THE ART OF LUST

Chapter 6: The Human Skin Library

The iron cell door creaked open with an ear-splitting screech. Sinta stood there, her silhouette framed by the flickering corridor lights. She no longer wore her medical mask, revealing a pale face and black lips curled into a thin smile.

"Come on, Thief. It’s time for your private tour," Sinta said flatly.

Je stood up, his hands still bound by blue-glowing magnetic handcuffs, "You know, Sinta? Usually, on a first date, people are taken to dinner, not dragged into a basement cell,"

"Who said this was a date? This is a delayed autopsy," Sinta retorted, yanking the chain in the center of Je’s cuffs to force him closer, "And save your jokes for Guntur. I prefer the sound of groans of pain or bated breath!"

They walked down the damp concrete corridors of Fort Vredeburg. Je glanced toward the other iron bars, seeing refugees who looked like the walking dead; hollow eyes, gaping mouths, and bodies rigged with electrode cables. Their dopamine was being "harvested."

Sinta stopped in front of an ancient teak door that looked entirely out of place amidst the surrounding futuristic technology. She pressed her palm against a biometric sensor hidden behind the wood carvings.

CLICK

The door swung open, and an aroma hit Je’s nose that made his stomach turn. The scent of formalin, musk, and something sickly sweet... like flowers rotting in a jar of sugar.

"Holy shit... what is this place?" Je muttered as he stepped inside.

The room was vast and circular, like a tower. But instead of bookshelves, the walls were lined with thousands of vertical glass frames. Inside each frame hung thin sheets that looked like parchment. But as Je moved closer, his heart nearly skipped a beat. It wasn't parchment. It was human skin, tanned to perfection, complete with tattoos, scars, and most horrifyingly—fungal patterns still glowing dimly beneath the skin’s tissue.

"Welcome to the Human Skin Library," Sinta said, spreading her arms with pride, "Professor Surya’s private collection. Every sheet here is the life story of a 'Ratusan' who failed to reach the stage of perfect evolution!"

Je swallowed hard, his eyes scanning the rows of skin pinned to the walls, "You people are truly insane. You actually skinned them?"

"We preserved their beauty, Je. Don't be a hypocrite; you’re an art thief, aren't you? Isn't this an extraordinary biological masterpiece?" Sinta walked toward one of the frames, stroking the glass gently, "Look at this Cordyceps pattern. It creeps along the ancient neural pathways, seeking the brain's pleasure centers, and then... it detonates them,"

[System Warning: High Concentration Pheromone Exposure!]

[Status: Inhaling 'Arousal-Spore' Gas. Mental Stability: 70% and Decreasing.]

"Sinta... why is my head starting to spin?" Je leaned his body against a wooden table in the center of the room.

"That’s because this room is the heart of the harvesting system," Sinta said, approaching Je with obsessive eyes. She began to unbutton Je’s tattered shirt, "Listen, Je. This Cordyceps-Erotica virus is unique. It doesn’t kill its host in the usual way. It stimulates the adrenal and dopamine glands to the extreme. Why do those zombies out there look like they’re dancing? Because they are trapped in a perpetual orgasm that destroys their brains!"

"Then why am I... why am I still conscious?" Je asked, his breath hitching. Sinta had now fully opened Je’s shirt, revealing the Loro Blonyo batik tattoo glowing pink on his chest.

"Because you are a 'Curator.' You have a biological filter that converts that lust into kinetic and mental energy," Sinta’s cold hand felt the muscles of Je’s chest, her fingers tracing the tattoo lines with a surgeon's precision, "But even a filter has its limits, doesn’t it? If you don't empty it, you’ll explode!"

[Warning: Erotic-Overload Detected!]

[Sync Level with Area: 40%]

[Suggestion: Perform immediate energy release. Subject Sinta shows 95% genetic compatibility.]

'Dammit, System... not now', Je cursed internally. Sweat began to soak his body. Sinta’s touch felt like an electric shock coursing through his central nervous system.

"You’re trembling, Thief," Sinta whispered in front of Je’s face. The scent of jasmine on her breath was intoxicating, "Are you afraid of me? Or are you afraid of what your body wants to do to me?"

"You... you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Bringing me here... baiting my System," Je gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles turning white.

"I need data, Je. I want to see how a 'Curator' overcomes the peak of arousal without losing his mind," Sinta pulled Je’s head toward her, forcing their eyes to meet, "Surya wants to turn you into a battery, but I... I want to make you my personal assistant in researching death. Come on, show me that 'Thief' power of yours!"

Sinta pressed her body against Je. The handcuffs on Je’s wrists clinked violently as he tried to restrain himself. However, the System in his brain issued a contrary command.

[Skill Mode: 'Forced Sync' automatically activated!]

[Mission: Subdue the Epigraphist to gain laboratory data access.]

"Shit, you asked for it!" Je suddenly grabbed Sinta by the scruff of her neck and kissed her roughly.

It wasn't a gentle kiss; it was an assault. Je let all of his overflowing system energy pour into Sinta. The woman groaned, her body instantly going limp as the wave of pure dopamine from Je slammed into her nervous system.

"Ahhhh... Je... oouugghhhh… that’s it... that frequency..." Sinta hissed between their kisses.

Suddenly, as the atmosphere in the library grew hotter and Je was on the verge of losing control completely, a deafening alarm shattered the silence.

O'WEEEEEEEE! O'WEEEEEEEE!

The red lights on the ceiling spun wildly. A massive thud echoed from the front gate of the fort, the vibration reaching the room until several glass frames on the walls cracked.

"Dammit! What was that?!" Je immediately pulled away from Sinta, gasping for air.

Sinta straightened her disheveled hair, her obsessive expression turning to one of alertness in an instant. She tapped the tablet on her arm, "Intruder! Someone blew up the front barricades with a tank of alcohol!"

"Guntur?" Je muttered. "That idiot actually did it?"

"Not just him! The sensors show a mass movement from outside. Thousands of 'Ratusan' are crawling up the fort walls!" Sinta grabbed Je’s hand, using a master key to release his magnetic cuffs. "Surya’s harvest ritual triggered a frequency that called them all here. This fort is about to become a mass grave!"

"What about Sekar? Where is she?!" Je gripped Sinta’s shoulder.

"She’s in the lower lab! If you want to save her, we have to go through the disposal tunnel!" Sinta pulled a small laser pistol from beneath her cloak, "Move, Thief! If you die now, my skin collection will be incomplete!"

"Don't you dare think you can skin me, Sinta! I still have plenty of plans for my life!" Je grabbed his torn shirt and ran, following Sinta out of the horrific library.

In the corridors, human screams began to mingle with the roars of monsters. Tonight, Yogyakarta was no longer just a forest of fungi; it had turned into a bloody banquet table, and Fort Vredeburg was the main course.

"Guntur, you better stay alive, you bastard!" Je shouted amidst the din of the alarms.

[Mission Updated: Save Sekar and Escape Vredeburg!]

[Reward: Command Level +1.]

"System, don't just give me rewards! Give me an exit that doesn't involve dying, damn it!" Je cursed as he leaped over a pile of dead guards who had just been shredded.

The real battle had only just begun.

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