Chapter 86 - The Institute (27)

Splash-

Chu Yi sunk to the bottom of the pond like a heavy rock, the saline, salt water stung like sharp razors scraping thinly against his cornea, the water flooding his ears and nose as it immediately closed in on him like dark, watery prison,

The small speck of lights that had penetrated the depths as he sank, was quickly consumed by the darkness, a white static ringing harshly in his ears as body was slowly deprived of air,

"Haha-Oooooo----" 

The creatures had the same ugly wail as they flooded into the room from the smashed open door! 

Their faces looked to have been forcefully melted with hot wax, leaving nothing but distorted globs of fleshy skin sticking to their skull and hanging from their chins in a revolting and stomach churning manner, 

The humanoid creatures wore long, tattered gray robes splattered with browning blood and black viscera, wet with their own saliva that slid from the fleshy mouth hidden underneath the slabs of drooping skin on its face,

Chu Yi couldn't see anything beyond the watery prison but he could still vaguely hear them rustling and screaming angrily as they searched the entire room in desperation for their escaped prey, 

There was a heavy thump as the heavy desk was lifted and thrown to the side, the falling of books and the harsh screams of the creatures, 

Chu Yi could even faintly feel the earth vibrating beneath him, 

"Haha- Ooooooo---"

The monsters cried in high-pitched wails once more,

The noises outside got louder. The rustling sound had already spread throughout the entire room as they smashed and banged against the wall angrily, intermittent wails mixing with the filthy chanting, voice that asked for him to be obedient, 

"Haha—oooohhhh——"

Then it all stopped, 

The room sinking into a pin-drop silence.

The monsters seemed to have left after not finding anything, and even after a solid minute, there was still no more movement from the surface, anyone with a little less vigilance would have already swam up for air. The anxiousness from the gradually draining oxygen, the fear of the suffocating darkness around him and the relief that came with escaping death would inevitably dull their awareness and they would have hastily swum to the surface in order to catch their breath-

Perhaps it was because of the darkness heightened all his other senses, but even through the static created by the water, he could still faintly hear the abnormal sounds of movement. 

The monsters had never left.

They were just waiting for the relaxed prey to come swimming up the water catiously to breathe before pouncing on him and tearing the very flesh from his bones!

Intuition told him that they definitely knew he was down there but something was preventing them from entering the water and forcefully taking his life while he was trapped underneath-

This was a waiting game, they were waiting for him to be unable to hold on and be forced to surface and face the dangers outside!

"Screee–"

Then the voices came again, this time they sounded more anxious and even seemed to be getting closer and closer to the pond with every cry,

"Don't be afraid——"

"Be obedient——"

"We won't hurt you——"

"Be obedient!——"

The unearthly screeches seemed to penetrate the watery barrier and drill straight into his mind, he felt as if a heavy hammer was pounding against his skull and a suffocated breath was trapped in his chest, the voice that had been barely suppressed rose up again with gusto, in harmony with the screeches, it burrowed into his brain like a parasite and scattered his thoughts to nothingness!

Chu Yi felt as if he was nailed to a spinning board, everything around him distorted in chaotic roars that screamed at him to just give up!

"Be obedient!!——"

A sharp pain suddenly assaulted his heart and uncontrollably Chu Yi opened his mouth in shock,

Instantly, the filthy water flooded into his mouth and down his esophagus, instantly depriving him of whatever oxygen he still had left in his lungs, by now he was purely relying on the anaerobic cells in his body to squeeze out the nutrients needed to keep his heart going!

The voices on the other side seemed to become louder in excitement as if they could anticipate the moment he delivered himself to their clawed hands!

Chu Yi's eyes glowed red, much like a sinister ghost, in the pitch black waters, he waa suffocating but even on the verge of death their was no anxiousness or despair on his face, instead his eyes seemed to glow with a predatorial instinct,

The corner of his lips looked to raise with a smile and he stayed motionless regardless of his body crying out for life,

That was because he had realized that his lungs seemed to have undergone a subtle change!

He had been under the water for more than ten minute and despite the feeling of choking suffocation and his heart beating rapidly in his chest,

Chu Yi was suprised to notice that he wasn't in immediate danger of dying, 

The heavy pressure from the water weighed against him like a thick sheet of wool but the suffocated breath is his lungs seemed to be hanging on by some strange incidence and he could sense that he could last for another ten minutes underwater!

Chu Yi remembered the inexplicable scale that had appeared on his wrist, and when he shifted his head in the water, he could see below that the translucent scale had turned into a bright red that shone ominously in the shadowy depths,

It had definitely contributed to his increased lung capacity, 

Chu Yi turned his head back to the surface,

The creatures seemed to have stopped chanting and left for good this time. There was even a faint rustle as the creatures walked through the door and disappeared into the winding corridor,

It seemed that the coast was finally clear,

In most horror stories, the monsters would not repeat the same tricks more than two times, after the initial scare that either ended in death or not, it was ussually time for another scene and the monsters would slink away.

