Rand looked at the line and the pile, and for a moment he stood there silently, the muscles of his cheeks twitching with the sharp sting in his heart.
"Rand—"
Munster looked at him worriedly, then turned his head to sniff the lingering scent in the air.
"If you want, I can find the way back for that siren experiment."
it says seriously.
Rand rubbed his face violently, the wound on his eyelid opened by his rude movement, and some blood flowed, which he sloppily wiped away with his sleeve.
"Thanks, Munster, but I don't think so, Vincent didn't want me to find him, he just wanted to run away, so he wouldn't leave a clue. But... do you know what hide-and-seek is?"
He lowered his head, then spoke hoarsely.
Without waiting for Munster to answer, he continued on—
"When I was very young, I always played this game with Vincent... I was very good at this... Vincent was always found by me, wherever he was hiding? Maybe someone would say it was because he was letting me, But I know no, I know where he is, always. He's my brother, and a brother always knows where the other is, doesn't he?"
A tear fell from his chin.
"tick..."
He looked up at Munster—as if some invisible, heavy shell had been removed from him, Munster saw the bright light in Rand's eyes.
It was as if he had made some decision that would change the rest of his life.
After a few seconds, Rand closed his eyes again.
Through the fog of memories and thoughts, Rand tries to remind himself of who he was years ago, back to that wonderful and warm villa, back to his tiny room with beige wool carpets...
[Light, the light should be soft, that is the golden red light of the sunset.
Vincent would go home after school in the afternoon, and they would have dinner together by the long walnut dining table.
Vincent's hair should still have a hint of the aroma of macaroni butter.
Mother is cleaning up the kitchen.
Father on the sofa.
"Play with him for a while? Vincent?"
His voice would come from behind the sofa.
Vincent stood up slowly, with some reluctance, but after meeting Rand's eyes, he would show a gentle smile... Looking at the low angle, the figure of the young Vincent made Rand feel Warm and dependable.
"Okay, Rand, is it still hide and seek?"
…
"Then go ahead, close your eyes, baby. Start counting."
…
"1, 2, 3, 4..."
Rand opened his eyes, his eyes sloppy.
The cold walls, the emergency lights, the debris on the ground, the stench in the air... gradually faded in his sight. And that kind of thing that cannot be seen with the eyes and cannot be described in detail is called intuition - or, the kinship of blood, has drawn a simple path between Rand and another person.
Rand took steps down that path.
He and Munster walked the long walkway, past the deserted living quarters and then the research area, the central elevator was deliberately destroyed as they had envisioned, but Rand managed to use the elevator shaft all the way down. With no objects to hide, they made it easier than normal to reach the confinement area used to store the experimental animals, where they saw a large number of corpses, as well as confinement containers that had been destroyed beyond recognition of the prototype in anger.
Then they started walking towards the bottom of the base along the outer periphery of the prison.
Rand believes that Vincent has noticed his pursuit. Below the confinement area is the area where the laboratory animals are examined and anesthetized. Of course, it is now ruined.
The sanitizer spilled from the container and the smell was almost suffocating. And the long hose swayed gently in the water like a living worm.
Rand suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up...
He turned his head sharply, and saw the red pupils characteristic of some siren subjects, and the reflection of their scales as they dodged.
Where Rand passed, more and more Siren experiments gathered.
They, or rather, Vincent looked desperate to stop Rand... but he was as afraid of being seen by Rand as he was afraid of the Death Ray weapon. On the other hand, Vincent's surging attachment to Rand is projected onto the monsters, who can't help but want to get close to him (even if they are actually afraid of him).
It is because of this that the whole scene at the end becomes grotesque - absurd, you might say - with Rand walking at the front like the piper in the fairy tale, followed by a large number of disturbed plugs. Ren experimental subjects.
Hey, this is Vincent, his clumsy brother.
Rand thought to himself.
Behind him, Munster's scales were now completely a demonstrative bright red. Completely different from Rand in a semi-trance state, its spirit is tense to the extreme, and every once in a while, it can't help turning its head back and screaming silently at the siren subjects who are getting closer and closer - it Immediately angered the group of monsters... including Vincent who inhabited the minds of the monsters.
