The Creatures That We Are

They immediately went up to Can, who was holding a bloodied diary.

Can opened the diary before them. Most of the pages were stained by rust-colored blood, leaving only part of the entries visible.

Can flipped the diary page by page, quietly reading the words.

“The doctor said that I was expected to deliver the baby on December 24th. I can’t wait to meet the child. I’ll be a good mother...”

“I had a dream about my husband, who I lost to war. He told me that the child would be a girl, and that we should name her Lisa. Lisa. I like the name.”

“No, it can’t be... Lisa is so healthy...”

“I miss you, Lisa. I can’t live without you... Mother is coming to see you. Our family is finally reuniting...”

That was all there was. Can closed the diary.

Vermilion Bird stroked her chin, analyzing the obvious clues. “It seems that the passcode should be December 24th. That’s 1224...”

The fluorescent light went out suddenly, plunging the room in pure darkness.

“Ahhhh!”

The sudden change made the girls scream.

Gao Yang felt two gusts of wind hitting him. Then he lost his two elbows to Can and Vermilion Bird again.

“Don’t be scared. It’s okay!” The boys started calming them down.

Soon, the screaming stopped, and they regained their composure somewhat.

But then an infant’s cry came from all around them.

“Aghhhh!”

“A ghost!”

The screaming started again. Even the boys were crying out loud in fear this time.

“Don’t...don’t panic!” Lin Dajian tried his best to maintain order.

“Wah...wah...wah...”

The infant’s cry grew increasingly louder, accompanied by a soft rustle, like they were crawling toward the players from a dark corner.

Even Gao Yang broke into goosebumps. No one could deny that the escape room had spent a lot of effort in scaring the players.

“Punch in the code! Let’s get out of here!” Edmond was one of the few who still retained the ability to think.

“The door! There’s the door!” Qiu Qiu shouted. “Let’s rush there!”

The sun on the puzzle Lin Dajian had solved was fluorescent, the only source of light in pitch darkness. They supported each other as they stumbled toward the passlocked door. Lin Dajian opened the lid of the lock blindly, and the lock lit up.

Beep, beep, beep, beep...passcode incorrect.

“What the hell?!” Zhou Jing screamed.

“I put in the wrong code, I put it in wrong...”

“Wah, wah wah wah—”

The wailing had gotten so loud and so urgent that it seemed like the infant was almost at their feet.

“Hurry! Hurry now!” The girls shouted. Gao Yang felt like his elbows were going to be torn off.

Beep, beep, beep, beep—passcode correct.

Lin Dajian pushed the door open hurriedly, and they all dove in.

Gao Yang was the last to enter. He quickly closed the door.

They entered the second enclosed room, narrowly escaping whatever was coming for them. The experience left them pale and panting.

Bam! Bam, bam!

“Wah wah wah—”

Suddenly, the loud bangs of someone slamming on the door came from the previous room. The infant was still wailing.

“Ahhhhh!”

Another wave of screams. Gao Yang’s eardrums almost bled.

Fortunately, the banging on the door soon stopped, and so did the infant’s wailing. The scare came to an end.

They calmed themselves and scanned the second room closely.

It was even dimmer, the light an oppressive red. The rectangular room wasn’t big. Lining by a wall were a row of nine baby incubators, each marked with a number from 1 to 9.

This must be the nursery at the hospital. At the far side of the room was a closed metal door. There wasn’t a passlock.

“Go look, Globy.” Zhou Jing, who was on the braver side, was getting timid from the earlier scare.

Qiu Qiu swallowed and glanced at Lin Dajina. “Let’s go together, Dajian!”

“Of course.” Lin Dajian mustered his courage and went up to the incubators with Qiu Qiu. My goddess is watching me. I can’t back down!

“Whoa!”

Qiu Qiu cried out involuntarily, triggering another wave of screams that lasted more than ten seconds..

“It’s okay, it’s okay... Don’t panic...” Lin Dajian said soothingly.

Gao Yang went up to them and found that the incubators were all empty. While there were no infants, however, there was a feeding bottle containing red liquid that looked like blood.

That must be what had startled Qiu Qiu.

Looking through the incubators, Gao Yang found a cassette tape in one of the incubators. He took it and examined it.

“Look, everyone.” Edmond had found something on a workbench on the side.

Their curiosity triumphing over their fear for a moment, Vermilion Bird and Can slowly approached Edmond. It was an old tape recorder.

“Tape recorder,” Can said. “Must be a clue.”

“I’ve got a cassette tape here.” Gao Yang came over with the cassette tape and handed it to Edmond. “Let’s have a listen.”

The others came up to them. Edmond put in the tape and pressed play. Indeed, it still worked.

There was a lot of background noises, and the recording played in starts and stops. Not long after, there was the voice of a middle-aged man. He sounded tired, like he was finally free from something.

“April 1st, it’s been three years. The mad woman committed suicide... Finally, I don’t have to worry about the secret being known. Ha, perhaps it’s the best ending for all of us...”

Crackle.

“April 8th, a newborn at the hospital died... Strange, I checked this morning, and he was healthy...” The man sounded befuddled and exhausted.

Crackle.

“April 17th, another newborn died. It’s the fourth one to this day. It’s driving me mad!” The man sounded extremely panicked.

Crackle.

“April 19th, I heard the mad woman’s voice today... No, it can’t be. She’s dead... It must have been an illusion. I’ve been too tired these days...” The man’s voice became unfocused, his breathing hurried.

Crackle.

“April 21st, it’s the eighth infant death. Everyone’s scared... The hospital is closing down soon. I’ll lose my job... Damn it, I regret it now. I shouldn’t have done that in the beginning...” The man sounded regretful and worried.

Crackle.

“April 24th, it’s her, it’s really her. She’s coming to seek revenge. Haha, it’s all karma, karma...” The man sounded mad and desperate.

Crackle.

The recording stopped.

The players were silent for a moment.

The overall story was roughly revealed to them. Mi Shi thought about it and said, “Does it mean that the woman had gone mad after losing her newborn and committed suicide three years later, but then she started going after the hospital as revenge...”

“Yeah, but the male doctor must have done something bad,” Gao Yang said.

“Wah—”

Suddenly, the wailing started again.

“Ahhhh!”

There was another wave of screams. The girls each latched onto another person, and Gao Yang’s elbows were claimed by a right hand and left hand woman each.

Fortunately, the wailing didn’t continue. It was more of a reminder and scare telling them to hurry with solving the puzzle.

Lin Dajian tried the door. It was locked on the other side. He said with some irritation, “How are we gonna open this?”

They tried a few things on the door and found no solution.

“Why don’t we try to piece together the story first?” Vermilion Bird suggested, shaking the walkie-talkie in her hand. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll ask the moderator for clues.”

Gao Yang agreed, “Sure, let’s continue to look for clues.”

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