[A Few Hours Later]
It was already late at night.
But outside the pharmaceutical company, those reporters still refused to leave. It had to be said that they were very dedicated.
Moreover, as time passed, they discovered that the military had brought out tanks and armored vehicles, surrounding the pharmaceutical company as if facing a formidable enemy.
"What exactly is going on?"
One reporter stood on top of a vehicle and shouted toward the police officers guarding the front.
"What happened in there? Why has the army been deployed?"
"We have the right to know! We demand an explanation!"
The scene was filled with noise, and even Wilson heard it.
"Sir, the public is starting to become dissatisfied," an officer said quietly.
Wilson glanced at Ryan, who was sitting in the corner playing a video game, then nodded, "Go deal with those reporters. Find some excuse to shut them up."
After the officer left, Dr. Kyle said in a deep voice, "Sir, shouldn't we evacuate the residents?"
Wilson looked at him and said quietly, "Things haven't reached the point of no return yet."
"If we evacuate the residents and nothing happens, we'll become a laughingstock."
"Besides, doing that would also cause panic."
"Let's wait until Colonel Yuri's operation has results."
"Where are they now?"
Dr. Kyle glanced at the screen, "They've reached the laboratory control room."
———
[Top Floor of the Building]
[Laboratory Control Office]
Colonel Yuri said in a deep voice, "Command, I'm about to deactivate the isolation system and enter the laboratory."
Soon, Dr. Kyle's voice came from the control office's monitor, ["Please be extremely careful."]
"No problem."
Yuri was full of confidence.
Along the way, they had no idea how many Chimeras they had killed.
It gave Colonel Yuri the feeling that the "Chimeras" were nothing special.
"By the way, Dr. Kyle, what's the situation inside the laboratory now?"
As Colonel Yuri pressed a red button to deactivate the isolation system, he asked, "Can you see what's happening inside?"
["No."]
Dr. Kyle's voice came through.
["The surveillance cameras inside may have been destroyed. I can't see what's happening."]
["In any case, be careful."]
At that moment, a soldier called out, "Colonel, the isolation system is open."
"Good. Move in."
Colonel Yuri led the team to the main door. He gave a hand signal, and two soldiers stepped forward and opened it.
The moment the door opened, a huge amount of gas flowed out.
There was so much gas that it was impossible to see inside.
Just then, two black shadows shot out from the doorway. They instantly wrapped around the soldiers who had opened the door and dragged them inside.
Immediately, Colonel Yuri's ears were filled with the dying screams of the soldiers.
"Damn it!"
"AHHHH!"
"Move!"
Colonel Yuri shouted as he strode forward. The moment he entered the doorway, a black shadow slammed toward him.
He quickly raised both arms to block it and saw a tentacle covered in barbs striking him.
His body swayed, his vision spun, and when he came back to his senses, he found himself lying on the ground.
Looking through his faceplate, he saw one barbed tentacle after another wrapping around the soldiers' powered armor before dragging them into the laboratory.
"Damn it!"
Colonel Yuri climbed to his feet and charged into the laboratory. Just then, he heard a soldier roar, "I'm taking you down with me!"
Colonel Yuri suddenly had a bad feeling and hurriedly shouted, "Wait!"
But at that moment, a flash of fire lit up inside the laboratory. An instant later, a deafening explosion rang in his ears, and flames burst roaring out of the laboratory, blasting Colonel Yuri through the air.
BOOM!
———
The reporters, who had been blocked on the other side of the street, were first startled by the sudden explosion inside the pharmaceutical company.
Then they saw a fireball rise into the sky, lighting up the night.
Not long afterward, a black shadow flew out of the pharmaceutical company, swept across the sky above the street, and disappeared into the distance.
"Who was that? Homelander?"
"No idea. It was too fast. I couldn't see clearly."
"Hey, look! What's going on with the pharmaceutical company? Is it getting foggy in there?"
The reporters looked toward the pharmaceutical company and saw a thick cloud of mist spreading rapidly outward.
In an instant, it had already engulfed the armored vehicles.
A moment later, it had spread to the other side of the street, swallowing the reporters as well.
"What the hell?"
"I can't see anything."
"What is this stuff? It stinks."
The reporters all backed away. At that moment, they heard strange roars coming from the distance.
There were wolf howls, tiger roars, and the cries of birds.
Just then, one reporter raised a hand to wipe his glasses.
He suddenly discovered that black hair was sprouting from his hand. In the blink of an eye, that arm had become like a gorilla's.
"What's happening to me?"
Terrified, he fell onto the ground.
Then he saw a figure emerge from the dense fog and quickly shouted, "Help me!"
"I think I'm sick."
The words had barely left his mouth when a monster lunged out of the fog.
It had the head of a crocodile and the body of a bear, with two wings on its back that looked like they belonged to some kind of bird and seemed to be purely decorative.
"AHHHH!"
"Monster!"
Screams, gunfire, and shouts rang out through the dense fog.
Yet the fog continued to spread at high speed. In just one minute, it had already covered the entire district.
On the rooftop of a hotel several blocks away.
Wilson and Kyle landed on the ground.
Ryan let go of them and hovered behind them.
The Secretary held a hand to his forehead as he looked toward the constantly expanding, churning cloud of fog in the distant district.
Dr. Kyle said with a bitter expression, "What do we do now, Mr. Secretary?"
"Compound No. 6 has leaked after all."
Wilson made a decision at once. He turned toward the little boy in the air, "Ryan, take us to the Air Force airbase. Quickly!"
Dr. Kyle said in surprise, "Mr. Secretary, are we just going to leave this alone?"
Wilson did not answer him.
Ryan had already grabbed his shoulder, then took Dr. Kyle as well, and flew toward the Air Force airbase with a whoosh.
———
[Inside the Seven Tower]
Alex stood with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of Willis Pharmaceuticals.
The fireball from the explosion just now naturally couldn't escape his eyes.
At the same time, several lines of information appeared on his retina.
[A disaster event has appeared.]
[Are you willing to handle this event?]
Alex glanced at the clock on the wall and yawned.
"I refuse."
[You have declined this event.]
After those words flashed by, everything before Alex's eyes fell silent again.
Originally, he had kept Willis Pharmaceuticals around because he had intended to use it to farm disaster events.
But after everything unpleasant that had happened today, and with the tremendous gains Alex had obtained from the multiverse event, he no longer thought much of these disaster events.
So he simply declined it and went back to his room to sleep.