My heart stopped. I reached out with trembling fingers and held them under his nose.
For a long time, I felt nothing. Not a whisper of breath.
I held my hand there until my arm ached, until I couldn't keep it up anymore.
He was gone. No breath. No sign of life at all.
...
I collapsed on the ground, every ounce of strength leaving my body.
It turns out that when grief is deep enough, you can't even cry.
I just felt a crushing weight on my chest, and an overwhelming exhaustion.
I felt lost. I didn't know where to go or what to do.
A weak cough came from beside me. I startled, then felt a sinking disappointment when I saw Kevin pulling himself up.
He dragged himself inch by inch across the floor and leaned against the ice wall.
I picked up my ice axe and walked toward him.
I was going to kill him.
"Chloe," Kevin said, sensing my approach. He looked up, and a single tear rolled from his eye. It hit the ground and froze into a tiny ice pellet.
His face was blank, but deep pain lived in his gaze.
"Stop pretending," I said, standing over him. "Any last words?"
Kevin pressed a hand to his stomach, breathing hard. He turned his head to look at Marcus's body.
He wiped the tear from his face.
"Chloe, I know you want to kill me to avenge Marcus. I won't stop you."
"You can't stop me." I raised my ice axe.
"Chloe, do you want to know the truth about this place?"
Kevin gave a bitter smile. "I'm not going to make it. No rush to kill me. Just hear me out."
I hesitated, then lowered my axe. "Talk."
"My real name isn't Zhang Gui. It's Zhang Lun. I'm the Zhang Lun from the photo."
My chest tightened. Of course. That whole story about his uncle had been a lie.
Whose uncle looks exactly like them? Down to the mole on their face?
But back then, none of us had wanted to doubt him. We'd fooled ourselves into believing that ridiculous explanation.
"Before we left, someone called to tell you not to come, right?"
I nodded. "How do you know?"
Kevin's lips twitched.
"That was me. It was my last moment of clarity."
He stopped holding his stomach and let his hands fall open, staring at the ice wall lit by reflected light — or maybe looking at something far, far away.
"You remember what I told you about the 1997 British-American expedition detecting a high-frequency sound wave in the deep waters near here?
"The frequency didn't match any known biological sound.
"Based on the wavelength and duration, they estimated the creature producing it could be over a hundred meters long.
"I wasn't trying to scare you. It was the truth."
---
"Twenty years ago, several of us came to investigate what was producing that sound wave. Our goals were the same as yours — to study it, to make a name for ourselves.
"Expedition Ship 1740 was the vessel I took to Antarctica the first time."
Kevin turned to look at me with effort.
"You read the journal, I assume. At first, we found nothing.
"Then, days later, we detected the signal again, this time from inside an ice cave.
"After that, we followed the signal down into this place.
"Unfortunately, we ran into the White Ones almost immediately.
"We also found a vial of the antidote by accident, and we managed to kill the previous Mother.
"But by then, Sylvia had already been captured and transformed.
"Only three of us made it out. We planned to sail back immediately and get help.
"But the White Ones tracked our scent to the ship. My two companions were dragged off, and I only survived by hiding in the storage room and dousing myself in alcohol to mask my scent."
Now I understood. The black stain in the journal — that had been blood. Blood so old it had turned completely black.
"What are those things?"
Kevin managed a weak smile.
"They're not underground people or prehistoric creatures. They're human beings.
"People who were forcibly turned into monsters."
It was the first time I'd heard Kevin swear.
His voice was thick with hatred.
"In 1930, the Germans hauled an unknown white creature from the deep waters off Antarctica.
"Strangely, this creature could divide its cells infinitely and rapidly. Whether you burned it, froze it, cut it, or put it in a vacuum, it couldn't be killed.
"Similar to tardigrades, in a way. You know tardigrades? They can even survive in outer space."
I nodded. "And then?"
Kevin's voice dropped.
"But unlike tardigrades, this creature could bond with female human genes.
"Without even needing surgery. Just drink its blood, and a woman would be transformed into what you just saw.
"The transformed woman becomes queen-like — she can convert any man within a certain range into a White One, like me.
"White Ones are impervious to blades and fire. They're the ultimate biological weapon.
