Chapter 45 Mocking the Master

Chapter 45 Mocking the Master

"The man who will rule the world?" Richard repeated the girl's words, utterly confused about what it meant. "Wait—could it be that your master is the one responsible as to why we are in this mess?"

"A conjecture that I agree with, sir," Richard concurred. "Well lady, we need a name, not an epithet."

"..."

The girl didn't speak, and simply shifted her, facing front and staring blankly.

"So suddenly, you forgot how to speak," Richard smacked his lips. He wanted to gain more information about this so-called master and the one who would rule the world. Because whoever it is holds the key to the mystery of the apocalypse, and possibly ends it.

"Look, we want information, and you are giving it to us. We are going to do it in the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way is that you provide us with information about your master and we will release you. The hard way is, well, let's just say we are going to do unimaginable things to get what we want. Sure you can survive being shot repeatedly by bullets and can regenerate but the downside is that you can still feel the pain. Do you want to be in eternal pain, miss?"

Richard's words hung in the air, the room filled with tension as they awaited her response.

"It's no use," the woman finally spoke and continued. "My master will come for me. And when he does, he'll destroy all of you for touching and hurting me."

Richard and Mark exchanged glances, uncertainty etching their faces. The woman's words only deepened the mystery surrounding her and her enigmatic master.

Richard leaned closer to her, his gaze locked onto her eyes. "Why is he causing all of this chaos?"

"I told you—that is to rule this world. Only those he views worthy can live in the new world he envisions," the woman replied, her voice filled with a chilling conviction.

Mark's curiosity got the better of him, and he probed further, "And what does your master believe makes someone 'worthy'? What kind of world is he trying to create?"

"He believes in a world free of weakness, where only the strong survive. A world without the chaos of humanity, where order is enforced through strength alone."

Richard frowned, trying to make sense of her cryptic words. "So, he's creating this apocalypse to weed out the weak and usher in his idea of a perfect world? Your master must be fucked up in the head. This plan seems like the desperate fantasy of someone who feels the world has turned against them."

"DON'T YOU DISRESPECT MY MASTER!" The girl snapped, her eyes gleaming ominously red as she tried breaking free from the restraint.

The restraints groaned softly, as if struggling to contain the sudden surge of strength coursing through the woman's body.

Mark stepped back instinctively while Richard stood there coolly, unfazed by her outburst. Normally, he would jump out in fear but this time, he didn't. It must have something to do with his system.

"Your master killed millions if not hundreds of millions of people around the world, and the number is increasing. Your master is nothing more than a deranged tyrant," Richard countered firmly. "I will not stand by, I will use my power to save this world from your lunatic master—Hmm...I wonder, how did your master create you? Did he give you some power of some sort? If so, why do you need to eat pill-looking objects from the remains of the mutated zombies? This is hard to understand, maybe by conducting an experiment on you we can learn more about your physiology. And what's with your unwavering loyalty to him as if you are brainwashed? One of your master's abilities?"

"My master will come—and when I get out of here, I will massacre you all," the girl threatened.

"Good luck with that. In order to get out of those restraints, you'll need two hundred pounds per square inch of force, and you're not even close," Richard retorted before glancing at Mark. "Mark, I want you to conduct some medical tests on her. Find out why she is able to regenerate, what's the cause of her supernatural strength, supernatural speed, everything."

"Consider it done, sir," Mark said.

With that, Richard left the containment room and headed up to the command center to oversee the reclamation operation that they are currently conducting.

At the command center, as usual, the military staffers halted what they were doing and performed a salute.

Richard waved his hand down, telling them to ease down. The staffers complied and returned to their work.

He walked over to the center and turned to the wall where a big flat screen was mounted on it. n-)o.(v))e-/l((b--I(-n

"It's been hours since we started the operation, don't tell me that you haven't found a single survivor hiding in the buildings or stores," Richard commented.

"Actually sir, survivors started to appear themselves. Most of them are locked on the upper floors of the skyscraper, some are stuck in the supermarket," Sara reported

"How many of them?' Richard asked.

"300 and increasing," Sara replied.

"Good, rescue as many survivors as you can," Richard said and an idea suddenly popped into his mind. "Sara, you are connected to the camera in the containment room, right? Is it possible for you can run facial recognition on the lady we are containing?"

"It is possible sir," Sara responded, her fingers dancing across the keyboard as she initiated a facial recognition scan on the mysterious woman within the containment room.

"Scanning the girl's face on...Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and all major databases. Searching for a match now," Sara announced as the scanning process commenced.

Meanwhile, in the containment room, medical officers proceeded with the medical tests on the lady, drawing blood, monitoring her heart rate, and conducting scans to uncover the secrets behind her powers.

Back in the command center, the facial recognition scan initiated by Sara quickly yielded results. The screen displayed a brief summary of her personal identification.

"Name, Andrea Mcdonie, Filipino-American, a famous actress, singer, and dancer. Age 20. Recently traveled to China for vacation with her family—"

"Andrea Mcdonie?" Richard repeated the name. "Is that really her? I didn't recognize her..."

"You didn't recognize one of the most famous individuals in the Philippines, sir?"

"Well I'm not that keen on Philippine entertainment," Richard admitted. "But this is baffling. How did a famous actress end up in this situation? There's definitely more to this than meets the eye. You said that she recently traveled to China...when was it?"

"About two weeks ago sir, nine days prior to the outbreak."

"How about the days prior to the actual outbreak after she returned to the Philippines? Did she make an appearance? Such as an interview, livestream, or any public event?" Richard inquired.

Sara quickly accessed her search history and retrieved the relevant information. After a few moments of scanning through news articles and social media posts, she responded, "There are no records of Andrea Mcdonie making any public appearances or interviews in the days leading up to the outbreak."

Richard rubbed his chin as he contemplated. This only meant two things, that she got her powers in China or in the Philippines. But where specifically is it like finding a needle in a haystack?

"How about events in China?"

"There is one, a fan meeting," Sara revealed.

"Okay pull up any videos and reports related to that fan meeting," Richard commanded. He had a hunch that the answers they were seeking might be hidden within that event.

"It's going to take a while sir," Sara informed.

"I'll wait."