Falling into the Abyss

Chapter 15: Atonement: Red Earth (XIII)

When Ethan arrived, he noticed the atmosphere had changed subtly.

The fifty nonhumans were either sitting or standing close to the wall. They were all holding lighters in their hands, the flames lighting up the six people standing opposite them. The man leading the opposing team held a gun with a cold expression, but his eyes contained a tinge of panic. This was the chief security officer.

Ethan didnt know the chief security guards name, just that he was one of the senior security guards in charge of his district in the Forbidden City. He looked Asian, with a huge build and unsmiling expression. He was a rare beauty among the guards, but at the moment, he cut a very sorry figure. His army uniform had been stained by a lot of the red herbs outside, and his face was covered in blood. No one knew whether the blood was his or someone elses. His face was covered with sweat, but although he was heaving for air, his back still remained very straight.

Behind him were two Earthling soldiers and three Eve soldiers. They were all holding onto their weapons in a state of confusion and panic. One human soldier had a large wound on his leg. It looked like a large piece of his flesh had been bitten off by something, with blood still gushing out from the wound.

In the blink of an eye, there were only six of them left from a troop of a dozen or so well-trained special forces.

Where were the others?

Were they dead or alive?

If they were still alive, then how were they still alive? And if they were dead, then were they truly dead?

The two sides fell into a strange silence, in which their swords and bows were drawn and turbulent undercurrents brewed between both parties. As long as either party was hostile, they would immediately be at one anothers throat, disregarding whether the thing outside would barge in.

Ethans forehead was covered with sweat. If they fought against each other at this time, he was afraid that they would all die.

Samuel stood between the two sides, staring at the chief security officer opposite them. He said, Put down your weapons.

The chief security guards muzzle was still trained on the nonhumans. He was still on the alert when he asked, Wheres the priest, Tanisiel?

All of the nonhumans looked at one another. During the chaotic situation moments ago, they had only been concerned about themselves. Who would have kept an eye on the priest? Ethan was the only one present who knew where the priest was. Weighing the current situation, he suddenly said, Hes safe at the moment.

All nonhumans turned to glare at him. After he spoke, the soldiers thought that they were keeping Tanisiel as a hostage, so they did not dare to take action against the nonhumans. On the other hand, this would prevent the now out of control nonhumans from actually taking action against Tanisiel.

Although he did not know much about the priest, the other party didnt seem like an easy person to deal withBut Tanisiel is one of the people who helped him many times since he became a nonhuman. He seems to have a high status amongst the Eves. It is only advantageous for him to maintain a friendly relationship with him.

His words caused the nonhumans to let out a burst of angry curses, and Cavin said coldly, I told you that you should not have let these government lackeys in! Get them out of here!

The two sides continued to quarrel. Ethan stared at the guns in the soldiers hands, watching as the gun barrels shook as they gestured agitatedly. He could not tell whether their guns would go off and grew increasingly frightened until he could no longer hold it in, and he clenched his fist. He roared with a ferocious expression that was not in line with his usual image, his voice unexpectedly overshadowing the others uproar, Were all about to fucking die here, so why the hell are all of you still arguing!!! The thing outside will soon break in, cant all of you tell whats more important now!!! Do any of you have a goddamn brain!!!

Samuel had never seen the cowardly Beta look so fierce and didnt know how to respond. Ethan had always held back before, and finally regained the courage he had when he used to reprimand his subordinates when he worked as a secretary for the Energy Bureau. After venting everything he had held back, his courage shrunk, and he once again became cowardly. However, his words successfully reminded everyone that the entire planet was trapped in madness and terror outside the thin walls of the base. Compared with the massive lump of meat covering the sky, their own kind, whether nonhuman or not, seemed much more adorable. The chief security officer gritted his teeth before finally lowering his gun. The soldiers behind him hesitated, but after the Eve soldiers took the lead in putting away their weapons, the Earthling soldiers could only reluctantly follow along.