"I don't know exactly how the conversion works, but it's like Medusa's gaze — simply being near her starts to transform you into a White One.
"Fortunately, before she matures, the Mother can't move. She just waits."
I frowned. "How long does that take?"
Kevin shook his head. "I don't know. The Germans discovered that the White Ones only obeyed the Mother and completely ignored human commands.
"And the Mother's conversion of White Ones was uncontrollable — many of the researchers themselves became White Ones.
"They got scared and shut down the project. A lot of the data was incomplete.
"The bottom line is that there's never been a fully mature Mother.
"But even though the Germans stopped experimenting, they couldn't bring themselves to destroy such valuable specimens. So they sealed the Mother and her converted White Ones in the ice beneath Antarctica, planning to restart the program later.
"By then, Germany had lost the war. The project was top secret, and the people who knew about it probably all died. This place was slowly forgotten.
"Nobody expected the Mother to be able to melt through the ice and release the White Ones.
"According to the experimental records, the ideal Mother host should be a woman between twenty and thirty with type B blood. But the Germans didn't have a type B candidate when they ran the experiments, so the Mother they created was imperfect and nearly dead before she could mature."
My heart skipped a beat.
I had type B blood. And if I remembered correctly, so did Serena.
Was this a coincidence, or...
He turned to look at me, and the pain in his eyes was almost unbearable. "So she sent out a sound wave, hoping to attract a new Mother before she died."
A bolt of understanding struck me. I remembered the massive brown patch on top of the flesh mound.
A terrible suspicion formed in my mind.
"So the new Mother..."
"That's right." Kevin nodded. "The new Mother is Sylvia — our teammate.
"Professor Marshall's wife."
Goosebumps rippled across my skin.
The Professor I'd respected and trusted twisted into something monstrous in my mind.
"Then why did he bring us here? And what about the ice lake samples?"
Kevin shook his head. "I don't know. The White Ones might have tunneled through to the lake and left samples there.
"But even without those samples, Marshall would have found another excuse to bring you here."
He seemed exhausted. He closed his eyes and rested for a moment, gathering his strength, then continued. "Marshall must have come back for Sylvia later. He actually found this place — lucky bastard.
"He probably found the research documents from another lab.
"Before the Mother matures, she can't move. The only way the previous Mother can detach is if a new Mother is connected in the conversion pool.
"Marshall brought you here to replace Sylvia.
"Only when one of you becomes the new Mother can Sylvia be freed."
In that instant, it felt like my chest had been ripped open, and freezing wind howled through the hole, turning my blood to ice.
We were nothing but replacement parts to Professor Marshall.
No wonder he'd been so urgent.
He was in a rush to bring us here to die!
No — becoming that thing was worse than dying! My nails dug into my palms, but I felt no pain.
"Can she still be changed back?"
Kevin gave a bitter, almost mocking smile. "Skin can stretch, but it can't shrink back.
"Marshall was delusional. Sylvia had become a Mother through and through, completely beyond reason.
"The transformation is irreversible. Once it starts, there's no going back."
I was quiet for a moment, then asked, "What about the rest of your team?"
Kevin's voice was barely a whisper. "After Sylvia became the Mother, everyone there was converted into White Ones.
"The three of us who escaped didn't know it yet, because we hadn't started changing.
"But when I made it back with the documents, I discovered my body was showing the same symptoms as the White Ones.
"My skin started turning white. I shrank. I could hear—"
He choked. "I could hear the call constantly. The Mother's voice was in my head, telling me to come back, to be her child again.
"Sylvia had just become the Mother then, and her conversion ability might not have been strong yet. I spent years in terror, but eventually I realized that apart from these changes, I could still maintain my basic human form.
"At first, I could hold on to my human consciousness. But over time, that slipped away too. I became a White One wearing human skin.
"I started feeling like this place was my real home. These monsters were my family."
He turned his head to look at me, and the pain in his eyes was bottomless.
"I was never fully converted, but I'm not human anymore.
"I became something in between — a monster that doesn't belong anywhere."
---
I couldn't speak. My ice axe dangled uselessly at my side.
Kevin turned his head to look at me. "Chloe, the antidote you're carrying was extracted from the bone marrow of the white unknown creature.
"This creature is paradoxical. Its own blood is the poison, and its own bone marrow is the antidote.
