Connecting the Dots

Cyanide slowly leaned back in the chair, pushing himself away from the computer monitor and trying to analyze all the information he just received from reading through those emails.

"That was the last one..." Cyanide muttered, then glanced at the letter on the desk. "... Well, apart from this, anyway."

"That last email was sent on the 24th," Luna said. "Meaning the final experiments were ran on the day after, the 25th... and failed."

"But it states in the final email that they had already tested the antidote, Anexerdyte, on a mutated subject afflicted with the virus. It worked on the 24th, so why did it not on the 25th...?"

Cyanide narrowed his eyes. "It can't have been a mistake. These are the best researchers in a top-level science and technology company. Just like the Doctor said, the antidote was perfect. Immaculate. Calculated. It should've worked, yet it didn't... which leaves only one possible answer."

"If the antidote wasn't the one that changed, then..." Luna began.

"... The virus did," Cyanide muttered. "That must be it. The virus, one way or another, detected the antidote, and mutated to overcome it."

"But... how is that possible? In the span of one night?" Luna murmured, horrified.

"I really hope I'm wrong about this, but... there is a high possibility the virus is, in fact, sentient, and has a consciousness of its own. Acaelus must have had an antidote already prepared to come out as the saviors of the world, but they most likely didn't foresee the virus adapting and rendering the antidote useless, wiping them out as well."

Luna gulped. "What kind of survival game simulation is this..."

'Simulation, huh?' Cyanide thought. 'I would also like to believe this is just a game with incredibly fleshed out lore and highly realistic gameplay, but...'

"Well, at least the virus is gone now, right?" Luna asked. "Otherwise, you would've been instantly turned into a cyborg upon coming here."

"... I wouldn't be so sure about that," Cyanide said, glancing down at his own palms. "It's very possible that the virus is still here, but it has just changed itself overtime, altering its effects. For example, instead of killing us directly, it may have changed to a slow-acting poison."

He was, of course, referring to the Survivor's Curse that could be relieved through consuming mutant blood. Luna realized this as well and fell into thought.

"But... if it truly is sentient, what is it's purpose in this 'change'? And how do you, as a player, fit into the lore of the game?"

"I'm not sure... but following this pattern, perhaps the final boss we have to beat for survival... is the virus itself."

Cyanide didn't know how that would work, and definitely hoped he wouldn't have to cooperate with other players to do this fight. One of the main reasons he worked alone as a professional assassin when most others worked in partners or teams was because he didn't want to get stabbed in the back or betrayed. And in this game of survival, everybody was an enemy.

In any case, this was all the information Cyanide needed. From this building, at least. The events of what caused this apocalypse were now clear. He still didn't know why the brother of the CEO of Aterra went ahead and made his own company, and rivaled his brother to the point where he was willing to sacrifice innocent lives for it, but that was not his concern anyway. He didn't care, and that was that.

Cyanide was quite an expert on chemicals, being a proficient poison user, but even he had no way of coming up with an antidote that could battle against an ever-changing virus. There was no point prying this matter any further, as his curiosity was fulfilled.

Just for future's sake, Cyanide had Luna scan through all the emails and save them to her internal memory, so he could look at them again whenever needed. After that, he stood up and headed out the door, preparing to leave. But then, he stopped.

"... Now that I think about it... I have a map, don't I?" He murmured.

Luna nodded. "I was waiting to see when you would realize, Cyanide. If you are searching for the Stage Three Mutant, that is your best bet."

With a sigh, he asked Luna to pull up the map for him, which she did. He kept forgetting this was a game and he had certain tools at his disposal, thanks to how realistic it was. If anything, he wished he didn't have this 'system' of sorts, since it felt like a cheat, but dire times call for dire measures. Without the Skills and Inventory features, he would most likely be dead by now.

On the map, a layout of the current floor he was on was displayed. On the left, a list of possible floor selections was available to choose from as well. All the rooms on this floor were outlined in white, meaning they had been explored. Slowly, Cyanide browsed through the floors one by one, checking carefully for any secrets he had not discovered yet.

There didn't seem to be anything fishy... until he reached the R&D Floor.

Cyanide was certain he had explored that floor to its full extent earlier, and yet... the map was showing an undiscovered rectangular red room on the left side of it, covering the length of the entire left wall.

The only problem was... there was no visible entrance to it. Doors were usually marked on the map—even locked ones—yet this one did not have an entrance at all. It was completely sealed off like there was a solid wall separating it from the rest of the R&D Floor, and they just happened to be on the same altitude thereby causing the map to display them as the same floor.

It was then that it hit him.

The emails... they had mentioned a particular place in them.

"This... it's Doctor Finch's private lab."