Unholy Player - Chapter 509

Chapter 509: The Dark Side of Humanity
Rhys took the elevator down and arrived on the first floor, the doors opening with a clean chime into a guarded, open space.

“Commander.” The STF personnel stationed there saluted as soon as they saw him.

“Easy, easy. This is my off day.” Rhys acknowledged the salute without slowing down.

Hearing him, the soldiers didn’t lower their respect. They stepped closer and offered to help carry his load. He refused in the end, keeping the buckets in his own hands.

From the moment he left the headquarters building until he reached the laboratory building, he was greeted and welcomed by STF members along the way, each salute catching him as he passed.

Even some noticed him from afar and hurried over to greet him and ask if they could help, only for Rhys to repeat the same line, almost like a practiced defense. “Leave me alone. I’m enjoying my off day.”

He looked like he was snapping at them, brushing them off, or ignoring them, and yet not a single soldier seemed offended.

Many smiled and laughed at his attitude, because the attention and respect they showed him didn’t feel like it came only from military rules and discipline. It felt personal, like genuine care, the kind someone would show their father.

If Adyr looked to them like a role model and idol, someone who stirred their blood and fueled their sense of duty to their race, then Rhys was something else. He gave them calm warmth and steady reassurance, like a pillar that didn’t shake, no less authoritative and no less loved.

So he kept moving through the streets under their attention and care, giving each face a brief look as he passed, reading names and histories without needing to stop, then maintaining his pace without interruption, as if he refused to let himself get delayed by emotion.

Every new or old face he looked at felt familiar.

Some had trained under him inside the safe grounds. Some had shared dangerous missions with him. Some had shared meals with him in conflict zones, and some had their lives saved by him, bonds like that never needing words.

Every one of them was the family Rhys had never had in his childhood. A family he lacked because he grew up parentless in orphanages and because he had never been given the chance to have sons or daughters of his own through a normal family life either.

But today was his off day, like he said. He didn’t stop to exchange soft words or small talk, having decided to pass this day away from them. He kept walking with the buckets in his hands until his steady steps brought him in front of another building.

It was just another building at a glance, but the soldiers stationed in front and around it made the truth clear. It was no less important than the headquarters and the training building.

He passed through the tight security without being stopped, salutes and greetings following him in, and then he entered through thick double doors into a large, bright room that looked intensely sterile. A faint, clean chemical scent, sharp enough to sit at the back of the throat, permeated the air.

This time, the ones who greeted him weren’t soldiers in military uniforms. They wore white coats.

“Mr. Rhys.” A man and a woman approached with quick steps the moment they saw him, their ID cards bouncing lightly against their chests.

“I’m here for the routine check and to bring these.” Rhys lifted the buckets slightly, as if showing proof of why he was there.

“Sure.” They welcomed him with smiles and escorted him forward, the familiarity in their movements making it clear this wasn’t new.

They opened the elevator with the researcher card hanging around their necks, and then they led him down to the underground floors until the elevator stopped at the -5th floor, the air growing cooler with each level.

The doors opened into a room not much bigger than the entrance floor, but brighter, with sterile white lights everywhere and equipment arranged in neat rows like a workshop built for meticulous work.

Rhys stepped out and looked at the familiar laboratory he visited every day, his eyes scanning it out of habit.

The first thing that stood out was the many living animals behind glass compartments. Some were familiar to ordinary Earth citizens, like dogs and cats, while others were species that had become extinct after the nuclear war, like monkeys and even pandas.

There were even many species they had collected from the Beyond, completely alien to human eyes.

Some looked energetic inside their compartments, looking around and shouting, their movements restless against the limits of the glass.

Some slammed their heads and claws against the walls in anger, as if trying to break out, leaving faint marks behind.

Others looked exhausted, lying still; their breathing was only noticeable from the slight rise and fall of their bodies or from open eyes watching their surroundings with desperate focus.

It wasn’t difficult to guess what this building, or more specifically this floor, was used for. Genetic mutation research.

“This way, Mr. Rhys.” The two researchers guided him through corridors lined with exotic animals, the glass reflecting their white coats as they walked, until they came to a sealed door.

To open it, they moved to both sides, scanned their cards and eyes in sync, and the door opened with a pressurized hiss, like the room itself resisted contamination.

The 3 of them entered a small chamber, and another door, identical in design, waited in front of them, while the first door closed behind, trapping them inside with a soft, airtight thud.

The personnel didn’t open the next door immediately.

Rhys already knew the procedure, so he moved to the empty compartment built into the wall and placed the buckets inside without waiting for them to speak. The compartment closed, sealing the contents away with a muted click.

Then steam began to fill the sealed room, clinging to fabric and skin, the kind used to disinfect the body and clothes, briefly blurring the edges of the lights.

After a few seconds, the steam thinned out. The personnel moved to both sides of the second door, scanned their cards and faces, and then opened it, granting passage into the main laboratory.

The laboratory where humanity’s darkest secrets were kept.