Chapter 72 - The Institute (13)

Chu Yi lowered his head, moved his finger lightly, and watched in interest as his body healed.

The horrible wound that was cut longitudinally from the claws of some random monster on his left hand no longer felt any pain. The reddish-brown plasma coagulated into a thick layer of blood covering his slender wrist. The uppermost blood scab having already become fragile, revealing the new pink, tender meat underneath

It wasn't the only one, he quickly checked the wounds left on his body from the previous battle, and found that the deep and shallow stabs had begun to heal quickly, and some were even gone completely, only leaving the pale white skin stained with mottled blood.

On the inside of his wrist, the cyan blood vessels and the looming light red barrier like webbing, intertwined, appearing evil and mysterious, the blood vessels underneath his skin slowly twisting, as if it was trying to break through the shackles, tearing the translucent skin.

His other hand that had been transformed, still glinted with a cold metallic light, it didn't even look like a part of his body but Chu Yi could feel that it was apart of him, throbbing like another heartbeat.

The others had long noticed and guessed the origin of the alien addition but it was neither the time nor the place to discuss it now.

"What do we do....we can't stay here fighting these things forever. Eventually we'll be exhausted by the continuous wave and be run through."

"But we're stuck here. " Mu Fang's Lackey was pale in the face, and the voice used to speak sounded on the verge of hysteria. 

Tang Shun shook his head, "The system never gives unsolvable problems, difficult but not unsolvable. I'm sure we are not the only ones locked in place, so the only thing we need to do is find the way out "

Mu Fang listened to the dialogue happening in front, a hesitant expression appearing on his face, then he made a decision, slowly letting loose of the thing clenched in his hand.

That was a last resort.

Chu Yi exhaled softly, his blood still boiling but at this point he was hyper sensitively aware of the sounds that drifted from the gloomy darkness that engulfed them.

In the heavy darkness, there was the sound of cruel gnawing and a disgusting swallowing that was amplified by the dead silence in the halls, in the darkness unknown monsters moved their ugly bodies and even the darkness seem to come alive!

Chu Yi retracted his gaze, and the scarlet almost vertical pupils stared straight at the thick scarlet fog in front of him. Creepy grunts and moving sounds came from all directions, rustling close, the eyes lurking in the darkness were greedy and thirsty, like a drop of blood falling into a sea full of sharks, the dark waters rolled and surged, hidden unknown dangers and vicious prying eyes. Just waiting for the weak prey to venture into their territory!

The desire to fight was aroused by the weird breath floating in the air, which quickly burned through his body like a flame flowing in his blood, as if every musculoskeletal bone was creaking with excitement, making an agitated and exhilarating moan!

A certain cruel and pleasant excitement was suppressed in Chu Yi's brilliant eyes.

"Something similar to what we're experiencing right now is a Chinese Myth called 'Ghost Hits The Wall.' Its not the exact same but in our current siuation , we have to try all the methods that are available." Tang Shun didn't procrastinate any longer and quickly explained the method he had thought of, "Right now, we are in the 4th dimension, think of it as a parallel dimension that is completely similar to the world we are from, however we exist on the x-plane and this world exists on the y- plane. We have crossed over to this world from the x-plane and now we need to find the intersection that connects these two dimensions to get back to our own world."

".....eh-"

"We have to find the door that connects the space we are trapped in to the outside to get back to our rooms." Tang Shun sighed, Chao Bin really was just a kid.

"But where could it be? That could be anywhere!"

"Find our rooms in this plane."

"What?-

Chu Yi looked deeply into the eyes of Mu Fang and answered, " Our rooms. Back to the place we came from."

*****

He avoided the opponent's attack from behind with experience , his sharp claw broke through the air from a tricky angle, cut the opponent's belly mercilessly, and then turned gently and gracefully on the spot to avoid the attack that came from the side.

Blood spurted like an open faucet, the knife in his right impaling the monster to the wall!

The monster in tattered nurse uniforms from which it burst from struggled and screamed in pain, in its distorted howls Chu Yi could still hear the frantic cries of 'punish' 'punish them'. The greasy internal organs gurgled out from the torn open stomach, the moment Chu Yi turned his back to face the other incoming attacks, a few furry tentacles full of yellow sarcoma and nodules stretched out from the corner, pulling the monster that was already dead into the darkness from whence it came, and immediately, the sound of the flesh being torn and crushed mixed with the vague chewing sound came from that direction, the strange swallowing sound sounded from all around, making the scalp numb!

This was the noise Chu Yi had heard.

There was something far more terrifying than what they're facing now in those shadows.

Tang Shun's face was fully solemn now, his glasses had been broken at some point, lost in the flesh and blood of these monsters.

"They're getting stronger!"

If before it would take no more than a few blows to get rid of them, now they had to actually exchange attacks and even suffer injuries from trying to get away! 

"This isn't working! "

Chao Bin beside him, had been struck hard after failing to avoid an attack and was now bleeding profusely from his side, "The closer we get to the rooms, the more monsters that come out to block us! If we continue at this rate we'll never make it!"

