Chapter 151: Two screams
Chapter 151: Two screams
Blake remained rooted to the spot.
The stranger’s footsteps gradually faded as they ascended the staircase behind him.
His shoulders still felt heavy where those hands had pressed him down.
"Who..."
His voice came out quieter than intended.
The green light flooded every corner of the enormous chamber, making it nearly impossible to distinguish shapes beyond vague silhouettes. Everything blurred together, forcing him to squint despite already shielding his eyes.
His heart refused to slow.
’Who is that...?’
The voice lingered in his mind.
It hadn’t sounded human.
Not because of its tone, but because it had been distorted beyond recognition. Every word seemed layered beneath static, as though several voices had spoken simultaneously.
Blake couldn’t even determine something as simple as whether it had belonged to a man or a woman.
That alone unsettled him.
Whoever that person was... they clearly weren’t a guard.
Nor a researcher.
Nor anyone dressed like the people he’d encountered so far.
And somehow...
They had spoken to him as though they knew exactly who, or rather, what, Trevor worked on.
Blake’s expression tightened.
"Who are you?!"
His voice echoed through the chamber, but there was no answer, only footsteps that slowed as he was asking that question.
Without another thought, Blake spun around and sprinted after the retreating silhouette, taking advantage of how much slower they started walking.
He still couldn’t properly see them.
They were little more than a dark outline against the overwhelming green light, but didn’t matter.
Closing the distance in only a few seconds, Blake reached out from behind, mouthing exactly what he needed to.
"Activate strength buff. Activate defense buff."
Warmth immediately surged through his body.
His muscles tightened.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the stranger’s shoulder and threw them backward.
The figure lost balance.
Their body tumbled violently down several steps before crashing against the staircase with a heavy thud.
Blake immediately rushed after them.
The stranger rose almost instantly, too quickly for him to react properly.
Before Blake could throw another punch, a hand shot forward, grabbing the front of Blake’s mask, then violently pulled him close.
The distorted voice was gone.
Instead, a deafening scream exploded directly into his ear.
"YOU WILL SHUT UP! YOU WON’T REMEMBER ME!"
Even with his defense buff active, the force tore through his ears.
Blake cried out as warmth trickled down the side of his neck.
Blood.
His ears were bleeding.
He staggered backward before collapsing onto both knees, clutching the sides of his head.
Everything rang as his vision gradually blurred.
The defense buff had softened the attack, but not completely.
It felt as though something inside his ears had torn apart.
The stranger looked down at him.
"There."
The voice had become calm again.
"You’ll obey now."
Without another glance, they turned around and simply walked away.
Blake remained kneeling, his breathing came in ragged gasps.
’Why...?’
Slowly, he lifted his head.
The stranger never looked back, not even once.
As though they fully expected him to remain exactly where he was, obedient and still.
Blake frowned.
Then, something clicked.
The scream... the moment they had shouted into his ear, their voice hadn’t been distorted anymore.
It had sounded natural.
His eyes widened.
’Is that man like Myles?’
His thoughts raced.
Myles possessed abilities that ordinary humans simply shouldn’t have.
Could this person possess another?
One capable of controlling minds? Ordering people?
Was that why they had confidently walked away without checking whether Blake would actually obey?
Because everyone else did?
Blake bit the inside of his lip.
"Deactivate skills."
Whatever the answer was, he couldn’t waste time thinking about it now, either. Especially ot here.
Slowly, he forced himself back onto his feet, his ears continuing to throb.
Every heartbeat sent another wave of pain through his skull.
Blake continued forward, one cautious step after another.
His hands remained stretched out before him, blindly searching through the overwhelming green light.
He couldn’t trust his eyes or ears anymore, only his sense of touch.
He didn’t walk for long, since his fingertips brushed against something smooth.
He could tell it was a thick glass as the surface curved gently beneath his hand.
’It must be round.’
Blake carefully walked alongside it, one hand never leaving the glass.
It kept going.
And going.
Whatever stood before him was enormous.
Far larger than any container he’d ever seen.
Finally, after what felt like dozens of steps, the curved surface ended.
Blake hesitated before continuing forward.
Then, his foot struck something, he barely had enough time to react before his balance gave way beneath him.
"Ah!"
He pitched forward, instinctively throwing his hands out to soften the fall.
His shoulder struck the floor first, pain shooting through his arm.
For a brief moment, he simply remained there, trying to catch his breath while the ringing inside his ears refused to subside.
