Duy An stood frozen before the steel door, his heart pounding in his chest. The icy draft emanating from the crack in the door not only made his skin tremble but also seemed to penetrate his very bones. The ancient, scrawled writings on the door's tarnished surface danced under his phone's flashlight, defying his every understanding.
An ran his fingers lightly over the strange characters. They weren't mere drawings, but a primitive language, imbued with a heavy sense of history and a chilling aura. He felt a gloomy, oppressive energy, as if thousands of pains were compressed behind this very door.
"Where... death began..." My Tam's dream whispers echoed in An's mind. He clutched the Memory Crystal necklace, pressing it against his forehead, trying to feel. The crystal reacted instantly, emitting a faint blue-purple glow, and a chaotic flood of information rushed into An's mind, not in clear images or sounds, but in pure emotions: intense agony, betrayal, experimentation, and a terrifying desire for liberation.
An shivered. This pain wasn't just My Tam's; it belonged to many others, countless trapped souls. This door wasn't just linked to one death, but potentially the origin of many tragedies.
He tried to push the door. It was heavy, unmoving. An examined it closely; there was no handle, no conventional lock. It seemed sealed from within, or by some non-physical mechanism. An leaned in, pressing his ear to the door, trying to listen. Only deathly silence.
Suddenly, An noticed a tiny, almost imperceptible slit, located just below the largest character on the door. The slit seemed designed to insert something into.
An hesitated. Should he risk it? But My Tam had led him here. He couldn't give up. An looked at the Memory Crystal necklace in his hand. It was the only tool he had.
With a deep breath, An carefully threaded the tip of the necklace into the slit. The crystal touched an invisible surface inside. Instantly, a powerful surge of energy rebounded, forcing An to step back. He felt a sharp pain in his temples, and his vision momentarily blurred.
Then a dry, metallic "CLANK!" echoed from within the door, like old metal springing open.
It was the only sound in the gloomy corridor.
And then... the door slowly opened.
It didn't open outwards, but rotated strangely, like a secret vault door in a movie, revealing a pitch-black void. The strong stench of death and a strange, pungent chemical odor assaulted An's face, much stronger than outside.
An turned on his flashlight, carefully stepping inside. The weak light of his phone was barely enough for him to see a small, filthy, and cold room. This was no ordinary patient room or office. It looked like an abandoned laboratory, or a forgotten makeshift operating room.
On an old metal table in the center of the room, rusty surgical instruments, shattered test tubes, and incomprehensible dark stains were scattered. The coppery smell of dried blood mingled with the odor of chlorine and a distinct putrid smell of decomposing corpses, making An want to vomit.
An shone his flashlight around the room. What was this?
On the stained white tiled floor, there were long, dried streaks of dark liquid, as if hastily wiped but not cleaned. An felt an icy draft at his feet, and he looked down. Directly beneath the table, there was a large crack in the tiles, from which a thin, cold mist emanated.
And then, An saw it.
On the wall, there was an old whiteboard, repeatedly erased, but still bearing faint, ghost-like ink traces. An brought his flashlight closer, trying to read.
"Project: Chrysanthemum Protocol" "Test Subject: My Tam (Patient No. 7)" "Phase 1: Synaptic Decay Activation – Result: Success. Rapid neurodegeneration. Induced deep unconsciousness, systemic paralysis." "Phase 2: Induction of Cellular Cryostasis – Tested on muscle tissue and blood vessels. Result: Cell rupture. Sudden temperature drop. Caused localized liquefaction and vascular crystallization." "Phase 3: Extraction of Bio-Spiritual Energy – Efficiency needs improvement. Significant energy loss. Caused physical deformation of subject. Requires new supply."
Below those lines, there was a list of names, written in small handwriting, a few names crossed out.
Nguyen Hoang Minh (Lead Physician)Nguyen Duc Duy (Research Assistant)[Crossed out name][Crossed out name]...
An reread each word, each phrase, feeling every blood vessel in his body seem to freeze. "Chrysanthemum Protocol"... "My Tam (Patient No. 7)"... "Synaptic Decay"... "Cellular Cryostasis"... "Extraction of Bio-Spiritual Energy."
This was no ordinary hospital laboratory. This was a place of torture, a place where horrifying experiments were conducted on humans. Dr. Minh and Nguyen Duc Duy were not just victims of the Shadow Demon. They were participants in these experiments!
An looked down at the end of the list. Although the names below were crossed out, An recognized some familiar handwriting, similar to Dr. Minh's.
A brutal, more sickening truth than An had ever imagined began to unfold. My Tam was not just the victim of a failed surgery. She was a test subject. And Dr. Minh and Nguyen Duc Duy... they were the ones who had performed these experiments on her.
But then, An looked back at the line "Phase 3: ...Requires new supply." and the list of crossed-out names. Could it be that the crossed-out names were the "new supply" who died during the experiments? And Dr. Minh and Nguyen Duc Duy, at the top of the list, also died. Could they have become victims of the very project they created?
A faint sound, like a weak sigh, echoed from the dark corner of the room. An startled, shining his flashlight towards it.
Nothing. Just a long shadow cast by the steel table.
But An felt a new kind of fear. The Shadow Demon didn't just haunt the dead. It haunted this place, where its atrocities were conceived. And perhaps, it also haunted those who had carried them out.