Tentacles and claws protruded silently from the shadows, sparking sparks between the claws on the ground and walls.
“&…%￥—”
Munster suddenly showed his fangs and mouthparts...
"Take it easy, Munster, Vincent is just habitually uncomfortable with my interpersonal interactions, and he's afraid of me being hurt." Rand suddenly spoke, his pace slowed down a little, and his eyes glanced quickly. A flat face poking its head (the animal was stuck to the ceiling, moving at the same speed as Rand), "Also, Vincent, this is Munster, he's a close friend of mine, he doesn't hurt me."
"puff-"
The monster above them spat at Munster.
Munster dodged, and the saliva fell on the side of its tail, corroding the metal wall into a black spot the size of a palm.
"I don't think your brother will like me."
Munster said sharply.
The smell on it now made Rand think of a cat with fried fur.
Monsters peeped at them from the ceiling, the walls, and behind Rand, crimson eyes gurgling, scales and mucus rubbing against each other. Although there was no sound, Rand still felt that he heard someone's angry curse and objection in a trance.
Some subtle and imperceptible attacks occurred between Munster and the group of monsters, and Rand never stopped.
As he moved forward, the resistance of the monsters became more and more intense.
Of course they didn't hurt Rand, it was Munster who was bothering him - more and more attacks were being focused on it. Rand tried to help Munster solve some troubles, but then the situation became worse. Rand's protection of Munster, or preferential treatment, undoubtedly made Vincent, who was already very chaotic, even more chaotic. Angry. Under the command of Vincent, the group of monsters became more and more crazy... Fortunately, they still have great goodwill towards Rand, and will deliberately avoid Rand to attack, so that Rand and Munster can get away from He took a breath from the attack of such a large number of Siren test subjects.
Rand finally had to pick up his pace... After a long run with Munster, he finally came to a gate.
On the rough cement door frame you can vaguely see that there should have been a very heavy door before this. The oldest kind of lead door, which has been used since World War II to today, of course, in order to deal with the possible appearance of the drill bit, there may be a ceramic interlayer or something... But that is just a memory.
On one side of the hallway, the door, torn to pieces alive and twisted into wreckage, is stacked there. Instead of the gate are layers of white scaly membranes.
That twisted, layered barrier formed by overlapping one another is reminiscent of a wasp nest. Rand nudged them a little and found them incredibly solid, with a thick layer of mucus floating on the surface. He raised his head and surveyed his surroundings a little, a little shocked to see similar traces of slime on the walls and ceiling.
And he knew instinctively that Vincent was behind the gate constructed by these slimes.
"Vincent! I know you're here..."
Rand turned around and picked out a handy steel bar from the ruins of the corridor, weighed the weight in his hand, and then smashed it towards the shell formed by the solidified layer of mucus. It felt like hitting some kind of rubber-wrapped steel—Rand's jaw throbbed with pain, and the rebar flew out, while the surface of the "door" was only a pale white mark.
A tentacle stretched out silently from the darkness, rolled up the steel bar and dragged it away. The monsters got closer, they looked anxious and irritable, and of course, there was some confusion.
A thing similar to a Titan python dangled from the ceiling, it didn't make any sound, suddenly opened its mouth, sharp teeth pierced from the bright red gums, its jaw opened one hundred and eighty and then suddenly swallowed Mance special tail.
"hiss-"
Munster let out a hiss!
"Munster!"
Rand suddenly turned his head and saw the scene where the monster's throat tightened to form a vacuum inside the mouth, and then relying on his huge size, Munster swallowed it straight. It dropped a shocking pool of saliva on the ground and bounced into the depths of the corridor like a bullet.
Rand subconsciously aimed his gun at the monster—
"Bang bang bang-"
The bullet rubbed the monster's chest and hit the wall.
The strong emotions in the body run through every blood vessel and nerve like a flame.
Rand chased after the monster, but more sirens blocked his way. Without Munster's obstruction, they easily controlled Rand's actions. He was carried on the back of a flat, worm-like creature whose shoulders and hands and legs were bound by long, tough whiskers. Then quickly slide in the other direction...
