She realised that Ed was in the same situation as herself, and that he was being punished because of her actions. Although she was scared of him, she still felt guilty for making him go through this.

Because of this, she pushed herself to try and remember everything that the file had said. “Ugh. Um... He was a burglar, and he.. That’s right! He stole from an old lady, but she caught him in the act and died from a heart attack.” She felt excited after remembering it. Like she had solved a puzzle and was one step closer to freedom.

Because of this excitement, she failed to keep her voice down.

“Ssh.” Ed looked around, checking to see if anything had changed. He also listened out for anything happening beyond this room but did not spread his threads outside the room in case someone was waiting for them

“If my guess is correct, then we have to stay very quiet,” he whispered. “Buddie has probably put us in that old woman’s house. My guess is that we need to get out of here without alerting her.”

Belle calmed down after hearing what he said. “And what happens if we get caught?”

“We’ll die from a heart attack. Now follow me.” Ed walked through the cramped room, carefully tiptoeing around anything that could make noise.

She paled at his words and hurried to catch up to him while also staying quiet. She didn’t want to die after all. “How do you know this?”

“Simple, I’ve been with this company longer than you. I’ve also done the same thing you did and have been killed a few times for it. You’ll get used to dying eventually. Just, try not to do it too often,” Ed explained calmly.

His tone was very calm, but his every word sent chills down Belle’s spine. There was so much wrong about what he said. No normal person would be able to say something like that with a straight face.

She had so many questions, but at the same time, she had to accept it. Somehow, someway, Ed had died multiple times and yet was in front of her right now. And although he wasn’t human, he still seemed to be alive.

Countless thoughts rushed through her head. Of demons, spirits, and resurrection. Anything that could potentially explain what he said. But still, none of these thoughts stopped her from following him. If she wanted to live, she knew that she had to trust him.

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Ed was taking things slow. He could have already snuck out of this room and probably the entire house by turning into thread, but he didn’t do that. First, he felt like Buddie would have some kind of counter to that and he would be immediately caught and killed.

The other reason was that he knew this was meant to be a punishment for Belle, and wanted to take this chance to guide her and help her settle her emotions.

Because of this, he limited himself to walking around and handling things the way a human would. At most, he would allow himself to use his threads to help her move around the place, like how he pulled her out of the mountain of plushies.

Eventually, they reached the door.

By this point, Belle’s occupational experience had kicked in, and she had placed her ear up against the door to listen for noises. There was nothing. She looked up at Ed, as if asking for confirmation.

Ed nodded. He hadn’t sensed anyone in the next room. And he felt like his affinity towards fate would have warned him if there was anything. For now, they were safe to enter the next room.

Belle pushed open the door just enough for them to slip through. She didn’t want to run the risk of it creaking and alerting anyone.

Passing through into the next room, it was cluttered just like the previous one. But unlike the previous one, it was still being used very often.

There were glass cabinets filled with glassware and fine china. Scores of old photo albums and books lining a bunch of shelves. And a small round wooden table with a fruit bowl and an empty cup placed on a coaster.

The floor was also clear and very clean. It was clear this room was used often, most likely as a place for the old lady to sit down and eat at. It seemed that most rooms wouldn’t be as chaotic and messy as the first one they had been in.

Like he had felt, there was no one in this room. The room was also a bit more open, with two archways leading to other rooms instead of doors. One lead directly to the kitchen which was visible from where Ed was standing. The other led to a hallway that went off to somewhere else.

The two scouted around the room, careful to not make any noise or bump into anything. They first checked the kitchen for a way out, but it didn’t connect to anywhere else.

It had a small window, but unfortunately, no matter how Ed tried, he couldn’t break or open it.

While they were doing this, they kept a constant eye on the hallway to make sure nobody was coming. Returning to the dining room, and after confirming that they had no other choice, they walked down the hallway.

This was a dangerous place to be in. There was nowhere for them to hide, and if they heard someone coming while they were in the middle of it, it would be difficult for them to escape back to the first room without getting caught.

Luckily for them, they managed to make it to the end without hearing or seeing anyone.

Ed didn’t have as much information as he would have liked. He didn’t even know the layout of the house. He didn’t know where he needed to go if he wanted to escape, and he didn’t know the habits of the old woman.

It was annoying, but he would have to make do with what he knew.