Chapter 16 — The Hidden Floor
The corporate tower loomed imposing in daylight, all glass and steel, but at night it transformed—its corridors cavernous, silent but alive with something unseen. Kaito stepped out of the elevator, breath catching. The panel hadn't shown this floor before.
Basement 3?
He pressed B2, yet here he was.
Dim fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, flickering, casting twitching shadows along cracked concrete walls. The air was thick with a chemical stench, sour and sickly sweet. His stomach churned.
Kaito gripped his toolkit like a weapon, muscles tense. The past nights had shattered something inside him—he was no longer the obedient pawn. He'd killed the impossible. Felt its blood on his hands.
Now, he felt eyes watching.
A faint skitter echoed down the hall. Kaito crouched, fishing out his flashlight. The weak beam cut through the darkness, revealing walls spiderwebbed with cracks, black mold creeping from every corner. This floor wasn't just hidden. It was erased.
Ahead, a massive metal door sealed tight, its keypad blinking like a heartbeat.
No one had told him about this.
The keypad blinked. A cold female voice whispered from the speakers:
"Welcome, Exterminator Kaito. Clearance granted."
He jumped, heart hammering. "How—how does it know my name?"
The door hissed open. Darkness breathed out like a living thing.
He stepped inside, pulled forward by some unseen force.
The air was thick, humid, electric. Distant mechanical hums—or was that chittering?
The corridor opened into a grotesque parody of an office: desks shredded, papers stained with something dark and slick. Lining the walls were egg sacs, pulsing faint heat.
A cold breath brushed past his ear.
He spun. Nothing.
Then, at the far end—human-sized cocoon, strapped to the wall.
Kaito edged closer. The cocoon's surface was hard, silky, almost plastic. His gloved fingers brushed it. It twitched.
Inside, a face screamed silently.
A sudden shriek ripped through the chamber. From the ceiling, legs uncoiled like black vines.
The creature dropped.
Nothing like the last one.
Armored in obsidian plates, veins glowing red like molten metal coursed across its body. Its bulbous head split open, revealing horrific mandibles and rows of serrated teeth twitching. Four twitching arms, a lower body bristling with stingers.
Kaito froze.
The monster hissed, charged.
Instinct flared. He ducked and rolled, pulling a modified sprayer from his bag. A pressurized blast hissed in the creature's face.
The bug shrieked, clawing at its eyes, but kept coming.
Kaito swung a crowbar. Metal clanged against chitin, shock rattling his arms.
Damn it, that did nothing.
He grabbed a flare, struck it. Red light exploded, painting monstrous shadows on the walls. The creature recoiled.
They hated light. Noted.
It lunged again. Kaito dodged but slipped on slick ooze. The bug's claw grazed his leg, tearing flesh.
Blood.
Pain sharpened his focus. He crawled to his toolkit, fingers closing on a cold canister—not pesticide, but a prototype thermal gel.
Please work.
He sprayed the white compound. Steam hissed as it touched the creature's heated body.
The bug screamed, writhing as flames burst across its torso.
It crashed into desks, walls.
Kaito didn't wait.
He ran.
Behind him, the creature collapsed with a final screech. The cocooned figure slumped lifeless.
He slammed the elevator button, gasping.
As the doors opened, the cocoon cracked wide behind him. Something slithered free.
The elevator whispered, cold and low:
"Welcome to Level 0."
---
End of Chapter 16