Rhodes Island's Psychologist

Ch 154: Undercurrent Part 2

Mephisto inspected a photo. There he saw a young child with sizeable clusters of crystals forming on some parts of her body. Her expression was peaceful as she slept suspended within a vat.

"Her name is Ifrit?", Mephisto squinted and smiled. "She's so beautiful. She looks just like a princess that I really want to wake up. So, what about the other information? Your Rhine Lab's primary project was the experiment. Surely this one photo isn't all you have on her?"

The lead researcher reluctantly replied, "This photo is all that's left. All other data on her was either stolen or destroyed."

"Who did it?"

"Our former colleague, Silence.", another researcher spoke up on the topic, "She managed to steal Ifrit and all the critical data about Ifrit because she was in charge of Ifrit from the beginning.". The lead researcher nodded, "Yes, as for the data that was destroyed, Saria is responsible for that. She assisted Ifrit during their escape, and sabotaged all attempts to retrieve Ifrit, as well as destroying all experimental data we had left."

"Sounds like a very interesting person.", Mephisto looked up from the photo, an odd smile on his face, "But, do you really expect to use just this photo to secure our cooperation? Isn't that a bit too naive of you?"

"... Although most of the data is no longer in our hands, I still remember the most critical detail."

The lead researcher took a deep breath, catching Mephisto and the woman's attention, before slowly saying, "The Ifrit's Cell-Originium fusion rate reached 19%."  

Mephisto paused in apparent disbelief, "Nineteen percent?! Are you kidding me?!"

"We do not joke about any research statistics.", the lead researcher seriously replied.

"Nineteen percent, nineteen percent.", Mephisto began repeating to himself.

"Silence has continued treating her," the lead researcher continued, "She brought Ifrit to seek refuge in a pharmaceutical company called Rhodes Island, preventing us from reclaiming Ifrit."

Mephisto raised his eyebrows, "Rhodes Island? Hmm, now where did I hear that name before?"

At that, he turned to look at the woman who had remained waiting on the second floor, "Aren't those the guys that fought with you last time, W?"

W silently leaned against the wall, her expression betraying nothing.

"Interesting, rather interesting," Mephisto mutters to himself, intrigued.

Another former female researcher of Rhine Lab spoke up, "On the surface, Rhodes Island is just a regular pharmaceutical company. But in addition to selling pharmaceuticals, they've been steadily building up a powerful force. I heard that they've recruited many powerful infected personnel willing to fight for them."

Mephisto's eyes narrowed, gaining a dangerous glint, "Really? Gathering infected people, very interesting indeed."

His eyes returned to Ifrit in the photo, and his tone suddenly became gentle. Suddenly, he stood up.

The former researchers of Rhine Lab exchanged nervous glances between themselves, in the end, the lead researcher stepped forward and asked, "So, are you satisfied with this arrangement?"  

Mephisto held up the picture of Ifrit, and shook it in front of the researchers, "Can you guarantee that everything you say is true?"

"Of course.", the lead researcher nodded, "As I've already stated, we don't need to lie in this kind of place. If you don't believe us, you can test her yourself. You infected should know the infected better than we do."