Chapter 92 - The Institute (33)

Weeks passed,

They were now trapped in the middle of the month and the progress of alienation was finally showing more obvious signs between the players, 

Among the three, Tang Shun's skin had peeled off in multiple layers from several areas on his body. Beneath it, the extremely pale new skin was not only hard, but also had a touch akin to the scales of a cold reptilian, a slight brush would leave inexplicable goosebumps along the skin.

The progress of the instance had stagnated over the past few days but the tension between players had only grown thicker, the red team had now undeniably become like filthy sewer rats in a ditch, unwanted and feared as they were unilaterally stamped with the brand of monster's.

This was understandable because they had now moved from the realm of human understanding and ventured into the unknown, dangerous and uncontrollable, there was only a thin paper window that kept the anxiousness and tension from breaking out into riots.

Chu Yi looked around at the situation in the dining room and turned back to Chao Bin and Tang Shun,

"It's too peaceful."

This was almost the third day of inaction, there was no further clues, no sudden deaths, it was the kind of tranquility that only existed in the eye of the storm.

But this is only temporary, something was bound to happen that would push the players further off the edge.

Tang Shun's eyes deepened unnaturally as he stared at the most eye catching group in the room, Mu Fang's group had become the unofficial leaders once again, and he stood amongst the players with an almost savior like look, if you changed him into a white robe and placed a holy book into his hand, there would honestly be no difference between him and a pope...

The yellow group seemed to be in the safest range, neither on the verge of death nor alienation and were therefore the superior class.

Although the red group seemed to be the most marginalized, in fact the most dangerous group was the pink group,

They were more in the danger of collapsing at any minute than anyone else, once their cells stopped being able to fight against the antibodies then they would immediately mutate into failed monsters that had nothing but plunder and destruction in their minds–

Although the red group were also alienating, this was in fact a more thorough and gradual process as their cells were more accepting of the antibodies, and would gradually integrate with them to become something unknown but still in its true form rather than a distorted monster.

However the more immediate problem was ignored in favor of ostracizing what seemed to be the most favorable group amongst the players.

Tick–

Both Chu Yi and Tang Shun suddenly lifted their heads and swiveled to the back of the room,

Most of the players also seemed to notice something and the dining hall returned to a pindrop silence,

"....."

A sudden rancid smell washed over the room, like a refrigerator filled with spoiled and maggot infested meat that was suddenly opened after a month of power outage in summer,

The players stood up hastily, most of them making for the door, let someone else deal with it, 

Crack– Crack–

The sound of the bones cracking made their teeth itch, and goosebumps spread like wildfire across their skin–

By this time most of the players knew what was happening...

"Chii!–"

"Screee!––"

Mu Fang instantly frowned, there were more than one!

One of the players expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, the muscles on his arms bulging like water-filled balloons, and his whole body was surrounded by a fierce sense of strength. He rushed toward the players like a cheetah hunting–

His eyes were completely scarlet with blood and from his gaping mouth he let out a crisp howl to the ceiling! 

"Chiii–"

Like a big invisible hand pulling up a sluice, the other mutant raised its heads, and let out sharp scream, in cascade, the overwhelming sound waves shook their eardrums–

It felt like a sharp cone scraping against their skulls, smashing their brains to a bloody pulp and some players even felt bright blood dripping from the punctured walls in their ears, the players were instantly sent into a disoriented confusion!

This was an unexpected sound attack–

The other monster was even more grotesque and deformed, even seeming to have lost all human form and resembled more like a big mutated baboon that anything else–

The three-meter-high figure resembled a giant sculpture, with its mouth split to the base of its ears and a sharp roar resounding from its throat. It seemed to penetrate through the building and cracking rocks, resounding through to the sky.

Chu Yi pressed his ears, his face slightly displeased, he could feel his head throbbing pain and the voice in his head once again reared it's ugly head.

It only seemed to appear whenever his emotions fluctuated, when his mind was most susceptible to anger,

The surroundings were suddenly quiet, even the breathing of the players seemed to be muted. The monster drooled and tickled, three black tongues entangled and danced in its mouth, and suddenly flew towards Chu Yi–

Boom– Boom– Boom–

The monsters thunderous feet made resounding booms as it charged across the room!

It seemed to have an inexplicable resentment towards him and fiercely ran on all four legs like a hungry beast, claws outstretched to tear Chu Yi's head from his body in a putrid rain of flesh and guts–

The monster barreled down like a high speed freight train, there was no other being in sight other than Chu Yi who was standing near to the door, 

Most of the remaining players thought he would try escape, although he had killed the last monster, it wasn't nearly as strong as this one now but Chu Yi stood there motionless with his hand to his ears as if he was trying to suppress something,

Was he so confident in his strength?!

"Chii!––"

The monster didnt give them time to think, it was upon him in the blink of an eye and it's fanged maws seem to rise with a cruel smile,

He couldn't escape even if he wanted to now–

It's claws stretched out towards him ready to rip him to bloody shreds,

He moved–

In an act of what seemed to be suicide, Chu Yi suddenly lifted his arm to greet the oncoming monster's claws, as if he wanted to stop the mutant with pure force!

Chu Yi's arm was like a pale twig in front of the bulging black arms like heavy ton steel, it seemed to be able to break with just a light scratch from the monster–

Some players couldn't help but look away, they seemed to envision the scene of every bone in his body breaking, sending blood and guts flying across the room in a guttural show of carnage!

Boom–

It was the sound of flesh hitting the wall and subconsciously the players looked up expecting to see the sight of Chu Yi lying in his own fetid flesh...

Huh?

