Mystery: A Spark

"Who goes there!" The sailor standing nearby immediately became alert upon seeing someone suddenly appear.

“It’s me, Arthur Heller.”

“Mr. Heller, it’s you.” The sailor relaxed a little. “Are you here to solve the Frank problem?”

"Yes, is he in the lab right now?"

"Yes, he's been staying in there almost the whole time these days. He only comes out for a short while to eat, drink, and relieve himself. Apart from the captain who comes back occasionally, he ignores everyone else when they talk to him. He seems a bit off."

"He also expanded the laboratory, and no one except the captain was allowed to go in. He said it was because he needed to study viruses and therefore needed to establish a biosafety system. Anyway, I didn't understand these things very well, and I didn't dare to go in and see." The sailor's expression showed a hint of fear, as if he was frightened by Frank's unusual behavior.

“I’ll go take a look.” Arthur nodded and walked into the cabin.

Judging from the sailors' descriptions, Frank's condition was indeed very abnormal.

Because Frank used to be a very cheerful person, a great friend, and he would really help you when you needed it.

But now, his mental state is clearly questionable.

Hopefully, this guy hasn't come up with anything too outrageous... Arthur led Arthas along the ship's corridor, and just in case, he even took out Salamani.

There weren't many people in the cabin at this time; some of them knew Arthur, and some didn't.

So when they saw Arthur walking here carrying a sword, some of the crew members were wary. They only relaxed and watched Arthur leave after others who knew Arthur explained.

Arriving at a large door, Arthur looked at the sign on the door and knew that this was Frank's laboratory.

He let out a soft breath, reached out and pushed the door, only to find it locked from the inside.

Arthur knocked on the door and called out to Frank twice, but no one answered.

Without hesitation, he turned around and told the crew members who were watching curiously to leave the cabin immediately. Then, he took two steps back and shattered the heavy door with a single sword strike.

The scene behind the door was revealed to Arthur, and his heart sank.

The room no longer resembled a normal laboratory; all Arthur could see was sticky, black mycelium.

They intertwined and tangled, making this place look like a den of demons.

Seeing this scene, Arthur inexplicably recalled a game he had played in his previous life.

Resident Evil 7.

Chapter 305 Frank's Mistake

"No way, you've gone a bit too far, bro."

As Arthur looked at the familiar scene before him, his heart sank deeper and deeper.

With a flick of his left hand, large swathes of crimson flames erupted, sweeping towards the tangled black substance.

These black, unidentified substances, suspected to be composed of mycelium, were roasted by flames, making crackling and popping sounds as they gradually melted like ice and snow under the sun, while also producing a foul smell of burning protein.

Arthas, perched on Arthur's shoulder, his small face flushed red in the flames, suddenly spoke:

"Frank is still alive. I can feel his presence."

“There are many kinds of living, and becoming a monster is also a kind of living.” Arthur, holding the Salamani, walked into the passage sterilized by flames. “But I hope he doesn’t become a monster. I don’t want to kill my own friend with my own hands.”

As he walked and disinfected along the way, just when Arthur thought Frank had turned into some kind of mutant monster, he finally spotted Frank at the door of a room at the very back of the laboratory.

Frank was sitting in a chair with his head drooping, nodding off as if he were dozing off.

It looks... like it's alright?

Arthur raised his sword and slowly extended it toward Frank, then tentatively tapped Frank's arm with the blade.

"Frank, wake up."

"Hmm..." Frank looked up, puzzled. "Who is it? Didn't I say no one is allowed in my lab?"

"It's me." Arthur breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Frank looking sleepy.

At least for now, this guy doesn't seem to be in any trouble.

"Arthur, what brings you here?" Frank rubbed his eyes, yawned, and stood up.

Then he saw the laboratory where everything had been purified by flames.

"What happened to my lab? My equipment!" Frank yelled like a groundhog, then turned to Arthur. "Did you do this?"

“Yes,” Arthur said.

"Hey, what are you doing! This is the laboratory I painstakingly built for our research, and you just burned it down like this?" Frank scratched his messy hair, his face as if wearing a mask of pain.

"Still researching? Do you know what your lab looks like? Anyone who doesn't know better would think it's some evil god's lair." Arthur said irritably.

"What evil god's lair? My lab has always been..." Frank was initially puzzled, then his expression changed as if he had just woken up from a dream, "I... I remember now."

"Do you remember what happened to you before?" Arthur asked.

“Hmm, I remember now.” Frank’s face turned somewhat gloomy. “It was indeed very dangerous before. I almost… messed up.”

He plopped down in the chair, put his hand to his forehead, and began to recount his experiences over the past few days.

In the beginning, Frank focused on researching protogenetics, attempting to create a superior human being by modifying genetic material.

However, the research on genes in the mysterious world is practically nonexistent, so Frank's research work is like building a castle in the air, failing time and time again due to an unstable foundation.

