Chapter 146: The Missing Children
The room immediately plunged into darkness.
After waiting for quite some time, Lauren heard the sound of the basement door being closed.
At the same time, the footsteps of the two men also disappeared.
Lauren’s spiritual consciousness could track that the two men had already gone far away. She then heaved a sigh of relief.
She could finally do what she wanted.
First, Lauren took out a lighter-like object from her pocket dimension. The moment she pressed it, the light that came out of it was like an electric light, immediately lighting up the room.
There was no furniture in the room. Lauren looked around and saw that her cage was the only thing there.
Then, Lauren took out a master key.
This key could unlock all the locks in the world. However, the system had added some additional conditions to this key.
The system would automatically detect the Host’s purpose and the nature of the door.
If Lauren’s purpose in opening the lock was good, then this master key would be useful.
If Lauren’s purpose in opening the lock was selfish and was not helpful to the mission, then this key would not be effective.
This had always been the system’s purpose. They could help the Host complete the mission, but they would not allow the Host to disrupt the normal order of the mortal world.
Moreover, if the system detected that the Host tried to use the master key to satisfy her own selfish desires, then the Host would be punished.
Lauren inserted the master key into the lock, and the lock on the cage was easily opened.
Lauren pushed open the cage door with a creak and crawled out.
“I can finally stand up.” Lauren stretched her body comfortably, before cracking her joints.
After all the uncomfortable feelings in her body were gone, Lauren continued with her next step.
The door to the next room was also locked by the two men. Using the master key, Lauren easily opened the door.
Every place that Lauren went to, the lights would immediately turn on.
She took a look around the basement.
The basement was made up of a corridor and a few rooms. Lauren was in a room on the right side of the corridor.
There were three rooms on each side of the corridor. Lauren opened the first door on the left side of the corridor.
It was pitch black inside. The darkness was oppressive, as though it was choking Lauren.
The room’s lights turned on as Lauren entered it, allowing her to see the rest of the room.
Even though Lauren had completed many missions and seen all kinds of things, the scene in front of her still shocked and pained her.
The small room, which was no more than ten square meters in size, was filled with all kinds of cages.
As there was not enough space, some of the cages were stacked on top of other cages.
And the cages were filled with children.
The expressions of these children were all the same. They looked numb and unfocused, their eyes had no focus at all.
Their eyes did not move at all even when Lauren came in. It was as if they could not see anything.
Lauren recalled for a moment and immediately matched the children in the file with the children in the room.
The clothes these children were wearing were the same clothes they had worn on the day of their disappearance.
Some of the children had been missing for more than two years. Their bodies had long since begun to emit a foul smell.
Their clothes were baggy, and their hair was already very long and messy.
For a moment, Lauren stood at the door, not daring to walk in.
“System Divine Nine, this is practically a living hell in the mortal world.”
[System Divine Nine: That’s right. Who’s on earth is so cruel to lock up these cute children in this place and make them look like this, neither human nor ghost?]
The person closest to Lauren was a little boy. This little boy was wearing cute suspenders with the image of Ultraman on them.
Lauren remembered that she had seen this little boy in the file. This little boy had gone missing a year and a half ago. He was six years old when he went missing.
In the past year and a half, this little boy did not seem to have grown much taller. On the contrary, he seemed to have become a lot thinner.
His originally round face was now sunken.
If it were not for that set of clothes, Lauren would not be able to recognize this little boy.
Lauren walked to the front of his cage and softly called out his name.
However, the little boy did not react to his name. No matter how Lauren spoke, his eyes remained impassive. He just stared straight ahead without any movement, as if he was frozen in place.
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