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The desire to kill a person.

The rabies virus coursing through the body.

Mana creating a furious warrior consumed by rage.

A parasite ravaging the host while rummaging through the brain.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

What emotions are contained in the blood splattered from those fingers pounding on the door?

Will the flesh being lost and the soul dyed in anger possess a color akin to that blood?

They knock.

To seek the soft and sweet flesh hidden within the shell.

To devour the cowardly ones frightened by the sound of the knocks.

And in that space where rage and fear intertwine.

Rustle.

It flows.

Rustle.

Rustle rustle.

Rustle rustle rustle rustle rustle rustle.

At first glance, it sounds like mere pieces of paper shuffling.

But the reality is… something so ‘disgusting’ that it’s nearly impossible to maintain one’s composure unless one has a strong stomach.

Earthworms.

Centipedes.

Millipedes.

Ants.

Cockroaches.

Insects that people refer to as pests.

If someone who despises bugs were to see them, they’d scream and cover them with a bowl, or go into a frenzy using up an entire can of insecticide to obliterate those repulsive critters. Those entities with multiple legs or, in some cases, none at all, that could send chills down anyone’s spine just by being seen.

They move in a line.

Through the vent and sewage.

The two openings inevitably created in places where people live.

Rustle.

Normally, one would feel something strange upon hearing that rustling sound.

Or at least notice when the system designed to keep pests out is wildly operational.

Sadly, those in this research institute have no such luxury.

Bang! Bang-!

The vibrations felt even in the vents and sewage.

They’d be too busy focusing on the noise emitted by the individuals with eyes glowing red in madness.

Clatter.

Clatter.

Clatter.

The swarm of bugs congregates, breaks the ventilation devices, displays an unbelievable force hardly believed to belong to insects, damages the sensors, pierces through the steel grates put in place to keep them out, and compresses together like one united mass, rolling or colliding somewhere.

Thus, the swarm of bugs reaches its destination.

Clatter.

With sounds most unwelcome to humans.

Clatter.

Clatter.

Clatter.

A sound resembling a large rat trying to burst out.

It’s a sound that could send chills down the spine of anyone in the quiet vicinity.

And after that sound ends, if countless bugs come pouring out.

“Eek!”

It wouldn’t be surprising to scream.

Moreover, instead of scattering in all directions, those bugs cluster together and transform into a shape resembling a human arm, wriggling fingers gripping the desk while raising their empty elbow sky-high.

Then, from behind the elbow, smoke begins to rise.

Dark clouds of black smoke generated as winged bugs gather spiral through the air. They then transform into distinct, bold lines and eventually into a shiny form.

Twist.

A pink color.

A viscous slime presumed to be coughed up by the bugs.

Tentacles likely composed solely of muscle, lacking bones.

A cut-off arm undulating with countless tentacles.

A grotesque form that invokes disgust merely by sight.

“Run. No. Ah….”

Thus, the researchers seeing that suddenly emerged abomination attempted to flee.

No matter how one thinks about it, that cannot be construed as normal.

At best, it’s a monster escaped from a biological research lab or a creature, and considering the chaos occurring outside… it could very well be an alien life form that parasitizes human bodies and turns them into zombies…

If one were to think realistically, it could be a bizarre summon creature, or a monster created by a witch through witchcraft, or a grotesque biological golem born from alchemy. Given its repulsive appearance, the possibility of it being an evil spirit or ghost was also plentiful.

The possibilities are vast.

But one thing is certain: that thing is definitely not a beneficial existence.

Not a single fool would believe that that grotesque entity is a tooth fairy bringing in shiny new teeth in exchange for old ones or a Santa Claus leaving behind large gift boxes and disappearing.

Not one!

Thus they attempted to flee.

“Where do we even escape to…?”

That is the problem.

They need to run.

But there’s nowhere to escape to.

-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The continuous knocking sound on the steel door echoes from the monitor.

-Aaah! Crazy! Infected! This bastard is infected!

