Stephen woke up early, and after a while, he heard the sound of a door opening.
Stephen stood up quickly and hid behind the door, and when the man entered, he was shocked not to find Stephen there and rushed into the room. He looked around and bent down to look under the bed.
As the man bent his body, Stephen seized the opportunity and pushed the man's head into the edge of the bed with all the strength he could gather from his small, thin body, causing the man to faint.
Stephen sighed in relief, took the small, worn-out bed sheet, and tore it apart.
He tied the man's hands and feet, rolled a piece of the cloth into a ball, and shoved it into the man's mouth. When he looked at the large, tied-up, unconscious man, he sighed with relief—but there was no time to rest; he had to reach the laboratory he was in yesterday.
"It's time to test the disguise skill."
He raised his height until he almost reached the same height as the tied man and changed his hair color to a light brown, the same as the man's hair. He also stole the clothes the man was wearing as well as his glasses.
He wore them, took the ID card, keys, and money from the man's pocket. Stephen had to pay attention to every small detail to deceive them, even for just a single second.
He left and locked the door behind him tightly.
He walked carefully, avoiding as much as possible the cameras he had noticed yesterday in the hallway, until he reached the door of the room—or rather, the hall—he had been in before.
He opened the room using the card he had taken earlier, entered, and walked quietly with his head slightly lowered to hide his features, which would be recognizable if anyone looked closely.
A man inside, holding some lab tools and examining a sample of strange green liquid, spoke to him without looking, "You've arrived?" He didn't notice Stephen's face.
Stephen didn't answer. He walked and took a small sharp knife from a nearby table near the door.
The man noticed Stephen's behavior and walked toward him, saying, "You don't look well today, but where is experiment number 66…?"
When he got close—only three steps between them—he noticed Stephen's different appearance, and his face turned pale.
"Wh… who a—"
Before the man could finish his words, Stephen stabbed him quickly in the neck.
The man's body fell before him, trembling slightly before it stopped moving entirely. It was Stephen's first time killing someone, so his body began to tremble, and he vomited.
He quickly regained control of himself, but his face remained pale. There was no time to panic—he had to rescue that small child and escape from this place before they were caught.
He deactivated the disguise skill and returned to his original size and hair color because his mana was low. At rank G+, he could only use it for ten minutes every six hours, and now it was depleted.
He looked around for anything useful but postponed it for a few seconds to free the stunned child there.
He walked to the child's bed.
The child was surprised by Stephen's transformation into an adult and then back to his normal self. As Stephen came toward him, the child said, "That was amazing! How did you do it?"
Stephen ignored the boy's question and began unlocking the chains that bound him.
Stephen thought for a moment; he didn't even know the boy's name. He asked, "What's your name?"
The boy, whose eyes still shone with excitement and hope, replied, "My name's Mark. What's your name?"
Stephen said, his face expressionless, "Stephen."
After Mark was freed, he jumped off that cursed bed and looked at Stephen with sparkling eyes, saying excitedly, "So, what do we do next?"
Stephen spoke calmly, "We sneak into the control room."
Mark asked curiously, "But how? We don't even know where it is."
With a steady face, Stephen said, "We'll search for it."
Mark fell silent, thinking doubtfully—was it right to trust this person?
As if he hadn't noticed the boy's suspicious look, Stephen spoke quietly, "Let's go. Don't make any noise, and stay behind me. If you don't follow me, I'll leave you and go."
Mark flinched and quickly dropped the doubtful expression. Trying was better than doing nothing, he said nervously, "Y-yes."
The two sneaked down the hallway and found a square vent—it was clearly for ventilation. Stephen took out the small knife he had grabbed from the lab and unscrewed the bolts holding the vent in place.
They both crawled inside; their bodies were very small—smaller than other children their age due to malnutrition—so they could crawl inside the pipes.
They began crawling through the pipes as quietly as possible.
Mark whispered, shivering, "It's cold in here."
Stephen whispered back, "Be quiet. Don't speak."
"....."
They continued their way, and after a distance, Stephen found an opening. He moved quietly toward it and looked through—it showed a group of doctors working on something. He looked at Mark, put a finger on his lips, and whispered, "Let's cross quietly. Don't make any noise."
Mark nodded nervously.
They passed the vent quietly, and Stephen began mapping out the laboratory as they moved.
Stephen was very intelligent; he accurately imagined and memorized the map, calculating every step precisely. He had read many novels, so he could easily imagine his opponent's movements, which helped him defend himself against gangs in his past life—since there were many gangs and bullies in Korea.
After a while, they found an opening leading to the monitoring room.
Stephen looked at Mark and nodded for him to stop. Mark seemed to understand, so he stayed still.
Stephen peered through the opening and saw two people inside.
'How will I deal with two?...'
