Chapter 837: Handover (5)
It was early evening, the sun setting unusually fast. A desolate downtown, developed and then abandoned at the edge of the undeveloped district.
Beneath the land, ravaged by sandstorms and magnetic winds, hidden by dust accumulated over the flow of time.
Thousands of people gathered beneath a colossal underground plaza, letting out fervent cheers.
“Waaaaahhh!!”
Thwack!! Snap!!
Several superhumans were engaged in a blood-soaked battle, fighting each other to the death.
The crowd’s shouts grew wilder with every sound of tearing flesh and breaking bone.
Lennok was among the spectators, watching the fight unfold in the arena.
“Is it a no-rules battle royale? There’s no restriction other than counting heads for betting purposes.”
The arena was quite vast, with various obstacles impeding sight and movement.
It was likely designed to pit multiple superhumans against each other simultaneously, rather than one-on-one combat.
The match duration was 15 minutes. They fought until only one remained, with penalties imposed if they failed to finish within the time limit.
Lennok didn’t know what the penalty was, but judging by the desperation of the superhumans in the arena, it seemed quite effective.
Clink!!
Hiss!!
Outside the arena, participants preparing for the next match sat in a line, pushing hypodermic needles into their forearms.
“Is the drug mixture not ready yet?!”
“Not much time left until the match starts!!”
“The effects need about five minutes to kick in. Get the ampoules here, now!!”
These were enhancers used to boost the combat abilities of superhumans.
In this no-rules underground fighting arena, such practices weren’t just rampant; they had become an established procedure.
In the outer waiting area, so-called ‘Designers’ were absorbed in concocting doping agents with their unique ratios and combinations.
The very choice of the underground fighting arena as Murphy’s designated meeting spot implied how natural drug use was in this space.
Clench…!!
Explosively bulging muscles, clearly prominent veins, rapidly soaring body temperature contrasted by eyes that deepened infinitely.
Superhumans who ingested doping agents forgot pain, boosted their physical strength, and gained a composure that wasn’t their own.
Thump!! Rumble!!
Even amidst extreme pain—bones breaking, muscles tearing, bone fragments scattering—they maintained their sanity and craved victory.
By simply injecting the drugs, they transformed into warriors beyond their limits, putting on the ultimate performance for thousands of spectators.
“Waaaaahhh!!”
“Hmm.”
However, Lennok watched the desperate superhumans and the surging crowd, then shook his head.
“Crude. There’s little to learn here.”
[Those organisms fighting in the arena. They’re not even fit to lick your master’s boots, you know.]
Davi, who was diligently hacking nearby cameras and surveillance equipment from inside Lennok’s clothes, asked incredulously.
[Maybe in the past, but now, what could you possibly learn from those organisms?]
“I’ve known about the existence of underground fighting arenas for a long time, but I’ve rarely had the chance to participate.”
Lennok replied, watching the match with his arms crossed.
“I, too, have some expertise in combining doping agents and stimulants, so I thought there might be something noteworthy… but it’s not as much as I expected.”
In this match, the last two participants clashed fiercely.
A rusty scythe and a chipped sword. They desperately clutched and swung their worn-out equipment as if their lives depended on it.
A desperate, fervent desire for survival appeared simultaneously on both their faces.
Bodily fluids flowed from their wounds, staining their faces and transforming their expressions into something indescribable.
As their faces were enlarged and captured clearly on the super-large screen, the surrounding audience went wild.
“Yeah, that’s it!! Kill him already!!”
“Damn it, damn it…!!! I bet on that idiot!! Get up!!”
“Hahaha, look at their faces. I come here every week just for that!”
An acrid scent of alcohol and drugs permeated the air.
Sweat and liquor mixed, rising like a mist to form a hazy cloud, and people, intoxicated with excitement and drugs, swayed uncontrollably.
Loud electronic music and shouts reverberated, pounding in Lennok’s ears and stomach.
Lennok, who had been watching the match with his arms crossed, sighed and looked up.
“Just standing here feels exhausting…”
[If you wish, should I make the stadium a bit less crowded?]
“No, forget it. It’s almost time.”
Ever since seeing the chaos Davi caused on the Deep Web, Lennok was almost afraid of how she might toy with other people.
Lennok immediately left the crowd and exited to the stadium’s periphery.
Along the stadium’s outer wall, hawkers had set up stalls, and agencies sold arena-related merchandise.
Lennok surveyed his surroundings and then stopped in front of a Designer who was busily mixing drugs in the outer waiting area.
Except for the fact that the man was sitting in a wheelchair, peering into a workbench, his face was unfamiliar and completely absent from Lennok’s memory.
Yet, Lennok patted the man’s shoulder and asked in an unconcerned tone,
“You said you’d go ahead and prepare the doping agent, but you’re still not done?”
“…”
“It’s time. Lead the way to the promised location.”
“…Van?”
The man, who had been staring at Lennok with wide, disbelieving eyes, grabbed his jaw with one hand.
Snap!!
Murphy, having shed his synthetic skin mask, looked at Lennok with a surprised expression.
“Remarkable disguise… I didn’t notice it at all.”
“What are you talking about? You were disguised too, weren’t you?”
“No. You’ve mastered a level of disguise completely different from mine.”
Murphy’s gaze sharpened for a moment.
“The scent of blood is different. It’s not just a trick to alter appearance. Are you even changing your biological information?”
“Perhaps?”
