Chapter 507: Laboratory

This was a naïve, innocent child. In his large, lovely eyes pooled tears flowing from fear, making him look unbearably pitiful.

But the lower half of his body was that of a ferocious, terrifying monster. Six spider-like limbs scraped across the ground, and even the hard floor was carved with clearly visible marks.

That scythe was unimaginably sharp. It was obvious he only meant to grab at something, hacking about at random, yet Muen’s pant leg had already been torn to shreds. Even his skin had been grazed several times unintentionally, leaving behind a few bloody streaks.

The little boy seemed not to know that he had already become “different.” He continued to follow his instincts, pitifully begging Muen:

“Big brother... I’m hungry... I’m hungry...”

The trembling of Muen’s pupils had still not stopped. Looking at the pitiful little boy, images flashed rapidly through his mind: the simple townspeople whose brains had been gnawed by insects; Emily, who had lost her only family; the gang members who had turned into monsters...

In the end, the images froze on the half-human, half-monster little boy before him.

“......”

Muen took a deep breath, forcibly pressing some emotions deep into his heart. He half-crouched down and took out some of the food he carried with him.

When the little boy saw the food, a joyful smile quickly appeared on his face. But he seemed unfamiliar with his own body. Awkwardly, he used the tip of the scythe to skewer the food Muen handed him, carefully bringing it to his mouth.

He wolfed it down.

“Slow down. I still have more.”

Muen did not know what to say. He simply patted the little boy’s head, then turned and met Celicia’s gaze.

Celicia was also frowning deeply.

“What should we do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is there any way to treat him?”

“What do you think?”

Celicia said expressionlessly,

“Leaving aside the possibility of treatment, haven’t you already noticed that he—”

Celicia suddenly fell silent.

She looked into Muen’s eyes and read what was hidden beneath those deep blue pupils, realizing that it wasn’t that he didn’t know, but that he was merely clinging to a one-in-ten-thousand hope, asking anyway.

Muen silently turned his head back.

The little boy who was eating convulsed a few times. His expression instantly became ferocious. He flung the normal food aside, and his eyes, already turned crimson, locked fiercely onto Muen, who stood so close.

There was no innocence or cuteness left—only savagery and violence.

The little boy finally could not resist the temptation of fresh blood. After letting out a few low, hoarse growls, he lunged at Muen.

Then he was flipped over by a flick of Muen’s short blade and pinned to the ground with the back of the knife.

“I’m so hungry... it hurts...”

The limbs struggled. The crimson eyes shed blood-red tears. On the little boy’s face, ferocity and fear alternated.

“His consciousness is being controlled by the body, and... a rejection reaction?”

Muen quickly analyzed the little boy’s current condition. In fact, from the very first glance, he had seen the boy’s fragility. His skin was excessively tender, like that of an infant. His entire body exuded that pungent odor Muen and Celicia had smelled earlier. It seemed that before this, he had been soaked in some kind of liquid and had never come into contact with air.

“Help him find release,” Celicia said.

“I know,” Muen replied.

The pain of that rejection reaction the little boy was experiencing—Muen himself still remembered it vividly. He knew that for a child who might not have even properly seen this world yet, death was instead the best choice.

After a moment’s thought, Muen took the goddess statue from his chest. Sacred radiance spread out, erasing the boy’s pain.

“So warm............”

Within the goddess’s light, the little boy smiled once more.

Then, a cold blade pierced his chest, ending his life in an instant.

“Although I don’t believe in the goddess, I still hope the goddess will protect you.”

Muen mimicked what he had seen Liya do before, silently offering a prayer, watching as the boy closed his eyes with a smile.

When the prayer ended, Muen stood up.

“That goddess statue—”

Celicia’s sharp gaze locked onto Muen.

“Now isn’t the time to talk about that.”

Muen quickly put the goddess statue away and changed the subject.

“Heh.”

At a time like this, Celicia did not pursue the matter further. She merely narrowed her eyes, as if committing something to memory, before letting her cold gaze fall to the side.

“The appearance of one little boy means there are probably more than just one here.”

“Mm.”

Muen nodded.

“Judging from the facilities, this is a laboratory.”

“Heh, a laboratory.”

Celicia placed her palm against the glass at her side—a massive pane of thick, dark, floor-to-ceiling glass that let no light through.

Yet she seemed to see something beyond that opaque barrier.

“Freeze.”

Crack, crack.

Ice spread across the glass, then shattered in an instant.

The flying shards were wrapped in frost and sent shooting to both sides.

Then, a vast space appeared in their field of vision.

Beep, beep, beep.

Inside the dim room, there was no light at all—only the sound of some instrument operating.

A thick, nauseating stench rushed toward them. Celicia even had to use magic to stir the airflow and disperse it, otherwise it would have been hard to breathe.

Muen’s expression was grave.

He raised his hand. Specks of light flew into the room, brightening, gradually... revealing the true form of the enormous space.

Row after row of culture vessels fitted with precision instruments sat there, like ant eggs magnified countless times. Intricate lines piled up in the dark corners like nests of serpents, still occasionally flickering with the sheen of flowing magic.

All those vessels had already been smashed, deliberately shattered. The emerald-green liquid inside spilled everywhere, and the pungent odor came from it.

As for the things that had been inside—some were ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) deformed embryos that had died directly within; some had grotesquely grown limbs, limply drooping from the broken openings; and even more had crawled across the floor, leaving trail after trail, as if chasing after a light they had never seen, only to fail to ever touch it and die there. Even in death, their hands were still stretched toward a direction they never knew was an exit or not.

Occasionally, a few more developed individuals like the little boy earlier, upon seeing fresh flesh, had all reason quickly devoured. Howling, they pounced toward the two of them.

Muen once again propped up holy light with the goddess statue, letting those pitiful people find release one by one.

“Truly... animals.”

Even now, having already seen many scenes far more terrifying and cruel than this, Muen found it hard to control his emotions. He slammed a fist into the nearby wall.

The wall caved in, and his blood-smeared arm trembled slightly.

Although he had already anticipated it, he still underestimated the depths those bastards could sink to.

There were several hundred culture vessels here alone. Then here, in this lightless laboratory underground, just how many innocent people had died here, in pain and despair?

Celicia stepped forward first, entering the space.

She carefully examined the instruments, used a container to collect a little of the emerald liquid, sniffed it, and sealed it carefully. She then crouched down to closely observe the condition of the dead, occasionally not even showing the slightest disgust as she personally turned their bodies over with her hands.

Her gaze was cold. Her expression was blank.

As if she had not been affected at all by this miserable, horrifying scene.

But when Muen lowered his head, he saw that wherever Celicia stepped, each footprint she left behind was actually coated in a layer of frost.

With her level of control over power—even Muen had to admit inferiority—there should have been no chance of unconsciously leaking power like this.

This meant that she was angry too.

Very angry.