“How many times do I have to say it? I can’t understand what you’re saying!” Charles repeated to the humanoid monster in front of him.

  In response to Charles's subtly angry words, the three-headed creature remained indifferent, seemingly unable to comprehend his speech.

  “Damn! Why are we wasting time talking to these dumb beasts? Let’s just charge out!” Richard was restless, eager to take action.

  “Don’t be impulsive!” Charles forcefully restrained his chainsaw prosthetic, realizing it was clearly not the right time to act.

  “What do you mean don’t be impulsive? Do these things look like they can communicate? If it weren’t for the drugs they gave us, we wouldn’t have been caught like this!”

  “They managed to capture us despite our crew’s interference. Their strength should not be underestimated; acting rashly will only endanger everyone.”

  As Charles and Richard argued internally, the monsters retreated, closing the heavy metal door behind them.

  “See? It’s all your fault! We had a great chance to escape, and now it’s gone!” Richard continued to complain in Charles's mind.

  “Shut up! It’s my turn now!” Charles snapped back, finally silencing the internal chatter.

  He sighed and crouched down, wishing to escape, but without any information, a reckless move would yield nothing good.

  There was only one chance; if he failed, death would be the only outcome. He couldn’t afford to die here.

  He thought the day would pass quickly, but half an hour later, the iron door suddenly opened again.

  A creature was brought in this time, similar to the previous ones, but it wasn’t wearing the bloody flesh robe.

  Charles stood up, staring at it, confused as to why they would send one of their kind in at this moment.

  Quickly, the creature displayed an unexpected expression; despite its distorted features, Charles could clearly sense its fear.

  “Is it afraid of me?” Charles wondered, puzzled.

  “Hey, who are you?” Upon hearing Charles's inquiry, the humanoid monster jumped in fright, frantically pounding on the iron door, showing no intention of communicating.

  It emitted a series of urgent, short sounds, seemingly trying to talk to its companions outside.

  Seeing that this creature bore no hostility towards him, Charles approached cautiously.

  However, just as he got halfway, the creature let out a wail and collapsed to the ground.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Charles couldn’t understand: who was imprisoning whom?

  “Maybe they’re not all on the same side as the ones outside,” Richard interjected.

  Charles didn’t dismiss this possibility. After a moment of thought, he pointed to his chest and slowly said, “Charles.”

  He was trying to communicate; regardless of the species, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Maybe he could find a breakthrough through this creature.

  “Charles. Charles.”

  His repeated attempts finally elicited a reaction. The creature warily regarded the human for a few seconds, then tapped its bloodied chest with its twisted, emaciated limb.

  “%*＃&#……” A series of rapid, difficult-to-replicate sounds emerged from its long lips.

  “Mihe… Losge… Klei?” Charles struggled to mimic the creature's pronunciation, but his attempt sounded far from the original.

  “Buddy, let me handle this communication,” Richard asserted, taking control of the body.

  He leaned in closer, squatting down with a smile at the trembling humanoid monster. “Friend~ Can I call you Mihe? You, Mi-He~”

  “%*” Mihe pressed its limb against its own chest.

  “Hey! Yes, smart move! So you’re Mihe! Do you know what those things outside are? Outside~”

  As Richard pointed toward the door, Mihe emitted the same rapid sounds again. “%*＃&#.”

  “No way, dude, your name is Mihe, and they’re also called Mihe? Your parents must have made naming you super easy. By the way, do you even have parents?”

  “Enough! Let me take over,” Charles reclaimed his voice, starting to probe again. But no matter what he asked, the creature only responded with that same rapid, incomprehensible phrase.

  Charles suddenly felt that what the creature had just said might not even be its name.

  “Dude, I feel like this guy is a bit slow. Could it be that he’s the dimwit of their species?”

  “This is too inefficient for communication,” Charles said, quickly drawing on the ground with his prosthetic.

  His drawing skills came into play, and soon several simple images appeared on the ground.

  First, he quickly sketched a stick figure of himself and Mihe, then enclosed them in a square to represent their current confinement.

  Next, he pointed to the area where the crew members were, inquiring about their situation.

  “%*＃&#……” Mihe repeated its usual phrase, then used its emaciated limb to draw a square around each crew member.

  “Our crew isn’t dead; they’ve also been captured.” Charles felt a weight lift from his heart.

  Just as he was about to ask for more details, a long, deep red needle suddenly shot through the iron bars, piercing Mihe.

  Mihe’s long lips trembled rapidly, its cross-shaped pupils turned bright red, and with a crack of bones, its body began to swell.

  Frowning, Charles stepped back, sensing that the needle wasn’t right.

  “%*＃&#！！” The previously timid Mihe lunged at Charles, roaring.

  “Thud!” Charles kicked it away, but it seemed impervious to pain, rising again to pounce.

  Dodging Mihe's attack, Charles noticed eyes peering through the bars of the iron door.

  “Are they treating us like circus monkeys?” A surge of anger rose within him.

  At that moment, Mihe charged again, and seeing its completely irrational state, Charles decided not to hold back.

  “Whoosh!” The hook of his prosthetic spear pierced Mihe’s head, and with a swift pull, they were drawn close together.

  “Buzzing~” The chainsaw roared to life, blood and flesh splattering across the room as Mihe’s head was cleaved in two, its body collapsing lifelessly.

  Covered in blood, Charles coldly stared at the eyes outside the door.

  The owner of those eyes showed no emotional response to the killing of its kind, pulling out a notebook as if to record something.

  Once it finished writing, it slammed shut a metal plate, blocking their view.

  “Well, it seems the creatures outside aren’t too keen on interacting with us. By the way, let’s just call all these monsters Mihe from now on. What do you think?”

  “What do you think those guys were just doing?”

  “What were they doing? Sending someone to kill us, what else could it be?”

  “No, they had plenty of time to kill us while we were unconscious.”

  “Then what do you think they were doing?”

  “They were conducting experiments.”