One week later...
"Is this a research lab or a dump yard?" A woman in her early thirties stood outside a building that looked like it was falling apart.
There were cracks on the wall. Even the most basic renovations weren’t done. The paint on the outer walls had long since fallen apart.
She would have rather believed that it was an abandoned haunted building, than it being a lab where she was hired with such a high signing bonus.
"I must be at the wrong place. This can’t be Alpha Corp’s Lab, right?" She hesitatingly knocked on the door.
Creak~
She had only knocked lightly but the door started moving forward on its own. No, it wasn’t moving like a normal door would. Instead, it was falling forward.
Thud~
The door fell on the ground with a banging sound, as if they had previously been held together by cheap tape.
"I didn’t fall for a scam, did I?" The woman frowned. "They won’t ask me to pay for it, right? Don’t tell me the high signing bonus was to bring me here so they can harvest my organs?"
A cold sweat formed on her forehead. Hesitation was clear on her face as she thought about turning around and leaving.
"Are you Michelle?"
A voice came, following the sound of footsteps. A man in a white lab coat rushed out, holding a tape in his hand.
"Y-yeah. How do you know my name?" Michelle was on guard as she stepped back.
Even though the man looked normal, she couldn’t be sure about his intentions.
"Ah, apologies. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Picollo, the Head Researcher of this lab. I might be a bit lacking, but I have been assigned as the team leader."
Picollo bent forward and tried to pick up the gate.
"Ah, Picollo! I remember you! Aren’t you in that viral video where you were being chased by slimes while your hair was on fire?" Michelle blurted out, as the name brought back the memories of the video that had made her laugh a lot.
"Urgh..." Picollo’s face went red. It was unclear if he went red because he was trying to force the heavy door up, or if he was just embarrassed when he was reminded of his past.
"I-i am sorry!" Michelle realized that she might have misspoken. She quickly apologized and rushed forward, "Let me help you."
She held the door in place while Picollo started placing the tape on the door again. After he provided the initial support, he quickly brought some chairs and used them as extra support for the door.
"Don’t mind me asking, but is this really a proper research lab? So do we truly have enough funds if we can’t even have the door repaired?"
Michelle patted her hands, still being a little worried about this whole endeavour.
"Don’t worry. The Boss has provided us with millions of credits for our research needs. It should be enough for now." Picollo took a deep breath, before escorting Michelle inside the lab.
"Uh, then why haven’t you fixed the door?"
"Because there is no need for that. The more we spend on these superficial things, the less we will have for our research. Isn’t it better to only use what’s necessary?"
"Isn’t a door necessary? Won’t it be a waste of time if we have to fix the door every time we enter and leave the place?"
"That’s why we use the window to leave. It’s time, you’re new here. You’ll understand the rules that we have made."
"We?"
"Yeah, the team. Other than the two of us, there are eight more researchers. They came a little earlier than you."
Picollo brought Michelle to the labs. However, the condition of the labs only made Michelle’s expressions drop further.
Even a college lab had better equipment than this professional research lab. Was this a joke?
"Can we really do any meaningful research in this environment? Shouldn’t you talk to the boss and get better machines?"
"Well..." Picollo scratched the back of his head. He had the same thoughts when he first arrived here after resigning from the Hero Tower.
He had trusted Leo, but he didn’t think that he would end up like this.
"Don’t bother. The boss doesn’t seem like he is serious about this project." Another male voice came forth as a third researcher stepped out of a room, yawning.
"Just pretend that we are working on his little project and have fun. When his company starts losing money, he will realize his mistakes. Until then, we just have to earn free credits."
"Isn’t that right, Picollo?" the young man placed his arm around Picollo’s shoulder.
This was the situation. Even though the entire team had gathered, no one was interested in the research for which they were gathered here.
The work being done here was only superficial while the researchers pocketed the research funds, showing various expenses.
For now, Piccolo had managed to protect his righteousness but even that was being shaken.
He wasn’t sure how long he could last. At the rate things were processing, it was only a matter of time before Alpha Corp would go bankrupt and this lab would shut down.
The other researchers were clever. They had already seen that future, and thus they started to pocket the research fund for their future.
Even Picollo wondered if he should start pocketing the credits in wait for the eventuality.
Time kept passing away slowly, and within one month, even Michelle was corrupted.
Almost every other day, parties were being thrown in the lab. In this time, Picollo had tried to contact Leo multiple times, but he couldn’t reach him even once.
It was like Leo had simply disappeared like he never existed. Even after using his contacts at the Hero Tower, he couldn’t find Leo’s whereabouts.
His frustrations kept building up, until eventually he also lost control and started putting his hand on his share of research funds.
During those days, he was buying low grade monsters for his monster translator research. And during nights, he was drinking alcohol and partying with the researchers.
When he was in the Hero Tower, he was at the lowest tier. He was always being bullied by people and looked down on. Now that he was finally free, he could let out his wildest fantasies and that’s what he did.
He had even started considering himself as the final boss since Leo had disappeared.
Things had truly started to spiral out of control. Meanwhile, Leo was nowhere to be found.
....
"I really didn’t think this through, did I?" Leo mumbled, sitting on his knees.
His hands were tied behind his hands with unbreakable chains. A plasma cannon was being aimed at his head, as he was surrounded by alien looking creatures.