"Are we there yet?"
The farther Xue Se climbed, the darker his surroundings seemed. There was clearly nothing wrong with the sound-activated lights, but he still felt that something far stranger was blocking their light.
"Almost."
After rounding a corner, Li Zhi did not dare go any farther. Like a man approaching the execution ground, he struggled with every step. "This is it."
Faint traces of fire damage remained on the walls. Strangely, fine red lines ran across them, like new flesh growing beneath the scabs on a person's wounds. Those red lines all led to the same place.
"This is the room where the Red-Garment Old Woman was burned back then. The residents don't dare come near it even during the day, let alone at night. Everyone unconsciously speeds up when passing the Thirteenth Floor, too." Li Zhi recoiled from it with every fiber of his being, but Xue Se had hold of him, leaving him no way to escape.
Xue Se moved forward, becoming the first to enter the corridor. The surroundings were completely different from the information Doctor Gao had sent him. He did not suspect Doctor Gao of lying; he simply felt that this room really seemed alive, capable of growing on its own.
The wind in the corridor was cold and damp, blowing in a steady rhythm like a person's breathing.
Before he knew it, Xue Se had reached the door to the Old Lady's former room. Both the door and its frame had been replaced, looking completely out of place against the blackened walls.
"The residents were afraid something might get out of this room, so they had the Residents' Committee install a new door. But according to the people who used to live on this floor, ever since it was installed, they could