CH 57

Chapter 57 – Butterflies in the Stomach

The starting point of the underground labyrinth was the boiler room. Further down from there was a curved narrow corridor. There were no lights underground, nor could the fire from the molten pool illuminate down here, so the entire corridor was dark like a tomb with an open mouth.

Although the location of the power control room was marked on the factory drawings, Xu RenDong did not intend to turn the switch on. If he did that, then all the underground lights would be flooded on and the monsters would all be awoken. If, at that time, all the monsters rushed out collectively to have a battle royale, that would be way too exciting for his health. So he raised his flashlight and walked slowly into the darkness.

The flashlight could only illuminate a small area. The underground road was long and winding, and the ceiling was low and made people feel claustrophobic. Benefiting from Lian Qiao’s instructions, Xu RenDong didn’t encounter one dead end and headed towards the finish line smoothly. After walking like this for a few minutes, he suddenly heard a dull sound.

His attention has always been primed to hear anything so although the sound was low and muffled, he still caught it. Xu RenDong stopped and looked around himself vigilantly. A few seconds later, there was another muffled sound in front of him.

Boom.

This time Xu RenDong heard it clearly. Although the sound was dull, it had a metallic texture. It sounded like an iron block hitting the ground. And it seems… the distance was a little closer than before?

It didn’t take long for the metal bang to sound again. This time, Xu RenDong was sure: the thing that made the sound was approaching him!

The muscles in his entire body tightened instantly. The flashlight shone in the distance, and there was a wall at the end of the corridor. There was nothing in the area to see. The banging sound was still getting closer and the frequency of the collisions was getting faster and faster.

Lian Qiao, who couldn’t share his hearing, didn’t know what was going on. However, based on the visual images sent back by Xu RenDong, he inferred the general situation, and quickly responded: “Run back, then go left and then right. After three intersections, there is room. You can hide there.”

Xu RenDong was about to turn around when suddenly a huge silver-gray object flashed in the edge of his vision. He heard a loud noise: Bang! The thing rushed out the corner of the corridor and hit the wall directly!

The entire corridor shook and dust even began to fall from the ceiling. Xu RenDong stabilized his body and turned his head to look. He was stunned by the sight in front of him.

He saw a huge metallic object standing at the end of the corridor. The object was made in the shape of a pair of “dragon phoenix twins” {boy and girl} and each baby was almost as tall as an adult. The babies faced each other in a 6/9 position, with their chests and abdomens glued together. Their head, hands and feet were twisted backward in an unnatural position, and all four feet landed on the ground, forming an extremely distorted posture.

Even stranger was that, no matter if you looked horizontally or vertically, there were two bodies connected underneath the head of the baby boy and girl. So people would have a sense of confusion: Are these two babies or four babies?

Xu RenDong was horrified by the sight and his figure couldn’t help but freeze. At this moment, the Siamese babies twisted their hands and feet, turned stiffly ninety degrees  and pointed the baby girl’s head at Xu RenDong.

From this point of view, the metal block became a normal baby girl again. She had an exaggerated smile on her face and plump hands and feet. She looked almost innocent. Since it had hard, metallic outsides, as well as another body attached to its back, its movements were extremely stiff and the range of movements was very small.

But by no means did it mean this creature was not dangerous. Xu RenDong stopped hesitating, turned his head and ran. The heavy impact sounded again instantly behind him.

Boom!

Then came- bang bang bang bang!

Xu RenDong looked backwards and couldn’t help but feel cold all over. The blood in his whole body solidified almost instantly. At this time, it was the baby boy with his head up and staring straight at him. The baby girl’s head and back were facing him, supporting the ground with the top of her head and legs. Her waist was raised high and bent into the shape of a bridge.

It turned out that the Siamese baby couldn’t walk normally but rolled back and forth!

Due to its huge size, every time the Siamese baby’s  head hits the ground, it causes a lot of vibration. Dust kept falling from the ceiling and powder on the walls on both sides slipped, as if the entire corridor would collapse the next second.

