The West Building of the orphanage had two underground levels. B1 was a semi-subterranean storage area, mechanical and electrical rooms, and a multipurpose classroom, while B2 contained an underground passage leading to the East Building, along with many old structures that had long since been abandoned. The orphanage's history stretched back so far that even the two buildings considered "new" were already several decades old. As for the deepest, oldest parts of the two buildings, even the orphanage's "parents" rarely set foot there.
Little Red Riding Hood only remembered being brought to the West Building's basement twice by some older children when she was very young, supposedly to "explore." Even then, the place had already looked this filthy, dilapidated, and forgotten. More than ten years had passed, yet it seemed nothing had changed. The dirty concrete floors and mottled, peeling walls even gave the impression that they had looked this way from the very beginning—ever since construction, and even when the building eventually collapsed.
But Little Red Riding Hood knew that every part of the building received at least some maintenance, including these seemingly forgotten corners. Volunteers sent by the board regularly inspected all the orphanage's facilities and repaired the power, water supply, and drainage systems. The adults took care of the children here as best they could, so if something truly strange had happened in these old passages beneath the West Building, the staff would certainly have noticed.
After all, any "volunteer" assigned here had necessarily received specialized training.
Since there had been no report of anything like that, the change must have occurred recently. At the very least, everything here should still have been normal during the routine inspection not long ago.
"Rats... cockroaches... Oh, there isn't even a single ant." King crouched on the heavy-armored mercenary's shoulder,