Chapter 70 - The Institute (11)

This was indeed an abandoned planet, however it was in a much better state than the planet they had come from.

There weren't any mountains of towering trash and sludge filled troughs. Although in a bad situation , the planet seemed more like post-war tragedy, than a isolated waste star. 

War...

A burst of inspiration flashed through his mind, but before he could look deeper into it, a sound interrupted Chu Yi's train of thought.

The video had just started playing , when there was a click , as the door was pushed open, they swiveled around only to find that it was none other than Mu Fang and two of his other lackeys.

"You three are very lucky ba." One of the men spoke up after realizing the room was occupied, he didn't ask for permission to enter, instead he sauntered into the dark room without fear, throwing a brief disgusted glance at the corpses on the floor, "We only managed to find this place, after Brother Fang used one of his props to determine important locations in this god forsaken place."

Chao Bin rolled his eyes.

Acting like he couldn't see the hidden implications in his words.

"Really very lucky." Chu Yi put one hand to his face, looking very lazy, " Why, we just coincidentally, so happen to stumble upon this important location with no prior clue or knowledge. Very Lucky."

Tch-

The air was filled with smell of gunpowder.

Chao Bin giggled under his breath but Tang Shun threw a questioning glance his way.

Strange.

"We found this place beforehand," Tang Shun corrected. " This was an operating room during the day with traces of previous use, now after we arrived here tonight, some things have changed."

Mu Fang who hadn't spoke from beginning to end, nodded in understanding and after signaling to his partners to start searching, he looked at them carefully, and then asked, "Have you found anything special over here?"

Tang Shun paused slightly and smiled, looking meaningfully at him behind cold glasses, but seemingly after a moments thought he still told them, "You will soon see the report left here but there are also some other strange phenomena that we noticed. For example, although the pills each look very similar, they actually have subtle differences. They all have tiny writings engraved on them, the orange pill is written with a small 'E'. The red pill with a 'C' and the purple pill with an 'A' . We haven't found what that indicates yet however."

Mu Fang nodded, 

These small details are often needed at critical moments to solve puzzles but at the moment there were too few clues for anyone to solve directly.

"There is an abandoned playroom that seemed to have been used to hold animals. Chains, whips and cages are the only thing in the room."

He didn't go on any further, but Chu Yi already knew what he was implying with this.

This was the value of their information.

The noise from the video once again attracted everyone's attention, 

It was just a little bit suprising to Mu Fang when he saw the face, or lack of thereof that appeared in the screen but he quickly gathered himself and went over to look at what was happening.

"Is this an abandoned planet" Mu Fang casually asked as he observed the happenings on screen.

Chao Bin raised his head in suprise , as expected of an old player, he could quickly see through the crux of the video.

Tang Shun was much more calm, "It should be around the time the Institute was formed."

The video, was still on [R89] walking through the dirty mud, some the mud even splashing onto his pure white lab coat but the man didnt seem seem care . With the bungalows made of plastic waste cloth as a backdrop the man quickly made his way out from the depths of the planet.

"There are children here." Chao Bin's voice sounded glum, although he knew that they were NPC's, he still couldn't stop it from leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

Right as he spoke, the researcher in the video happened upon a group of dirty, black children.

Although they seemed hungry and malnourished , when their eyes fell onto the approaching researcher, their faces still burst out into pure and joyous smiles.

Through the video, they could hear them whispering ,

"That's the man from the big ship in the sky!" "So cool!" "Is he here to feed us again?"

Although their voices were scratchy and unpleasant from days without sufficient water, it didn't stop them from croaking in excitement.

One particularly courageous child, ran up and pulled his sleeves, glittering eyes hoping that he could give them something to eat. The man didn't throw them off but like throwing a bone to a pitiful mongrel, he pulled out a bag of hard bread, threw it to the floor and ignored the way the ravenous children pounced on it like a pack of starving animals.

This was precious food after all.

Even though the children were quickly brought of view, Chu Yi noticed one particular kid standing at the back of the group, he was the dirtiest of all the children and seemed to be carrying a lame leg, and a festering infection on the left side of his bony hand. And in those hands, he held a dying black cat that lay weakly against his thin chest, a body that was practically skin and bones.

He didn't throw himself at the food like the others.

He stood to one side like an ominous black crow, watching the back of the leaving researcher with frightening dark eyes.

Even when the boy had fully left the screen, Chu Yi still seemed to see those eyes like a deadly, starving beast , flashing in the back of his mind.

Only when the researcher was about to leave the area, did he finally start to speak.

[Just now, in the name of the Federation, I was tasked to visit the leftovers from the Red Zone- Frontier clash with the Galaxy Dopius, these residents were deemed inconsequential to the survival of the Federation and were ordered to be abandoned in the name of the Empire. The death rate was approximately 789, 000 and the planet has been coded BV145 , Toxic level 7.3. Only 190 residents have been reported to have survived the clash.]

[In coordination to Code #E0001, the second batch of children have been artificially transported to planet BV1450 under the head of the newly registered Institute in order to begin Phase 0001 of the plan Code #ED001. A preliminary inspection of the leftovers have deemed the results satisfactory with 5% of children adapting to the forbidden zone with varying degrees of infection.]

Briefly Chao Bin couldn't help but wonderwhere the voice was coming from but there really were no surprises in a place like this.

[The first injections have been issued, no signs of death symptoms yet. The residents have spread by word of mouth that these pills havemagical effects and it has been become an anticipated thing among the colonies. Many of them have already begun showing signs of fanatism and religous paranoia. No further action is recommended to stop the spread. ]

[During the exploration, a new source of data has been found. ] R89 in the video took out a fist sized ore that glowed with an alien green light.

