Designation-049

The security guard ran with a twisted, grotesque gait, yet his speed was astonishing. In moments, he was right in front of them.

Only now, under the corridor's flashing warning lights, did Kane get a clear look at the man. His face was as pale as a walking corpse's, his eyes sunken deep into their sockets. Dry, hoarse growls rasped from his mouth like a broken bellows, chilling to hear.

"Zhou Ze!"

The thing drew closer, but Zhou Ze remained slumped in the corner, motionless, as though he had lost consciousness.

In desperation, Kane let out a warning bark and almost caught Zhou Ze's trouser leg in his teeth to drag him away.

Just then, Zhou Ze sprang into action. Snatching up the Military Dagger beside him, he shot forward like a sword drawn from its sheath. The blade traced a cold gleam through the air and swept precisely across the security guard's throat.

"Squelch..."

The powerful, lethal strike brought the guard to an abrupt halt. A huge, clean gash opened across his neck, and thick, dark-brown fluid slowly oozed from the wound like paste.

The man crashed to the floor, yet continued twitching and struggling, trying to get back up.

Zhou Ze's gaze darkened. Frowning, he strode forward and stamped hard on the "man's" neck. As he steadily increased the pressure, a succession of sharp cracks rang out.

Soon, the man's ruined cervical vertebrae and windpipe crumbled completely beneath the immense pressure. Thick fluid mixed with shreds of tissue splattered everywhere, staining the floor dark brown.

But the instant Zhou Ze lifted his foot, the headless corpse, which should have gone still, suddenly reached out and clamped a hand around his lower leg.

Zhou Ze snorted coldly, kicked the corpse away, and picked up the Military Dagger.

First, he drove the blade precisely into the socket of the headless corpse's right shoulder. Turning it around the head of the humerus, he severed the ligaments and tendons one by one. The twisted right arm was soon cut free. The sharp blade removed the left arm just as cleanly.

The legs came next. The tip plunged into the hip joint, neatly severing the femoral artery along with the surrounding muscle tissue...

Only after completely dismembering the corpse did he lean back against the corner and slowly sit down, his chest heaving. Those movements had torn open the wound on his left shoulder again, and dark-red blood kept seeping out.

"You're pretty good at that... Done it plenty of times before, have you?"

Only after a long while did Kane, the golden retriever who had watched in stunned silence, offer that quiet assessment.

Zhou Ze recalled the sequence of movements he had just performed almost on instinct. Feeling his heart still pounding and the adrenaline surging through his body, he closed his eyes and fell silent.

[Your body will tell you what you really need...]

[Admit it. You enjoy this thrill. Stake your life and let fate turn over your cards...]

Monster...

"Does this thing... still count as human?"

Rather than answer Kane's question, Zhou Ze opened his eyes and looked at the mangled remains beside him. Despite their gruesome dismemberment, they were still twitching. Such seemingly inexhaustible vitality defied belief.

"What do you think?" The golden retriever stuck out his tongue.

In fact, Zhou Ze had already recognized the severed head's owner-the balding security guard who had taken him out of Alice's containment chamber, opened its door without authorization, and finally been frightened out of his mind.

"Does it have any weaknesses, then? Its heart?"

"Weaknesses? We rarely use that word to describe threat entities..."

Kane took half a step back, moving away from the pasty blood that had reached his paws, and said matter-of-factly:

"This isn't some setup from a movie or TV show. As you can see, it remains active even with its cervical spine completely severed and its central nervous system utterly destroyed. That means its form of life has undergone a complete aberration.

"And judging by the pasty state of its blood, its heart isn't functioning as the hub of a circulatory system, either...

"Our usual method of dealing with entities like this is to destroy them completely in a high-temperature incinerator."

"But we don't have access to one right now..." Zhou Ze frowned. "Since it was transformed from a security guard, there are probably more things like it. Do you know what anomaly caused this?"

"With something like this happening, the fact that no black alert has sounded throughout the Site means the central control system has completely malfunctioned. Things are even worse than we thought..."

The golden retriever sighed.

"Quite a few anomalies can cause something similar. I can't make a judgment without further investigation, but I can say for certain that Site-17 doesn't have anything of this sort... No! Actually, it does..."

As though suddenly remembering something, Kane carefully skirted the mess on the floor and moved closer to examine the still-twitching corpse.

"I heard Site-19 transported Designation-049 here a while ago. Apparently, they were granting his request to make contact with a certain anomaly in exchange for his cooperation with an experiment... Clive was responsible for arranging it."

"What is that?"

"Designation-049, the 'Plague Doctor.' A highly intelligent humanoid anomaly.

"Put simply, he becomes hostile toward any human he believes is afflicted with the pestilence, and can stop all physiological functions in carbon-based organisms through direct skin contact. He then generally performs surgery on the humans he kills. As for the products of that surgery... well, you can see for yourself..."

At that, Zhou Ze's brow furrowed even deeper.

"I don't understand. If he's that dangerous, why not..."

Zhou Ze broke off abruptly.

He suddenly remembered Alice in her cage, and his own anomalous abilities.

He still instinctively considered things from an ordinary human's perspective, but he had long since lost the right to do so.

"Why not find a way to kill him, right?"

The golden retriever, whose attention was entirely focused on the remains before him, failed to notice Zhou Ze's hesitation and said evenly:

"The GOC... well, the Global Occult Coalition does exactly that. Clive came from there... Their philosophy is to eliminate every anomalous entity they can, to ensure humanity's continued survival.

"But obviously, that sort of extreme, reckless approach often leads to even worse consequences... For instance, a failed execution might turn a harmless anomaly that could easily be contained into something dangerous and difficult to control..."

Kane turned to Zhou Ze. "By comparison, the Containment Facility is much more gentle, isn't it?"

In theory, a talking golden retriever certainly qualified as an anomaly, too.

Zhou Ze could not tell from Kane's gaze whether those words carried another meaning. He only felt that there was something inscrutable in those canine eyes.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Ze turned his gaze toward the giant dog's corpse a short distance away.

The corridor was now a scene of horrifying carnage. Dark-brown bloodstains, severed limbs, and scraps of flesh covered the floor, while the heavy stench of blood and decay filled the air. Various bodily fluids spattered the walls, looking especially sinister beneath the flashing warning lights.

"What about that winged dog?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Just a beast..."

The golden retriever bared his teeth in a distinctly human smile.

"Of course, there really are some anomalies in the Containment Facility that need to be put down immediately. Such as a mongrel that refuses to be neutered and likes brutalizing other animals..."

Zhou Ze was left speechless.

You really are something, Doctor Kane.