"I'm so glad you came to my graduation!" Zoey said with a radiant smile, her beautiful eyes sparkling.
"As long as you ask, I'll definitely be here." Eddie chuckled, looking at the twenty-year-old Zoey—maybe not a prodigy, but close enough. Not bad at all.
"This is Mia, a medical-company staffer I ran into back in Terragrigia." Eddie introduced them.
"Hi, Zoey, nice to meet you!" Mia smiled, extending her hand; somehow she sensed they might become great sisters.
"Hi, Mia, nice to meet you too." Zoey felt the same odd certainty—best friends, BFFs?
"When does the speech start?" Eddie lit a cigarette, took a drag, looking perfectly relaxed.
Zoey even wrinkled her cute nose—the herbal aroma smelled wonderful, nothing like normal cigarettes. "One hour left; I'm all set."
"Then let's grab a coffee in the cafeteria and wait?" Eddie suggested.
"Fine by me." Mia was only here to observe, hoping for some bright ideas.
The three reached the cafeteria; Eddie caught a strange odor and nodded toward Lisa.
Lisa's eyes flashed—one look was all she needed to know her husband's intent.
She quietly stepped back and melted into thin air, vanishing without a trace.
Invisible, Lisa slipped into the kitchen and found it occupied—masked gunmen everywhere.
They reeked of Ji-awa—humans injected with the C-Virus who hadn't mutated yet.
No one could produce a true enhanced C-Virus; Carla had long since returned to Goddess Island to raise her child, leaving C-Virus research indefinitely shelved.
Lisa's expression stayed calm as she glided past the Ji-awa toward the kitchen core; the food had been laced with C-Virus and half of it already eaten.
Hard to imagine how many at this medical university would turn into monsters after eating those tainted meals.
Seeing this, Lisa remained unruffled—after thirty-plus years of viral experiments, if Eddie hadn't healed her she'd still be a walking corpse, never human again.
Suffering? Lisa didn't think it a big deal, nor did she pity anyone.
When she'd suffered, no one sympathized or helped; now her indifference felt perfectly normal.
After circling undetected, Lisa had her intel: someone was poisoning the place—purpose unknown—but soon this would be zombie hell.
Eddie didn't order; instead he picked up a silver spoon. "Eastern medicine has a saying—'silver needle tests poison'—and it works. If a virus is present, silver can roughly reveal it."
"How?" Zoey asked, intrigued, forgetting her drink.
"Simple—dip the spoon. If it changes color, something's wrong." Eddie plunged the spoon into his herbal dessert of grass jelly and tortoise-plastron cubes.
The instant it touched the tainted dessert the spoon turned pitch-black.
Mia and Zoey gasped—poison?
Even Eddie blinked. Poisoned? "Looks like it."
"Could it be the tortoise-plastron?" Zoey frowned; her earnest look gave her plain charm.
"Impossible—tortoise-plastron won't blacken silver. Something else was added; maybe poppy shells?" Mia, still unsuspecting of deliberate poisoning, mused.
"Some toxin—best not drink. This cafeteria's off; smell the blood?" Eddie glanced toward the kitchen—that's where it came from.
Chapter 620: Wronged Zoey
"Maybe they're butchering pigs." Zoey offered, face odd; she couldn't guess what was coming.
"No—it's human blood. Someone's hurt," Mia said, brows knit as she stared toward the kitchen, expression darkening.
"Let's go—bad vibe here." Eddie stood up.
As they prepared to leave, a student sipping fruit tea suddenly vomited, coughing blood—some sudden illness.
Mia and Zoey moved to help, but Eddie yanked them back. "No—get out. Looks like a virus infection."
"What?" Mia exclaimed.
"A virus—here?" Zoey couldn't believe it.
"Move—no chatter. This isn't a joke." Eddie pulled the women along; he wouldn't linger in danger.
His harsh tone stung; Zoey felt wronged—she only wanted to help a classmate. How could people be so cold?
Mia's eyes flickered; she had tactical training and knew bioweapons existed. She had no quarrel with Eddie's instant call to retreat.
Stay safe first, keep out of it—only then can you afford to help others.
Dead men help no one.
Help someone conceive for fun? Ahem—definitely a bastard!
The three hurried out; in the garden path ahead students lay unconscious after violent coughing.
Some had cocooned into humanoid monsters; others burned.
Moments ago a vibrant campus, now a living hell—screams and corpses everywhere.
"What's happening?" Zoey stood stunned—she never imagined a bioterror attack.
"Someone spread the virus; that cafeteria kitchen was one source." Eddie's face was grave.
Not fear for himself—worry for the world. These people had no bottom line.
Reckless virus release would wreck the planet's ecology.
Eddie didn't want to live in such a world—one day they'd trigger nuclear war and Earth would be uninhabitable.
Nuclear war—fun? A wasteland teeming with monsters—sounds exciting?
First survive a century-long ice age—minus forty every day, thick dust-choked air.
Eddie wouldn't drag wife and daughter through that. Best to leave before the lunatics maxed the damage.
Aerospace industry development doesn't profit; even if it did, expenses outweigh gains.
No one would oppose it—if something good came out of it, they'd band together demanding a share.
Eddie knew the regional Senators would think that way—he'd grab the tech and run, giving them no chance.
"How did you know?" Zoey, a mere college girl, hadn't considered any of this.
"The kitchen smelled of blood, and the staff looked clueless, unskilled—something was off." Mia answered first.