"If you pour the antidote into the conversion pool, the Mother will die completely."
His eyes blazed with an almost manic intensity. He grabbed my hand and begged me.
"Kill her! Follow the path behind you and you'll reach the Mother chamber! The White Ones have already scented you — you can't escape that way!
"The previous generation of White Ones are dead. The current ones are my former teammates! They've been trapped in this underground darkness for twenty years. Free them!"
Deep agony etched his face.
"Chloe, this mistake has existed for nearly a hundred years.
"We couldn't end it. I'm begging you — end it. Or when the Mother matures and gets out, the whole world will become a living hell!"
Finally, Kevin's voice dropped to barely a whisper.
"Zhang Gui... return home... but I can never go back.
"I'm sorry, Chloe."
As soon as he finished speaking, his body began to melt like a snow cone left in the sun, rapidly dissolving into a pool of water that couldn't even freeze.
...
Kevin was dead.
I sat on the ground, unable to move.
My ice axe clattered to the floor with a dull thud.
Of the five of us who'd come to Antarctica, only three remained.
Slowly, I crouched down and covered my eyes.
Marcus's body was completely cold. As cold as the ice surrounding us.
His face was blue, and he lay silent and still.
I fantasized that he might suddenly open his eyes, grin, and say, "Just kidding. Look at you, scaredy-cat."
But I knew that was just a fantasy.
I knelt beside Marcus's body and gently touched his face, then smoothed his hair.
"I'm sorry I can't give you a proper burial."
My mouth twisted into something worse than a smile.
"I have to go save the world now. Your spirit better watch over me.
"If I succeed, I'll apply for a hero's memorial for you. If I fail, we'll walk the road to the underworld together.
"When they dig us up in ten thousand years, at least we'll be hugging. They'll make a movie about us."
Marcus didn't respond. He just lay there, silent and still.
One of his hands was tucked inside his jacket, as if reaching for something.
I took a breath and reached into his clothes.
Following his cold fingers, I found a small metal rectangle — a phone.
It still held a faint trace of his body heat. He must have kept it close to prevent the battery from dying in the cold.
I picked up the phone. The screen flickered to life.
The lock screen showed a face I knew well.
It was me, laughing at a baby seal with a huge grin, eyes crinkled with joy.
He'd taken it secretly when we were watching the seals. No wonder he'd refused to show me what he was photographing.
In that moment, my heart felt like it had been thrown into a meat grinder — ground into chunks of bloody flesh mixed with ice, cold and searing at once.
I doubled over, the pain so intense I could barely breathe.
For a moment, I really wanted to lie down beside him and freeze to death.
To hell with Professor Marshall, to hell with Kevin, to hell with the monsters, to hell with saving the world!
I was done.
...
But in the end, I wiped my face, stood up, shouldered both my pack and Marcus's, and walked toward the rear passage.
Behind me was the dark ice cave, and I didn't know what horrors lurked within.
This time, no one was beside me to protect me.
But I was beyond fear.
---
I felt like I'd become a machine.
I felt no cold, no exhaustion. I simply walked toward the path Kevin had indicated.
After a long time, I came upon another ice chamber.
This one had been carved from the side, much smaller than the one Marcus and I had found earlier.
I ducked down and crept inside.
Unlike the previous chamber, which had clearly been carefully excavated, this one looked hastily dug out.
The walls were rough, still bearing chisel marks.
It was small — only a few square meters — and so low I had to stoop.
But the floor was covered with scattered documents, papers, and photographs.
I still couldn't read the documents — the numbers were the only thing that made sense to me. I stuffed everything into my pack for later.
Marcus, that jerk, claimed he'd studied German in college, but he barely knew a word.
Waiting for him to translate would be less reliable than guessing.
I tried to smile, but my mouth wouldn't cooperate. Instead, my chest seized with a sharp, aching pang.
I crouched down and gathered the photographs.
They were all old and yellowed, as if the people who'd been here had left in a great hurry.
Brushing away the frost, I found a photo of a beautiful blonde girl smiling at the camera.
The black-and-white photograph was stained with dark spots, parts blurry, but her golden hair seemed to gleam like silk in the light.
I flipped through a few more — all of the same girl.
