Vol 2 Chapter 16: Atonement: Red Earth (14)

Ethan and Samuel just ran a few steps in the direction of the lobby and heard a few shots. Their hearts froze, and they quickened their pace. However, the ground under their feet became sticky for some reason, as if it was melting. They could hear the tearing sound of the soles of their shoes when they were forcibly pulled away from the ground. Ethan noticed that there were large black spots on the wall swept by the electric light, as if they were decayed a little bit, and as if the ink was smearing through the paper.
The base is being infected, they are already surrounded, Ethan thought so, and a burst of unprovoked despair suddenly swept through.
He is not a pessimistic person, but the annoying tinnitus constantly stimulates a tight nerve in his mind. The dark surroundings, the incomprehensible creatures and environment, the inexplicable illusions that flashed into his mind from time to time, everything was driving him into madness.
He seemed to hear a voiceless voice telling him in the gap of the tinnitus: Give up, give up, surrender, accept, merge...
Fusion, fusion with eternal chaos, fusion with all human beings and all creatures of the universe, no longer feel alone, no longer need to be afraid, no longer need to be sad...
As if back to the state before birth...
Ethan suddenly realized that he had stopped.
He didn't even know when he stopped. He stood in the darkness, holding a flashlight that had been completely extinguished.
"Samuel?" He called tentatively, but his voice seemed to have been absorbed by the darkness. It didn't spread far, nor did he receive an echo.
Intuition tells him that he has not followed Samus anymore.
Where did Samus go? Where is he himself?
Is he alone?
Shaking the flashlight hurriedly with a trembling hand, apart from the sound of the flashlight's gears rubbing in the dark, I could only hear my own rapid and irregular breathing. The faint light was like a life-saving straw, and he never knew he would be ecstatic about this little light. His wrist was sore, but he didn't dare to stop, until the light was finally strong enough to illuminate the distance in front of him three or two steps away.
He was standing at a crossroad, with corridors extending quietly on all sides. He didn't know this place, and didn't remember that he would pass here from the medical warehouse to the lobby.
Did you go wrong? When did you leave with Samuel? Why don't you remember at all?
One by one, like bubbles popping up and bursting in his mind, he couldn’t concentrate on thinking. The anxiety and panic caused him to sweat on the palms of his hands. He could hardly hold the flashlight, and his feet were generally nervous and pacing in circles, as if too much. Just look around and you can figure out your situation.
There are still many places in the main building of this base that he has not visited, especially the corridors connected to other buildings that cultivate greenhouses or residential areas are very complicated, and it is really easy to get lost without lighting. He told himself over and over again to calm down and don't panic, unaware that he was mumbling out what was in his head. The four fork roads all look exactly the same, without any sense of direction. Ethan swallowed into his dry throat and chose the fork in the road on his left.
The sticky feeling under my feet remains, and the air seems to be getting wetter. He saw that the black mold spots at the joints between the ceiling and the wall were getting denser, and the marks like water stains were still spreading downward. The door of each room was closed tightly. When they first arrived, it was only a little dusty but still intact. At this moment, the door seemed to be a remnant from ancient times, with dark red and dark green rust on the edges. Ethan tried I pulled some of the doors without a code lock, and found that I couldn't pull them at all, as if they had been rusted to death.
The surroundings were terribly quiet, as if he was the only one left in the entire base.
"Samuel!!! Otto!!!" Ethan shouted all the names he remembered in vain, choosing among the branches that kept appearing. These corridors are almost endless, and they all look the same. He felt like he had fallen into a vortex of decaying corridors, and couldn't climb out.
Then he walked into a dead end.
There is a door at the end of the dead end, which is different from all other doors. It is a double-opened mahogany gate, with classical carvings and brass handles on it, calm and clean, as if it was still being used not long ago.
Ethan thought the door was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before. However, the door gave him an extremely evil feeling, as if there were a pair of hollow eyes behind the door, peeping at him through the crack of the door without blinking. He stepped back a few steps, and when he turned around, he froze.
A humanoid shadow was standing motionless at the entrance of this dead end, looking at him with his head tilted.
Ethan felt cold all over, and his heart jumped to his throat.
"Who?"
The other party did not answer, still tilted his head and looked at him motionless.
Ethan looked around in panic, instinctively wanting to ask for help. But at this moment in the depths of the maze woven in this dark corridor, he is alone.
The other party still tilted his head and looked at him motionless.
"Who the are you! I have a gun in my hand!" Ethan didn't know that his voice was trembling, without any deterrent. He deliberately put a hand into his pocket, trying to frighten him.
Suddenly, the man moved.
To be precise, it was not that the person moved, but the surface of his body suddenly moved. In the thin light of the flashlight, the black image suddenly became frizzy, and countless small hair-like things quickly grew out of his surface, like the weird insects I've seen before, and dancing in the air like coral insects in the sea. . The human form quickly became a humanoid hairy ball, but still tilted his head, looking at Ethan as if a little curious. Although Ethan couldn't see his eyes, he just knew that he, or it, was looking at him.
Ethan suddenly understood that Entropy found him. He was trapped in its snare and was about to be eaten.
