Chapter 104 - The Institute (45)

A group of people stood at the point of the stairwell on the first floor. The bottom of the landing was as dark as ever, and they couldn't see past the corridor at all, and even the stairs barely held an outline under the dim light.

Under their apprehensive gaze, the rusty iron plates, peeling walls, damp and moldy corners from leaking rain, seemed to be waving beckoningly and the group of players. The familiar saying of, "If you stare into the abyss, the abyss will stare back at you." seemed to be very appropriate for this situation. The entrance that led into the basement was only held up rusty red iron gate that stood tall against the backdrop of darkness.

Beyond the gate, on both sides of the corridor were rows of rooms that couldn't be seen to the end due to the obscuring shadows, the longer they stared the more terrifying the darknesss seemed to be, most of the rooms that were visible were either locked or completely plated with metal sheets, but there were a few rooms that uncannily had their doors wide open. As long as they wanted, they could go in and explore at their own behest.

But such a simple case instead completely set the players heart into over-drive, terror and hair-raising fright tingled at the end of their spines and some players resolved even wavered slightly in the face of such a haunting scene.

It would have been better if they were faced with a group of monsters instead, such ubiquitous normality directly represented the most dangerous places in the Institute!

Mu Fang stood at the forefront of the group and as if he had noticed the shaking mentality of some of the players, he quickly turned to them with a soothing look, "Everyone, please don't be scared. Although I cannot guarantee what exactly we'll see, whilst we're down there, I can safely say that with so many of, no matter what kind of monster jumps out on us, we'll at least be able to face it, together. "

"There is power in teamwork!"

As if to accentuate his compassion and grace, Mu Fang had somehow changed into long white garb, embellished with soft golden threads sewed into lustrous and mysterious patterns.

Chao Bin almost couldn't hold back his sneer, if it wasn't for the time and place, back in reality he would have long taken a direct shot and posted it on weibo as a collection of cheap imitations to be flamed by internet trolls. The greasy and sleazy play couldn't even compare to the worse B-list actor in the industry.

Nevertheless the players scattered mentality settled down somewhat, they were already here and there was no use in turning back at this juncture.

While everyone was waiting, the last few players hurriedly walked over from the other side of the corridor, still holding a dim flashlight that swayed dizzily in the already harrowing darkness.

A quick count of the players, quickly revealed that not everyone was here and almost instantly a few players faces grew ugly as they cursed viciously under their breath. Although it was not explicitly stated, not appearing now was tantamount to abandoning the whole group, fishing in troubled waters, the players that decided to stay behind were definitely not a good thing, and at this time anyone who stayed away was almost synonymous with the word cowards.

"Just leave them be, no need to get angry. Everyone has their own worries and considerations."

Mu Fang gave a long sigh of consternation, as if sad but understanding and with a wry smile, he suddenly stretched out a palm and from it, a long, wooden staff appeared. 

The players focus was instantly drawn away, was this the protection he was talking about before...

Mu Fang noticed their eager gazes and the smile on his face grew more sincere and he lifted the wooden staff high in the air and brought it down gently on the shoulders of the player next to him. The latter only felt a warm stream of heat flood into his body, and a sudden golden mark appeared on the back of his hand.

The player instantly brought the mark closer to his face to see the dizzying golden pattern resembled an emblem and glowed dully in the inescapable night.

"What's this." The man looked back at his doubtfully,

Mu Fang smiled, "This is actually a one-time use healing curse. Although it can only be used once, as long as it's not a direct hit to the skull or heart, this curse will instantly heal any wound as long as it is activated in time."

Almost instantaneously, shocking enthusiasm erupted on the players eyes, isn't this just a one-time use life talisman, it was extremely hard to come buy and sold immediately after it appeared in the towers! Some players even had further considerations, if they don't use this curse during the copy, wouldn't they still be able to carry it out of the instance with them!–

The players that still had 3 points vigilance in their hearts against Mu Fang were instantly appeased, even the faint intent to please began to brew in their hearts.

This was the true strength of the official player.

Things that they struggled to get was nothing but common commodities in their hands.

Eagerly the players accepted the blessing of the staff and when it time for Chao Bins turn, Mu Fang appeared before him with a kindly smile, "Despite your inexplicable hostility towards me, I will still bestow upon you this talisman. Everyone deserves the chance to live, even you."

When he said that regardless of whether they believed it or not, the eyes of players were shrouded with a admiration. Such a compassionate and meaningful speech really deserves an award.

Chao Bin's eyes almost rolled to the back of his head but regardless he still accepted the blessing, if someone else wants to be generous, he would be stupid to not accept this offer.

In turn were Tang Shun and as if deliberately done, Chu Yi.

Chu Yi didn't say anything in the face of Mu Fangs bestowing but the mocking at the corner of his kids only grew deeper.

By this time they were ready, in order to prevent accidents similar to the last one, they took a risk and escaped the rooms right after the doors had been locked.