She wore a dress, her cinched waist as slender and flexible as a willow in spring.
As I kept going, the girl's smile gradually disappeared.
She sat inside a cage, her body bloated, her face pale.
Her figure had swollen enormously, her once-narrow waist inflated like a balloon.
Her eyes had lost their sparkle, dry and shriveled like raisins in the sun.
Her silken golden hair fell out in clumps until a grotesque bald head was revealed.
My hands began to tremble.
That was the last photo where the girl was still recognizable.
On the next one, the girl was gone entirely, replaced by a pale, massive mound of flesh.
Several White Ones surrounded her like worker ants around their queen — eerie and repulsive.
A number was marked at the bottom: 002.
My heart contracted.
Did 002 mean this was the second experimental Mother?
What about 001?
Were there 003, 004, 005?
I didn't know.
All I knew was that in a handful of photographs, a girl whose smile was brighter than spring had been transformed into a monster.
Experiments. War.
There were no monsters.
Humans were the most terrifying monsters of all.
I put the photos in my pack and squeezed out of the ice chamber, pressing on.
In the distance, a beam of light suddenly appeared — a flashlight.
My heart dropped. I ducked behind a corner of the ice wall.
Of the five of us who'd entered, Marcus and Kevin were both dead.
The only ones who could be using a flashlight were Professor Marshall and Serena.
My feelings toward Professor Marshall were complicated.
He'd been a respected, caring mentor. Now he was the devil who'd pushed us into hell.
I wanted to believe Kevin was lying, that it was all a trick.
But Professor Marshall's stubborn behavior, the yellowed photo of Sylvia, and the monstrous experimental chamber all fit together.
Marcus's death was directly connected to him.
If I confronted him now, either Serena or I would be converted into a Mother, and the other one would probably be silenced.
My heart pounded like a drum. I didn't dare reveal myself.
I had to save myself, and I had to save Serena!
The instant Professor Marshall's head appeared around the corner, I swung my ice axe downward with all my might!
I used the flat end, not the pick — I wanted to knock him out and tie him up first.
But in a split second, another axe shot out and blocked my blow!
Metal struck metal with a deafening clang!
I stumbled back and stared in disbelief — the axe that had blocked mine belonged to Serena!
She gripped her axe with white knuckles, eyes wide. "Chloe?!"
---
I was frantic. "Are you crazy? Why are you blocking me?!"
She stammered, "I thought it was one of those white monsters! Wait—" She realized what was happening. "Why are you attacking the Professor?!"
Professor Marshall had recovered by now. His eyes — those hooded, calculating eyes — locked on me with unmasked malice.
I had no doubt. He genuinely wanted me dead.
---
I shouted at Serena. "Come over here! Professor Marshall wants to turn us into monsters! His wife has already become the Mother, and without a new Mother she can't detach! He brought us here to replace her!"
A murderous glint flashed in Professor Marshall's eyes. "Chloe, what are you talking about?"
"That's right, what nonsense!" Serena frowned at me. "Chloe, has the cold messed with your brain?
"The Professor found the 'antidote' on the way here, and we've already killed two monsters! Besides, the Professor's wife died years ago. What Mother are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?"
I was desperate. Serena was still protecting him, the idiot!
"Marcus and Kevin are both dead!! Don't you believe me? Are you actually waiting to become a monster?! Professor Marshall dragged us down here against all reason — didn't you feel something was wrong?!"
Serena's mouth opened slightly, but she didn't speak.
She shot a suspicious glance at Professor Marshall. She must have started to realize his behavior was off.
"Heh..."
Just then, Professor Marshall let out a dry laugh.
"Chloe, you ungrateful brat. Your teacher dragged his old bones all the way out here to help you find material for your theses, and this is how you repay me? Making up nonsense?
"My wife died twenty years ago. How could she possibly be in Antarctica, turned into some monster?"
He narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "You must have found something valuable and want to keep it for yourself, haven't you?
"You killed Marcus and Kevin too, didn't you? Now you're trying to separate me from Serena to pick us off one by one. Isn't that right?"
Serena turned to look at me with suspicion. I saw her grip on the axe tighten.
"You've always been the most ambitious one. Chloe, you're really too ruthless. I can't believe you'd kill your own classmates just to monopolize the discovery!"
