Main Character’s POV:

“Grr! Grr!”

Rodent was continuously growling like a beast as I poked his thick skin for more samples. Even though I had the bastard gaged and bound properly. The raw strength he exuded was comparable to a car with over a hundred horsepower. To calm him down, I injected a special sedative into his bloodstream. He passed out within a minute.

“Peace, finally.” Now that the noise in the lab had been drastically curbed, I brought the sample over to an apparatus that striped certain proteins from the liquefied variant and carried it into a centrifuge where it separated the unwanted substances.

This process took an hour to finish. After it was done, I ran a few more experiments that gave me a preliminary product of my previous results in the form of ashy vapours. This type of vapour was stored within a transparent container that was 4 millimetres thick and had a diameter of 3 inches.

The gaseous substance within the container was a sort of microbic-repellent or an anti-solver for the Smokepire plague. It was yet to reach the finished product that I desired which was a curative that could turn Unclaimed Souls back into regular humans.

So far I’ve created several variations of this dud concoction. To see the slight effects that they all had, I carefully tested them on Rodent. But I felt that the results were being skewed due to the main fact that I’ve already exposed Rodent to a variety of chemicals and probing. I needed a fresh sample to test my medicine on; a Smokepire that hasn’t been tainted yet.

“Dammit!” Had I known beforehand about this degenerative as well as the progressive development in the cellular makeup when it comes to the adoption of self-gained immunity then I wouldn’t have impulsively obliterated the Smokepire horde that I came across at that clinic. I should have captured at least one of them, but I was too caught up in my own anger to give a shit about that.

“Now I will have to put my laboratory research on pause until I acquire a new specimen.” This thought drove me to dismiss myself from the lab.

Coming upstairs, I ran into Razi heading outside in a skimpy dress. Her breasts were very revealing, moreover, the inches of her skirt were so short that I could see a few strands of her pubic hair.

I called out to her and said, “Where do you think you are going dressed like that?”

She turned towards me with a bit of attitude and answered, “I’m going to my friend’s party over at Bark Point. You don’t expect to stick around here all the time, do you? Besides, you’ve been cooped up in the basement for so long that I got bored being by myself. A part of me almost forgot that I had a social life outside of this shit show. So I’m going out to mingle.”

“You’re going out looking like an attention whore?” I drew her attention to the fact that she was dressed rather poorly.

She rolled her eyes at me and remarked, “I can dress however the hell I want. You’re not my dad. And aren’t you the person who killed him, so who are you to even address what I’m wearing?”

“Your damn right about that. I am not your father and I don’t want to be. However, do keep in mind that the streets aren’t safe at night, especially with those Smokepires roaming about.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Is that all you have to say?” This brat looked at me as if I was an eyesore. That rude glance alone was enough incentive for me to kill her, but I tried my best to restrict my murderous intent from leaking. Around that time I was starting to think more logically.

“Ok, you can do whatever you want. Just don’t go running your mouth to your friends about me, otherwise, the Enslavement Rubik’s Cube in your chest will immediately silence you. Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

“Yeah, yeah I get it. I won’t ramble about you, nor about what happened here.” She agreed to my terms then added, “I might spend the night out, so don’t start buzzing when you don’t see me back here after midnight.”

What she said was very insulting to my character. “Who the hell do you think I am, a control freak?”

“Yes, you are.” She answered without a moment pause. “So are we good?”

“Yeah, piss off out of my sight.” I didn’t waste any more breath on this feisty brat. After she stepped outside the house, I watched as she got into her car and drove away. The mansion’s gateway was already repaired by the workers. It had an automatic function that closed and opened via motion sensors.

Looking up at the nightly lit sky, I remembered a former friend of mine while I uttered softly, “Big Red, your daughter is really a headache to deal with. Now I understand why you departed this life so early.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Finished shaking my head, I took out a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, placed a cig in my mouth and lit that sucker up.

‘Inhale… exhale…’

Nothing was more delicious to me than sucking on a warm stick of cancer. The vapours quickly entered my lungs and brain and gave me a subliminal high that I enjoyed for the time it lasted. Unlike before when I was a regular human, I used to get high a lot faster. But now that I’ve become accustomed to the power of the Rubik’s System, it was more difficult to experience that high like I used to. I found this myopic challenge to be very annoying at times but I couldn’t complain about the powers that I now wield.

I was the 1% among the 99% batch of humanity who had extraordinary abilities that could bring a lot of influential figures to their knees. Albeit, I was not strong enough to make the world kneel before me. First I needed to dominate Clown City to show the rest of the world my status.

“This place is very quiet without that brat around.” My mind ran on Razi while I was touring the estate with my eyes. For the short amount of time that we’ve spent together, she had really grown on me. She was like a replacement for my poodle, Baxter. He used to lick my feet whenever I came through the front door. I missed that little fur ball.

“Sharp Stepper… that shit stain will pay for what he did.” I stopped lingering by the front door and became active in my role to capture another specimen for my experiment.

“According to the System, those Smokepires are supposed to be attracted to the original Rubik’s Cube, so where the hell are they? I haven’t seen one since that clinic incident the other day. Could they be building another nest somewhere?”

This thought drove me to reach for my phone and check the internet for the latest news or update on Clown City’s monster problem. I was shocked to see that the news about the horde at the clinic wasn’t publicly published.

“That detective lady saw it all, so how is it not published? Maybe they withhold this information purposefully to prevent widespread panic among the affected communities.” This was all I could think of.

Continuing to browse the various social media platforms, by chance, I came across an individual post that shared a low-res video of a Smokepire snatching away a teenager in the middle of the night. In the comments section, many people were calling it a hoax or scam done to get views, but I knew better. After all, I’ve been dissecting one of them in my lab for a couple of days now.

“Where was this sighting?” I later learnt that the video was taken at Bark Point. This was the district where Razi had gone off to party.

Bark Point was a community within the Valley that was closer to the outskirts. Although it was still a part of the affluent district, it was considered to be the poorest in the region.

“Looks like I’m going to have to crash another party.” I put my phone into my pocket then set out right away to Bark Point. I didn’t take any mechanical transport because it was safer and faster for me to travel on foot.

I vanished into the darker depths of the night which concealed my smoking appearance. By straying from the main road to take a shortcut through the woods and multiple backyards, I quickly arrived at my destination.

Unlike the inner part of the Valley where most reserved rich snobs resided, Bark Point was bustling with activity. Several house parties were taking place simultaneously. This made it difficult for me to find the correct house where Razi was at. I could have called her phone to find out where she was precisely but my pride wouldn’t allow it.

I relegated the thought of Razi to the back of my mind and focus solely on locating the trail of the Smokepire.