Chapter 71 - The Institute (12)

Chu Yi took a deep breath slowly, the dry and cold air, filled with a strong smell of rust, slashed through his throat like a soft knife, and poured into his chest like smoke, the slight pain brought him an amazing sense of pleasure.

Everything was strange. 

He lowered his head and carefully examined his open fingers.

White, clean, well-proportioned bones, intact.

But he knew that on these hands, a faint red film coated from his palm to his fingertips, he really didn't know what it was.

But he was different

"Time is almost up."

Tang Shun and Chao Bin turned towards him, Tang Shun gaze held a strange touch as he looked at him but Chu Yi only stared down at his clenched hands.

He seemed feel the soft touch of a hot and throbbing piece of meat, a heart ripped out of someone's chest remaining on his fingertips. He could feel the blood rushing in his vain and a strange vitality pumping to his limbs along with his blood, bringing him a strange sense of joy.

Although the feeling of a foreign substance corroded and reconstructed his nerves faintly as it traveled through his bloodstream, the pain was so insignificant, he only felt a dull throbbing, a numbing kind of pain.

His body had been altered. But his transformation was diffrent from the others The residents that grew up on the abandoned planet, had been eroded by its poisonous water and toxic waste. Their bodies were underdeveloped body and weak, racked with chronic diseases and malnutrition. Even if there is no final organ failure, their life spans wouldn't be too long.

The players too, weren't of unified strenghts, after every instance, the system improves their physical fitness, most have the idea that this was so they have enough strenght to experience more horrors. Therefore those that have gone through more copies would have a greater strenght and the weaker bunch would be at a disadvantage. Especially now when their vitality was slowly being consumed 

But tonight was different !

A sense of strength surged in his veins, and his heart leaped vigorously in his chest. Chu Yi was almost fascinated by this novel and subtle feeling.

In addition, at the moment night struck, when the blood in his body began to rage, Chu Yi also felt a new knowledge appear in his mind,

A certain kind of broken consciousness, incomplete and scrambled information, was poured into his body with the rush of power, circling and jumping in his mind like flashing shards. He couldn't decode what it was sending but Chu Yi felt as if an entirely new being was being created in his body, attaching to his soul and creating another mind unique to it.

It was still an embryo, nothing more of a wisp of consciousness but he knew it was there.

He took a deep breathe, the smell of rust in the air was getting stronger. Something's coming!

"We need to leave. Now."

Mu Fang beside him was confused but his intuition screamed for him to follow! 

The players hurried out of the room, regardless of their image and dashed through the hallways back to their rooms! The scent of blood was so powerful it had condensed into an almost viscous gas, he wasn't breathing in air anymore, Chu Yi was inhaling blood!

It's coming!

At this point, the entire player base regardless of what they were doing raised their heads.

And to their absolute horror, it wasn't know when but the walls had started bleeding bright red blood, the floors underneath had slowly become a pool of clumped scarlet liquid!

"Somethings wrong!" Chao Bin panted as he ran through the halls, "It shouldn't take so long to get to the rooms!"

"What the fuck is this!" One of Mu Fangs lackey yelled in horror, below their feet, it had become a straight bloody path,everywhere was blood, even the qhites of their eyes seemed to be stained with a bloody light!

"We're stuck in a loop! " Mu Fangs face was hideous , at this point he had already guessed their was something wrong with their cognition of time. "We can't get back!"

Chu Yi's feet slammed on the floor as they ran , even through the soles of his shoe, he could feel the warm and viscous plasma staining the soles of his feet with his bare feet, and the dark red liquid was squeezed out from between his toes, like the crushed juice of a rose! 

Gradually they stopped moving, no matter how fast they ran, the halls in which they were standing never changed, the same bloody nightmare just repeated over and over again!

"Fuck!" One of the men looked pleadingly at Mu Fang,

"What do we do now!"

"Hide! I have to hide!" 

Without waiting for any of them to respond, one of the lackeys dashed into one of the rooms in the halls, the door slamming against the walls from the force of him closing it! He had locked himself inside, not caring for the lives of the others! 

Mu Fang cursed, "Fool!"

Chu Yi looked around for at the halls, and the strange blood red matter in the air wandered in his field of vision! It was gloomy and humid, and seemed to have been condensed from the blood of countless victims. The rusty smell stimualtee and made his mind clamor for violence!

In the darkness, Chu Yis eyes took on the same shade of red as the blood bleeding from the walls!

Chu Yi felt his breathing pick up , there were tiny beads of sweat on his forehead, his slightly blurred eyes stared into the distance without focusing, and his long eyelashes trembled with the frequency of his breathing.

Once, twice, three times.

His heartbeat was beating in overdrive.

1....2.....3...4

The blood mist was attracted to his hands, it gathered and clung to his fingertips, and then it was forcibly pulled back to his original position again by an unknown source.

It doesn't matter if you fail, then do it again.

Then his finger started to change! they were elongating and blackening! His snow white fingers became a long and sharp hand , forming claws like the hands of a deomn straight from the abyss! Its pitch-black surface smooth and hard like cold obsidian, it doesn't reflect the slightest light! His nail became extremely sharp, and a bit of inorganic light condensed on it, with the unique chill of a sharp weapon, it could tear air like a piece of cloth!

Chu Yi took a breath, his fingertips trembling due to the loss of strength, but the expression in his glowing red eyes was bright!

