The ID badges were magnetic induction access cards. Richard and the others didn't know the specific clearance levels of their respective badges, but they each tested them out and found they could all open the door to that office.
It wouldn't have mattered if someone's badge couldn't open the door. Richard had a habit of carrying a bag, and he had already pocketed the stack of ID badges Hopper had gathered earlier; they could swap them at any time.
They arrived at the office. The area was massive; excluding the individual rooms, the entire workspace was probably over two hundred square meters. There were many workstations, but almost every desktop was empty, looking quite desolate. However, each desk featured an animal plushie with a corresponding name and job title.
Richard and the others circled the workstations in the office. Richard and Eleven actually managed to find the plushies that corresponded to the avatars on their respective ID badges.
"The owner of my ID badge is named Roger Tiger, and his position is Planner." As Richard read the name on his badge, the previously blank name section began to flow eerily with text, eventually forming the name "Roger Tiger."
"I'm Selena Rabbit, position... Head of the Design Department?" Eleven also stood before the workstation corresponding to her ID badge, reading the name written on it and noticing the changes occurring on her badge as well.
Hopper walked around the area and was surprised to find that there didn't seem to be a workstation corresponding to his ID badge. "The workstation for my badge doesn't seem to be here."
Hearing this, Richard couldn't help but smile. "Then perhaps your badge corresponds to a higher-level position. You might even have your own private office."
At this, Hopper grinned. "Hehe, looks like I've got a good eye then."
In fact, the role corresponding to Hopper's ID badge did indeed have a private office, but it was vastly different from what Richard and Hopper had imagined.
About thirteen minutes later, the three finally found the workstation corresponding to Hopper's ID badge, right next to the toilets.
"Toilet Janitor?" Richard looked at the job information refreshed on Hopper's ID badge. Both he and Eleven were stunned. He couldn't help but complain, "Does such a position even exist?"
Hopper's mouth twitched. "A toilet janitor, and I'm the only one."
Richard and Eleven both stifled their laughter, but Richard made a significant discovery because of this: "Through the investigation just now, I've noticed that carnivores seem to be ordinary staff or even laborers, while herbivores are basically the management."
Eleven wasn't very familiar with the ways of the professional world and was somewhat confused. Hopper, however, raised an eyebrow after thinking back carefully. "It does seem that way. What does that imply?"
"I'm not sure for now, but it might be suggesting that in this toy factory, the vegetarians are the ones in power," Richard said with a light laugh. Then, the three of them moved to the next room, which was a library.
Richard walked straight to the librarian's workstation. It consisted of two desks side-by-side and was rather simple. After rummaging through the desk drawers, Richard and the others finally found their first clue left behind by a workstation's original owner: a sketchbook. The art style was so rough and simple that even a rough fellow like Hopper felt he could draw no worse than her.
On the first page of the sketchbook, it mainly depicted the exterior of the Orfan Toy Factory. A little girl drawn with black crayon lines stood happily at the factory's main gate, making a peace sign and grinning broadly.
On the second page, the little girl didn't appear. In her place, a creature with a cat's head and a human body stood inside the toy factory behind the closed iron gates. It was likely meant to be Miss Leopard herself. She was making a peace sign and smiling, seemingly hinting that the little girl on the first page was Miss Leopard herself.
On the third page, Miss Leopard was looking down and smiling. A Giraffe wearing a suit stood before her. The Giraffe was also smiling, but its eyes were deliberately colored red.
The fourth page still featured the Giraffe and the Leopard. Both subjects had the same expressions and movements as the previous page, only this time the Giraffe had taken off his suit jacket and was wearing only a white shirt.
The content of the fifth page was almost identical to the third, but if one looked closely, a pool of red was drawn in the bottom right corner of the paper, with a triangular piece of clothing floating on top.
On the sixth page, the Giraffe's appearance had changed somewhat. He was wearing a punk leather jacket with spikes and holding a toy train, while the smile on the Leopard's face seemed even more intense, curving upward sharply into a piercing grin.
