Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Visitors began leaving Deep Blue Aquarium, one after another.
Following the other employees in blue uniforms, Lin Yinxi found the staff entrance to the logistics area.
As time passed, a new electronic announcement sounded over the aquarium’s lovely music.
Lin Yinxi looked down at the time on her phone.
Eight p.m.
The previously sweet female voice on the speakers became cold and distorted. “Ding-dong. Deep Blue Aquarium is now closed for the day. The premises will shortly be cleared. We wish you all a wonderful night.”
Zone A and Zone B were connected.
When the announcement ended, the soft deep blue lights along Zone A’s corridor went out one by one, like falling dominoes, starting in the distance and advancing toward Lin Yinxi.
Darkness swallowed the entire aquarium in an instant.
By the faint glow coming from the tanks, Lin Yinxi saw the visitors who had not left in time begin to mutate.
The woman with the balloon, who had spoken with Lin Yinxi earlier, seemed to be looking for her children and had not managed to leave. When the eight o’clock announcement sounded, terror crossed her face.
The bones in her neck snapped, and her head turned a full 180 degrees toward her back. Her once-normal face rapidly melted and peeled away like candle wax, exposing densely packed fish scales glowing an eerie green beneath it.
A little boy running past Lin Yinxi swelled like an inflating balloon. His hands regressed into enormous fins, while his small mouth split all the way to his ears, revealing row upon row of sharp, saw-like teeth.
…
They attacked the normal visitors nearby. Anyone bitten by those fish likewise transformed on the spot into a bizarre creature and began hunting other visitors.
Lin Yinxi switched on her phone’s flashlight and ran.
Back at university, the thing she had dreaded most was the campus run.
Now she was sprinting for her life in scenarios every single day.
One little piece of bread, and they expected her to run a whole kilometer. Did they think she was nuclear-powered?!
Those fish chased behind her, trying to bite her butt.
Following the signs, Lin Yinxi reached the end of the dark corridor, panting. A heavy silver metal security door stood ahead.
A huge red X had been spray-painted on it.
A warning sign stood outside.
[Zone B Logistics Area. No Visitors Allowed.]
The fishy gust behind her had already reached her neck. A nauseating stench of rot was close at hand, and terrifying chewing noises sounded beside her ears.
Help.
Lin Yinxi threw herself toward the door and pressed the blue [Cleaner Wristband] on her wrist against the sensor.
Beep.
“Identity confirmed. Logistics Team 2 temporary cleaner. Access granted.”
The heavy metal door slowly opened inward.
Lin Yinxi ran inside. The mutated visitors stopped outside. Even before the door had fully closed, they merely prowled beyond it.
She braced her hands on her knees and gulped air.
No more chases, please. She really couldn’t run anymore.
Zone B’s corridor was long and narrow. Lin Yinxi followed it inward as other employees gradually returned. Most of those dressed in blue retained human forms.
Many closed white doors lined both sides of the corridor, labeled Dissection Room, Cold Storage, Water Filtration Room, and so on.
Passing the dissection room, Lin Yinxi stepped in red water seeping beneath the door.
She checked the time. Eight-oh-five.
Ahead, an entity with a fish’s head and a human body was directing everyone. “Curfew is at nine. New employees, register with the supervisor, then return to your staff dormitories before nine.”
Lin Yinxi quickened her steps in the direction it indicated and completed registration.
Registering alongside her was a very gentle-looking woman. Her hair was loosely gathered into a low bun, with a few fine lines at the corners of her eyes. Everything about her seemed soft and mild.
Lin Yinxi glanced at the woman’s registration details: Song Qianli, thirty-two.
Lin Yinxi registered after her.
The two of them were assigned to the same staff dormitory.
“You’re so young. You look like you’re still a student. Why are you working here?” Holding the dormitory key, Song Qianli struck up a conversation.
Lin Yinxi did not know whether any other humans existed in this scenario besides the original six of them.
But Song Qianli really did seem human.
She gave a half-truth. “Working to pay for my studies.”
“Part-time work at the aquarium is quite hard.” Song Qianli sighed. “Management is very strict here. If this is your first time, you must pay attention to the regulations. Every position has its own work rules. Never break them.”
She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “This isn’t my first time working part-time here. Last time, my roommate made a mistake at work and the foreman took her away. I never managed to contact her again.”
Lin Yinxi nodded at once. “Then if there’s something I don’t understand later, can I ask you?”
“Of course.” Song Qianli smiled. “You’re still a student, yet you’re already working to pay your way. What a sensible child.”
Just then, a man in a deep blue uniform approached, pushing an enormous metal cart.
It was like the cart that had taken Ba Hu’s corpse away earlier, covered with a black cloth.
But this one was loaded high. The black cloth bulged over its contents, and bloody red water dripped from the cart’s edges onto the floor.
More frightening still was the employee pushing it.
Though his uniform was blue, gills grew on his neck. With each breath, the flesh on both sides opened and closed, revealing bright red membranes within.
A white film also covered his eyes.
“Don’t provoke the employees in deep blue uniforms. They’re all foremen, and they’re vicious,” Song Qianli warned.
They stepped aside.
As the cart passed, a bulge suddenly rose beneath its black cloth. A blood-covered human hand reached out from the edge and gripped the cart’s railing.
“Help… help me…” A faint human voice came from beneath the cloth.
Song Qianli leaned against the wall as though she had heard nothing.
Lin Yinxi did not answer the voice either.
The gilled employee stopped and stared woodenly at the hand. Without changing expression, he drew an enormous bone cleaver from his waist and chopped down with a bang.
The severed hand fell to the floor. All movement beneath the black cloth ceased.
The employee picked up the hand, tossed it back into the cart, and resumed pushing. Eventually, he stopped before a pair of heavy iron doors labeled [Feed Processing Room].
He pushed them open and entered. The heavy doors slowly closed behind him.
The corridor fell silent again.
Song Qianli tiredly rubbed her temples and yawned. “I’m exhausted. Let’s hurry back to the dorm. We’re both temporary part-timers. Our assignments change every day, and we might even have night shifts. We’d better get some proper sleep now and build up our energy, so we’ll have the strength to work and save money.”