Chapter 80 - The Institute (21)

The heavy rain poured, a sharp blade of lightning ripped through the dark clouds in the sky, and the huge rain like gravel smashed down from the heavens-the bloody soil was washed away by the rain and briefly the light illuminated the thousands of dead bodies that lay strewn in clusters on the war-ridden zone,

The tall- cannon rocked city walls were washed clean by the pouring rain, and the thunderous boom of lightning was refracted in the gloomy rain curtain. No one could tell how many years the majestic great wall has been standing but now- it was on the verge of teetering and even the harsh storm could not hide the blood-filled moat at the base of the walls,

A man knelt on one knee in front of the gloomy- grey stone, hanging his head weakly. Bean-sized rain drops like freezing hail cascaded like stones down on his head, pale silver hair wet against his cheeks. Gradually it seemed to turn black, unable to hold onto his disguise, the dark elements creating harrowing black mist around him like a demonic creature from hell, blood from his forehead oozed out red- flowing down his cheeks as evidence of his sin,

His greatest deception.

He gasped violently, and the breath from his bloodless lips turned into white mist obscured in the cold rain. He knelt on the floor, and gritted his teeth, grabbing a sharp red sword pierced into the ground with one hand to barely let himself stand, 

Gasp-

Even if it was washed away by heavy rain, it still couldn't match the speed of blood flowing from his forehead. The blood stained his silver hair , and dripped from the delicate and precious golden ornaments on his forehead, the ornaments now branded into skin as a symbol of his lies; across his pale cheeks, passing the sharp lines of his jaws and dripped onto the once fearless shoulders . His clothing was supposed to be very gorgeous, he had made a point to always look the part in this game he orchestrated, he watched the show from the sidelines like a king, never once realizing that he had already lost from the day he met him,

He couldn't help but cough hoarsely, this was the most embarassd he has ever been, soaked in rain, armor discarded, clothes crumpled against his body, stained with blood and mud, and on the verge of death, 

He would have laughed-

The man gasped violently, even as his heart burned, fingers clenched the hilt firmly, to the point where his torn knuckles were already white from effort. He tried to look up through the light bloody film that covered his pupils, his eyes piercing through the curtain of water, 

Not far away, he seemed to see a familiar figure standing atop the walls, a silver snake-like lightning struck, the sky brightened for a second- 

The figure danced as if he was standing on the edge of a knife, twriling and stamping! The rain, his most enthusiastic audience! He danced above the countless dead and he basked in the blood of war! 

He moved like the most devout believer sacrificing himself to his beloved god!

At the same time, his mouth chanted affectionately- "Dear Devil, your face is so handsome, your smile is so charming, your heart is the evilest... Your followers are crazy for you, crazy for you... Why decieve me, Why abandon me, For am I am your greatest love! "

Da, Da, Da... 

Over and over again,

Charm and madness intertwined, the man watched the figure as if wallowing in absurdity, perform the sacred dance of the devil...

******

The dim orange light reflected like flames in Chu Yi's eyes as he stood quietly to the side of the cellar,

It was silent, 

The horrified players could still vaguely hear the sounds man's dying screams repeating over and over again in their minds,

No one moved.

The nurses seemed to have been waiting for this moment and with wide, hungry smiles they gestured to the merman's capsule,

"Obedient residents should complete all the tasks of the Institute, the Federation has gladly made these 'animals' available to rest your tortured soul and provide you with the strenght to continue rehabilitation into becoming proud citizens of the Federation. " They paused here, and the faux compassion in their voices dropped, "If you see fit to defy the orders of the Federation, we will have no choice but to put in place appropriate protocols."

"Also-" 

There was a loud crack! 

The previous tranquil merman seemed to lose control in an instant, clenching its webbed claws into fist, it suddenly slammed into the glass of the capsule, pounding heavily towards the player standing outside- 

'Kara- Kara'

To their horror, spider-web-like, fine lines spread from the center that was hit hard by the merman- the capsule made a shattering sound like the glass was being overloaded with pressure! It seemed that in the next second, the glass would be crushed to pieces and the heavy water pressure would break through the thin piece of glass, breaking entire capsule! Overwhelmed and shattered, the water would rush out with the merman inside, releasing a watery massacre onto the weak prey that had no ability to fight back! 

"-Don't agitate the animal's."

This was blocking all forms of retreat!

The players were absolutely horrified and yet still, no one moved, even as the cracks on the glass became larger and larger! They would not take the risk until someone else stepped up, 

Sigh...

From beside him, Chu Yi heard vaguely an exasperated sigh, then Tang Shun made the first move.

The nurses looked disappointed but the players sighed with relief,

As long as it wasn't them.

Unlike Chu Yi, Tang Shun neither decided to sacrifice his arm nor did he take his chances with the merman, instead under the scrupulous eyes of the players, he pulled out a bottle filled with red pills-

What?

The players were familiar with these pills, back in the tower for a relatively cheap price, this was called the 'Blood Boosters' and were known to really just have the function of increasing blood flow. They were usually useless in most cases but in a situation like this, it directly meant an opportunity to live!

