Chapter 62 - The Institute (3)

[Coordinates Locked]

[Fixed Destination; The Institute -34SP(Star Point) and +48GR(Galaxy Rotation]

[Hatch Opening...]

[Preparing for Landing]

|All Passengers make their way to the Landing Hatch!|

|All Passengers make their way to the Landing Hatch!|

"What happened....."

"I didn't think I'd be able to sleep."

"Don't worry about that, get to the landing hatch!"

There was a brief moment of commotion as the people in the cabins, slowly woke up from a drug-addled sleep, they weren't given any time to ponder however as a loud, flashing alarm blared throughout the entire ship, startling the waking passengers. The players exchanged solemn looks; with grim faces, they followed the stream of people hurrying out of the cabins to the hatch.

There were rows of uniformed guards that stood at the entrance of the hatch that directed each resident to a different numbered line, the formation oddly reminded them of prisoners being transferred to a prison, and the scene that they saw when the hatch finally opened greatly reinforced that idea.

The Institute didn't look like the fantasy land in the minds of the aboringes, it was a large, steeled building surrounded by miles of barbed fence, with a tall watch tower in the middle of the yard. The entire place looked monotone and gloomy and gave people a sense of cold depression, the occasional sight of armed patrols flashing by in the corner of their eyes, made the expectant aboringes fall into a brief lull.

"Move!" 

The guards didn't wait for them to walk out of the ship before completely tearing faces, with a mocking sneer, they shoved the line of shocked passengers out into hell! Vaguely as Chu Yi walked by, he seemed to hear one guard ask about a man named Fang Wu, the other guard only shook his head in wonder but didn't seem to care, neither did Chu Yi's face change, but briefly as he passed, there seemed to a faint metallic glint that rebounded off the dim sunlight, but as quickly as it came it disappeared as if nothing but a mirage of the sun.

While the aboringes were filled with shocked trepidation, the players had long observed the environment of the Institute. Not to mention that there are no windows in the halls, even the corridors and stairwells inside have no windows. Only simple ventilation equipment were installed on the ceiling. 

Not long after entering the building, they were transferred over to a group of nurses, with cold, alienated gazes, its not like looking at a person, they looked at them like a white rats in a laboratory; They wore slightly yellowed white nurse uniforms and after exchanging words with the guards, the looks on their face took on an even crueler tint.

The Head Nurse was the first to speak, "We have some simple rules here at the Institute, "

[1. Don't leave you rooms at night, if you are caught by the patrolling nurses, you will be severely punished.]

[2. Everyday at 11, medicine is issued, then afterwards lunch and dinner is served in the restaurant upstairs.]

[3. Never trespass into the basement floor.]

[4. You must be obedient residents.]

Someone abruptly interrupted the nurses speech, the voice was lazy and yet it had a tone that couldn't be ignored, Surprisingly, it wasn't Chu Yi, nor was it Tang Shun, but it was a young boy inconspicuously hidden among the crowd. As soon as he spoke, he attracted the most attention. 

"Heh- 'Don't you claim for this to be the Holy Land, why does it seem more like an Abandoned dump to me."

The brown haired teen, walked to the front slowly, a playful smile showing behind the gap between his long hair, he was handsome but was obviously young and a newbie . The other players shook their heads slightly, some had pity and some seemed to mock his naivety but no one stepped out to help. Only newbies would have the courage to question a key NPC like this.

The Head Nurse gave the boy a deep stare, as if assessing his worth, 

"All residents that come to the Institute are given an opportunity to become better. Whether you can survive is up to you."

The boy laughed mockingly, "What a great opportunity this is."

The Head Nurse ignored him this time,

"For now that's all you need to know, on your ID card is the floor and number of your room. It is now an hour till sunset and you must be in your rooms by then, because the doors automatically lock. You do not want to be caught outside after sundown."

After leaving behind the eerie warning, the nurse didn't care about them anymore, and without waiting for a response, she turned and beckoned the other nurses behind her to follow and walked deeper downstairs, eventually disappearing behind a wall.

After she left whether unconsciously or consciously, the players and even the NPC's seem to avoid the area where the boy was standing, he didn't seem to care however and after throwing a sneer in the direction of the nurse, he turned and disappeared up the stairs.

Tang Shun appeared beside Chu Yi like a ghost, after pushing up the silver glasses on his face, he gave Chu Yi, a deep, meaningful look.

"Did you discover anything?" Tang Shun didn't specify, but his tone was more like a statement rather than a question,

Chu Yi only chuckled, "Guess." Neither denying nor accepting, he shook his head faintly at Tang Shun and stalked off to find his room.

Glancing at the arrogant leaving back of Chu Yi, Tang Shun merely smiled before hurrying to catch up with his footsteps. They were in the same room after all.

Originally a single ward was narrow and cramped enough, even if the whole floor was covered with bedding, it would only be the size of two or three beds. But standing before the door of the ward, there were five people, two of whom were familiar Jun Bi and Yan Gan and the other one introduced himself as Gu Ren ,nevertheless it seemed that they were all expected to squeeze into this small ward to sleep for one month, which was really choking. Among the group, there was one NPC,

"It's just a nightmare ... " he mumbled to himself as he sat on the ground and remained stupefied for a long time. The remaining players only glanced at him briefly, before looking around the ward. The scarce furniture in the room appeared extremely old.

