Chapter 78 - The Institute (19)

On the other side, Chao Bin, Mu Fang and the others were directed towards the similarly desolate northern section of the building, down a narrow overhead and taken to a dark, open tunnel. The nurses, they noticed looked at them with an almost primal pleasure and unlike Chu Yi's group, they did not follow in. Instead the residents were half-forced, half- coerced into the entrance and told them to play with the 'fishes'.

The time limit was ten minutes.

In essence they had to survive for ten minutes,

The tunnel was narrow and hollow, the cacophony of their falling footsteps echoing in the empty channel, 

Chao Bin had long lost the youthful look to vigilance and he stared straight ahead with an almost worried gaze.

He had a sinking feeling in his gut,

The tunnel itself wasn't very long but at end of it, far from the entrance, it lead to another path, wide enough for only a single person to pass through at a time.

This was a cave,

There was an uninterrupted sound of 'tick, tick' as water droplets plunged down from the ceiling, the residents quietly venturing single file into the unknown chambers. The cave was moist and dark, and the whole place seemed to lead deep into the underground. Although there was sufficient oxygen and artificial vents, there was no light.

Plop-

Plop....

Except for the sound of water splashing against stone stagmite, the silence itself was excruciatingly loud-

After crossing the one-person wide divide in trepidation, the space in the cave path gradually opened up, becoming larger the farther they walked , eventually it became no problem for two people to walk side by side. Naturally Mu Fang saddled up to Chao Bin but refrained from speaking in any case,

In this dark environment for such a long time, even the function of their eyes seemed to have become obsolete and the residents were forced to use their other senses such as touch, Chao Bin felt the sections of the wall close to him in order to walk securely, 

Even under such difficult circumstances, the players never buckled or stopped from fear. The closer they got to what seemed like the entrance, the stronger the odor of seasalt became. Around him, Chao Bin could feel the air change from a semi-dry state to a damp and sticky vapour that felt like cotton blocking their lungs-

The touch of the stone walls underneath his fingertips were also very strange , It stopped being simple damp stones, and became a kind of sticky, viscous slurry, like runny yellow mucus.

A snakes trail?

When his finger dragged it accidentally from the walls, it would pull out a few disgusting threads that had surprising elasticity and would snap back wetly against the stone walls.

A completely dark enclosed space, an independent ecosystem isolated from the outside world. Them abandoning the most useless organs to adapt to a different habitat, instead gaining other sensory enhancements.

This was a monster cave.

And just in time, the path finally opened up to the only source of light,

This was a deep and lifeless pond that spanned the entire room, surrounding it was rotting carrion of flesh and bones of some sort of animal that had been ripped to shreds, stalwart unusual rocks glowed with a dim blue light illuminating the still black pool of water against the concave-dome like walls of the cave , 

It seems they were underneath the Institute,

The players looked towards the stagnant pond with cautious eyes, unable to interpret the meaning behind 'play with the fishes'

Are they supposed to swimming with the fishes?

That was impossible, No one in their right mind would jump into the obviously suspicious looking pool.

That would be just giving their life away-

Then a strange scene happened, one of the players looked back to look at the path they had come from and turned pale with fright!

"Fuck!"

Behind them, large holes were drilled into the walls of the domes, and inside them there were countless densely packed creatures stuck like bees glaring hungrily down at them! The blue, thinly scaled humanoid species looked at them as if watching a group of delicious delicacies that have been placed right into their mouths! Sticky yellow mucus dripping from their wide open jaws!

The large gills at the side of their faces spoke of their origin! 

They really were to play with the fishes!

The players turned and Chao Bin intaked sharply, staggered, and almost bumped into Mu Fang behind him!

The monster looked at him, and the corner of it's black lips curved, It seemed to be laughing, 'hissing' strangely, barring its fangs, and mocking his fear!

There a was a brief lull, then all hell broke loose!

Chao Bin jumped away like a lithe fox, and pulled out what looked like an ordinary mountaineering knife-

He slashed with instinct.

Suddenly, there was the sound of slicing flesh above him and a patter of fishy blood falling down like rain! Then viscera and mangled organs fell down around him, splattering with an ugly wet squelch as the cut in half corpse of the creature split into two halves and fell at his feet! 

He listened to the sound with a grim face, flicking the blood from his knife to the ground, and took the opportunity to look up at the place where the creatures were the most intensive-

He saw dozens of huge deformed fish creatures dropping down from the dome. Their wild screechs and the cries of blood shed , completely turned this place into a purgatory-

They were not frightened by the flesh and blood of the same kind. Instead, they stepped over the corpses of their compatriots and lunged at the people in the cave. The resident NPC's were helpless to fight back, they died and were then torn apart like clockwork! For a time, flesh and bones flew across the cave and the corpses were eaten in the blink of an eye. There seemed to be an infinite number of them, and they rushed towards the residents frantically!