He started to step back, but when he moved, the thing moved suddenly. It rushed towards him!
Ethan also turned around and ran away, running at a speed he had never reached in his life, and rushed to the mahogany gate within a few seconds. He slammed into it, but the expected impact did not occur, the door was easily knocked open by him, and he fell in.
Behind the door turned out to be a bright, warm and comfortable, with a little orange sunlight sprinkled on his skin, a long-lost cordial taste.
"Hahahahaha..." A string of deep laughter stopped in Ethan's ears, but he was consumed by thunder. He raised his head and saw the man wearing a simple white shirt, barefoot, sitting on the wide bay window reading a book. His eyes were the dark blue of the sky before dawn, his thick eyebrows flew obliquely, and the short beard on his chin felt a rough but charming touch.
Ethan was stupid, just lying on the ground like this, maintaining an embarrassed posture, staring at each other in a daze.
"Why don't you get up? I like the floor of my house so much?" Roland's voice was mellow, and his low tone made him say something casually like he was flirting. Ethan has never been able to refuse him.
Ethan stood up slowly and smiled. His laughter was a bit reluctant and a bit dry.
"I see, I'm probably dreaming." He raised his dark green eyes, his expression was a little hollow, "It's all the up to this point, why would I still see you? You of a bitch!"
Knowing that he was behind the door, it would be better to stay outside and let yourself be swallowed by the shadow.
Roland closed the book and stepped bare feet on the wooden floor. He has always liked the nostalgic and fragile things, wooden floors, paper books, and old wines. He was wearing a loose white shirt and casual trousers, his hair was a little messy, and he had an unruly smile on his face, still looking so beautiful.
It was such a beautiful demon who personally pushed him into the forbidden city and ruined his life.
"I know you hate me, and I know that you are not doing well." Roland's steps are calm and elegant, not hurried or slow, his eyes have been locked tightly with Ethan's, "So, I came to pick you up."
Ethan laughed nervously, "Pick me? Take me to the Third Reich or the Ophiuchus Alliance? How stupid do you think I am to believe you? Why are you here? Am I dead? ?"
"No, you are not dead. If you are willing to follow me, you don't have to be afraid that you will die in the future." Roland stopped two steps in front of him, and his warm palms gently followed his cheeks. Sliding down, but did not touch his skin, only a little bit of air, the warmth has spread to Ethan's skin. Roland raised his brows slightly, and his deep eyes were filled with apology and distress. "You are not a place like the forbidden city at all. You are such a gentle person. You have been silently taking care of your family and friends, acting dutifully. The role of Beta. You are tired, no one understands how tired you are. But I know, I always know."
Roland’s words are like a curse, misty in the golden sunlight, "I know how boring and lonely your life is, and I also know that what you fear most is loneliness. Come and go with me, throw away the forbidden city and death behind you, we will We will never be separated again, you and me, and everything else, we are one, and we will never be separated."
Roland's body smelled with a faint musky scent, his broad and strong arms that surpassed the average Alpha had embraced him so tightly, and that full and lips had kissed him so affectionately. Obviously he had decided to hate him to his bones. Compared with the decay and death that he had just experienced, Ethan was confused.
Yeah, what can I miss? Even if you were lucky enough to survive the darkness outside, you still have to face the boundless life of the forbidden city when you go back. They said that the forbidden city is like a black hole. Anyone who enters it cannot go out.
Roland stretched out his hand to him, the hand with thick joints, but very solid and warm. Compared with everything behind him, it is really wonderful.
Together forever, no fear, no death, no betrayal, no forbidden city.
Even if it’s a dream, it’s good to die in such a dream.
Just as Ethan's hand on his side moved slightly and wanted to lift it up, suddenly his body was hugged tightly by the other body. Those arms were equally strong and warm, tightly enclosing his body, and at the same time a light aura that did not belong to Roland also enveloped him, faintly floating with the holy smell of the blue sea of ​​the setting sun.
"Ethan! Be sober!" With a faint, familiar voice in the Qinglang, Priest Tanithel still wrapped his body with one hand, and the other gloved hand was raised, and there was a small piece of blue on it. Something with irregular shape looks like a small piece of eggshell.
Suddenly, the opposite "Roland" suddenly opened his mouth wide, his jaw opened to an impossible length, and his entire face was stretched and deformed. From the big mouth of the black hole uttered a terrifying scream that made blood freeze. In an instant, all the sunlight suddenly went out, darkness once again encircled and suppressed from all directions, and everything was rotted rapidly. "Roland"'s body quickly turned black and withered like a mold, and finally dissipated like smoke.
Ethan panted, blinking blankly. There is still a corridor in front of him, the difference is that he is still held tightly by the priest. He seemed to have just realized what was happening, and his hand tightly grasped the priest's arm around his waist, "That's...that's..."
Tanithel sighed softly in his ear, "You are affected by the power of Entropy God. She is calling you to use your own memory and complex to let you voluntarily be absorbed by her and become a part of her. Now Her power is gradually infiltrating this base. What you have just seen is the illusion created by the interaction of the energy she has penetrated and your brain waves, and then the illusion is materialized with her limb cells. Once you touch it, you just saw Whatever arrives, she will be infected."