Watching the long, sharp teeth draw near his head, Charles, in a panic, swung the large bundle in his hands with all his might, using the recoil to pull himself out of danger. But as he did so, his clothes, caught on the teeth, ripped with a loud tearing sound, scattering countless relics across the ground, clattering and ringing.


    Among them, the ancient oil lamp trembled slightly before suddenly emitting a dazzling light, illuminating the entire corridor as bright as day. The flying leeches, seemingly stimulated by something, began to twitch like they were electrocuted.


    Charles wasn’t about to let this perfect escape opportunity slip by. Without a second thought, he grabbed the remaining small bundle of items and ran for his life.


    He ran at humanly impossible speeds for nearly five minutes, and when he saw that nothing was chasing him, he finally stopped, gasping for breath. When he looked at the few relics left in his arms, his heart ached. Inside his tattered clothes, only four relics remained.


    “Damn you, you slimy bugs! I’ll remember this grudge! Wait until I make it big, I’ll come back and boil all of you alive!!”


    After venting his frustrations, Charles straightened up and stood, surveying the dim surroundings. If the previous place had resembled a hospital, this one was a military base. The walls were no longer bright white tiles but thick steel plates.


    This was a place he hadn’t been to before, seemingly having run to a different location in his panic.


    “Hello, is anyone there?” Charles’s voice echoed through the air.


    He walked along the wall towards the interior, and soon, a nearly five-meter-high circular iron door appeared in front of him. The door, nearly half a meter thick, was not intact; a crack almost split it in two.


    Charles carefully peered inside and discovered a large space. Suddenly, a distant cough came from within, startling Charles. “What? Is there someone alive in here?”


    After glancing behind him, Charles quietly stepped over the crack and walked inside.


    As soon as he entered, Charles was stunned by the sight before him. It was a long tunnel resembling an air-raid shelter, with iron doors every hundred meters. The nearest door had come off its hinges and was forcibly embedded in the ceiling.


    “Cough… cough cough!” The coughing sound came again from afar, seemingly from an elderly person.


    Charles slowed his pace and made his way towards the source of the sound.


    Soon, Charles saw where the coughing was coming from: broken intestines, congealed blood, lifeless eyes, withered limbs, and a incomplete brain. A flesh door made of these materials was placed in the center of the fourth door, with a writhing purple liquid inside the doorframe.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    On the left bottom of that door was a bloodied corpse with only half of its upper body, which had just emitted the coughing sound. The mutilated body opened its eyes and looked at Charles at the door.


    “Ah~ 096, have you finally found another host? Come, come, since being sent to this hellish place, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Let’s have a good chat.”


    He knows me? No, he recognizes the mask on my face?


    Charles’s gaze swept over the notebook on the wall, project number: “1068.”


    “Haha, I thought who it was, it’s 1068! Long time no see, old friend. Yes, yes, I’m 096.” Charles familiarity walked towards the flesh door.


    The bloodied corpse on the door stared at Charles for a few seconds before shaking its head gently. “No, you’re not 096. You haven’t become it.”


    Realizing he couldn’t fool this creature, Charles dropped the act and asked, “Hey, do you know where the exit to this place is?”


    “Are you being realistic asking a immobile old man for directions? Have humans become stupid over the years?”


    Over the years? Has this creature been around for that long? Could it know something about the surface?


    After pondering for a moment, Charles began to ask it about the surface.


    “Ah~ the sun, of course I know it. It’s that thing hanging in the sky. I haven’t felt the sun’s warmth in a long time. Can you move me out to bask in it for a while?”


    Hearing this exciting news, Charles suddenly jumped over like a monkey, holding the bloodied corpse’s head tightly and shouting excitedly, “When did you see it? How long ago was it?”


    “Damn it! Don’t pull my head!! I still have feelings!”


    “Clang!” The black knife inserted in Charles’s calf was pulled out, and he pressed it against the creature’s face, threatening sternly, “Cut the crap! Tell me now!”


    A hint of anger appeared on 1068’s mutilated face, “The door on my body, if you pass through the door on my body, you can see the sun.”


    “The door?” Charles thought of something and walked to the door, looking at the notebook hanging on the wall.


    After a few seconds, he stormed back, slashing at its neck with his knife. “How dare you lie to me! It’s clearly written here that beyond your door is another world! Nothing that goes in comes out alive!”


    As 1068 let out a scream, the entire flesh door seemed to feel pain and twitched continuously.


    “You deserve to be used as toilet paper, you trash! I curse you,” 1068 dropped the act and cursed at Charles.


    “Tell me quickly! Waste any more time and I’ll cut your head off!”


    Seeing the blade so close, 1068 finally caved in.


    It spoke in a dispirited tone, “I forget the exact time, but the last time I saw the sun was when they took me to a ship. I stayed on that ship for a long time.”


    “Hahaha!” Charles, overwhelmed with joy, flipped through the air and laughed maniacally.


    “I knew someone came down from the surface! I knew it!! If they can come down, I can definitely go up!!”


    But Charles’s celebration was short-lived as familiar red lights illuminated the room from outside.


    “Damn it! The leeches are back!” Charles looked around for a place to hide, but he soon realized that except for the flesh door, there was nothing in the room that could provide cover.


    Charles’s mind raced, and suddenly he thought of a plan. He rushed to the corner of the room and, like a gecko, quickly climbed to the top left corner.


    Charles pressed his limbs tightly against the two walls, using his strong body control to wedge himself into the corner.


    Just as he settled in, three flying leeches with glowing red lights floated in.


    The leeches didn’t notice Charles and went straight to 1068, vomiting half-rotten rats into the black door.


    “Are they… feeding 1068? Why?”


    As Charles puzzled over this, 1068 began to speak. “Dr. Tina, you are still as beautiful as ever.”


    “Who is it talking to?” Another question popped into Charles’s mind.


    At that moment, he suddenly saw 1068 look up at him, a smug smile on its mutilated face. Charles’s heart skipped a beat.


    “Dr. Tina! 096 has escaped!! It’s currently hanging in the top left corner of the room! Quickly contain it!!”