Chapter 4: Monster (4)

The hem of her coat was tugged, causing Xue Ning to pause for a moment, her steps faltering. The dim light flickered across the surrounding walls, revealing moss sprouting from the cracks and crawling into every corner. The entire wall was slick with a greenish film, exuding a thick, brackish odor.

According to the official reports, the Slaughterers favored dark and damp places, were afraid of sunlight, and their skin secreted a viscous, poisonous substance. Although the surface world had been overtaken by the Slaughterers, progress was not entirely lost. The research institute had developed a vaccine that could render one immune to the effects of the deadly mucus.

This was the first piece of good news since the Slaughterers had descended.

Xue Ning rubbed her fingers together, feeling them coated in the sticky residue. The slime around her was not only secreted by mutated test subjects but also deliberately cultivated in the lab’s environment; the moss was a part of this ecosystem.

The ground was slippery. “If I remember correctly,” she said, “the backup generator should be just ahead. Hang in there a little longer.”

Li Xuebai was, after all, her colleague. He had trembled all the way here and had scarcely uttered a word during the second half of their walk. Xue Ning was concerned he might be terrified out of his wits and tried to reassure him.

Li Xuebai gave no reply.

Xue Ning frowned but did not dwell on his state of mind. He clung to her coat hem, and the sound of two pairs of footsteps echoed in the passage, shoes squelching against the viscous fluid, producing a wet, slapping noise.

The light barely reached ahead. Xue Ning stepped into a patch of slime and, as she lifted her foot onto the mossy floor, it slipped. She tipped backward suddenly. The hand gripping her coat caught her by the waist just as she was about to fall, and her head collided with Li Xuebai’s chest.

…It hurt.

It was like hitting a stone. Xue Ning held her head. If her skull were an eggshell, it would have cracked. She kept her eyes open, vision swimming in the gloom, and felt shaky. Li Xuebai’s arm remained firmly around her waist.

She rested for a moment, then struggled. The man’s hand let go, only to quickly steady her arm.

Tears of pain welled in her eyes. One hand clutched the flashlight, the other pressed to her head. She wanted to thank Li Xuebai for his help, but just as she opened her mouth, her vision blurred again. As the pain faded, she pressed her lips together. “You must work out a lot,” she muttered. “Your chest is all muscle—I’m dying here!”

Li Xuebai said nothing.

His hand on her arm tightened, then slowly released.

Xue Ning grumbled inwardly. What, gone mute now?

Ignoring his silence for the moment, she continued forward with the flashlight. Perhaps worried she’d slip again, Li Xuebai’s hand remained on her arm. Xue Ning assured him she’d be careful and that there was no need for concern, but he didn’t reply. He obediently let go of her arm, only to grasp her coat hem again a moment later.

Her nerves eased slightly. Though her colleague’s behavior was strange, after her probing, she was fairly certain it was still Li Xuebai. If it were a test subject or a Slaughterer, would it really understand her words?

If it were one of those, she surely wouldn’t still be alive.

Actually, there was a foolproof way to tell if her companion was normal: she could simply shine the flashlight onto his face. But every time the thought occurred to her, memories of ghost stories surfaced, and she dared not do it.

Darkness breeds fear, and as Xue Ning continued on, her courage slowly waned. After a while, she realized her clothes were soaked—her sleeves, her back, everything was clammy. She touched the nape of her neck and found she was sweating, cold sweat shivering across her skin. Her hand, ice-cold, made her recoil at the touch.

It must have been from passing by Room 01 earlier; the damp air combined with her sweat had drenched her clothes.

She took a few more steps. The briny, humid odor thickened in the air. The flashlight’s beam grew ever dimmer, its hazy glow no longer illuminating the writing on the wall. A sudden, sharp unease seized her and Xue Ning froze in place.

“I think I’m lost.”

Xue Ning focused, saying, “But that can’t be… I know these corridors near Room 01. The backup generator is close by—you just turn right at the end of the hallway, it’s less than two minutes away. But we’ve been walking forever and haven’t seen any trace of it…”

What was going on? Was this really just a power outage?

She bit her lip, her gaze conflicted, and finally turned to look at the man beside her.

Li Xuebai stood quietly at her side, his figure tall and imposing—if the ceiling were any lower, his head would break through it. He truly was that tall. In the darkness, he seemed shrouded in a menacing aura. Even without a word, the oppressive force of his presence was unmistakable; the very air seemed to chill further.

Xue Ning was certain he was watching her. The sensation of being scrutinized was unmistakable. If a male colleague stared at her like that, she would feel uncomfortable, even offended. But here in the dark, Li Xuebai’s gaze made her shiver uncontrollably, the way a cat bristles all over, cold sweat breaking out on her skin.

She frowned, wanting to see his face more clearly, when suddenly the sound of liquid shifting broke her concentration. “Where are we?” she murmured. “There’s so much moss on the walls, could it be… we’ve circled back?”

