11: Hostage Situation

To pass the time in the bus terminal, Mir turned on his mini terminal and discovered a message from Murray's ID occupying the top of the screen. He opened it quickly, hoping to find a surprise as it was usual with Murray's messages. And he wasn't disappointed.

[ Here's 3000 units. Get yourself a basic check-up from a good hospital. Don't go to the ones run by the government. Make sure to bring the report cards back home. ]

It was just what he needed right now. The whole day, he had been worried sick about how effective the diary had really been. He had considered asking Blair for the money, but their lunch-time meeting had made it awkward for him to bring the matter up.

But even as he checked the updated balance of his account, he couldn't help but grow a little doubtful. 3000 units was a lot of money. Their family sometimes made less than that in a month. Less than a month had passed since Murray's release from prison. Where did he get the money from?

His new job at the church wasn't a likely answer. Even if he had gotten an advance bonus somehow, it couldn't be this much.

[ Where did you get the money from? ]

The message was sent, but no replies came from Murray's side. Mir could only accept it and head to a hospital. Not long after, he ended up inside a large cabin, wearing only his undergarments and staring at a wall filled with sensor cables and EMR-Emission tubes.

It wasn't the first time he had gotten tested this way, so he wasn't really nervous. What made him a little fidgety was the result that would pop out on the other side. Thankfully, his wait for the report card was brief and without any incidents.

Most of the data in it was medical jargon beyond his understanding. But the key highlights had been singled out with a bold print. Mir went through them and sighed in relief.

The extent of his viral infection was shown to be standing at 35%. Just yesterday, in the test run by the military recruiters, this stat was at the 40% mark. There was no way that the infection rate had gone down by such a huge margin naturally. So Murray's sacred artifact, the diary, had really worked just as intended!

The range between 25% to 45% was where the average ordinary person's infection rate stood. No matter how much resources one invested into purification methods, it was nearly impossible to make it go below 25% in the case of most adults, because the air, the water, the food, and the sunlight itself carried and stimulated the Sun's Curse Virus. Unless one lived in heavily shielded underground cities, they'd never be able to fully get rid of it.

There was another reason why this last 25% was impossible to dispell. The human body had a certain level of compatibility with the virus. Over the years since one's birth, their cells would slowly be saturated and form a symbiotic relationship with the virus bodies feeding on it. This 'Saturation' ability was actually the foundation of all Transcenders.

The goal of every Transcender was to look for specific mutations by consolidating the unsaturated, harmful virus using various methods. The higher the amount of consolidated virus was, the higher the chances of awakening a mutant ability were. Each successful mutation increased the total amount of Saturated cells in one's body. From the baseline of 25% to near 100%, a Transcender had many opportunities to seek out new and more powerful mutations.

Mir found his own Saturation rate on the report card to be at 22%, slightly lower than normal. But that made sense considering what the doctor had told him years ago; his body's immunity to the virus was lower than the average surface dwelling citizen. Naturally, his cells couldn't fuse with the virus as easily as others. This posed a problem and an opportunity at the same time. He had to be careful not to let the extent of his infection go near 45%, which was already a point where some ordinary humans lost control of their body and mind.

On the other hand, if he became a Transcender, he would have a little more room for growth compared to his peers due to the low baseline of his Saturation Rate.

As his eyes flickered over the rest of the stats, Mir couldn't help but fantasize. If only the diary's purification ability could be used as a substitute for the mysterious Consolidation process that allowed ordinary humans become mutants...

"Wait a minute, could I write that wish in the diary?"

Suddenly, it was like his mind had exploded with chaotic new ideas.

Mir didn't understand how the diary worked, except that it fed on the virus in his body while exerting some sort of spiritual influence over him. Murray had said that the diary couldn't affect the material world directly. So would it be capable of copying the effect of Consolidation?

Excited, Mir left the hospital with quick steps and rushed to the bus station. On the way back home, he sent several messages to Murray, but met with the same silence. An uneasiness gripped his heart as minutes turned into hours. The gradually built-up apprehension was probably the reason why he stopped at the mouth of the narrow street leading to his home, as several unfamiliar faces popped into his attention on the street, all of them around his home.

Mir had lived in this alley his entire life. He knew every member of each family, every shop, the regular beggars, and even the dogs and cats scavenging the trash cans at night. One or two newcomers walking together wouldn't certainly catch his eye, but now he could identify at least six foreign faces, and all of them were positioned separately throughout the street. The factories and agriculture farms nearby didn't provide breaks to the workers around this time. Where were these guys from?

Mir walked past the alleyway casually, scratching his cheeks in a way that would hide his features, and carefully scanned the entire street. Two men were sitting lazily on the roofs of tall residential buildings on each side of his house, a sight that wouldn't be out of normal in a safe residential area for an affluent community. This area, however, was almost a slum. Every residential building here had inaccessible roofs to prevent thievery. The doors leading to the staircase would be locked 25/10, no matter what.

Another man could be seen sitting on a bench outside aunt Kilin's restaurant. There was a bowl of soup in front of him, but his focus was on his surroundings instead of the bowl. He seemed more interested in watching 'the scenery' than drinking the soup.

Mir couldn't find anything suspicious about the other three strangers. Yet half a dozen strangers appearing in one corner of the colony at the same time, that too, separately? It was possible, sure, but not likely!

And it wasn't just him who had noticed it. Some of the residents and workers in the street had, too. Their eyes got drawn to these men frequently. They were just smart enough not to raise a fuss. The lives of ordinary humans were very fragile. Poking their nose in another's problem was an action forbidden by precedence.

Mir didn't loiter there and headed straight into the alleyway, eyes on his terminal screen as an excuse to keep his head lowered. He walked past his home and then out of the alley by climbing a netted fence on the other end, as if this was a shortcut to his destination.

There was only one more building on the other side of the fence, and the alley here led to another large street nearby. As Mir veered past the building, he found Murray sitting on the sidewalk right next to the corner, flanked by two more unknown men. In the busy street, three men sitting at the side of the road wasn't unusual. But both of them were fully focused on Murray, and the way they spoke to him mirrored the scene of an exam hall, where students would try to communicate without catching the eye of a teacher; furtive glances, barely moving lips, and tight sitting postures.

Coupling these details with how stiff and gloomy Murray's countenance was, this seemed to be a complicated hostage situation.