Thirteen candles were lit on the chandelier, the soft orange candlelight flickering within the not-so-large meeting room.
Pale white walls adorned with expensive paintings, wooden cabinets and a small round table neatly arranged, stone floors seamlessly constructed, and an intricate-patterned rug spread across the floor, gave the room a distinctive historical ambiance.
Alongside the central rectangular meeting table, six chairs were placed on each of the longer sides and one chair on a shorter side, totaling thirteen elegant mahogany chairs.
On these thirteen positions rested thirteen corpses, their shadows cast onto the floor, morphing into various shapes with the movement of the candle flames.
The corpses, some aged and others youthful, shared one common trait—with well-preserved bodies, they looked indistinguishable from living beings, appearing as if they were merely in a deep slumber.
