blended with the surrounding black walls. If Elvira hadn't already known about the existence of the secret passage from the architectural plans, he might have found it difficult to notice.

But he couldn't open the door; it was locked. Elvira raised an eyebrow and pulled a hairpin from his pocket, carefully straightening it. He pressed his ear against the door, slowly inserting the hairpin into the lock, intently listening for any sound within the lock mechanism.

Suddenly—

The door made a slight noise as it opened.

Behind it was a deep staircase, winding downwards like a dark vortex. Clutching his phone for light, Elvira stepped into this mysterious stairway. A wave of inexplicable excitement surged within him, as if his blood was boiling at this very moment.

The staircase was extremely narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. A huge stone pillar stood in the center, with the staircase winding down around it. The stone walls on both sides were hard and cold, without handrails, a slight misstep could lead to a fall.

Elvira gazed down at the steps, feeling dizzy. He moved slowly and cautiously, every step taken with care. The staircase seemed bottomless, darkness engulfing the space below, with only his footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell. Beyond that, there was no other sound. It was as if this place led directly to the entrance of hell, instilling fear and trepidation.

"Ta—ta—ta—"

Elvira heard footsteps again, not his own, always a half-beat slower than his movements. Whenever he stopped, the sound ceased as well.

It was that sound again.

Elvira sighed in resignation. Ever since he entered this secret passage, that sound seemed to follow him, occasionally giving him a scare.

Truly—utterly mischievous.

He no longer paid it any mind, continuing down with his phone, using the dim light to navigate. Before long, he reached the end of the passage.

At the end was a door, relatively new in appearance. A nameplate embedded in the center bore the conspicuous inscription: "Dean Office." Elvira reached out, his fingertips gently grazing the top edge of the nameplate, which was free from any dust.

This place was clearly frequented by someone. Elvira leaned close to the door, straining to hear any sound from inside the room. It was silent, seemingly unoccupied.

Grasping the doorknob, he gently turned it; the door wasn't locked and eased open slightly. Carefully pushing the door open, he was greeted by a spacious room, with a dim light hanging in the center. Despite the dimness, it was bright enough for him to see the room's layout.

Stepping into the room, Elvira immediately heard the floorboards creak under his weight. The floor was uneven, and a misstep could easily send someone tumbling. Additionally, a pungent smell, similar to disinfectant, filled the air.

In the center of the room stood a bed with a nightstand on either side. To the left appeared to be a wardrobe, while to the right was a desk piled with documents. The desk was pushed against the wall, which was cluttered with papers pinned chaotically. Elvira moved closer to examine the documents.

The documents were filled with complex medical jargon, mainly discussing the transfer and exchange of brainwaves. To a layperson, these papers might as well have been written in an alien language. Elvira only skimmed them briefly but felt overwhelmed by the sea of information. The only detail that stood out to him was the author's signature at the bottom of the documents:

Landric Austin

Who is he? Elvira checked his phone but had no signal, so he couldn't look up any information online. He then raised his hand to touch the highest nail on the wall, which was covered in dust. It seemed that no one had moved the documents above for a long time.

Shifting his gaze downwards, he noticed many sticky notes on the wall, each with a series of keywords:

"Twins: Blood relation?"

"Side effects related to blood relations?"

"Beggars and animals: √"

"Child side effects: Accelerated maturity?"

"Experiment success—Investors' banquet"

"Closest to successful subject:"

Elvira leaned in, trying to see the note behind "Closest to successful subject" more clearly. To his disappointment, there was only a faint trace of the letter "i."

Who could this "i" be? Elvira thought about all the people he had met at the Orphanage in the past few days, and was surprised to find that all their names contained the letter "i," even his own.

Damn!

Elvira's gaze fell on a business card pinned to the wall, which boldly stated: "Neve Rutledge, Head of Crystal Bank Department."

His intuition told him that this business card was very important, so he carefully removed the pin and pocketed the card. He walked slowly around the room, each step heavier and slower than the last. Although he had a suspicion, he found it too absurd to fully believe.

How could it be?

He felt certain there were more secrets hidden within the Dean's office. Thus, he resumed his search around the room. Opening all the drawers, he found a bottle of medicine—Sorafenib. The bottle was covered with a thin layer of dust, indicating it hadn't been touched for some time. Elvira gently shook the bottle, finding it still contained several pills. He also tapped on the walls, searching for any hidden compartments or panels, but found nothing hollow.

Elvira's gaze then shifted to the bed. He ran his hand over the sheets, detecting nothing unusual. However, when he reached inside the pillow, his fingers brushed against a piece of paper amid the cotton. He carefully extracted the paper to find it was a letter addressed to him:

"Dear little Elvira,

I am Teacher Ginger, and I'm sorry for inviting you here, but you are now our only hope for help.

Const Orphanage is no longer the place it once was. It has turned into something bizarre and insane, beyond rational explanation. I deeply fear for the children who are in grave danger.

"You must have met Blair; she's revealed to you some of the horrors here. This place is filled with monsters and terrible experiments, and I've even become part of these monsters.

To save the Orphanage, I've resolved to kill Dean Austin. I know his weakness is his heart, but he's hidden it well. I've been searching for clues, but unfortunately, I've found none so far.

I will not give up; I will do everything in my power to protect the children of the Orphanage until my last breath.

Please believe in a mother's faith."

Elvira stared silently at the letter, lost in thought for a long time. He leaned in close to the paper, trying to detect any scent other than ink, but there was no hint of lavender.

Yes, the lavender garden had long vanished, and Teacher Ginger had become a monster. Everything was changing, everything was unrecognizable.

To save these children, he knew he had to act. Only by finding Landric and destroying his heart could everything be set right again. He carefully folded the letter and placed it in his inner pocket.

Then, he approached the wardrobe, which contained several white doctor's coats, clearly intended for adult men. There were also a few children's clothes hanging beside, suggesting that perhaps two people once lived here. Elvira tapped lightly on the wardrobe's wooden panel and discovered that the right side was hollow. Pushing it, the panel swung open like a door, revealing the entrance to a storage room.

To the left of the storage room was a glass cabinet divided into fifty to sixty small compartments. Most of these compartments contained silver half-face masks, though some were empty. The compartments were labeled with names, clearly indicating these masks belonged to the invited investors.

Elvira counted and found ten masks missing. He activated his phone's flashlight to inspect the names more closely. He noticed the surname Sterling, likely representing someone from the Sterling financial consortium.

On the right side of the storage room was another glass display, different from the masks on the left. This one housed glass vials. Each vial contained a flowing gas, appearing as though miniature tornadoes were compressed within them, making for a rather eerie display.

He spotted a familiar name on one of the vials: Francesca Hall. Elvira took this vial and placed it in his pocket, considering it might be an important item related to Francesca that could be given to Blair as a keepsake.

After completing these actions, he exited the storage room and gently closed the wardrobe door.