A new character appeared on the seventh page: a Black Bull. He stood alongside the Giraffe to the left and right of the Leopard. The Leopard sat on the ground hugging her knees, her smile a curved scythe with serrated teeth like nothing seen before.
When Richard flipped to the eighth page, he, Eleven, and Hopper all caught their breath. The entire page was colored completely red, surrounded by a jagged border that formed a sharp contrast with the previous white backgrounds. In the drawing, the heads of the Black Bull and the Giraffe were sketched grinning in the center of the canvas, but Miss Leopard's image was nowhere to be found.
Flipping further, there were no more drawings, only a mess of black lines. They grew larger and more numerous page after page, until finally, the black lines completely filled the last page of the sketchbook.
After seeing it, Hopper felt an indescribable sense of eeriness. He looked at Richard, his gaze questioning.
Richard frowned deeply and said, "I think the employee images here are likely virtualized through anthropomorphism. The people who worked here were all human. Setting their images as animals might be a hint that this factory is like a primordial jungle, where everyone living here had to become a beast."
"Although the drawings in this sketchbook are very subtle and obscure, I think I can guess some of the content. The Giraffe and the Black Bull probably did... that... to Miss Leopard. That Giraffe probably had some pretty twisted tastes. In the end, did Miss Leopard kill them? Or eat them?"
Richard flipped back to the entirely red eighth page and touched the depicted jagged border. Every stroke was indented, filled with the pleasure of venting anger and the madness of slaughter, like the teeth of a wild beast.
This eighth drawing didn't lack Miss Leopard; rather, the entire drawing was Miss Leopard's gaping maw. The Black Bull and the Giraffe had been eaten until only their two heads remained, waiting to be swallowed.
Listening to Richard's interpretation, Hopper and Eleven, the father and daughter, widened their eyes. Besides the shock of the suspected truth, their faces also held a sense of uncertainty and suspicion regarding how Richard could empathize so deeply with the owner of the drawings.
"I've been good at reading comprehension since I was a kid," Richard gave the two a slight smile, not explaining further.
Thump, thump, thump... Suddenly, the three of them heard the sound of something falling to the ground.
"Who!? Who's there?" Hopper's expression changed. He raised his shotgun, aiming it at the bookshelf behind him, his gaze cold as he barked.
Hopper was just about to flank with Richard when Eleven, right under his nose, suddenly thrust both hands forward.
Boom!
Instantly, the first row of bookshelves was hit by a massive force and fell backward. This triggered a domino effect; row after row of bookshelves collapsed, and books scattered all over the floor.
Richard, Hopper: "..."
Fine, that's very Eleven.
Richard glanced at Eleven. The little girl sniffed; she didn't even have a nosebleed and looked quite proud of herself.
"Let's go take a look. There wasn't even a scream. Either the target is too small, or there might really be no one there," Richard said, holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other as he walked toward the collapsed bookshelves.
"Be careful anyway." Hopper followed. The two walked through the empty paths on either side of the bookshelves, while Eleven stayed where she was, her eyes fixed on the mess on the floor. She was fully concentrated, ready to launch a telekinetic attack at the slightest movement.
Richard noticed that one of the collapsed bookshelves was bulging abnormally. He and Hopper decided to lift the bookshelf together to see. When they lifted it, they discovered a box buried underneath. He and Hopper exchanged a look, then pulled the box out and brought it before Eleven.
Eleven sensed it with her superpowers and nodded to the two, confirming that there should be nothing abnormal inside. Only then did Richard and Hopper dare to pry the box open.
Inside the box lay a giant pink toy key. It felt light when picked up. Underneath the key was a note: In here, if you want to kill someone, take them to the Waste Warehouse.
"So this is the key to the Waste Warehouse?" Eleven fiddled with the pink key, not understanding why this toy factory would design such a large key.
