“Mr. Charles, let’s hurry and get out of here. I’m a bit scared of this thing…” Lily, with drooping ears, curled up in Charles's pocket.

  “Shh.”

  Suddenly, the still body in front of them jerked upright, startling Lily into a squeak.

  “Tap, tap, tap.” It turned and began walking deeper into the corridor.

  After a moment of thought, Charles decided to follow. Whatever this being was, it had lived here and likely knew the place better than he did. Following it might lead to more clues.

  “Hey, do you think this thing was here to receive some kind of reward?” one voice in his head pondered.

  “No idea. Looking at the ruins outside, this place has been abandoned for at least hundreds of years. If this thing was an employee here, how old would it be?”

  “Who knows in this hellhole? Maybe it swapped its organs for longevity or something.”

  Just then, Charles noticed a movement in the corner. He instinctively pointed his revolver in that direction. A long, white creature was wriggling in the shadows.

  This snake-like being ignored Charles's threat and slowly crawled forward.

  Cautiously, he approached and lifted it with his black blade, but the agile creature darted away, far quicker than the body.

  “Mr. Charles, it’s getting away!” Lily squeaked from the pocket.

  Glancing at the moving body in the distance, Charles quickly stood up and followed.

  His mind raced, trying to recall details about the long creature. He knew it wasn’t native to Earth, yet it felt strangely familiar, though he couldn’t quite place it.

  As they ventured deeper into the corridor, the roots began to thin out. Turning a corner, a spacious circular hall appeared before Charles.

  Looking at the cracked patterned floor, he could imagine the grandeur this place once held.

  However, the hall was eerily devoid of furniture or any other adornments; it was completely empty, as if the humans had left in a hurry, clearing everything out.

  Following the body through the hall, Charles suddenly slipped, as if stepping on something.

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  He brushed away the thick dust on the ground, revealing a shiny metal plaque. It appeared to be an identification tag, but the front only displayed part of the text, while the back had been worn away for some unknown reason.

  “E4 Level Project Interaction—”

  “Project interaction? Were they experimenting with relics?” Charles's mind filled with more questions.

  Holding onto this confusion, he tossed the plaque aside and stood up, ready to leave. But the next moment, a shocking scene unfolded: the discarded plaque stood upright on its own.

  It wobbled, using its two pointed edges to move forward.

  Watching the plaque slowly advance, Charles hurried to catch up; this little thing didn’t scare him.

  As they moved deeper, more strange objects began to gather from other passages.

  Among them were various unknown flesh-like masses and completely inert objects, including a wallet and a shoe.

  Their movements mirrored that of the body, and Charles felt as if these things were like pilgrims heading to a sacred place.

  They completely ignored Charles, and he didn’t attack them either; for a moment, the scene felt oddly harmonious.

  But when a pair of human lungs scuttled past his feet, he slowed his pace.

  Suddenly, realization struck him: he recognized the long creature from before—it was human intestines!

  He quickly connected the dots: the reason the body had no organs was that they had all escaped.

  His body began to tremble, not out of fear, but for reasons he couldn’t comprehend. Despite the apparent lack of danger, his eight years of sailing experience warned him that this place was perilous, and it was time to leave. Yet, he felt a deep reluctance to exit now.

  At that moment, all the activated objects moved toward a room, and faint voices drifted from within.

  “Hey, we’re here now. At least let’s take a look; we might find something good,” Richard urged.

  After a moment of hesitation, Charles decided to proceed.

  At least, from what he could see, these activated entities didn’t seem hostile. What if there was an entrance to the surface inside this facility?

  Following the various organs, Charles turned into the room, and what he saw left him stunned.

  Inside was an enormous space the size of a football field, with a tank occupying two-thirds of it. The creatures that had entered from all directions swayed rhythmically toward the tank, as if participating in some kind of religious ritual.

  Charles's gaze fixed on the tank, where a light gray mass pulsated and expanded. Deformed creatures crawled out of it, only to be quickly swallowed back as they tried to escape.

  “Gulp.” Charles swallowed hard, slowly stepping back. Whatever that tank contained, it certainly wasn’t the exit to the surface.

  Suddenly, the light gray mass coalesced into a human male head, its features twisted in fear. It screamed at Charles, “Help me! Please kill me! I’m in so much pain! I can’t take it anymore!”

  Charles froze, having considered many possibilities, but he never expected this.

  “Hey, this thing looks a bit daft. Why don’t you try to trick it and see if there’s anything to gain?” one voice suggested.

  Charles was reluctant; he felt completely out of control in this place, and that sensation was unsettling.

  Just as he was about to leave, Richard interrupted, asking the unknown entity in the tank, “Who are you?”

  As soon as he spoke, all the activated beings around the tank turned to face them, sending chills down Charles’s spine.

  “I can’t take it anymore! I’m in so much pain! Please, for the sake of our humanity, kill me!” The head screamed again before collapsing back into the light gray mass.