"Hahaha, God is truly amazing to create something like that.
In this world, there is always a way to get what you want.
Now I can go back to how I was before.
No... I can do much better than that;
I can regain my youth, or even better, become immortal.
My last research was a huge success.
I've got to thank that doctor my granddaughter brought here.
I will finally be free from this damned curse."

"What are you reading?" I asked Rose, who was standing behind me with a book in her hand.
"I don't know, some sort of diary, I guess."
"Why don't you stop playing around and help me wake Angel up?"
"I am not playing around; I am searching for a way to get into that cell. Besides, you've been calling for a while now; she's not going to wake up unless we tickle her or something."

I looked at the Angel who was sleeping in a prison cell; iron bars separated her from us.
She was peacefully sleeping in a bed with some blue flowers in a jar filled with water on a table next to her bed.
A pile of broken wooden furniture was beside her bed in the small prison cell, leaving very little room to move around.
I'd been calling for her for some time, but she didn't wake up.
The only good news was that Rose's nose had stopped bleeding.
I then turned my head back to Rose.

"*Sigh* okay... What have you found?"
"Just this diary."
"Well...what does it say?"
"The thing that I just read now."
"That's it?"
"No, there is also a recipe for Cellurk Leg Soup."
"Very funny... did they really write 'Hahaha' in their diary?"
"No, I added that; it seemed quite fitting for this gibberish."
"Reading about someone's weird fantasy is fine, but that won't wake Angel up."
"I know that, but shouting for her also didn't wake her up."
"Yes, she is sleeping like a log. If she was awake, she would at least tell us how she even got in that cell."
"Then we could get her out unless she was somehow trapped there by someone."
"By who?"
"Ask Hope."
"Oh."

It makes sense if that invincible someone? something? whatever it is.
If that thing is strong enough to tear Hope's head apart from his body, then it can surely put someone in a prison cell.
But then, why did it make us come to the basement?

"Is this Angel even the real Angel? What about the one we sent back with Miss Pearl?"
"I don't know. That's just another reason to wake her up."

*Shatter*

Just then, we heard the sound of glass breaking.

"Did you break something?" I asked Rose.
"No, the noise didn't even come from where I am."
"I don't know; it echoes in here."
"I think it came from the room behind the prison."

Right next to the prison, there is a door we didn't have the courage to open yet.
It leads to the unknown, but that noise might be a signal for us to move there from that invincible someone? something? someonething.
For the time being, it didn't harm me or Rose; it's more likely that it's trying to make us do something.

"I'll look out for Angel here; you can go ahead and take a look," Rose said.
"Okay, it's fine if you are scared."
"I am not scared; I am just being cautious."
"Right, give me the lantern, then."
"Huh? No, no, no, I would stay in the pitch darkness without it."
"And how am I supposed to investigate what's happening in the other room?"
"Use that iron stick in your hand to figure out your surroundings and slowly map the place. You can do it, I'll pray for you."
"Or I can hit your head with it, knock you out, and take the lantern."
"Alright, let's just ignore that noise!"
"That won't do; what if it was a signal from the invincible someonething."
"Someonething?"
"Nevermind that; you either come up with me or give up the lantern."
"Fine... I'll tag along."

With that being said, we moved towards the door and opened it.
The room was very wide and long; the other side of the room was impossible to see with the light that the lantern emitted.
But in the edge of the circle that we could see, I spotted a broken jar that must have been the noise we just heard.
It probably fell from the shelf next to it.
I could see some sort of liquid was flowing from it, and there was something else as well, but I couldn't see what it was.

"Give me the lantern for a second," I asked Rose, and she handed it to me.

I leaned towards the jar with the lantern to see what it was.
There was an eye lying on the ground. It was probably inside the jar that broke, and this liquid must be the Water Of Regeneration.
The Water Of Regeneration has a preservation effect that can preserve organs without them losing their vitality and functionality.
So, it's a common practice to safely store organs in a jar like this if they are not going to be used right away.
And this basement is filled with jars containing organs, even though they are a noble family; I don't think this quantity is normal.
Eyes, tongues, kidneys, lungs, pancreases, and even hearts that are not recoverable with the Water of Regeneration are stored in jars.
It's not every day you find yourself a donor willing to give away their vital organs.

