“So that’s basically what happened.
I should be able to return to work normally tomorrow.” Lidi held a warm towel over his nose while speaking with Wency over the call, also informing her of the good news that he did not have the Sudadi virus.
“Good lord, your luck is unbelievably terrible.
You went from one brush with death straight into another.” Hearing her description, Lidi could only agree that his life was cursed with horrible luck.
“Well, at least you made it home safely.
Looks like I won’t need to shut down the entire company for quarantine.” Wency paused before continuing, “But are you sure you don’t want a few extra days of rest?” “No need.
I’m fine.
I’ll probably recover after tonight anyway.
Besides, aren’t there several project programs that are already urgent?” After chatting casually with Wency for a little while longer, Lidi ended the call.
The empty apartment fell silent once again.
He lay weakly across the sofa and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.
It was only noon.
And he had absolutely no idea what to do with himself.
He had no hobbies.
No interest in scrolling through online videos.
No motivation to exercise.
He simply existed like a rotting couch potato.
Every day followed the same routine: home and work, work and home.
Even on weekends, he never went out.
At most, he stayed home watching mediocre television dramas he barely cared about.
A strange loneliness slowly began taking root inside his mind.
He knew this lifestyle was unhealthy.
Abnormal, even.
Yet despite understanding that, he stubbornly refused to change anything.
“…Am I seriously going to die alone one day?
Forgotten by everyone… cared about by no one…” Just as Lidi was about to take another nap, he suddenly remembered the mysterious USB drive from yesterday.
Curious, he got up and decided to inspect its contents on his computer.
After several minutes of struggling with outdated hardware, he finally booted up the old machine he had owned for years— the very first computer he had bought using his first paycheck.
Back then, he used it to play games his childhood setup could never handle.
But as he grew older, his interest in gaming gradually disappeared.
Now it was little more than a work machine.
“Let’s scan for viruses first… huh?” The scan failed immediately.
Not only could the USB not be scanned— it was locked.
“…Interesting.
This isn’t one of the company’s security locks.
Now I really want to know what secrets you’re hiding.” He opened an old terminal console and rapidly typed line after line of command code.
“There’s even a hidden partition?
Damn… not bad.” A faint smirk appeared on his lips, carrying the mischievous excitement of a child discovering a hidden toy.
Before he could enter the deeper data structure, a warning message suddenly appeared on-screen: [Unauthorized access will trigger automatic data destruction.] “Oh, it comes with a self-destruct too?” Remaining calm, Lidi launched a custom-made virtual isolation environment called “Shadow Box,” safely sandboxing the USB before activating an old decryption tool he had written during his student years.
The tool simulated multithreaded hash interference patterns, allowing it to bypass trigger conditions while simultaneously imitating the correct “key” authentication process.
Soon, the warning interface vanished.
In its place, endless streams of flowing data rapidly filled the screen.
His cracking program was working.
“…This format looks military.” A frown formed on his face.
“Did some client from the company lose this?” Considering he worked on government military projects regularly, seeing systems of this level was not unusual for him.
Their company occasionally collaborated directly with military personnel as well, so the odds of this USB belonging to someone from that side were fairly high.
Now he was starting to worry.
What if this contained classified state secrets?
Could opening it count as espionage?
Then suddenly— the data stream disappeared.
A new message popped onto the screen.
[Crack successful.
Your firewall is garbage.] Lidi actually laughed.
“Young me was pretty arrogant…” Without thinking further, he opened the directory.
The USB held a total storage capacity of 2TB.
And its contents immediately shocked him.
“…Experiment recordings?” The folder contained hundreds of video files.
He randomly selected one.
On-screen, several medical beastmen wearing white lab coats were dissecting a beastman lying on an operating table.
“Experiment #401.
Subject deceased from organ failure.
Various organs display differing degrees of mutation, though functionality remains operational.” The speaker narrated the report emotionlessly while continuing the dissection.
A chill crawled down Lidi’s spine.
Was this Beastman experimentation?
Or some kind of film production?
He clicked another video.
This one appeared blurry, as though livestreamed from somewhere with unstable signal reception.
“Experiment #592.
Subject displays extreme aggression.
Intelligence levels continue declining rapidly.
Subject has completely lost speech capability.
Proceeding with cognitive response testing.” The video showed a bull beastman being shoved through a metal door into a large empty room.
The chamber was dimly lit, with only a single weak light illuminating the center while the surrounding darkness remained impossible to see through.
The bull beastman panicked and immediately ran toward the light, as though the tiny illumination was the only thing protecting him.
Only then did his appearance become visible.
He was completely naked.
His dark muscles looked horrifyingly thin and wasted, the kind of emaciation caused by prolonged starvation.
The bull beastman appeared terrified of whatever lurked in the darkness around him.
He kept turning nervously in every direction.
The poor video quality made his words difficult to hear clearly.
“…A-Ze… zZZt… it’s… ZZ… me… calm dow—AAAAAHHHHH!!” Suddenly— a black shadow burst out from the darkness and dragged the bull beastman away instantly.
Straight into the dark.
Then came horrifying screams.
Tearing sounds.
“Experiment #592.
Subject failed to recognize former companion.
Aggression response remains active.” Lidi immediately stopped the video.
He did not dare continue watching.