They couldn't tell whether it was just dumb luck but neither could they care- 

Tang Shun managed to get through this scene by exploiting a loop hole in the system, the light went green and when he finally came down the ladders, he was instantly surrounded by anxious players.

The calculating light in the corner of his eyes seemed to increase by tenfold. Nothing in this world was for free and everyone here understood this principle, so one by one, he easily collected all the precious clues that had been painstakingly discovered by the players without any effort...

The dim light swayed above his head, and the remaining sweat stains made his usually pristine, slicked back hair messy, the countless chaotic and noisy human voices coming from all directions and the sound of dripping water still could not stop him from staring right into the eyes of Chu Yi,

He smiled, an almost evil smile and seemed to mouth something incomprehensible but Chu Yi understood it nonetheless.

"Here."

After a round of transactions, Tang Shun arrived back at Chu Yi's side and handed him a wet, crumpled page.

"This was found by one of the players."

He took it and read,

"This is a War Log." Chu Yi slowly spread the wet paper over his fingers and lifted his head to Tang Shun, "A War log for the war between the soldiers of the federation and the Neighboring Legarean Empire." Tang Shun raised a brow and looked down at the top of Chu Yi's head, " Is there a discrepancy?" 

Chu Yi squinted his eyes at the words and spoke slowly " The Death Rate is too low."

"Huh?"

He pointed to something "The death rate reported on the log is far below the standards usually associated with war. A war like this, between two futuristic empires with millions of people living on their galaxies would never end with a death count only in the thousands. Something is wrong."

Tang Shun crossed his arms and his mind spun quickly, "To begin with wars are just flesh grinding machines that take in blood and human lives and in return churn out immense wealth and power, it's nothing but death and warlust caused by greedy sentient beings fighting over territorial prowess."

"If we go by what you're saying- that the death rate reported is erroneous, then we can be sure of two things. Firstly the deaths reported back to the Federation is flawed, someone or something had purposely reported back a wrong archive in order to ward off any potential backlash and keep certain people in the dark and secondly..."

Chu Yi continued for him, "Someone is taking their place."

Deep in the battle- ridden war zone, the ground of the

ruins was a mess. There were incomplete corpses everywhere, lying on the grounds without order, the houses and buildings of the residents were smashed and burnt to the ground. The rubble was spread on the ground and mixed with the blood of countless corpses.

Maybe they were bombed, maybe they were abandoned as a line of defense and left to face the angry retaliation of the encroaching enemies,

The dried blood stains turning into an unsightly black and red color, sticking to the overturned soil.

The planet would have been completely destroyed and labeled BV, useless. 

These abandoned planet's would then be used to become a housing pen for the guinea pigs of the Institute and the slaves of the Federation, the blood and flesh of the countless victims and their unwillingness and resentment before death paved the way for the mighty and indestructible image of the Empire,

Of course, the blood would sink into the earth and eventually be washed away by the rain, but unless the residents were given freedom, the dark breath covering the land would never truly dissipate.

That's where they came in, because although these cruelties were hidden, there is nothing truly impenetrable in this world. As long as the first match was lit, many of the negative emotions that they usually hide deep in their hearts would erupt into flames. As long as there was an incentive, it will be easy and to completely set this Empire on fire.

Chu Yi thought for a moment remembered a certain line from the R89's report log,

/[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.]/

Abandoned...

It wasn't the planet's that were abandoned it was the people, in place of the soldiers, they used the lives of the ordinary residents that happened to be residing in the designated battle zones as fodders to save their own asses. Most if not all of the Federation were probably nothing but empty straw bags that looked strong and deterrent but inside were just rotting blocks of weakness and cowardice.

Tang Shun sounded amused by this ridiculousness, "I have always felt that the phrase 'Glory for the Federation' sounds strange. These kind of statement has is very contagious slogan and usually used by brainwashing cults to inject a strong sense of belief into the people."

"It's like a kind of substinence, certain organizations will also use such bright and justified slogans to control their believers. While, usually in truth the intended purpose is actually very different from the slogans."

Chu Yi was more focused on something else, he had already concluded that if they wanted to convince the residents, they would have to acquire evidence, if not, they would probably be faced with the angry uproar of the cultists resident's, one option would be capture one of the Chosen Ones and have them break the illusion of peace fermented by the Federation

Now he suddenly thought of another; The report log.

Suddenly, Chu Yi violently looked up, 

There was a voice in his head-

'It'll be soon'

The voice was as quiet as an infinite loop in time, The tone was extremely indifferent, without any ups and downs, without any emotions-

The voice didn't come from a source, but resounded from all sides of the place, from the air, from the ground, everywhere, and yet nowhere!

Chu Yi tried to mobilize his mind, but the more he thought, the more pain in the depths of his mind became more intense.. In the end, it had almost reached the point where Chu Yi could not bear it, and countless neon patches of color collided in his brain.The buzzing white noise mixed with the distant and chaotic voice made his mind split in an instance!