Even if it was more dangerous, at least they would have enough time to escape back to their rooms if something really happens.

They came to the tall gate, it was only when they appeared before it did the players realize that the thick red crust that covered the metal steel wasn't rust, it was a hard layer of dark blood that had dried to form a terrible layer that fully covered the entire gate!

The air fell into a deadlock, 

The players looked around at each other and could see the fright appearing in each others eyes, how much blood had to be spilled to create such a thick crust.....

Mu Fang comforted the restless players and turned back to the gate, finally in a show of leadership he was the first to push open and enter into the negative second floor, and beckoned towards them, 

Since the proclaimed leader had already made his entrance, there was no reason that they should stay here so one by one, the players entered into the forbidden area.

This space inside is too quiet, just like entering the mausoleum of the night morgue, damp but dark, even the howling of wind that usually echoed in the top floor seemed to be isolated here, as if a great barrier had been formed around them, completely cutting them off from the outside world.

The floor beneath them was damp and sticky, as if they were ants struggling in a heavy swamp, the darkness obscured their vision, therefore it was impossible to see more than a few steps ahead of them, they didn't dare to turn the flashlight any brighter in fear of alerting any monsters.

Mu Fang, still had the qualities of an official player and moved forward soundlessly like a cat, his sensory nerves were sharp at this moment and he carefully searched with his own hearing, but there was no sound here, except for his and the other players own breathing.

Where was the life?

Such silence makes Mu Fang feel abnormal.

Finally, in front of this straight passage, he gradually outlined something, after forcefully straining his eyes he gradually made out a figure lying on the ground.

He signaled to the others, the players held their breath and inched closer.

That should be a nurse, because the body was wearing a familiar yellowing nurse uniform, but under her corpse was a large pool of dark red blood, it stained the white uniform with a terrible red, which contrasted sharply against the ghastly thin face.

This space around her is full of blood splatters flying, like something moving at a fast speed, had completely severed her arteries before she even had time to scream. But at this time, Mu Fang could not sense anything in the vicinity, no matter who or what killed the nurse, it is not here for the time being.

The chin of the corpse was completely gone, like what was bitten by a hungry beast, and the part below the sternum was empty, and even the internal organs from the torn open abdomen seemed to be gone.

Mu Fang adjusted his breathing and continued to move forward.

The whole space is like silent shura hell, if they closed their eyes, it was almost as if they could hear the sound of blood dripping.

A player took a small step forward and suddenly stepped on what sounded like glass shards of a broken test tube, the crushed glass making a harsh shattering noise. In this silence, such sounds travel far, if there are any hidden danger, they will be awakened almost instantly with this.

The players heart jumped and their bodies immediately tenses in vigilance–

One. Two. They waited for almost three minutes but the basement was still silent.

This was too abnormal.

"Then let's see what's in one of the doors?"

There wasn't any option left, so with careful steps, the players inched over to the open door closest to them.

One of the players standing before the rest, took a step in right before the light from the single flashlight illuminated the room.

Although the players had seen may things, the scene in front of them still couldn't prevent their skin from breaking out into horrified goosebumps–

When the light of the flashlight finally penetrated the darkness, the players were terrified to see that every place the eye could see there countless pink flesh like larvae crawling on the ground in the room. The smallest flesh larvae was only as long as an index finger, but the biggest larvae was just as big as a cobra. Wet mucus and slimy yellow trails seem to cover the floors and walls in a glistening wet web, and from that web hung countless purifying translucent brown eggs!

"Fuck!"

One of the players couldn't help cursing, a stunned and disgusted expression settling on his face. This one word seemed to echo all the feelings of the players right now.

What kind of disgusting monster was this—

They larvae were stunned and seemed to be crouching in waiting. If they had inadvertently entered before looking, they will instantly gather and attack!

Something else was hanging from the ceiling trapped in a big wet sac, wrapped like the young pupa of a maggot, with a disgusting yellow-green jelly that completely encase the thing inside.

The players could barely make out that the thing inside used to be human.

It hung along with these disgusting eggs. Its body having grown large, abnormally swollen and bulging, the skin is like a dead fish's belly with a stinking white light, capillaries cracking, forming a purple-brown like fester under the skin. Huge blood clots wrapped around the skewed face, and the red eyelids almost occupied half its face, 

This was a mature egg container made from human flesh, Chu Yi raised a brow, the scene inexplicably familiar.

Inside along with the human meat sac, there are things like brown oval pocked spider eggs. They stretch out like blood vessels, entangled, crisscrossed, and connected to each other, exuding a near-corrosive and hair-raising atmosphere. The densely packed creatures were like clumped maggots that occasionally squirmed and dripped with a disgusting wet squelch!

The player that had stepped in first, choked and frantically stumbled back, face turning green with fright.

It looks like the eggs of some creature.

But it's hard to imagine what creature could create this - a lot of mucus smashed, like a pot of disgusting soup.

