Chapter 178

After Ned told him there was nobody in the security control room and that the door must simply have malfunctioned, Klaus relaxed. Still, he remained vigilant, keeping his eyes locked on the door, anticipating Ned’s return.

A few seconds passed. Then a few more. Klaus began to realize something was off. What was taking Ned so long? It shouldn’t have taken him so long to simply check the touchpad. None of them were even allowed to enter the security control room without a valid reason. If there was nobody inside, why the hell hadn’t Ned come out yet?

Something was definitely not right. His instincts told him to stay put, but at the same time, he knew he had to check what was going on. For a moment, he hesitated, unsure of what course of action to take. In the end, his sense of duty overpowered his instinct for caution. He began walking down the corridor toward the open door of the security control room.

No sound came from inside, and it made him nervous. Something didn’t add up. Had Klaus been more social, he might have called out to Ned to ask if everything was alright. But being the quiet type, he simply continued to walk silently down the corridor. He pricked up his ears for any sound, but all that he could hear was total silence. It felt as though Ned had simply vanished after entering the security control room.

Then the thought of calling out to him finally occurred to Klaus. He opened his mouth, only to discover how dry his lips had become. This strange situation was really grating on his nerves. He licked his lips to moisten them and opened his mouth. Just as he was about to call out Ned’s name, something burst from the security control room.

At first, he couldn’t even comprehend what he was seeing. The creature that had just dashed out of the room moved so quickly that, in the first moment of seeing it, all he could discern of its completely black form was a mass of numerous tentacles undulating through the air.

In an instant, the monster pivoted toward him with astonishing speed, and Klaus suddenly realized the creature was humanoid, with two legs and two arms. However, that was where any resemblance to a human being ended. From the back of the monster protruded numerous long tentacles. Most of them were slender and delicate, but among them, he noticed a few that looked significantly stronger and much more menacing, with double-edged blades glinting at their tips.

The creature’s face was its most terrifying feature. It had two large, unblinking eyes—solid blue with no irises or pupils. The monster’s face was slightly elongated, resembling a snout, and its massive jaws gaped open, exposing rows of razor-sharp, jagged teeth. The monster’s face was smeared with blood.

Ned’s blood, Klaus realized, as chilling fingers of terror tightened around his heart.

The hellish monster charged down the corridor toward him. He couldn’t help but wince at the sight of the nightmarish creature barreling toward him with incredible speed. What surprised him even more was that, despite its frightening speed, the creature moved with barely a sound as it closed in on him.

All the weeks of surviving in this dangerous, mutant-infested world failed to prepare Klaus for this moment. The sight of the obsidian-black monstrosity, with its emotionless blue eyes fixed on him and a writhing mass of tentacles trailing behind, sprinting toward him in near silence, sent pure terror coursing through him. He stumbled backward instinctively, but his fear rendered him clumsy—one foot caught on the other, and he lost his balance. He flailed his arms to steady himself but failed. He felt himself falling backward, and a second later, he collapsed to the floor with a solid thud.

Half a second later, the obsidian-black monstrosity was on top of him. Klaus managed not to lose his assault rifle as he fell, gripping it tightly in his hands. However, before he could aim it at the looming monster, the hellish creature pounced down on him. It leaned in closer, and Klaus’s heart raced as he caught sight of its gaping jaws, poised to tear into him. Overwhelmed by sheer terror, Klaus instinctively lifted his assault rifle, holding it horizontally in front of him as he desperately tried to shield his face from the nightmarish black teeth that loomed close.

In the next moment, the creature’s teeth clamped down on the weapon. Creaking noises echoed as the tips of the monster’s teeth sank deeply into the metal. The noises grew louder as the monster kept up the pressure, its teeth drilling deeper into the weapon. Then, in the next second, it suddenly broke apart into several jagged pieces.

Klaus was utterly defenseless now. He fully expected the creature sitting on top of him to take a bite. However, the monster didn’t do that. Klaus didn’t waste even a fraction of a second to ponder why. Instead, he reached along his body with one hand and pulled a sidearm from its holster on his hip.

Even though the monster’s eyes were fixed on Klaus’s, it somehow noticed him raise the pistol. Before he could point it at the creature and fire, a tentacle shot out and yanked the sidearm from his grip, nearly breaking his wrist in the process. The pistol dropped nearby, but the creature didn’t allow him to reach for it. Multiple tendrils wrapped around his arms and torso, restraining him.

Klaus opened his mouth, but before he could make a sound, another tendril coiled firmly around his neck, cutting off any sound. He was now completely restrained and could hardly move. He could only wonder why the monster hadn’t killed him yet. Suddenly, he noticed a bladed tentacle slithering through the air, heading straight for him.

He knew that was it. He was going to die, but there was nothing he could do but accept his fate. Yet he refused to succumb without a fight. He continued to struggle, even though he was fully aware that breaking free was impossible. Then he felt the blade thrust into his chest, embedding itself between his ribs. He continued to fight against his restraints, his wide eyes locked onto the horrifying face of the monster looming above him.

When the monster pulled its bladed tentacle from his chest, blood spilled out in abundance. With every passing second, he felt his strength waning. Once he was too weak to fight back, the creature unwound its tendrils and tentacles from his body. Through the dim haze clouding his vision, Klaus watched as the monster rose to its feet and turned away.

Without another glance at him, the creature bolted down the corridor toward the stairs leading to the first floor. Then something strange happened. Klaus saw the tendrils protruding from the monster’s back fall off one by one. By the time the monster reached the end of the corridor, all the tendrils had detached from its body. They lay on the floor, quickly withering and turning into small piles of dust.

The monster now had only three bladed tentacles sprouting from its back. Instead of descending the stairs like an ordinary human being would, it performed a completely unexpected maneuver. It leaped toward one wall and clung to it, gripping the surface with the tips of its fingers and toes. As it began to move, its body structure appeared to change slightly—or perhaps it was just his fading mind playing tricks on him. The creature crawled along the wall, resembling a giant insect rather than a humanoid figure. Suddenly, the monster and its three bladed tentacles became invisible. However, Klaus could still make out a distortion in the air as the monster moved.

The creature vanished from sight as it crawled down the staircase. Klaus knew that his time was running out, but before he succumbed, he was determined to warn his comrades on the first floor about the deadly threat moving toward them. The world around him quickly faded into darkness as his life drained from him. Summoning the last reserves of his strength, he reached for the sidearm lying nearby.

The tips of his fingers barely brushed against the weapon, which lay frustratingly just out of reach. Klaus extended his arm, straining toward the sidearm, but couldn’t quite grasp it. He had grown so weak from blood loss that he found himself unable to shift his body even slightly. Stretching his arm toward the pistol was the only action he could manage.

He frantically clawed at the metal grip of his sidearm, trying in vain to pull it closer. Then, with a sudden burst of remaining strength, he shifted his body just a little closer to the weapon. Finally, his fingers wrapped around the grip of the pistol, and a triumphant smile flickered across his lips.

He wrapped his index finger around the trigger and squeezed. But as it turned out, he didn’t have the strength to apply enough pressure for the pistol to fire. That final effort to reposition his body had siphoned off the last of his energy, leaving him unable even to pull the trigger.

Klaus wanted to chuckle at the irony of his situation, but he lacked the strength even for that. Suddenly, his body stiffened. He took one final breath, and his eyes glazed over, staring blankly at one spot on the ceiling. The grip of his sidearm remained in his palm, but his fingers had released their hold.

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