A researcher presumed infected, gnawing on a fellow researcher’s arm with eyes glowing red like the zombies outside…

– Come out, come out, come out, come out, come out.

An infected person lying in wait at the emergency exit, trying to kill those scrambling out.

-The sedative gas has been sprayed, it should’ve worked! Why is this happening! Why… Ugh.

The security team staff sobbing as they despair upon witnessing no effect from the sedative gas.

-Huuh, huuh. Heh heh.

Zombie-like lunatics wandering the hallway with fire axes.

No matter where one looks on the monitor, there’s no safe place.

No, there probably is a safe place.

The shelter set up in the office or the safety capsules prepared for the officers.

But sadly, those in the laboratory are far from such a story.

Only the executives know their locations, so they can’t seek them out….

No, to begin with.

Twist twist.

They can’t even escape this laboratory.

“O God…”

Look.

That swarm of tentacles.

A nightmare-like scene where a child’s body is cut apart and scattered, with tentacles cultivated from it growing. Arms gripped to the desk, elbows raised high as the tentacles undulate in a dance, and the severed torso swarms around as if it’s a bizarre creature that could be found deep in the sea, shooting tentacles from its cut surface.

The legs, with tentacles undulating above the knees, position themselves near the door, wafting about like some anemone, while the area assumed to be insides spreads a web-like structure made of white slime, reminiscent of a sticky worm, coloring the laboratory.

A nightmare.

This is a nightmare-like sight.

No, could it truly not be a dream?

What if this scene is not a dream?

Is it really reality that this bizarre and horrific sight exists?

Does this sight that resembles watching a horror movie really belong to reality?

Reality.

There’s no way this can be reality.

Reality.

Twist.

The tentacles move.

That abomination, having finished coating the escape routes and spreading its body throughout the laboratory, begins to move.

Wriggling pink tentacles reach out, wrapping around its body.

The sticky sensation of the viscous slime.

Warm yet stingy… the assumption is that it’s an acidic slime that tightly binds them.

And then, and then.

Slurp.

Ah.

The tip of the tentacle parts, a mouth resembling that of a snake draws near.

“L-live….”

Reality.

This is reality.

This is not a nightmare but reality.

They should have fled without hesitation—

Crunch.

*

“Under faith, humans have advanced, yet simultaneously that faith has become a limitation that hinders further progress. We must now choose. Will we remain nestled comfortably within the warm embrace of the gods, staying in our shells, or should we break free from the gods’ hold and venture into the wild? We must break the eggshell and venture into the wild filled with countless dangers, for it’s the natural order. Members, those who thirst for truth. We must never hesitate. Although the inside of the egg is warm, those who only remain in it will rot away and die, just like the natural order of things, we must transcend the taboo, overcome faith, and move forward.”

Nothing remains in the laboratory.

No, to be precise… no conscious being remains.

Because the swarm of tentacles consumed the people.

Like a carnivorous plant, or perhaps like a toothless snake, they inflated their bodies entirely and swallowed the people whole.

From those of small stature—to those of larger size, forcibly crushing their bones to match their sizes.

“From those with no legs to those with many, from those without wings to those with wings, from those with scales to those without, from soulless plants and animals to humans with souls. From the teeming minions scattered about everywhere in the world. The filthy muck, shadows, dirt piles, and even the insects and rats born from the decayed wood, we shall explore and continue to explore beyond faith so that we can surely stand on our own feet in this world and pledge to investigate life.”

Naturally, those devoured by the tentacles lost consciousness.

Those with broken bones could not overcome their agony, and most people, paralyzed with fear of being eaten alive. And very rarely, the bold ones fell into a stupor from the narcotic gas wafting through the tentacle’s interior.

And thus, in the space now left deserted.

The mutilated bodies began to merge together.

Rustle.

Amidst the rustling noises of decomposing bodies.

Leaving behind tentacles, the body once again disassembled into minions, quickly coalescing to create one form, as if waiting for this moment.

A figure resembling that of a child, just in gruesome form.

Only a disturbingly strange face of a child adorned with countless eyeballs and a single mouth.

 

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