"What's wrong?" asked Rose.
"Where or how do you think they got all of these organs from?"
"I don't know. Aren't they extremely rich? They probably bought them."
"There are enough organs here to make dozens of humans. Why would they buy this much? They've even bought unrecoverable organs alongside the recoverable ones."
"They are the kind of people who use rare wood as simple floor tiling. Why do you think?"
"What? You mean these organs are for show off as well?"
"I don't think so. That would be inappropriate. They probably just like the idea that they can buy something rare and expensive as much as they like."
"Well, this is just disgusting."

When we are leaving, we should bring one of the jars that contain lungs with us-
Rose interrupted my thoughts,

"When we are leaving, we should bring one of the lungs to that sick child."
"I was just thinking that," I said with a smile.
"Let's look further."

I nodded, and we began to walk towards the other end of the room, passing numerous shelves filled with jars containing organs.
When we reached the end, a massive barrel with a tap next to a pit greeted us.
The pit was large enough for an adult to lie down inside.

"Do you think there's something inside this barrel?" Rose asked.
"There's only one way to find out," I replied.

I walked over to the barrel and turned the tap.

*Twist*

Green liquid started pouring out, filling the pit on the ground.
It was the Water Of Regeneration!

*Twist*

As soon as a few drops had fallen, I quickly turned and closed it.
This liquid was far too precious to waste.

"This is strange. They seem to have a place for a ritual of organ transplants in their basement," Rose observed.
"Yeah, something bizarre is definitely going on here," I agreed.

*GRUMBLE*

Suddenly, the entire set of shelves collapsed all at once.
Both of us stepped away from them and took cover on the ground.
After the shelves had finished collapsing and the room fell silent once more, we stood up.

"What the hell just happened?" I shouted.
"I don't know... Wait, look behind you," Rose said, pointing towards the wall.

I turned around, and there was something written on the wall in blood.

"Put them back up," I read aloud.
"Put what back up? The shelves?"
"I'm not putting them back up. You knocked them over; you should put them back up."
"Don't provoke it, you idiot."

Suddenly, the lantern I was holding burned out, and we found ourselves surrounded by pitch-black darkness.

"Okay, okay, I'll put them back up. Calm down."
"I think the candle just burned out," Rose remarked.
"Oh..."

I then heard her rummaging in her bag.

"Here's a new candle."

We managed to replace the candle and light the new one.

"We can see again, but how do we even get out now?"
"Look, I think there's a clearing over there," she said, pointing.

I examined the area with the light, and it appeared we could pass through just fine.
But should we?

"Have we finished checking this room? Should we head back?" I inquired.
"Considering that everything we could investigate is now debris, we have to, I won't stop you if you want to dig through it, though."
"Let's just leave."

I signed, and we left the room, following the path Rose had spotted.
It turned out to be easier to traverse than I had initially thought.

Upon entering the room before, I noticed that Angel was still fast asleep.

"She's still sleeping like a log. No wonder I couldn't wake her up earlier," I remarked.
"If the sound of the shelves collapsing didn't wake her up, I doubt any noise will."
"What should we do now, though?"
"I believe 'it' wants us to put something back, but what could that be?"
"Hmm... Organs?"
"Are you suggesting that we should return the organs to their respective bodies? I thought the same, but first, we'd need to find the owners of those organs."
"But then again, why would it make the shelves that the organs were stored collapse if it wanted us to return the organs to their bodies?"
"Also depending on how much time has passed, there might only be bones left of the owners' bodies."

Suddenly, we heard the sound of a door opening behind us.
We turned our heads to identify the source of the noise and noticed a door behind us.
It was right next to the stairs we used to come down here.

