Chapter 60 - The Institute (1)

Chu Yi's eyes snapped open with force, but the harsh sting of dusty particles contaminating the air, immediately made his eyes water painfully.

His consciousness seemed to be pulled out of a deep ocean, the sudden change of voices, light and shadow, and air pressure, condensed as if they were tiny warring entities, that poured down into him vividly; making him instantly sober.

The first thing that he felt was the monstrous stench that was so strong that it almost stunned him back into a faint.

The rotten odor of animal carcass and decomposing plasma transpired by high temperatures, mixed with the mildew odor of deteriorating drinking water, and fermented human waste, twisted into a terrifying odor that couldn't be escaped, it invaded his nose pervasively, the feeling of countless mosquitoes and flies dancing about his body, and the noisy buzzing sounded unscrupulously, as if they were the masters here.

Wow.

Chu Yi's eyes darkened with heavy disgust and his skin crawled with loathing.

He was lying under a simple shed-underneath him was a grey cloth that couldn't even be recognized as its original color. Beside him there were at least seven other beds, with the same unwashed and stinking odor, all crowded in the same cramped and flithy room.

Through the leaky roof of the shack, one could see the greyish gloomy sky and the boundless trash scattered in foul heaps outside. The garbage peaks were almost piled to the sky, as if to squeeze the only remaining color on the abandoned land , the only blue in the sky to a monotone grey. Everywhere that the eye could see, was filled with trash and the overpowering stench of rot made the weak-stomached players retch.

[Ding]

[Transfer Complete.]

[Issuing Storyline...]

[Opening Copy 'The Institute' (Low Level)(C)]

[As a D- Class resident of the Abandoned Star Planet 1329BV, you are one of the Chosen Ones who were selected to embark on a journey to the famed and respected Institute governed by the Federal A Empire. The brainwashed lure is to change your destiny and become a legal resident of the Capital Star Planet; The Holy Land, under the full funding of the Federation, but blind to the real purpose of the Institute, under the bright and holy light, lies a gloomy and corrupted secret that could change the very foundation of the entire Empire]

[Main Task processing...]

[Main Task 1: Survive the Institute for one month]

[Main Task 2: Find out the secret of the Institute]

[Side Task processing...]

[Side Task 1: Expose the secret of the Institute to all the abandoned BV planets]

[Side Task 2: Destroy the Institute]

[Ding!]

[All tasks have been issued; Good Luck to all players!]

Chu Yi sat up with a hand to his head, but even before he could stand, a dizzy wave washed over him, and there was a convulsive pain in his stomach.

Chu Yi was conquered by this novel experience, and he clenched his fingers in wonder, the feeling of weakness caused by hunger and malnutrition came clearly, making him especially fascinated.

'BANG!' ,the already rickety door was directly thrown off its hinges! A man in black overalls with a gas mask came storming in!

" Get up you filthy vermin's! The Institute is already here!, you lowlifes need to get up off your lazy asses and Hurry up! If you're late and shame me in front of the Federation, don't blame me for peeling the flesh off your bones!"

The man didn't bother to walk into the tattered shed, the pungent smell of unwashed and dirty feet was enough to deter him, with an ugly scowl he proceeded to bang on the shabby shed walls a few more times before stalking off to wake the other residents with disgust.

The players looked around at each other in silence, a brooding and scheming light prevalent of experienced players glowing in their eyes. 

"Tang Shun, fives copies, official player." With the first player as a precedent, the others introduced themselves slowly, but even then they never stopped observing each other candidly.

"Mu Fang, 6 copies, official player."

"Jun Bi, 3 copies, reserve player."

"Chu Yi, 2 copies, reserve player."

Tang Shun seemed to notice something and he turned, the eyes he used to look at Chu Yi , underwent a subtle change. Chu Yi had also been staring at him from the beginning, although the silver glasses Tang Shun wore obscured the dark gleam in his eyes, Chu Yi seemed to smell the breath of danger, the gentle and polite facade didn't fool him in the least.

The other players were Lu Quian, Yang Gan and Le Peng, all second copy players.

There was nothing else to discuss, and they could hear the banging sound of the overseer getting closer again, so the players decided to leave.

Chu Yi walked out of the shack and raised his head, the whole world was finally fully revealed in front of him.

