Chapter 1329: Chapter 1329

He reached out, grabbed the cold iron handle, and pulled. The cabinet didn't budge. Jenkins's heart leaped with joy; his luck was holding. He braced himself to force it open, but just as he was about to, a different cabinet—one above and to his left—popped open on its own.

Jenkins took two steps back and looked up. A man was sitting up inside the open morgue drawer. An ordinary man.

"Are you certain you want to find the truth of this place?"

the man asked. The livor mortis on his body was even more pronounced than on the Corpse Gentleman.

"I just want to save this city."

Jenkins replied solemnly.

"Sometimes, necessary sacrifices are acceptable. Once you discover the truth behind all this, you will face a disaster far more unbearable than the destruction of a mere city."

"The very fact that you've chosen this moment to speak with me proves you're nervous. It makes me curious... what state are you in, down in that mine?"

"I'm well aware of that."

Jenkins snorted, ignoring him. He walked to the cabinet, gripped the handle firmly, pushed it inward slightly, then gave it a powerful tug outward.

The sound of the cabinet striking the internal latches was sharp and clear. Jenkins used it to pinpoint their location and that of the lock. He sent a wisp of enchanted flame into the gap, melting both latch and lock, and then yanked the drawer completely free.

He had pulled with such force that the entire drawer came crashing onto the floor. Jenkins immediately noticed that the back of the drawer was open—it hadn't been sealed. In other words, there was definitely no wall behind it.

He guided a flame into the empty cavity where the drawer had been, then bent down to peer inside.

There was no wide mine shaft as he'd expected. Instead, inside the space, a corpse with wide, staring eyes was lying prone, looking right back at him.

Though he wasn't a timid man, the sight still made him jump. He jerked back instinctively, then realized it was just a corpse. Nothing to be afraid of.

He bent down again and peered into the empty space. A body was curled up in a narrow passage, the side walls covered in scratch marks.

"He was trapped behind the morgue drawer. So there really is something back there."

He reached in, pulled out the desiccated corpse, and then crawled into the opening himself. It wasn't long before the passage opened up. Jenkins emerged from the hole and found himself in a mine shaft.

"This is it! I knew I was right."

"So that's why Candle Mr vanished."

Magic Miss pointed at the diorama on the table.

"He went deeper underground, to a place that can't be considered part of the hospital. That's why it doesn't appear in the diorama."

the Corpse Gentleman explained, then looked at the four wooden figures on the table.

"Our story has been stalled for too long. What do you do now?"

"Is there any point in continuing?"

Mr. White Cat asked with a shrug. "The truth is pretty much out in the open now. There's no reason to keep playing, is there?"

"If we don't see the story through to the end, none of us can leave. Please, continue. With the stranger having come and gone, and the aftershocks continuing one after another, what will the four remaining explorers do?"

The four people around the table glanced at one another. The way things had developed, none of them were in the mood to play anymore.

"The explorers are tired of all this, what with the recent danger and the frequent tremors. They're going to leave."

the Hooded Man said, then added:

"I know that letter was a forgery. There's probably an underground boiler room behind the main building, but it's most likely a trap, so we won't investigate. The explorers are going home to rest. Everything that's happened today has been a bit too intense. What they need now is a warm bed."

"Very well, then the explorers..."

A loud creak of the door opening cut the Corpse Gentleman off. Everyone jumped, their eyes darting to the doorway. But the door had only opened a crack before shutting again, and no one had come in.

"What was that all about?"

Logically, with the story still in progress, it should be impossible for anyone from the outside to enter the room.

"I don't know... Oh, now I do."

It wasn't just Magic Miss who knew; everyone watched as a white cat suddenly leaped from Candle Mr's pulled-out chair onto the tabletop. It then flopped down on the space belonging to Candle Mr with an expression of pure annoyance. It was clearly the cat that had just come through the door.

It was raining and thundering outside, and the temperature had dropped. The cat wanted to come in and get warm. It knew Jenkins would come back for it.

"That's Candle Mr's cat, Vanilla, I think. Why didn't he take it with him?"

At that moment, everyone subconsciously ignored the fact that a cat had somehow managed to open the door from the outside.

"Candle Mr probably knew he was heading into danger, so he left his pet by the door. We can look after it for him and give it back when he returns. That will also give us a chance to ask him what happened underground."

the Hooded Man said. Hathaway, however, was staring wide-eyed at Vanilla. For a fleeting moment, she saw a shadow of Chocolate in this cat. Jenkins's cat had left a deep impression on her; its intelligence was something other cats couldn't possibly imitate.

"The explorers prepare to leave. They carefully navigate around the hospital's tall structures, wary of falling bricks and stones. The white mist seems to be draining their stamina. Even though it isn't raining in the hospital grounds as it is in the city, the journey feels arduous. The explorers have reached the hospital gates. They are about to leave."

"Let's go now, right now."

"The sailor, the noble lady, the viscountess, and the merchant's daughter arrive at the main gate. The very instant they lift their feet to step out, a wave of dizziness strikes each of them. You need to make an additional [Will] check with a +100 modifier. If you fail, you will lose control of your explorers."

Silence fell over the room for a moment, the only sounds being the crackling of the fire in the hearth and the raging storm outside.

"A +100 modifier... doesn't that mean we're guaranteed to fail?"

Hathaway suddenly slapped the table, speaking through clenched teeth. The rıghtful source is novelFɪre.net

"Yes, but that's how it is."

the Corpse Gentleman replied, gesturing to the dice. "There's no Candle Mr to contradict me this time, and that marvelous writer is gone as well. Please, roll the dice."