"I didn't see that door before," said Rose.
"Me neither. Well, we've never turned around to look back at the way we came into this room."
"I guess we have to go through that door as well."
"I'm surprised at how calm you are."
"I could say the same to you."
"I'm just too tired to give any reaction of surprise, that's all."
"Are you okay?"
"Not one bit, but I have no choice but to go on."

She hesitates for a moment, then speaks,

"Tell you what, I'll go check that room. You can rest; you didn't sleep well last night, did you?"
"I don't remember telling you that."
"I can tell. You're not even joking that much anymore. You're very tired, aren't you?"
"..."

She's correct; I'm almost at my limit.
I could fall and faint at any time.
I remain silent for a while.
She observes my silence and smiles.

"Come on, there's a chair and a desk over there; sit down. Oh, but the lantern is coming with me."
"No, I'm fine. I can't let you go alone."
"I won't do anything dangerous, and if something happens, I'll call for you. It's okay for you to rest for a bit."
"No, let's go and investigate this room already."
"Fine..." she replied, sounding a bit relieved.

She recognized that I was exhausted and tried to persuade me to rest, even though she was apprehensive.
I'm glad she cared, but I couldn't let her go alone into the unknown.
I need to make more jokes to keep both Rose and myself calm.

"Let's go."

Rose follows me into the next room, and as soon as we enter, we are both shocked by the scene before us.

"What the hell is this?!" we both exclaim at the same time.

Before us are cylindrical glass containers, each containing the bodies of different people.
Each one has their stomach to breast cut open, with their organs missing, and some are even missing their hands and arms.
The containers are filled with the Water of Regeneration, causing the bodies to float.
We stood there, gazing in disbelief for a while.

"You were right when you said something bizarre was going on here," Rose said, averting her eyes from the containers.
"I have no words."

I was just about to suggest that we should leave this room when I noticed another door in the corner of the room.

"Look, there's another room over there. Let's check it out."
"Let's go quick!"

I hastened toward the room.
As we walked, I noticed that Rose was only looking at the ground, avoiding her gaze from elsewhere.
When we reached the door, I opened it without hesitation because I knew that whatever was in that room had to be better than the one we were currently in.
It turns out, for once, I am correct.
This is a study room with two desks and chairs.
Above the desks, there are shelves filled with dozens of books.
Rose closed the door behind us, and I can guess why.

"This room seems safe. Let's take a rest here for a while," I suggested, considering that Rose wasn't feeling well.
"Yes, let's do that. Also, let's read these books while we're at it."
"What? There are dozens of them."
"Well, you can sit and rest, and I'll read them."
"Suit yourself. I'm too tired to even turn a page," I said as I pulled out one of the chairs.
"Sure..." She agreed as she sat down on the chair I had pulled out.
"Hey, I was going to sit on that!"
"I'm sitting on it now, so you can't."
"The chair thief is among us! Well, whatever, I'll sit on the other one."
"Yeah, you go and do that."

I walked over to the other chair, pulled it toward me, and sat down.
As I settled into the chair, the fatigue from the entire day washed over my body.
The lack of sleep and constant walking were taking their toll.
My eyes began to close on their own, and despite my efforts to keep them open, it was a futile struggle.
I realized it was impossible for me to stay awake any longer, so I rested my head along with my arm on the desk.
Before drifting off, I caught a glimpse of Rose taking a book and turning its pages.

Zzzz...

Some time passes...

Zzzz...

Some more time passes...

Zzzz...

Even more time passes...

Zzzz...

I slowly regain consciousness, waking up feeling refreshed.
I'm not entirely sure how long it's been, but I do feel well-rested, so it must have been quite a while.
Once I finally regained my senses, I jolted and immediately checked on Rose, who was sitting right behind me.