The old bastard was turning the tables!
I looked at Serena. "We might not get along, but you know what kind of person I am."
I pulled out the photo of Professor Marshall and Sylvia and handed it to her. "Look for yourself. His wife was on Expedition 376! They all became monsters!"
Professor Marshall's hands tightened at his sides.
Serena took the photo half-skeptically, but before she could look at it—
A White One suddenly burst from a side tunnel, lunging at Serena!
She screamed and instinctively threw herself backward.
Professor Marshall grabbed her hand. "Run!"
Before I could react, he'd dragged Serena into the darkness.
The White One chased after them and quickly disappeared.
The photo never got seen. Serena had flung it aside in her panic, and it drifted to the floor.
"...Damn it! What the hell is wrong with everything?!"
Serena was such an idiot. No wonder she still hadn't published a single paper!
I kicked the ice in frustration, grabbed the test tubes, and ran after them.
Serena and the Professor were fast — tearing through the tunnels at full speed.
She'd always acted delicate around us, claiming she couldn't open a jar. But when she blocked my axe, she'd had plenty of strength. Not just jars — she could've opened a water cooler jug!
The ice cave was full of branching tunnels. Before long, I'd lost them.
I leaned against the wall, panting. I stood at a junction with three identical-looking tunnel openings. Who knew which way they'd gone?
Serena, you absolute moron. I was trying to save her and she ran away!
I waited for a long time but heard nothing.
They must have gotten far ahead.
I decided to go back and wait.
You can run but you can't hide! Sylvia was here, and Marshall wouldn't be far. He'd eventually come back down. I'd destroy his wife first, then deal with him.
I dug out my remaining half-pack of compressed biscuits and washed them down with nearly frozen water from my thermos. Then I turned and headed back.
Maybe because I was carrying the antidote, no White Ones attacked me this time. I made it back to the main path without incident.
Following Kevin's directions, I walked for who knows how long until the familiar white glow appeared ahead.
The Mother chamber.
The Professor's wife was here.
To be honest, it was hard to connect Sylvia with the Mother.
That woman with the large birthmark on her face who smiled like the sun — she'd been the only woman on the expedition team.
A waist you could span with your hands, yet she carried determination and courage that belied her delicate frame.
To be a female expedition member in that era, she must have been extraordinary.
But now, that beautiful, brilliant woman had been turned into a mound of rotting flesh beneath the ice.
And this mound of flesh had one purpose — to convert people into White Ones.
If Sylvia still had any consciousness, how tormented would she be? Would she want to live like this?
Or would she rather be put out of her misery?
I didn't know, and I wouldn't give her the choice.
Just as Kevin had said, this mistake had existed for far too long. It was time someone ended it.
I strode into the Mother chamber with a stony expression.
The moment I entered, I spotted Professor Marshall standing in the center of the chamber, facing the flesh mound. The cigarette in his hand had burned down to the filter, and ash was scattered on the ground.
Damn it — I was too late again!
He must have known a shortcut to get here before me.
But where was Serena?
She wasn't with him.
Marshall needed Serena for the conversion, so he wouldn't kill her. Had she been taken by a White One?
I scanned the room and found Serena lying next to the conversion pool, eyes closed, motionless. I couldn't tell if she was alive or dead.
This was bad. Had Serena already started converting?
Professor Marshall heard my footsteps but didn't turn around.
He stared at the writhing flesh mound with an entranced fixation, like an ant gazing at a piece of rotting meat.
He didn't seem to find the creature disgusting at all. He approached the folds of flesh and stroked them tenderly. "Sylvia, I've come for you.
"You won't have to freeze in here anymore."
---
A cold weight settled in my chest. Marshall had sacrificed so many lives to save his wife.
You could call him devoted. He'd truly loved Sylvia — spending all these years searching for her, never giving up.
He'd known that if the authorities found out, Sylvia would probably end up on a dissection table. So he'd kept the secret for nearly twenty years, scheming alone in the dark, all to save her.
After Sylvia disappeared, he'd never remarried, never had children. For twenty years, he'd lived alone, guarding this secret.
He'd poured his entire life into saving Sylvia. It had become his faith, the thing that kept him going all those years.
But you could also call him heartless.
