As Jack opened the cage, the black cat blinked awake and started to stretch. Then it lazily walked out of the cage while letting out a small meow.
Just as Jack predicted, Joe's attention snapped toward it.
For one brief moment, the cat turned its raven-black eyes toward Jack. It was unblinking and almost human-like before casually leaping onto a larger cage in front of Joe.
Joe froze mid-step, his calm facade breaking into fury and something that looked a lot like panic.
"You idiot!" Joe's voice cracked through the room.
Jack watched him quietly.
The canteen owner now looked like a businessman watching his stocks crash. His facial muscles trembled with frustration as he stalked forward, trying to corner the cat, in an attempt to catch the cat off-guard, as if forgetting Jack's existence.
Yet the cat, casually hops out, from obstacle to obstacle, easily evading Joe the first time, and the second time, and the third time.
It reminded Jack when he was a child patiently trying to catch dragonflies when they land on the ground to rest.
It wasn't anything impressive.
The cat looked and behaved ordinarily, but it was enough for anyone to assume it wasn't going to get caught very easily any time.
Based on the system, it was clearly no longer an ordinary cat. Looking at Joe Carlos, it was clearly a very important piece of Joe's experiments. After all, the cat Shadow survived the Substance 56.
Shadow stopped, sniffed a glowing vial on a nearby table before swatting it down with its paws. It shattered, spilling green liquid that hissed against the floor.
"You damn cat!"
Joe Carlos was furious, his tone cracking between anger and dread.
Jack didn't wait and wasn't just going to watch.
Still gripping the metal rod, he turned and cautiously head toward the stairs in silence.
Joe Carlos could see and hear him escaping, but did not chase him. Catching the cat was a bigger priority.
Soon, Jack reached the stairwell.
Behind him, glass broke, metals clanged, and a deep growl echoed through the lab, as if coming from a different animal.
He turned for one last glance and froze.
His system flickered.
[Target: Joe Carlos.]
[Emotions: Unstable.]
Joe Carlos was writhing and visibly angrier than earlier.
Veins were bulging across his neck and his skin had turned slightly red. And for a moment, it looked like his eyes gleamed with crimson threads under the fluorescent lights.
'The vernathi gene! Is he losing control? Is he going to transform? This is dangerous.'
Jack saw the entrance and noticed that it indeed had been locked from the inside. He pried open the lid, and started to climb the stairs.
'I'd love to see how he looks after the transformation,' Jack thought a little naughtily, 'but I'd rather not be part of the demonstration right now.'
Finally out of the basement.
He could still hear the faint echo of metal crashing and glass shattering beneath the canteen, like the building itself was groaning from the chaos below.
Seeing no one in the canteen still, he didn't think much and immediately slipped through the canteen door and ran into the street.
He stopped just long enough to look back. From the outside, it was just a quiet ordinary building in the middle of the night. No one would ever guess the nightmare what was in the basement.
"Older brother!"
A familiar younger male voice soon shouted the moment he spotted him.
Jack turned at the sound of David's voice, and nearly collapsed.
Lucy suddenly appeared and caught him by the arm, helping him steady himself.
Jack's eyes then looked up.
Behind David rushing towards him, stood Simon, the team leader, and several soldier-looking dudes in black uniforms armed with rifles that glinted under the streetlights.
It was like seeing avatars from those in shooting video games Jack used to play.
"Team Leader, Senior," Jack panted and immediately reported, "Underground the building, there's a laboratory with dead people, and animals, and a strange substance. The canteen owner, Joe Carlos, he's behind it. And the missing cat was there too."
Hearing him, the team leader was the first to react.
"You heard our newbie!" he barked. "Move out!"
Their team leader, usually lazy-looking and half-asleep, now radiated a different kind of energy. It was sharp, commanding, almost terrifying.
The soldiers charged into the canteen.
Just minutes later, they occupied the canteen basement. Their surprise echoed from below, followed by stunned silence.