The lack of a theoretical foundation resulted in Frank creating deformed lumps of flesh devoid of intelligence, let alone soul.

Incidentally, because he was unsure of the research results, Frank did not use the flesh and blood that Arthur had given him, but instead used pirate flesh and blood first.

"At that time, the repeated failures in my research made me feel very bad. I subconsciously prayed to the Mother Goddess, but I didn't get any response."

"After failing to make a breakthrough in terms of the original genome, I don't know why, but I turned my attention to viruses."

Frank gave a wry smile. "You warned me many times before not to research the virus rashly, but how should I put it? If I had to describe it in one word, I felt like I was already a bit obsessed at that time."

"Looking back now, I realize that I was in a very bad state at the time. Without the captain on board the Future, I took it upon myself to expand the laboratory and then started research on the virus here."

“But the key problem is…” Frank rubbed his face, “I don’t remember what virus I was researching at the time. I only remember that I was researching, and apart from eating, drinking and relieving myself, I just kept researching, researching, researching, and I hardly thought about anything else.”

"Only a slight feeling of unease that I subconsciously sensed made me strictly forbid anyone from coming to my place unless the captain returned. Looking back now, I was probably bewitched by an evil spirit at that time."

"And then? What happened then?" Arthur asked seriously. "I've killed quite a few followers of the evil god, but you don't give me the feeling that you've been corrupted by the evil god."

Most importantly, he couldn't see anything with his ghostly vision; Frank was now just an ordinary Extraordinary.

Therefore, there must have been some unforeseen event that allowed Frank to escape unscathed and prevented the mycelium in the lab from spreading outwards and becoming as terrifying as Baker Farm in Resident Evil 7.

“I’m not quite sure,” Frank replied.

"Not quite sure? What do you mean?" Arthur asked, puzzled.

Frank rubbed his forehead and said, recalling the events:

"After a period of working tirelessly on my research, I felt that the results had met my expectations, so I officially began the creation of the first genetic prototype."

He glanced up at Arthur. "With the flesh and blood you gave me."

"Start production immediately? Without any prior experimental preparation?"

"Yes."

"You go on."

“Then something amazing happened,” Frank said in a low voice.

"What do you mean?" Arthur frowned.

"The experiment was a success on the first try. I created an embryo and infected it with the virus I had previously researched. The embryo survived without any mutations or turning into a monster."

Frank swallowed hard, still somewhat shaken, and said, "That's when the problem arose. When the embryo was successfully created, a thought suddenly popped into my head: it shouldn't belong to this world; it should belong to something greater."

Upon hearing this, Arthur silently gripped his sword and activated Ghost Vision.

"And then? What did you do?"

"I started preparing for the ceremony..." Frank couldn't help but slap himself across the face. "Bullshit! I actually dared to hold a ceremony under those circumstances."

“In this world, our spirits sometimes don’t belong to ourselves,” Arthur said. “The ritual shouldn’t have been completed, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be who you are now.”

“To be precise, it didn’t even begin.” Frank sighed. “Just as I was about to begin the ceremony, I suddenly felt a warm and loving power. Under the influence of this power, I briefly regained my senses, ran out of the room, and collapsed here until you woke me up.”

Arthur let out a breath, looked at the closed door beside Frank, and asked:

"So, you don't really know what's going on inside this room?"

“Obviously.” Frank stood up from his chair and shrugged. “So, want to go in and take a look?”

Arthur remained silent, contemplating whether he should simply blow the place up.

Just as he was hesitating, the door suddenly opened by itself, revealing the scene behind it.

Arthur gasped. "You call this an embryo?!"

Chapter 306 Arthur: Oh no, I'm going to be a father!

"Isn't that right? I remember I only managed to get an embryo out."

Frank glanced into the room with some confusion, then froze.

"How...how could this happen?"

The room was filled with many bottles and jars containing colorful liquids, and I wondered what they were used for.

But that's not the main point that surprised Arthur and Frank.

What truly caused them to lose their composure was the transparent cylindrical culture chamber in the center of the room.

More accurately, it's the people inside the incubation chamber.

It was a blonde woman who was completely naked. Her eyes were closed as she was immersed in a culture chamber filled with nutrient solution. Her beautiful face had a hint of maternal love in it, like the Virgin Mary in mythology.

"You'd better tell me this is some innocent girl you kidnapped from who-knows-where, and then you heartlessly stuffed her into this jar," Arthur said expressionlessly.

“If that’s all you want to believe, then I can say that to you too,” Frank said with a helpless smile. “But I still want to advise you to accept reality.”

"Accept what reality? Accept the reality that you created a vessel for an evil god?" Arthur said irritably. "And we have absolutely no idea whether she will move."

"Theoretically speaking..."

"Don't give me any theories." Frank was interrupted by Arthur before he could finish speaking. "Just tell me if you dare to go up and confirm it."