Everyone in the control room leaned in.
As the serum flooded the creature's system, Asset 07's massive, hyper-tense frame seemed to instantly deflate, as if the raw aggression had been chemically stripped from its bones.
The bulging, violent veins smoothed out beneath its skin.
The terrifying rigidity of its muscles melted into total submission.
Every single erratic spike on the Biometric Monitoring Display cascaded down, settling perfectly into the optimal green zone.
Total systemic control.
The technicians practically erupted into cheers. "It's stable! Every single metric is completely stabilized!"
Hearing the confirmation, Kaelen let out a massive breath. The adrenaline crash hit him so hard his knees buckled.
Two security guards had to catch him before he hit the floor.
He was dripping in cold sweat, his shirt plastered to his spine. He felt like he had
just barely crawled his way back from the edge of the grave.
No! Those past few minutes had been infinitely worse than just facing death.
"It's over..." he muttered, his eyes burning with exhausted relief.
He had managed to keep his head attached to his neck. For now.
Inside the theater.
Serena acted as if she had done nothing more strenuous than taking a walk. She casually tossed the empty syringe back into her medical kit and snapped the lid shut.
In that seamless motion, the final silver needle—the one carrying the stolen core data on its microchip was perfectly concealed within the hidden compartment.
She picked up her bag and turned toward the exit.
Her movements were brisk and entirely professional, showing zero interest in lingering a second longer than necessary.
Ten seconds on the clock.
She walked toward the heavy glass doors.
Five seconds.
She reached the threshold.
And precisely on the final second of the countdown, she stepped out of the Observation Theater.
Her pale, stunning features were
completely unbothered. Her dark
eyes were cold and detached,
making it look as though
suppressing a lethal bioweapon was
merely a trivial inconvenience.
It was a display of absolute, arrogant supremacy, and yet, not a single person in the
room dared to question it.
The technical team was entirely utterly captivated by her.
Half of them looked ready to fall to their knees and beg her to take them on as apprentices.
The heavy doors hissed shut behind her, sealing the theater once more.
Kaelen rushed forward instantly. His
face was still pale from the
near-death experience, but his eyes darted with cautious, desperate
probing Ms. Panacea, what is
Asset 07's status?"
"What exactly is wrong with it? Will it... will it lose control again? And that ghost
command you mentioned... did you locate the source? What really..."
"The problem isn't with Asset 07," Serena cut him off sharply. Her voice was cool completely devoid of any emotional fluctuation The problem lies within your own network."
Kaelen froze, the last bit of color draining from his face. "What do you mean by that?"
Serena adjusted her grip on her medical kit, a cruel, mocking smirk touching her red lips. Her gaze was ice. "Isn't it obvious?"
"I can tell you with absolute certainty that someone used an internal administrative
override to embed that assassination protocol into Asset 07."
"And whoever it is, their security clearance is vastly superior to yours."
Kaelen's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
He had heard her hypothesize this earlier, but he had clung to a desperate, naive hope that she was wrong.
After all, the Living Assets were supposed to be strictly under the jurisdiction of the Med-Tech Quarantine.
He was supposed to hold the ultimate authority here.
But... hearing The Panacea state it as an undeniable fact sent a paralyzing chill shooting straight from the floorboards to the base of his skull.
Every drop of blood vanished from his face.