The Creature Keeper - chapter 24

Amidst the broken walls and ruins, a blood-soaked male Security Officer and a woman were running, a massive shadow lurking behind them, relentlessly pursuing.

The Security Officer had been dutifully protecting the woman, his body covered in scratches.

Aside from her disheveled hair and a slightly bedraggled appearance, the Researcher showed no obvious injuries.

Tang Rou couldn’t help but furrow her brows; such commotion was bound to attract more dangerous creatures.

Sure enough, as they rounded an obstacle, two gigantic, unidentified crawling Experimental Subjects suddenly lunged out from the side.

Tang Rou’s heart clenched involuntarily, her fingers instinctively tightening, causing the Mermaid to glance back at her.

The Security Officer fired several shots but couldn’t harm the Experimental Subjects; instead, he only enraged them. The enormous creatures suddenly leapt skyward.

Yet in the next moment, Tang Rou witnessed a scene that left her utterly stunned.

The Researcher suddenly grabbed the Security Officer’s shoulder and, with all her strength, shoved him forward – straight into the Experimental Subject’s gaping maw – while she quickly darted beneath the newly formed Triangular Shed created by the collapse.

Tang Rou felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head.

The Mermaid watched indifferently, her expression utterly unperturbed.

After the two Experimental Subjects trampled over the Security Officer’s face, twisted in shock and despair, and left, the woman finally covered her mouth and cautiously poked her head out.

She sobbed as she scanned for an escape route, but was caught off guard when her gaze met Tang Rou’s, who had witnessed everything.

In an instant, her face was flooded with embarrassment and surprise, along with the shame of having her dirty secret exposed.

Then her gaze shifted, landing beside Tang Rou.

At that moment, all her emotions were replaced by another expression.

“He…”

The Researcher’s face turned deathly pale, her expression beyond mere shock. She raised her hand, as if seeing something utterly unbelievable.

Yet she was unaware of the danger silently approaching from behind – the massive Eyeless Creature was creeping forward.

Tang Rou did not warn her.

When the shadow engulfed the ground and the woman looked up, it was already too late.

In an instant, the Eyeless Creature’s mountain-like body crushed the metal Triangular Shed, and the woman’s scream was abruptly cut off, as if her throat had been forcibly strangled.

With a sickening squelch and the screech of metal, the Triangular Shed was flattened.

Thin streams of blood seeped from beneath the metal plates, a silent testament to everything that had happened.

At some point, the rain had stopped.

A cold wind blew, the damp clothes clinging to her body, and Tang Rou let out a guttural sound as stomach acid surged.

The Mermaid lifted her head from Tang Rou’s arm and looked over at her.

Tang Rou’s complexion was terrible, her brows tightly knit, her bloodless lips trembling.

Yes, humans are a species that falls ill easily; they fear cold and heat, fear harm, and die easily.

She wanted to vomit, but her stomach was empty.

Tang Rou began to retch uncontrollably.

The scene of the woman’s death replayed endlessly in her mind – the shock on her face before dying, and the image of her body being crushed – like a malignant tumor taking root in Tang Rou’s brain, agitating her nerves and making her retch without restraint.

Facing death so closely for the first time, she found it unbearable.

Covering her mouth did nothing to quell the churning in her stomach, and soon her eyes reddened from the nausea.
In a certain instant, Tang Rou heard a sigh devoid of warmth.

A cold sensation crept up the back of her neck; someone touched her throat, gently stroking it.

“Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Tang Rou couldn’t make out what he was saying.

The next second, raindrops froze in midair-Time Reorganization.

A cool feeling swept through her mind; in an instant, light and shadow twisted, the world shattered into indescribable shapes, her thoughts were crushed and then reassembled, as if she had crossed a long corridor.

At the end of the corridor was the world from a dozen minutes ago.

Time Reorganization.

Accompanied by a startled cry, Tang Rou opened her eyes. Two people were running from the edge of the Hexagonal Plaza. She blinked, staring in shock as the woman grabbed the Security Officer, shoved him toward the gaping maw of the Experimental Subject, and simultaneously hid in the shadow of the Triangular Shed.

The Mermaid had somehow pressed close to her side, whispering, “Look.”

Following the direction of the Mermaid’s finger, Tang Rou saw the Experimental Subject behind the woman, massive as a mountain, while the woman remained oblivious, quietly peeking out after the Security Officer’s death.

“It’s about to crush her. Should we warn her?”

The voice by her ear was gentle and ethereal, almost bewitching.

Strangely, the edges of her vision were very dark.

With her memories reassembled by Time Reorganization, Tang Rou didn’t notice anything amiss. She simply stared in shock as the Security Officer was swallowed whole by the Experimental Subject, then watched as the enormous, mountain-like Eyeless Creature slowly rolled into the Triangular Shed.

But in the end, she said nothing. The moment before the Triangular Shed collapsed, Time Reorganization occurred.

“Aren’t you going to warn her?” the Mermaid suddenly asked.

Tang Rou was stunned.

During Time Reorganization, even the raindrops were frozen. The woman moved alone, turned her head, and looked at her across the distance.

She opened her mouth, but it was a man’s voice: “Aren’t you sad because of my death?”

Tang Rou’s head hurt; she pressed her temples and shook her head. “No, why should I save her?” She heard her own voice say, “She harmed someone. If I warn her, she’ll harm me.”

“But you seem very upset.”

Tang Rou felt a bit lost.

Her thoughts were stuffed with cotton; she didn’t know who was speaking to her, nor what had happened.

In the next instant, Time Reorganization occurred again.

This time, the scene changed once more. The two people still ran from the edge of the Hexagonal Plaza; the Security Officer shot and killed the Experimental Subject chasing them, then discovered the giant creature wriggling up from behind, shot and killed that behemoth as well, and dragged the woman away by the hand.

The two successfully escaped danger.

The ethereal voice sounded again by her ear, “How about this? If I give you this memory, will you feel better?”

A chilling cold climbed up her spine; Tang Rou’s headache grew worse. “No, that’s not right.”

The moment before the man and woman ran out of the Hexagonal Plaza, they stopped, turned around, and looked at her in unison. “What’s not right?”

Their expressions were identical, their voices exactly the same, as if a third person was using their bodies to speak to Tang Rou.