Chapter 61: The Role of Ray
"Dr. Stevens, have you made any discoveries in your research on this fish?"
Marcus asked Stevens, who was reading a report.
"Director Richardson, after dissection, we found that these fish are infected with a virus that causes them to produce a type of biological gas in their bodies."
Stevens took out a sealed test tube containing a green, turbid liquid, which was the original virus extract from the strange fish.
"Moreover, the fish's legs have a gear-like structure, and there are many mechanisms inside that operate through this gas!"
Stevens showed Marcus the dissected fish leg again, revealing a bone structure between the bones that resembled gears.
"The good thing is that this fish is very afraid of fire and cannot survive on land for long."
"But the worse thing is that they may infect the entire ocean, and then we could lose our water supply!"
Stevens took a piece of the strange fish tissue, placed it on a glass slide, and lit it. A blue flame burst out, leaving only a wisp of ash on the slide.
"So you mean this strange fish virus will only take over the oceans eventually?"
Marcus understood the implication in his question. If it was just about taking over the oceans, and even then, it would be later, which wouldn't concern him. After all, the world was already destined to be in turmoil with just Tomie.
As for another strange fish disaster, that wasn't his concern.
Marcus looked at the green liquid in the test tube, a thought struck him, and he said to Stevens,
"Extract all the virus from these two strange fish and give it to me. The investors might need it. Also, go contact the Westside Police; they know where to catch the strange fish."
"Arrange for personnel to catch more strange fish, extract the virus, and research antibodies."
Stevens nodded. He also felt that two strange fish weren't enough for the experiments. Researching the strange fish gave him a sense of mission—a mission to protect public health. He had to hurry and capture experimental subjects for antibody research.
Marcus actually wanted these people to study Tomie, but he was afraid that if they did, they wouldn't even have time to research the strange fish virus before falling under her influence.
After making these arrangements, Marcus returned to the place where Ray was being held. According to the dosage, it would take at least 20 hours for Ray to regain consciousness.
Marcus picked Ray up and took them to the previously modified room with its mechanisms, throwing them into the first containment chamber.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
Eighteen hours passed. At this point, Emma had developed a beauty mark near her eye, her hair had become bangs, and her figure and skin tone had completely transformed into Tomie—no, it should be said that she was Tomie.
Emma Mitchell had completely disappeared, leaving only a transformed Tomie.
Each of Tomie's splits and rebirths wasn't just a physical transformation, but also a split in her consciousness.
It was as if Tomie's consciousness was evenly distributed throughout her entire body; each split created a new Tomie, and her consciousness was torn in two, and this continued until it was torn into even more parts.
With consciousness being split in this way, endless madness and pain awaited.
Therefore, in some cases, Tomies would attack each other because they refused the pain of splitting their consciousness.
The consciousness of Tomie, now transformed from Emma Mitchell, is more like a completely new consciousness that hasn't split yet. But like a memetic infection, even without splitting, her body and consciousness have already become Tomie, and splitting and proliferation are only a matter of time.
Marcus suspects that if he took a picture of Emma now and showed her her other monstrous face, she would be stimulated to split on her own.
Tomie doesn't seem like an individual, but more like a collective organism!
Marcus, carrying a suit of armored restraints resembling an iron cage, opened the second door of the isolation room and came to Tomie.
Tomie saw Marcus and immediately said:
"Director Richardson, are you here to let me out? I'm so uncomfortable here."
"It's so cold here, can you open the door and hold me!"
"I like mature men like you! You..."
Marcus, wearing noise-canceling headphones and breathing from an oxygen tank, maintained his emotional detachment, expressionlessly opened the isolation door. The person in front of him was no longer human, and he felt no sympathy for it.
Marcus, wearing gloves, grabbed Tomie and taped its mouth shut.
He then imprisoned it inside a tightly sealed suit of armor, its limbs and neck firmly secured by iron restraints, leaving only a narrow opening for its eyes.
The armor was locked in place by external mechanisms, and Marcus carried the armored cage out of the isolation room.
About two hours later,
the effects of the injected drug slowly wore off, and Ray slowly awoke.
He found himself in a dimly lit, sealed room, his body strapped to an iron, mechanical chair. Apart from the chair, there was nothing else in the room.
No, there was something else: in the corner of the tightly closed iron door, there was a fist-sized hole, and in front of the hole was an eight-inch-high cage containing a small snail.
Ray tried to struggle, but the steel-fixed chair was too sturdy to break free.
Just as he was trying to figure out how to escape…
A beam of light projected onto the iron door from above.
He looked up and saw a projector above him.
A blurry image, about six feet square, appeared on the iron door: a puppet wearing a theatrical mask.
The puppet began to speak:
"Hello, Mr. Body Snatcher!"
"You may not know me, but I know you."
"For a long time, you have repeatedly and wantonly stolen the bodies of others, enjoying their despair, without ever tiring of it!"
"But today, you will play another game for your life. If you follow the rules, you will understand the true meaning of existence and find redemption!"
After the puppet finished speaking, the projector turned off, the image disappeared, and the containment room fell silent once more.
Marcus, in the monitoring room, quietly watched the scene unfold. He had originally wanted to force Ray to do as he instructed, but then he worried that Ray would take him for granted and become defiant.
Furthermore, being forced to do things wouldn't unleash their potential.
So he thought of a certain film franchise and adopted this method.
Only survival instinct ignited in dire circumstances can compel an opponent to push their abilities to the limit according to his plan.
Inside the sealed room, after the projector was turned off, two sets of twelve rapidly spinning blade mechanisms suddenly emerged from the sides of the wall.
The blades were gradually approaching him from both sides, and would slice him into pieces in less than a minute.
He glanced down at a small red blade-shaped rotary switch in front of the chair armrest, the switch bearing the number: 07041996.
The moment Ray saw this number, he understood it was his body's birthday, as he had just celebrated it less than a week ago.
On his birthday, he had invited a group of people and enjoyed a luxurious and hedonistic night in this body!
He then carefully observed the red gear switch.
(End of Chapter)
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