When Jack got out, it was already past midnight.
The street was blocked off by police, yellow tape fluttering under the cold wind.
Jack sat by the ambulance, his shoulder bandaged, watching everything unfold.
It was fascinating in Jack's perspective to see.
He knew he may have just did something big, but at the same time, he was just relieved that he had gotten out unharmed.
Jack had been treated by the medics. But besides his right shoulder that was now covered by white bandages, there was nothing wrong with him.
"Senior… what exactly is this?" Jack asked quietly, watching their team leader talk to some people in black suits.
Simon who was also watching the incident looked at him for a while before speaking.
"It's complicated. After you went missing, David and Lucy called us again. That was two hours ago."
'It has been that long?'
Jack didn't even realize the time inside. He had been in a staring competition inside the laboratory for two hours!
Simon then continued.
"But that isn't all. After you gone missing, we received intel from the company that two association agents have gone missing in a mission two months ago, and this neighborhood was one of the places that they were last contacted in."
'So, the human bones…'
Jack frowned, immediately connecting the dots of what he'd seen inside.
"This place is our jurisdiction so we actually also received report two months ago of the incident, but since Division 12 only got three members because of our hospitalized members, we just let the Association handle it."
Then Simon looked at Jack's eyes.
"Then I got missing too." Jack said.
"Yes, because of that, we think this incident might be connected to that incident two months ago."
Simon then replied.
"It's not 'might'. It 'is' connected."
Without warning, the team leader then intervened, walking over.
This time, he had a cigarette in his mouth.
And he wasn't alone.
Beside him was another man, as tall as him, but not as big, in a black suit.
Compared to the team leader's disorderly and unkempt appearance, this thirty-year old man was handsome and well-dressed.
He had a short dark hair that suited his overall style and sharp features that looked carved from calm confidence.
"Nice to meet you," the man said with a smooth voice, "I am Agent Chris Fall from the Association of the monitoring division."
Chris extended his hand for a handshake.
"Oy, you're offering a handshake to a guy who just injured his shoulder?" the team leader grunted.
Indeed, Jack injured his right shoulder but it wasn't that serious.
Under his team leader's intimidating gaze, Jack chuckled despite himself, then shook Chris's hand with his injured right arm.
"Jack Crawluster, sir. Pleasure to meet you."
Chris nodded approvingly. "Oh, you are polite and articulate. A rarity around here."
Jack chuckled and spoke as polite as he always did, "Thank you, sir. But I assume you're not just here to greet me."
After staring at Jack for more than three seconds, Chris then opened his mouth.
Then he asked.
"About that, can you tell me what happened inside?"
Just like what he told his companions, Jack tried to tell everything as chronological and clear as possible: how he found the cat, what Joe did, the strange vials, and the redness on Joe Carlos' skin.
When he finished, Chris studied him in silence, and then raised a brow.
"So you were investigating… a missing cat?"
His tone carried a hint of disbelief.
The team leader scoffed.
"You got a problem with that? It is what it is. All our newbies have to take on missions like that at first."
Chris shook his head.
Chris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I have heard that Division 12 of the Company had low standards, but sending a new hire to play pet detective?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" the team leader shot back. "Unlike the association who only wants to deal with big cases, cases like these are actually very common to us. It's the more noble missions if we are being honest."
Jack and everyone watched. Their back and forth sounded like an old married couple arguing in the middle of a crime scene.
"Ahem."
Chris cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "Anyway… we found traces of Substance 56 inside. We've already secured the site. Good work, Crawluster. You have no idea how big this is."
Then he paused.
"But a cat, huh? We didn't see any living cat inside, much less a cat as agile and energetic as you said. And worse, Joe Carlos is missing too."
***
It's currently exam week, so I won't be able to release chapters as frequently for now. Still, I'm committed to making this novel last. I've already planned at least three volumes, with around fifty chapters each if possible. After November, I'm planning to lock the later chapters, but for now, all chapters including the first thirty will remain free to read.