Chapter 79 - The Institute (20)

"Hmm...hmm..."

Chao Bin was sweating profusesly, a feeling as if there was something burrowing inside his body, taking root and replacing his veins with wires- leaving him with nothing but an empty shell, erupted in his brain! Even though he tried to ignore the pain, the prickling sensation of countless tiny wires, needling inside his bones still tortured him endlessly-

"Fuck-"

He exhaled harshly, trying to focus on their surroundings, they needed to break the current stalemate, 

Then he was surprised to realize how close they were to the pond!-

The most deadly thing now, wasn't the injuries on his body nor the spilled blood sinking into the soil of the cave but the increasingly exhausted players- that had; to his consternation, been gradually pushed back, getting closer and closer to the edge every minute!

He could imagine the scene of carnage that would happen if anyone fell into the deep, black waters!

He could now understand the sinister intentions of the swarming creatures, they were sacrificing them to the mutant thing that had emerged from underground as prey, using their advantage in numbers to overwhelm them! 

He wanted to cry with no tears, Chao Bin could sense that the previous hesitant creatures were getting restless, the suppression effect that came with the sudden transformation had begun to weaken-

Come on think!

He needed to look pass the chaos and death happening around him and find their weakness. He could tell that these were failed experiments and all failures had weaknesses that could be exploited!

Like Tang Shun said, the system would only place them in difficult situations, difficult but not unsolvable-

Chao Bin stared relentlessly at the disgusting mutant, the dim lights in the cave occasionally flickered and dimmed, the stagmite, glowing rocks didn't seem to hold any purpose, 

Then it clicked.

They held no purpose!

Chao Bin had noticed from the get-go that damp and moist cave provided the perfect environment for the evolution of a species. Here, in order to adapt the monster's would have to abandon their eyesight and rely on other sensory organs in order to hunt and survive!

Chao Bin noticed that not only on the eyes of the mutants in the pond but also on the smaller humanoid monsters- there was a thin grey film that covered their pupils, that contracted sensitively when exposed to light!

Therefore light itself should not even exist in this cave!

As if proving his conjecture right, Chao Bin noticed that the giant mutant creature shifted and hid in the pond whenever the glowing rocks would flicker brightly and would emerge again only when the lights were dim!

He wasn't sure why the rocks had not been destroyed in any case, maybe they used humans unconscious attraction to light as a way to lure in prey but what he did know was that they would be run over in probably another minute if they didn't do something! 

Chao Bin suddenly rolled to the side and with a slash of his wrist, severed the head of the screeching fish creature that lunged at him from behind, the rotten smell of blood released from its decapitated remains seemed to send a rioting signal and with a scrawling screech, the monsters once again submerged his fighting figure! 

The brutal battle on this side did not seem attract the attention of the giant creature. It still hovered in the lake like a divine king waiting for its soon to be served meal, the darkness in the pool became thicker and thicker as if it had been contaminated by black ink!

"Waa--waa--"

At this moment, a crying like an infant child suddenly echoed in the hollow domes, whistling through the countless large holes on the walls and erupting like a strange demonic call in the ears of the residents, it was even more strange and terrifying in the darkness, but when Chao Bin looked carefully, he found that this was the cry of this strange mutant! 

This reminded him of the sounds that came from undeveloped vocal cords, which in his conjecture, probably means that the strange creature had been implanted with a human voice box, which might have, due to its limited intelligence and compatability, been unable the learn the proper vocalics and therefore could only emit primitive sounds like that of an human child!

Chao Bin's bloodied and scratched face, turned even uglier, the more truths discovered, the more they uncovered the secrets of the Institute, the harder it was to hide the corrupted and filthy nature of this entire Federation, 

Suddenly he remembered a certain someone, and he glanced towards the edge of the pond faintly and was surprised to find Mu Fang looking right back at him!

Like a poisonous snake.

Something was wrong, with immediate suspicion brewing in his heart, Chao Bin took out a professional, 10K voltage flashlight and under the glowing light of the luminous rocks, turned it on! 

Its instant glare could even blind human eyes, not to mention creatures that had gone without seeing light for many years, this was a direct torture!

"Screeee!"

"Screeeeeeee!"

He could even vaguely smell the scent of burning flesh and the strange creature that even fears the dim light of the glowing rocks that could not even illuminate the size of the cave, screamed in painful agony, when the snow-white beam of light smashed into it's face. It sounded like a crying baby, painful and desolate, but no one here would show it any sympathy-

This was a disgusting monster through and through-

The creature wanted to hide back into the darkness of the pond, but it had been too arrogant and in order to devour its sacrifices had ventured too close to the shore to avoid it. It thrashed in the water, and blood filled pus seemed to drain from its eyes, then the screams quickly became awful wet, gags and Chao Bin could only hear a strange muffled sound coming from the mutant creature before the thing started vomiting violently!