'I'll wait to see if one of them moves away from the control panel so he doesn't press the alarm button.'
Stephen had read in many novels that in places like this, there must be an alarm button. Thankfully, in the lab where the two doctors had experimented on them, there were no cameras for some reason.
Stephen whispered in Mark's ear, "When I give you the signal, use the stealth skill and sneak to the control unit, then use the hacking skill and disable the cameras."
Mark whispered, "But how do I use them? I don't know anything."
Stephen whispered back, "Just imagine yourself using the skill."
Mark nodded nervously.
After a short while, in the monitoring room, one of the men said, "Ugh, my body's stiff from sitting all day watching. I'll stand and stretch a little."
The other laughed, "Yeah, it's boring—nothing's happened for a long time. You can rest; I'll take a break after you."
The first nodded, stood up, stretched, and was about to leave.
Stephen saw this, nodded to Mark, opened the vent quickly, pulled out his knife, and jumped toward the man sitting down.
Before the man could comprehend what was happening, Stephen stabbed him near the heart, then pulled the knife out and leapt toward the surprised man near the door. The man tried to pull out his weapon, but Stephen jumped and stabbed him in the neck.
"Aaaghk!" the man screamed before collapsing to the ground.
Suddenly, alarms sounded. Stephen looked back and saw that the first man wasn't dead—the stab hadn't hit his heart.
"Damn it! Mark, how far are you?"
Mark said fearfully, not knowing what to do but feeling the skill guide him, "Almost… just a bit more."
Mark finished disabling the cameras and shut down the network, preventing all communications.
Stephen picked up the guards' guns—one for himself and handed the other to Mark.
Stephen grabbed a chair and smashed the monitors to buy more time.
Then the two ran out of the room and found two hallways. In one, there were two armed guards approaching. Stephen and Mark hid in the other corridor.
Stephen prepared his gun—he knew how to use it. He had secretly learned after his father was imprisoned and even kept one hidden in his apartment.
He aimed at one of the guards and pulled the trigger.
*Boom!*
The bullet hit one guard in the eye—he fell dead.
The other guard fired toward Stephen's spot, but Stephen hid behind the wall and wasn't hit. Then he aimed again and shot the guard's leg. The guard fell to his knees, dropping his gun.
Stephen took the chance and shot him again; the bullet pierced his head.
The two ran through the hallway until they found the exit door and opened it quickly.
They ran outside—the laboratory was located in a forest. From the outside, it looked small. On their right was a rectangular building; Stephen guessed it was an armory. They entered it and found that it indeed was.
Inside were all kinds of nuclear explosives and weapons.
Stephen thought for a moment and took some regular explosives, a light sword that fit his size, and quickly grabbed it.
He activated one of the explosives and threw it into the lab—one after another, tossing them through several square windows of the building.
The two ran at full speed through the forest.
Behind them, sparks of fire erupted, and the bombs started exploding one after another. After a long period of continuous running, they reached a city with tall buildings and cars everywhere.
Stephen looked at Mark, who was panting heavily. Stephen felt exhausted too, but there were still things to do.
Stephen pointed toward an empty alley and said to Mark, "Wait for me there."
Mark said nervously, afraid Stephen would leave him, "Will you come back?"
Stephen looked at him with a cold expression and opened his lips to reassure him, "Yes."
Mark felt slightly relieved but still nervous. "Okay," he said.
Stephen went to look for a store that sold maps.
After searching, he found one and entered. The shopkeeper looked at him strangely—rarely did small children come here, especially one wearing ragged clothes and looking so thin. He asked, "What are you doing here alone, kid?"
"Are you lost?"
Stephen froze—he didn't know how to respond. No one in his world liked talking to him; even strangers avoided him.
'… No one's talked to me in so long.'
But his face remained expressionless.
He stood for a few seconds and said to the shopkeeper, "I want a world map."
The shopkeeper thought for a moment. "If you want a paper map, I don't have any, but you can display one through your transmitter device. Don't you know how to use it, kid?"
Stephen asked calmly, "Then where can I get a transmitter device? And how much does it cost?"
The shopkeeper was puzzled—did this kid not have one? Everyone had a transmitter device… well, except the poor.
He answered with a bit of pity, looking at Stephen, "I can sell you one, but kid, do you have money?"
Stephen said, taking coins from his pocket and counting them, "Yes, I do… how much is it?"
The shopkeeper said, "Well, 50 rubles is enough to buy a watch."
Stephen handed over the 50 rubles to the shopkeeper, took the watch, examined it, and said, "Thank you," before leaving the store.
The shopkeeper thought to himself, "This is the first time I've seen a child with such mature and calm expressions."
"He seems poor from his clothes, but he had money. Maybe he's a child who was attacked? There have been many such cases lately."
He sighed. "Well, the world is vast. Everyone goes through different things and events."