Chapter 81 - The Institute (22)

Chu Yi couldn't tell what the voices were saying, they chanted strangely toned garbles, incoherently, as if there was a weird gurgling sound coming from their throats, repeating unintelligible secret codes that he couldn't decipher- It was like a mad scientist locking himself hysterically in an isolated room, or a fanatic speech of some unspeakable religion!

Gasp-

As Tang Shun looked around the cellar, he suddenly realized that Chu Yi had gone uncharacteristically quiet, stopping, he glanced down with mild confusion and only then did he notice the pooling sweat on Chu Yi's forehead and the white teeth biting his lips bloody,

He frowned, and his tongue seemed to tremble without speaking but the sudden headache made his temples jump ruthlessly,

"It'll be soon."

It faded away.

Chu Yi exhaled softly with lingering pain, the voices finally ceased echoing and the hammering inside his skull dissipated, 

"Are you alright?" 

Chu Yi shook his head but Tang Shun couldn't tell whether it was affirmative or not, but neither did Chu Yi explain, he frowned harder, staring deeply at his face but didn't venture further, 

Neither of them continued to speak and just waited quietly for the rest to pass the task,

Eventually, with the help of the pills, all the players in the cellar managed to get through this hurdle relatively unharmed and under the instigation of the nurses were stamped and drawn like cheap goods on an assembly machine; then hoarded back into the main building,

This was hell.

A general consensus all the players held as they stepped back into the light-

The Institute was exactly the same as they left it , haunted and spoke of untold horror, but in such a short time, some of them would never be able to see it again!

Fear was slowly starting to build in their hearts.

The players trickled into the dining room, posture akin to wilted egglpants, they were not only glum and shaken, they also had varying degrees of injuries, some with only mild scratches but a few held entirely missing limbs.

Unless these unlucky players had healing props, they would permanently be left at an disadvantage for the later struggles to come, 

They wouldn't even be able to guarantee survival- 

The system had divided the players into two groups, the 'healthy'  and the 'disabled'.

Both of which would have entirely differing priorities from now on.

Da, Da, Da....

Tang Shun raised his head, eyes unconsciously looking towards the entrance, not being able to resist raising an eyebrow high, when he saw a familiar figure walking in, clothes shredded and crudely covered in blood- that from his posture didn't seem to be his.

Chao Bin couldn't stop the pleasure that rose in his heart when he saw the mild look of shock on Tang Shun's, his chest straightening in pride as he strutted towards the two.

"What did your group experience?" Chao Bin was a tad suprised when he saw that otherwise from being pale and wet, neither Chu Yi or Tang Shun seemed to have gone through a great ordeal,

Tang Shun was the first to speak, quickly summarizing what they had gone through and watched Chao Bin's face instantly fall in shock with some amusement.

Chao Bin wasn't surprised at the difficulty of making a choice but at the scheming and intelligence shown by Tang Shun. Even if he was there and coincidentally had a bottle of booster pills, not to mention remembering that he had them in his storage but being able to calm down and think of way to make the most out of it was something he wouldn't be able to do in such a sort space of time,

Tang Shun smiled, slanted eyes shining with mirth, appreciating the admiration on Chao Bin's face, that smile however quickly fell from his lips when he spotted from behind Chao Bin, Mu Fang walking strealthily towards the group.

Chu Yi also noticed a difference, and slowly squinted his eyes at the man. There was something else other than friendliness in Mu Fang's fleeting gaze when he looked at Chao Bin.

However, this brewing sentiment of his, did not showcase in his voice, he kept the same good-natured tone, while lauding the courage and quick-witted nature of Chao Bin in managing to find the breaking point in their fight against the creatures.

Nevertheless Chao Bin didn't seem amused , he could still recall the look in Mu Fang's eyes when he stood at the edge of the pond, far away from the fight.

Resembling a poisonous snake ready to strike.

He could sense a hidden conspiracy brewing in the darkness and it was definitely directed towards him-

Having enough of the sleazy talk, Chu Yi cut into Mu Fangs tirades and quickly brought up his own opinions about the actual purpose of the Institute.

"The mutant crocodile, humanoid fish monsters, the artificial merman and all the other things we've found makes it clear that the Institute is involved with altering the gene contruct of homo sapien beings."

Chu Yi shrugged, "This has never been a foreign thing in human science, combining human DNA with animal DNA in hopes of discovering a path to a greater evolution of mankind. They've experimented on rats, monkeys- anything with sentience; including themselves, are nothing but pawns in cracking the secrets of the universe."

"However it seems that the Institute may have taken a step further and maybe even have directly broken this code, what we all saw just now were obviously failed experiments that have been discarded by the Institute and used as a form of entertainment for them."

Chao Bin rolled his eyes, "Even if they did manage to crack the secret, the self righteous rhetoric of 'for mankind' that all crazy scientists regurgitate to justify their heinous acts still can't hide the blood of countless humans that they used to pave the way for their so called evolution."

The biological children and the residents of the abandoned planets were tantamount to this sin.

Nobody disagreed with this statement, they knew that humanity's selfishness at times has no bounds.

"This still doesn't explain why the Institute needed so many experimental guinea pigs, and why the mortality rate was so high. Was it really necessary to hurt thousands of people for something like furthering mankind? I don't believe that there wasn't an ulterior motive behind all of this!"

