Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm experiencing a writer's block. I'm not sure if I am going to be able to update this a frequently as I did when I started, but rest assured the first act is near its end.

This fanfic has just gotten a 1000 views. I would like to thank you for checking it out. It may not be much in comparison to others, but why rid myself of a possible incentive to write. Without further ado, here is the next chapter. I might have to update this particular one, so make sure to check it out again, in case I add something else:

Chapter 11: Talking Walls

Again and again, my endeavors always turn into obstacle courses. I am confounded by this place's constant attempts to kill me, or at the very least perturb me. Rooms are starting to feel less like parts of a mine organism, and more like separate puzzle rooms without any practical purpose other than adding a challenge that I have to go through in a particular order so I could solve the main issue. Inconveniently missing parts are always replaced by spares from another room, the decrepit complex imposing more and more intricate death traps along the way. It's a maddening experience to feel like a test subject trapped within layers and layers of ice.

After I exited Shaft 13, I made an attempt to check out the shaft labeled with the preceding number. To my dismay, my prudent stealth maneuvers around the blood-thirsty ferals were in vain, as the metal door refused to open. There was something blocking it from behind, preventing me from entering the aforementioned shaft. Disgruntled, I pondered about the existence of another, perhaps unorthodox route. Noticing how the shaft and the refinery seemed to be two adjoining areas, I quickly swerved around the corners and made my way to the refinery, which greeted me with an unlocked door.

Much unlike any of the previous places I've been to, this one had an elaborate industrial machine that actually functioned before I even got here. It was supposed to be a pressing machine, crumbling chunks of stone into small pieces, making it much easier to separate the ore from the stone. It had a conveyor belt which dragged the rocks towards the room entrance, and there were also more conveyor belts placed in specific parts of the room.

The pistons for the machine were lowered down, and there was no other way to get past the machine. They were connected with a wire to a control panel placed on some scaffolding. Since I couldn't possibly try to jump over the machine, I tried meddling with the buttons on the control panel. After a while I got all of the pistons elevated, luck being a more decisive factor than memorizing what each button did.

It took a while crawling through the newly opened path, as I defied the conveyor's efforts to pull me back, but I could now observe the other part of the room. Passing by the 'precautions' sign, I could see many points of interest. On my left was a conveyor belt leading to yet another unseen location, a metal gate denying entry for the conveyor belt's antiques. In front of me were two large holes in the wall, its hollow space conjoined with one another, revealing a layer of dirt. In my mind, I rationalized their presence as the consequences of corrosion and material decay, but the ever so present doubts lingered in my head, as the hole was conveniently just the right size for a certain slithery creature I have encountered. On my right was a small storage compartment. The shelves contained nothing of interest apart from an unused spare motor, which I theorized would become relevant soon due to the nature of this complex putting emphasis on things needing to be replaced.

There was a metal platform above my head, not stretching too far from the wall, but the ladder wasn't lowered down and I couldn't reach it at all. From the looks of it, it was precarious, and there was a conveyor belt leading to it, so I quickly made some connections and prepared myself for a Physics lesson in action.

There were a bunch of large rocks sitting on the shelves, so I took one. I might have had to backtrack and then once more go against the conveyor belt's current, but I still ended placing the rock on the other conveyor, assuming it to be connected to the one behind the ladder. Its steady motion tested my patience a bit, but eventually the rock came through the other end, its lack of momentum proved negligible, as the ladder lowered to the floor.

I climbed up and inspected the platform for any points of interest. There was a single button in the corner on the room, and pressing it lifted the metal gate on the conveyor belt I had yet to use. I am unsure whether it was a hunch, but I went down the ladder, picked up the spare motor, carried it to the conveyor and placed it there, presuming there would be something on the other side for me to remedy.

The only way to the other side, however, was on the platform, through the ventilation shaft, behind a large fan with sharp blades. The only way I could halt its spinning was to apply some force, and so I did, the blades of the fan bent by the impact of my pick. Wasn't too sure if it was a permanent stop, though, but since I scoured the place clean anyways, there wasn't any reason to linger in this place.

The ventilation tunnels were cramp, but the trip was short, and I soon stood in front of a metal security gate. On its left was the conveyor belt carrying the spare motor, and a hole exposing circuits for the gate, and on the right was the switch for the gate. As expected, the switch didn't work, so I directed my attention the exposed circuits and wires. They were all intact, they were just missing a component, which, to my convenience, arrived here on the conveyor. Placing the motor there, I pressed the button again and, to my relief, the gate opened, revealing another conveyor belt.

This time, however, I could pass through to the other room, letting the conveyor drag me across. The room, like the last one, was small and barren. A metal door lead away from the room, and I figured it could as well have been the door to Shaft 12. Unfortunately for me, the door refused to budge, as if it was melded together with the wall.

Disgruntled, I raised my arms in frustration, rolling my eyes at the dead end I've gotten myself into. By pure accident, I glanced at the ventilation hatch in the room, and knowing what I could do, I lit up. The grate was quite fragile. It was shattered by a single blow of my pickaxe. Following the only path I could crawl through, I gradually climbed through the vents until I came upon a grate below me.

