Chapter 12: Mutant Blood

- Within the Game -

"The virus…" Luna murmured. "Ah, yes. My knowledge tells me you have to consume the Mutant Blood dropped by that mutant just now."

"Mutant?" Cyanide raised an eyebrow, then realized. "Oh, the zombie-like creature."

"Correct. Apparently, you have to open your Inventory, pull the item from there, and… drink it."

Luna appeared quite uncomfortable saying that last part, probably due to the disgust, but Cyanide wasn't fazed at all.

"How do I open my inventory?"

"Normally, you would have to swipe the air with your hand, but…" Luna's holographic figure smiled slightly. "I can handle that."

As she said this, a new panel immediately opened up in front of Cyanide. It was titled [Inventory] in big bold letters at the top, and below it was a grid of square-shaped slots on the left, and a bigger, single square on the right. The color scheme was nice and blue, giving it a futuristic neon sci-fi kind of feel.

Of the neatly-organized small slots on the left, only one was filled up — an image depicting a small vial of mysterious black liquid that looked like squid ink. In the bottom-right corner of the slot it was in, there was a small number reading '1', defining the quantity of the item being held.

Cyanide tapped on the icon using his finger, causing the right side of the screen to display a bigger version of the item along with various pieces of information about it below the picture.

[Mutant Blood (Low-Grade)]

[Type: Consumable]

[Description: Temporarily suppresses the Survivor's Curse for 12 hours. Relieves thirst.]

[Qty. Held: 1]

"The Survivor's Curse... so that's the virus that plagues me, and all the other players alike — I'm assuming." Cyanide muttered. "And consuming this only temporarily suppresses it for 12 hours... how annoying."

"There is a way to permanently get rid of it, based on what I can access through my predecessor's memory database," Luna said. "And that... is to win the game. In other words, become the last Survivor, and the curse will automatically lift itself."

"Hmph… so this is how they are going to limit the gametime of this fight for survival? Interesting."

"But if players simply keep suppressing the Curse over and over… wouldn't that make this useless?" Luna wondered aloud.

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"I am certain they have more tricks up their sleeves," Cyanide replied as he tapped on the 'Use' button beneath the info of the Mutant Blood, causing a small transparent vial of black liquid to appear between his fingertips. "Can't you tell what those tricks are by accessing A.R.S.A.'s knowledge?"

Luna sighed deeply. "Unfortunately not. For whatever reason, that knowledge appears to be locked behind an encrypted timegate that I cannot break through. I'm sorry, Cyanide."

"So… they even anticipated the Survivor's Assistants getting hacked." Cyanide frowned as he downed the liquid in one gulp. It tasted like rotten, spoiled milk, but he's had worse.

As soon as the liquid entered his body, the vial vanished into thin air, as if it had just been a virtual container for the fluid, not meant to be used for anything else. At the same time, a new message popped up in front of Cyanide, blocking the Inventory screen.

[Update: Virus Status.]

[The Survivor's Curse has been suppressed for 12 hours. Time remaining until death: 27:34:56.]

"… Hm. I don't feel comfortable with that number," Cyanide admitted, standing back up to his feet. "I'll need to find and kill more of those mutants, it seems. But first…"

He glanced down at his own two empty hands, then balled them into fists.

"… I'll need a proper weapon."

He turned to the exit and prepared to leave, but then stopped and grabbed a few of the Anexerdyte tubes spilled all over the floor. He moved to put them in his cloak's inner pockets, but then remembered.

"Luna. Store these in my inventory. Oh, and that water bottle over there too, because why not?"

Luna's eyes widened a bit as she realized what the purpose of him storing the antidote-looking liquids was. "Cyanide, don't tell me you're…"

"Don't tell me you expect me, of all people, to show humanity, Luna. This is a fight for survival. No one is an ally. I am an assassin—and I will use any tools at my disposal to achieve my goal, even if it means tricking and killing others. After all… that is what I do best."

"It's not that, Cyanide," Luna corrected with a faint smile. "It's not my position to judge anything you do, since you are my creator. I'm also well aware this entire survival game is a test to see how cruel and selfish humans can be when faced with danger. I just wanted to say… your inventory space is limited, so choose wisely."

Cyanide paused momentarily, then made his decision.

"If I need inventory space, I can always get rid of these later. For now, just store them."

Luna smiled.. "Understood."

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