Chapter 413: Creeping Dread [1]

The deeper the group ventured into the factory, the stronger the stench became.

"None of you can smell what I’m currently smelling, but it’s quite bad. How would I describe it...? Hm, it’s like the smell of rotten meat drenched in industrial oil and then fried in a rusted pan. Would that work?"

"....."

Seth paused for a moment.

What sort of description is that supposed to be?

"Anyway, did you all notice that strange symbol near the entrance? I’ve been trying to look it up, but there’s nothing even close to it online. I guess it’s just some kind of unique graffiti... maybe something gang-related?"

The soft glow from Jamie’s phone illuminated Seth’s blue-tinted vision from behind, mingling with the light from the hovering drone as it scanned the area ahead.

The air felt cold, and the smell grew worse.

Step—

Looking down, Seth glanced at his compass.

It was spinning in all directions.

He pursed his lips.

’I guess it might take a while before I get what I want.’

This wasn’t unusual.

The compass tended to do that sometimes, as if waiting to "calibrate" or whatever it was doing.

Putting the compass down, Seth stopped before a certain door.

===

MILLWALL STEEL PRODUCTION — FURNACE DISTRICT C

[Authorized Personnel Only]

===

It was the same sign as before.

But this time, it was a little different.

Click! Click!

"It’s locked."

The metal door refused to budge.

Seth frowned, and Jamie stepped up.

"It’s locked?"

Click!

"Heh, you’re right."

Jamie tried a couple of more times, but each time, he’d get the same result. The door was indeed locked.

He clicked his tongue.

"That’s a little problematic, but worry not. I’ve come prepared for situations such as these. I have a couple of tools that can help pick the lock, and—"

BANG!

Jamie was startled out of his wits by the sudden

bang

. When he turned his head, his eyes widened in disbelief. Seth stood there, calmly pulling his foot back from the now-open door, tilting his head slightly as he adjusted his sunglasses with a casual look.

"I opened it."

"....."

No shit, you opened it! At least warn me before you do this!

Jamie nearly screamed at the top of his lungs.

Staring at the door, and then Seth, he held onto his heart. He nearly had a heart attack!

"Let’s go."

Seth didn’t wait for Jamie to recover before entering.

"Hey, wait!"

Startled, Jamie hurriedly followed Seth from behind. He didn’t want to admit it, but this place creeped him out for some reason. He didn’t want to be alone.

But the moment he entered the room, he began to regret his decision.

The interior was darker than expected.

The drone’s light did little more than carve out pieces of the blackness, revealing patches of corroded steel, exposed beams, and hanging cables that swayed slightly in the still air.

Each of their steps echoed, followed by a delayed, hollow aftersound.

Jamie’s breath grew.

Nevertheless, he remained professional.

"This place appears to be one of the main production halls," Jamie’s voice echoed faintly through the emptiness, bouncing off steel beams and concrete pillars. "It’s very large. Evident from the echo that you guys hear. It’s also very dark, and despite the drone’s best efforts, I can hardly see much into the place."

He moved the drone higher. Its light swept across the hall, catching flashes of rusted machinery and conveyor belts half-swallowed by shadow.

Dust shimmered like fine ash in the air.

"In any case, the reason we’re here is because we’re trying to investigate the reason behind the

hum

."

He paused for a moment, deliberately dragging his answer.

"What is that, you say?"

Jamie exhaled slowly.

"Some say it’s just leftover machinery still running beneath the floor. Others think it’s the sound of the old furnaces cooling, or ghosts of workers, if you believe that sort of thing."

He gave a nervous chuckle, though his voice wavered slightly toward the end.

"But the interesting thing is, this sound doesn’t show up on any normal recording equipment. It’s only ever heard

in person.

People describe it as a deep resonance, something you feel in your chest, like your own heartbeat syncing with it."

Jamie shrugged, looking at the darkness around him.

"Some say they’re screams from a faraway place," he continued, lowering the camera slightly. "Others have argued that it’s the screams of the victims from the

experiments

that occurred here."

His words seemed to hang in the air longer than they should have. Even his voice carried a subtle tremor, though he tried to mask it with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Obviously, those are just rumors. Officially, there’s nothing to confirm any kind of... experimentation."

The drone’s light swept slowly across the production hall again. A sea of rusted steel glinted faintly under the light, the reflection giving the illusion that the floor was moving.

Jamie proceeded to talk to the audience.

He replied to most of the comments that he saw. Of course, he specifically ignored the ones who were discussing Seth’s circumstances.

"Where are we headed now? Hmm? Oh, we’re going to the control room."

Jamie’s words made Seth pause.

However, he continued a moment later.

Control room...

He was just about to suggest that.

"The main reason we’re here is to dig deeper into the workers who used to operate in this place. We’re here to investigate the

hum

and the stories surrounding it. Was the experiment real? Or is there something else hidden behind it all? An anomaly perhaps?"

Jamie’s words were enough to garner the interest of the viewers as he chatted with them. At the same time, he quietly followed Seth from behind.

He did so in order to focus his attention away from his surroundings.

But it didn’t take long for them to find the control room.

"It’s here."

Seth stopped before a certain door.

"Huh? You found it already?"

Jamie voiced out his surprise.

’That was quick.’

He had expected to spend more time looking for the control room, but Seth managed to find it rather quickly. But beyond that, he was curious about something else.

"How can you see with the sunglasses?"

Creaaaaak!

It was a question that was inevitably drowned out by the creaking sound of the metal door as it slowly started to open.

Soon, a small room appeared before them.

A gust of stale, metallic air swept past them. It was... hot, despite the chill outside. It smelled faintly of burnt copper and something sweet, almost like overripe fruit left to rot beside a furnace.

The room beyond was small, maybe twenty feet across, lined with rusted control panels and shattered glass monitors.

The walls were smeared with dark stains that could’ve been oil... or something else.

But what drew the eye immediately wasn’t smell.

No, it... was the markings.

Circles, dozens of them, scratched into every surface.

Each ring overlapped another, forming spirals that converged into a central eye-like emblem above the main console.

For a moment, Jamie forgot how to breathe.

His expression was dazed.

But soon, he collected himself.

Jamie raised and nudged the drone higher.

"Guys, look at that. What the hell is that?"

He was pointing at the markings.

The viewers naturally flooded the comment sections. Most thought it was graffiti. Some noticed something else.

—That’s some graffiti.

—What’s up with that type of graffiti? It doesn’t look nice at all.

—Yeah, it’s pretty ass.

—Pressy sure it’s graffiti.

"Huh? You don’t think it’s graffiti?"

Jamie suddenly asked Seth, who in turn frowned.

He hadn’t even said anything, but... that was indeed what he wanted to say.

In the end, he shook his head and fixed his gaze on a metal plaque bolted beneath the main panel, half-hidden beneath grime.

He wiped it clean with his sleeve.

"What’s that?"

Jamie leaned in, pointing the drone’s light at it.

Cognitive Harmonic Stabilizer — Prototype Unit D-15

[Authorized for Internal Experimentation Only]

Jamie frowned.

"Cognitive... what?"

Seth didn’t answer. His expression had begun to change slightly, and as he took a step back, his heart, which had remained calm since the start of the mission, finally began to beat.

Especially when beneath, it read one single name.

One he was all too familiar with.

[Mirelle]