Hopper said in a low voice, "We'll know once we go there."
Richard stuffed the pink key into his bag and got up to leave the area. They had basically finished exploring this place and didn't expect to find any more valuable clues. However, as the three passed the office doors labeled "Black Bull" and "Sickle Your-Life," they all showed looks of disgust. Eleven even imitated Richard and spat at the door.
These two names naturally corresponded to the identities of 'Black Bull' and 'Giraffe'; they were the manager and assistant manager here.
"What's with the spitting?" Hopper asked, expressing his confusion at their behavior.
Eleven explained, "In Richard's hometown, this is body language used to show extreme disgust and loathing toward something repulsive. Unfortunately, I don't know how to hawk up phlegm. Chade said that spitting phlegm is even more contemptuous than just spitting saliva."
"I see," Hopper said, realization dawning on him. Then, without hesitation, he let out a loud 'khhh-tuck' and spat out a thick glob of phlegm.
"Cool." Eleven's eyes lit up, her face full of admiration for Hopper.
Richard walked at the very front with his head down. Listening to Eleven's praise for Hopper and the latter's proud explanation of his phlegm-spitting techniques, Richard's face contorted painfully as he struggled to suppress his laughter.
The three returned to the lobby once again, but they found that the lighting had changed. The bright white light had been replaced by crimson beams, and only three or four lamps remained lit. These cast light onto the giant blue doll reliefs on the walls and the doll sculptures in the hall. The color of the light and the resulting shadows cast an evil veil over the originally lively and cute cartoon characters.
No, perhaps this was what these things actually looked like, and the appearance they had seen before was the falsehood.
Click-clack, click-clack... The three were warily heading toward the entrance of the opposite passage when they heard the sound of stiff, mechanical joints moving all around them. They immediately stopped and stood back-to-back. They then saw that the sculptures that had been standing under the red beams had vanished, while vague figures could be seen moving in the hazy darkness.
A moment later, the sounds grew louder and faster, as if something in the darkness was rapidly approaching. Richard and Hopper shone their flashlights toward the source of the noise, revealing a group of grinning doll statues charging at them, wielding bloody sabers and heavy axes.
"F*ck!" the three cursed simultaneously. Immediately after, the sound of breaking glass came from the nearby counter. A glance showed several dolls twisting their bodies to climb over the counter before rushing toward them.
Boom!
Hopper immediately pumped the shotgun and fired a round, blasting the nearest doll backward.
Richard swung his machete and charged at a monkey doll, his movements even more ferocious than his opponent's. He struck with a blade that only managed to cut halfway through, the impact numbing the web of his thumb. The material of these anomalous dolls was incredibly sturdy, and their vitality was tenacious. Even after being cut like that, the monkey doll could still move, continuing to swing its jagged butcher knife at Richard.
Richard freed one hand and grabbed the monkey doll's knife-wielding arm. The monkey doll let out a cackling laugh and opened its foul, bloody maw to bite down on Richard's head.
Bang!
Richard raised his leg and delivered a powerful kick, sending the monkey's head flying off its body. The head soared through the air, the malicious light in its eyes slowly fading as if it were dying.
"I see, you have to hit the head!" Richard felt the monkey doll pressing against him go limp. Realizing the dolls' weakness, he quickly called out to Hopper and Eleven.
He had initially thought that if he couldn't kill these dolls, he might have to spend some mental energy to activate Weak Point Exploitation to find their flaws, but it seemed that wouldn't be necessary now.
Hopper understood. From then on, his muzzle no longer aimed for the dolls' bodies but for their heads. As if possessed by a god of guns, he blasted down several statues in a row.
Eleven activated her telekinesis, freezing all the anomalies surrounding them. In the instant her nose began to bleed, the heads of every doll in her field of vision were snapped off.
After taking out this group, Eleven looked over at Richard and Hopper's side. Just as before, she plucked off the heads of the remaining dolls that were preparing to attack them.
