Chapter 90 - The Institute (31)

Chu Yi stared at Mu Fang, face devoid of anger or even shock. With such calmness, it was almost as if he was looking at an insignificant stranger, a jumping clown frantically trying to incite the crowd.

Mu Fang's evident scheme of fermenting chaos and distrust among the players did not make him excited, instead he almost looked bored as he observed the varying reactions of the players.

A kind of disappointment of someone already falling into a predetermined trap.

He then looked away disinterestedly, no longer bothered with the affairs of the players.

Mu Fang who had been waiting in expectation for the look of betrayal and despair to appear on Chu Yi's face, was directly pierced in the heart with those eyes,

Even his face cramped with the effort it took to keep up his natural smile, this lack of interest was even more painful than if he had been drowned in spats of condemnation and contempt.

Eventually with an ugly face, he turned back to his own matters.

Tang Shun who witnessed all of this, sneered subtly,

No, it's not disinterest,

That's not the look of seeing strangers, maybe others would misunderstand, but Tang Shun couldn't be any more clear,

...That's the face of watching the dead.

Tang Shun looked back at Chu Yi, he had truly tossed the rest of the players to the back of his mind and was now more focused on digesting the somewhat unpalatable tray of greens and soggy meat offered by the nurses.

Even if they are both hunters, there are also many different types amongst them.

Hunters live by hunting.

If they don't kill, they will starve to death.

Some hunters would rather starve than hurt precious living beings. Such a person is noble and heroic but his route will only lead to him starving to death without merit.

This is a failed hunter.

No amount of sacrilege will replace ones own life.

Some hunters are also embarrassed and feel guilty for hunting, but they are unwilling to starve themselves to death for their prey, so they draw for their bows and arrows and became ordinary hunters.

All the while apologizing for their helplessness.

Other hunters hold no extra emotions for their prey, neither needlessly sympathize, nor blindly hate, everything is just for survival, the basic law of nature.

This type of hunter is an excellent archetype, he kills, just to survive, nothing more.

The last and most neurotic kind of hunter, are the ones that have discovered the joy of hunting, he is keen on playing with his prey and enjoys the process of the hunt, he even hopes to find other hunters to show off their trophies together, they pride in raining blood and chaos.

There is no doubt that as a hunter, this is an extremely good mentality, but they have also lost all humanity.

Tang Shun had always believed Chu Yi was the fourth type but now, this has become unclear.

Or maybe it had never been clear to begin with and he was just making his own biased assumptions or maybe....Chu Yi belonged to the fifth type of hunter.

The Revived Hunters.

*******

After a day of rest, Tang Shun, Chu Yi and Chao Bin finally decided to make haste to the File Room.

Now that they were aware of the subtle interconnecting between planes, they could immediately notice their field of vision suddenly shrinking and expanding after they've walked a certain distance.

It was such an inconsequential detail that without paying great attention to, it would definitely be easy to miss.

Regardless, the heavy weight on Chao Bin's shoulders still lifted slightly, finding out now would always be better than finding out on the verge of death.

The door to the file room was placed at the end of the corridor. It was an ordinary metal door with nothing but decaying rust scattered all over the face of the hinges and edges. The door itself wasn't noteworthy enough but it was the floors directly leading into the door that were what instantly caught their attention!

The closer they got to the door, the clearer the sight of these peculiarities became–

Hundred upon thousands of bloody footprints were scattered all over the floor in haphazard chaos, the ground was blood-stained, winding with a crazy rhythm, it resembled a hysterical dance purely meant to glorify it's blood and sacrifice! Some were dull and dry, some were bright and flowing. Intertwined together, it was difficult to identify how many times blood had been spilled to create such a hauntingly beautiful work of art! 

Yes...

Work of art, as Chu Yi stared at the brightly flowing blood, still warm with the freshness of vitality; covering the waned browning spots beneath as if a dying rose shading its only flaws, he could only think of such.

What happened?

The three looked at each other with the same mystified confusion, nevertheless they had ventured too far to turn back now and ultimately they could only bite the bullet and carefully try to avoid the freshest blood stains and arrive at the door.

Chu Yi couldn't help but glance at the floor beneath him, feeling a subtle familiarity in his heart– as if he had seen this situation before, but that was impossible..... in the end, regardless of his own strange intuition, he still swiped the access card on the rusty machine hanging from the door.

Beep!–

They only had time to hear the sound of air releasing, then without warning the door swung open with harsh force, slamming against the side of the wall inside the room!

The three we're instantly startled and instinctively assumed a defensive position, 

Nothing.

This was obviously unexpected.

Unlike the corridor outside, the file room was devoid of any bloody footprints, as if they were barred from entering, there were bookshelves pushed up against the wall, locked cabinets and dusty overhead lights. The smell of moth and mildew from long term isolation along with a heavy musk in the air that reminded them of an old library.

The File Room seemed like an archive used by the Institute to contain some general information, the bookshelves had a vast assortment of document's.