The boundless trash was stacked into high hills, all kinds of rancid waste, fermented at high temperature into a such stench that it was almost like a biochemical weapon. The grey smog formed from toxic gas made the atmosphere thin and gloomy, and the sludge of human waste all gathered on the ground in a thick black mud. There was a disgusting feeling of clammy waste squishing underfoot through thin slippers. Above their heads, and a colossal snow-white airship like a descending star mid-air obscured the sky, this planet covered in garbage, lifeless, like a corner abandoned by the world; was directly illuminated with a glorious light, 

Compared to the feeling of god coming to save his children, the filthy and sultry atmosphere of the planet blanked them in a despondent mood, and when you looked around, it was an endless rolling mountain of rubbish. The colorless rotten waste squeaked under their feet and mixed into an unpleasant, disgusting smell, the people who were already desperate, probably felt that the airship was like a prophecy!

At this time, Tang Shun stood beside him, a gentle smile gracing his suave face, the words out of his mouth however were extremely cruel!

"They're like livestock aren't they- ignorant and dull, just waiting to be slaughtered. They have no thoughts for themselves and just live for the federation."

Chu Yi tilted his face towards him, he didn't answer but the laughter in his ruby red eyes was enough for Tang Shu. He didn't speak again but tacitly followed the shuffling crowd forward.

An extremely unusual noise appeared not far in from them, which was different from the buzzing of mosquitoes and flies, that they had woken up to. This was the roar of conversation caused by a crowd of people gathered together.

They struggled through the ankle-deep sludge, with all the players faces turning different shades of green after being assaulted with the sickening stench and the feeling of stepping on unknown substances after a walking for a while.

Finally after bypassing the huge garbage piles in front of them, their eyes instantly opened up.

Unlike the hills formed by garbage dumps, on this road, the ground here is flat and compact, and raised into a landing platform, like a huge artificially built seat solely created by man for the Gods to descend, with obvious traces of technology, which was particularly abrupt in this seemingly abandoned and backwards planet.

At this moment, the square was crowded.

The aboringes that squeezed into the square were ragged and skinny. Their cheeks, deeply sunken due to hunger, were yellowed and gray, but everyone's eyes were illuminated by the same expression, eyes glowing with a near sickly fanatic look. It was like a creature crawling in the dark seeing the glimmer of hope for the first time, and the soul that had fallen into the abyss grabbed onto the life-saving rope and refused to let go.

Chu Yi had no doubt that if the 'Gods' told them to kill each other right now -all chaos would instantly be released onto the people! On the other hand, the players who had almost identical looks of cruel indifference were easily identifiable from the crowd. They exchanged knowing looks before turning their heads to the air ship hovering above the land.

The NPC's on the other hand looked forward hopingly and longingly, with no other thoughts or suspicion, Chu Yi could even hear vaguely among the crowd,

"Its God, they can help us , they can save us, I hope I get chosen, save us ..."

"Residents of the Abandoned Star Planet 1392BV, the Honorable Yan Ziyi, has with the great grace chosen this planet and this people in the year 1439 (interstellar years)to become the Chosen Ones of the Institute. Only a hundred of you will be selected in the Federations Honors, to give you a new life and to bring glory to the Empire."

"All Glory to the Federation!"

"All Glory to the Federation!'

The NPC's below repeated the words over and over again, their voices turning stranger and louder with each turn, distorting until it became nothing but a sea of frantic and fanatic shouts!

Chu Yi looked on with amusement, such pitiful creatures.

There would never be anything absolutely free in the world. 

Maybe those high-sounding words weren't a lie in essence, but they would never be completely true, the fact is; they have to be alive first to see it through.

There was the sound of a hatch being released and the people in the square fell into a deathly silence at the same time, everyone looked up at the place where the sound came from instantly.

The huge starship hovering in mid-air stopped right above the square, and the protective cover under the air ship slowly opened a gap, revealing a beautiful , refined man dressed in all white robes, there seemed to be a holy light radiating from him, an immortal from the Qingshang Mountains, he seemed to carry all the good in the world and illuminated the world!

Then he moved.

In the astonished eyes of the people, the man slowly stepped into air!

Gasp!

They watched in horror, some even closed their eyes directly, not bearing to see their savior fall from the clouds!

Then there was another gasp but this time, it was one of astonishment!

The man was floating in the air!

God. This was their God!

"According to Article 89, of the Federation Star Laws under the head of the Institute, in order to promote the constitutional development of the Federation and prevent the marginalization of Abandoned Planets under the planet code BV , the Federation will randomly select the physical and spiritually qualified people on the edge of the secondary galaxy Horus and cultivate them into residents of the high-level galaxy Bonih, and relocate them into the Capital Star, at a fixed time period. After the basic training and observation period, the federation will be responsible for post-retirement support matters."

High-level interstellar city-states, orderly and spacious sky channels, abundant food, water and clean residences. Yan Ziyi painted a beautiful painting of hope and peace, as if the Capital Star was the Garden of Eden of the mortal world!

