Chapter 607 - 604: The Strange Room

Chapter 607: Chapter 604: The Strange Room

"We’re here?"

Under the dim fluorescent light, faint traces of human activity were visible.

Discarded objects were scattered haphazardly throughout the corridor. The smaller, multi-purpose pipes were pulled every which way, resembling a chaotic mess of utility poles.

Li Luo stepped onto a broken pipe, kicking up a cloud of dust. This place probably hadn’t seen anyone in a long time.

"0122... is that the first row of pipes?"

Li Luo wanted to follow the corridor to find the first row of pipes, but they were in complete disarray. It seemed that renovations in the residential area above had caused the pipes down here to shift.

Some of the pipes that had once been used for housing were now completely crushed together. Others had shifted direction entirely, making it impossible to tell where the first row even was.

Moreover, Li Luo couldn’t find any markings, so she had no idea from which end the numbering started.

After pacing back and forth along the corridor, Li Luo saw many abandoned pipes. Constant shifting had destroyed their original sequence. Although they were still connected to the main corridor, it was unclear how to enter them.

Not only that, but the sequence of pipes on the upper and lower levels was also completely jumbled due to compression or other reasons. Pipes that had originally been on the second level might have slid down to the first.

Standing in the connecting corridor, Li Luo was at a loss.

But just then, the Block beside her nudged her, guiding her toward the side.

"Did you find it?" Li Luo asked in surprise.

The Block quivered, affirming that it had.

Mo Ling had indeed found it. The moment he expanded his field of view, he located the room instantly—not because he saw a number, but because this room was... special.

Mo Ling controlled the Block, leading Li Luo to the entrance of the room.

The rooms here were partitioned with sections of cut pipe. The people back then had likely used materials on hand, cutting up other things they found to build these spaces.

There were no numbers on the door. In fact, the original door had been completely destroyed by the pressure from the pipes, and now lay warped and twisted to one side.

Li Luo cautiously pushed open the dilapidated door.

When she saw the scene inside, she froze.

The room was completely empty. Not a single piece of furniture, not a single object.

But the cylindrical walls and the partitions on either side were covered in some kind of black stain. The stain had dried, looking a bit like some sort of paint.

Other than these black stains, there was nothing else in the room.

After a moment’s hesitation, Li Luo walked inside.

But when her foot touched the ground, she heard a "CRACK."

She had crushed the stain on the floor. Li Luo frowned, squatted down, and picked up a piece of the strange, stained debris.

After examining it for a moment, her eyes widened. She scanned the room again in disbelief.

’This is blood... dried blood...’ she murmured, her voice trembling slightly.

The substance coating the entire room wasn’t grime—it was blood.

On the walls, on the floor—thick blood had covered the entire room. After it dried, it had turned into these hard, black flakes, completely "plastering" the space.

’Is all of this human blood?’

If it was all human blood, the volume was far too great.

’One person? Two? Or ten?’

Li Luo stared at the thick stains, unable to imagine what had happened here. ’Was it a murder? Or is there some terrifying phenomenon in the Pipe Fortress that led to these people’s deaths...?’

While Li Luo was lost in thought, the Block beside her moved past her and into the room.

The Block floated to a corner and activated its teleportation ability on the ground there.

A gap instantly appeared in the dried, bloodstained floor. And beneath that gap lay a fresh finger!

Seeing what the Block had done, Li Luo quickly walked across the thick layer of bloodstains to the edge of the gap.

The moment she saw the finger, she was stunned too.

’Why is there a finger here?’

Li Luo took a pair of gloves from her bag and carefully picked up the fresh finger.

"It’s a right index finger..." Li Luo said with certainty after examining it for a moment.

The break at the base of the finger was incredibly ragged, as if it had been gnawed off by some beast. The flesh was mangled, but not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound. It was as if all the blood was sealed inside the finger.

Even though the blood outside had completely dried, this finger seemed as if it had just been severed. Aside from being a little cold, it was still very pliable. Li Luo gently bent it; the knuckle still moved normally, without a hint of rigor.

’Why is it like this?’

Holding the index finger, Li Luo was thoroughly perplexed.

The bloodstains, this index finger—it was all far beyond what she had expected. She had only come here looking for clues about the Pain Transfer Pills, but instead, she’d found something this bizarre.

’Does this finger not decompose? Could it have just appeared?’

Li Luo looked at the Block. Just as she was about to ask, she saw it fly to another corner and activate its teleportation again.

Another gap appeared.

Li Luo slowly walked over and looked down into the gap.

Inside the gap was another identical index finger!

In disbelief, Li Luo picked up this finger and compared it to the first one. She discovered that their size, shape, and even their fingerprints were completely identical.

’This is the same index finger from the same person...’

’How can one person have two right index fingers?’

Li Luo was completely baffled, holding the two fingers, unsure what to do.

Just then, an electronic screen appeared on the Block. Li Luo quickly took it and saw the words written on it:

"The fingers just appeared. When one is picked up from the ground, a new one appears."

The Block flew to one side, teleported another gap into existence, and beneath it lay another identical right index finger.

"It’s being repeatedly produced?"

Why would this room infinitely produce identical fingers?

Mo Ling was also confused. Every time Li Luo picked up a finger from the ground, a new one, identical to the last, would materialize out of thin air beneath the bloodstains.

’Could it be that picking up a finger triggers its duplication?’

’Does there always have to be one finger on the ground?’

This time, Mo Ling didn’t intend to have Li Luo pick it up. He aimed directly at the finger on the ground and activated the teleportation.

The instant the old finger vanished, a new one appeared beneath the bloodstains.

Now Mo Ling understood. As long as a finger left the ground, a new one would be created...

But why was this happening?

And what would happen if there were two fingers on the ground at the same time?