Chapter 69: Mutation
Hearing Robin Hood’s words, Shaan gathered all his courage and tried to prove that he was not afraid at all. Slowly but surely, he moved closer until the corpse became clearer.
"Oh, God."
Instantly, Shaan felt his stomach churn, making him feel nauseous. How could he not? The condition of the corpse was utterly inhumane. Its internal organs were scattered around the body, and its body was covered in wounds from wild animal claws. Not only that, but there was a large hole in its chest that looked like it had been stabbed with a sharp object—something Shaan knew had caused the poor man’s death.
’Come on, Shaan. You can do this. You can do this.’
Trying to suppress the nausea that was growing stronger, Shaan quickly turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. Slowly, his hand felt around the pocket of the uniform the corpse was wearing, then opened the pocket to check what was inside.
’Oh, damn... what... what is this...’
Shaan’s heartbeat quickened as his hand realized something was off. For some reason, he could feel his hand was wet and sticky. It was so sticky that he struggled to move his fingers at times. Damn, he couldn’t have imagined it would turn out like this.
[Shaan, have you found anything?]
"No, I’m not finding anything here. It’s so sticky and —" Shaan fell silent for a moment when his fingers touched something. "Oh, wait, wait a minute. I think I found something."
[That’s great. Just take it out.]
Shaan quickly took the object out of his pocket and walked away from the corpse. He then opened his eyes and saw that his hands were covered in blood. Oh man, so...so the strange liquid he felt earlier was blood from this corpse. "Never mind that, it’s time to see what’s in my hand."
He unclenched his fist and gasped in surprise when he saw that the object in his hand was a key. Frankly, Shaan was initially confused about the purpose of the key, but after he tried to clean the bloodstains covering its surface, he noticed small letters that read "ship engine."