A golden light billowed like the rays of the sun from Yan Ziyi, it printed on the thin and bark like face of the aboringes, reflected in their sunken eye sockets, endless longing seems to be able to pour out from their fanatic eyes, in the foul and dirty air of this abandoned planet, this was heaven.

Gazing at the scene in front of him, Chu Yi squinted his eyes calmly.

His expression was cold and calm, almost indifferent, and looked so out of place among the fanatical faces in the crowd. He wasn't the only one either, the players all had identical looks. However, the NPC's was too immersed in the beautiful vision outlined by Yan Ziyi, and no one noticed their uniqueness.

The gloomy atmosphere was stagnant and silent, mosquitoes and flies flew in the garbage dump, there were nothing but the sound of heavy excited breathing.

"Fools."

Tang Shu turned his head to look at Chu Yi faintly, although the words were said much like a whisper, he was still keen enough to hear it, especially the light mocking lilt that dragged on at the end of his lips.

The other party had already turned his gaze naturally, staring intently at the angel-like man suspended in mid-air, his eyes squinted lazily, and the red pupils dyed with a weird glow by the golden light, although that Chu Yi's face is smudged with dirt, he didn't know why, but it gave him a particularly strange feeling.

Tang Shu felt flustered inexplicably, a vigilant light flashing in those gentle peach blossom eyes. Eventually he turned his eyes back to the ship, beside him Chu Yi's gaze swept away from his back, the corners of his lips curled up with a smile, and then he moved his gaze faintly.

The gentle and peaceful man stopped the introduction, and the hatch of the ship was re-opened, then the golden man once again disappeared back into the air ship like a drifting cloud, ignoring the regretful and disappointed eyes of the fanatic's lost in the illusion of a greater world, the ones who were abruptly returned to the the barren and filth of the garbage star.

"This time the Institute has decided to select a total of of one hundred people from the planet star 1329BV."

This time it was the voice of a gruff, hook nosed man that appeared. He had a long scar covering one eye and was looking at the grimy crowd below him with blatant contempt, a sharp contrast to the angelic demeanor and kind gaze of Yan Ziyi, which in retrospect made the aboringes worship him more.

There was a buzzing discussion in the crowd, and the low volume could not conceal the overflowing excitement. Obviously, the number of places this time was much larger than before. But at the same time, there were at least a thousand people crowded in the square and the places were obviously limited but everyone was at least hopeful that they would be the ones chosen.

The bottom of the huge air ship slowly cracked open a huge gap, like the mouth of a big steel beast, hovering above the crowd, casting invisible rays to scan the entire square, Chu Yi subconsciously frown and resisted somewhat, after all, he restrained himself, but then frowned harder, his feet couldn't move.

"The scan is over."

The mans voice sounded again: "Residents who have not been selected, please work harder next time. The Federation will not forget your hard work, loyalty, and obedience. The selection of Planet 1392BV has been completed. Prepare for transfer to the Institute"

As soon as the voice fell, Chu Yi felt himself go light, and there was a magnetic attraction above his head that pulled him into the air with ease

He looked up and saw something like a sphere had dropped from the mouth of the ship, and one of the spheres had dropped on top of his head, a white beam of light projected down, enveloping him, leading him to the mouth of the starship.

Above the trash-filled square, there are other 99 beams of light, and under each sphere a person flew into the air. Not all of them were players and Chu Yi could spot the few NPC's from the excited and overjoyed looks in their eyes.

Chu Yi raised his eyelids and turned to look at the angelic snow-white ship moored in mid-air.

His expression was so focused, as if he couldn't put anything under his eyes except the light metal soleplate. No matter how white they painted the ship, the few spots of dried black blood still leaked out faintly from the white paint, the layer beneath so thick, it could never be covered. The amount of blood that was splashed onto this vessel was more than likely monstrous

The ground under his feet was getting farther and farther away, and the people thin faces of the people left on the square whether it carried despair or jealousy gradually blurred, and the piles of trash shrunk into nothing but mottled grey dots, the stench like an open sewer also gradually faded, fresh and clean compressed air is continuously released from the atmosphere above the galaxy to them, almost giving people the illusion of entering the promised land. The starship covering the grey sky above, was like a sun, bright and passionate, it opens the landing cabin like warm welcoming arms and the open steel mouth seems to symbolize the hope of a new life and quietly accepts the entry of its Chosen Ones. 

Except it wasn't the Promised Land and what awaited them was far more terrifying than anything they've ever known.

[Open transit point...]

[Calculating Coordinates....]

[Coordinates locked....]

[Begin Jumping...]

[Fixed Teleportation Point; Destination: The Institute]