They, no, it was Vincent who made the choice with action, and it was to let Rand leave this damn floating island base.
"Vincent! I know you're looking at me, peeping at me! Let me tell you, don't do it!"
Rand struggled desperately, his voice distorted by yelling, hating his weakness more than ever.
"Everything's going to be alright... Rand... everything's going to be alright, I'll go find you..."
A twisted head appeared in Rand's ear, it stared dully at Rand, whose face was flushed with anger, and said hoarsely.
"Vincent! Stop! Damn—"
At this moment, a rustling sound of electric current suddenly came from his ears.
"Rand? Can you hear? Rand?"
"Simon?"
Rand's figure froze.
"It's me... oh my goodness finally got a response, I turned down the communication frequency so I was able to talk to you over the barrier for a while..."
Simon's voice sounded like it had been sanded, and the gaps between words were filled with white noise.
"...listen, Rand...we'll be out of here in four hours...the plan we've made...the base commander is dead...the siren subject has escaped...weapon systems have been cut from the mastermind's systems...once We escape... the base is going to explode... you have to get out before then... no back door, no damn pick up..."
Simon and Rand did not think that the entire base had been completely breached before making the initial plan.
In some ways, that might be a good thing—at least Simon's demolition plan has become easier to execute than before. He just needs to directly implant the worm program into the main brain and activate the self-destruct program. And the even better thing is that just a few hours ago, the trapped people trapped inside the base, Simon and others unexpectedly discovered that the electronic security and the fleeing Siren experimental subjects had lost all interest in them.
They rushed into the depths of the base one after another, and did not show their stature again.
Of course, Rand knew where they went (they followed him).
Simon seized the opportunity - the worm program was successfully implanted, and they also obtained the hangar key of the small plane. Everything seemed to be going so well, like a Hollywood movie coming to an end. But on the other hand, once the base exploded, there was no chance of anyone responding to Rand. That meant he had to struggle for a long time in minus 2.5 degrees.
The only person who was not a beneficiary was Rand.
"...I've done my best to give you time! Rand! No one wants to stay here any longer...you have to...before...time..."
Simon's voice gradually became muffled.
Rand snapped a bite on the tip of his tongue to force himself to calm down, his brain racing.
"Simon! I know you can hack into the system! I need your help, shut down..." He glanced at the dimly lit walkway, where there was a not-so-obvious sign at the intersection just passed, "No. 789, D-21 floor … No, emergency door 790! I need your help!”
"Rand... hiss..."
Simon's voice was completely covered by a burst of white noise.
Rand gritted his teeth and struggled, and he had no doubt that if he didn't do something, Vincent would instruct the damned monsters to stuff him into a lifeboat and send him off the base. Not to mention whether he has the ability to survive in the extremely low temperature outside, there are people inside the base that he can't give up - Vincent, and the Munster who was taken away!
"damn it-"
Rand cursed.
The mucus of the siren test subjects made his skin itchy, their eyes were empty and confused, but their bodies were so powerful.
Do you really have to give up like this
—No, never!
Rand thought.
As if responding to his thoughts... Rand suddenly heard a different sound from the friction between the scales and the ground.
"Kakkaka-"
That's the sound of metal moving!
Rand raised his head in surprise, and sure enough, at the end of the aisle, an emergency door was falling.
"Oh, Simon, you are an angel!"
Rand couldn't help muttering.
The Siren Infested stopped, and some of them started banging against the door, and it didn't take long for them to break through, but overall, Rand bought himself some time. His fingers rubbed hard beside his belt until he reached the hard handle, and with his index and ring fingers he shoved it out of the holster with difficulty.
"I would never leave here without you!" he continued, knowing that the Sirens around him would hear it, and Vincent would hear it too.
"No... Rand... no... you shouldn't see me like this..."
Through the roars of the siren subjects, Vincent repeated over and over again, the monsters shook their heads, and the tentacles and scales had mucus raining down the corridor.
Rand glanced at them and pulled the trigger.
"boom-"
The bullet ran down his calf, breaking the whiskers that bound him diagonally.
As a result, he had a long, narrow wound, and blood gushed out. But this time Rand did not have time to care about his wounds.