Seeing that the soldiers backed down, a few Alpha nonhumans quietly cursed. However, that was all they could do, as they couldnt provoke the guards again. The chief security officers cold voice rang out as he asked, Whats on all of your bodies?

Just as Ethan was about to answer, Chen Zeng replied, You should also dab this liquid on your bodies. We think that it may temporarily make us invisible to the eyes of that thing in the skyif that thing has eyes. Im afraid that its why it hasnt attacked us here yet.

Samuel nodded his head, and several of his followers carried over some bottles containing the rotten sap to the soldiers. The chief security guard glanced at Samuel suspiciously before bending over and picking up a bottle, twisting off the cap, and smelling it. He revealed a disgusted expression but still poured the sap on his body and dabbed it onto his face. The rest of the soldiers all took bottles one after another. It was obvious that the scene they had just witnessed outside had scared them out of their wits, to the point where they did not care how disgusting this sap smelled.

Ethan noticed the wounded man and immediately asked, How did he get hurt?

The two human soldiers immediately stared suspiciously at Ethan and did not reply. Ethan saw that the other party refused to answer out of wariness, but that just made Ethan grow increasingly anxious

He thought of Jeff.

He intuitively felt that there was a profound connection between that strange bug and the thing in the sky. If one was in contact with the strange bugs mucus, then they would morph into thatHe could only hope that this persons wound wasnt bitten by something similar to the bug.

Samuel pulled him aside and asked in a low voice, Wheres the priest?

Ethan deliberated whether he should tell Samuel. Suddenly, the three Eve men stood up with unprecedented expressions of terror, and the third eyes on their foreheads opened at almost exactly the same time. After witnessing such a sight, everyones scalps turned numb.

Itsits not clean here! the Eves spoke choppily in Earths language. The next second, their third eyes all looked in the same directionthe western wall.

But nothing was there?

A female Eve Beta stretched out a trembling finger as she pointed to the wall. Her voice also trembled as she said, Its insidein there!

All of the Earthlings looked at the three Eves, who suddenly raised their guns and backed away from the wall. Their current attitudes were quite different from how calm they were just moments ago, which made everyone extremely confused. The Eves were famous for babbling religious nonsense, so the Earthlings initially thought that they had gone crazy. However, Ethan suddenly recalled an issue.

If you went down the corridor that he had just come from, you would find several sample analysis rooms behind that wall. Behind those rooms was the medical lounge that was currently trapping Jeff in the treatment capsule, whose life and death was unclear.

Gina should have sealed the medical lounge, but the problem was that Gina had stopped working.

Ethans gaze swept their surroundings, and he suddenly grabbed Samuel and asked, Wheres the Beta who was wailing?

Samuel was surprised. He looked around and couldnt find her and replied, Whats the matter?

It seemed that he and the priest were not the only ones to take the opportunity to slip away under the cover of darkness. The mentally unstable female Beta had also disappeared. Before she disappeared, she had been murmuring to herself while covering her ears, but no one had known what she was talking about.

Since she was the first person to be influenced by the powers of the God of Disorder, could she have been the first to be controlled?

Ethan lowered his voice and whispered a single word, causing Samuel to turn pale. Jeff!

Samuel gave a few instructions to Otto before he ran off with Ethan to the medical lounge. The weak light emitted by Ethans flashlight swept through the darkness, but it did not reflect on the metal door that should have been closed. Aiming the light downwards, he saw a wrench on the ground. The doors locks were all controlled by the artificial intelligence, Gina. When Gina failed, the lock program would also fail. Ethan and Samuel exchanged looks, eyes brimming with worry.

Behind the door was deadly darkness. Because the space was relatively large, the flashlights light looked like it was sucked into a black hole, with nothing visible. A cold, strong breeze swept across the back of their necks, as silent as a ghost, a wisp of breath from the darkness itself.

