Death Spiral [Infinite Flow]

Chapter 59 – Butterflies in the Stomach

Only the Heavens knew what Xu RenDong experienced.

In the next three hours, he encountered seven or eight different monsters and finally filled up all the blank pages in the employee’s profiles.

The unknown marks on the map have all been resolved but the anticipated hidden reward did not appear. Xu RenDong held the folder in his hand, confirming that he had seen the monsters from every single page and finally heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.

Lian Qiao: “We’re almost at the end, add oil.”

Xu RenDong nodded slightly and opened the door of a certain room as per Lian Qiao’s instructions. This seemed to be the central fan control room and inside a huge fan was blowing. Above his head were crisscrossed ventilation ducts and cold water ducts. The pipes were all already rusty and the yellowed rusty water kept dripping, making puddles everywhere on the ground.

Lian Qiao was suddenly excited: “Ventilation ducts! I want to climb through them!”

Xu RenDong: “???” What’s kind of strange hobby is climbing through ventilation ducts?

They were still a few hundred meters away from the end and, according to the map, he should turn left at the next intersection. However, when Xu RenDong looked around he did not find the next door or passage.

It was a dead end?

Lian Qiao: “This should be a straight road.” He zoomed in on the map in his mobile phone and confirmed the location again, “Look, this ventilation duct is right in front of you.”

Xu RenDong looked back. He had come through the door and was now facing a wall. According to the straight road indicated on the map, unless he took the ventilation duct, he could only drill a hole in the wall.

He pulled over a chair and climbed onto it. The fan on the opening of the ventilation duct was still spinning and rustling and the hot wind was blowing.

Xu RenDong went over to the console, pulled a lever and stopped all the fans. He climbed onto the chair again, removed the fan on the opening of the ventilation duct, then turned on his flashlight to shine inwards. The inside was dark and bottomless. The diameter of the pipe was not big or small, just enough to allow an adult to get in. But once inside, it would be very difficult to turn around and come out again.

Just imagine crawling in the pipe made Xu RenDong feel depressed. He could hardly breathe.

Lian Qiao said, “Feels so kindly, hahahahaha.”

Xu RenDong: “Where is the kindness?” It’s obviously scary, okay.

Lian Qiao: “I remember a certain escape game… that game is super horrible! Your battery runs out all the time, making you very anxious. But as long as you get into the ventilation duct, it is safe and the monsters behind will not continue to chase you. So when I see ventilation ducts, it’s like meeting my mother! Feels so familiar and kind!”

No wonder he wants to climb inside when he sees ventilation ducts, it turns out it’s a harbor of love.

Xu RenDong was about to climb in but Lian Qiao stopped him: “Wait, don’t worry. I think you can go back first, take a break, and then bring your teammates with you. Although there are no strange indicators on the map, there may be traps in the pipeline.”

Xu RenDong glanced at the time, only to realize that it was six o’clock and he actually stayed in the underground labyrinth all night. Only after Lian Qiao mentioned it did he realize he was exhausted both physically and mentally. He encountered too many dangers along the way and he was now completely running on adrenaline. At this time, the tense string in his mind slackened and his whole body was extremely exhausted.

He exhaled a long breath: “I’ll listen to you.”

Lian Qiao: “By the way, I can’t help but want to ask you what happened just now…”

Xu RenDong: “What?”

He moved the chair back to the distance, restarted the fan, and tried his best to restore the control room to its original appearance. After doing all this, he saw two words appearing on Lian Qiao’s phone:

“Butterfly.”

Xu RenDong recalled the way that butterfly was flying in front of him and the bitterness came to his heart again. He didn’t want to talk about it, so he turned the doorknob, and lowered his head and typed in: “Didn’t you say we can talk about it when we go out?”

Lian Qiao: “Oh… Then you have to make up to me!”

Make it up to him? For what?

Make it up to him with his death?

Xu RenDong smiled bitterly, not knowing what to say.

As soon as he raised his head, something shimmering with cold came towards him. He didn’t even have time to see what it was but felt a sharp pain pierce through his eyes. It went dark and he immediately lost consciousness.

…

After an unknown period of time, Xu RenDong woke up in severe pain.

It was foggy and he couldn’t see clearly. The pain all over his body was terrible, like being every inch of his bones had been smashed with a hammer. The pain was so extreme that he didn’t even have the strength to struggle.

He tried to force himself awake and blinked vigorously. Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes and his vision finally became clearer. He lowered his head to see why it hurts so much. The sight in front of him went through him like an electric shock.

He had been opened up.

The skin from below the breastbone to the pubic bone was cut with scissors, pulled to the sides, and fixed in the flesh with clips. His entire abdominal cavity was completely exposed and the tender red intestines slowly squirmed like newborn snakes. As he breathed more and more violently, the flesh-red snake gradually slipped out of his abdominal cavity and slid to the base of his thigh. Blood gushed all over the place. He then noticed that his legs were tied with rope and his hands were tied behind his back.

