Chapter 89 - The Institute (30)

"...."

"What kind of forbidden plot twist is this?"

Chao Bin looked at the black screen with incredulousness, why had a normal animal mating documentary suddenly turned itself into a bloody horror show....

He looked around in mild disbelief, and they could hear him muttering under his breath,

"The mermaid was so beautiful too–"

"...."

Tang Shun, on the other hand, subconsciously turned his head towards the quiet Chu Yi and immediately noticed him staring at the finished video intently, a somewhat complicated expression settling on his face.

The heavy force field surrounding him had naturally abated, and the tense lines along his body had relaxed at some point in time– strange.

He turned back to Chao Bin, the boy still seemed stunned by what he had just witnessed, 

"What should we do with this information now?"

The air sunk into a kind of embarrassed silence–no one seemed to have an answer for this,

"...?"

"Cough––"

Chao Bin, seeing as no one was going to reply; was the one who broke the tension, 

"Naturally, since we've already seen the video, the best course of action now is to go to the file room. Maybe we can find something that will give us acess to the hidden door in the confinement room."

Chu Yi, who had already reconciled with himself, seemed to have been reminded of something along with this statement and regardless of his previous explosive mindset spoke up quite calmly,

"There's something off about this copy."

Chao Bin shook away the useless thoughts circulating his mind and quickly turned his attention to Chu Yi, 

"Have you noticed that as long as we think about going to a specific place in the Institute, we'll eventually find it, regardless of whether we have a general direction or not– It's seems to me as if we're almost being guided"

Tang Shun instantly frowned and nodded in quick understanding, before this they had also doubted the simplicity of finding such important place like Confinement. Although it didn't signal less danger but it was still a disparity displayed by the copy.

But Chao Bin also had his doubts–was it really important, maybe it was just a leeway given by the system...

Chu Yi noticed it–

"It's not a simple case of a blind cat meeting a dead mouse and neither is it an isolated incident between us. In other copies maybe this would not prove to be much of a conundrum, but this is an Interstellar world that specializes in interdimensional travel not to mention we are in a highly classified Insistitute that is directly monitored by the Federation. Dimensions, planes and space itself are obviously not foreign concepts."

Chao Bin was abruptly shaken awake– yes, although the state of the environment hinted towards a more Victorian classification, this was still an Interstellar copy. The people, the multitude planets and galaxies and the methods used by civilization were all integrated with space and although they have not been directly exposed to it considering they materialized on the isolated, abandoned planets, it still didn't dismiss the fact that the entire world belonged to a technological era. 

Not taking account of this factor would definitely lead to major errors in their analysis and calculations that would probably be too late to rectify after all their plans has begun being carrying out–

He had subconsciously ignored all of this, it was fortunated that he was reminded of it before he did anything that would prove irreversible! 

Chao Bin shivered slightly at the thought of what could have happened, maybe such a situation had even been deliberately fostered by the system to directly force them to death–

Tamg Shun glanced at Chao Bin's white face and continued to analyze from Chu Yi's observation, 

"Going by what you're saying, it's like different dimensions are constantly being added to our current dimension the more we explore, almost like the copy is expanding the more we find out the secrets here."

Chao Bin noticed that Tang Shun always seemed to be able to catch up to the speed of Chu Yi's thoughts jumping and even make his own similar analysis– briefly he couldn't help but wonder what kind of jobs they had in real life....

Chu Yi didn't know what kind of dangerous thoughts Chao Bin was having at the moment and he continued to speak with his hands lightly tapping against his leg, "Exactly. For example we are in this dimension now but when I think about going to the Chairman's Office, then the dimension that contains the Chairmans office would then be attached to this dimension, the barriers between planes are broken down to become one whole, and only then would we be allowed access to that plane."

"Without discovering the clues and having the thought to go to the Chairman's Office, then no matter how hard we search, that plane will still be a seperate dimension. For now there's seems to be only these two ways for unlocking a dimension, find a clue that is in our current dimension or have the thought generated to go to that plane."

"Maybe the first group of players at the Chairman's Office directly met one of those criteria but were unfortunately unable to further their exploration– Leaving behind only one of them to be dragged to the Confinement Room to be tortured."

"This also shows that although we are not privy to these seperate dimensions, they are still interconnected."

"And what if we don't find any clues...?"

"Then we'll stay here forever."

The Instance gave them a limited time of one month to survive and find out the mastermind behind the Institute. But if the players survive but don't figure out the secrets, then the only thing left for them to face is either death by organ failure, torn to shreds by monsters or a complete transformation to beasts, whether they could even leave the copy then would be up for debate.

Therefore, the players must never just opt for one option, although the system seemed to give them a choice, if the players decided to just survive then the end results would definitely not be pretty.

There was something else Chu Yi did not say,

New ideas and planes were being generated every second– almost like an infinite dream,

And dreams only end when the dreamer wakes up.

