Led by Miss Nina, everyone arrived on the fourth floor.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of disinfectant, sharp enough to sting their noses; anatomical posters hung on the walls along both sides of the long corridor. Perhaps because the posters were so old, every figure on them was missing arms or legs, their incomplete bodies looking somewhat distorted in the dim light.
The corridor was deserted, with examination rooms lined up neatly on either side. Unlike those elsewhere, however, the examination rooms in this sanatorium had heavy iron doors, their cold surfaces streaked with red rust and reflecting the deathly pale light from overhead.
Worse still, whenever the players passed an iron door, they could hear all sorts of sounds faintly coming from behind it: electric shocks, wails, screams, chainsaws... Their legs shook harder with every step, and their faces grew increasingly grim.
"Here we are..."
Miss Nina suddenly stopped outside an examination room and knocked on the only quiet iron door here, the only one with no sound coming from behind it. "The doctor is already waiting inside for you..."
"Please form a line and make sure you take turns in an orderly fashion."
"Now..." Her gaze slowly swept over everyone present. "Which of you... will go first?"
The moment she said that, silence fell over the corridor. Even the thick smell of disinfectant seemed about to be swept away by the deathly stillness. The players' eyes darted about; some lowered their heads, while others looked away to avoid meeting Miss Nina's gaze.
None of the players wanted to be the first to venture into the unknown.
Time slowly began to congeal, each second stretching unbearably long. As everyone remained silent, Miss Nina's expression darkened little by little. Just as she opened her mouth again, about