We'd been his students for two or three years. We'd treated him with respect and care, taking turns keeping him company on holidays so the lonely old man wouldn't be alone.
One year, Marcus had even skipped going home for New Year's Eve just to eat dinner with him.
But in his eyes, our devotion was nothing but pathetic sentimentality.
From the start, we were just tools for saving Sylvia. How could he ever care about tools?
Still, I turned to look at the writhing flesh mound.
Was this really still Sylvia?
Could it even be called human anymore?
Even if it somehow retained a sliver of Sylvia's consciousness, how could a creature over a hundred meters long be transported out of here?
Marshall was living in a fantasy.
I knew that reasoning with him was pointless. I pulled out the test tubes and charged toward the conversion pool.
I was going to destroy this monster with my own hands. I'd make Marshall feel what it was like to watch the person he loved die in front of him!
Marshall saw the test tubes in my hand, and his expression changed. "What are you doing?!"
He lunged at me with his axe.
In that instant, he was no longer the professor who'd graded our papers and worried about our graduations.
Every crease on his face was twisted with hysteria, like a beast defending its territory.
My eyes were red. I gripped my axe tight.
Neither of us spoke, but we fought as if our lives depended on it.
Marshall had given up every shred of humanity to save his wife. In his eyes, I was the one trying to kill her.
And in mine, he'd gotten Marcus killed.
---
If he hadn't brought us here, we could still be back home, happy, going out for barbecue and hotpot.
But now, everything was gone.
I quickened my pace and swung my axe at him with all my might.
Clang!
Our axes collided with a spark that died in an instant. Both of us struck with the intent to kill.
My hand stung from the impact. I spun away from his second swing.
Former teacher and student, now mortal enemies. Neither spoke. We just fought with everything we had.
Marshall was nearly sixty, and he'd probably been fighting White Ones earlier. Even with early treatment, he was likely injured.
I could see blood seeping through the side of his jacket.
I was a ninety-pound woman who'd been walking and terrified all day.
We were evenly matched.
But we'd both thrown caution to the wind. I could see my own savage reflection in Marshall's bloodshot eyes.
This was a fight to the death.
Only one of us was walking out of here.
Marshall's axe came down hard on my arm. I bit back a scream and kicked him in the knee.
He went down, gasping like a broken bellows.
Marshall looked up at me, his face twisted into a mad grin.
"Chloe, don't try to stop me. I've waited twenty years for this day. You can't stop me.
"I can use Serena for the conversion. Turn around and walk away, and we'll leave each other alone!"
I stared at his bloodshot eyes, my blood running cold.
Marshall had lost his mind.
Or maybe he'd lost it the day he learned Sylvia had become a monster. The old Marshall had died when she disappeared. All that remained was a shell driven by obsession.
I braced myself on my axe, panting. "What's the point?
"She's not Sylvia anymore. Did you really think you'd take this thing home and live happily ever after? Have kids?"
Marshall's face twisted. "Shut up! This is Sylvia!"
He raised his axe and brought it down at my head. I dodged to the right and swung my axe at his wrist.
Marshall howled, and his axe clattered to the ground.
He lunged at me and tried to throw me to the ground. I pounded my axe into his back.
He body-slammed me to the ground, and my head cracked against the ice. Stars exploded before my eyes and my axe went flying.
Marshall mounted me and wrapped his hands around my throat, eyes bulging. "Die!"
I grabbed his wrists with all my strength and drove my knee into his groin.
He gasped and loosened his grip. I seized the moment and swung my fist into his eye socket.
The blow sent him tumbling off me. He clutched his eye and reached for my throat again, but I rolled away.
"Damn you," Marshall wheezed, staggering to his feet. "I brought you and Serena along because you're both type B, just to be safe. If I'd known... if I'd known, I should've killed you the moment we came down here!"
I let out a bitter laugh, but before I could reply, the flesh mound shuddered behind us.
Its folds convulsed wildly. The umbilical cord connecting the Mother to the conversion pool twitched and began to rise slightly.
It was about to detach! There was no time!
I feinted, abandoned my axe, and sprinted toward the conversion pool. Marshall roared behind me: "Stop!"
Like hell I'd stop!
