Chapter 84 - Institute (25)

Chu Yi slowly wandered the suffocating, windowless halls of the building, the space itself was so narrow that the walls felt as if they were gradually encroaching on him- he felt as if a tight rope was wrapped around his throat, strangling him and forcing the air from his lungs! 

He didn't seem to have a destination in mind and instead walked aimlessly ahead, unlike the posture of someone who was venturing into known danger zones.

Da, Da, Da. 

His footsteps never stangnated, even as the sounds around him gradually extinguished, leaving only the mild thumping of his own struggling heartbeat echoing in his ears!

His chest heaved-

The air in his lungs seemed to be getting less and less as the oxygen around him dropped to alarming rates; he was slowly being suffocated to the death the farther he walked! 

There seemed to be a voice in the back of his head, whispering for him to 'stop, to take a break, to go back, there is no need to take so many risks-he can just be obedient and become like everyone else! '

Chu Yi gasped lightly, he could feel that if he continued to go further he would die!

The voices seemed to waiting in anticipation and the speed at which they tempted him increased at frightening rates, their offers becoming more ludicrous, the closer to death Chu Yi was!

But he didn't care! 

Chu Yi could feel glaring black spots clouding his vision and the awful sensation of his own heart slowly stop pumping, his fingers became ice-cold and he was slowly losing all feeling in his body!

'Go back!'

'Be obedient'

'Go back or else you'll die! 

Chu Yi felt the blood rising in his throat and his legs felt heavy as his stride slowed in death but his gaze never strayed from the front and his feet never stopped walking!

He was prepared for death!

Slowly he couldn't even breathe, only a tight lump garnering in his throat as his lungs collapsed in, his vision gradually turned black and everything around him blurred in his last moments!

Then all the voices suddenly cresended into one powerful shout,

"Stay!"

Gasp-

Chu Yi felt as if he was narrowly dragged back from death, oxygen gradually bleeding back into the atmosphere, his mouth greedily inhaling the fresh air that was deprived of him.

Chu Yi exhaled the expired breath softly and chuckled under his breath,

Clenching his stiff fingers and rotating his wrist gently with a smile, even after such a horrifying ordeal, Chu Yi was left with nothing but happiness.

The feeling of dying ignited all the primal urges in his body and left him feeling as if his heart was set on fire, 

Wow,

He shook his head to get rid of the sense of disorientation and finally lifted his head to see where he had been transported while in a willpower fueled state.

This was a long and winding corridor.

The narrow and gloomy passage was dark and hidden away from plain sight. Every few meters, a large blank frame was installed on the walls in an offsetting and disturbing manner. It had no portrait nor was it a painting, the frames itself were just flat blank sheets hung up on the walls as if they were ghost paintings- They used the flesh and blood of their victims to paint their white canvas red.

Even the distance between each frame was precisely measured and it seemed like no matter how much he ran, he would never be able to escape them.

The frames would flutter slightly wherever he passed by and although they were blank, Chu Yi still felt the uncanny feeling of being watched by countless greedy eyes, waiting for him to fall into the abyss to devour his flesh and bones.

Tch-

He walked slowly and almost leisurely down the deathly still corridor, only to realize that this was not an endlessly straight aisle, and after turning the corner, he was immediately faced with a large and complex door.

The door knobs were carved in the likeness of angel heads and the doors were bulging like wooden sarcomas in some places.

This was obviously water damage.

The bottom of the door seemed to have been previously chipped away with an axe and he could still vaguely see the cracked slabs of mahogany from inside the room.

He didn't have to look any longer, this was undoubtedly the Chairman's Office as no under room in this building has been so immaculately built.

Although damaged and in disrepair, this room was still grandiose and evidently meant for an important figure maybe even directly in charge of the Institute.

He didn't hesitate for long and without much effort, he pushed the door to the Chairman's Office open to reveal the contents inside! 

Surprisingly, he wasn't immediately assaulted with the revolting stench of dead bodies nor was he suddenly attacked by raging monsters that came lounging towards him-

The structure inside the office was far more complicated than their wards.

Everything retains a classic sense from the last century, but this semi-underground room is built far away from any sunlight, and there was a humid and decadent atmosphere in the air, like a huge spiders web, trapping and suffocating all the unfortunate prey that ventured inside.The dark red pattern on the beige wallpaper all around the room was like dried blood stains, almost as if sacrifice and death had been carried out in this dusty room for many years,

Here is magnificent and gorgeous, with a huge and brilliant candle-lit chandelier hanging from the ceiling and all around are fascinating and charming wares, a large bookshelf and desk occupying the center stage of the room.

The first thing he was attracted to were the hundreds of painting stacked on every crevice on the wall to the right, they were flustered with a sense of disharmony that wasn't in compliance with the ambience of the room.

