Genius of the Generations (A Project: Eden's Garden x OC Story)

Chapter 1: The Alpha Sanctuary

(Matteo POV)

The pharmacy had what seemed to resemble some old European architecture. Parts of the walls and ceiling seemed like they were water-stained and had a dilapidated beige color. Then there were the cabinets with glass windows encasing the shelves of various substances and drugs of currently indiscernible identification. Upon closer inspection, the black and white floors were, in fact, not tiled, but had the simulative design painted as such. Several lamps dangled from the ceiling illuminated the room, along with two green neon exit signs at the end above both openings leading out of the first section of the pharmacy. Finally, there were two wooden lab tables in the center of the room, judging by their designs.

"Definitely unlike a modern pharmacy," I heard Damon mumble to himself behind me.

No kidding...

Looking at the shelf, I got a better look at the inventory of the cabinets. Only a small portion was familiar to me, while other bottles I had only vaguely recalled from independent research or had no clue about.

"Lotta stuff people could use if they wanted to poison or overdose someone..." I mumbled.

"Yeah..." Damon silently hummed in response to my concern.

"O-Or worse...what would happen if somebody tried to use these bottles to trip out?" Kai pondered anxiously, "There's no opioid emergency center or anything here! Better hope everyone here has a high tolerance..."

"I really don't think the people here are stupid enough to do something like that," I deadpanned.

"Also, isn't that the lesser of the two evils in comparison to using them for murder?" Damon raised a brow at Kai.

"L-Look I'm just trying to keep all our bases covered. You should know I've seen stuff like this happen first-hand!" Kai exclaimed.

What sort of idiocy has he been doing to have seen something like that?

Taking a step back, I examine the peculiar setup on top of one of the lab tables. It seemed like some sort of experiment with a candle and some wire. It looked vaguely familiar to a figure graphic I saw in a textbook once, although I hadn't been able to find what exactly it was called yet.

...

There're bigger mysteries at play but... Damn it, I wanna KNOW...!

"Hey, Matteo, ya mind lendin' an ear?"

My internal writhing was cut short when Ingrid's voice was trying to get my attention. Maybe I could ask Ulysses about it later.

"Yeah...?" I replied to her.

"There's somethin' I wanted to ask of ya. Do ya think you could leave your laundry outside your dorm every morning?"

"Why...?"

"So I can collect it!" she said with a smile, "I figured, we've got a laundromat, so might as well use it."

"I guess that's fine. But I have a few things that are hand-wash only, so keep that in mind."

"Can do! Don't ya'll worry 'bout nothin'."

...

Though she said that, Ingrid took another look at me as if she was thinking about asking something else.

"Hm...actually, if you've hand-washed some things before then... Ya mind if I get your help?"

"You mean with the laundry?"

"I could use a couple extra hands, if you're willin', 'course," Ingrid requested.

It's not like I would have much to do...but...hm.