They couldn't help but do a double take, 

Chu Yi was fine, still standing there with all his limbs intact but the monster....

The monster had somehow been flung into the wall and was now utterly decimated, its body seemed to have been folded from the force and bloody cracks spread from its limp arms to all parts of its body, a black hole had been punched into its chest and vaguely they could see its still beating heart from beneath the cracked ribs,

The monster tried to struggle and remove itself from the wall but only weak roars appeared from its throat–

Mu Fang on the sidelines furrowed his brows, was Chu Yi so powerful before...

He didn't want to act but it seems that he would be forced to.

Before they could relax they remembered that there was still a second monster,

The fight between Chu Yi and the other monster had only lasted a few seconds but now the other monster was already nearing the group of players!

The players quickly looked towards its direction but were stunned to see that in the time that it took for them to turn their heads, the mutant monster had grown strange!

This was no longer a person, this thing resembled a spider, it crawled on the walls of the empty dining hall with skittering legs, it's skin was black and shiny like a snake, the light in his eyes glowed with a faint red glow, and its back was covered with hundreds of tiny black slender arms. He was using these densely packed arms to climb over like lightning!

"Chii––"

Another sound attack!

The painful throbbing in their skulls grew louder and purple views bulged at their temples from the force–

Closer and closer, Chu Yi saw that the mutant seemed to be bulging with purplish red sarcomas, whenever it moved another slender arm would burst from its back with a pus filled pop,

Originally, a splintered sharp mouth emerged from the position of his stomach. The sharp teeth squeezed together like a disgusting comb!

Chu Yu held the Irius, the name he had given to his natal weapon, motionless, staring quietly at the terrifying monster that swooped in–

The moment he was about to release the knife and fling like a javelin to lodge it into its throat, a sudden silver light flashed in his line of sight, like a silver firework flying and blooming, gorgeous and holy. 

Mu Fang appeared from out of nowhere with a dignified and resilient stance,

"I won't allow anyone to be hurt by those things, regardless of their color. Those beings are not human anymore and as such they should be treated like what they are. Monsters!–"

As he spoke he pulled out a stack of glowing silver knives in his hand, spinning the handles in one hand, he suddenly threw them out, followed by a silver light flickering by like a galloping meteor, they flew towards the monster and lodged into its gaping mouth with a spurt of pus filled blood!

"Chii––!!!"

More knifes flew in a deadly formation and sliced into the monsters flailing limbs– 

With a scream, the mutant's black arms burst like overipe fruit, accompanied by a stomach churning popping sound, red fruit pulp made from foul black blood flowed all over the sky, one after another falling to the ground, still twitching as if it was alive!

The pain prompted the mutant to climb faster, and a thick web shot from the mouth on its abdomen,

Sticky and wet with mucus, 

Mu Fang dodged the web hastily, waving the knife in his hands to cut off more of its arm but the burning pain only made the creature angrier and with another painful screech it lunged at Mu Fang, disregarding all consequences!

This was looking to die together–

Suddenly Mu Fang dodged damgerously to the left, revealing a figure standing right behind him, without regard putting them straight into the path of the upcoming monster!

Unintentionally or Intentionally, Mu Fang had been dodging in the direction of Chu Yi, gradually inching closer even while his mouth spit words of righteousness and justice–

Chu Yi didn't seem fazed,

He dexterously changed to holding Irius with one hand, his eyes calm as a stagnant pool of water. Just a moment away from death, Chu Yi suddenly grasped the thick sticky web that was spit towards him, leaping up into the air with force, his astonishing waist strength drew an amazing arc in the flying silver light, and the blade directly cut towards the mutant's only remaining black arm!

Time seemed to freeze, 

Bang–

"Chiii––"

The mutant monster that had lost all its limbs fell to the ground heavily, black pus spilled from his back with a rotten and wretched odor, the bloated body was still wriggling on the ground like a worm, still struggling to pounce forward!

Chu Yi knelt, 

The sword glinted–

Then with one last plunge, there was a sickening crack as Chu Yi's knife lodged into the creatures skull, completely severing its nerves and smashing its brain to mush.

"Chii––"

The creature let out one last dying howl and then ceased to exist.

Chu Yi's chest heaved heavily and he slowly stood up from the dead monsters corpse, shaking the rotten blood from his blade with disgust.

He went to wipe his forehead with his hands but paused when he saw that some of the thing's blood had gotten onto his hands, 

He frowned, cursing under his breath, even the excitement of the kill dissipating slightly, then he remembered something, 

The rotten smell in the air was pungent, and Chu Yi walked towards the mutated baboon thing who had fallen from the stone wall and was now lying limp on the ground.

He couldn't see the players original appearance.

The facial features had expanded like a water balloon,

The swollen eyes were raised unnaturally and squeezed onto it's forehead, and the nose was deeply sunken into it's face,

It wasn't dead, the mouth that was originally choking with black blood was already screaming, faint sound in its throat,

Chu Yu bent down and stared at the terrifying and distorted face, he didn't want to waste any more time and with a short stab, he shot the knife accurately and sharply–

The knife aimed at the heart plunged in, under the pressure of the artery, the blood spurted like a gushing fountain, and he twisted the blade for good measure, 

Finally dead.

The blood of the mutant was not normal and resembled more of a thick liquid like condensed old plasma. When mixed together, with pus and rotten flesh, it smells terrible, just like a person who eats meat constantly but never brushes their teeth, opening their mouth and breathing hard at others.

Before he could leave, he noticed something in the clenched fist of the mutant creature and with a raised brow, he used his blade to pry it out.

A letter...

He read the heading, 

From the Federation: To Head Researcher BV17.

The storm had begun once again.