Anyone would believe that Chu Yi had really escaped death this time even after five minutes had passed, there was still no other movement from outside.

And yet, even when his thinking had started to go dull from the lack of air, he still did not surface—

His mind although trapped in a trance-like daze was quickly able to spot the disparity in the creatures actions,

Chu Yi distinctly remembered that when he had first spotted the monsters, there were four shadows that reflected outside the door but just now when the creatures seeminglyl left, there was only the sound of three cloths rubbing against the broken threshold.

Anyone else would have disregarded it as a fluke and believed that they had misheard but Chu Yi never underestimated the system-

He could feel a sore tightness in his lungs and even his limbs that felt like lead in the heavy depths seemed to gradually grow numb and detached as if they were not apart of him anymore,

There was a low throbbing in his skull and Chu Yi could feel his heartbeat slowing in his chest—

This was a telltale sign of drowning!

Eight minutes passed- time was running out, if he didn't surface now he would sooner have no strenght to do so and would die in this watery grave!

His body was screaming for air! 

He still didn't move—

Chu Yi seemed to be waiting for something!

His body was slowly dying, there was not much time! 

Splash—

It came,

Chu Yi subconsciously looked towards the surface. The water itself was completely taken over by swimming, dark green algae, it was dark and had built its own ecosystem, so regardless of whether it was inside or outside the water, it should pitch-black.

Therefore, when he looked up, he shouldn't have been able to see anything through the shadowy curtain of water,

And yet, a completely white pupil, suddenly appeared on the surface of the water, splitting the darkness and peeking through the crack to stare greedily at him. 

It could see him, no doubt, and it stared straight at him with depraved and filthy hunger, Chu Yi could tell that if it was given a chance, it would peel the skin from his muscles and extract the bones from his body, to feast delicately at his flesh! 

It wasn't the eye of a living human, or rather, it didn't look like the eye of a real person. 

This was a creature that had been formed with the human body as an archetype but had the filthiness and corruption that existed in all creatures that were mashed together and nurtured to become the ugliest and most revolting existence in the abyss!

The eye seemed to be seperated from the body and suspended above the water, the eye seemed to come with a strange sense of coercion and when it began chanting the same broken rhetoric, Chu Yi was suprised to feel his limbs moving against his will, 

Something inside his brain was forcing him to swim forward!

No matter how much he tried to suppress his movements, it seemed as if puppet strings had inserted into veins and regardless of how he struggled he could only obey the orders of the puppet master!

The voice on the outside became quicker and nore rushed in anticipation as it watched Chu Yi being slowly pulled towards his doom!

"Be obedient——"

It seemed that Chu Yi was heading for certain death this time!

No!

He wouldn't allow it!

Chu Yi's eyes immediately dilated into narrow slits and without hesitation, he summoned his sword and slammed it directly into the leg that was being pulled upwards!

Scarlet red blood instantly flowed! 

His eyes glinted with a fierce and heavy light!

He wouldn't accept such an inferior creature as his final resting place!

If he was going to die now, he would do it himself! 

As if he couldn't feel the pain Chu Yi continued to stab himself maniacally, blood kept flowing, painting the waters with blood, Chu Yi felt as if his entire body was being burned in blazing flames but regardless he never stopped, 

He even wanted to laugh!

A smile filled with madness crossed his face, even as his body slowly grew cold, the smile never faded, 

Like the alluringly decadent tale of the nightingale— a bird that would pierce itself onto the highest branch and sing it's most beautiful song in death, a bloody rose that would tear off all its thorns and snap its stem but would never lose its beauty!

That eye was currently looking at him.

The creature outside was currently looking at him.

The two eyes interlocked, Chu Yi's eyes filled with crazed defiance against the neverending hunger of the creatures, the atmosphere sank into a strange deadlock.

There was an invisible deadlock between the two of them and whoever broke first would lose in this terrifying game of death—

Who knows how long this deadlock lasted? Perhaps it lasted for a long time, or maybe it only lasted a few seconds, but just as Chu Yi felt himself dying, the creature's white eyes disappeared.

The water around him once again falling into infinite darkness.

It was over.

He had truly escaped death this time,

The feeling of his limbs being controlled disappeared and with a swing of his bloody legs, Chu Yi was propelled to the surface, 

He quickly emerged from the water and removed the hair sticking to his bloodless face with a cold hand,

Hugh—

Chu Yi gulped in oxygen greedily, his chest gasping heavily as his body rejoiced the feeling of inhaling air-

He could feel the surging madness in his heart dissipate and the feeling of sound once again resuscitating back into space,

Haha!

His laugh started out small, a low, hoarse chuckle but not before long, it grew louder until he had completely fallen into a fit of mad hysterics!

So fun! 

He loved this world!

Chatter—

Chu Yi looked down at his feet, with a grin, to see something fall from his pocket, 

Once he recognized it, the laughter in his throat immediately died down as the anger in his heart once again fired up,

He still hadn't seen the hard drive.