Weak.
Yet somehow...
Still functioning.
Kai reached toward one.
His fingertips brushed the glowing pattern.
"...It's warm."
He pulled his hand back.
"How?"
This place should have been abandoned for centuries.
Nothing should still work.
He took another cautious step.
Then another.
The corridor branched repeatedly.
Rooms lined both sides.
Most doors hung open.
Some had collapsed entirely.
Broken furniture littered the floor.
Cabinets had long since fallen apart.
Papers crumbled into dust the moment air touched them.
Kai slowly walked past them.
"This doesn't feel like a house..."
He entered a larger room.
Metal tables.
Broken glass.
Strange equipment whose purpose he couldn't even guess.
Everything was coated in dust.
"...A workshop?"
He shook his head.
"No..."
Too clean.
Too organized.
Too many strange instruments.
He quietly left.
Further ahead—
A staircase descended into the darkness below.
Unlike the upper floor...
The faint glow became slightly brighter.
Kai stared downward.
"...Basement?"
He swallowed.
Then smiled nervously.
"I've made enough bad decisions already."
"...One more won't hurt."
He began descending.
Each step echoed.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
The deeper he went...
The stronger the faint humming became.