This wasn't Ritsu's first time dealing with a corpse. After skillfully loading Leo's body into the car, he returned to the safe house to clean up the scene.
Once all the bloodstains had been taken care of, he didn't forget to briefly treat the wound on his neck as well.
The bite had been surprisingly deep, and the blood had soaked through the upper half of his clothes. Ritsu covered the horrifying wound with gauze, then checked the surveillance monitor near the staircase entrance to confirm no one was passing by before cautiously leaving the safe house.
He didn't start the car immediately. Instead, he took out his phone and called Vermouth. That person had said that after completing the mission, he only needed to report the results to her.
Given the time difference, it should've been close to noon in America.
She picked up almost instantly, as though she had been waiting for his call the entire time. Vermouth's seductive voice drifted from the other end of the line, lazy and relaxed.
"Macallan, I've been waiting for your call."
"What an honor." Ritsu didn't bother lingering on the topic and went straight to the point.
"The mission's complete. I killed Leo."
"Killed him? You didn't interrogate him?"
"I did."
After briefly explaining their fight, he continued,
"The mysterious organization is called Zoo. I also obtained reliable information, the drug he injected can temporarily enhance physical abilities, but the side effects are severe. The body falls into a sluggish state afterward."
"You know that's not what I want to hear most."
"I'll continue investigating Kuroba's case. Right now, I still can't confirm whether he's alive or not."
The other end of the line fell silent for quite some time.
Ritsu eventually added, "I'll do everything I can to find out the truth."
Vermouth let out a soft laugh. Walking toward the floor-to-ceiling window while gazing at the New York skyline, she leisurely replied:
"Alright. I believe you can uncover the truth for me, Macallan."
"Mm. I still need to deliver Leo's body back to the laboratory for disposal. I'm hanging up."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Listening to the disconnected tone, Vermouth raised an eyebrow slightly. She hadn't expected herself to be the one getting hung up on.
That child really wasn't cute at all. Did he think she held less status than Gin?
'He actually hung up on me… I should think of a way to mess with him later.'
...
After ending the call, Ritsu drove Leo's corpse to Meisen Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Upon arriving, he showed no disgust as he hoisted the lifeless body onto his back and headed toward Laboratory No. 3.
Laboratory No. 3 specialized in corpse recovery. When he set Leo's body down, he specifically reminded them not to transfer the corpse to Laboratory No. 1.
Sometimes, bodies recovered by the Organization were sent to Laboratory No. 1 for human experimentation. Although they mainly conducted experiments on living subjects, corpses were useful to them as well.
After noticing the blood-soaked gauze around Ritsu's neck, the head researcher of Laboratory No. 3 politely asked, "Macallan-san, doesn't your wound need treatment?"
"No."
Ritsu stood to the side, watching until they stored Leo's body inside the morgue refrigeration chamber. Only then did he turn and head toward Laboratory No. 5.
At this hour, Shiho was most likely still conducting experiments.
After going through the tedious security procedures, Ritsu entered the lab and immediately saw Shiho, dressed in a white lab coat, gently stroking Kurotan in her arms.
The black cat had gotten so fat it practically resembled a little pig. Honestly, every time he saw it, it seemed to have grown another size larger.
"Kurotan, your unreliable owner's here."
"Meow~~"
Like an adorably clumsy puppy, Kurotan wagged its long cat tail while struggling out of her arms. As it ran toward Ritsu, the fat on its body jiggled with every step, making it look rather comical.
"Kurotan, you've gotten fatter again after not seeing me for so long."
"Meow!"
Ritsu dotingly pulled out a goat milk pudding from inside his coat as though performing a magic trick.
He said you've gotten fatter, yet immediately fed it snacks afterward.
What a devil.
Shiho stood up and naturally retrieved a bottle of Calpis from the small freezer in the lab. Whenever she bought coffee from the research institute's vending machine, she would occasionally buy a bottle too.
She just never knew when the person who liked this drink would finally come see her.
"Here."
"Thanks."
His gaze shifted toward her neck wound, causing Shiho's brows to furrow and her expression to turn colder.
"How did your neck end up like that? You got hurt?"
Since he had already intended to ask her for treatment, Ritsu held Kurotan in his arms and calmly stood up.
"I got a small wound during a mission. Help me treat it. I've got something else I need to ask you afterward."
Shiho reached out and tore off the so-called small wound dressing. The horrifying bite marks came into view immediately.
A chunk of flesh had nearly been torn off entirely, and blood was still seeping from the wound. No matter how she looked at it, this was definitely not a small wound.
"If I had hemophobia, I'd probably faint on the spot right now."
"Unfortunately, you don't."
After carefully disinfecting the wound with the first aid kit, she applied medicine onto fresh gauze and pressed it against his neck.
To keep the gauze from slipping off, she thoughtfully wrapped sterile bandages around his neck as well.
Anyone seeing him now would probably think he was trying to imitate a mummy.
"What is it you wanted to ask me?"
Ritsu pulled out two evidence bags from his pocket.
One contained a cotton swab with traces of the Berserk drug, while the other held a blood sample taken after Leo injected the drug.
"This is a private request. The substance on the cotton swab is a new type of drug. I want you to investigate its composition."
"As for this," he continued while taking out another blood sample from his other pocket, "It's blood taken after the injection of the new drug. I also want you to compare it against ordinary human blood. This one is mine, you can use it as a control sample."
After taking the three items, Shiho raised an eyebrow. "A private request? I don't think so. Did you come into contact with that person?"
Ritsu froze briefly before helplessly shrugging. "If only Vodka were half as smart as you. I really hate dealing with smart people. Getting exposed instantly takes all the fun out of it."
Naturally, this earned him a glare. Leaning both hands against the laboratory table, Ritsu asked with interest, "So, what stage has your experiment reached now? Have you moved into clinical trials yet?"
"Not even close."
Shiho walked over to the computer desk, picked up a research document, and handed it directly to Ritsu.
"Here. Everything important is written in there. You don't need me to translate it for you, do you?"
"If you want to lecture me in this field, wait another ten years."
"Hmph."
Flipping through the APTX4869 research documents, the current mouse experiment results didn't look particularly promising.
Seems like further modifications were still necessary.
According to the data from the first five test groups, only one mouse had survived and even then, there were no physical changes or abnormal indicators whatsoever.
"Sherry, this is my phone number. If you discover anything, give me a call."
"Mm. Planning to leave already?"
"Yeah. I'm going back to get some proper rest. I've got another mission tomorrow."
"You're really becoming more and more like that annoying guy."
"Heh. You mean the workaholic part?"
"What do you think?"
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