“Follow me.”

Suddenly, Li Xuebai spoke. His voice was slightly hoarse, as if something clogged his throat. He quickly repeated himself; though still rough, his tone was clear and smooth. In the pitch-black corridor, that crisp voice brought Xue Ning a measure of relief.

She unconsciously moved closer. “You know the way?”

Li Xuebai replied, “Yes.”

“But…” Xue Ning hesitated. “You didn’t know the way at all before.”

She could feel him watching her. When she turned to look, he lowered his gaze to the wall. The discomfort that had set her blood racing vanished instantly.

“Follow me,” he said again.

She had no choice. She’d lost all sense of direction, and her flashlight was now too dim to pierce the darkness ahead. If she delayed any longer, getting lost would be the least of her worries—she might trigger some hidden mechanism in these twisting, pitch-black corridors. The temperature was dropping, too; a night spent here could end very badly.

Resolutely, she pointed the flashlight forward and let Li Xuebai take the lead. Rather than walking in front, however, he stayed at her side, lightly pulling her forward by the hem of her coat so that they moved in tandem.

“You go first, I’ll follow behind,” she suggested.

The corridor was narrow enough that they almost brushed against each other. Xue Ning tried to keep a little distance, but the man’s grip was strong. Even tugging only at her coat, it felt as though he was holding her by the neck—she couldn’t break away and was forced to stay pressed close to him.

Her arm grew damper by the minute. Her clothes felt utterly soaked.

“No need,” he said.

In a blink, his clear voice sounded again, wrapped in the corridor’s intensifying brine. “I’m a little scared. Stay by my side.”

His tone was steady and calm, nothing like the voice of someone afraid. Yet the words fit with Li Xuebai’s personality, so Xue Ning accepted his explanation. Clutching her coat, he almost dragged her onward.

He took the flashlight from her. The beam dimmed, shining only on the floor, where drops of slime sparkled faintly. Only a small patch of ground was visible.

In truth, she couldn’t quite describe how she felt.

Her blood seemed to freeze.

The wan light flickered by, revealing walls covered in moss—dark green and inky black—while viscous liquid dripped steadily onto the ground.

Xue Ning recalled scenes she had seen before: prey paralyzed by a predator, freezing instinctively as the brain ceased to function, fear spreading until it took command of every limb, reducing one to a corpse.

Suddenly, the clatter of metal shattered the heavy silence. Xue Ning’s eyes widened. What was that sound?

She strained to listen. Only the muffled steps on the floor echoed back. That metallic crash must have been her imagination, except she knew it wasn’t. Only the areas around the laboratory had metal objects—the doors were iron grilles, and there were iron chains within the rooms. Perhaps Li Xuebai had brushed against an iron gate.

Sweat beaded on her brow.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of the darkness, but it was hopeless. All she had left was her sense of smell. The familiar odor in the air was growing stronger. She’d spent months here before—the walls covered in sticky fluids, the ground with its familiar viscous feel. Each step, her soles seemed to sink into a swamp. This was…

Room 01.

A chill drenched her back. How could Li Xuebai bring her into Room 01? Wasn’t he afraid of the test subject inside?

Waves of fear surged through her, making her fingertips tremble. The hand gripping her coat now felt like a sword suspended above her head—ready to fall, to spill blood and tear flesh.

She unconsciously slowed her steps, too afraid to look at her companion. In her mind, the silhouette of the man beside her loomed—tall, strong, powerful, like a towering mountain, exuding an overwhelming, violent force.

Was this truly Li Xuebai?

…No.

The more she thought, the more her heart quaked. At that moment, the flashlight flickered and went out, plunging them into oppressive darkness. The last flicker of light revealed a portion of the scene ahead.

At the end of the corridor, the wall was thick and solid; iron chains trailed on the ground. The test subject that should have been shackled was nowhere to be seen. In the corner, a pool of shimmering liquid had gathered, with a few scales scattered nearby.

Xue Ning squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again—only darkness. The flashlight was gone; she dared not ask the person beside her for it. She had already stopped moving, refusing to budge, no matter how much the person tugged her forward.

A gaze settled on her, making her scalp prickle with terror.

“Keep walking,” the man urged.

The hand holding her coat hem swayed gently, the movement almost playful, as if coaxing her along. Yet to Xue Ning, it felt like a gentle executioner luring a sweet lamb—come, come, step beneath my blade.

Her mind was a complete mess, more terror than sense. She couldn’t understand what was happening—was this a dream?

How else could she explain the situation? She had only wanted to reach the backup generator, which should have been in a familiar place. She’d followed the hallway, and if she kept going, she should have found it quickly. Instead, she’d ended up inside Room 01, where a test subject should have been chained—except now it was gone.

Her colleague’s name was Li Xuebai. When had he begun to act strange?