"...What did I even..."
He slowly sat upright.
Whatever he had tripped over hadn’t moved.
Frowning, Blake reached toward it.
His fingers first met fabric.
Rough.
Slightly damp.
"...Clothes?"
He followed the sleeve downward.
An arm.
His hand stopped.
The skin felt wrong, so cold.
Not ice cold, but cold enough that there was no warmth left beneath it.
Blake’s breathing slowed.
"Ah."
Almost against his own will, his fingers continued upward.
Past the elbow.
Past the shoulder.
Then...
A neck.
His throat tightened.
He slowly reached higher.
Until his trembling fingertips rested against a face.
The jaw hung slightly loose.
The lips were parted.
The skin had already begun stiffening, though not completely.
It hadn’t been dead long.
Blake immediately snatched his hand away as though he’d been burned.
"No..."
His heartbeat accelerated so violently that he could hear it over the ringing in his ears.
’No, no, no, no...!’
His breathing became uneven, he didn’t want to touch it again, to confirm it.
Didn’t want to know.
But somehow, his hand moved anyway.
Just one last time.
His fingertips brushed against the chest, and there was nothing.
No heartbeat.
Only stillness.
"..."
Freddie.
Blood soaking into the floor.
Freddie’s empty eyes.
The memory struck Blake so suddenly that he physically recoiled.
"No..."
His vision blurred.
"I..."
He couldn’t breathe, his chest tightening.
For one horrible moment, it felt as though Freddie’s body lay in his arms once again.
The smell.
The silence.
The helplessness.
Blake scrambled backward on all fours before forcing himself upright.
"I have to..."
He couldn’t stay, he simply couldn’t.
Without thinking, Blake turned and ran.
He couldn’t see.
He barely even knew where he was going.
His arms instinctively shielded his face as he stumbled through the blinding light.
CRASH!
Pain exploded through his forehead.
He had run straight into a wall.
Something struck the floor beside him.
Glass?
Metal?
It shattered into several pieces.
Blake groaned, one hand pressed against the side of his aching head.
"Damn it..."
His ears throbbed violently from both the scream earlier and the collision now.
Even swallowing hurt.
Slowly lowering himself to one knee, Blake began feeling around the floor.
His fingers brushed against several fragments.
Metal.
Lightweight.
Thin.
Curved.
"...What..."
He carefully gathered the broken object.
Not broken.
Folded.
Two circular lenses.
A narrow bridge.
"...Glasses?"
Holding his breath, Blake carefully slipped them onto his face.
For a split second, nothing happened.
Then, the world transformed.
"..."
The overwhelming green glare disappeared almost instantly.
Instead, everything became tinted a deep sapphire blue.
It was almost like wearing sunglasses.
Only much sharper.
Objects that had previously been swallowed by the light suddenly became perfectly visible.
The walls.
The floor.
The staircase.
"Wait."
Blake blinked several times.
He turned to his left.
Then behind himself.
"I barely moved?"
After all that panicked running, he had practically ended up back where he’d started.
A tired sigh almost escaped him.
"So much for escaping from that body..."
He shook his head before slowly turning around again.
His eyes stopped.
Every muscle in his body locked.
"..."
The enormous curved glass surface he’d touched earlier, it hadn’t been a storage container, nor some kind of machine.
It was a capsule.
A gigantic cylindrical capsule.
Filled almost entirely with glowing blue liquid.
Inside, someone floated peacefully.
A human.
Their eyes remained closed.
Their arms drifted weightlessly at their sides.
Thin cables disappeared into their back and neck.
Blake couldn’t move.
His breathing became shallow.
"Ah..."
His eyes slowly shifted, and there was another capsule, then another and another... rows upon rows.
Dozens.
Perhaps even hundreds.
Every single one contained another person.
Young.
Old.
Male.
Female.
Different heights.
Different faces.
All suspended inside the glowing liquid.
None of them moved, not a single one.
Blake’s knees buckled beneath him.
He collapsed onto the cold floor.
"Ah..."
His hands trembled uncontrollably.
His breathing became ragged.
"...Aah..."
He couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Every capsule stretched upward into the darkness, connected by thick pipes that disappeared into the ceiling.
It looked less like a laboratory, and more like a forest of glass coffins.
His lips quivered.
"...AAAH!"
The scream ripped from his throat before he could stop it.
It echoed endlessly between the towering capsules.