Chapter 26: Lesser Chaos Foe |
"Thump, thump..."
A heartbeat-like sound echoed through the lounge.
Everyone noticed the pulsating corpse.
"Look, what is that?"
The apprentice worker closest to the corpse pointed at its stomach, his face pale with terror.
"It looks like something is trying to crawl out of the body!"
The apprentice worker shouted as he backed away.
Influenced by his panic, the people nearby also retreated from the corpse.
Robnos's face was grim. He rapidly tapped his Dataslate, muttering under his breath as if communicating with someone.
Keeping the crowd between himself and the corpse as a shield, he quietly made his way toward the elevator platform.
He had only taken a few steps when the sound of tearing flesh came from behind.
Lino glanced back, breaking out in a cold sweat.
The corpse's stomach was ripped open by a pair of black, razor-sharp claws. Flesh peeled back, and beads of blood sprayed wildly.
Bathed in blood, the owner of the claws crawled out of the corpse. It was bizarre and hideous, with twisted limbs and a hunched back, its entire body covered in coarse, interwoven red and black fur.
Lino cast an Appraisal on it as he ran.
The system's Appraisal result startled him.
It was actually a demon from The Warp!
Though extremely weak, there was no denying it—it truly came from The Warp.
[Name: Unknown Demon]
[Description: A very weak demon from The Warp. For some reason, it arrived in the material universe through the soul of the apprentice worker. Of course, this is merely its projection, not its true body.]
Why would injecting an enhancement serum summon the projection of a demon from The Warp?
As a cloud-hammer, Lino found this completely baffling.
"Ah! A monster! Run!"
"Ugh—it stinks! This monster smells terrible!"
The crowd screamed in terror, the scene devolving into total chaos.
Lino reached the elevator platform and tried to operate the gate with his Dataslate, only to discover he didn't have the clearance to open it!
Because Robnos hadn't dismissed them for the day, the apprentice workers couldn't leave the Underground Sector!
Damn it!
What now?
Lino furrowed his brows, growing anxious, and could only scramble under a table to hide.
Right then, Robnos lowered his Dataslate and shouted.
"Shoot! Hurry and shoot! Stall this monster! Borg is bringing his men over to deal with it right now!"
The security personnel followed the order, drawing the laser pistols from their waists and pulling the triggers.
Red lasers shot forth, the beams blindingly bright as over a dozen high-energy rays struck the enemy simultaneously.
Swept by the horizontal downpour of crimson light, the monster's flesh gave off bursts of foul stench as it burned under the high heat.
The synchronized laser volley was a spectacular sight, but the results left much to be desired.
The lasers neither pierced the monster's body nor killed it instantly.
This was because the focusers on the laser pistols had been calibrated, reducing their power so they wouldn't pierce the factory's equipment shells.
While this successfully prevented accidental damage to the machinery and the pipes within the walls, it also severely hampered their lethality.
Taking advantage of the moment the security personnel swapped their energy magazines, the charred monster let out a roar, leaped high into the air, and lunged at them.
Its pitch-black, fang-like claws pressed down hard against a security guard's helmet.
The helmet remained intact, but the guard's head was shoved straight down into his torso, killing him on the spot.
Robnos bellowed furiously.
"Are you idiots?! How did Borg train you?! Alternate your fire! Alternate your fire!"
The monster whipped its head around, locking its gaze on the shouting Robnos, and charged at him with a gust of foul, bloody wind.
The crowd braced themselves to see Robnos's head smashed to pieces by the creature.
However, that was not the case.
Despite being over fifty, Robnos was agile and physically fit.
He rapidly backpedaled, retreating from the monster while raising his left hand. He made a forceful grabbing motion at it and flung his arm to the side.
Bound by an invisible force, the monster's forward momentum abruptly halted, and it crashed uncontrollably to its side.
Telekinetic psionic energy!
Robnos was also a Psyker!
"What are you just standing there for?! Do you expect me to finish off this monster myself?!"
The dense barrage of laser fire resumed.
This time, the security personnel alternated their shots instead of firing blindly.
While this guaranteed sustained fire, the density of the lasers plummeted, allowing the monster to push through the beams and keep moving.
Shielding its head with its claws, it reached a guard and swiped with its right claw.
The armor, made of ballistic plastic, failed to stop the attack.
The sharp claws tore into the guard's body, ripping off a large chunk of flesh.
