After a few moments, Rian finally arrived at the central chamber — the Main Hall, or whatever it was called. Rian himself had already forgotten the exact name.
Its condition was no better than the hallway he'd just walked through.
Aside from the open lift platform he had used earlier, the artificial greenery that once served as an underground indoor garden was now torn apart, filthy, and almost unrecognizable.
The surrounding floors had partially collapsed as well, leaving piles of debris and twisted metal behind.
Rian glanced around with a calm expression.
"Completely trashed… If I end up buying this place later, I wonder how much it'll cost to repair everything?" he muttered. "And how long it'll take to finish?"
"Don't worry, Dad," Alice replied through the Interface-lens. "Cost and time are easy. Alice can handle all of that."
Rian gave a small smile. "But… from what I said just now, did you catch the part where I was implying I want to rebuild this whole place?"
Alice responded quickly, "Right. You want to turn this into a laboratory, don't you, Dad?"
"Yup. A dedicated vaccine production facility. Efficient and centralized."
"Ah… Alice understands now," she said cheerfully.
Amidst the chaos, Rian appeared calm, like a prospective buyer inspecting a damaged property he intended to purchase.
But equally striking was another figure standing about ten steps away.
A man with messy long hair, his body wrapped in a worn green jacket.
Beneath it, a white shirt torn in multiple places, black pants, and scuffed boots.
Curtis groaned softly, slightly hunched over in pain.
Rian glanced at him for a moment, then offered a small smile. "Hello, Curtis. How are you holding up? Doesn't look good… G mutation must hurt, huh?"
Curtis didn't answer. Instead, Alice's voice came through the Interface-lens fitted to Rian's face.
His right eye exploded, spewing blood and thick fluids. Instantly, that side of his face darkened and rotted, marking permanent blindness.
His clothes were in tatters, nearly shredded from the sudden growths overtaking his body. Bones protruded through the skin in several places, forming a rough, sharp organic armor.
Curtis's back bulged, tearing through the skin to reveal a massive tail, moving agilely as if it were alive on its own.
Though his form was barely human anymore, Curtis still stood on two legs with two arms, but his body was far larger and uneven.
His right arm, the most severely mutated, extended into a long, heavy claw, ready to crush anyone in its path.
Curtis's breathing was harsh.
A fragment of awareness remained in his left eye. But that body… had become another creature, the perfect product of the G-virus: brutal, uncontrollable, and constantly evolving.
"Oh? So it's already started, huh?" Rian said lightly, before casually pulling Knight Killer out of the Void Ring in one smooth motion.
"Ah, Alice says have fun, Dad~," Alice's cheerful voice rang through the Interface-lens.
But before Rian could respond, Curtis suddenly lunged like a wild bullet, a mutant roar echoing as he swung his massive right claw toward Rian with brutal force.
Bruaakk!!
The strike hit Rian squarely, smashing him to the right side until his body collided with the wall, collapsing instantly beneath the rubble of concrete and dust.
Curtis, in his G-virus mutated form, turned his remaining eye narrow, watching the debris with heavy breaths and rising shoulders.
Then, through the slowly settling dust and stones, a low laugh echoed.
"Hahaha… Impressive physique, Curtis," Rian said from behind the shadowed rubble.
As the dust fully settled, Rian stood there, completely unscathed. Not a single tear marred his black outfit.
A calm, arrogant aura radiated from him.
This was because Rian hadn't used Infinity. His goal was simple: to test Curtis' strength—and the result… was impressive.
With a single stomp, Rian propelled himself forward, leaving a trail of cold blue light from his Six Eyes hidden behind the Interface-lens.
In an instant, he appeared right in front of Curtis. Knight Killer struck like lightning.
Slash!
A clean cut sliced across Curtis, from his left waist up to his right shoulder.
Rian smirked faintly. "Your turn. Now it's my move."
Without giving him a moment, Rian unleashed a whip-like kick: fast, powerful, and precise, striking Curtis' waist with brutal accuracy.
BRAAK!
Curtis' body was hurled violently, crashing against the wall with a deafening impact.
Dust and rubble buried him, as if Rian deliberately returned the previous blow in kind—but far more forceful.
Rian remained still, staring intently at Curtis, trapped beneath the wall debris.
His Six Eyes pierced through the dust and stone, observing Curtis' wounds heal rapidly—mutant G-Virus regeneration so efficient it was almost awe-inspiring.
"Raaarggh!!"
Curtis' roar echoed. Brutally, he grabbed the surrounding rubble and hurled it at Rian like cannonballs.
The stones flew wildly, yet Rian didn't flinch. He only gave a faint smile.
Just before the projectiles could reach him, they froze midair, suspended as if trapped in a void.
Infinity had been activated—Rian was manipulating the space between himself and all hazardous matter.
Slowly, Rian raised his left hand forward, forming a gun pose with his fingers.
"Blue."
In an instant, all the rubble Curtis had thrown reversed direction.
The convergence field distorted space, hurling them back with lethal speed, like superprojectile bullets.
One by one, the debris hurled by Rian was instantly smashed by Curtis' swinging claws, while the rest he dodged with extraordinary agility.
Curtis began circling Rian, who stood calmly in the center of the main hall. The Six Eyes behind Rian's interface-lens glimmered sharply.
Rian pulled three pieces of debris around him using Blue, letting them hover midair, suspended by Infinity.
Using Blue as well, Rian hurled the three fragments toward Curtis. However, Curtis dodged nimbly, weaving in a high-speed zig-zag pattern.
Curtis lunged at Rian.
His claw swung violently, ready to tear through.
But in a split second, Rian vanished, teleporting above Curtis, inverted, head pointing downward and feet toward the ceiling.
His left hand extended, fingers forming a gun shape. From the tips of his index and middle fingers, a red spark slowly spun… condensing into a tiny orb the size of a pearl.
"Red."
The orb shot forward and detonated with a brutal repulsive force, striking Curtis from above, driving him into the ground below.
The explosion rattled the air, shattering the surrounding soil and debris, sending clouds of dust and wide cracks across the floor.
Rian teleported again, appearing ten steps away, standing calmly, as if merely opening a new round of this battle.
With a horrifying growl, Curtis leapt high, landing on the steel framework supporting the open lift platform at the center of the underground garden.
There, his body hunched and writhed as if in pain. His roar echoed, shattering the silence, signaling that his mutation was far from complete… and only worsening.
Rian looked up casually, his dark glasses reflecting Curtis's silhouette above.
"According to info from the internet in my world," he murmured quietly, almost joking, "G mutants never know how to stop. Like having a yandere ex-girlfriend."
He remembered it clearly; this information wasn't just a theory.
G mutants didn't just gain immense strength, speed, and regeneration.
They also carried a curse: their mutations never stopped… and their obsession with a target never waned.
The data notes for a G-virus mutant like Curtis read: STR: 25 | VIT: 50 | AGI: 25 | INT: 1. Total: 100 attribute points.