Opening the grate, I jumped out into a craggy environment. I was surrounded by layers of dirt and stone, and scattered around were several mine carts, all overturned and derailed but one. One of those carts that was laying upside down blocked off a metal door, which must have been the entrance to the shaft. I immediately proved that by pushing the cart away and opening the door. There were no more doubts regarding my current location. I was in the previously inaccessible Shaft 12.

The long hallway was vast and dimly lit. One cart stood on the rails, just a few feet from the slope. The slope stretched far into the darkness, but I could see the end of it, even with the less than adequate lighting. What I could see, however, didn't bring joy.

Like in Shaft 13, the most straightforward path remained blocked. Someone has erected a brick wall where an entrance should have been. Whether it was too keep people out or to keep them in, I couldn't be certain, but by now it didn't even matter. Unlike Shaft 13, there is no obligatory detour. I would have to make my own path this time.

The rails extended all the way to the brick wall, so I held my hopes up in case my idea worked. The cart I pushed away from the entrance was heavy, so I predicted the one I was going to utilize would prove to be perfect, if not overkill, for the crudely built wall. Before I pushed it, I made sure to remove any obstacles on the rails. There was a chain attached to two wooden poles prohibiting me from even pushing the cart. Luckily for me, the boltcutters were just the right tool for that.

After removing the chains, I leaned on the cart and applied some force. Soon enough it went like the wind. A loud sound echoed through the room as the cart decimated the wall. In a few seconds, I found myself standing in a fascinating room.

The room was filled with a bunch of scientific research, spanning across multiple forms of media. There were newspaper clippings, research notebooks, archaic textbooks, all in different parts of the room. In one corner was a projector and a screen, in the opposite one a table with a dissected creature. I instantly recognized the creature, and consequently the subject of observation.

The species of worm that almost killed me was being researched here. Its genes, physiology, behavior and appearance were being carefully documented and compared to the other species of annelids. Upon taking a closer look at the dissected specimen, I could see all of its organs were missing, most likely extracted for closer inspection. I turned on the projector in the room, and it simply had one slide, a faded picture of one worm specimen.

I scoured the room looking for anything that would indicate a code, but to no avail. Most of it were simply reference materials and biology textbooks. After a while, I tried to enter the adjoining room, but the door was locked.

To my surprise, I couldn't see the room through the keyhole. I immediately realized that there was a key placed in the hole on the other side of the door. I checked the gap between the door and the floor and came up with an idea.

I took a page from one of the more pristine newspapers and slid it under the door, a larger portion of it behind the door. I took the tiny screwdriver I picked up from the tool shed and gently pushed it through the keyhole. I took a bit of moving around, but once I heard a clink, I meticulously pulled the paper towards me, its weight gone up now that it was carrying a key.

The key was in a semi-decent shape, and so I didn't think twice about unlocking the door. The room I entered was dark, slugs clinging on the walls. Once I turned on my flashlight, there was a lot to take in. There was an artificial habitat for some of the juvenile worms, the specimens in there releasing a putrid smell of death as their bodies decomposed. The cabinets on the right contained jars of some larvae preserved in formaldehyde and other embalming chemicals. There was a big hole in the wall, about the size of the worm, and there were streaks of dried up blood leading to it from the center of the room. There was a lot of implications that something disturbing happened in here. Little did I know that there was even more of that which my senses couldn't perceive.

I found a piece of paper in one of the cabinets. It still wasn't related to any code, but it had some useful research on the worms. The highlight of it, however, wasn't the research itself, but the scrawling which occupied the margins of the paper. Its panicked ramblings contrasted the formal tone of the research notes, and I couldn't tell if the same person wrote all of this or if someone else found its refuge here. These two contrasting messages often clashed, not just in tone, but in information. The formal notes mentioned the worms have a sense of smell and touch, but the hastily written ones denied the former, instead putting emphasis on the latter. In the end, all I knew was that the grown-up worms were giant and sensitive to ground vibrations.

I glanced at a switch besides the door. Relieved that I wouldn't have to waste any more batteries, I flicked it, believing it be a light switch. That was only half-true, the half I didn't know about hitting me in the face with utmost dread.

This was an UV light, and as soon as it enveloped the room, I could only stare in shock at the walls covered in words. It hurt my head to see these scrawled rambling, ominous messages overlapping each other. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them. It was gibberish, but it was also a threat coming from a truly deranged mind. A mind that I can assume waned with the horror of its impending doom, eventually succumbing to its bloody fate as it became devoured by one of the annelids.

Seeing as the blank walls became overflown with words, something clicked for me, and I went to check if anything else would be revealed by the light. As I suspected, I was right, and I jumped in excitement. The blank note from the lockers suddenly had words written on it, and this time it explicitly stated the code. 1371. Now that I have this forsaken code I can finally put an end to this section and hopefully come one step closer to seeing a friendly face.

I just hope that I don't come upon a corpse instead of a potential friend.