Chapter 75

Chapter 75

As Kim Ga-young and Yoo Geum-yi walked, Lee Jihyun kept looking all around. Like me, this seemed to be Lee Jihyuns first time in the research center too. The closest one was the Deep Sea Life Center, followed by the Seabed Pollution Center, Rare Earth Element Center, and so on. Yoo Geum-yi explained quickly that our goal was to reach the South District research center freight elevator and escape pod next to it, before we got to the Seabed Pollution Center.

Yoo Geum-yi works at the Deep Sea Life Center and Kim Ga-young at the Seabed Pollution Center, right? Walking briskly, Kim Ga-young said to me and Lee Jihyun:

Our center is nicknamed the Money Eater, but we were supposed to have a pretty major announcement this afternoon, our first in a while. About how much various countries have damaged the seafloor by tallying up everything thats happened since the Industrial Revolution.

Yoo Geum-yi suddenly stopped, grabbing Kim Ga-young. Caught unaware mid-stride, I bumped right into Yoo Geum-yi and nearly face-planted. Further down the corridor, a person lay sprawled sideways, with golden hair long enough to reach their waist.

Lee Jihyun and I rushed over and slowly turned the prone figure face up. Urgh. I recoiled in shock. Seeing the corpse, Lee Jihyun gasped, covering her mouth and backing away.

I took several deep breaths to steady myself, then checked their pulse and breathing for signs of life. The woman seemed to already be deceased. No she was already deceased. What startled me was the state of the corpse, something I had never seen in my life.

Various parts of her body looked to have been gouged out in circular chunks the size of a grown mans palm. A large section was missing from the left side of her face. Parts of her abdomen and chest where internal organs would be were gone in two to three places.

Can human flesh vanish so neatly in circles? Now that I looked closer, her thighs were sunken in, exposing white bone. What on earth could cause injuries like this? As I peered at the facial wound and Lee Jihyun at the exposed thigh bone up close, Kim Ga-young shouted in terror:

Dont touch!

Lee Jihyun flinched back in surprise and plopped down on the floor. Through the hole in the corpses abdomen, the internal organs were visible. Oddly there was almost no blood smell, just a faint ammonia odor. I twitched at Kim Ga-youngs yell and took a step back defensively.

I didnt touch the wounds.

No way would I lay bare hands on an unidentified injury on a dead body when I had no idea what caused it. Still stunned, Yoo Geum-yi choked out upon recognizing the half-gone face:

Thats Angela Maroni the director of our center I didnt like her much, but no one deserves to die like this

Having examined the thigh wound, Lee Jihyun measured the length between it and an undamaged part of the leg with her finger, then did the same with the belly wound. She remarked with puzzlement:

The wound sizes are quite uniform at around 20cm diameter this was deliberately inflicted.

Kim Ga-young still looked spaced out, but hearing my question, she slowly approached Angelas body. I gestured at the round wounds.

Can you tell what made these?

As Kim Ga-young mentally ran through every researcher she knew, I sniffed around and asked Lee Jihyun:

You dont smell that?

Lee Jihyun sniffed as well and grimaced, saying to me somewhat hesitantly:

I have rhinitis so I cant smell well.

Ah I see. Yoo Geum-yi chimed in empathetically:

I noticed a faint burnt smell ever since we entered.

Good to know it wasnt just me. I thought that was normal here. Lee Jihyun asked Yoo Geum:

Which direction is it coming from?

Cant really tell just a general building smell.

Lee Jihyuns frown deepened as she looked down the long corridor and labs, saying:

Lets head straight for the freight elevator. Ignore any other bodies we come across. We can neither carry them along nor save them anyway.

We started walking as directed by Kim Ga-young. The Deep Sea Life Center, Seabed Pollution Center, and Rare Earth Element Center were each 7-story buildings built in a U-shape and connected by a single bridge. Apparently the complex started on the 4th floor of the Deep Sea Life Center when entering the South District.

You could cross over to the other centers via bridges on the 3rd floor of each building. The escape pod and external elevator was located in the Seabed Pollution Center. Seemed like a pretty inconvenient layout. What the heck? So if I was working on the 7th floor of the Rare Earth Element Center and suddenly had to make a run for it like this, Id have to go all the way down to the 3rd floor, cross the bridge to the Seabed Pollution Center 3rd floor to make my getaway?

We circled the rectangular 4th floor corridor of the Deep Sea Life Center. Heading towards the Seabed Pollution Center 3rd floor via the Deep Sea Life Center 3rd floor bridge to reach the escape pod, we discovered a stairwell and started descending. Lee Jihyun quickly went down first.

Why didnt they install escape pod ports or external elevators in each center?

The floor-to-ceiling height between the 4th and 3rd floors was quite tall, making for a lot of steps. Stairs huh. No, a descending stairwell. That was from my dream. Get a grip. As I grumbled while trudging down the stairs, Yoo Geum-yi smiled and said:

If you knew how much each center cost to build, youd be shocked. I cant even afford a bathroom stall here. Nobody actually expected it to flood like this. We came down into the ocean specifically to avoid getting flooded.

Grimacing since her legs hurt, Kim Ga-young slowly descended the Deep Sea Life Center 3rd floor stairwell.