"Oh, you're finally awake. I've almost read all of the books here."
"How long was I out?"
"A couple of hours, I believe."
"What?! Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Sorry, I got a bit too engrossed in reading those books."
"Well, was the story of the 'three little cellurks' entertaining?"
"It's really not the time for jokes."
"Sorry."
"Never mind, come and take a look at them."
"What? All of them? No way, there are dozens."
"Don't worry; their content is quite simple. They're just records of various experimental results and some diaries."
"I'll take a quick look then."
"Alright, come and sit here then," she said as she got up from her chair and pulled it out for me to sit.
"I hope it has a good plot at least."
"Maybe it was a mistake letting you sleep."

While she was busy getting disappointed with me, I walked over to the chair and sat down.
I selected one of the books from the pile and opened it to a random page.

"Experiment number 38 was unsuccessful; it seems it is impossible to swap two brains using the Water of Regeneration."
"Experiment number 39 was unsuccessful; it seems it is impossible to put one's soul into another body using the Water of Regeneration."
"In Experiment number 40, I tried all sorts of swaps between the maids we caught red-handed the other day. It seems it is possible to change the organs over and over again."

It seems that this book is used to keep records of the disgusting experiments conducted by a madman, possibly related to the people in the containers we saw earlier.
However, something is bothering me; removing organs is a very tricky task, typically carried out by skilled experts with extensive knowledge.
But this text indicates that they exchanged organs, which means they removed organs from those unfortunate souls, whom they hopefully killed first.
This strongly suggests that they are collaborating with an expert, as it is impossible for any random person to do this.
I took a brief moment to look back at Rose, and she signaled for me to continue reading with her hand.

"Excuse me, but what the hell is this?!"
"'The story of the three little cellurks.'"
"I wish I hadn't made fun of it earlier; now I feel awful for doing so. This is disgusting."
"Disgusting, bizarre, awful – even with these words, it's impossible to describe."

The sight of the bodies in the containers suddenly flashed before my eyes.
I wonder if the maids writing in these books were among them
What a gruesome end. The one who did this is definitely not human let alone a noble.
But in any case, I don't have anything I can do for them. I turned my head back towards the desk.
Enough of these disgusting experiment results; I will try another book.
I exchanged the book I was reading for one from the pile.

"I despise it all, even though that doctor once saved me from the clutches of death, he didn't grant me immortality.
My body is feeble, my back aches constantly, my vision is blurred, and my ears no longer hear as they once did.
And that is not his sole transgression.

Despite my granddaughter taking a liking to him and confining him to her bedroom, he still attempted to escape.
I extended him the courtesy of freedom, as long as he assisted with my experiments.
If it were up to me, I would have already punished him with lashes, but my dear granddaughter is so lenient, letting him off with just a mere slap."

"'My granddaughter' is mentioned again in this book, and the writer mentions that his body is weak," I said.
"I believe the person who wrote this may have been Lady Unut's grandfather, and the 'doctor' must be the one who removed organs for him."
"Yes, but by the look of it, he wasn't here by his own will."
"The book says that he was confined in a bedroom and was forced by Lady's grandfather to help with his research."
"To help him remove organs from someone and put them into another's body."
"What a sick experiment. I'm glad he failed."
"He failed?"
"Yes, I remember hearing from Miss Pearl that he died of old age."
"He certainly didn't deserve a peaceful death like that."

*Bang*

"What was that?" I asked.
"It came from upstairs; something must have fallen."
"Let's go check it. Hopefully, it's not the exit."
"The exit is already blocked anyway."
"Right, I forgot about that."
"C'mon," Rose said as she rushed ahead.

When we first entered this room, she was scared to look around, but right now, she doesn't seem to care.
I followed her upstairs, and we reached the entrance hall once again.

"Everything seems to be fine here," I said as I looked around.
"Then it came from a different room."
"Hopefully, it's not the room with Hope's body."
"That room is all the way over at the other end of the hall; it shouldn't be it."
"Great, you know what? I don't want to know what has fallen anymore."
"Stop being so impervious. What if it was another sign from the ghost of the maid?"
"Ghost of the maid?"
"Didn't you figure it out yet? The ghost wants us to put something back so-"
"So you are saying that the maids want us to put their organs back in their bodies?"
"Exactly, see, you figured it out."
"But what makes you think it's the maids? Others have also had their organs taken away from them."
"Well, the maids served here for a long period of time, so they are the ones with the highest grudge against the Unut family."