Chu Yi stared at the pattern of attacks coming toward them, a feasible idea slowly taking shape in his head but it was also then did he realize the sinister intent of the system!

The monster's had one fatal flaw, they didn't seem to be able to see out of their eyes and relied mainly on a keen sense of smell. Regardless of anything, as long as they smelled blood they world swarm to the area like flies, the monsters would have a brief moment of consternation when they first appeared, however they would soon be attracted by the blood and rush towards the source.

Them.

That is to say, as long there is one person who is wiling to sacrifice himself and attract the monsters attention, the rest of the players would be able to rush into the rooms and escape from the bloody death that faced them.

But who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for complete strangers?!

This wasn't just a hunt, this was forcing out the evil of the humanity and making them face their filthy hearts! Wasn't this just forcing them to submission, to become a true 'obedient resident'

Slowly Chu Yi stopped fighting and as if the instance itself sensed his intentions , the monsters slowly came to a still. 

This was forcing them to make a decision!

The monster's roar stopped.

The surroundings falling into an unknown dead silence, every minute and every second contained the horrible silence before the storm!

Tang Shun seemed to have sensed something after the pause and immediately grabbed the pale Chao Bin and pulled him to the side, away from Mu Fang and the other player.

Mu Fang also seemed to have realized something and distanced himself from the man beside him, the calculating glare in his eyes slowly becoming cruel.

Chu Yi didn't waste time and quickly recounted his hypothesis, and under the tensed gazes of the players, slowly rolled his eyes. The red tongue licked the teeth that appeared like fangs and assumed the posture that he was about to move, the stench of blood seemed to have penetrated into his very bones and the whole person gave off a fierce and violent spirit, red eyes gleamed with a faint cold light!

The darkness slowly drew closer to the broken hall, and a nasty evil breath gradually precipitated in the air. The ground had long been stained red with blood, and the pale walls that are perpendicular to the floor was covered with splashes of blood and leftover bits of monster! The ugly and weird broken limbs and steaming internal organs are shocking under the dim light, and a few of them even rolled about and struggled in a pool of their former masters own blood!' 

A pair of brilliant and cold red pupils were gradually filled with red , zealous warfare, looking down at the messy ground under his feet condescendingly.

"One of us has to be the sacrificial lamb. Voluntarily or not, someone has to die."

Chu Yi's voice was hoarse and bloodthirsty, there was no changes in his tone even as he spoke of such a cruel thing. The player who had already been on the verge of a breakdown from the start, completely burned the bridge and in a hysterical panicked voice screamed at the distant Mu Fang, 

"This was all your idea! You were the one that insisted that we come out at night! If it weren't for you would we be facing this situation now! You should be the one to go die!" 

This accusation was partly fueled by fear , he knew in his heart that he was weakest party here and he would be the one chosen but he was also filled with genuine resentment, he completely ignored his own incompetence and shoved the whole blame on Mu Fang!

But this wouldn't change anything, weakness was a sin here and he had committed the greatest sin,

The man in question only sneered, contempt bleeding into his eyes under the mocking gaze of Chao Bin,

"Did I force you to venture out? This was a transaction, nobody is more nobler than the other. Let's cut to the chase, you're going to die anyways, so I'd suggest you die with a little bit of dignity."

This was the expected result.

The roars started up again but this time they didn't fight, the man was shoved out under the cruel and indifferent gaze of the group as a sacrifice, and along with his harsh agonized screams , the monsters slowly created a path for the players to walk as they disappeared into the rooms under his dying breath.

The rooms were the same dirty wards, glass mirrors everywhere , rusty rails and spotted brown bloodstains. But there was a new addition,

Flowers

He has seen many flowers.

The fresh and beautiful flowers of various colors cultivated specially by the rich , blooming into vigorous and warm colors. The emerald green flower stems are carefully cut with a special eagle head and inserted into the water carefully filtered by the gardener to coordinate the flower shape and size of each petals. It is the most suitable and pleasing beauty. In the boudoir of the rich, it is placed by the made at the center of the room as an embellishment, to be praised and serve as conversation piece for its guests.

In comparison, this bunch of plants is so crude, it was to the point of ugly

It has narrow and slender leaves, the stems and leaves are frizzly mixed with two small brown flowers, the thick root system below has not been trimmed, and the messy root hairs are also tied a singular string torn from some random cloth. The way of binding is still ugly and rough, and the technique is as childish without the slightest sense of beauty. The stems and leaves are dark brown-black as if it was dying, but the two small flowers on the tips almost hidden by the leaves, were rare and pale.

Placed almost like a gift.

A welcoming gift.

However he couldn't observe them longer , for the minute, Chu Yi walked in, instant, muscle pain and astonishing fatigue hit him like a truck, the delayed pain from the destruction and assimilation of new genes made him physically and mentally exhausted.

The blood-stained world went slack and disintegrated from the edge of his sight, and the ground approached him at an unstoppable speed.

But before he could hit the floor, a warm embrace caught him.

Then everything fell into darkness.