Chapter 16: Stage Two Mutant

With the new skill of invisibility learned, Cyanide peeked through the tiny windows on the doors. There didn't appear to be anyone — or anything — there. All he could see was one straight, narrow hallway with open metal doors, pristine white walls, and ceiling paired with cyan flooring. But on that same flooring… he could also see some dark spots — a result of blood that had dried a long time ago.

Slowly, he pushed open the door. The light 'clicking' sound was like a gunshot in this deafening silence, seeming exponentially louder than it really was. Now that he had made the noise, however, he had to commit.

Slipping through with incredible agility, Cyanide gently closed the door once again, making as little sound as possible. But alas, the clicking sound of the latch slipping into place was unavoidable. The first time may have not triggered anything, but the second…

Suddenly, Cyanide saw the humanoid shadow of a mutant up ahead, behind one of the open metal doors. Hurriedly, he used the new skill he had just acquired to slip away.

'Invisbility.'

Luckily, it worked, and he looked down to see his own body having disappeared completely. He only had five seconds to work with here, however, so he quickly ducked behind the interior wall of the open room to his right just as the mutant appeared out from behind the door to investigate what the sound was. Cyanide daringly peeked out a slight bit while his invisibility was still active to observe the terrifying creature.

Its face was absolutely grotesque and horrid, with a dark green skin color and one eyeball hanging out of its socket, still just barely attached by a single electric wire. Its arms and legs were still in shape, however — only extended in length and power. But what was truly terrifying about this creature in particular, compared to all the other mutants he had seen so far… was the fact that it held something in its long, clawed hands.

It held a gun. And its outfit was none other than the navy blue of security officers, along with a peaked cap that matched the look.

'That thing… it used to be a security officer here. But like with the researchers and other employees in the upper levels… it's been converted into a mutant,' Cyanide thought.

'But wait… if the security officers had all been converted, and this place was their office, then…'

"U-Uh… Cyanide? We're in a bit of trouble…" Luna's voice whispered, trembling a bit, right as his invisibility wore off.

It was then that it hit him.

Cyanide turned around, eyes widened in shock… and found himself staring straight at the distorted face another Stage Two mutant, dressed in the same officer clothing as the one in the hallway.

"… Shit."

"GR-" The mutant opened its mouth to roar and alert the others in the vicinity, but Cyanide thought quick and took a book off the desk nearby before stuffing it into the creature's mouth. Then, in one swift motion, he reached down for the gun being held in its hand while simultaneously kicking it harshly in the stomach, successfully retrieving the weapon while the creature crashed into the wall.

"GRRRRAGH!" The noise, unfortunately, signaled the other mutants that something was wrong, and their lightning-fast footsteps immediately filled Cyanide's ear. There was no time to escape through the doors, and the mutant that Cyanide had kicked was also slowly getting back up, completely undamaged.

"Tch…!"

"Cyanide, the vent!" Luna called out, and Cyanide looked up to spot what she was talking about. There lay a 70 cm by 50 cm vent cover, just big enough for Cyanide's tall, skinny frame to crawl through.

With no other choice, he shot a bullet into the gagged mutant's forehead, then kicked the metal door shut with his foot to buy a little more time for himself. Then, hopping onto the desk, he emptied the rest of the magazine into the vent's cover to blow it off. He had no time to read the item obtained notifications that popped up in front of his face as he jumped into the vent system with an agile leap.

Right as he disappeared from view, he heard the sound of the metal door being torn open by force, and the collective roars of more than a dozen mutants.

Had this vent not been here… he could very well have been torn to pieces.

*****

After some navigation through the vents with the help of Luna's calculations, Cyanide was able to make it back to the front lobby of the building. By now, his invisibility was up again, so he was able to escape with relative ease. The mutants up here were only Stage Ones, so they were pretty stupid. They noticed him blowing the vent cover out with a kick, but since they couldn't actually see him, they didn't make any hostile actions. From this, he could gather that these mutants heavily relied on their sense of sight.

Now that he was on the outside streets, Cyanide could relax a bit. He could still see a few mutants loitering around here and there, but they were far and few between enough that he could afford to take a break.

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Before long, he found a nice and small isolated alleyway to hide in. Slipping past several mutants unnoticed, he entered the narrow alley and sat down, leaning against the wall of a building.

"Okay, we seem to be safe for the time being," Luna said, her hologram looking both ways. Without a scanning feature, this was the best she could do. "That was… quite the escape, huh?"

"… I didn't even see the mutant in that room, since I was so focused on the one in front of me. I'm still not experienced enough, it seems," Cyanide muttered, frustrated with his own mistake. Luna, seeing this, sighed.

"You're always so strict on yourself, Cyanide… everyone makes mistakes. Professional assassin or not, you're still human. Mistakes are natural. And besides—think on the bright side. You have a weapon now, no?"

"Yeah, I do…" Cyanide glanced down at the gun in his hand, the one that the mutant he killed had dropped when it died. "… One with no ammo, anyway."

"Oh, right… you used up everything in the mag to blow out that vent cover, and that mutant unfortunately didn't drop any spare ammo…" Luna murmured. "But… it's still better than nothing."

"… I suppose so," Cyanide said, falling into silence for a brief while, before continuing. "One more thing. Back there, I felt for a brief moment like this gun was about to fade away into thin air in my hand. It began shimmering white for a few seconds. Why is that?"

"Equipment or parts taken directly from a mutant can only last several seconds before disappearing," Luna explained. "That is the rule of this game, to incorporate a little luck as well. As you know, when you kill a mutant, they may sometimes drop items. If the salvaged item you took from them directly also dropped when they died, then you will be able to keep that item permanently. For example, that gun was about to disappear until you killed that mutant, and it dropped said gun by chance."

"Hm... I see," Cyanide murmured, still getting used to the whole 'game-like' world and its 'rules'. "And... by the way, thanks."

Luna's holographic figure tilted her head cutely and raised an eyebrow. "Hm? What for?"

"I likely wouldn't have gotten out of that situation if you hadn't pointed the vent out to me. The old A.R.S.A. definitely wouldn't have done that… looks like switching her out for you was a good idea."

"Fufu~" Luna giggled softly. Cyanide looked at her in confusion.

"What…?"

"Oh, nothing~ it's just… that's the first time I've heard you say 'thanks' with such genuineness, Cyanide."

"…" Cyanide fell silent and turned away, playing around with the gun in his hand.

Of course he sounded genuine. The gratefulness he felt towards Luna was completely real. Unlike A.R.S.A., Luna was a far more advanced AI that possessed vibrant emotions like a real human and acted like a real companion rather than a virtual 'assistant'. She could provide helpful advice and suggestions to her creator, Cyanide, as seen from the incident just now.

"Come to think of it… it's been 12 years, Luna, huh?" Cyanide said quietly, as he felt droplets of water fall on his skin. It had begun raining.

"Yes…" Luna replied. "12 years. You made my first prototype when you were 10."

"Well... since I've already said it once, I may as well say it again. I'm grateful to you, Luna. That sounds weird since I created you, but… you've saved me more times than I can count."

"My, my~ thank you, Cyanide. Hearing that from my creator makes me happy."

"Good. Because you'll never hear it again."

Cyanide stood up and began walking once more, leaving Luna dazed and confused.

"… Eh? Is he… embarrassed, perhaps?"

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