A fleeting worry for the others flashed in his heart but was quickly forgotten under the onslaught of attacks-

These creature had relatively weak strength, but they were numerous with sharp claws and skilled in stealth, the blue scales on its body were slippery and made it hard to catch them! It was also extremely ugly, distorted and smelled of rotting fish and trash!

'Scree!!'

When the largest creature suddenly jumped from the domes of the walls, it brought a deep rumbling shock as the players avoided the attacks like headless chickens, then like they were fragile sticks, it grabbed one the NPC's and folded the man into two, his spine breaking through the flesh of his back and blood spurted like a fountain onto the wet ground! Then it was thrown, head flying and slammed into group of creatures that pounced on it like ravenous beasts!

How could they survive down here for ten minutes!

There must be another way!

Chao Bin dodged, face distorted from effort, he quickly slashed the knife behind him, cutting down another creature pouncing to kill! 

The fishy smell of spilled blood mixed with the damp and humid air of cave and made even breathing difficult 

Suddenly, he felt a sharp burning sting in his left thigh that spread rapidly throughout his leg, and he couldn't help cursing profusely. He didn't know what it was but it felt like a poisonous silver, snake had bitten into his leg. Although the force didn't seem to be too great, nevertheless he still stumbled back for several steps, pupils contracting, his facial muscles twitched, and he was pouring out cold sweat!

Hanging on his forehead, his face paled, and he couldn't help groaning in pain. He could clearly sense the shocking burn marks spreading like centipedes on his thighs without warning!

He was confused-

When was he poisoned?

He didn't have time to dwell on this because the monster's were still pouring down from the domes!

Chao Bin gritted his teeth and continued to kill, he had no time to waste!

When Chao Bin had killed two monsters in succession, his knife suddenly stuck in the corpse of one of them and no matter how much he pulled it would not unlodge! as if it had been waiting for this moment, one of the creatures pounced on him from behind! 

"Screee!"

For a moment, Chao Bin looked back, but the fish monster was close at hand, and the knife in his hand was could not be used, there was no time to counterattack!

At this critical juncture, Chao Bin suddenly roared like a beast. His mouth grew dense fangs, and his eyes slanted like a tiger's eyes. Deep in his pupils, there seemed to be circles of dark whirlpools, which made the creature hesitate for a moment, as if sensing the intimidation from a higher being! 

It wanted to go back but it was too late!

It was at this moment that Chao Bin flung the mountaineering knife to the side, reached out and grabbed the long neck of the creature with both hands. He roared angrily and then twisted fiercely! There was only the sickening crack of bones breaking- the neck of the ugly monster was twisted and deformed like a flesh-colored water pipe! The creature twitched as if it was still struggling, but Chao Bin clasped its long neck with both hands and tore it vigorously, actually tearing its neck from its body!

Blood gushed out, the fish monster was completely dead, the other creatures seemed to have sensed something and didn't attack, in a blink of an eye there was only a mess of black hair and blood stains. But this stalemate wouldn't last for long. Chao Bin dropped the corpse casually, and his blown out eyes returned to normal under dim blue eyes. Immediately he noticed that on his hands, there were beast-like sharp nails. The tips of the nails were stained with blood, and shredded flesh!

His brows furrowed, he could now somewhat understand the state of Chu Yi back then.

The tyrannical need to kill seemed to have overriden all thoughts in his brain a moment ago and all he could think about was violence-

Even so, not much time had passed and this stalemate still would not do, they needed to find an alternative!

The creatures seemed to be getting more and more riled up along with the shedding of blood and no matter how much they killed, more would just come back to take their place.

They had to break the source first!

Chao Bin looked towards the pond, His fight with the fish creatures only took only two minutes at best, but he had already noticed some changes in the water. He saw that a long black line had emerged from the center of the pond and traveled to reach the edge where someone was standing, Chao Bin took a closer look,

Wasn't that Mu Fang?!

Why was he there, so far away from the fight?

He also seemed to be holding a strange blood red dial in his hand and looking towards him but before he could decipher what it was, Chao Bin was surprised to see that the black line in the pond had suddenly risen!

When most of its body surfaced from the pond, Chao Bin realized that black line that had been exposed before was just its barbed back. What swam from this pond was a giant black and blue mutant! 

It is not appropriate to say that it was a fish, because it was elongated like a giant crocodile with a long snouth and crooked sharp, teeth but behind it, it carried a long dorsal fin that sent the water spiraling into whirlpools as it rose. 

When this creature surfaced, he couldn't tell whether it was a fish or a crocodile, the black and blue scaled pattern on it's body was also clearly visible in the dim rock light. At first glance, its skin was uneven, with its own lines like a strange mural, and Chao Bin could even see patches of what looked like human skin that had grown out from its own shell! 

This strange phenomenon should never had happened and this creature had evidently been artificially constructed!

"Fuck!"