Chapter 27: Research Results

Beep.

Some of the devices in the lab beeped when Alex waited for Teresa’s reply.

Teresa gave out a long sigh and said, "Thanks for your sample and information.

"We’ve run some tests on it and from what we can do so far, these mutated rats’ DNA has been infected with some unidentified mutagen.

"And unlike the mutagens we know so far, this unidentified mutagen alters it very rapidly."

Alex nodded his head at what he had heard.

It confirmed what he had figured so far, and if Teresa was able to detect and identify the mutagen, there might be a way to nullify it.

With this thought in mind, he glanced at Teresa and asked, "Are you able to figure out something to stop it?"

Teresa shook her head at him and said, "Not within days or maybe months..."

"What?" Terry, Brian and Riley exclaimed instinctively when they heard her.

They were hoping for a possible solution to end what was happening.

But it seemed like they were being too optimistic.

Alex too was disappointed but he’d rather not give up.

"We’ve encountered some of the mutated beasts, that not only got larger in size, they were also able to use abilities like emitting poisonous gas, which was something that they shouldn’t be able to do.

"And yet, some of the mutated beasts stopped at getting larger.

"It seems like some of the mutated beasts didn’t advance to a later stage." He said to Teresa what he had observed earlier, hoping that it might help in her research.

Teresa nodded her head and took note of what he had said.

She thought for a moment and glanced at the young woman beside her.

"This is Alice, she went into a slumber all of a sudden and when she woke up, she gained something else.

"A B Level Liquefying Ability."

Alice, with a head of black hair and lovely brown eyes, pushed her spectacles up her nose bridge and lowered her head at Alex.

Then, the ground where Alex was standing turned soft, and he took a step to the side and the ground rippled as if it was water.

And after a moment, the ground turned back to what it was again.

"I’ve tested on her DNA and it’s infected with the same mutagen.

"And she was the only one who had gained this ability while none of the others had.

"There must be some difference among us that causes this disparity, and it must have been the same with these mutated beasts.

"I will need to figure out what it is soon." Teresa said and Alex frowned.

If she could figure it out, it would mean many things like the ability for her to know who were the ones to have Awakened or the potential to be an Awakened.

And if she was able to come up with something that destroyed the mutagen to get everything back to normal, some of these Awakened might not be too happy about it.

It was an even trickier issue than he had expected.

But right now, he didn’t have the luxury to ponder on it.

He quickly glanced over at Lin who was still looking pale and said, "Does any of you here have any medical expertise?

"Lin over there needs some help and attention."

Teresa glanced over to some of the younger researchers behind her and said, "You two go and help him."

She turned back to Alex and said, "These two were from the school of medicine before they transferred over.

"They should be able to help."

The two young researchers walked over to Lin and they started to check on him.

"Thanks." Alex nodded his head at Teresa and handed his backpack over to her.

When Teresa got the backpack, the other researchers couldn’t wait any more and they swarmed her, wanting to have some water and food.

"Have some food and water first, we need a rest too." Alex said to Teresa and she picked out a bottle of water and an MRE ration pack from his backpack.

While they were doing so, he checked on his friends and Eddy.

They welcomed the respite from what they’ve encountered so far.

All of them had around ten minutes of rest but it was over soon.

Some of the devices gave out rapid beeps and Teresa walked over to these devices to check on them.

Her face was lit in a red glow by the screen of the devices while the warning beeps sounded.

A message about the backup generator running low on fuel blinked repeatedly on the screen.

Teresa glanced over at Alex and the others and said, "Power might be out soon, and we might need your help to top up the diesel for the backup generators that are next to the underground car park.

"The diesel is kept in the storage not too far away from it.

"We need the power for the devices to keep on working for our research so...

"Alice here can go with you to help."

Alex had known about it earlier and he had agreed to it, so he nodded to her and said, "We will get to it. How much time do we have left?"

"Around half an hour."

"Then, we better go before it runs out." He said and glanced at his friends.

They stood up from where they were, ready to help.

Eddy raised his hand and said, "If Alice is going with you, I will stay here to protect them and look after Lin instead."

He and Lin had much difficulty earlier when they were dealing with the mutated beasts.

If Alice was at a higher level of Awakened ability, it would be better for her to go with Alex and the rest, while he stayed here as a replacement to protect these researchers.

Alex sighed, nodded his head at him and said, "Stay here while we go and get it done."

He didn’t expect the mutated beasts to become so much stronger overnight for people like Eddy and Lin.

They were reliable and courageous but there was a limit to what they could do when their Awakened ability was only at C Level, compared to him and his friends.

His arrangements for them might have to be changed.

He turned around towards the entrance and said, "Let’s move out."