The beds were in the style of an old-fashioned, hospital type mattress, covered with white sheets, with rusty, iron rails fixated inti the edges. The sheets looked they had not been washed for a long time and Chu Yi could even spot splotches of dark brown that peppered the sheets, which was most definitely dried blood .

Inside the room, the beds were densely packed and arranged on both the left and right sides, and the space in the middle was so narrow that only one person could pass through at a time. Such a dense arrangement caused people to feel suffocated. This was a room with white walls on alI sides, no windows, and even the interior decoration was only a handful. 

It resembled the room of a mental patient.

There was another thing that Chu Yi noticed, was there were too many mirrors in the room. If the mirror in the toilet and the hanging mirror on the wall were counted as normal, then the countless smaller mirrors that smattered across the room was entirely unnecessary . On almost every surface and even on the ground, one could see mirrors of all sizes. There were also some glass and mirror fragments on the floor, that had never been cleaned up, and some shards were even stained with blood.

Suddenly Tang Shun spoke up,

"Quiet for a second- Do you hear that?"

It was only when all the shuffling had stopped, did the players noticed the clear sound of water running from the bathroom.

No one, had gone into the bathroom from the beginning, so why was the water running.

Tang Shun and Chu Yi looked at each other before looking at the players, who had naturally heard the sound of water running in the toilet. He glanced at Tang Shun and whispered, "Go and take a look."

The bathroom door opened with a squeak, inside was so dark that they couldn't even see where the water was coming from. Even if there was light from the opened door, it was still difficult to illuminate the deep darkness at the corner of the room. They could only vaguely make out a sink and a rusty toilet.

Click-

The sudden bright yellow light made the players squint, that was when they noticed the liquid underneath them.

"There's blood everywhere." Chu Yi who had turned on the switch, stepped into the pool of bloody water, it could be seen that the blood had yet to completely dry up from its source. A lot of blood splashed on the bottom of Chu Yi's pants when he stepped in it, and the air was also filled with a strong metallic smell of fresh blood. Chu Yi looked to the front, following the large patches of blood, and found that the blood was flowing from the bath tub, but water was flowing from everywhere. As if someone had been trying to hide something.

After Tang Shun entered the carriage, followed by the rest, he naturally saw the blood on the ground and heard the sound of water running in the bath tub. The sound of the water had not stopped since they entered, it splashed and was almost ankle deep, however none of the water contaminated with blood seeped out from the bathroom. If it wasn't for Tang Shun's inhumane hearing, they wouldn't have noticed until someone entered into the bathroom some time later.

This bizarre situation made the players feel their hearts palpitate, but they couldn't stay where they were now. The players could only head into the bathroom one after another. They found that the faucet of the wash basin in the bathroom was not turned off, but the sink wasn't the source, instead the water that filled the bath tub was bright red. In the pool of water, a black thing could be obviously seen floating, evidently the source of contamination.

Tang Shun inched closer to take a look and stated firmly, "That's a dead cat."

"Cat?" Chu Yi also looked into the bathroom.

"A black cat." Tang Shun was very bold. He reached into the pool of blood and took the dead cat out of the pool of water. It was a young cat. There were several cuts that looked like it had been done by a knife or a sharp object. The body was stiff, and it had been cut from the belly down. When it was carried out, its body was still bloody, its organs were obviously missing and its fur was tangled in a mottled mess. The bloody flesh had started to turn white, and it was a hair-raising sight. Only the heart and been left inside and even now, it dripped crimson red blood onto the floor. It had obviously been tortured severely before death.

Even as the players stepped back collectively in fright, Tang Shun didn't seem to be afraid and grabbed the dead cat by its neck. Although Chu Yi did not show any obvious expression he still consciously stayed away from it, he hated filth.

"It's disgusting, But why is it here" One of the players, Jun Bi asked with some fear,

Tang Shun shrugged,

"Maybe the people at the institute, just wat to scare us into obedience."

But even he, himself did not believe his own words, the system would never do something as pointless as that and this cat definitely had a purpose, they just hadn't gathered enough clues yet.

"Put it down, we'll dispose of it in the morning. Night is already upon us."

Upon Chu Yi's reminder, the players finally realized that the time had passed in a flash,

"I suggest that you guys go to sleep. I have a feeling that something is going to happen if we stay awak-" Tang Shun advised the rest of the players, the ever-present smile still hanging on his face.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of iron slamming into the floors reverberated throughout the entire building like loud gongs, abruptly cutting off Tang Shun's speech, even so he didn't seem too surprised. It was true what the nurse said. They were thoroughly locked in. The iron sheet that covered the doors were dark yellow with rust that seemed to be able to crumble with a touch, there was no lock on the door or even a door handle from the beginning. No window and iron railings on the bed. Guards, mysterious nurses and barbed fences for miles.

This was a prison that couldn't be escaped.