Chapter 155 - 142 Collective Cancerization

Laboratory 2 was located next to the office building where Professor Conners worked. The graduate student Peter encountered tonight was working overtime there.

The incident with the Lizard Man was quite loud, primarily because the adjacent building was pierced through; apart from a noticeable shake, this building wasn’t greatly affected.

Compared to what happened to Peter, the deceased did not undergo full lizardization, but only displayed partial symptoms such as scales and what appeared to be vertical pupils; however, it was actually blindness.

What was more notable was that their bodies all developed massive tumors...

What had happened?

Professor Conners arrived at the scene quickly and made a guess,

"...The tumors were proliferating rapidly. The Lizard Serum accelerates cell division, but it shouldn’t directly cause cancer.

It’s more likely that the test subjects already had cancer and then inhaled something like... a genetically modified pharmaceutical, similar to the Lizard Potion."

The Lizard Potion turned Peter into a monster, but Peter didn’t die, nor did he immediately develop a mutation.

In terms of completion, the potion used in Laboratory 2 was far behind, not even reaching 10% of Professor Conners’s progress.

So how did the mutation occur?

"All the deceased had tumors in their respiratory organs—I believe the carcinogen entered through the respiratory tract.

I know the professor working in Laboratory 2; his focus is on inhalable pharmaceuticals, unlike my injectable ones."

That is to say, this was probably a laboratory safety accident—if so, easy to confirm.

George neither agreed nor disagreed, but he soon received a call and obtained information that corroborated this view.

"...The hospital obtained medical records; the laboratory had a total of eight graduate students, including Masters and PhDs. Three of them were in the hospital, not due to overwork..."

They had been diagnosed with cancer. The remaining four were working overtime today, one was resting, and then this happened.

Professor, do you think this is related to the research?"

Conners hesitated, "...I think it is, but... the equipment here has been slightly displaced due to tonight’s disturbance. I’m not sure if the two are related.

Take a look at this."

Conners pointed to a pharmaceutical analyzer: "This is a drug analyzer sponsored by the Osborne Group, which includes a small Canary Device.

This is a device intended to disperse drugs into the atmosphere for widespread dissemination, merely a concept—clearly, Laboratory 2 received more projects and sponsorships than I anticipated."

The analyzer had significantly shifted from its original position, and Conners then inserted a bottle of ammonia into it.

Approaching closer, one could smell a faint odor—the device itself was leaking.

"This is a severe accusation, so I won’t say it outright—but... I’ve heard their workload is incredibly high, with countless animal experiments in the past months, none successful.

The DNA potions themselves stimulate cells, not to mention they might have inhaled multiple versions of the potion, causing interactive effects.

Over months, developing cancer was inevitable.

Then came today—just today—the experiment saw ground-breaking progress and they planned to conduct an animal experiment again..."

Inside the glass, the dead mouse exhibited signs of lizardization, with bloodstains evident where it had frantically struck the glass.

Then these drugs dispersed and were inhaled by the four individuals, spreading cancer cells that formed malignant tumors, compressing organs and nerves, resulting in immediate death.

The injected Lizard Serum didn’t save their lives.

Conners, Lille, and George looked on at the scene, falling into silence.

Four promising graduate students, along with several children recovering in the hospital...

Many details disappeared with the death of the victims, not to mention the appearance of a real Lizard Man tonight that muddled the situation.

The surveillance did show that people from the Osborne Group had visited tonight, but what does that prove?

The Osborne Group sponsored the experiments and then demanded rapid results from the lab—overworking is a very normal occurrence.

Even a laboratory accident—while safety regulations are strict, it doesn’t mean accidents won’t happen; this was both unexpected and yet logical.

Even the appearance of a super-villain wasn’t necessary here, just someone who happened to have made a breakthrough.

George was the first to break the silence, "What kind of person is the head of the laboratory?"

Conners opened his mouth but didn’t speak directly, "You’ll see in a moment."

Soon, the police brought in the person in charge of the lab—a fellow of the American Academy of Sciences, who also held considerable sway in his field, with most achievements related to the Osborne Group.

When the police found him, he persistently denied all speculations about the lab’s issues and insisted it had nothing to do with him and that he would speak through lawyers.

Elusive high-ranking elites—George had dealt with these types of people often.

With a headache, George had the police secure the scene first, then the trio moved aside.

The three had already determined that the lab head was undeniably involved, but pinning down the responsibility was difficult; their only option was to try to reconstruct the scene and then prosecute.

Lastly, the three didn’t speak, but all were thinking about one thing—

What was the Osborne Group’s stance?

They hadn’t appeared frequently, but in the whole affair, they always seemed to be just in the background—was it intentional, or accidental?

The real trouble here was that the media would definitely shift their focus to the Lizard Man, and to Conners’ laboratory.

George wanted the truth.

"We must reconstruct the scene," George said, "I need experts to assist."

However, Lille replied, "You already have an expert."

"Peter? Are you sure he’s up for it?"

Lille nodded, "He turned himself into the Lizard Man. Isn’t that professional enough? We will also provide the needed technological and data support."

"Then... let’s leave it here for today," George pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling an intense headache.

"And... Lille," George looked at Lille, "This collaboration has been impressive—but next time, let’s not be so reckless."

Lille felt the same.

In the Cyberpunk World, he worked in the shadows.

In the Marvel World, he chose to be a lawful citizen in the open, where problems could arise at any moment.

Professor Conners returned to his lab to see it in disarray and felt helpless inside.

"Ah... Peter, he’s a smart kid, just... smart and insecure kids are prone to extremes."

Lille lifted a laptop from the rubble, wiped away the ash, and began transferring some data:

"His insecurity brought about harm, but the smart part, I kept the organism data—Professor, our progress is rapid.

Artificial Blood is feasible, look at this."

The biological model data after complete injection of the Lizard Serum was more comprehensive and more referential, nearly revealing all the transformations of a human body becoming a Lizard Man and then reverting to human form post-serum injection.

And Artificial Blood was a completely viable concept!

More so, such as osteocytes, erythrocytes, and neurons, cells that can no longer divide, also had a great chance of being artificially cultivated!

Blood was just the best direction to start.

Conners was so delightedly surprised by this gift that he picked up the laptop and went aside to admire it.

Lille, observing the wrecked laboratory, didn’t feel much—after all, Hammond had a large piece of land there too.

The rebuilt laboratory would be safer and more private.

However, this incident would definitely bring negative impacts on the company, and they couldn’t let biotechnology issues affect the development in the information technology sector.

It was time to separate the two companies.

And it was also time to find some allies.