Watching those sharp, elongated teeth draw near his head,
Charles, in a fit of desperation, grabbed the large package in his hands and smashed it, his body recoiling away from danger.
But as he yanked, his clothes, hooked by the sharp teeth, tore with a ripping sound, scattering countless relics across the ground, clinking noisily.
Among them, an ancient oil lamp trembled slightly before suddenly emitting a dazzling light that illuminated the entire corridor as if it were daylight.
The flying locusts, seemingly stimulated by something, quivered as if electrocuted.
Such an excellent opportunity to escape—how could Charles let it pass? Without a second thought, he clutched the remaining small bundle of items and fled for his life with wild abandon.
Charles ran at the limit of human speed for nearly five minutes before he finally stopped, breathless, seeing nothing had pursued him.
When he saw the scarce few relics left in his arms, he felt a pang of distress; only four items remained in his torn clothes.
"Damn it! You little worms, just you wait—I haven't forgotten this! Once I make it, I swear I'll come back and boil you all in one pot!"
After venting his discontent, Charles pushed himself to his feet and looked around the dim surroundings.
If the previous place resembled a hospital, this area was an outright military base; the walls, no longer white ceramic tiles, had all changed to thick steel plates.
He had never been here before; it seemed his blind running had led him to a different area.
"Hello, is anyone there?" Charles's voice echoed through the air.
He moved along the wall toward the interior, and soon, a round iron door nearly five meters high appeared before him.
The iron door, almost half a meter thick, was not intact—a crack nearly split the door in half.
Charles carefully peeked inside and saw a vast space.
Suddenly, a distant cough echoed from within, causing him to freeze. "What's that? Could there still be someone alive in here?"
He glanced back before stepping lightly over the crack and walking inside.
Just as he entered, Charles was shocked by the sight before him—a long tunnel, resembling a bomb shelter. Every hundred meters stood an iron door.
The nearest door had fallen from its position, forcefully embedded into the ceiling.
"Cough… cough, cough!" The coughing again came from a distance, sounding like an elderly person.
Charles slowed his steps and felt his way towards the source of the sound.
It didn't take long for Charles to find the origins of the cough—splattered internal organs, congealed blood, lifeless eyeballs, shriveled limbs, and a mutilated brain.
A grotesque flesh gate made from the aforementioned substances was set right in the center of door number four, with a squirming, purple liquid inside the doorframe.
Embedded at the base of the door on the left side was half of an upper body of a Blood Corpse; it was he who had coughed.
The blurred mass of flesh opened its eyes and looked at Charles, who was now in the doorway.
"Ah, 096, have you finally found another host? Come over here, come over here. I haven't seen you since I was brought to this damned place; let's have a good chat."
He knows me? No, that's not right—he knows the mask on my face?
Charles's gaze swept across the record book on the wall, Project number: "1068."
"Ha ha, I wondered who it was—turns out to be good old 1068, long time no see. That's right, that's right, I am indeed 096," Charles said familiarly as he walked towards the flesh gate.
The Blood Corpse hanging on the door stared at Charles for a few seconds, then gently shook its head. "No, you're not 096, you haven't become it."
Seeing that he couldn't deceive the creature, Charles simply dropped the act and asked, "Hey, do you know where the exit of this place is?"
"Are you seriously asking a motionless old geezer for directions? Has humanity really become that stupid over the years?"
Over the years? Had this creature existed for many years? Could it possibly know something about the Earth's surface?
Charles pondered for a moment before asking it for information about the surface.
"Ah, the sun, of course I know it, it's the thing hanging up in the sky. I haven't basked in the sun for a long time now. Can you move me outside to get some sunlight?"
Upon hearing this exciting news, Charles suddenly leapt over like a monkey, grabbed the Blood Corpse's head tightly, and exclaimed excitedly, "When did you see it? How long ago was that?"
"Damn it! Stop pulling my head!! I can still feel, you know!"
"Clang!" Black Blade, which was stuck in his calf, was pulled out by Charles and pressed directly against the creature's face, as Charles threatened sternly, "Cut the crap! Talk now!"
A trace of anger appeared on the blurred face of 1068, "The door on my body, if you go through the door on my body, you'll see the sun."
"Door?" Charles thought of something, walked to the door, and began to examine the journal hanging on the wall.
A few seconds later, furious, he rushed back and chopped at the creature's neck. "You dare to deceive me! It's clearly written that behind your door is another world! No living thing that has gone through has ever come out!"
With 1068's scream, the entire flesh-and-blood door seemed to experience pain as it twitched continuously.
"You piece of garbage that deserves to be used as toilet paper! I curse you." 1068 shed its disguise and cursed at Charles furiously.
"Talk now! Keep wasting words, and I'll chop off your head!"
Faced with the blade so close, 1068 eventually caved in.
Its expression languid, it said, "I've forgotten exactly how much time, but the last time I saw the sun, I remember they were transferring me to a ship, and that ship voyage was quite long."
"Hahaha!" Ecstatic, Charles somersaulted in the air and let out a neurotic laugh.
"I knew it, someone came down from the Earth's surface! I knew it!! If they could come down, I can definitely get up there!!"
But before Charles could enjoy his excitement for too long, the familiar red light lit up outside the door.
"Damn it! The snot worms are back!" Charles looked around frantically, wanting to find a place to hide, but soon realized there was nothing in the entire room besides the flesh door.
Charles's mind worked at lightning speed, and suddenly he had an idea, rushing to the corner of the room and scurrying up like a gecko to the upper left corner of the room.
His limbs tightly pressed against the two walls, Charles used his powerful body control to wedge himself in the corner.
Just as he steadied himself, three flying locusts gleaming with red light floated into the room.
The locusts paid no notice to Charles and swam straight to 1068, beginning to vomit in front of the dark door, as partially rotted mice poured endlessly into it.
"They're... are they feeding 1068? Why?"
As Charles was puzzled, 1068 began to speak. "Dr. Tina, you're still as beautiful as ever."
"Who is it talking to?" Another question formed in Charles's mind.
At that moment, he suddenly saw 1068 look up at him, a smug smile showing on its distorted face, and Charles's heart sank.
"Dr. Tina! 096 has gotten out!! It's now hanging in the upper left corner of the room! Quickly contain it!!"