Because his shoulders were folded in completely opposite directions, his joints had been dislocated and his shoulders sunk unnaturally. Both shoulders were hanging loosely. However, the pain of dislocation was nothing compared to the wound on the stomach.

The pain was too strong and the picture in front of him was too stimulating, Xu RenDong’s brain was completely blank and he was unable to think at all. He raised his head blankly and looked around, not knowing where he was. He saw a huge pair of scissors on the ground and a tool hammer on the side. A man in white, covered in blood, stood in front of him with a mask on his head and a long beak on his face.

It turned out to be Doctor Birdbeak…. Xu RenDong thought in a daze.

Doctor Birdbeak noticed his movement and tilted his head slightly: “You’re awake.”

There seemed to be something wrong… something strange… something seemed to be wrong somewhere…

Xu RenDong blinked slowly and saw Doctor Birdbeak squat down in front of him and reached out to wipe the cold sweat from his face.

“I wanted to wait until you woke up but you fainted for too long so I couldn’t wait.” There was a dull voice from the beak mask.

Something was strange…what was wrong…

Doctor Birdbeak’s gloved fingers strayed to the corner of his eyes, lingering there with interest. He stroked Xu RenDong’s eyes: “Little rascal, it’s not a good habit to lie from the beginning. I thought your eyes were so beautiful naturally but it turned out it was just a prop.”

Eyes? …By the way, his eyes…

Xu RenDong finally understood what was wrong. It turned out that the vision of his left and right eyes had returned to being synchronized and Lamia’s eyeball had disappeared.

It’s okay if was gone… if Lian Qiao didn’t see the tragedy of him being cut open, it would be a blessing among the misfortunes….

There was a tingling pain on his face. It was Doctor Birdbeak poking his cheek with a pair of scissors. Xu RenDong turned his head instinctively. Doctor Birdbeak’s expression changed. He stared at him with dark eyes and asked, “Are you afraid?”

Xu RenDong did not speak, he felt that his vitality was gradually fading with the loss of blood.

Doctor Bird Beak suddenly reached into his stomach, stroked his stomach and asked again, “Are you afraid?”

The delicate internal organs are directly touched by the gloves and the feeling is indescribable. Xu RenDong opened his mouth and wanted to ask him what he was going to do. In the next second, he heard a click and there was a sudden pain in his stomach!

“Uh…” Xu RenDong’s eyes turned black with pain. The creaking sound in his ear kept ringing and the pain in his stomach became more and more severe, making him wish he could die straight away.

He didn’t know how long passed before the terrible sound finally stopped.

There was a pleasant sigh from the mask. Doctor Birdbeak held up a flesh colored red thing with both hands and asked happily: “Now, are you afraid?”

When Xu RenDong saw what he was holding, his pupils suddenly shrank!

That was- his stomach!

Since he had not eaten for a long time, his stomach was only the size of a fist, lying softly in the palm of Doctor Birdbeak, looking like a hairless mouse.

Doctor Birdbeak held small scissors and cut his stomach in front of him. The stomach pouch folds opened, revealing the empty interior. The folds of the gastric mucosa are full of yellow viscous liquid, probably gastric acid. The air was suddenly filled with a strong sour taste.

Doctor Birdbeak carefully examined his stomach and gave a dissatisfying “tsk”. Xu RenDong watched as Doctor Birdbeak threw his stomach on the ground, like throwing away a piece of garbage.

“Are there really butterflies…?” Doctor Birdbeak muttered to himself and suddenly poked Xu RenDong in the face with scissors.

Xu RenDong was about to faint but the sharp pain from his face made him wake up again.

“Hey.” Doctor Birdbeak asked, “Why are there only moths and no butterflies? You were the one who was with Zhang XiaoXiao that time, right? Why did she have only moths in her belly and no butterflies?”

Excess blood loss made his consciousness blur. Xu RenDong understood his words with some difficulty. Zhang XiaoXiao? Moths? Butterflies? His brain can’t think at all and he could only note down what Doctor Birdbeak was saying as much as possible.

“Where is the butterfly?” Doctor Birdbeak asked again.

It was getting more and more difficult to concentrate. Xu RenDong’s eyes gradually drifted and his senses and consciousness began to gradually flat away from him. Doctor Birdbeak stared into his eyes and seemed to finally realize that he was dying. He sighed in disappointment, turned around to pick up the stomach on the ground and played with it over and over in his hand.

After playing for a while, he suddenly remembered something. He took the scissors again and cut a few times on Xu RenDong’s intestines. Fortunately, Xu RenDong no longer felt the pain at this time as his soul was leaving the body and he was about to be liberated.

Just when he felt fortunate, the corner of his eye swept over to something, causing the last trace of his remaining consciousness to be riddled with tears and anxiety.

On the table facing him, there was an eyeball.

Lamia’s eye.

—Lian Qiao had seen the entire process of his death.

***

The author has something to say:

Don’t play with your mobile phone when you are playing in an instance.

Note: Ventilation duct: refers to “Escape Outlast”.