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After parking the car, Arthur stepped out.
He immediately spotted a few men patrolling the garage with guns in hand. But upon seeing Arthur, they barely reacted, keeping up a deliberate air of indifference, as if he didn't exist.
Arthur smirked faintly and adopted a similar nonchalant demeanor, brushing past them with ease.
He had already scanned the entire garage before entering. There was an elevator due north. Upon reaching it, he took out a keycard from his jacket. After scanning it, he pressed the button for the desired floor.
Target: Basement.
As with most research facilities, this one kept its labs underground.
The elevator moved slowly. Arthur's gaze flicked to the camera in the corner.
He blinked thoughtfully. "Every elevator should have surveillance… So, how exactly did Dr. Skirth manage to get Brock down to the underground lab unnoticed?"
He raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"As expected, without proper training, people have virtually zero awareness of things like this."
Ding!
The elevator arrived at the designated floor. Arthur stepped out, looped around a couple of times, and headed straight for the restroom on this level, as if he knew exactly where it was.
Don't ask how he knew where the restroom was. The Eye of Horus granted him near-omniscient awareness of the surrounding environment.
Unfortunately, the restroom wasn't empty.
It made Arthur feel nostalgic for that one SHIELD branch where he could always find a quiet bathroom.
Especially now, considering what he was planning, the men's room wouldn't cut it.
"Forget it…"
Arthur entered the men's restroom, entered a stall, and deployed The Eye of Horus into the women's restroom.
"I know this feels like some kind of creep move… but I don't have a choice."
He sighed, reluctantly continuing with his plan.
Just one sweep and he immediately identified an unoccupied stall. His figure shimmered and vanished on the spot.
The next instant, he reappeared inside that very stall in the women's restroom.
With a flicker, his form shifted, once again taking on the appearance of Dr. Skirth. He clicked out confidently in a pair of high heels, opened the stall door, and walked out.
"Hi, Doctor."
A young woman he didn't recognize greeted him.
Arthur responded with a radiant smile and a nod. In truth, he knew very little about Dr. Skirth.
But thanks to the brief couple of hours they'd spent together earlier, he had gathered that she was relatively kind , unlikely to react harshly to a polite greeting.
Sure enough, the smile raised no suspicion.
Even if someone familiar found it a little "off," it wouldn't immediately raise alarms.
After all, this was reality, not some novel. No one would seriously suspect that a friend or colleague had suddenly been replaced by an imposter.
In fiction , movies, books, whatever , this sort of fantastical twist was common sense.
But in the real world? It was impossible. No one would believe it.
And this was Arthur's reality.
He washed his hands and, pretending to freshen up, dabbed at his lips and rubbed the corners of his eyes. He didn't actually have any makeup tools, so it was all for show.
With a faint smile, he exited the restroom.
Flawless.
At the very least, that's what Arthur believed , even if his facial expressions and behavior might contain a few subtle flaws.
But realistically, unless there was someone exceptionally sharp among them, and unless they spent a good month or two studying his every move, no one would ever detect anything wrong.
He hadn't left any evidence for others to question , but Arthur himself was starting to have doubts.
What now?
Should he head down to the next level and take a look at the test subjects?
Or maybe find the experimental reports and study those?
But... where was "his" office? He couldn't just walk up to someone and casually ask, "Hey, where's my office?"
As he walked, he grumbled inwardly, but never once showed hesitation or fear in his posture. Arthur had too much experience in this kind of operation: the more hesitant you act, the more suspicious you look.
Sure, if it came to a fight, everyone in this whole Life Foundation wouldn't last one breath against him, but fighting wasn't the mission here.
Beyond getting to the bottom of the Life Foundation's secrets, he was also hoping to see if these people had come up with anything truly valuable.
If so, he might as well take it for himself, better than letting it go to waste.
Just as he was walking, a voice suddenly called from behind:
"Dr. Skirth!"
The moment Arthur heard that name, his reflexes kicked in. He stopped and turned around calmly, looking composed and unbothered.
Honestly, he'd been expecting this call. Just… not quite this soon.
Behind him stood a man with a completely shaved head.
"Letus?"
That was a name Arthur had picked up from Jimmy. Now, it came in handy. After all, how many researchers in a facility wore their hair like that? Probably just the one.
"Glad you still remember my name, Doctor. But right now, I'm afraid you'll have to come with us."
His voice was cold, the tone the same as one would use for arresting a suspect.
Arthur knew he had to put on a convincing display of being startled. He shook his hand a bit, not a frightened tremble, more like the start of drawing a weapon.
He sighed inwardly. Still need to work on the acting…
Luckily, Letus didn't seem to notice anything strange. He gave a look to both sides, and just as expected, two large enforcer-types were already standing by. They grabbed Arthur by the shoulders and began to escort him away…
Of course, this was all intentional compliance on Arthur's part. Even the Hulk wouldn't be able to move him so casually unless he let them.
As they walked, Arthur didn't stay quiet:
"What are you doing? You can't treat me like this!"
"Doctor, shut your mouth," Letus snapped, turning back with a glare. "Or I'll shut it for you."
Arthur instantly shut up, but in his heart, he made a note: 'Once I'm done here, I'll show you just how your mouth gets shut.'
In no time, they brought Arthur to an office.
Behind the desk sat a young man, his gaze seemed calm on the surface, but ice-cold underneath, as he stared at the computer screen.
When the group entered, he finally looked up at Arthur and said:
"I want to know... why?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Arthur replied flatly. "I also don't know why you're treating me this way."
He figured this was how most people would react: play dumb until the end.
"You're smart," the young man said, standing. "You even deleted the surveillance footage from that night. But you underestimated us."
As he spoke, he brushed past everyone and left the room.
Arthur, still being held, was marched along once more…
To be honest, not having to walk on his own? Kinda comfy, actually.
(Chapter complete.)