Chapter 303 Just what the hell is that smell?

Ivy couldn’t help but keep letting out scoffs as her gaze wandered around the people in the room.

Some of them were locked inside cages, their hands wrapped tightly around their bodies as they trembled in fear, tears continuously rolling down their cheeks. Their faces were pale, and their eyes were filled with nothing but terror.

Others, however, were outside the cages.

They moved to and fro as though nothing was wrong, holding plates in their hands while eating the pieces of meat placed on them. Some sat on the dirty floor, chewing casually, while others leaned against the walls as they ate, completely unfazed by the horrific sight surrounding them.

Ivy’s eyes narrowed as she observed them carefully.

Wait...Nt all of them are eating human flesh.

Her eyes widened slightly in realization as she looked at the different plates scattered around the room.

"Not all of them are eating human flesh," Ivy murmured under her breath, her expression filled with disbelief.

"Of course not." Mr. Philip’s voice came from beside her, followed by a low, sinister chuckle. "Only the weak ones end up in those cages, and their flesh is being fed to the stronger ones."

Ivy immediately turned to look at him.

"What?"

Mr. Philip’s lips curled into an unsettling smile as he folded his arms across his chest.

"The strong ones are the ones who couldn’t survive on the one-day food supply," he explained casually. "And that food doesn’t even contain enough protein. It’s nothing but watery rice."

He scoffed as though the situation wasn’t disturbing at all.

"So, after some time, they started looking for another source of protein. Eventually, they resorted to using their fellow humans as meat."

His words made Ivy’s stomach churn.

"They’ve been recognized as the strong ones because of that. So the weak ones are separated from them and locked inside those cages."

Ivy’s gaze immediately returned to the frightened people behind the bars.

"That’s disgusting!" Anya yelled, anger evident in both her voice and her eyes.

Mr. Philip merely shrugged.

"I’m not the one who asked them to behave like animals, though," he replied with a scoff. "They made that choice themselves."

He paused before turning his attention toward Anya.

"And believe me, if you’re not careful, you’ll be eaten soon by them."

Anya’s expression immediately hardened.

"What?"

"They’ve lost all morals," Mr. Philip continued, his voice becoming quieter. "At this point, they don’t care about anything except surviving and filling their stomachs with human flesh. Once they decide you’re weak, they won’t hesitate to put you inside one of those cages."

Anya’s face turned pale as she looked around the room again.

"No..." she whispered, shaking her head slowly.

"This is crazy," Ivy muttered under her breath, her eyes sweeping across the room once more.

She had seen many horrifying things since the apocalypse began, but this was different and totally disturbing.

***

Meanwhile, outside the building, Darren, Erick, Elliot, and the other soldiers had already arrived at the compound.

However, they didn’t immediately enter the building.

Instead, they remained outside, fighting the monsters surrounding the area while simultaneously checking their surroundings for anything suspicious.

The roars of the monsters echoed throughout the compound as the soldiers moved from one area to another, killing every creature that attempted to approach them.

"Do you think Captain Ivy is okay inside there?" Elliot asked after some time, worry evident in his eyes.

Darren, who had just finished killing another monster, wiped some blood from his weapon before turning his attention toward Elliot.

"She said we shouldn’t come in until we’ve finished searching the compound," Darren replied with a heavy sigh. "She wants us to confirm something."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"But if we don’t find anything, we can go inside in another ten minutes. She wants us to be in charge of the surrounding area while she handles everything inside the building."

Erick, who had been listening to their conversation, suddenly turned his head.

"Wait!"

His voice immediately caught their attention.

"What is this?"

Erick raised an eyebrow as they finally reached the back of the compound while the others followed his gaze.

Lined up at the back of the compound were several enormous blue drums.

They were arranged horizontally, ten in total, with each one tightly sealed.

Darren narrowed his eyes.

"They’re drums, of course," he replied with a scoff, pointing toward them.

Erick rolled his eyes.

"I can see that. I’m asking what they’re doing here. Arranged in this iron gate at the back of the building."

Darren’s expression immediately became more serious as he stepped closer to the drums and examined them carefully.

"Why is there such a weird smell?" He asked ss he quickly covered his nose.

Elliot looked at him in confusion before letting out a light chuckle.

"What do you mean by a weird smell?" He glanced around the compound. "We’re killing monsters, Darren. There’s a weird smell everywhere."

Darren didn’t laugh but instead, he continued staring at the drums.

"We should check them."

Erick nodded in agreement.

"Agreed. Captain Ivy specifically told us to make sure we searched everywhere before entering the building."

He glanced at the time on his communicator.

"We only have five minutes left before we’re supposed to go inside, though."

Darren sighed."We arrived here late, after all."

"That’s exactly what Captain Ivy wants, though. She wanted the soldiers to have killed as many monsters as possible before the three of us came here," Elliot explained, his gaze sweeping across the compound. "Our main task is to search the surroundings and find out if there’s anything suspicious. That’s why we were told to focus on the compound while Captain Ivy and Anya handled the inside of the building." He added as he moved closer to the drums as well as the others.

"Just the hell is that smell? This isn’t from monsters" Elliot muttered, his brows furrowing as he quickly took a step backward.

Without wasting any more time, Erick stepped forward and pulled out his sword.

"We’re going to find out."

He crouched beside one of the drums and used the tip of his sword to lift the lid after breaking the padlock that secured it.

The moment the lid was opened...A swarm of flies suddenly burst out of the drum.

"Fuck!"

Elliot immediately stumbled backward.

The air around them was instantly filled with an unbearable rotten smell, causing all three men to cover their noses tightly.

The stench was so horrible that their stomachs began twisting almost immediately.

It became difficult to breathe and for a moment, it felt as though there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air.

"What the actual fuck?!" Darren cursed under his breath, his hand pressed firmly over his nose.

His eyes watered as he struggled to look inside the drum.

Then, with his stomach turning violently, Darren forced himself to step closer.

He suddenly kicked the opened drum with all his strength.

Bang!

The drum fell onto its side while a large amount of reddish liquid immediately gushed out, spreading across the ground and just then, several objects rolled out of the drum alongside the liquid.