[An unexpected bonus of this trip lies in the discovery of Lithin. Preliminary exploration makes me believe that the combination of extremely toxic interstallar waste and the gas left from the clash with Galaxy Dopius has created the conditions for creating the rare Lithin Ore. Further Investigation will be needed to determine other causes.]

R39 collected the ore and walked through the dirty road and left the place with the sound of the wind was loud, like a thin soft knife, painfully scratching the eardrums of the players.

When the video was over, it didn't just stop there, instead a loading screen pooped up that read,

[Acessing File 2: Phase 0000| Exploration]

"8 minutes."

Chao Bin and Tang Shun swiveled to Chu Yi and nodded in confirmation 

They needed to hurry up.

This video is different from the previous one. When it is opened, it didn't immediately show the researcher, instead it show a man that was dressed just like the overseer in the planet BV1329. He looked more like a vicious merchant, a man in his late thirties with bronzed skin and a sophisticated accent.

They were underground.

[Everyone refuses to have biological children now, how much are they worth in this age? ]

Immediately afterwards, there was the voice of R39

[Why not? Don't they want children? ]

The man guffawed, as if he was amused by the question of R89, full of smiles, as if he was a experienced wiseman with plenty of wisdom,

[There are are very few people who want to do such a thankless job. Due to the great contrubutions of the Federation, they've now introduced artificial birth. It's easy, it's cheap and it's convenient. If you could chose the looks, intelligence and strenght of your child before they were even born, as well as have them out in less than a week, who would want to go through the hassle of carrying babies for 9 months only for them to come out average and some even ending up with disabilities? They'd much rather spend money to create the ideal child. They have longer lifespans and represent the evolution of mankind. ]

[Biological children have become a thing of the past. Only the commoners have them nowadays. Especially boys, girls are good, even if they're not special compared to the other children, they can at least serve as servants and toys.] The man's grin turned lustful and filthy as he winked at R39 ,

[Boys on the other hand , can't even give children now. The artificial birth is completely asexual and all they need is the consent of the couple. Then that's it, the perfect child.]

[Now the orphanages are full of abandoned biological children, because all the adults are scampering to become apart of the new world. Me? My business is to find use for the little wastes.]

As he said that, the man threw a multicolored pill into his wide mouth and grinned.

[What about it? Little handsome guy, do you want to have some fun with them too?]

R89 was silent for a moment.

[Do you have a way to obtain alot of biological children? ]

The man rubbed his hand, as his face loss the frivolous look in preparation for business.

[Don't doubt my professionalism kid, Don't think our place looks tattered and run-down, so it's not much. In fact, in this place there is always hidden dragon and crouching tiger's. If you go out right now and ask around you'll here my name. I control the transit airway to this here planet. Anything that's coming in is under my inspection and anything that goes out....no one will know]

[Really?] It was obviously a question, but [R89]'svoice didn't have any ups and down.

[Of course. ]

[Don't you feel bad for the children?]

The man laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke in the universe,

[This is only what's necessary. We are evolving and when humans evolve there will always be something that's left behind. They are just unfortunate ones that ended up being sacrificed. There is no need for them now, might as well put them to good use. Don't you think.]

These words fell like sinking in an ice cave.

No one thought it turned out to be such a reason.

R89 didn't answer, the screen shook for a while and cut off but once again popped up the loading screen

[Acessing File 3: Phase 0005 The Abnormal One

Chao Bin felt very strange.

Before seeing this video, he had already experienced three levels of the copy but this took the weird events to an entirely new level. Like everyone else, he believed that this institution was not as glamorous and decent as it seemed, this was a research Institute but he still felt cold, once he realized the true horrors of this place.

And this was only the tip of the iceberg.

And there weren't only one batch of children that were used as lab rats under a microscope by them.

The last video, which was still R89s video report. He was still underground but In this report however, he did not appear himself.

When the new voice appeared, everyone was stunned. This was the voice of a child.

[Excuse me, it is possible to survey the goods in the warehouse. ]

Thr child did not appear in the image. The miniature lens seemed to be mounted on his tiny body. The screen was a bit shaky. The image in the lens was a middle-aged man with a pot belly, with sparse hair, wearing dirty undershirt was about to burst into his stomach.

[What's a boy like you doing out here.]

The boy didn't answer.

[Excuse me, is it possible to survey the goods in the warehouse.]

Apparently realizing he wouldn't be getting an answer, the greasy, fat man waved his hands in annoyance.

[Look for it yourself. ]

Cages upon cages of mangled and half dead animals locked in dirty cells filled with their own wastes. They could imagine that the smell was absolutely atrocious. On the rails, there was a wooden plaque that told the price of each animal.

What's this...

The boy turned his head and the camera turned with him, and only then did they realize.

They weren't buying animals, they were buying meat.

Blood and guts rained from the weight of the blow as the knife chopped down without mercy!

The heavy force of the knife made it stick to the board as it slammed into the head of a dead cat ,the butcher only yanked the knife out, flashing the scarlet blood from his hands and swiping the inedible organs of the cat to the floor with a wet splat! The flies and mosquitoes buzzing as they swarmed the meat, black marks from decomposing, rotten meat the only evidence left of what these organs once were.

There was a shrill cry,

[Dead.]

[She's dead.]

The screen went black.

The video was unbelievably short and didnt seem like a report but before it cut, Chu Yi could be sure,

That was the black cat.