[Awakener Joe Carlos has found you.]
[Joe Carlos wants to kill you.]
[Race: Vernathi]
[Abilities: Enhanced strength, heightened senses, rapid healing.]
[Hazard Note: Risk of uncontrolled transformation under emotional duress.]
Jack froze. For a second, the world went silent and only the hum of flickering fluorescent lights filled the air.
Then his instincts screamed. He bolted behind a row of metal cages just as something whistled past his ear.
Swish!
Joe Carlos pulled another butcher knife that was impaled against a large chopping board and threw it, almost striking his head, narrowly missing him.
[-1 HP]
Jack shrieked as the knife slammed into the steel bars beside him, quivering from the impact. His shoulder stung — warm blood dripped down his arm.
If I didn't have my increased speed, that would've split my skull, he thought grimly.
Without talking or smiling, Joe Carlos stood across the room, muscles taut, a predator's eyes sizing him. He reached for another knife; his movements deliberate and cold.
Jack ducked low, weaving through the cages.
The knives kept flying, each throw so fast his eyes barely followed the motion. Every blade missed by inches. Sometimes by luck, but mostly due to Jack's newly enhanced reflexes that barely kept up.
Jack was panicking inside.
But he tried to remain calm.
He already have the map of the laboratory in his head. It was a small laboratory after all. But he could only run back and forth. The only exit was also the only entrance and that was being blocked by Joe Carlos. It was virtually impossible to run away safely.
'What should I do? Do I fight this guy?'
[Level: 2]
[Opponent: Level 25]
Jack searched through his system but nothing was changing the fact that he was level 2 and the opponent was Level 25. This was a total mismatch.
Still, he held onto a cold metal rod on the ground. He gripped it tight, more for courage and reassurance than for combat.
Joe Carlos, with two of his butcher knives in each hand, continued to keep his eyes on him, his eyeballs checking how he could corner Jack using their surroundings
Meanwhile, Jack's mind raced.
[Appraising the area…]
Lines of text flashed before his eyes as he scanned the laboratory. He scanned the walls, cages, bones, tables, looking for anything resembling a hidden exit he still didn't know.
'Right now, I might even have a better spatial awareness than this freak's familiarity of the place. I need to find an exit asap.'
Jack thought, as he cautiously moved between using the obstacles in the laboratory to his advantage.
'But this laboratory is not so big, it's cramped. I need to be careful or I might get myself trapped.'
Jack thought.
'But I swear I saw Lucy earlier. Was that an illusion? A ghost?' Jack shrieked, imagining the presence of a ghost. After all, there were still cadavers and bones that was left inside the cages.
[Dog bones.]
[Weight: 1 kg.]
[Cat teeth.]
[Weight: 0.25 kg]
[Crushed human skull.]
[0.7 kg]
[…]
The words from his Appraisal felt colder than the air around him.
Rage simmered beneath his fear.
He glared at Joe Carlos.
'I'm indeed in a pretty dangerous situation, but I won't die here. I'll survive this,' he thought, 'and when I come back with the others, I'll make this bastard pay.'
Watching him all this time, Joe noticed his glare but more importantly the strange way Jack seemed to move as if he already knew the layout of his lab.
He stopped chasing.
Instead, Joe Carlos walked back to the center table and placed his knives down, his eyes never leaving Jack.
"Why are you glaring at me like that?"
Joe's voice was the same as when he served his customers. It was kind and friendly.
Jack chose to shut his mouth.
He wanted to escape. That was all he wanted. So while he wanted to get his revenge, he knew that saying the wrong thing might push this man into madness.
[Race: Vernathi]
[Abilities: Enhanced strength, heightened senses, rapid healing.]
[Hazard Note: Risk of uncontrolled transformation under emotional duress.]
'Uncontrolled transformation?' Jack thought, 'What does this mean? Do they turn into werewolves or some kind of monster when they lose control?'
He gulped.
'Yeah, better not make this guy angry.'
Joe's eyes flicked toward a group of vials on the table, filled with glowing, viscous liquid.
"You have been watching me all day." Joe said calmly.
Jack stayed silent, pretending to cower as he quietly triggered his ability. 'Appraise.'
[Appraising…]
[Substance 56 or Giloxiosa]
[A highly illegal compound that enhances the physical capabilities of any living creature. However, subjects often suffer severe mutations and die within six months to a year of injection. If completed, it might erase the side effects.]
[Completion Status: 81%]
Indeed, there were similar substances in the laboratory, all of them Substance 56, each at different stages of completion. But the one in front of Joe had the closest percentage for completion.
'So this is it, Jack realized. The cause of the missing animals. He's been testing this stuff on them — for a year, maybe more.' Jack thought, recalling their investigation in the neighborhood.
Then, a 'Ding' notification popped in front of his eyes.
[Rank F Mission solved.]
[You have solved the Missing Cat Case.]
[You have been rewarded 50 exp points.]
[Proceed to the nearest Association Station to get your 500 credits honored.]
'Only 50 exp points, what the hell. And how can I even get it credited if I can't leave?'
Jack ignored the notifications for now. His life was more important.
He looked again at the cages and the remains inside the cages were bones, fur, half-dissolved corpses.
'But what about the human bones? Don't tell me he's been testing it on people, too…'
Jack could feel shivers beneath his skin.
'I have entered a really dangerous situation.' He thought, but even after much searching, he could not find any exit out.
'Of all times I don't have my phone…' he thought bitterly. 'If I hadn't lost my bag that night, I could've called for help. By now, Lucy and David should've noticed I'm gone. They'll find that tile eventually.'
Joe's voice broke through his thoughts, with a tone seemingly certain and relaxed that Jack couldn't escape.
"You're not very talkative, huh?" he said in the same cold voice, picking up a smaller knife as he skinned an animal before twirling it in his hand. "That's fine. We've got plenty of time to talk. No one's coming after you."
Jack's heartbeat spiked.
'Did he close the entrance here? Where did he come from anyway? I was sure he was here already when I fell here. But it is possible that he saw me, and went to close that place.'
"Did you think I didn't notice you kids watching me?" Joe kept talking, "You're from the Association, aren't you? Or maybe one of those companies. It doesn't matter. They sent others before you."
He paused, his tone darkening.
"They didn't last long. Awakeners make terrible test subjects. Substance 56 rejects their bodies."
Jack felt a pit start to form in his stomach. His eyes flicked again to the piles of bones.
'Are these human bones really from awakeners from the Association or maybe even the company? It really doesn't matter like he said! I'm really going to die. Shit!' Jack smiled bitterly.
'Because I was so ambitious, I acted so rashly, thinking I could earn myself some credits. I made a real mistake.'
Fear swirled clogged his mind.
He was about to make a mad dash for survival, when something caught his eyes.
In a cage behind him, there was a small movement.
He noticed a black cat inside, but unlike the others, it wasn't dead or barely alive, it was only sleeping in a curl.
[Feline.]
[Ordinary Cat.]
[Weight: 4.27 kg]
[Status: Yearns for freedom. Highly agile. Enhanced reflexes. Subject has survived injection of Substance 56.]
His eyes widened.
'This is that old lady's cat! But it has been injected with Substance 56 but its still alive? Wai--'
Before he could think further, Joe's voice thundered through the lab.
"Don't touch that cage!"
Slowly, a smile bloomed on Jack's face.
He now had an idea to escape. Without breaking eye contact, Jack reached for the latch and opened the cage.