Drip, drip!
It was already past midnight. Several clear sounds of dripping water echoed through the silent, empty first floor of the laboratory building.
At some point, the floor of the first-floor lobby had become covered in water stains, wet and slick, as if someone had come in from outside while drenched by the rain and made a complete mess of the floor. But no matter how soaked a person was, they could not possibly leave behind so much water.
Moreover, the puddles on the ground were black and foul-smelling. They did not resemble rainwater, but more like corpse water formed after something had decayed.
The appearance of these puddles made the first floor damp and filled it with a foul stench. No one could possibly remain in such an environment; it was unbearable.
Yet many chaotic footprints had appeared on the floor of the living room. Though the prints were a mess, a closer inspection made it clear that there were actually only two sets. One belonged to a child, and the individual impressions of little bare feet could still be clearly seen.
The other set of footprints was rather strange. Though each print covered a large area, its shape was bizarre. There were no toes and no curve of a sole; it looked like an irregular, elongated mark.
It was difficult to tell what sort of "person" could leave behind such peculiar footprints.
These strange, wet footprints led deep into the building, but soon looped back. Then they circled around the lobby before heading deeper into the building again.
It seemed as though they were repeatedly entering and leaving the building.
No, it was not deliberately going in and out of the building. Another set of child-sized footprints had been following behind those prints the entire time.
The