These paintings were of the religious archetype and ranged from paintings of angels to cathedrals with some even illustrating a carnival of sorts where the entire congregation knelt in devoutness at the alter of some sort of divine god. 

However because there was not enough light, these gorgeous and exquisite religious murals seem to lose their divinity. The faces of those angels and gods standing above the clouds gazing at the people, were distorted and deformed and together with those dogmas that tame the common people, they flowed into the silence and darkness with cruelty and filthy corruption!

Staring at the paintings on the wall intently, the eyes of the person in one of the painting seemed to be staring at him intently, although there was a devout expression on its face, Chu Yi seemed to hear screams of agony echoing vaguely in another time and space,

Sweeping pass the paintings on the right, Chu Yi finally locked eyes with the biggest item in the room.

The entire left side of the room had been carved to create a large underground pool.

Large enough to hold a mermaid.

Although it wasn't much to look at now, whereas the pool was murky and polluted with algae and bacteria, he could envision a time where whoever had been sitting at the desk would work under the soft mirrored reflection of the flickering chandelier candles against the clear blue waters,

After a while they would glance up occasionally from work and shift their gazes over to the the huge pond set to the left and see a gleaming greyish-purple fish tail under the bright light flash past with a powerful splash,

The moist water vapor filling the air, condensing into an almost psychedelic atmosphere that would ease the mind and relax the soul.

Chu Yi moved his mind away from the pond and approached the desk in the center, 

Almost immediately he noticed and picked up the old metal card discarded on the side of the desk, and read in glaring white text ' File Room.'

It seemed like an acess card of sorts.

He flipped the card a few times but after seeing nothing else of use, just slipped it inside his pocket, and continued through rummaging the rest of the drawers, eventually he was left with only a pair of rusty lock keys and a small broken valve,

Ting-

Suddenly, he heard a small clanging noise like colliding glass coming from underneath the desk, With some doubts he bent down and looked under the low cabinet.

He didn't find any important clues but he did see a small metal box lodged underneath the seat with a small key stuck inside the lock,

Pulling it out with one hand and twisting the lock, Chu Yi couldn't help but raise a brow in mild suprise at his findings.

Liquor.

Unopened and unsealed.

He grinned a light lilt filled with excitement; a budding idea slowly forming in his head, 

He would have to keep these in mind, they would prove useful later.

He then closed the box and turned back to the important things at hand, these findings were far less than the preliminary estimate he had calculated,

There's something missing.

He observed the room once more and this time finally stopped on the mounting bookshelf on the side of the room.

The Institute, with reference to the artificial merman, definitely had extensive interest in the mythical creatures of the past. Going by that line of thinking, then he had to find a book on Greek mythology.

Thankfully, the method of book organization hadn't been changed in this Interstellar copy and he quickly found what he was looking for,

The Scylla and Charybdls, Chimera, Minatour, Medusa, Centaur, Dragon and the Siren.

Chu Yi's eyes were uncontrollably attracted to the last creature and he couldn't help but quickly skim through its content.

Siren.

Although its form is similar to the mermaid in a sense, the nature of the two are completely different and especially showcases during hunting.

As a kind of creature built from Greek mythology, the Siren is not only rumored to have naturally divine singing voices but also a miraculous beauty.

They are cruel and violent by nature.

They will use their voices to lure sailors passing by on ships, causing them to hit the rocks and sink, and then feed on the overboard people. First dragging them deep under the water in order to drown them, then ripping their flesh fom their bones and cracking open their skull to feast on their brains.

Some sirens are even known to play with their prey before eating them, they would repeatedly drag them under the water, then bring them back up for air until they're bored and their victims are too weak to struggle and only then will they feast on them savagely.

Wherever there are sirens, the sea bed is bound to be filled with bones from their victim

In summary, Sirens were deceptive monster. They are cruel by nature, feeds on people, uses their beauty to confuse the lustful sailors and lure them into the deep ocean, just to satisfy their endless desires before devouring them without mercy after shedding their harmless mask.

Quite unlike him.

Chu Yi glanced thoughtfully at the red lines on his arms before going back to the text, underneath his fingertips, he had sensitively noticed a small bulge in the seam of the book while reading.

It was hardly traceable but nevertheless Chu Yi noticed and without a word, he pulled put his natal weapon and cut a small slit on the side of the book.

Sure enough, there was something hidden inside,

It was a small black hard drive, somewhat similar to the one that had carried the experimental report log by R89.

It seems they would have to make a trip back to the Operation Room,

Curiously, Chu Yi noticed a small hand writing on the drive and when he pulled it closer to take a look, his face couldn't help but blank at the words, 

[Experiment #5005: Mating Log/ 2356IS]