Even if he was half-modified, as a vampire, perhaps his criteria for distinguishing humans leaned that way.
Murphy eyed Lennok suspiciously, then turned his wheelchair and offered Lennok a test tube.
“The adjustments are mostly complete. This is something I made using the data I obtained with your cooperation previously, minimizing rebound effects while maintaining the efficacy.”
“Interesting. You reduced the side effects of a doping agent using my blood?”
“To be precise, I merely postponed the side effects until after the drug’s effects wear off.”
Murphy chuckled softly.
“Ten minutes immediately after ingestion. It won’t cover the entire match duration, but with this, you’ll certainly see the desired results.”
“…”
Lennok silently stared at the doping agent in Murphy’s hand, offering no reply.
“Is there something you don’t like?”
“No, not that, but…”
With that, Lennok gently stirred his magic and brought it closer to the drug in Murphy’s hand.
As Lennok’s touch lightly brushed the test tube, faint ripples spread across the liquid.
The drug appeared unchanged from the outside.
“What did you do?”
“I added a simple adjustment. If I had to put it, I just did a little coloring.”
Lennok chuckled at Murphy’s somewhat puzzled reaction.
“It wouldn’t matter if it were exposed, but there’s no need to leave traces, after all. There won’t be any problem with it producing effects exactly as you designed.”
“…Alright. Let’s go upstairs and talk in detail.”
As Murphy inserted a card into the elevator at the end of the stadium, the locked floor opened, and the elevator ascended.
“The other Designers participating in the project should be here. You’re a little late, by the clock.”
“I’d like to hear more about that. What do you mean by enhancing criminals and using them as hunting dogs?”
After mega-cities were built, there must have been more than one clandestine project that used uncontrollable outlaws as test subjects.
But if a City Council Senator and an excellent doctor like Murphy participated in such a trite project, it’s a different story.
Even if the objective itself was obvious, if the means and process were unusual, the result would also be extraordinary.
“That’s merely a pretext. Its essence isn’t much different from when I first got involved in this business.”
“Not different?”
“The plan to create highly efficient doping agents and supply them to VIPs in various fields, that is. This underground fighting arena, so to speak, is a competition venue where designers in that field gather to compare their skills.”
“And you rented out an entire underground establishment and staged such a massive event for that?”
“As I told you before, the leadership and prominent figures of various cities are extremely interested in this business.”
“…”
“If they can’t become exceptional superhumans themselves, they want to become something similar by using the blood of superhumans who have already reached that level… It’s not strange, is it?”
Murphy chuckled, shaking the mobile phone in his hand.
“It’s also the most efficient way to acquire the contact information and secrets of celebrities and politicians across the continent. That’s why I got involved in this business.”
There was a reason Murphy, despite being able to work as a doctor, chose to get involved in the blood-selling business.
That was probably related to how Murphy escaped Ars Nova and drifted to Vulcan.
“Anyway, if you don’t want your identity exposed, stay quiet. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Do as you please.”
Lennok had accepted Murphy’s offer solely because Murphy had requested his cooperation in exchange for this examination.
At the same time, he thought he might observe the type of doping agents or materials he desired from this project.
If the situation turned unfavorable, he could always overturn it. There were plenty of ways.
Whirr!!
The elevator stopped and the door opened, revealing a luxuriously decorated room.
A VIP-exclusive seating area located at the top of the fighting arena’s ceiling. The room was enclosed in glass on all sides, offering a panoramic view of the arena below.
The dozen or so people already seated in the room uniformly turned their attention to Murphy.
“Alejandro Murphy!! You’re finally here.”
A portly middle-aged man in a suit among them spread his arms wide, approached Murphy, and burst into laughter.
“You were so late, I thought you got cold feet and weren’t coming. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Dristan. Cut the pleasantries.”
Murphy retorted in a hoarse voice, swatting away the thick hand of the man called Dristan.
“Are the client lines connected?”
“Yes. They’ve been watching the match for quite a while. We had to show our valuable clients some boring fights soaked in cheap drugs.”
Dristan chuckled softly and whispered,
“Everyone’s tired of experiments using Gamma Sequence Doping Agents, you know. Now it’s time to move on to the next thing.”
“…”
“Since today is the day we unveil the Lambda Sequence Doping Agent, everyone has high expectations.”
Dristan snorted, finding Murphy’s silence unamusing, and turned his head.
“Then let’s start right away!!”
Immediately with his words, a masked announcer burst out into the center of the underground arena unfolding beneath them.
[Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! We will now begin today’s main event match in the underground arena!!]
“Waaaaahhh!!”
The roar penetrated even the soundproof glass of the sturdy VIP section.
[For today’s match, the organizers have prepared something very special, and that is this!!]
The announcer, standing on the platform, snapped his fingers, and from beneath him, a syringe housed in a soft cushion case emerged.
[Lambda Level Doping Agent, meticulously selected by top-tier Designers from around the world. The champions participating in today’s match will be injected with this drug before the competition!!]
A dozen or so syringes were neatly arranged side by side, emitting a refined glow.
The various colorful drugs contained within the syringes shimmered with an ethereal light.
[Up until now, the Gamma Level Doping Agents developed by Designers were merely low-quality drugs that relied on the user’s inherent level, picking and choosing who they worked for. But Lambda Level Doping Agents are different!!]
[The highest-grade adjusters that elicit a certain level of ability enhancement and forced awakening regardless of the user’s level!! That is the new Lambda Level design of the new generation!]