The monster greedily swallowed the meat, its laser-scorched fur writhing and healing as it ate.
The horrifying sight sent a chill through the onlookers!
Just what kind of monster was this, able to heal itself by devouring flesh?!
Ding!
The elevator platform descended from the upper floor, and the gates opened.
Borg, the security supervisor, arrived. Behind him stood several security personnel clad in black fireproof suits.
These guards were equipped with flamethrowers.
They pushed their way through the crowd, aimed at the monster, and unleashed roaring torrents of flame.
In an instant, the lounge was lit up by the blaze, and the room temperature rapidly spiked.
The monster seemed deeply afraid of the fire.
The moment the flamethrowers activated, the creature clutched its head and scurried away, but the flames quickly caught up to it.
It shrieked and howled within the inferno, spewing foul black fluid as its body rapidly shriveled.
In less than ten seconds, the monster that had sent everyone into a panic was reduced to a pile of black ash.
The flamethrowers shut off, the fire dissipated, and the air temperature slowly began to drop.
Borg scanned the monster's remains with his cybernetic eye and gave a slight nod.
"Supervisor Robnos, the monster has been eliminated."
Lino crawled out from his hiding spot beneath the desk and looked over at Robnos, whose brows were tightly furrowed.
The crowd's gaze converged on Robnos, waiting to hear his explanation.
What happened tonight had been far too horrifying.
They were just injecting an enhancement serum, yet a monster had burst out of a dead apprentice worker's stomach.
Could an enhancement serum actually make someone pregnant?
But the problem was, that apprentice worker was clearly a man.
Robnos remained silent.
He walked over to the apprentice worker's corpse, scanned it with his Dataslate, and then picked up the syringe from the floor to scan it as well.
Someone in the crowd noticed a detail.
"Huh? Do you guys remember who was supposed to be injected with the Ghost Serum today? If I remember correctly, wasn't it the guy whose stomach the monster burst out of?"
At these words, the other apprentice workers chimed in.
"Yeah! That's him! Tabok, right?"
"I remember clearly. Tabok was the third to finish excavation training today. Marzachs and MacTonson were ahead of him. Marzachs and MacTonson have already been injected with the Ghost Serum, so the only one left to get it today was Tabok."
"Could the monster be related to the Ghost Serum?"
"How is that possible? If it had something to do with the Ghost Serum, why are Marzachs and MacTonson fine?"
Marzachs and MacTonson overheard the conversation.
The two exchanged a glance, gave an imperceptible nod, and lowered their heads without saying a word.
Robnos stood up with a dark expression and said coldly, "Quiet. Listen up, everyone. This doesn't concern you. All apprentice workers are dismissed. Report back here tomorrow morning at eight."
The apprentice workers looked at one another before heading toward the elevator platform.
Lino had no intention of lingering either, following the crowd out.
After the apprentice workers left, Borg dismissed the security personnel as well, leaving only Robnos and Borg in the lounge.
Staring at the remains on the floor, Borg asked, "Supervisor Robnos, monitor data tells me that the monster seemed to emerge from an apprentice worker's corpse. Could you explain the reason behind this? I apologize, but for the safety of the factory, I must investigate this thoroughly."
Faced with Borg's questioning, the expression on Robnos's face shifted naturally.
Losing the cold demeanor he had used to command the apprentice workers, he spoke in a calm, collected tone.
"Don't worry, Borg. This is a normal phenomenon."
"A normal phenomenon?" Borg's cybernetic eye flashed faintly with a red light. "You call a monster bursting out of a stomach a normal phenomenon? Apologies, but I fail to understand why you would say that."
Robnos pulled out his pipe, lit the tobacco, took a satisfying drag, and slowly exhaled the smoke.
"I can tell you the reason, Borg.
"I added some newly developed, secret ingredients to the Ghost Serum I injected into the apprentice worker. When the concentration of the new ingredients exceeds the critical threshold that the human body can endure, the subject will undergo a mutation, rapidly incubating a monster within their body."
Borg remained silent. The faint glimmer of his cybernetic eye betrayed the unrest in his heart.
Robnos could tell that Borg didn't believe him, but he just smiled faintly, seemingly entirely unfazed by Borg's attitude.
"It doesn't matter if you don't believe my words. The one who hired me as the Kram Family's chief apothecary is your master. If he approves of my work, you must approve of it too. Understood?"