Xu RenDong gritted his teeth. He ran and soon reached the first corner.

Lian Qiao: “Left!” 

The Siamese babies rolled very fast but the disadvantage was that their movements were very inflexible. As soon as Xu RenDong turned the corner, he heard a loud noise. The conjoined twins hit the wall again!

However, this time the impact sound was very close, almost touching the back of his head. He could even feel the wind caused by the metal giant baby rolling.

He didn’t dare to think too much other than the directions. He ran to the next intersection with all his strength.

The Siamese giant babies turned slowly after hitting the wall, and then rolled up at an astonishing speed. Xu RenDong had gotten to the second intersection and Lian Qiao inputted: “Left!”

Left and right, left and right. Xu RenDong turned right without hesitation but a wall suddenly appeared in front of him. He was shocked and then he noticed that Lian Qiao written “Left!” 

It was left and right, not right and left!

This was a dead end!

Xu RenDong was about to turn around but he heard a sound behind him—Bang!

He turned stiffly and the giant Siamese babies close at hand slowly turned their body towards him with the same stiff movement.

They looked at each other. There was an exaggerated and terrifying smile on the Siamese babies’ face and the metallic body reflected a cold light under the flashlight.

Xu RenDong’s breathing was short and his heart almost jumped out of his throat. He instinctively stepped back and suddenly felt itchy in his stomach, like countless fingers rubbing against his stomach mucosa, making him nauseous and wanting to gag.

Was it moth pupae? Were moths starting to reproduce in his stomach?

This thought made Xu RenDong cold all over. He tightly grasped his only weapon, the steel rod, in his hand but the palms had long been soaked with sweat and were sticky and clammy.

A line of words suddenly popped up in the vision of the left eye: “Pre-judgment! Anti-reverse!” (Note)

Pre-judgment? Anti-reverse? Xu RenDong couldn’t understand the meaning of these two words but the sentence that Lian Qiao wrote made him suddenly realize that at this moment, he was not alone!

Although Lian Qiao was not by his side, Lian Qiao is still doing his best to help him!

There was a burst of courage in his chest. Xu RenDong steadied his mind, staring at the Siamese babies, waiting for their next roll. The Siamese Babies stood at the intersection, their huge metallic body completely sealing off Xu RenDong’s escape routes. They seemed to realize this too. The baby girl had an exaggerated smile on her face and the corners of her mouth were almost cracked behind her ears.

This time the Siamese babies did not rush towards him at high speed but rolled forward half a circle, turning into a weird posture with its head down and feet up. Then they rolled forward half a circle and the baby boy’s head appeared, still staring at Xu RenDong with a weird smile.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The metallic Siamese Babies rolled forward at an extremely slow speed, giving people a huge sense of oppression. They expected that Xu RenDong had nowhere to escape, so they were not in a hurry to rush to run him over. Instead, they leisurely began to play with him. Xu RenDong was forced to retreat step by step and soon his back was pressed against the wall. He really has no way out.

However, in these few laps that the giant Siamese Babies was slowly rolling towards him, he had already seen its body structure clearly!

The Siamese Babies were only one step away from him. Just as the giant metal babies were about to run over his body, Xu RenDong squeezed the steel rod then swung it forward. He twisted his body and aimed at the gap between the two belly buttons of the Siamese Babies and forced the steel rod between them!

The chest and abdomen of the two babies were connected together except for a gap at the belly button. There, there was a hollow the thickness of an arm. Xu RenDong inserted the stick into it, just filling up the small space between the belly buttons. The Siamese Babies shook their entire body and their movement stopped. Then there was a slight sound coming from their middle.

Click.

The giant Siamese Babies stood stiffly in place and then several more “clicks” followed.

Xu RenDong gasped and stared at it, seeing anger and frustration on the lifeless metallic baby face. However, no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t make any movements except the “click” sound from between its bodies.

