WMSR — QT Chapter 153

 

WMSR – QT Chapter 153

By

siofra 

The person who arrived appeared to be alone, and his footsteps were unsteady, sounding entirely devoid of combat capability. Bai Yichen recalled the appearance of the scientific madman who had ambushed him, knowing that he was merely a Beta with mediocre physical fitness and, as a researcher, lacked any specialized physical training. When the madman had ambushed the original host, he had exploited a moment of total vulnerability by administering a potent sedative, which gave Bai Yichen a modest foothold of confidence.

Amborah Cole walked into his laboratory, his hair disheveled and his eyes bloodshot. The moment he stepped inside, his gaze locked intensely onto the experimental table where his most perfect test subject lay.

Yes, he had captured more than just one Alpha to carry out his grand experiment, but the other Alphas had all died before surviving the early stages of modification. This particular Alpha, however, was the most flawless among all the test subjects—exhibiting the lowest rejection rate toward the modifications and standing as the most probable candidate for success.

Yet why, why had the modification completion rate stalled? At this juncture, it ought to have been nearing completion, so how could the modification progress have frozen at 68.12% and refused to budge?

He had patiently waited for several days, yet he felt he could wait no longer. People hunting him down were everywhere outside; this location would inevitably be exposed before long, and he clearly lacked the capacity to take the test subject along with him.

A glimmer of madness flashed across Amborah Cole's turbid, bloodshot eyes as he finally reached that definitive decision: to increase the dosage of the injection and, come what may, witness the modification outcome of this test subject with his own eyes.

Having arrived at that resolution, Amborah Cole bustled into action. He walked over to a nearby workbench to meticulously compound the serum and prepare his instruments.

Listening to the soft clinking of equipment from the corner of the room, Bai Yichen experienced a mental state roughly comparable to a lamb awaiting slaughter while listening to a butcher hone his blade. While striving desperately to maintain his composure, he marshaled his strength; as the duration of his wakefulness extended, he distinctly felt his limbs recovering a modicum of vigor. Yet that strength was likely sufficient for only a single, explosive burst—he needed to secure victory with one decisive strike, and the optimal moment had not yet arrived.

Compounding modification serum was meticulous work. Once Amborah Cole completed all preparations, he brandished the syringe and approached the experimental table. Wearing disposable gloves, he reached out to forcefully shove the test subject's head to the side, exposing a clean, smooth nape. Yet precisely when Amborah Cole's entire focus centered on that nape as he calculated the precise insertion angle, a hand snatched the syringe out of his grasp with lightning speed, plunging the needle backward into the neck buried beneath his tangled mass of hair.

The sequence unfolded with staggering abruptness. Amborah Cole had paid minimal attention to the test subject's condition beforehand and maintained zero defensive precautions—after all, with all four limbs of the test subject shackled to the experimental table, how could he possibly break free?

The instant that question flickered through Amborah Cole's mind, a swelling wave of pressure erupted across his neck, and stark terror blossomed in his eyes. "No!"

Yet everything came too late. The moment Bai Yichen drove the needle into Amborah Cole's neck, he depressed the plunger straight to the bottom, returning every drop of the modification serum originally intended for his own body back to its creator.

Having executed the maneuver, Bai Yichen exerted his remaining strength to roll sideways, tumbling off to the far side of the experimental table away from Amborah Cole. Just as Bai Yichen braced himself for the possibility that Amborah Cole might retain the stamina to pursue him, he heard only choking, agonizing struggles emanating from across the room. After a brief interval, the sounds diminished progressively until complete silence reclaimed the space.

Bai Yichen waited a moment longer; once he had accrued a fraction of recovered strength, he crawled out cautiously. There he found Amborah Cole collapsed on the floor, clutching his throat with a cyanotic, lifeless complexion.

Bai Yichen remained still for a heartbeat. Having traversed the harsh trials of the apocalypse, however, he crawled forward to personally verify that Amborah Cole was thoroughly and irreversibly deceased.

Bai Yichen felt a complex swirl of emotions, knowing he had just taken a human life. Yet he quickly settled his mind, recognizing that had he refrained from doing so, the vial of modification serum would have been pumped into his own veins, leaving him as the one lying dead. With that realization, his feelings toward this deserving individual grew entirely unburdened.

Beyond confirming Amborah Cole's demise, Bai Yichen retrieved keys granting access to the various compound gates along with an external communication device from his person. At that juncture, the standard procedural response upon acquiring a communicator would naturally involve calling for rescue. However, upon securing the device, Bai Yichen hesitated briefly before quietly setting it aside.

He did ultimately utilize the communicator, but not until two days later, by which point he had long since departed the premises. Across those intervening forty-eight hours, he executed a comprehensive purge of every scrap of experimental data and trace documentation concerning himself within Amborah Cole's secret facility. Furthermore, when utilizing the communicator to contact official authorities, he employed an electronically synthesized voice.

When imperial law enforcement intercepted the transmission and stormed the clandestine compound, they encountered only the long-dead corpse of Amborah Cole alongside the horrifying, tragic remains of Alpha test subjects preserved within the laboratory's cryogenic chambers.

Chapter 79: A02, Modified into a 0

The apprehension of Amborah Cole naturally constituted a major headline, dominating the imperial star-net's trending banners across a span of forty-eight hours. Countless citizens cheered and celebrated the capture of the dangerous madman; after all, a scientific fugitive with anti-human tendencies functioned as an unquantifiable time bomb far more threatening than interstellar pirates.

Nevertheless, official reports omitted explicit details regarding the exact circumstances of Amborah Cole's capture, noting merely that he had been neutralized during the enforcement operation and that several victims' remains had been recovered at the site. Similarly, official disclosures omitted the fact that these victims were exclusively alphas, stating only that imperial bureaus were actively tracing and contacting the families of the victims.

Concurrently, within a residence situated on the suburban periphery of the metropolis, every door and window remained securely sealed while thick curtains stayed drawn shut. A solitary figure writhed in agonizing torment across the floorboards. An intensely seductive pheromone diffused throughout the room, with the physiological source clearly traceable to the solitary occupant trapped inside.

--