"Rumble—"
As the final roar of the magic-conduction excavator faded, a bottomless, spiraling dark passage appeared in the clinic's basement.
The walls of the passage were no longer hard rock, but a wriggling, fleshy substance emitting a dim red glow.
In the air, a mental pollution filled with an ancient and frenzied aura was so thick it felt almost tangible.
"Director, are we... really going down?"
Elizabeth stood at the entrance, looking down into the darkness that resembled the maw of an abyss. A rare trace of fear flickered in her crimson eyes.
She felt her very soul trembling.
Instinct told her that whatever lay below was an existence she could never hope to contend with.
"Of course,"
Victor answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He had already changed into a full-coverage heavy protective suit (System Produced). On his head was a massive observation visor resembling an astronaut's helmet, and on his back was an oxygen tank (filled with high-purity sedative gas).
In that outfit, he didn't look like a doctor; he looked more like a mad scientist preparing to delve into an alien hive for scientific research.
"The lesion is right down there. What kind of doctor sees a tumor and doesn't cut it?"
"But..."
"No more buts."
Victor interrupted her.
"You all wait up here. I'll go down myself."
"No!"
"No!"
"Woo!"
Alice, Elizabeth, and Mia refused in unison.
"Wherever the Director goes, we go." Alice gripped her great scissors tightly, her yandere crimson eyes filled with determination.
"It's terrifying, but I'd be even more worried letting you go down alone." Elizabeth also took a deep breath, a blood mist beginning to emanate around her.
"Woo! (Protect the Director!)" Mia went even further, blocking the entrance directly with a posture that said, "If you're going, you're taking me with you."
Victor looked at these three "employees," each with a different style but the same determined gaze, and a warmth flowed through his heart.
"Alright."
He nodded.
"Then we go together."
"But remember, stay close to me and don't touch anything recklessly."
"Helena, you're in charge of standby and fire support from up here."
"Zoe, you're responsible for monitoring all data."
"Let's go!"
...
The process of descending deep underground was even more bizarre than imagined.
The space inside the passage was warped.
Sometimes you were clearly walking downward, yet it felt as if you were climbing up.
The fleshy tissue on the walls would wriggle slowly as they approached, even growing organs resembling eyes and mouths that silently watched them.
In the air, the frenzied whispers became increasingly clear.
"Join us..."
"Become a part of us..."
"You will attain immortality..."
The voices seemed to ring directly within the depths of their souls, filled with temptation.
"So... so annoying."
Mia shook her head irritably, her fluffy wolf ears drooping.
She felt as if a hundred flies were buzzing inside her brain.
"Director... I'm a bit dizzy..."
Elizabeth also felt her willpower being constantly eroded; bloody hallucinations even began to appear before her eyes.
Only Alice seemed immune.
She appeared unaffected by this mental pollution, merely poking the eyes growing on the walls out of curiosity with her scissors.
Squelch.
An eyeball burst, splashing a puddle of dark gold fluid.
"Don't touch things recklessly!"
Victor scolded her immediately.
"These are precious biological samples. What a waste to break them."
He looked back at his two employees who were nearly at their limit and shook his head helplessly.
"Your mental fortitude is too poor."
He took two objects resembling gas masks out of his backpack and tossed them to them.
"Put these on."
"These are Mental Purification Respirators. They can filter out most of the 'noise' in the air."
Elizabeth and Mia hurriedly put them on.
Sure enough.
With the first breath of filtered air, the annoying whispers in their minds vanished instantly.
The whole world became quiet.
"Director, what about yourself?" Elizabeth asked.
"Me?"
Victor looked at her with a look of utter bewilderment.
"I don't feel anything wrong."
"Aside from the poor air quality and a bit of dampness, isn't this just like any ordinary cave?"
Elizabeth: "..."
Looking at Victor's clear and innocent face, she suddenly realized something.
It wasn't that the mental pollution here wasn't strong enough.
It was that...
Her own Director's mental state might have been... not quite normal from the very beginning.
Those frenzied whispers that could drive even a demigod mad probably sounded like nothing more than the shouting of vendors at a food market to him.
Rate on N.U.
