Abyss: Whispers of Humanity's Shadows

The door creaked open, showing a narrow, winding corridor that disappeared into the darkness. The passage was so tight only one person could squeeze through at a time, and fresh blood dripped in a straight line down the black walls.

Out of nowhere, a gust of wind blew through, making the bell above the corridor ring like crazy, adding to the creepy vibe.

Emily Johnson, looking scared out of her mind, tugged at Mia Wilson's shirt in front of her, her voice shaking. "Mia, can we stop? I'm really freaked out."

Mia, leading the way, was clearly having a blast. "Come on, it's all fake. We paid for this, remember? Look at you, scaredy-cat. See?"

Mia reached out, touched the blood on the wall, and held her hand up to Emily's face. "Smell it if you don't believe me. It's just props."

Emily took a sniff and went pale. This was definitely not fake blood.

"You don't believe me?" Mia scoffed, seeing Emily frozen in fear. "I'll prove it."

Before Emily could react, Mia put her blood-stained finger in her mouth.

A moment later, their screams echoed through the escape room.

A sudden, urgent phone ring shattered the silence at the Stellarnova Police Department.

Sophia Brown grabbed her coat from the chair and said, "Alright, folks, time to get moving." She slipped on her coat and tapped her notebook.

"Looks like another late night. Sophia, can you grab Robert too?" said Officer James Smith, known for his jokes but dead serious about work.

Sophia frowned and turned around, annoyed. They knew Robert always gave her a hard time, yet they still sent her to get him.

"Someone reported a big gathering at an escape room in Stellarnova."

Robert nodded without a word and followed her out.

When they got to the venue, Sophia was speechless. How were they supposed to get in?

The area was roped off, but the crowd had completely blocked the way.

"Isn't anyone handling crowd control?" Sophia shook her head, frustrated.

"They're probably working on it, but this place is always busy. Now that there's a murder, people are just curious," James said, sounding helpless.

Robert had been silent since they got in the car, looking like he was asleep. Sophia didn't bother with him and got out alone.

After finally squeezing into the venue, a middle-aged man named Barry Myers rushed over and grabbed Robert's arm.

"You're in charge, right? There's no way anyone died in my place. How am I supposed to run my business with all this chaos? I'm filing a complaint." Barry kept yelling.

Robert pulled his arm free and pointed at Sophia. "Talk to her."

Sophia stayed quiet.

Barry looked surprised that the lead investigator was a woman, and an attractive one at that. "Talk to you? Fine, I..."

Sophia raised her hand to stop him. "Wait, are you the owner? You say there's no murder, so why did someone call the cops?"

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out," Sophia said, not having time to console Barry. She left James to handle him.

The scene was a mess with people everywhere. Sophia and Robert scanned the area and finally spotted the two who had reported the incident.

They looked like college kids, probably not even graduated yet.

"Hey, I'm Sophia from the Stellarnova Police Department. Can I ask you two some questions?"

Seeing Emily and Mia still shaking and pale, Sophia softened her tone.

Emily had calmed down a bit.

"We planned to do an escape room today, but as soon as we walked in, we saw blood on the walls." Emily seemed to relive the creepy scene of blood dripping down the walls.

Sophia pushed a cup of water towards her and glanced at Mia, who had her head down and was quiet. "Is she your friend? What's up with her?"

Emily looked at Mia and continued. "Her name's Mia. We're classmates. She tasted the blood in the escape room..."

Something in Emily's words seemed to set Mia off, and she immediately covered her mouth and bolted to the restroom.

Emily looked exhausted. "She's already thrown up five times before you got here."

Sophia nodded and reassured them a bit before heading to the escape room where it all went down.

The room was now open, and the lights were on.

To create a spooky vibe, these escape rooms usually kept the lights off, but there was a main switch the staff could use to control the lighting.

Sure enough, the walls were covered in blood. Sophia touched it and looked up. The blood was dripping from the walls, but the ceiling was spotless.

Sophia circled the room and returned to the lobby, where she saw Barry shouting and gasping for breath.

"I don't know where that blood came from. We use standardized prop paint. If you don't believe me, investigate. Someone's trying to frame me," he said, collapsing onto the floor.

"You say you don't know? Then come with us to the station for a cup of coffee. Maybe after some coffee, you'll remember," Sophia sneered.

An officer hurried over and whispered something to Sophia, who looked surprised. She acknowledged it and went to find Robert.

Robert was a bit of a mystery. Sophia had only heard that he was a former soldier before Joseph Miller assigned him to be her partner.

Robert was still in the escape room when Sophia found him, measuring the walls with his hands.

"They've already told you, right? No body has been found?" Sophia said calmly.

Robert's expression remained unchanged, as if he had expected this.

"You knew all along?" Sophia couldn't help but ask.

Robert finally finished examining the walls and spared her a glance.

"There's no body here," He said this and walked out without a hint of emotion.

Sophia was used to his cold demeanor and didn't mind, but his words shocked her.

"What do you mean? If there's no body, where did the blood come from?" Sophia followed him.

Robert didn't stop walking. "That's something we need to ask Barry."

The team soon wrapped up, with only the forensic expert Daniel Wilson collecting blood samples. The rest of the team was at a loss.

It was their first time investigating a scene without finding a body.