Ethan violently shook his flashlight and carefully shone it on the ground ahead, but he didnt dare to step forward. Seeing that he was hesitant, Samuel took his flashlight and went in first. Ethan followed him in, step by step, passing the capsules meant for treatment and isolation, and suddenly felt as though they were coffins. His eyes fell on a treatment capsule that seemed to have been knocked askew, leaving only some sticky yellow and white liquid on the transparent cover. Following the traces left behind, he saw a snot-like substance on the ground not far away from it. The light reflected on the mucus, causing it to glow a disgusting green color.

His heart thumped. The thing that he was afraid of most had still happened.

Samuels feet suddenly stopped moving, the flashlight shining on the treatment capsule where they had left Jeff. The capsule was open, and Jeff was gone. All that was left were patches of light brown human hair and some scraps of clothing. Yellow, white, and black mucus were mixed together on top of the mattress and the lid. Some of it was even running down the edge and foot of the bed. Ethan heard Samuel let out a gasp, but when Ethan moved to join him, he suddenly tripped. He quickly grabbed the nearest capsule to stabilize himself, but at the same time, he heard a low groan.

When Samuel heard the noise, he immediately pointed the flashlight in his hand at its source. Ethan then saw what he had tripped over

It was the missing female Beta.

Her face was gray, and her eyes were wide open, covered with dense bulges similar to those on Jeff. She was as swollen as a corpse that had been soaked in water for a week. If you looked closely, you would see that something was crawling under her thin skin. Her legs had also become very strange. Mucus had seeped through the fabric of her pants and dissolved some of the cloth, and her legs were stuck together like paste, leaving wet marks on the ground.

Ethan screamed with fright and retreated a few steps back. His heart was racing so quickly that he thought that it would jump out of his chest. He could feel something sticky below his feet, probably due to the unknown mucus that had been secreted by the Beta from just now. The mere thought that coming into contact with a few droplets of mucus would turn him into something horrifying caused his entire body to shudder with fear.

Its contagious Samuel was also startled, and his face turned pale. No matter how many times he witnessed it, he could not get used to how a perfectly fine person could morph into that. His brows scrunched together, and he looked at Ethan, who was standing across him. Wheres Jeff? HeIs he dead or alive?

Ethan thought of the fleeting figure he had seen at the corridors fork when he had walked from the central control room to the hall.

He did not dare to speculate on whether Jeff was dead or alive, but he knew that he would not want to see Jeff now.

We have to find him at once! Samuel scanned the surroundings, feeling as though he was being watched. The base was no longer safe. In fact, it hadnt been safe from the very beginning, but the thick walls and the rotten sap had deluded them into thinking that they were safe.

Ethan looked at the Beta on the ground, unable to determine whether she was dead or alive. What about her?

They didnt have any electricity, so all of the systems that could ensure isolation were no longer secure. Ethan thought of the priests egg, but Tanisiel was currently using itMaybe he could persuade Tanisiel to start Gina up using the God of Orders egg?

Samuel glanced at the human figure on the ground that would occasionally twitch and utter some strange groaning sounds and suddenly took out a lighter. He ordered, Go and wait for me by the door.

Ethan could guess what he was about to do, and turned around and ran out, stumbling in the darkness. Just as he arrived at the door, he suddenly heard a piercing scream. The scream didnt appear to be emitted by one person, but by dozens of people at the same time, sharp enough to pierce his eardrums. A strange blue flame was burning in the dark, illuminating a huge black worm, not a human, squirming and writhing around.

Ethan suddenly understood why Tanisiel had not allowed anyone to harm that strange monster and why Tanisiel had said to Jeff after he had crushed it, Maybe youre just a bug too.

Could it bethat not only was the human body used to hatch those strange bugs but that the people themselves would eventually morph into a bug? How many of the missing developers had become bugs? And where were those bugs?

In the next instant, Samuel had rushed over to him, pulled him to run away. Inwardly, Ethan felt numb, and new problems kept emerging in his mind. His last thought was, Was that female Beta really dead? If she wasnt deadthen doesnt that mean that Samuel had burned her to death while she was still alive?

And heactually had not thought of stopping him

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