Unknown intestines, dead eggs, and some visceral fragments, like living creatures, squirm in this mucus soup. After careful observation, you will find that it is because some pink worms like silk are on the surface of those pieces. Crawling, crawling... They secrete a large amount of yellow fluid that sticks to the wet surface of the floor. Soon after, the fluid begins to move with the naked eye and a new type of flesh larva would form to continue the revolting cycle..

There is no word in the world to describe the horror and disgust of this scene.

"I can't stand this..."

One of the players suddenly slammed his hand to his mouth and retched to the side, not only was the sight disgusting enough, it also brought with it a disgusting and stomach churning scent that rotten and indescribable. Like most that had been soured and swarmed with disgusting black fungi and squirming fat maggots.

Allot of the of the players couldn't take the sight anymore and immediately spun to the side.

Chu Yi's face was wrinkled in disgust and without hesitation, he turned and left the entrance of the room, the others looked at each other and followed. 

No one wanted to be there any longer.

Before he left, Chu Yi seemed to vaguely seen a broken sign obscured in the slime infested room, he just didn't know if the ominous red 'x' that was vaguely visible would prove important later.

The backfoot had only just left the room when the hanging eggs attached to the walls of the hair-raising room suddenly fell down and smashed to the ground. Under their disbelieving gaze, the outer shell of the eggs cracked, and a brown stinking pus was flowing inside, some unknown creature that were not yet mature, like a giant fly, struggled in the rotten pool and then died soon.

The players looked silly, Chao Bin could not help but say: "I... did not read it wrong, these things in the egg are still alive? Why did they suddenly fall?"

Is this the legendary touching porcelain....

They didn't even do anything?!

"Don't worry so much! Let's go!"

The players face changes, no one wanted to bear the brunt of the consequences of the eggs smashing, they hurriedly rushed from the vicinity of the room and behind them like a horrible chain reaction,

Huge popping sounds rang out in the room, as the eggs fell down and mixed with the larvae and yellowing mucus on the floor. The noise the eggs made as they crashed to the floor was like an egg that was constantly being smashed.

The cracking sound was inexplicably grating and jarring.

They didn't look back, the players didn't care for what was happening behind them and rushed away.

The last player to leave was the first one to step into the room during that time, his face was a ghastly pale and for some reason his legs felt heavy like lead as he ran, 

He couldn't help but curse in his heart, if he knew that this was scene he had to face, he wouldn't have tried to impress Mu Fang with his bravery, he should have just kept to himself. 

"Dammit–"

The player kept on running behind the others but the longer he ran, the harder it was to move, by this time the rest of players were already far ahead, his face finally changed when he realized that instead of speeding up, his pace was only getting slower and slower! 

Something was wrong, horrified the man couldn't help but take a look down–

His heart stopped. 

He didn't know when but one of the flesh larvae's had attached onto his legs and was now crawling up his pants to get into his body!

Shit–

The man wanted to struggle and yell for help but a sudden pain in his fingertips, followed by a current flowing deep into his body along his finger, rushing down the nerve ending, and crashing into the depths of his brain, completely stopped him in his tracks.

The nerves that had been tightened seemed to be comforted and become lazy and weak, as if he was swimming in the clouds.

After coming to Nightmare Shuttle for so long, he had never felt so relaxed.

No...somethings wrong..

No... no more you can't sink like this...

He wanted to struggle, a brief moment of sobriety appearing before death,

But in the end he stiill couldn't wake up, the players mind was plunged into another world that is only wrapped in warmth and euphoria.

That is the ultimate temptation.

It is not money, not fame and fortune, but the satisfaction of the heart.

"Hey‐"

Wu You looked back at his temporary partner who was dragging his feet beside him, his head lowered as if he was in a frightened daze

"Don't you have a sense of urgency, come on walk a little faster will you–"

Wu You jabbed at the man, annoyed, "The others are already so far, what's with you now." 

The other man was silent,

"Hey, Shen Ti–"

The man's body seemed to shake and slowly Shen Ti's head rose, "Why–" Wu You's pupils dilated into pin needles at the horror that appeared in front of him, what the–

Somethings wrong!

At the moment when Wu You turned back and wanted to run, Shen Ti suddenly spit out a creature full of red flesh from his mouth, flying with a trail of yellow slime it lunged towards him,

Wu You tried to avoid it in horror, but the worm was already on his face before he could react and with a squelch, it had already squeezed into his mouth and forced itself into his body!

Until the arthropod worm completely climbed into Wu You's mouth and squirmed in his throat, he could not scream. His body trembled fiercely, his limbs were distorted, as if there was something in his body that shattered to replace his bones,

The last thing he felt before his consciousness disappeared was the feeling of something crawling in his veins and burrowing into his skull, completely taking over his body!

His body twitched as of something inside was getting used to the feeling, 

Then it stopped, a smile reappearing on his face and he hurried forward to meet with the others, Shen Ti right by his side.