His eyes focused and he lifted his hand to observe it under the bloody red light, and the scarlet membrane reflected from the tip flickered under his eyes, a weird light from the depths of the underworld.

A suppressed trembling smile passed over his red lips.

—This copy is strange and interesting enough.

He likes it very much.

The building was still , windless, it was the calm before the storm! The players stood tense, fear bleeding from their blown out pupils.

Wrong! Wrong it was all wrong! 

They should have had more time!

They should-

But it was too late.

56...57...58....59

Midnight Struck.

And like all the monsters in the abyss, had been let loose, Chaos was instantly set onto the players!

The previously silent Institute had become a purgatory, monster's dressed in tattered bloody cloths of ripped nurse uniforms appeared in all the isolated places of the players! The screams of horror and despair as they were caught and torn apart like toys, with the mangled flesh of their necks dangling from their bodies, their heads ripped off and thrown to the floors! Some were even swallowed whole! The loud blasting as props were set off and the cries of helps turn this Institute into a living scene of carnage!

"Why won't you be obedient!"

"Only obedient resident's, are good resident's!" 

"You must be punished! "

That was an excuse.

Hunting

Yes, they were hunting.

Like animals who were hunted for sports by humans, they had turned from the predator to the prey!

Chu Yi quickly reveled in this feeling of being at the bottom of the cold ecological chain —either to kill or be killed!

The prerequisite for surviving in the copy in the first place was to live on the flesh and energy of other creatures!

Blood splashed!

Therefore since this was the law of the jungle , then let him enjoy himself to the fullest!

The Monsters roared as they lunged towards the group! Since the moment his claws condensed, Chu Yi had veen waiting in anticipation! Red tongue brushed across the bruised lips, as a frenzied smile of pure enjoyment settled on his face, and with a loud happy, he lunged to meet the incoming monsters!

Puchi!

He creatively used everyday of his body! Hands ripped the arms of the beasts, fingers clawed their eyes, feet smashed their heads, that burst like a rotten melon! He was almost driven crazy with this feeling of strenght! He came to this copy and he was weak! He wasn't the overlord as in the real world but now, he could kill to his hearts content! He didn't have to hide and destroy those filthy pests that used their power to wantonly destroy!

He used his hands to poke the monster's sticky skin relentlessly, penetrating its warm cavity and slowly clenched the beating heart!

Then it burst and the wailing thing in his hands suddenly stopped its stuggle and fell to the floor with a thump!

"Whats- what's wrong with him."

Chao Bin was gaping in slight horror as he stared distractedly at the raging man before him, 

Tang Shun had a strange expression on his face, eventually he just shook his head and chuckled, suppressing the way his heart sped up in excitement.

Not yet.

He called to Chu Yi as he dodged the monsters that managed to bypass Chu Yi and came charging towards them, "We can't stay like this for too long! I can feel that they're getting stronger!"

Chu Yi didn't answer but the way he gradually fell back towards the group, told them he understood.

Of course, Chu Yi's fight didn't go so smoothly in the beginning.

He had also bearing a few harsh blows from inexperience but perhaps the transformation had his increased his nerve tolerance threshold, because no matter how sharp the monster's claws were, he could always endure it and counterattack, feeling the blood rain on his face, long black hair sticky with blood as it stuck to his face, with a deadly beauty.

This would be a headache for him later but not now.

However, as his experience grew, Chu Yi could feel the rate of his injury getting less.

He can see the changes and movements of the monsters rushing towards him and could estimate the ability and distance that would be needed to make the deadliest move and then decide whether to avoid or attack. So, soon, the situation of being hit and embarrassed, standing in a pool of blood rarely happened again.

However these monsters were growing at an extremely terrifying speed, like a species born with a mission of plundering and warfare, quickly strengthening themselves and crawling out of the bottom of the abyss.

They were getting stronger and soon even his newfound strenght would not be able to hold them back.

Chu Yi shook the sticky stinking blood from his hand raised his foot and stepped on the monster corpse on the ground, face unchanged

[Confim the usage of Evil Spirit's Approval Ticket]

[Confirmed: All Area within a Thirty mile radius is locked. Teleportation Disabling Ineffective. Lifeform Detected: Life Form under System Protection.]

The hall was filled with the smell of copper and salt, and the ground stained with blood condensed into a greasy sound when it was stirred underfoot.

Only the heavy breathing of the chatted player filled the still hall. But this moment of respite was brief, they had to think of a solution.

Finally, Chu Yi bent over, face still hanging an intense grin and shoved his hand into the chest of monster underneath his feet, then with a forceful pull, he dragged his hand out, and a bright red heart lay slowly beating in the white palm, 

He then clenched his fist!

The dark red heart matter spilled over from his hands like a mercilessly crushed flower.

Chu Yi breathed out slowly and gradually unfolded his fist.

Suddenly Chu Yi paused , his posture of walking away stilling

The familiar darkness rolled in but it was not darkness that caught his attention.

There was something strange outside the darkness.

His nose could smell a very faint stench, it was very fresh, as if it had just dripped from the wound, and it also carried the warmth of a living body, which was completely different from the smelly and unpleasant smell of the monster that had evolved from the nurses.

Like an injured animal.

Chu Yu thought of something and the almost leisurely expression on his face fell, with twisted brows he turned to the resting players, eyes locking with Tang Shun

"We need to get back to the rooms."

Immediately