As early as two days ago, when she saw that post on the paranormal enthusiasts’ forum, Everly had already anticipated that sothing would eventually happen in Gilosha.
Still, the fact that trouble had co so quickly caught her by surprise.
No longer bothering with her routine “passenger observations,” Everly took Misha’s phone and carefully examined the information displayed on the screen.
It was a video fild on a cellphone. The background showed a vast seaport. In the distance were colorful shipping containers stacked as densely as buildings, along with ships crowding the surface of the sea as they traveled back and forth.
But none of those were the focus of the video.
What the person filming truly wanted people to see were the countless “humans” running on all fours like beasts between the containers.
“…My na is Gide Brosh, and I’m a crane operator at Gilosha Harbor. Just now, I noticed sothing wrong with the people on the ground. I saw more than one person bending over and vomiting so kind of bluish-green substance,” said the videographer, who identified himself as Gide. As he spoke, he adjusted the phone cara and zood in on the green stains scattered among the containers below, giving them a close-up before returning the screen to normal. “After that, those people’s bodies started lting like candles. The skin on their surfaces softened and peeled away, strange tentacles grew from different parts of their bodies, and they turned into horrifying half-human, half-octopus monsters. They tackled other people and then ran frantically in the sa direction, like they’d gone mad…”
As a crane operator, Gide was positioned high above the ground. From his bird’s-eye view, one could see streams of figures running between the “skyscrapers” ford by the shipping containers.
So of those people had arms that had turned into tentacles; others had heads swollen into the shape of octopuses; so had undergone complete mutation, their bodies transforming into soft-bodied creatures. Every single one looked grotesque and different from the next. The only thing they all had in common was the thick layer of sli coating their bodies. Under the sunlight, it glimred with a pale yellowish-white sheen and even seed to stretch into sticky strands, creating an appearance so disgusting and unnatural that it stirred deep instinctive revulsion.
They—or rather, “they things”—were racing through the forest-like maze of shipping containers toward the harbor not far away. Along the way, whenever they spotted a living person, the monsters imdiately lunged at them like starving beasts.
Fortunately, although these people had undergone horrific mutations, their combat abilities did not seem to have improved much. Anyone with a bit of strength could kick them away, smash them with a weapon, or beat them back with whatever was at hand.
But there were simply too many monsters. Knock one down, and another would appear. Once several—or even a dozen—of them pounced together, the scene instantly beca bloody and brutal.
Everly saw that directly beneath Gide’s operator cabin, there was an unfortunate forklift driver being sward. In footage from a minute earlier, he had still been wielding a huge tal clamp, fighting off the charging monsters. But when the cara swept past the ground level again a minute later, the forklift driver was already lying motionless on the ground. His clothes had vanished without a trace, and not a patch of intact flesh remained on his body. He had beco a mangled, blood-soaked corpse.
Around the corpse, the mutated monsters clustered like vultures, scrambling to extend their barbed tentacles and the mouths hidden beneath their heads, greedily tearing into the delicious flesh and blood. The scene was so grueso it could give soone nightmares.
“I don’t know why these people turned into monsters, and I don’t know why they’re all running toward the sea. There’s nothing there except the ships that just docked… Oh no, they seem to have noticed . They’re climbing up the steel frawork now. I’m scared. Please save … I’m begging you…”
The video ended there, cut off amid several terrified screams.
Fortunately, before he was killed, Gide had managed to upload the video to his Chatter account, allowing people to learn about the tragedy unfolding at Gilosha Harbor.
“In fact, it’s not just the harbor. The entire city of Gilosha has been overrun by these mutated monsters.”
After Everly finished watching the video, Misha leaned closer, tapping here and there on the screen before switching the page to a certain group chat.
The chat was in complete chaos. Videos were pouring into the group nonstop.
“?”
Wait… where did this group even co from…?
eting Everly’s puzzled gaze, Misha stuck out her tongue playfully. “Weren’t you really concerned about what was happening in Gilosha, Everly? Since I spend all day wandering around town with nothing much to do, I just registered an account on the Gilosha forum and started chatting with people. Before I knew it, so forum friends invited into this group chat.”
“…”
Misha was as ridiculously sociable as ever.
Now that she knew the group had been created by locals from Gilosha, Everly casually opened one of the videos inside. Sure enough, just as Misha had said, the entire city was crawling with those half-human, half-octopus monsters.
The video she selected had been fild in the bustling downtown district. Under the assault of countless octopus-like creatures, the place looked less like a city center and more like a bloody battlefield.
The other videos in the group showed much the sa scenes.
“Departure ti has arrived, ladies and gentlen, and all our lovely children. The bus heading to the harbor will soon be setting off. Please remain seated, fasten your seat belts, and stay safe…”
A loud announcent rang out from the front of the bus. The driver took his seat, the doors closed, and the coach slowly rumbled into motion. Leaving the hotel behind, it turned onto the highway leading toward the outskirts.
Everly had no mood to pay attention to anything outside.