"Hmm–"

Chu Yi, who had been talking normally suddenly swayed on his feet and staggered back a few steps,

The adrenaline that came with life-threatening situations wore off without warning and he could feel the overdue discomfort and soreness carried by bloodloss and overexertion flooding his nerve endings, 

The uncomfortable feeling of exhaustion made him grunt lightly, although his bodies healing capabilities had been enhanced during this time, the repeated fights and blood loss still took a harsh toll on his body,

Tang Shun and Chao Bin immediately noticed the sudden change in demeanor and without much thought, they both reached out and steadied his frame,

"Let's take a rest in the dining hall, it's soon time to dish out the antidote again."

Chu Yi didn't have any opinion on this and with the help of the others, he limped back into the dining room.

However the minute they stepped through the threshold of the restaurant, all three of them were confused to feel sudden hostile gazes shooting at them from all directions! 

It was only then that they were reminded of the words Mu Fang had spoke before leaving, 

"..."

The noises in the room ceased the movement they walked in, the players of the other colours stared at them as if looking at timed bombs, hostility and fear all mixed into one–

This situation was worse than they had anticipated and it seemed the divide between players had been strengthened by the various known factors, 

This was not good.

Nevertheless, regardless of the tension weighing the room, the trio still endured the gazes and found a random seat in the hall to rest,

It was only after they had settled, did the noise start up again, but evidently from the glances that were occasionally made in their direction made it obvious that they had now become the objects of speculation. Chao Bin recognized one of the glares as the man who nearly been choked to death by Chu Yi.

When the man locked gazes with him, he sneered at him with contempt before shifting his gaze away as if he couldn't be bothered to look at the soon to be dead people.

When the other players trickled in, the general situation of the players could be seen at a glance.

The remaining aboringes, although not a lot were left– was scattered around the hall with the same dull and expressionless faces, no one spared them a glance and it seemed no one ever would.

Chu Yi took note of this.

The players that were classified as red were naturally secluded to the side and a faint air of exclusion radiated in the room, the players below that colour were still divided but they seemed more united against the common enemy.

Them.

Amongst same groups, players with unhealed injuries and disabilities were pushed to side and seemed isolated even amongst their own allies.

This was natural however, the other players couldn't even guarantee their own lives, who would want to pick up an extra burden that would provide them with no reward and might even end up with them losing their life–

Chao Bin seemed a bit disgruntled by the others and was grumbling about their stupidity under his breath, he even cursed at the two-faced Mu Fang who quickly switched alliances as soon as it benefited him, 

Chu Yi who heard, also noticed that Mu Fang was now sitting amongst the group of yellow players and he noticed would occasionally look up to survey the room with a deliberate face of sympathy and good- intentions.

Chu Yi, however didn't believe this facade for one second, this was a narcissistic and hyprocrital man that would sacrifice anyone in exchange for his own goals.

He had seen those types many times before–his eyes darkened and he slowly ran his tongue across his bruised and red lips– at least half of those bastards had died at his hands.

Chu Yi turned his gaze away from the sight and accepted the water offered by Tang Shun, this was taken directly from the system space.

Although they were restricted to buying props from the tower only in black city and could only rely on previously purchased equipment to survive, basic necessities were available for all players after the first two copies and could be bought during the Instance.

Altough the necessities only included: bandages, painkillers, compressed biscuits and water which the black hearted system sold at double the price.

The water soothed his dry throat and gave him enough strength to think about their next course of action,

The file room was a must and after that was the hidden hatch in the confinement room, however they needed to ensure that they stayed one step ahead of the others. Fear bred hostility and hostility bred murderous hearts.

If they wanted to secure their survivability, taking the lead in exploration was a must, Chu Yi's eyes glinted strangely– If not, he didn't mind sending a few to their early deaths.

No one here would feel guilty for killing, the law of the jungle wouldn't allow for any compassion here in this danger ridden world.

As he pondered to himself, all around him the players suddenly fell into a mute silence and lifting his head to see, 

He realized that the familiar nurses had once again made their entrance, however not only him but Tang Shun and Chao Bin quickly spotted the enigma in the players of the lower colours reactions.

This wasn't a face of fear, these were faces of relief and anticipation! 

When the nurses started distributing the pills, the players had long discarded their previous reluctance and suspicion, and instead they hastily swallowed the pills the moment they were handed to them, some even directly ignored the water handed to them and acted as if they were racing against time. 

Some even had faint expressions of greed when they looked at the nurses walking away to the next person.

The only regular reactions were the players in the red camp and they looked at the others with bewildered gazes,

Chu Yi instantly thought of something and his gaze directly met Mu Fang who was already staring in their direction, they weren't the only ones that had been to the Operating Room that night, therefore Mu Fang definitely had an idea what those pills functioned as,

And he had told this news to the players!