I wonder if that is really the case, though.
While I was still thinking, Rose walked toward the hall and shouted,

"What are you waiting for? Come on, let's check the other rooms!"

I followed her to the door on the far left side of the hall.
This room was the nearest to the basement, and it had the highest chance of being the source of the noise.

"I am opening it," Rose said as she opened the door.

I was surprised that she was taking the lead for once, venturing into the unknown instead of sending me ahead.
Upon going inside, it wasn't hard for us to notice what had fallen.

"A ladder leading towards the upper floor," Rose spoke.
"Look underneath it; there is a trap door with a handle. This must have fallen down along with the ladder that was supposed to be hidden."
"How do you know it was supposed to be hidden?"

I walked over to the trap door, held the handle, and lifted it to show the other side to Rose.

"See, there is no handle on this side, so they intended for this to open from one side. Also, it's painted to camouflage with the rest of the ceiling."
"Oh, I see now. But wait, why would they have a ladder leading to the kitchen from the upper floor?"
"A shortcut, maybe."
"Shortcut?"

I climbed up the ladder to check where it led and found myself in an empty room.
Without climbing all the way, I looked around.
There were two other entrances to this empty room from the upper floor.
I could see clothes hanging from both of these entrances, and behind them, there were beds.

"I see now," I said as I climbed down.
"What have you found?" asked Rose.
"Yep, this is indeed a shortcut to the kitchen from the bedroom above."
"Wait, why? Don't tell me it's for midnight snacks when they get hungry at night."
"Hey, I was just about to make that joke!"
"Stop fooling around and tell me why?"
"Well, if they have a ladder leading down here, that means-"
"That means?"
"It's for midnight snacks."

Without hesitation, she punched me in the guts with all her strength.

"How was your knuckle sandwich?"
"Quite strong. Jokes aside, I think this is an emergency exit."
"You mean there is an exit somewhere in the kitchen."
"Yes, help me check the cupboard. I think there is a fake wall behind one of them."
"You sure?"
"Yes, there isn't much place to hide an exit anyway."

Upon searching a bit, we did indeed find an exit from one of the cupboards.

"There we go, now we can escape. We almost wasted the whole day here," I said with a sigh of relief.
"Not so fast; we need to get Angel first."
"I know, I know, but should we really get her out?"
"What do you mean?"
"We already sent an Angel with Miss Pearl, right?"
"Yes, unless we lost our minds or Angel has a secret twin sister, we did send an Angel with Miss Pearl."
"I don't believe you've lost your sanity, even if I have."
"So you're admitting that you've lost your mind?"
"That has been the case for a long time."
"Well, at least you're being truthful."
"At the very least, deny it... Anyway, remember when Angel heard that we were planning to enter the mansion, and she was quite reluctant about it."
"Yeah, what about it?"
"What if that Angel was aware of the Angel in the basement and didn't want us to set it free but couldn't say anything?"
"I see, we don't know which Angel is the real one. If the Angel we sent was the real one, she might have tried to warn us."
"Exactly, the one in the basement could be a monster trying to escape by using Angel as a disguise."
"I don't know about that but what we should do is simple; we'll go get the Angel we sent and Miss Pearl."
"Yep, that's the safest choice."

Just then, the cupboard that led to the outside suddenly shut.
Both of us instantly turned our heads toward it.
We watched as blood suddenly appeared on the cupboard and formed something.

"You're not going anywhere before you put my eyes back," Rose read it aloud.
"Yep, there goes our escape ticket. Ghost of the maid, please tell us where your eyes are as well."
"You seriously need to stop making fun of the ghost."

While Rose was shouting at me, I noticed another line of blood had appeared under her foot.

"Hey, look," I said as I pointed it out to her.
"What?" Rose said before looking at the line.

After she noticed it too, we followed the line towards the ladder that led to the upper floor.

"I guess up it is."