Orphanage

When he opened his eyes again, he was still in the security office.

It seemed that every time the script transitioned between day and night, it would reset to this security office. Zhou You turned his head to glance at the clock.

--It looks like the time is fixed as well.

Just like the last time he arrived, the security office was empty, and he was wearing the same brand-new security uniform, though it was much messier than before.

Or rather... much, much messier.

Tables and chairs had been overturned, logs and files were scattered everywhere, and even the long-broken television had been knocked to the floor, its screen smashed to pieces.

Zhou You searched through the pile of debris and muttered to himself.

"It doesn't look like a robbery-style break-in. It looks like someone was searching for something in this office. As for whether they found it or not..."

Zhou You turned his head to look at two vases nearby that had clearly been smashed in a fit of rage.

"It seems they didn't find it. But that brings up another question: what could possibly be in a dumpy security office that requires such a thorough, sweeping search?"

Zhou You searched carefully as well, but like the intruder, he found no clues. A small security office like this could be scanned at a glance, and there were no hidden spaces between the thin walls and floorboards, so he could only shake his head and walk out.

--After all, daylight hours are limited; he had to be calculating.

The scenery outside was much the same as the day before, the only difference being that the fog was thicker. If he could see the shapes of pedestrians before, now he could only see vague, indistinct silhouettes.

"--But it doesn't matter much; these people can't communicate anyway."

In the milky-white fog, Zhou You followed his familiar patrol route. Perhaps because he had cleared two stages the previous night, his range of movement during the day had expanded significantly. The Yuan Shun Intersection was no longer blocked by fog, allowing him to easily pass the spot where the stall had been and arrive before the alleyway where he had "played the game."

But here, he stopped in his tracks.

Unlike the scenery that blended into the night, at this very moment, right next to that pitch-black alley, a strange building had appeared as if out of thin air.

From the exterior, the building was a detached structure. It wasn't particularly large, but it wasn't small either—likely around two or three hundred square meters. It was a two-story brick-and-stone building, and at the very top, one could see a tattered sign.

"Angel's Home"

But now, the house looked as if it had been through a fire; the entire structure was scorched black, and one could see many collapsed sections at a glance. Perhaps to prevent curious passersby from wandering in and causing an accident, a circle of iron railings had been erected around the perimeter.

"This thing... must be the orphanage from the kid's nursery rhyme, right?" Zhou You glanced at it casually, feeling there was nothing useful—after all, he had already cleared that game and didn't need to find clues here—and was just about to leave when he suddenly felt a sense of dissonance.

The next moment, he slowly crouched down, grabbed a handful of dirt from beneath the railing, and gently rubbed it.

--The moisture in the inner layer of the soil hadn't dissipated yet. Judging by the dampness, these railings had been erected less than half a day ago... no, they must have been put up just a few hours ago.

With that, Zhou You wore an intrigued expression.

"But the question is, why would anyone bother to fence off a long-abandoned, fire-damaged building now?"

"Did some accident just happen?"

"Or is it... the ripple effect caused by me clearing the alley at night?"

Thinking of this, Zhou You, who didn't want to waste time, became even more interested.

He took a few steps back, took a running start, nimbly vaulted over the railing, walked along the path devoid of any vegetation, arrived in front of the orphanage, and gently pushed the iron gate that was still relatively intact.

...It wasn't locked.

The gate creaked open, releasing a wave of stale, choking dust. Judging by the environment, it seemed the outsiders had only fenced off the building, but the house itself hadn't been visited in a long time.

Zhou You coughed twice and walked in, braving the dust-filled air. The interior looked like a typical post-fire scene, with burnt furniture and pitch-black ash everywhere. Borrowing the light filtering through the windows, he scanned the area but found nothing unusual.

"The main entrance leads to the lobby. Normally, there wouldn't be any clues here; after all, no one would leave private items in such a high-traffic area. So, as I thought..."

He casually gripped the doorknob leading to the back and pulled it open.

The room beyond seemed to be a cafeteria, with the same dilapidated and desolate scenery, save for a pile of remaining tables. Zhou You rummaged around but only found a few charred potatoes. A talent called Keen Observation popped up to make its presence known, but unfortunately, all it identified was a pile of trash.

Still, he had found nothing.

However, there was no sign of anxiety on his face. Since he was already inside, the worst-case scenario was just spending a resurrection coin to reset the daylight hours. He walked straight toward the next area.

But the moment he opened the next door, Zhou You's eyes narrowed instinctively.

It was the result of the sudden change in brightness.

With just a single door separating them, the environment became extremely dark. Unlike the lobby and the cafeteria, this innermost room had no windows at all, receiving only a faint, dim light through the gaps left by the fire.

But unlike the dim and cramped environment, this small room was packed with over a dozen iron bunk beds. The beds were crammed into every corner, leaving barely any room to step.

"It looks like... this is the bedroom for the orphans." Zhou You estimated the size and found that each bed could fit at most one child. "And a bedroom with terrible living conditions at that. The head of this orphanage was truly a master of space utilization; to think they could cram so many people into a standard dormitory space."

He picked up a doll from a bed that hadn't been incinerated, patted off the dust, took a quick look, and then shook his head, placing it back where it was.

"...The doll is also shoddily made, using cheap fabric, and the stuffing is likely the cheapest, toxic cotton. Plus, I didn't see any refined food in the kitchen. It seems the living standard of the orphans here... had been squeezed to a certain extent."

Zhou You had heard of such things in reality—orphanages over-admitting children to defraud the government of subsidies. In the eyes of those directors, all the children were merely tools for making money. They saved wherever they could, and there were even rumors of children freezing or starving to death.

But that was a long time ago. Now that he was seeing such a scene in the flesh, even though he was a "troll" in the broad sense, he still felt a touch of discomfort.

With a soft sigh, feeling there were no clues here either, Zhou You was about to head to the second floor. However, the moment he turned around, his entire body suddenly froze.

The reason was simple: right in front of him, in the shadows of the cafeteria door.

A child was standing there.

A child whose body was charred, whose eyes and mouth had already vanished, looking at him with empty sockets, like a vengeful spirit... a child.