The original test subject and the researcher, while exchanging positions, also exchanged identities.
"Ahhh..."
Lying sprawled on the ground without any dignity, Sains let out a hysterical scream.
No one knew whether it was because he had been injured by a kick, or because he was about to touch something he longed for—only to never be able to reach it again.
A long time passed, so long that Sains felt as if an entire century had gone by.
"What is it that you want to find?"
Kisho's voice drifted faintly into Sains' ears.
"An inhibitor?"
The boy asked knowingly, and when Sains heard those three words, his gaze flickered.
Kisho jumped down from the chair and walked to the refrigerated cabinet.
He took out a red vial from one of the compartments, raised it, and waved it in front of Sains' eyes.
"Is it this?"
Sains' eyes shifted to the tip of his fingers, his expression unchanged.
Kisho shrugged and tossed the vial away.
"Doesn't look like it."
"—Then what about this?"
This time, it was a blue vial.
"Hmm, doesn't seem like it either."
As he spoke, his fingers moved to the very bottom layer of the freezer.
There, a small row of brown vials was neatly arranged.
With his movement, Sains' complexion changed abruptly. His breathing grew more and more rapid, each breath heavier than the last.
"Looks like this one."
Kisho picked up the vial and examined it for a moment.
The inhibitor he had been looking for should be this thing in his hand.
Kisho met Sains' gaze and said silently in his heart:
"But still, it needs to be tested in practice."
Using an extremely unprofessional technique, he stuck the syringe into the vial.
A liquid the same color as the raw liquid slowly filled the syringe.
However, this suspected "inhibitor" did not have the sickeningly sweet scent of the raw liquid that inspired fear.
Holding the syringe, he walked over to Sains and lifted his sleeve to look.
The red bloodline on his arm was spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He bent down and whispered like a demon beside Sains' ear:
"...I heard that once this line spreads to the upper arm, the person is finished."
Hearing what Kisho said, Sains' breathing hitched.
"Let me ask you something. The genes used to research those test subjects—where did you get them?"
Sains: "..."
"Not saying? That's fine." Kisho stood up and stepped back half a step.
"Then just lie here and see if anyone comes in tomorrow—but if you can't last until tomorrow, there's nothing I can do."
"Black Calamity... Island..."
Sains had already been driven mad by pain. All of his attention was fixed on the syringe in Kisho's hand.
He used all his strength just to force those three words out of his throat.
"Black Calamity... Island?"
Kisho frowned upon hearing it. It was a place name he had never heard before—but whatever, it wasn't a big deal. He could check it after getting out.
—This concerned Noah Barton. He would definitely go all out.
Kisho pressed the syringe against Sains' arm as a "reward" for answering.
"Now, the last question."
His eyes turned cold as he asked slowly, word by word:
"Did you bring that genetic material onto the ship?"
After receiving an affirmative answer, Kisho injected the medicine into Sains' body.
Although his technique was far from standard, he was still pleased to see that the speed at which the red line spread along Sains' arm slowed, then gradually faded and disappeared.
And Sains himself seemed to gain a moment to breathe.
After the excruciating pain vanished, it gave him an incomparably light illusion. He closed his eyes, then opened them again and stared fixedly at Kisho.
"You kind of monster..."
An expression of humiliation at being affronted by a monster appeared on his face.
"How dare a monster like you do this!"
"You should have died on the operating table! Died under the scalpel! Go die! Monster! You fucking—"
A cold flash of light.
"Sorry, the one who dies first isn't me."
Kisho stood up indifferently.
Sains' eyes split wide. Using all his strength, he clutched his own throat, yet he still couldn't stop blood from gushing out in great quantities.
Kisho couldn't be bothered to look at him again. He returned to the refrigerated cabinet and took out another vial stored in the same compartment.
A moment later, he silently stared at the bloodline on his own arm as it slowly faded and disappeared, just as he wished.
He let out a heavy, deeply satisfied breath.
The Sword of Damocles hanging over his head had finally vanished.
"Now it's time to solve the other problems."
He tore out the power cable of the refrigerated cabinet, turning everything inside into trash.
Then he looked toward the cages holding the test subjects, who had no idea how long they had been imprisoned.
Discarding the syringe, he walked over to the control consoles that were still flashing text.
Since no one was stopping him, he randomly pressed buttons on the console. As a series of continuous "bang bang" sounds rang out, all the cage doors holding monsters were opened.
The monsters crawled out of their cages, not daring to look directly at the even more terrifying existence behind the glass wall. They could only focus their attention on the iron door on the other side—where the scent of flesh and blood awaited.
Kisho made a round through the laboratory, including the small door the researchers had used earlier. However, behind this door was only a corridor ending in a dead end, connected to several rest rooms and storage rooms for food and daily supplies.
Since this side was a dead end, the key to leaving had to be on the researchers.
Kisho returned to the laboratory and walked up to Sains, turning him over.
After searching for a while, he indeed found a black access pass.
"It's time to end this."
Kisho murmured.
He didn't bother with subtlety and directly smashed open the reinforced glass, then switched Noah Barton out.
...
The boy stepped into the midst of the monsters.
The monsters dared not offend the approaching boy in the slightest. They even unconsciously retreated, and some of the smaller ones trembled violently.
Noah held the card in his hand and, expressionless, swiped it over the device on the iron door.
"Beep beep—"
After two electronic sounds, the heavy iron door slowly opened.
"Roar roar roar—!!!"
Before Noah made any move, the monsters around him had already lunged forward.
Furrlei, who had been dozing at the doorway, heard the strange sounds and opened his eyes.
Extreme terror appeared on his face—and that expression was forever frozen in fear.
He didn't even manage to let out a scream before his throat was bitten through. Then he was submerged by the swarm of monsters.
Noah didn't even glance at him, stepping past his body.
Door after door was opened. Blood and screams filled the previously silent and deep passageway.
Noah followed behind the monsters.
The raw liquid was refined from the blood of these test subjects. In order to produce higher-quality goods, these test subjects had never been spared from being fed plenty of that stuff.
Therefore, following the monsters, Noah didn't even need to deploy his En to search. He could easily find what he was looking for.
"Destroy all the goods" was another self's wish, and Noah would spare nothing to fulfill it.
...
The B2 warehouse.
When the boy and the monsters clustered around him arrived, the guards on duty here were squatting on the ground out of boredom, puffing away at their cigarettes.
"Who are you?!—"
"No, wait, you're the boss's mercenary! How did you—"
The mercenaries' questions and shock still received no answers.
Blood and dismembered limbs dyed the ground red. In a few more minutes, not even the remains would be left.
Noah expressionlessly pushed open the warehouse door.
Moments later, he turned and left.
In the warehouse behind him, raging flames burned as thick smoke billowed.
—The gift from the devil that drove people mad and made them give everything was reduced to ashes just like that.
The boy walked forward slowly aboard the colossal ship bound for the underworld.
Those who personally created devils would eventually be devoured by the devils they themselves had made.
Behind the boy, flames, blood, slaughter, and wailing cries filled the air.
Screams, gunfire, and alarms intertwined into a symphony, offering him a blessing.
He strolled forward, calm and unhurried.
B1, the deck, first floor, second floor.
His footsteps stopped before a massive door forged of steel.
The monsters that had scattered to hunt silently gathered here again, keeping their distance from the boy.
The monsters also sensed that behind this door was the fragrance of raw liquid, as well as the taste of flesh and blood—this was the final dessert after their main course.
And the boy's gaze also fell upon what lay beyond this door.
This journey was about to end here, and a new chapter was about to begin.