Keeping their heads lowered, Everly and Misha each held one side of the phone while using their free hands to scroll rapidly through the group chat, quickly filtering for useful information.
“So these monsters were transford from people suffering from radiation sickness?”
“Apparently not all of them. Look—this person says he just recovered from radiation sickness, and he’s still lucid enough to share information online.”
“But this person claiming to be a nurse says that every radiation patient in the hospital ICU mutated… Maybe it has sothing to do with the degree of infection?”
“That’s possible.”
As they kept scrolling, Everly’s finger accidentally opened a newly uploaded video.
This video had also been fild at the harbor, though from a different location. The person recording seed to be standing inside a tall building near the docks. The cara focused on a corner of the harbor where, amid stacks of shipping containers piled up like building blocks, a group of people in black robes surrounded a ritual circle, waving their arms and chanting sothing under their breath.
The symbol in the ritual circle looked extrely familiar—
Two circles, one large and one small, nested together. Inside the smaller circle was a triangle, from each of its three sides extending curved, twisting patterns resembling tentacles. At the very center of the triangle was a symbol like an eye.
At a single glance, Everly recognized it as the sa emblem she had once seen aboard the Golden Anchor.
So the disastrous undersea ruin really was connected to the cultists aboard the Golden Anchor. Perhaps those people throughout the city who had suddenly transford into monsters were their doing as well!
Fortunately, she had sensed sothing wrong early on and decided against using Gilosha as a transfer point…
Just as Everly was shuddering in delayed fear, a calm, deep male voice suddenly ca from the front of the bus.
“Excuse , but unless I’m mistaken, this does not appear to be the road leading to the harbor?”
Wait—what?
What was happening?
Everly abruptly raised her head.
At the front of the bus, the young man dressed in a black three-piece suit—the sa one Everly had privately complained about for wearing sothing so heavy in the middle of sumr—had sohow stood up. Separated from the driver by a row of seats, he was demanding an explanation from the man at the wheel.
Inside the bus at that mont, a family with children was busy entertaining their kid, a lovey-dovey couple clung to each other while kissing noisily, a punk-looking young man wearing leaky headphones bobbed his head to the music, and several college students were happily playing cards. Voices, engine noise, and the rock music playing through the bus speakers all blended together into a chaotic din.
Quite a few people noticed the man standing up, but nobody paid him much attention. Most simply glanced up casually before lowering their heads and returning to what they had been doing.
After all, this was a chartered shuttle from the hotel. It had run the route to and from the harbor countless tis, so naturally the driver would know the correct road far better than a bunch of out-of-town tourists.
Only Everly vaguely sensed that sothing was wrong—
Her heart was pounding violently.
Even though she had been sitting the entire ti and hadn’t done any strenuous activity, her heartbeat had beco incredibly rapid. Blood rushed through her body, making her muscles tense and causing her fingers to tremble uncontrollably.
Yes. That was right.
Her danger instinct had been triggered.
Without hesitation, Everly reached up and yanked down the luggage she and Misha had stored overhead. She pulled open a hidden side pocket in her backpack, took out an extrely small razor blade, and slipped it into her sleeve.
Since they had just flown in recently, weapons like handguns and daggers had all been prohibited. Everly currently had no truly suitable weapon on hand. Even this tiny blade had only barely made it through security inspection.
She had thought everything would be fine once they reached the coast.
Who would’ve thought… Damn it. What a careless mistake.
Sensing that the atmosphere had turned wrong, Misha took her own backpack and followed Everly’s example, beginning to hide weapons on herself as well.
As they concealed their weapons, the two of them kept watching both the road outside and the situation at the front of the bus.
After the young man spoke up, the driver ignored him completely and continued driving forward at an unhurried pace.
Outside the bus window was a typical southern Arican suburban landscape. Dense vegetation grew along both sides of the highway, blocking any view beyond. The straight road—only wide enough for two vehicles to pass—lay completely empty, not a single car in sight.
“Please stop the bus. I’m not going to the harbor. Let get off here.”
Seeing that the driver still did not respond, the man spoke again.
As he spoke, he subconsciously angled his body slightly forward and to the side. From this angle, Everly could clearly see half of his face.
The man appeared to be of mixed heritage, his facial features combining both Caucasian and Middle Eastern traits. He had slightly wavy black hair, deep-set eyes, and unusually long eyelashes. When his eyelids lowered, he carried an air of cold detachnt, calmness, and intelligence—
Wait. Hold on. She felt like she had seen this face sowhere before?!
Click.
Before she could dig through her mory for the answer, a faint sound suddenly caught Everly’s attention.
Following the direction of the noise, she realized that the bus window—which had still been slightly ajar just monts ago—had sohow sealed shut on its own.
Misha was seated right next to the window. Noticing it had closed, she instinctively grabbed the handle and pulled hard. But even after using all her strength, the window remained completely immovable, as if it had been welded shut.
“Try this.”
Everly took down the ergency hamr from the wall, leaned forward, and struck the edge of the window with all her force.
Bang!
A small dent appeared in the glass—but it did not shatter as expected.
It was bulletproof glass.
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