At the moment when the whiskers broke, he struggled to roll off the back of the disgusting siren experiment, a few newly grown whiskers wrapped around his ankles, and Rand arched himself in that direction again. One shot. The pain caused the monster to wailing instinctively, and one of its tentacles slammed into Rand's abdomen heavily, sending him flying out. Of course, then Vincent's consciousness once again overrides its spirit.
"Rand..."
It hissed and lunged in Rand's direction.
Only this time, its attempt failed.
"boom-"
A tail covered with viscous blood and tissue fluid seemed to appear out of thin air, and suddenly fanned to the monster. The monster turned somersaults and slammed its head into the wall.
"Munster!"
Rand looked up and saw Munster hanging upside down on the ceiling, but it looked very embarrassed compared to before. From Rand's point of view, its body was full of blood and unknown minced meat, so People feel sick. It was utterly irritated, with visible deformation of the nails and mouth.
Rand only had time to see a shadow.
Munster had already pounced on the infected siren.
The stench of wind mixed with blood fell on Rand's face.
"do not do that… "
Rand roared at the monsters on the other side.
However, his efforts to stop him had little effect. Munster completely lost his mind under the stimulation of Rand's bloody smell. It can be said that he did not have any skills. He unilaterally abused the group with his own claws and strength. of siren infection.
The thick smell of blood in the air was almost unbearable.
The skin was torn.
Internal organs were ripped out.
Bones shattered on impact.
…
"Stop for me! Munster! Vincent!"
They were almost about to fight again - until a loud gunshot interrupted their confrontation.
Rand leaned his shoulders against the wall, ignoring the blood running down his legs, slowly, slowly standing up with the gun in both hands, staring at them panting.
"stop-"
He raised the gun and aimed it at his temple.
"Munster... come to me."
He added.
Munster was panting, its pupils glowing crimson like a demon, its nails sticking out sharply, in order to vent the uncontrollable intense emotion, it uncontrollably tore the metal panel with its claws on the floor .
Its vision was bright red.
"Munster... come."
Rand extended his free hand to it.
Munster's throat grunted, and it gasped for breath as it slowly came to Rand's side. The tail wrapped tightly around Rand's body. After seeing the wound on Rand's leg again, a whimper-like sound leaked from its throat.
"It's okay, Munster."
Rand said softly to it.
Then, the black-haired man set his sights on the group of Siren test subjects.
"Vincent, let me repeat one last time, I wouldn't leave here without you. If you don't want to see me, then I'll give myself a bullet. After all, I won't allow myself to leave you and live in of this world."
Rand said.
In fact, he hates his current behavior and threatens another person with his own safety? Rand swore that he would never do that before, but now the situation has made it impossible for him to make any sensible and effective method.
"Let me see you!"
All the monsters' movements stopped like a tape with the pause button pressed.
The red eyes turned one by one, and the line of sight seemed to have substance, staying strongly on Rand's body.
"woooooooo..."
There seemed to be some siren subjects crying, of course, most of the siren subjects remained silent.
Munster stared at Rand, who stood holding hands with Rand, body pressed against each other.
Munster's hair resurfaced in a pink reminiscent of teenage girls, Barbie and strawberry bubblegum. It was an obvious demonstration to the old sirens—of course, Rand didn't notice it.
But the siren infected were agitated, and a ripple that could not be caught by sight opened between them.
Rand felt his trouser legs sticking wet and sticky to his skin, blood flowing down.
He was sweating coldly in the palm of his hand holding the gun.
Will Vincent listen to him? Rand couldn't be sure.
In front of him, the monsters separated like the Red Sea facing Moses. Rand limped past them, back to the door made of a scaly membrane formed by the solidification of the slime. It's just that the "door" has changed significantly compared to before he left.
Mucus with a strong fishy smell piled up on the ground like hot melted wax. In the center of the "door", a round mouth appeared like the throat of a beast, and a strong sap leaked out from the round mouth. white light.
"Sirens… "
Munster's scales have changed to bright red.
It rushed in front of the gap, hissing and howling.
A repressed, heavy breath leaked out from the gap.
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