Of course. Because most of their bodies were made of hard metal that was glued together. Two babies- no, it should be said that they are four babies sharing two hands and two feet – could move completely by relying on their exquisite internal mechanical structure. And the most critical position of this mechanical structure was the hole in the belly button.

When it slowly approached just now, Xu RenDong noticed that every time it made a movement, a piece of metal would protrude from the hole. The metal blocks at different positions and different angles represent different actions. Only when the Siamese Babies returned to the initial state of motionlessness would the metal blocks be completely retracted into the body. Then the middle of the belly button would return to being a complete circle.

Therefore, if the hole is blocked with a steel rod, then the metal block will be stuck and unable to be pushed out. Therefore the giant Siamese Babies will be unable to move.

By the time Xu RenDong’s breathing gradually subsided, the giant Siamese Babies were still “clicking” but had not moved forward even half a step. It seemed that it was defeated for the time being.

Xu RenDong bypassed the Siamese Babies, carefully winding his body around its giant steel bars, and returned to the original corridor. The baby boy facing back at him stared at him dejectedly, furious that it couldn’t kill him. 

Lian Qiao: “Our boss has a hundred ways to deal with you and you can do nothing!”

Xu RenDong: “…” Stop bragging. To tell you the truth, I was almost killed by them just now.

Continuing to walk deeper into the maze, Xu RenDong’s mood gradually calmed down. The nausea of ​​crawling insects inside his stomach also disappeared. Lian Qiao said suddenly: “By the way, let’s take a look at the employee information, the monster illustration book should be updated!”

Xu RenDong opened the employee information folder and found that text was displayed on top of one of the blank pages that was marked with the diagram of a well. The picture of the giant Siamese babies was also posted on the upper right corner.

The name column on the side read: SI XI REN. {Written in English letters.}

The English description below translates to saying that this is an ancient toy from the far east, named SI XI REN. It had a peculiar shape. It was a cute baby no matter which direction you look; up, down, left, or right. The Chinese believe that these four babies imply four happy things: sudden rain in a drought, meeting old friends in a strange place, wedding night, and achieving first place in the exam.

Lian Qiao: “Rain in a drought, meeting an old friend in a far away land, and when the bridal night is in bloom, and achieving the top place in the exam?” {LQ basically interpreted the ‘English’ general description using common Chinese sayings.}

Xu RenDong suddenly realized and finally understood the meaning of the name written in English -“Four Happiness Person”.

Turns out that this employee was a fellow Chinaman.

He put the folder away and clicked on the maze map on the phone. Sure enough, the location where he encountered SiXiRen was exactly near the well marked on the map. It seems that he and Lian Qiao were right. Every page in the employee information corresponded to a monster in the factory. The monster information will only appear in the folder if they have seen it with their own eyes.

In other words, he has a high probability of meeting all the monsters.

Just thinking about it made him exhausted.

Lian Qiao: “I don’t know if there will be a hidden reward with the complete collection of monster illustrations?”

…I don’t want it, okay?

Xu RenDong sighed: “Is there a way to avoid the places marked?”

Lian Qiao: “There is a forced instance clearance method, I think we can give it a try…”

Xu RenDong: “Tell me.”

Lian Qiao: “Find an electric drill, punch the ground and go directly to the bottom.”

Xu RenDong: “…” That was indeed violent. Truly worthy of a person who was keen to kill NPCs. Their brain circuits are definitely not the same as others.

Xu RenDong sighed and said, “Forget it, let’s take the normal route.” 

Lian Qiao: “Then you have to be careful. There’s a monster on the right in the next intersection.”

The mood just relaxed and now became tense again. Xu RenDong stopped to take a deep breath.

This time the situation was worse than before, because he had no weapons in his hand.

The author has something to say:

{MTL} Note: Pre-judgment & Anti-reverse: Pre-judgment refers to pre-judging the position and releasing skills at the position where the enemy is about to arrive. Anti-counterfeiting refers to defensive counterattack, that is, defending at the moment the enemy launches an attack. In some games, there is a counterattack effect when the defense is perfect. {/MTL}