Eldritch Horror Theatre

"This..."

Qing quickly realized what had happened. She took a step back, inspecting Red Dragon's body.

A bright line had surfaced amid the bloodstains on his left shoulder and neck.

Red Dragon had tried his best to dodge, but the torrential splatter had still left a trace of fluorescence on him.

"Do you feel anything unusual?"

As a professional, Qing quickly swallowed her regret and asked in a low voice.

"Not yet." Red Dragon shook his head.

"Unfortunately, based on previous experience, it will likely turn you into a crazed, bloodthirsty animal at some point."

Death Row Inmate stared warily at the space behind the door and spoke rapidly.

Brother Huanglong clearly wasn't the proverbial nice guy either. Facing this suspicion, he simply sneered and bent down to pick up the Bladed Spear.

This highly imposing weapon had undoubtedly been defiled as well, with specks of fluorescence spreading across it.

Of course, relatively speaking, the spread wasn't very fast.

"It doesn't matter."

A voice suddenly rang out. It was the technician, Guansi.

"What do you mean?"

"He's right."

While Madam Star voiced her confusion, Mask agreed with Fu Qian.

The next moment, he walked right past Death Row Inmate and took the lead, jumping through the doorway.

"It's obvious that the top floor isn't the only source of the fluorescence. It must have appeared on every floor simultaneously. There is a high probability we won't be able to escape this place without getting tainted."

He signaled for the others to follow and spoke as he walked.

"You mean even if we retreat the way we came, we'll still likely be contaminated?"

Madam Star followed closely behind, clearly reluctant to accept this fact.

"Yes."

Mask didn't stop walking, gesturing for them to observe their surroundings.

In the dim light, wisps of glowing fluorescence clung to the walls like a shingles rash.

At the same time, the color shifting had stopped. There was no longer any blue in sight; instead, everything was as dark red as blood.

"Why couldn't it have spread down through specific channels, like the sewer pipes or something?"

Death Row Inmate clearly respected Mask, but he still fundamentally rejected the scenario Mask was describing.

"Did the two dogs come down through the pipes too? And the locked door?"

Mask didn't hold back, directly questioning him in a cold voice.

"The two dogs had matching collars. Rather than test subjects that escaped from a Laboratory, it's far more likely they were specially bred for guard duty. Besides, as we came up just now, we searched everywhere below and didn't see a single dog hair."

"But if they really were here to stand guard, that raises a question: where is the person who brought them?"

Brother Red Dragon could clearly still follow Mask's train of thought. He raised the question while scanning the area, but in the next moment, he froze.

"Forget I said anything."

Not far ahead in the Corridor, a legless figure lay prone on the ground, dragging its mutilated body forward inch by inch.

The upper half of the corpse was dressed in some kind of dark uniform.

Several streaks of fluorescence, some thick and some thin, trailed long across the floor behind it like the slime left by a crawling snail.

Most importantly, this trail extended all the way to the distant corner.

"What... what exactly is going on?"

For a moment, even Brother Death Row Inmate understood the implications.

It was a very simple math problem. This man, whose lower half had likely been gnawed off by his beloved dogs, couldn't crawl much faster than a snail.

Dividing the length of the trail by his crawling speed meant he had been dragging himself for hours at the very least. This was far longer than the time the group had been away from this area.

"I don't know. Right now, the only thing that's certain is that if the situation below is anything like this, the chances of escaping at all are extremely slim, let alone avoiding contamination from the fluorescent substance."

Qing quickly replied from the side, agreeing with Mask's earlier judgment.

"Then what's the point of what we're doing right now?"

"To hide from the swarm above us. Even if we can't get out, we can try to find a defensible position and gather as much information as possible to figure out exactly what happened."

Without even glancing at Death Row Inmate, Qing raised her bow and pinned the severed torso to the ground with a single arrow. She then stepped forward, bypassing the body while carefully avoiding the fluorescence on the floor.

The struggling corpse clearly noticed her and swiped its claws almost immediately. However, pinned in place, its reach ultimately fell short.

With Qing clearing the way, the others quickly followed and bypassed this minor obstacle, including Brother Death Row Inmate who had just questioned their motives.

At the same time, a seemingly familiar roar echoed from behind them.

Just as Qing had said, the disturbed creatures on the top floor had broken through the barriers and were chasing them down.

...

"Looks like this isn't going to work."

A short while later, Red Dragon stared at the somewhat crowded passageway ahead and let out a long sigh.

The fluorescence around them was spreading rapidly. Even though they had been as careful as possible along the way, everyone had inevitably been tainted to some degree.

At first, some had opted to discard their contaminated clothing to protect themselves. But once they realized this didn't buy them much time, they quickly abandoned the practice.

However, this did prove that Red Dragon hadn't been lying.

So far, no one felt anything unusual after being stained with the fluorescence.

That was the good news. The bad news was that the walking corpses on this floor, dressed in various clothes, were far more numerous than before, and their aggression had noticeably increased.

Along the way, the group's ranged attacks had already been significantly depleted.

A quick assessment was enough to realize that physically fighting their way through was nearly impossible.

"We need to find a place to hide."

Mask acknowledged the difficulty before them in a flat tone.

Inexplicably trapped in a desperate situation, the group didn't give up easily. They quickly reached a consensus on a backup plan.

Moments later, led by Red Dragon, they slipped into a room one by one. After securely closing the door behind them, they finally gained a brief moment of respite.

Restricted to the physical attributes of ordinary people, their stamina consumption could not be mentioned in the same breath as their usual capabilities. They needed to seize every opportunity to rest and recover their strength.

"Wait a minute. This place looks familiar."

However, it wasn't long before Death Row Inmate frowned, scanning their surroundings.

"Of course it is. This is where you got the potion you're carrying."

Seeing that Red Dragon couldn't be bothered to answer, Qing nodded slowly from the side.

"It's here?"

Death Row Inmate looked thoughtful for a moment, but his gaze soon locked onto a corner of the room.

"Then why is the safe still locked?"

"Yeah."

Red Dragon finally spoke up, his tone laced with undisguised mockery.

"That's one of the reasons we chose this place. If the safe is locked, isn't it worth seeing what's inside?"

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