Chapter 69: Madness
Marcus felt like the director of a psychiatric hospital who had discovered his patient was actually running the place.
"Yes, I just finished dealing with something and rushed back!"
Upon hearing this, Marcus immediately pulled out a throwing knife and threw it, hitting Tomie. He planned to eliminate her quietly, not wanting to alarm too many people at once.
The beaker shattered on the ground, the tumor inside letting out a muffled groan.
After cleaning up the blood and tumor on the ground, Marcus began inspecting the research facility.
All the doors in the corridors were open, and the administrative and technical departments were empty.
Marcus arrived at the research center, where two researchers were carefully tending to a pile of rotting flesh, like parents caring for an infant.
He stepped forward and kicked them both down, stabbing the rotting flesh with his knife, absorbing its energy, then tied the two already insane individuals to the spot, locked the door, and left.
He headed towards the innermost isolation area.
Passing by the laboratory, he saw more than a dozen guards lying at the entrance.
Several men were only shot in the hands and legs, bleeding heavily and incapacitated, but timely treatment still offered hope.
"Director Richardson, help us!"
said a guard lying against the wall, his leg wound tightly bound by his belt.
He seemed to retain some sanity, having performed some first aid on himself.
Two others, who had been resting with their eyes closed, also looked over with hopeful eyes. Marcus guessed that they had regained some composure because he had just killed the humanoid Tomie.
With chaos outside, there was no way to rescue them properly.
Calling would likely only summon a Tomie-controlled ambulance. Marcus removed the guns from their hands and carried the three wounded men into the laboratory.
Inside, the centrifuge for extracting the strange fish virus was operating, but it had been contaminated with Tomie's cells, and the biosafety cabinet was filled with blood-like growth.
Several researchers lay scattered on the floor, all dead from external injuries.
After clearing away the remains, Marcus placed the three men on the ground and locked the laboratory door.
He continued along the corridor to the innermost isolation laboratory.
Inside, the door to the isolation room where he stored Tomie's remains and ashes was open. The items inside were gone, but some could be recognized from the remains he had just seen outside, so Marcus was prepared.
Marcus continued to examine the isolation room storing the criminal's remains and the Venus flytraps.
Even at the low temperature, the remains had begun to decompose. Because he had only intended to preserve them for three days, and because there were mice, he had only set the temperature low, not frozen.
The three mice in the cage were lying on the ground, and if you looked closely, you could see them breathing slightly, but the cage door was not open.
Marcus glanced at the wax in the deep space of the Life Box.
He didn't know if it was because the enchanted candle itself was cursed, but the wax had only slightly wriggled without any signs of growth.
At this moment, it seemed to have broken free, began to expand and deform, and grew rapidly.
He didn't know if it would eventually grow into Tomie.
Marcus continued to the isolation room storing the Venus flytraps.
The isolation door was also open, and the Venus flytraps had obviously been moved, but the mice next to them were still eating food pellets, and the cages were tightly closed.
It's likely that Tomie had already wandered around and looked around.
The criminal's body was already in such a state, and the mice were almost dead, so Ray shouldn't be inside that body.
However, the Venus flytrap still couldn't be confirmed. Marcus simply turned back to the lab and took the three injured people to the isolation room.
"Go in and remember your respective passwords. Keep an eye on this Venus flytrap. I'll release you after the danger in the research facility is cleared."
After giving these instructions outside, he locked them and the Venus flytrap together.
Marcus went to the containment room from which the commotion had originated—the room he had modified to imprison Ray.
He opened the outer door and found two guards outside the chamber, repeatedly opening and closing the switch.
A monitor nearby showed the situation inside the second containment chamber.
It contained a blackish-red mixture, about six inches thick, with fragments of researchers' clothing, as well as ash and dried bone pieces.
With each switch, the hydraulic walls squeezed the mixture like a press. Surprisingly, the mixture visibly increased in size with each squeeze.
The two guards grew increasingly excited.
It seemed hopeless.
Marcus, armed with a gun, relieved the two men from their grueling work, then clicked the switch, opening the chamber door.
A disgusting substance flowed onto the floor.
Marcus, suppressing his nausea, used his ability, roughly equivalent to five Tomies.
He then inspected the research facility, confirming there were no remaining Tomies, and after locking all the laboratory doors and changing the passwords, Marcus returned the way he came, continuing to examine the Venus flytraps.
The three injured guards were in the isolation room, seemingly unharmed; Marcus planned to observe them for a while longer.
He went to the monitoring room, observing the situation in the isolation ward while turning on the TV to see what the country was like now.
The first thing Marcus saw on the news was utterly surreal.
On the main channel of a television station, a beautiful presenter in a black blazer was conducting street interviews; the beauty mark under her eye was enough to identify her.
"Hello everyone, I'm Tomie, currently conducting street interviews."
The camera shifted, showing countless Tomies lining up to donate blood in the streets. Occasionally, crazed men would rush forward with knives, only to be swarmed and killed by other men before they could even get close.
Occasionally, someone would succeed, only to have two more Tomies appear on the spot.
The endless line of Tomies had collected an unknown amount of blood; screams echoed from the street as people fled past the camera, others chased after them with weapons.
It was like the apocalypse, with no laws or order.
Marcus changed the channel; it was the news channel again, featuring the beautiful presenter Tomie, conducting an interview inside a beverage factory.
The factory manager, overweight and middle-aged, was leading the host on a tour with a fascinated expression.
Inside the beverage processing plant, a group of Tomies were directing workers.
Each Tomie was surrounded by several crazed men bowing and scraping as they poured bags of blood into the beverage vats for bottling and transport.
On the children's channel, footage showed a classroom in a school, where girls sat arrogantly on desks while boys knelt in a circle.
These girls, though varying in height and build, all had identical heads—all Tomie.
On the science channel, a thirty-foot-tall spherical object rolled across a field; it was a composite of countless Tomies, emanating a cacophony of arrogant laughter.
The scene shifted again, showing agricultural drones taking off, circling the fields and spraying—but not pesticides, but a red liquid.
Marcus felt the world had completely gone mad. Perhaps it was because he had utterly destroyed one of Tomie's consciousnesses, triggering the Tomie outbreak, but this was merely the catalyst, not the main cause.
This situation was destined to erupt sooner or later, ever since the discovery of the strange fish.
Those strange fish were Tomie's most diligent spreaders; Tomie's calamity was unavoidable unless someone capable of large-scale obliteration of consciousness and souls appeared.
(End of Chapter)
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