Calling it vomiting was an understatement, it was more appropriate to say that it was spewing foul stomach acid from its body! It opened its mouth wide, almost half the size of its face and sprayed out a ton load of blackish fluid that assaulted their noses with a fishy and powerful stench!

In the black vomit, Chao Bin could see what seemed to be specks of white! It wasn't much to figure out but when those gray and white things splashed onto the surrounding ground, he could make out that they were the remnants of corroded bones and shattered skulls that had been decomposing inside the stomach of the creature! 

"Waaaaa--"

The mutant cried loudly one more time in anger before diving back into the pond, sending waves of murky, black water splashing in every direction! 

"Screeeee!"

The players around him, had quickly taken the hint and through various means all pulled out glaring white lights and were swinging them at the fish monsters, watching them screeching and scamper away from them in fear! 

They just had to fend them off for a few more minutes, then they would be released.

Chao Bin looked at the mutilated dead monsters at his feet, after the fish creatures lost all their vital signs, their scales would shrink and the mucus attached to their bodies dried up to become a layer of thin yellow film like a cocoon on their bodies.

Chao Bin endured the disgust, squatted and touched it, then twisted his eyebrows fiercely. The blood itself was a reddish black, and the mucus seemed to have overflowed from under its scales.

The thing was extremely ugly and smelled of rotten fish. On the bluish-black, almost deformed skull, there was no trace of hair, and it was completely covered with messy scales. When it was squeezed into the holes on the walls of the dome, the surrounding stone walls became slippery and wet with it's mucus.

Which is what Chao Bin had felt before.

The scales itself, on the monster's body were much larger than those of ordinary fish. They are blue-black, and the skin close to it is grey like a bloated corpse. If he removed one scale, he would find that the skin under the scales was intact, and was exactly the same as ordinary humans except for the skin color

He seemed to vaguely guess the purpose of the Institute but nevertheless, he still needed more clues to be sure,

He wanted to discuss with Chu Yi and Tang Shun-

Chao Bin couldn't help but grin, the boyish look once again settling on his face.

At least this could prove he wasn't a pig teammate after all.

He then stood up and thought for a second- counting the time in his heart, he firmly covered his nose, suddenly rushing towards the disgusting vomit, and immediately bent to take a look.

He leaned his head back and used the bloody mountaineering knife to spreak the large chunks in the black vomit, scraping aside the pieces of wet lumps and acid, eventually a greyish-white skull was fished out from the vomit and rolled crookedly to his feet.

This was a human skull.

Altough mixed with animal remains, It seemed that the bones spit out by the strange fish were not only animals, but also included human bones. He was afraid that some people have been using living people as sacrifice to feed the creature!

The ominous 'play with the fishes' was a direct connotation to feeding!

Chao Bin's frowned with worry, looking around at the blood and flesh spiked onto the floor and then looking back to the pond.

This did not bode well

*****

On other side Chu Yi stood in the corner of the damp open cellar, his figure blocked by a wet Tang Shun and in his hands he held what looked like a wet and crumpled piece of old report log.

As he read, faintly a stray wind came from the depths of the dark room, carrying with it a faint fishy smell in the air but it wasn't the typical smell of seaweed from the merman. Chu Yi couldn't help but look up slightly and intuition pointed him to somewhere outside of the cellar they were in right now.

On the far end, the others were also battling for their lives, he wouldn't know anything however, until later.

Red eyes lowered and continued to scan the paper in front of him without pause,

Tang Shun who stood in front of Chu Yi, slightly squinted his eyes, the hand with the glaring red stamp, twitched faintly as he stared down at the man in front of him quietly, lips raising in a faintly arc and gentle, the raised corner of his eyes seemed to hold a daring laugh but as soon as Chu Yi raised his head, he immediately reverted back to a solemn frown.

Those cold, red eyes were squinted with interest, the colour of his pupils always seemed to reminds Tang Shun of classic red wine spilled onto snow-white sheets, it seemed that there was a hint of black mixed in and it would change whenever Chu Yi was excited, His eyes were inexplicable, expressing the slowly surging excitement and anticipation directly and explicitly, his gaze locking steadily on Tang Shun.

When he exhaled, his breath was pushed towards him and Tang Shun could clearly feel the coolness contained within the air. He lowered his eyes to stare at the faultless face of the other party, 

Although his hair was half-dry, the stray strands of dark hair hung loosely in front of his eyes, the clothes on his body were still damp, water droplets dripping from his trousers to the ground, and quickly gathered into shallow puddles at his feet. Tang Shun's coat wrapped around his shoulders completely obscured the bottom of his face.

The light shone from the top of his head, his eyes drooping, red eyes hidden in the shadow cast by his brow, 

Chu Yi stared into the paper and with a hint of burning danger, whispered lowly, 

"The Federation itself is a con, because all previous victories had been built off of lies. "

Lies paved with the blood of the Abandoned Planets codenamed BV. 

Battle Vessels.