Books covering anything and everything, catering for all medical and scientific needs were also available, there were also old books from old earth and new books from the Interstellar. It was obvious that they had been procured from different places.

Chu Yi in his search, quickly found a paper called [Recent Discoveries: Code Named <Merman 3B1>] while leafing through the shelves. It was noticed mainly because it had a conspicuous title and was boldly placed on the middle base of the most foremost bookshelf.

Their was only a brief paragraph written on the paper, 

"...the 'Merman' is more terrible than we thought it was. The number of neurons in their brains is five times that of humans. They also have a more developed memory system than any known animal. In the 'native' state They can be said to be invincible on the seabed, which limits their evolution towards the direction of wisdom."

"However it also shows a very cruel side in the experiment, a deep desire for meat and a pursuit of killing pleasure - Its animal nature masks its outstanding performance in intelligence. Experiment is classified as failed."

The paper was dated 1457IS.

Chu Yi flipped through a few other documents and saw another similar page, the second one was called [Recent Discoveries: Code Named <Snake>: 3CB1> ]

"The Snake has exhibited fierce signs of human rejection. Thirteen professionals have been nullified while attempting to pacify the creature. Wisdom and strength are directly disproportionate and it has lost all forms of sentient thinking. Exhibits signs of extreme danger when rut phase has begun.

Must be satisfied.

Unable to be transported to battle port 3B69. Experiment is classified as failed." 

Dated 1476IS,

The last one he found was a creature foreign to him, [Recent Discoveries: Code Named : <The Fox> 4D90>] However the lines on this paper was completely blacked out. Only a bright red 'X' was stamped over the words. 

This one was dated 1487IS.

These were all obviously directed towards the three of them occupying the room. And could be inferred as a brief overview on the alienation panel of each of them and would probably differ for everyone who happens upon this room.

However Chao Bin's situation had already been abnormal beforehand and was now the bight red 'X' on the document signaled that his transformation definitely had to deal with the secrets of the Institute!

He gestured to the others.

Tang Shun who had ventured off to the other side, noticed Chu Yi's signal and walked over, however after reading the paper he couldn't help but laugh,

"Rut?"

He smiled with some mirth, " It seems I should quickly find a mate then-"

The oblivious Chao Bin who had been walking over was unprepared to hear Tang Shun's words and directly froze in his steps, almost instinctively taking a step back.

"....."

".....!"

Tang Shun also noticed Chao Bin's reaction but didn't seem inclined to explain anyhow and instead handed something he had found over to Chu Yi.

It was a medicine bottle, 

The label had a chemical formula, N2O3, written in a ballpoint pen.

Dinitrogen Trioxide.

They both recognized it but to be sure Chu Yi still opened the medicine bottle, and it was a familiar white crystalline powder that smelled tasteless.

It should be it..

Under the shocked gazes of the others, Chu Yi unexpectedly dipped a finger into the powder and tasted it with the tip of his tongue–slightly bitter.

"What are you doing! What if it was poison?!"

Chao Bin exclaimed with incomprehensible shock, 

Chu Yi only chuckled but didn't seem to care.

For barbiturates, the complete chemical formula should be C8H12N2O3. Slightly soluble in water and can be injected intravenously.

Commonly known as Tranquilizers.

Tranquilizers can effectively relieve pain, reduce tension and anxiety, and doesn't affect the normal thinking activities of the brain. 

However If an overdose of the tranquilizer is injected, it can cause dizziness and coma, and death by poisoning. 

But this bottle of tranquilizers had been broken before and seemed to have been mostly used up.

Only a light dusting of powder was left at the bottom of the bottle.

This was obviously a clue, 

They just had to find out who or what exactly needed so many grams of tranquilizer.

"Hey! Guys come look at this!"

Chu Yi and Tang Shun both turned their heads simultaneously to look at Chao Bin, 

He was crouched down pointing to an unfinished picture on the bottom of one of the shelves. 

When Chu Yi and Tang Shun grew closer they were somewhat surprised at what they saw,

This was painting that used warm colors.

The blue sky was shrouded by honey, golden sunlight, the ground stretched for miles, filled with fresh green fields. The splattered sunflowers stretched out, with smiling faces and greeted the sun, opening bright petals and welcomed the new day.

Chao Bin inched closer, and couldn't help but exclaim, "It's so beautiful! "

In this repressive and terrifying environment, where their time was ticking every second they were alive, suddenly seeing such a painting full of warmth and hope, even his tensed mood seemed to improve a bit.

"The person who painted this painting must be a person with a very warm heart, otherwise he wouldn't paint so contagiously." Chao Bin doesn't have much of an art cell, but he thinks his appreciation level is enough.

"Really?" Chu Yi stared at the painting, his eyes lowered to hide the emotions in his eyes 

"But the sunflowers in this painting have their backs to the sun."

To change the direction, the meaning is completely opposite.

Even if the sun is shining on the earth, all beings are happy, everything is bright and radiant...

What does that have to do with me?

The painter.

He is deep in the backlight, he is the shadow itself.

He is the unfinished part,

He is the abandoned one.