The metal stairs of the elevator shaft maintenance access were cold and narrow, each step echoing dully in the confined space. The air hung thick with the smell of machine oil and metal dust. Emergency lights cast stark white pools, throwing distorted shadows of cables and massive gears onto the walls like slumbering steel beasts.
The team climbed the cramped service platforms towards the 48th floor. Alan walked in the middle, his senses tethered like ghostly tendrils to the cold, ravenous "pollution source" emanating from the northeast corner above. The closer they got, the stronger and more tangible the sensation became. It was no longer just a hidden pulse; it was a palpable *pull*, like a miniature black hole, relentlessly devouring and converting the surrounding energy—whether the building's abundant electrical Anima or the ambient wisps of natural energy—into pure "Decay" and "Entropy"!
"Pollution source intensity rising… Distance approx twenty meters, directly above." Alan's voice came through the comms, strained. "It's… accelerating? Feels like the surrounding energy field is being pulled… unstable."
"Accelerating?" Lena's tone was icy. "Experimenting? Or… sensed us? Simon, target status?"
"Target personal terminal activity spiking! High-bandwidth data transfer! Location locked: 48th floor NE quadrant, coordinates match your source!" Simon's voice held tension. "Building security shows no alerts, but isolated network traffic in target zone is surging! He might be operating core equipment, or… destroying data!"
"Increase pace!" Lena ordered.
They reached the maintenance platform outside the 48th floor. A heavy fire door with a viewing window barred their way. Through the fogged heat-resistant glass, a clean, well-lit corridor typical of modern labs was visible. But it was deserted, unnervingly quiet.
"Target zone: Northeast 'Advanced Biomaterials Research Center'. Access control ten meters past this door." Lena pressed against the door, scanning through the window. "Simon, seize door access and corridor surveillance."
"On it… Corridor feeds looped, static playback active. Target access control… Triple bio-verification: Iris, palm print, dynamic keycard. Isolated network, physical air gap, strong encryption… Tricky." Simon's voice was focused. "Cracking dynamic key algorithm… Need time. Lena, get close to the terminal. Physically interface my bypass module to circumvent part of the physical firewall."
"Copy. Fenrir, watch shaft above and below. Alan, maintain energy source lock." Lena drew a matchbox-sized, silver-grey device connected to a thin cable from her belt—a physical interface bypass unit.
The fire door slid open a crack with a faint hiss as Lena used a specialized electromagnetic keycard (remotely authorized by Simon). A wave of stronger disinfectant mixed with an indescribable, ozone-like metallic sweetness washed over them. The smell turned Alan's stomach; his Harmonizer instinct rebelled violently, and the suppressor cuff began warming again.
The corridor was indeed empty, illuminated by uniform white LED strips. Air handlers hummed steadily. Everything was pristine, orderly, befitting a top-tier biotech firm. Yet, the cold, grasping pull Alan sensed washed down the corridor from its depths, its origin unmistakably behind the heavy alloy door ahead.
Lena ghosted into the corridor, swiftly approaching the door marked "Advanced Biomaterials Research Center - Authorized Personnel Only". Beside it stood a terminal console glowing with standby blue light, integrating an iris scanner, palm reader, and keycard slot. She swiftly plugged the bypass module into a concealed maintenance port at the terminal's base.
"Interface linked! Bypassing physical firewall… Dynamic key algorithm cracked… 70%...85%...99%... Success! Injecting simulated iris and palm print database… 3… 2… 1… Virtual verification passed!" Simon's voice was tight with urgency. "Green light! Access granted!"
A series of sharp mechanical clicks echoed from within the alloy door. It slid silently open!
A wave of stench, ten times stronger than the corridor's, assaulted them! Still underpinned by disinfectant, the cloying ozone-metal scent was overpowering, now mixed with the plastic tang of petri dishes and an underlying, deeply unsettling note of something… rotting, desperately masked!
The sight beyond the door was a jarring, horrifying contrast to the sterile corridor.
This wasn't a cutting-edge bio-lab. It was a vast space converted into a hybrid alchemical forge and high-tech server farm!
Dominating the center were several massive cylindrical vats of reinforced glass and unknown alloys. They didn't hold cell cultures. They churned with viscous, murky green fluid! Suspended within were nightmarish sights: grotesque flesh-masses stitched from multiple organ types; huge, slowly pulsing "hearts" webbed with black veins; even partial, grey-skinned humanoid forms, riddled with tubes! Pipes and blinking instruments fed energy or nutrients into the vats. But Alan could clearly perceive these vats themselves were miniature "Withering" nodes, voraciously draining the Life Anima from their "subjects," channeling it via pipes towards the depths of the northeast corner!
