Const Orphanage 11

Elvira quickly covered Blair's eyes with his hand, but she coldly pushed him away.

Walking down the long corridor, the faint light illuminated the faces of these wretched beings, making each expression starkly prominent. Some beggars were scratching their ears and cheeks with alert eyes, others were squatting, emitting low growls from their throats. Their gazes had lost all semblance of human reason, revealing only the ferocity and cunning of wild beasts.

Reaching the end where the glass enclosures were, they saw more animals trapped behind them. These animals looked out with terrified and desperate eyes, full of despair and hope, incessantly tapping the glass with their paws.

How had Const Orphanage come to this? Elvira couldn't help but grip Blair's hand tightly.

What had happened here?

Who exactly was that Dean?

Suddenly, Elvira heard faint footsteps in the distance, as light as snowflakes touching the ground. He signaled to Blair that someone was approaching and quickly looked around, turning off his phone's light.

They were plunged into darkness, left only with their breathing and the omnipresent tapping sound. Holding Blair's hand, he quietly moved to the middle of the corridor—where a row of lab tables was located.

In the darkness, he shoved Blair under a central experiment table, pushing a doll's head into her arms and pulling a chair close for cover.

Elvira listened intently to the faint footsteps, drawing a dagger from his lower back, and moved a few steps forward. He crouched behind a pillar, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. In the dark, he could only hear his own pounding heartbeat and soft breathing. Pressing a hand to his chest, he closed his eyes, focusing on capturing that subtle sound.

As Altair entered the laboratory, he was immediately enveloped by a stench of decay, the smell of souls rotting and breeding maggots.

This place was evidently one of the Human-beasts' lairs.

Even in the darkness, Altair didn't need any light to clearly see what creature was imprisoned under the glass dome.

The moment his gaze sharpened, the creature in the glass stopped its pounding, as if subjected to some invisible pressure.

It was the kind of aura unique to large predators.

The creature imprisoned here was at least a C-class Human-beast, possibly even nearing B-class.

Human-beasts are classified from A to D, with A being the strongest and decreasing in power thereafter. Above A-class, is the S-class.

Altair strolled past each glass dome as if leisurely admiring the creatures trapped within.

He distinctly smelled the scent of flowing birch trees here, indicating Elvira must be nearby.

Now—

Elvira seemed to sense his presence, hiding behind a distant wall.

Altair's lips curved slightly. As a hybrid of the wolf clan, he excelled in lurking and waiting for the right moment. If Elvira could detect him now, it suggested he possessed some unique abilities.

Assured of his safety, Altair walked leisurely, occasionally looking up at the creatures in the glass domes, seemingly appreciating their forms.

Some were flawed failures, while others were quite exceptional. These observations led him to speculate about the abilities of the Human-beasts.

Altair stood behind a pillar, not moving rashly forward. He carefully sniffed the air there—

Like the night, with snow gently falling on the branches of birch trees, laying a thin veil of silver.

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Pristine, serene.

The cold wind, carrying snow, howled between heaven and earth, as if... he had heard it somewhere before?

Elvira listened to the person's voice, who stopped just a step away from him and didn't come any closer.

Why? Who was he? Could he be one of the Orphanage's nighttime staff?

Or perhaps... the mysterious Dean?

He was like a snowflake landing on the earth, cold yet elegantly resting, emitting a faint sigh as it melted.

Silent yet alone.

It was a silent confrontation, their breaths mingling in the darkness, a quiet battle waged, like predators cautiously observing their prey.

Profound and meticulous.

This question lingered in Elvira's mind, stirring a sense of familiarity. 

Suddenly, a sharp electrical sound pierced the silent air, sending shivers down the spine!

"Zzzzz—"

At the other end of the laboratory, a red laser line activated instantly, advancing rapidly from knee height, slicing through the air like a lethal blade!

Elvira tensed, smelling the scent of the laser burning the air, and immediately leaped from behind the pillar, clutching Blair tightly in his arms, rushing towards the door.

Blair peeked over her shoulder, the deep red light like the eyes of death, emanating a terrifying glow. She touched the doll's head and stuffed it into Elvira's upper pocket.

Perhaps it could serve some purpose; it was a gamble they had to take.

Listening to the buzzing sound of electricity getting closer, Elvira realized he could no longer evade! He swiftly turned around, just in time to see four staggered laser beams rapidly closing in, leaving only a meter between them and him.

He was so close to death!! Clutching Blair tightly, he exerted all his strength towards the laser beams—jumping! Over the first laser beam! A forward roll on the ground for the second!

The red light flickered with a blinding murderous glow, its scorching temperature nearly slicing through his hair ends, leaving burning traces on his skin.

He had managed to dodge it!

He needed to escape this perilous place quickly; he couldn't dodge the subsequent red laser beams while carrying Blair.

Yet, suffocatingly, within five or six seconds, the lasers at the end of the corridor lit up again. First one beam, then two, three... interweaving into a dense laser net at the same spot.

Elvira clenched his teeth; he could no longer concern himself with the person behind him, only clutching Blair tightly as he sprinted backwards. They hadn't explored this corridor deeply before, but the speed of the laser beams caught them off guard.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

He heard Blair's rapid breathing, his own heartbeat, and the sound of someone knocking on glass. Elvira's eyes were fixed ahead, his forehead drenched in sweat, his heartbeat racing like drumbeats.

The laser net drew closer, his steps growing larger, his speed increasing. His legs, like two swiftly flying arrows, kept sprinting forward relentlessly.

Suddenly, he felt a tightness in his throat, a rush of blood surging towards his heart. Elvira's consciousness began to blur, time seemed to slow down.

What was happening to him?

Elvira felt a flame churning inside him. This power boiled up from deep within, as if his blood itself was aflame, every inch of his skin filled with searing strength. He could even hear this power rushing through his veins, like a torrent sweeping away invisible shackles.

The laser grid was now within reach, its burning temperature almost allowing him to smell the scorching of his scalp. He could feel the heat waves emitted by the laser grid, like the breath of a giant beast, nearly touching the back of his head.

Suddenly, Elvira was enveloped by a fierce power. The air in the laboratory sparkled before his eyes like glowing stars, as if warmly greeting him.

What in the world was happening?