Chapter 466:Creation gone wrong.

Chapter 466: 466:Creation gone wrong.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the dimly illuminated corridor, accompanied by the desperate breathing of a man who had long since abandoned any concern for his dignity.

Blood covered the white laboratory coat hanging from his shoulders, and the identification badge attached to his chest swung violently with every step he took.

His glasses had disappeared somewhere along the way, leaving him squinting through the red emergency lights that flashed intermittently across the walls, while a deep, mechanical voice repeated the same warning throughout the underground facility.

[Warning! Containment breach detected in Research Sectors Three, Four, and Six.]

[Emergency containment protocol has failed.]

[All remaining personnel are advised to proceed to designated evacuation points.]

[Warning! Structural integrity has fallen below forty percent.]

"Shut up! Shut up! I know!" the man shouted, nearly slipping as his shoe landed in a puddle of blood.

Dr. Timothy Serion was forty-six years old, a senior biological researcher assigned to one of humanity’s most heavily classified experimental facilities.

For the past eleven years, he had dedicated himself to studying beast integration, biological adaptation, and the possibility of creating a human body capable of accommodating multiple beast characteristics without suffering the catastrophic rejection that had killed countless experimental subjects.

He was also a Rank Six Contractor.

Under ordinary circumstances, that alone would’ve been enough to earn him respect in almost any sanctuary. Rank Six Contractors were powerful individuals, capable of fighting dangerous beasts, commanding military units, and surviving in regions where ordinary humans would perish within minutes.

Unfortunately, there was nothing ordinary about his present circumstances.

Timothy rounded a corner and nearly collided with a body lying across the floor.

"Ah!"

He stumbled backward, catching himself against the wall before looking down.

It was William, or what remained of William.

The young researcher had been assigned to Timothy’s team only six months earlier, a brilliant twenty-eight-year-old whose greatest ambition had been to earn a position at one of the Alpha Sanctuaries’ central research institutes. He’d been talking about his upcoming promotion during breakfast that very morning.

Now his chest had been torn open, and one of his arms was missing.

Timothy stared for a moment, then swallowed.

"I’m sorry."

He stepped over the body. Unfortunately for his heart, there were more farther down the corridor.

Two security officers lay beside a shattered defensive barricade, their rifles bent almost beyond recognition. Another researcher had collapsed near an emergency medical station, her hand still stretched toward a container of recovery injections that had spilled across the floor.

Timothy recognized all of them since he had worked beside some of them for years.

And now he was the only one still alive.

Something struck a metal door somewhere behind him.

BANG!

Timothy flinched.

Another impact followed, louder that the last one.

BANG!

Then came the sound he had been desperately trying to forget.

A low, guttural growl.

It wasn’t particularly loud, that somehow made it worse. Nit knowing what was hunting you down was not something anyone in their right mind would feel comfortable about.

Timothy’s breathing quickened as he forced his exhausted legs to move faster. He reached the end of the corridor and slammed his palm against the identification panel beside a reinforced security door.

"Timothy Serion! Senior Researcher! Authorization level seven!"

The panel flashed.

[Identity confirmed.]

[Emergency access granted.]

The door began opening but it was too slow.

"Come on!"

He squeezed through the opening before it had fully retracted, stumbled into the next corridor, and immediately struck the emergency closure button.

The heavy door slammed shut behind him.

A second later, something enormous crashed against the other side and the entire frame shuddered.

Timothy staggered backward as another impact came, the metal buckling inward.

"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me."

He turned and ran.

His communicator crackled.

"Dr. Serion, respond."

Timothy almost cried when he heard the voice.

"Finally! Finally! Where the hell have you been?!"

"Doctor, identify your current location."

"Evacuation Corridor Seven! I’m heading toward the eastern launch chamber! Open my escape pod immediately!"

There was a brief silence, then the voice answered.

"Negative. Your evacuation authorization remains suspended."

Timothy stopped so abruptly that he nearly fell.

"What?"

"Your authorization remains suspended until the experimental results have been secured."

For several seconds, Timothy couldn’t speak, then his face twisted.

"Are you insane?!"

"Doctor..."

"Everyone is dead! Do you understand what I’m saying?! Everyone! The security teams, the containment specialists, the researchers! They’re all dead!"

"Calm yourself."

"CALM MYSELF?!" He shouted.

Timothy slammed his fist against the wall. A section of reinforced concrete cracked beneath the impact.

"I’m standing in a facility full of dead people, and you’re telling me to calm myself?!"

The communicator crackled again and a much older and colder voice answered.

"Dr. Serion. This is Director Halden."

Timothy froze.

"Director..."

"Your behavior is unbecoming of a senior researcher."

Timothy stared at the communicator.

"Sir, the facility has been compromised. The specimens escaped containment, and we lost contact with the lower laboratories almost an hour ago. Something is moving through the building, and our security personnel couldn’t stop it!"

"We are aware."

"Then open the pod!"

"Not without the research."

Timothy closed his eyes.

He wanted to scream.

Director Halden continued.

"Eleven years of research are stored inside that facility, Doctor. Eleven years of experiments, resources, sacrifices, and discoveries that could determine humanity’s future. We will not abandon them because you’ve become frightened."

Timothy’s eyes widened.

"Frightened?"

"You’re a Rank Six Contractor, Timothy. Act like one."

Something struck the distant security door.

He turned,faster than was humanely possible. The metal was beginning to deform.

He lowered his voice.

"Sir... whatever escaped from the containment sectors isn’t something a normal Rank Six can handle."

"Your Molecular Analysis and Reconstruction ability is among the most valuable biological abilities in our research division. You’ve personally survived expeditions into the Red Zone. Surely you can retrieve a case from a laboratory."

Timothy’s fingers trembled.

His ability was indeed extraordinary.

Molecular Analysis allowed him to examine the composition of biological tissue, identify abnormalities in beast cores, and observe the interaction between different cellular structures. Its reconstruction component allowed him to manipulate certain molecular arrangements within a limited range, strengthening materials, altering the structure of damaged objects, and temporarily reinforcing his own body.

It was the primary reason he’d become such a successful researcher.

It was also the reason he’d survived this long. But there was a difference between possessing a powerful ability and being willing to stand in front of something that had just slaughtered an entire research facility.

"Director, please..."

"The results are stored in the cryogenic archive inside Laboratory Seven. Retrieve the experimental case and return to the evacuation chamber. Once the case is authenticated, your pod will be unlocked."