He keeps finding me

1.17

Noah was pleasantly surprised as he heard they actually put some thought into it instead of trying with blind faith, "We still have a lot of samples and data of the super zombie though, its weakness, how to disrupt its process, and what the crystal did to its body. These crystals that appeared are essential to our research. We have to find out why they even came to this world. And then we might find out why the human population is transforming into the living dead."
Noah nodded it seemed all plausible, but he still had a question that was bugging him, "How could you have planned so far ahead? Not just the research, the super zombie experiment, but I mean this whole underground base. How could this five-floor underground base have been built? With such a great mindset as to put a laboratory in here. Which fifty-year-old something grandpa needs a five-floor basement?"
Professor Maclaren nodded and only said, "Come with me." Then she walked out of the cell room and into the white halls. From there, she took a few turns until they stood in front of a door with a foggy glass window. She fumbled with her keys but eventually found the right one. Waiting until Noah was inside, she locked the door again. Professor Maclaren then walked around her office table, gesturing for Noah to sit down on the chair opposite her table.

Noah sat down and fidgeted with his fingers a bit, 'Rabbit Noah needs rabbit anxiety.' Professor Maclaren got some paperwork out. It seemed about three to four pages.
"So the first one of these is the absolute requirement of confidentiality. Nothing we speak of may be personal information about other people you work with, the experiments we do, or what you want to know right now. This is the first you'll sign. This is to protect us as well as to protect yourself," she said very seriously. Noah nodded and oversaw the page she had just given him again. There really was nothing else except what she just told him, with a few other pieces of information, as to what can not leave the fifth floor.
He signed, "Understood."

"Very well," she took the paper and went to the next one.
"This is a paper that will tell you how much authority you have now and how you may raise it. We have about five levels of authority in our team. The dirt, which you are on because you are a little sprout that has to grow. You may know about the base situation and have a few little experiments, meaning the research of the crystals. Next is the grass level. At that level, you can research beginning infections, the kind where they are still a bit human. We also call it the prenatal stage. The stage before it really starts, you will also get access to earlier research concerning this stage. Is it clear so far?"
Noah nodded, "Yes, but isn't the prenatal stage crucial to developing a cure? I am not well versed in the current situation, but usually, if there is a zombie virus, the most crucial time to cure them is before they turn into one."
Professor Maclaren looked in thought but answered Noah's question, "Yes, as we know from books or movies, it seems to be like that. But you will see that once you actually research the different stages, there is no change in the blood. Sure, there is one organism, and it is the same, but right now, we have no way to even slow it down. Its ability to eat the surrounding cells, beginning with the brain cells, is as fast as eating the flesh of a zombie. That brings us to another thing the crystals, they are just minerals under the microscope, nothing more than glass. It has stumped us as to how both humans and zombies get stronger, even though we have not found anything different in their blood before consuming the crystal and after. It is like, in the end, the crystal never even existed like their skin cells and blood cells recovered themselves. Anyway, we are getting too of topic..."
Noah was so intrigued that he didn't even realize that she spoke about information he wasn't even supposed to know.

"Anyhow, after grass level is the stump level. At the stump level, you can even dissect low - to mid-level zombies, doing research on them and with their body fluids. And of course, how certain body parts of a dead zombie react with crystals. We even observed how a crystal formed on a dead brain once. After the stump level comes the twig level, with that level, you can have access to any information about early experiments and their documentation. The highest level is the leaf. There, you have the authority to order any other researcher lover than leaf around to do chores for you, and you can do zombie tests on animals. Although we are trying to get rid of animal experimentation, if those little buggers fought that well only to be killed by researchers, it is just too sad. The way you can advance is by making new discoveries. How do you advance by new discoveries when you don't know what we found out? Figure it out yourself. We are in an apocalypse. We don't just hand it to you. Every single one of these researchers is determined to be the one to cure the zombie virus," Professor Maclaren said proudly and brought the third sheet of paper, "Here you sign as an acknowledgment that you understood what I have just told you."