Chao Bin's mouth was crooked in annoyance and he seemed to be on the verge of tearing into the masterminds behind this Institute.

Suddenly Chu Yi raised his wrist and pointed to the stamp sitting there, "What color do you have?"

Chao Bin paused, disoriented by the sudden change of topic and subconsciously lifted his hand as well, "Red."

Chu Yi turned to Mu Fang, "Yellow."

He nodded but didn't continue to ask. For now, no one knew what these stamps meant. 

Just in time, the nurses entered the dining hall and attracted the attention of the players.

The head nurse still dressed in her old, yellowed uniform stood in the forefront, addressed the residents and did something no one expected.

She reorganized the groups by color.

There was an instant buzz in the room and the players looked somewhat panicked.

It wasn't that there was immediate danger but this was sudden changing the whole dynamic of the instance.

This signaled a change and no one knew whether this would bring disaster or fortune.

Although worried the players had no say in this and could only be seperated into the four colors. Red, Orange, Yellow and Pink.

They were then issued new ID Cards and therefore new rooms. On the ID's, there was an additional code, Code #E0001 underneath their names. 

The four instantly frowned, as they recalled-

This was beginning of Phase 0001.

Eventually Mu Fang seperated from the group and mingled with the people who were also stamped with a yellow mark.

Chao Bin instantly sagged with relief at his departure, he felt as if he was standing on the edge of a knife the entire time he was beside him.

By coincidence, both Tang Shun and Chao Bin were also in the same room as Chu Yi, whuch saved them much hassle, and with lingering exhaustion from the hassle they had just faced, most of the players retired to their rooms.

Chu Yi was the first to enter the dingy bathroom inside, he couldn't ignore the sticky and uncomfortable feeling from the water drying into salted crusts on his skin.

As he waited for the water to warm, he turned around, faced the mirror on the sink, and saw his body-

It was only then did he realize that the bright, red lines in the pattern of scales had become increasingly obvious on his skin,

Chu Yi raised his hair, the bump on his forehead had also increased its size and was now the size of a third of his pinky.

He was also curious about how the lines on his neck and chest were made, was it synthetic? He reached out and rubbed them slightly, but they couldn't be removed either. These red-scale like lines seemed to grow from his own flesh, as if they had always been apart of him.

He shrugged, and lazily removed his sight,

If it didn't effect him immediately, he couldn't be bothered to care.

He took a shower, by the way, avoiding his bandaged wrist, the injury was only slightly tingling and he didn't know whether it a result of his contact with the merman but unlike the others, his wound had never stopped bleeding.

When he came out, Chu Yi was suprised to feel a sudden change in his body, 

His skin from his lower jaw to the collarbone was hot, as if it had been persistently polished by rough sandpaper, and when he moved, it caused a faint burning pain with the slightest stretch.

He touched his neck inexplicably—there was no wound...

Then it happened! 

A terrifying pain exploded in his body!

He couldn't help but groan, the taste of blood rising in his throat, 

It felt as if something in his chest was creeping and climbing inside his body, struggling to tear through the shackles of his flesh and burst through his heart!

Chu Yi felt like hitting the back of his head severely on the bathroom walls in front him just to make it stop but barely restrained, his whole body stiffened and trembled, and a familiar smell of rust and blood filled his clenched teeth.

He gasped, red eyes burning with an excited flame!

The straight body of the young man shuddered in the leftover steam, his pale fingers pierced crescent moons into the flesh of his palms, his slender skeleton trembling like a dying beast!

He felt as if every drop of blood in his body had evaporated from the burning heat, and in the dim light of the bathroom, it trembled with an unsullied jade-like sheen! 

There was a faint smell of blood floating in the air.

On a place he couldn't see, faint red lines glowed on his skin like droplets of warm blood on the first winter snow. The faintly pinkish- red lines deepened into scarlet at the speed visible to the naked eye, gradually becoming clear like traces of mercury on the smooth, translucent skin. It almost seemed as if an ancient beast was on the verge of awakening, a sacred red phoenix soaring into the sky! In the next second, flaming, feathered wings would break free from the shackles of his skin, and take him away from the mortal land like a cruel and dying god that had been crucified by his people!

It was an evil yet breathtaking sight to behold! 

His eyes felt as if they were covered with blood, everything in front of him seemed to be pure scarlet red and inside, his mind was completely taken over by tyranny, as if he was a machine that could only understand murder and plunder, 

An excruciating pain seemed to come from his forehead as if something there was about to break free! 

"Chu Yi?"

Gasp-

The light cast by the dim overhead light made the sweat on his back even more dazzling and with the voice of Tamg Shun outside, the continuous wave of pain gradually weakened, the blood-colored lines gradually fading and lightening back to their original state. In the end, only a painful aftertaste remained on his nerve endings, that left him shuddering.

Only the sound of his own harsh breathing in sync with his beating heart resounded like static ringing inside his ears, he could feel the sweat from his forehead traveling down the length his nose and pitter- pattering down on the floor with a splash- 

Exciting!

His hair hung like long black tendrils obscuring the lines of his face but it still couldn't hide the happy almost crazed smile of his lips-

So exciting!