Chapter 481 A Twisted Reunion (5)
Chapter 481 A Twisted Reunion (5)
The man led them to the room's far end, where an elevator shaft was hidden in plain sight. Ashton and Anna were surprised by this as they would have never found the secret elevator if they had been alone, assuming Ashton's dad was long gone.
In a way, the scientist had saved them a lot of trouble. Too bad Ashton had already decided to kill anyone and everyone he saw there for their 'crimes'.
The scientist, unaware of everything going on inside Ashton's head, was excitedly chatting as if they were on a picnic trip. His squeaky voice irritated Ashton to the point where he was willing to kill him just because of his annoying voice.
[Hold it in, you'll get your chance soon.]
'I hope so.'
"Here we are," The scientist mumbled before hastily opening the doors.
Ashton was surprised to see all the hustling and bustling on the lower floor. The quietness of the upper laboratory floors had fooled the duo into thinking the scientist was the only one inside apart from them.
But there were dozens upon dozens of men wearing labcoats going on and about their job. Unlike the upper floor, the lower floor had no holding cells.
Instead, the floor was filled with different types of equipment that neither Anna nor Ashton had seen before. Each of the equipment was being attended to by several people.
Everyone was so hard-pressed on their job that no one noticed the two strangers walking amongst themselves. Either they did not give a crap about who comes and goes in their 'secret' base, or they were confident in their security, which was laughable.
"Let's not disturb anyone and head straight to the main event! By the way, I only realised I never introduced myself to the lady," The scientist quickly jumped in front of Anna and took her hand, "The name's Dr Morris, and you're... not cold?"
Morris immediately let go of Anna's hand as if it repulsed him before turning his attention towards Ashton. His jolly demeanour was long gone.
"Were you aware-"
"What do you think?" Ashton replied while squinting his nose, "There must be a reason why the President sent someone like her to witness your genius."
"I doubt that's the case here," Morris got increasingly suspicious of Anna, "You said you had the President's letter; would you mind sharing it?"
Morris's annoying voice soon caught everybody's attention. Ashton knew the gig was up. Morris had noticed the discrepancies, but Ashton wasn't one to give up so easily, even if it meant ending everyone inside the room.
However, before he could put his thoughts into action, a loud explosion took everybody's attention away from them. Before anyone knew what was happening, glass shards flew everywhere, killing dozens of people and injuring even more.
"Patient Zero has broken confinement! I repeat, Patient Zero has broken confinement! Requesting backup! The Sunset protocol has been activated! All exits have been shut down until further notice!"
Taking advantage of the situation, Ashton and Anna went into action, silencing as many people as possible before the guards inevitably came rushing down.
Unfortunately, Morris took advantage of the chaos and slipped past them relatively unharmed.
"Go! I'll handle things here!" Anna urged Ashton before donning her battle armour.
"Thanks!" Ashton hurriedly replied before taking off, "Atlas, protect her."
"Roger!" The giant grinned, crawling out of his master's shadow, "Finally, it's my turn!"
With Atlas by Anna's side, Ashton could freely chase after Morris, who was running in the direction of the explosion.
'What the hell is going on here?'
[I don't have a good feeling about this.]
'Neither do I- What the hell is that thing...'
From a distance, Ashton saw a hulking beast killing everything in his path. The few guards stationed on the lower floor tried their best to hold off the beast until backup arrived, but all of it was in vain.
The beast was designed to be unstoppable.
The hulking beast had impenetrable skin, granting him absolute defence against bullets and sharp objects. At the same time, his fingers resembled blades made of diamond, easily tearing through everything in sight.
As if those weren't enough, the creature's whip-like tail was a menace, slicing people in half as if cutting through a tatami mat. Apart from those monstrous features, Patient Zero as he was called, looked like a man on steroids.
While everyone was running away from Patient Zero, Morris was headed straight towards him.
"Shit!" Ashton cursed before rushing to capture the mad scientist.
Morris was the only one who could reveal what happened to his father, his death before that was unacceptable to Ashton.
"Hey, buddy! It's me! You remember me, don't you?" Morris yelled as if he was greeting an old colleague, "Look, I know you're upset about your death and all, but hey, you're back, and that's what matter's the most! Don't you think-"
Before Morris could complete his words, his 'buddy' charged straight towards him, and he wasn't coming to hug him. Despite watching Zero head towards him, Morris refused to move, even when Zero drew his claws to rip him in half.
Zero swung his claws at Morris, who had closed his eyes, and waited. However, before Zero could hurt Morris, Ashton kicked the mad scientist out of harm's way. Unfortunately, he couldn't dodge the blow himself and was flung to the side, bursting through the wall.
"Argh!" Ashton groaned in pain, as even his [Pain Resistance] couldn't soften the blow for him.
"Master!"
Sensing their master's pain, the summons couldn't help but call out to check on him.
"Don't leave your posts," Ashton replied, ignoring the pain, "I'm fine."
It took a few seconds before Ashton got back to his feet, only to realise that bastard Morris had not learned his lesson.
"This fucker-"
[Ashton, what's wrong?]
"This has to be some sick joke... right?" Ashton mumbled as his legs gave out, "How..."
[Ashton! What's happening!?]
Astaroth kept yelling, but Ashton didn't speak a word and helplessly kept staring at the monster in front. Morris was stomped to death a moment later, but Ashton didn't react. It almost seemed like he wasn't there anymore.
Having no other choice, Astaroth invaded Ashton's mind to know what was wrong with him. But even he wasn't ready for the answer.
[Oh my... this can't be happening. That man is your father? How can this be? No, no, no! There has to be a mistake. Ashton, get up. Please GET UP! We have to go, NOW!]