"Bl… Bck Hand…" the aammered through his broken jaw.

  "Who?" Zack’s eyes narrowed.

  "Bck Hand… Lord Bck Hand," the maed, his words slurred but desperate to be uood.

  Zack frowhe name didn’t ring any bells. "And yanization?"

  "Vanguard… we’re the Vanguard anization," the ander said, his voice trembling.Zack tilted his head, the irring a faint memory. But something about it didn’t match what he’d heard before.

  "Where’s your base?"

  The ander hesitated, his voice growing weaker. "Newark City… but we’re just a branch. I don’t know where the others are…"

  Zack’s expression darkened. He tugged the wires away again.

  "Ahhhh!!!" The ander’s cries filled the room as the pain roared back with a vengeance. His body vulsed, tears streaming down his face.

  Zack sighed, setting the pliers aside. "I was going to start with your fingers, but it seems like there’s no need for that anymore."

  The ander’s eyes widened in terror, though he cked the strength to respond. Zack studied him for a moment, his expression unreadable. "O question." Zack leaned forward, pressing the wires against the ander’s skin again.

  The ander’s body rexed slightly as the current dulled his nerves. His head lolled to the side, tears dripping onto the floor. "Please… just kill me…"

  "Not yet," Zack said, ign the plea. "What’s the deal with him?"

  He gestured toward the mutited body of a strongman lying nearby, cut down to a horrifyingly unnatural state. The ander shuddered, his words barely audible. "H-he’s… a superhuman… serum… developed by the anization… to make ordinary soldiers…"

  He gasped for air before tinuing. "Less afraid of pain… a super soldier… not afraid of death…"

  Zack’s eyes narrowed as he processed the information. "A Superhuman Serum?" Hearing those words, something immediately clicked in Zack's mind. His expression turned serious as he stared down at the ander. "Tell me everything you know about this serum," Zack demanded.

  The ander gasped, his breath ing in ragged bursts as if it hurt just to speak. His voice was shaky, his words disjointed. "I... I don’t know much..."

  The man’s dition was deteriorating fast—his body trembling, his pupils diting. Zack reized the signs immediately: long-term exposure to the serum’s side effects. The pain, amplified by the imuting drugs, put his brain under immense pressure. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the ander’s body gave out. "You have to... suppress it... regur iions..." he rasped. "That’s it... That’s all I know..." With a final gasp, the man mao finish his sentence.

  Zack processed the information. Now, he had a better uanding of this so-called Superhuman Serum. It could indeed elevate a normal person’s strength to superhuman levels. But the price? Severe. Not everyone who received the iion became a super soldier. In fact, the failure rate was terrifying—70% of those ied turned into zombies.

  That meant, out of ten people, only three would survive the transformation. Evehose who survived werely "super" in the way Zack had hoped. They were mindless drones, immuo paiing only to follow orders. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the survivors still needed regur doses of a suppressive drug to keep the Zeta virus in check. Without it, even the so-called "successes" would eventually turn into zombies.Zack scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain. "This? This is what they call a Superhuman Serum? What a joke."

  But as much as he despised it, the serum’s existence served as a wake-up call. It was a remihat his enemies were experimenting with dangerous advas. "If I remember right..." Zack muttered to himself, his mind rag. "Ego, doesn’t your database have information on Serum like this?"

  His AI panion responded promptly. "Yes, sir. The serum is doted iail within my archives."

  Zack’s eyes lit up. Serum from ego will be far superior to this crude things. Maybe it could serve as inspiration for somethier. Suddenly, a low, guttural roar echoed through the basement. Zack turned sharply to see the strong man—who had been reduced to little more than a limbless torso—begin to vulse violently. His mouth opened wide, releasing an animalistic growl.

  "Is he... turning into a zombie?" Zack’s curiosity fred. He’d seen people turn before, but his close.

  Quickly, he grabbed a chair, sat down at a safe distance of about a meter, and observed.First, the strong man’s pupils shifted from bck to a pale, milky white. Any trace of humanity in his eyes disappeared. Then came the behavior. Like a rabid animal, he began snapping at the air, drooling untrolbly as if desperate to bite something—anything.

  "So this is how it happens..." Zack murmured, fasated and horrified in equal measure.His focus broke when the ander’s body began trembling violently. His dition was worsening. The side effects of the nerve-enhang drug were taking their toll.

  The veins on his forehead bulged grotesquely, as though they might burst at any moment. He cwed at his head, groaning in agony. "Kill me..." the ander begged, his voice weak but desperate. "Please... I told you everything... Just end it..."

  Zack didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he silently adjusted the iy of the electrical current running through the mae. Moments ter, the ander slumped over, lifeless. His heart had given out, but at least the end had been quid retively painless.With a sigh, Zack turned off the power switch. Then, he g the zombie that had once beerong man. "Ego, does he have any research value left?"

  The AI’s voice was calm and effit. "ive, sir. The target has fully transitioned into a standard zombie. There is no research value."

  "Got it," Zack replied coldly. "Send Tarantu in to this up. Tell it to burn the body and disihe basement."

  "Uood, sir."

  Zack washed his hands in the small basement sink before heading upstairs. Wheepped into Mansion No. 9, he found Sophia standing at the bottom of the staircase, looking anxious. "Zack! Annie’s awake," she said quickly. "But... she’s ag a little strange."

  Zack’s brows furrowed. "Strange? How?"

  "I don’t know how to expin it," Sophia admitted, clearly uneasy.

  "It’s fine. I’ll che her," Zack said, heading upstairs without hesitation.

  Inside Annie’s room, Zack found her sitting on the bed, staring at the television with an oddly fasated expressioV ying one of her favorite movies, but something about her demeanor seemed off. "Annie, are you okay?" Zack asked cautiously.

  She turo him with a big grin. "Brother, the TV’s stuck!" she said, giggling as if it was the fuhing in the world.

  Zack frowned and g the TV. It ying just fine. "Stuck? It looks normal to me."

  Annie cpped her hands, ughing again. "But you’re moving in slow motion too! Just like Sister Sophia!"

  "Slow motion?" Zack repeated, fused. Then, realization dawned. "Annie," he said carefully, "what exactly are you seeing?"

  Before she could answer, her focus shifted, and suddenly the TV seemed normal tain. "Huh? Never mind, it’s fine now! Everything’s back to normal!"