Before long, the entire lobby fell silent. Although it was still bathed in red light, it had become exceptionally safe.
"Wipe it." Richard took out his handkerchief and handed it to Eleven. She took it with a smile and quickly wiped away the nosebleed.
"Let's keep moving," Hopper said to the two as he quickly reloaded his shotgun.
Beep!
The door on the left side of the lobby was swiped open with the employee card. The three stepped into the dim passage, their flashlights illuminating the long, narrow, dark corridor.
"Blood." Richard saw a smear of blood on one of the walls. He touched it with his finger, then leaned in to sniff it for a moment. "I can still smell the iron. It was likely left within the last few days. Maybe it's Carly's blood, or one of her friends'."
"What on earth were they trying to do in this hellhole?" Hopper couldn't help but say, his temper flared by the harrowing experience they just had.
Richard shook his head. "I don't know, but I get the feeling these dolls are alive..."
"You felt it too?" Eleven looked at Richard and said uncomfortably, "When I was snapping the heads off those dolls just now, I felt like I was snapping human heads. It was very unpleasant."
Seeing Eleven's furrowed brow, Hopper quickly comforted her, "You don't need to think so much. Those were monsters trying to kill us. We acted in self-defense."
Richard remained somewhat silent. He touched the employee badge on his chest and, after a moment of quiet, said slowly, "I have a very bad suspicion. I think I was wrong about something before. What if the characters in Miss Leopard's drawings weren't just an artistic expression? What if the animalization wasn't a metaphorical image, but actual people being turned into these dolls?"
Hopper's eyes flickered, the muscles in his jaw twitching. He opened his dry mouth and asked, "How would that even work? How can people be turned into dolls?"
"The Upside Down exists, and people possessed by the Mind Flayer can turn into inhuman monsters. If there's some other mysterious power in this world that can turn people into dolls, it doesn't seem entirely impossible." Richard scratched his itchy scalp and let out a long sigh. "Maybe Carly found out about this place from somewhere and thought her own kind might be here, so she broke in."
"We have to find her quickly. It's too dangerous here," Eleven said seriously. She suppressed the discomfort in her heart; while she had killed people before, they were all guilty, and she had done it swiftly, never in such a brutal manner. The thought that she might have been snapping human heads made her stomach churn.
The three decided to follow the bloodstains. Along the way, they saw numerous blood spatters, scraps of clothing, and bullet holes. It seemed Carly and her group had been through a brutal battle.
Before long, the three finally exited the corridor and arrived at what appeared to be the production area of the Orfan Toy Factory. The space was about fifty meters high and covered an area of roughly three hundred square meters; it was vast.
"Assembly Area," Richard said, looking back at the line of text written above the exit.
"This should be the toy assembly workshop," Hopper said. He indeed saw some of the doll limbs and parts similar to the ones they had seen in the lobby. He had an incredible thought. "If we were to start the machines in this workshop now, would they produce those violent killer dolls from earlier?"
Richard spent some energy to activate Spirit Vision and observe the layout of the workshop. Here, he saw unfathomable Cursed Resentment. Of course, in terms of the number of wraiths and the concentration of resentment, it couldn't compare to the nest back at his house.
He already had a theory regarding the birth of those anomalous killer dolls. The reason the dolls here became anomalies was likely because this factory had an extra assembly step: they would eventually stuff a wraith with extreme resentment and heavenly hatred into the dolls they produced.
Looking at it this way, this factory might not be an ordinary toy factory at all; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a Lab.
Richard and the others went down the stairs to the workshop floor, looking around for an exit or door to continue forward.
"Why don't I see any doors or passages?" Hopper said after looking around, feeling it was unbelievable that they had found nothing.
Richard was also wondering if there were some hidden mechanisms here.
Hearing this, Eleven looked at the two of them in confusion. She tugged at their sleeves, and when they looked over, she pointed at the machine outlets that were spitting out assembly components. "Aren't those the passages?"