And in the northeast corner, the core of Alan's sensed pollution, the sight was even more chilling.
No vats stood there. Instead, loomed a larger, more complex apparatus! Its main structure was a towering, three-story ring of dark metal and glowing crystal, centered around a swirling vortex of ominous crimson energy! Thick pipes carrying liquid energy (a sickening blend of ink-green and blood-red) snaked from the surrounding vats, even from the ceiling and floor, feeding into this ring! The device's surface was a fusion of intricate alchemical runes and coldly glowing electronic components! Beneath it sat a massive, furnace-like base radiating intense heat and emitting a low, beast-like thrum! This was the source of the cold *pull*—a grotesque marriage of alchemy and modern tech: an "Entropy Catalyzer"! It was efficiently converting the harvested Life Anima and other energies into raw "Decay" and "Entropy"!
Around the device hovered spherical surveillance drones and banks of high-speed quantum computers. Their screens cascaded with dizzying data streams and complex molecular models.
Despite the bright lights, the space thrummed with an oppressive silence and madness. No human operators. Only the cold machinery of conversion.
"Bloody hell…" Fenrir growled low as he entered, taking in the scene, disgust and lethal intent warring in his amber eyes. "What unholy pit is this? Worse than the sewer alchemist's den!"
Lena's gaze was sharp as ice shards, rapidly scanning. "Target not in main operational area. Likely in control room or safe room. Simon, attempt internal network access. Locate 'Withering Scholar,' exfiltrate all accessible data!"
"Attempting… Internal network encryption extreme! Physical access point… found! Interfacing…" Simon's voice vibrated with tense excitement. "Accessing encrypted research directories! Keyword hits: 'Life Anima Directed Stripping Matrix Optimization', 'Entropy Conversion Efficiency Model 7.3', 'Natural Anima Node Resonance Catalyst (Codename: Heartmoss)', 'Prime Glyph: Loom of Life - Degraded Application Theory'… Christ, they're not just doing it, they're systematizing it! Core database… located! Tagged 'Mimir's Forge - Final Blueprint'! But… requires bio-key! Dual-factor: Iris + palm print + dynamic keycard, plus an independent Anima frequency lock! Only 'The Withering Scholar' himself can open it!"
At that moment, Alan gasped, clapping a hand to his chest, face draining of color! A wave of cold, grasping pull, magnitudes stronger than before, seized him like an invisible fist! Its source wasn't the massive Catalyzer, but from deeper within the lab, behind a door marked "Chief Research Officer"!
The sensation… horribly familiar! Cold, greedy, radiating annihilating intent! Same signature as Greenhaven's core, but more refined, more concentrated, more… aggressive! Like a shadow predator opening hungry eyes, instantly locking onto Alan's presence and his unique "Harmonizing" Anima!
"Ugh!" Alan grunted, staggering back a step. The suppressor cuff blazed hot, emitting a shrill alarm whine! His Harmonizer ability churned violently within him, like ice thrown into boiling water, fiercely resisting this targeted assault! "Office! Behind the door! Stronger… Withering source! It's… targeting me!" He pointed weakly at the sealed alloy door.
Simultaneous with Alan's warning, the "Chief Research Officer" alloy door slid silently open!
The room beyond was dark, lit only by the ghostly glow of instrument screens. A tall, slightly gaunt figure stood with his back to the doorway, bent over a floating console. He wore a standard Vita Biotech lab coat, its hem stained with stubborn patches of dark red and oily green. His right hand, resting on a complex, pulsing crimson rune array embedded in the console, wasn't flesh—it was a precise mechanical prosthetic of cold metal, intricate joints inset with tiny crystals!
The cold, greedy *pull* targeting Alan radiated from this mechanical hand and the rune array!
The figure turned slowly.
The light revealed a pale, thin face dominated by deep shadows under the eyes. His expression wasn't madness, but a chilling, hyper-focused cold rationality, sharp as a scalpel. A faint, satisfied smile touched his lips, as if solving a complex equation. His gaze, passing over the monstrous Catalyzer and grotesque vats, locked onto Alan at the doorway with unnerving precision!
"Ah… unexpected visitors." A calm, almost scholarly voice spoke, yet it slithered out like a serpent's tongue, cold and clear in the dead lab. "And… bringing a most intriguing variable." His eyes lingered on Alan's pained, resisting form. The crimson light in his mechanical hand pulsed faintly.
"The Withering Scholar" – Victor – had been found!