Chapter 3: The Red Monster

Ying Su did not believe that she could escape from this place in a single attempt, so this time, her objective was not to flee completely but simply to use the act of trying to escape as a way to better understand the facility itself.

Although there were many strange and bizarre things in this place, things that did not resemble anything normal at all, none of them seemed to pose any obvious or immediate danger.

Ying Su ran at full speed through the corridor until she reached an intersection, a four-way crossing that had no signs, no directions, and no markings to indicate where any path might lead.

“Where should I go next? Do you know?” Ying Su asked as she looked at the parrot in her hand.

“Coo coo gah gah!”

“Great, that was completely useless… I guess I’ll just pick one myself.”

With no better option, she casually chose the path on the right. This time, however, her luck seemed to be fairly good. The path led her into a place that resembled a cafeteria.

It even appeared that someone was actively working there. A chef stood behind a glass counter, carefully and diligently chopping raw meat. The kitchen was completely open and visible, with no barriers to block the view. The conditions looked surprisingly good.

“Um… hello?”

“Do you need something, little girl?”

“I wanted to ask…” Ying Su originally intended to gather more information, but the moment the other person turned around, her face immediately turned pale.

The figure dressed in a chef’s uniform had the greasy head of a pig, wearing a tall chef’s hat. On the cutting board in front of him were large chunks of bone and meat that had just had their internal organs removed. The ribs were so large that they looked as though they should belong to a sheep.

However, the clean white chef’s uniform was completely soaked and stained with blood, making him look far more like a butcher than a chef.

“Uh… it’s nothing… I’m fine…”

“Alright then, would you like something to eat?” the pig chef said slowly, holding a sharp knife as he walked step by step toward the counter.

“I think… I might need something…”

“Caw! Too dangerous! Run!” the parrot suddenly shouted loudly.

“Be quiet!” Ying Su immediately covered the parrot’s beak. “It’s just being noisy. It doesn’t understand anything!”

“Heh, it’s fine, it’s fine. Then go sit for a while,” the pig chef said in a relaxed tone.

Ying Su had only just found a chair and sat down when several people suddenly rushed in through the doorway. They were all wearing white lab coats, clearly indicating that they were researchers.

“What would you like to eat?”

“Oh no, it’s a B-grade butcher! Run!” The leading researcher’s face turned even paler than Ying Su’s. The moment he entered, he immediately tried to turn around and escape.

However, just as he turned back, the butcher—who had still been behind the display counter a moment earlier—suddenly appeared right behind them.

“Split up and run!”

Before he could even finish speaking, his body instantly split apart. Flesh and bone separated violently, scattering across the ground. Blood splashed outward in all directions, and even after hitting the floor, his heart continued to twitch several times.

The remaining individuals were also destroyed in an instant, collapsing into piles of flesh and bone.

The pig chef calmly wiped his knife with a cloth, then casually lifted the scattered remains and slung them over his shoulder.

Even though the bodies had been cut into pieces, they somehow still retained a vague human shape. Ying Su could not help but wonder if they were somehow still alive.

“Heh… good thing I didn’t run…”

Afterward, the pig chef stripped all the clothes from the bodies and threw them outside the counter.

A card was tossed out along with the clothing.

Ying Su glanced at it and immediately felt that it looked familiar. It seemed very similar to the card Ms. Roland used when entering and leaving.

Taking a slow, deep breath, Ying Su carefully approached. After confirming that the pig chef showed no reaction, she quickly picked it up and hurried back to her seat.

It was a very ordinary-looking card, but the words “C-District Access Card” were clearly written on it.

“C-District… should I go and take a look?”

Before long, the pig chef brought over a meal. It was a luxurious dish consisting of meat pasta that looked rich in color, aroma, and presentation, along with a serving of French clear soup.

Ying Su did not dare to ask what kind of meat had been used.

Even the thought of it made her stomach churn violently, as if she might vomit at any moment. However, the chef was smiling as he watched her. In a situation like this, if she suddenly tried to run, her outcome would likely be no different from the things hanging on hooks inside the kitchen.

She forced herself to swallow the food in a single motion.

However, the taste was completely different from what she had expected.

It was actually quite delicious.

After quickly eating everything in large bites, Ying Su even found herself wanting another serving.

“Are you full? If not, you can have more,” the pig chef said with a cheerful expression as he watched her eat heartily.

“Yes, I’m full, I’m full! It’s very delicious!” Ying Su replied quickly.

“That’s good.” After hearing her response, the pig chef nodded in satisfaction and turned to return behind the counter.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A series of sticky, heavy footsteps could be heard approaching. Both Ying Su and the chef turned their heads to look.

Ms. Roland walked in, her entire body soaked, and her gaze met that of the pig chef.

The pig chef’s expression subtly changed, and the steel knife in his hand gleamed with a cold, sharp light.

After a brief moment of silence, Roland spoke. “Just a bowl of broth. I’m in a hurry.”

“Alright.”

Ying Su felt somewhat shocked. How was this elderly woman still alive?

Roland also noticed Ying Su sitting in the dining area and walked over to sit across from her.

“Phew… little Ying Su, why are you here?”

“I ran all the way here, Ms. Roland…” Ying Su answered respectfully. She had no choice but to admit it—although Roland looked severely injured, she had truly escaped from that mass of living red liquid.

At this point, Ying Su had already come to a realization. She, along with the surrounding area, was only associated with things that were not particularly dangerous. However, that red monster was clearly not native to this area—it must have come through the pipes.

“Alright, then don’t run around anymore,” Roland said. “This place is very safe… thank you.”

Faced with the bowl of broth brought over by the pig chef, Roland quickly drank it down in large gulps. After a series of swallowing sounds, the injuries on her body actually began to recover.

The food prepared by the pig chef had such an effect?

Fortunately, Ying Su herself was not injured.

“Very… very safe?”

“With it here,” Roland explained. “As long as you stay here and do not move, you will be fine. Alright, little Ying Su, stay here obediently.”

After finishing the bowl of broth, Roland once again hurriedly left without any delay.

“… ”

Watching Roland leave after giving only a brief explanation, it did not seem as though she cared at all whether Ying Su lived or died.

“Looks really can be deceiving,” Ying Su muttered to herself.

She then went over and pulled a lab coat from one of the bodies and put it on. The size difference was enormous, with the hem dragging along the ground, and a large portion of it was stained red.

Bang!

“What is it this time?!” Ying Su quickly turned around.

Once again, it was that familiar red liquid. It was thick, like highly concentrated blood, and now it seemed even denser than before.

This time, Ying Su was able to see it more clearly. Compared to ordinary liquid, it resembled some kind of living, fluid creature.

The moment it entered, it immediately lunged forward. Startled, Ying Su instinctively shrank back.

However, she quickly realized that its target was not her. The red monster rushed straight into the counter area.

A series of intense and chaotic sounds followed.

Peeking forward, Ying Su saw that the pig chef was already engaged in battle with the red monster. The chef swung his knife so quickly that only afterimages could be seen, but these attacks appeared to have no effect at all on the red monster.

The red monster, on the other hand, did not focus on fighting at the beginning. Instead, it immediately devoured all the remains that the pig chef had just gathered.

Afterward, Ying Su felt that the red monster had grown slightly larger, and its fluid movements had become smoother and more refined.

However, the bodies it expelled afterward remained intact in shape, only completely drained of blood, with no trace of color left in them.

“So… it feeds on blood?”