And he definitely did not dare open the remaining hundreds of files.
Shaken, he began browsing through other folders instead.
Most of the documents were experimental data far beyond his understanding, but even from the filenames alone, one thing was obvious: Virus development research.
“SPR04 transmission rate… mortality rate… conversion rate… biochemical weapon…” Finally, he opened the last folder.
Inside were multiple operational reports.
Stamped across every document was a symbol every beastman in the world recognized instantly— the emblem of the Government Alliance.
A balancing scale.
“Deployment completed in the Riermo River region.
Initial infection count has exceeded four digits… Waterborne spread proving inefficient.
Transitioning to airborne transmission…” As Lidi continued reading, his body unconsciously began trembling.
Even the hand gripping the mouse tightened so hard it nearly cracked the plastic.
“Airborne transmission proving highly effective… Infection count has surpassed one million… Media designation established as… Sudadi.” After reading the final line, he finally understood what all these files truly represented.
This was evidence.
Proof of monstrous crimes committed by the state itself.
If any single piece of this became public— it could shake the entire world.
“So the virus… SPR04… Sudadi…” His voice trembled slightly.
“…The Government Alliance created it?” The Government Alliance was supposedly a world government formed jointly by various nations to distribute resources and prevent wars.
But any beastman with half a brain knew the truth.
It was merely a tool used by the major powers to control weaker nations.
“This definitely wasn’t something I accidentally picked up at the company… The information inside is way beyond clearance level for ordinary employees.
So how the hell did this end up on me?” Lidi desperately retraced the events of the past few days.
Trying to remember exactly when he might have unknowingly obtained the USB.
Then— he remembered.
After the class reunion two nights ago, a strange beastman had suddenly collided into him while he was heading toward his car.
“…It was him.” At the time, Lidi had not realized it.
But now he was certain.
That strange beastman had slipped the USB into his pocket.
Lidi’s first instinct was simple: Return it.
Remove himself from this entire mess.
Unfortunately, he never saw the man’s face clearly, let alone knew his name.
Finding him again would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.
Next, he unplugged the USB and considered simply throwing it away.
Pretending none of this had ever happened.
“…A lot of people will die because of this.” He stared silently at the drive in his hand.
“…But what does that have to do with me?” For the first time in his life, Lidi found himself trapped in genuine indecision.
The object in his hand could affect millions of lives.
But getting involved also meant gambling with his own.
“Even if I expose this… do I even have proof?
Maybe some sick bastard fabricated all of this as a prank…” Even while trying to deceive himself, he still could not let go of the USB.
His hands had already started shaking.
“…Damn it!
Aren’t you always wishing for the world to end already?!
So why are you chickening out now that you actually have the chance?!” He did not know how much time passed.
Eventually, he collapsed weakly into the chair, the USB still tightly clenched in his hand.
He truly did not know what he should do anymore.
Nothing in his entire life had prepared him for something like this.
Who could he ask?
Who could he trust?
Then suddenly— a familiar crow face appeared in his mind.
Wency.
“…No.” He immediately rejected the thought.
“She’s already helped me enough.
This could get her killed.” The glow of the computer screen dimmed gradually.
The room fell silent once again.
Lidi remained sitting there motionlessly, his arms hanging stiffly beside him like an empty shell.
He knew he would not throw the USB away.
And he also knew he could no longer pretend none of this existed.
But beyond that— he had no idea what else he could possibly do.
All he could manage was a quiet whisper.
“…I’ll leave it for today.
Tomorrow… I’ll think about it tomorrow.” After saying that, he stored the USB away.
And continued living the same dull, repetitive life as always.
…
“So this is the report regarding Subject H-S146?” Inside a room marked with the Government Alliance scale insignia, a middle-aged monkey beastman dressed in military uniform questioned the white-coated chameleon researcher standing before him.
“Yes.
The sample originated from Huashan Third Civil Medical Center.
The data has undergone two rounds of cross-verification with no detected discrepancies.” The chameleon researcher replied while his independently moving eyes shifted restlessly, seemingly avoiding direct eye contact with the monkey officer.
“After exposure to SPR04, the cellular permeability rate was three times higher than normal, while physiological rejection responses were almost nonexistent…” He paused briefly before continuing.
“More importantly, after simulated contact with the H Prototype, the sample not only avoided dissolution reaction—it displayed mild coexistence behavior.” “…Coexistence?” The chameleon immediately understood the officer’s confusion.
“Yes.
Temporary, but stable.
This is currently the only naturally occurring sample known to exhibit no rejection response toward H Prototype activity.” The monkey officer remained silent for a moment before asking: “Will this affect the experiment’s results?” The chameleon’s lips curled upward into a disturbingly greedy smile.
“No.” “But his cells are even more… ‘compatible’ than we originally imagined.” He licked his lips slightly.
“So I hope your people can ‘bring’ him here for further research.” The monkey officer clearly disliked the chameleon’s tone of speech.
Unfortunately, the reptilian scientist was the lead director of the entire experimental project.
He had little choice but to agree.
“You’ll get your subject.” “Anything else to report?
If not, you may leave.” The chameleon showed no displeasure toward the dismissal.
Instead, he spoke with an almost intoxicated grin: “Then I shall await your good news… Lord Nait.”