I raced forward. I was about to reach the conversion pool and smash the test tubes into it when Marshall launched himself at me from behind, driving his axe into my back.
The pointed end pierced through my thick jacket, sending a lance of agony through me. The test tubes slipped from my grasp and went rolling across the ice.
I lunged for them, but it was useless. I watched in despair as they tumbled further and further away.
Marshall limped toward me, panting like a broken dog.
He planted his foot on my hand and ground it in, then spat on my head.
"Damn it, you almost ruined everything, you bitch."
The pain was excruciating. Even through my gloves, I felt like my fingers were being crushed. I couldn't hold back a groan.
Marshall laughed hoarsely and grabbed my hair, dragging me toward the conversion pool. I twisted to look at him.
"Ma Fuzhong, Marcus is dead. Don't you regret it?"
Marshall paused, then said without changing expression, "That was his fate."
Marcus had been Marshall's favorite student. The Professor had said more than once that he wished he had a son like him.
When Marshall moved apartments, Marcus hadn't let him hire movers. He'd spent two days going up and down dozens of flights of stairs, packing everything perfectly.
The Professor had always looked out for Marcus, found him work, even set him up on dates.
But now, Marcus's death was nothing more than a throwaway line.
He called it fate.
As if Marcus's death was no more significant than a stray cat or dog.
Was this freezing, godforsaken place really Marcus's fate?
I clenched my jaw so hard I tasted iron.
Marshall's voice was a rasp. "Everyone dies eventually. You can keep Sylvia company down here.
"You're both better than her — she's been alone for twenty years. At least you'll have each other. I've been more than fair."
A wave of nausea rolled through me. I closed my eyes and said nothing.
Marshall apparently thought I'd lost the will to fight. He dragged me toward the conversion pool like a dead animal.
The foul liquid drew closer and closer. Just before my face touched it, I opened my eyes and swung the ice axe in my left hand straight at Marshall's head.
It was Marcus's axe, the one I'd hidden in my jacket.
Marshall dodged too slowly. I struck him hard on the shoulder.
His eyes were a mass of burst blood vessels, like writhing worms trying to burst through his skin.
Marshall gasped, glaring at me with venomous hatred, his grip on my hair tightening.
My scalp screamed with pain. This was it, I thought.
Marcus, you useless ghost, so much for your blessing!
I couldn't even rely on him when he was alive, and now he was dead and still no help!
"I've changed my mind. You're not converting. You're dying right here."
Marshall yanked the axe from his shoulder and swung it down at me with a blank expression.
I closed my eyes in despair.
Boom boom—!
A deafening sound echoed through the chamber. The flesh mound convulsed violently, letting out an agonizing shriek. The umbilical cord lifted, quivering, trying to detach!
But as it rose, it seemed to get stuck, as if something below was gripping it tight.
The mound suddenly swelled, its folds stretching until they were nearly transparent. You could see the blue-white growths inside, each one distinct.
And then, just as quickly, it began to collapse.
Within seconds, the entire mound had shrunk by a third. Its white skin drooped and folded on the floor, and the growths withered into dry, shriveled lumps.
Marshall's axe stopped mid-swing. Panic flooded his face.
He abandoned me and ran toward the flesh mound, shouting, "Sylvia! Sylvia, what's wrong!"
The mound didn't respond. After a long pause, the dense white folds squeezed and writhed against each other, the growths bunching together to form several long, thin tentacles that whipped around, shedding chunks of dead flesh.
Marshall was frantic. He paced back and forth, hitting himself on the head, thinking desperately. Then his eyes lit up.
"Sylvia! Do you need energy to detach?!"
He came over and dragged me to the mound, coaxing, "Eat up! Eat her, and I'll take you home."
My back wound slammed against the ice. Pain exploded behind my eyes and everything went black for a second.
The mound seemed to understand. It stopped thrashing and reached its tentacles toward us.
I watched the tentacles coming for me, utterly defeated.
Was I going to become part of this monster now?
Was Marcus's spirit going to wait until I was dead before it showed up? Or did he want me to join him on the road to the afterlife?
Marshall's face was a twisted mask of anxiety, joy, and worry.
The tentacles descended, pausing in front of me. Then, as if deciding I wasn't worth the bother, they pivoted toward Marshall.
Marshall's eyes went wide.