Chapter 84: Failed Experiment
Aiden walked out to see Dexter engrossed in a conversation with Lily. The little girl was telling him a story, and he was listening as if his life depended on it.
Dexter wasn’t taking any chances to offend Lily and, in turn, Aiden. Just then, Lily spotted Aiden and ran over to him.
"Big brother!" She exclaimed, jumping into his arms.
"Woah, easy there," Aiden chuckled. "How do you have so much energy?"
"Hehe, Lily ate gummies, that’s why!"
Aiden nodded, patting her head while his gaze shifted to Dexter. The latter was peeking into the workshop. As for why he was doing it, well, even if he was scared of Aiden, he still wanted to see what happened to James.
Given how angry Aiden was, Dexter was expecting to hear painful cries and whatnot. But there was nothing.
"Want to see what’s inside?" Aiden asked, without looking at him.
"N-Not at all, sir!" Dexter stammered. "I was hoping to learn more about those injectors and if they had any side effects."
"You think we can get the results so soon? Tests like these take days, if not weeks, to discover any issues. Thankfully, James offered to be the test subject so you can rest easy."
Did he have a choice in the matter...?
Dexter thought, but didn’t dare to voice them out loud. Either way, no one would believe James, even if he said Aiden forced him to do it.
First, no one wanted to get on his bad side, and second, why would they insert their nose into a situation that didn’t involve them?
If it hadn’t been James, it would have been someone from the lower floors. After all, they had the least combat proficiency and could be ’sacrificed’.
If James hadn’t been one of the first tenants, he would never have enjoyed the good life on the top floor as he had been till then.
Perhaps it was a warning for Dexter and everyone else. If Aiden could give them a good life, he could make their lives miserable just as easily.
"Sir, since there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave!" Dexter said, wanting to get away while Aiden was in a good mood.
"Who said there’s nothing for you to do? Your attributes increased, it would be a shame if we didn’t test it out."
***
A few minutes later...
"What am I doing back here?" Dexter mumbled.
Although he knew he was back at the basement level, it looked nothing like it did just a couple of days ago. The broken cars had been removed, and instead of humans, strange monsters were roaming the place.
Dexter spotted some hobgoblins he had fought before. The wounds the enforcers had inflicted on them were visible. Dexter even saw some bullet wounds, yet it seemed the creatures didn’t register any pain from the wounds.
It wasn’t just the hobgoblins, but a bunch of zombie-like humans were also hauling soil from outside. The hobgoblins were hammering the concrete floor to make space before dumping the soil in neat rows.
The whole basement had been divided into long rectangular plots, each one separated by narrow paths just wide enough to walk through.
"Sir, are you making a farm?" Dexter asked, awkwardly holding his bow and arrow. "Um... I don’t want to sound like a smarty pants, but... don’t you need sunlight for it?"
"Don’t pay attention to it," Aiden replied, looking at the boy. "Just pick an opponent."
[Host, Amaela, assigned them to make farmland.]
I know. Well, since there aren’t any corpses left to turn, there wasn’t anything left for her to do either way.
Meanwhile, Dexter heard Aiden’s words and nodded before turning around. He already knew who he was going to pick, he just didn’t know where the guy was.
"Found you..." he mumbled, nocking an arrow on the bow.
At the other end of the basement, a ghoul was hauling two sacks of soil at once. But even with the sacks on its back, it couldn’t hide the two wounds on its shoulder.
Dexter drew a deep breath, as he had practiced, and let go of the bowstring. The arrow shot through the air, halfway through, something happened, and it burst into flames. It was the ability of Dexter’s evo-gear.
The ghouls saw the light and instinctively backed away. Just as the arrow was about to hit, the hobgoblin ghoul threw a sack of soil at the arrow.
The sack exploded, flinging the soil everywhere. Taking advantage of the distraction, Dexter shot two more arrows before hiding behind a pillar.
The arrows flew across the basement, but the hobgoblin threw the other sack at one arrow, just like before.
"Ha! That’s why I shot two arrows—what the fuck!?"
Dexter had predicted the outcome. That’s why he shot two arrows with some delay. The plan was simple. The first arrow would get rid of the remaining sack, while the second arrow would hit the hobgoblin.
The second arrow did hit the ghoul, but not in a way Dexter had imagined. Instead of letting the arrow penetrate through its head, the ghoul just raised its forearm to block the arrow.
The flaming tip punched straight through the forearm and flickered for a moment before dying out. Slowly, it raised its eyeless face. It sniffed the air before turning towards Dexter.
It wasn’t just that one ghoul. Every ghoul that had been mindlessly working suddenly turned towards Dexter’s hiding place.
"Um... Sir, what’s going on here?"
"If someone shot me in everyone’s presence, everyone would look at the guy, won’t they?" Aiden replied nonchalantly. "It’s the same with them. You shot one of them, so all of them view you as their enemy."
Meanwhile, the ghoul seemingly lost interest in Dexter. It gripped the shaft with its other hand, seemed to consider something for a moment, and then left it where it was.
Seconds later, all the ghouls returned to their assigned task as if saying they couldn’t be bothered to deal with a weakling.
Dexter saw it and didn’t know whether he should be happy or angry. Happy because the ghouls didn’t attack him and angry because they clearly didn’t see him as a threat.
"Seems like you’ll need a dozen injectors before they take you seriously..." Aiden sighed, waving Dexter to leave.