"Tell me more about the Pharynx. What do you know about it?"
Jason asked a simple question, and he watched as Hayley took in a small breath before she began to explain. In truth, Jason already knew most of what he needed to know about the Pharynx due to his system. Jason had asked the system to explain what that thing was, and the system told him that the Pharynx was a virus that had been unleashed by a distant world to eradicate the people of Varigan! The virus’s goal was unknown, but from what the system had analysed, it was obvious that the virus was attempting to absorb the core of this world in order to acquire power. It was likely that once it was done with this world, it would simply move on to another world and repeat the process. That was why Jason hadn’t gained any experience after killing the Lynx. Those Lynx were just branches of the virus that acted as bodyguards, so they had no soul at all.
But when Jason listened to what Hayley had to say to him, he realised that her explanation was completely different from what the system had told him.
"We don’t know what the Pharynx is exactly, but we know it crashed into our world about a hundred years ago, and it bored its way into our planet to form a nest. The Lynx that you fought against were the children born from the mother hive, and it’s only a matter of time before the Pharynx births enough monsters to finally kill everyone on the planet."
Well, that was just some bullshit. So they thought that the Pharynx was an actual living thing? Jason couldn’t believe how much of a misunderstanding this was about the origin and purpose of the Pharynx. Gina shifted so that she could put her head on Jason’s lap and get into a better position, and Jason put his hand on her head and petted her gently as he finally corrected Hayley’s misunderstanding.
"Actually, you’ve got it all wrong. The Pharynx isn’t a living thing, and it isn’t here because it wants to kill all of you. It’s a virus that was sent here from another world, and it’s only here to harvest the energy from your core. The people who died were just unfortunate victims of that goal."
You could have heard a pin drop inside the vehicle. Hayley was staring at Jason through the rear-view window as he had just grown a second head, and the only thing preventing James from staring at Jason as well was the fact that he had to focus on the road. Jason continued to watch Gina sleep with a calm look on his face, and Hayley couldn’t believe how nonchalant he was! Didn’t he know what sort of bomb he had just dropped on them!? Hayley asked Jason what he was talking about. What did he mean the Pharynx had been sent here by someone else?
Jason answered calmly.
"I have an ability that allows me to connect with the souls of living creatures, but when I killed those Lynx, I discovered that they weren’t alive. I tracked the ’mother hive’ as you called it, and noticed that what you’ve been fighting all this time are branches of the main virus. Since its main job was to harvest the core of this world, it’s likely that it was sending out all those branches to distract you so you wouldn’t bother it. I can’t blame you for not knowing. The Lynx had pulses and even organs, so most scientific devices would think that they were alive, but they don’t have the hand of death on them. I’m a hundred percent certain that they are artificial creatures."
Hayley put a hand to her head as she felt an intense headache spreading through her brain! It was like her entire worldview was breaking down right in front of her! Even James could only stare ahead with wide eyes as he thought about what Jason had just said! This was the last thing that they had expected to hear today, and neither of them knew how to react to that news!
[Mr. Jason Marc. I apologise for the intrusion, but I couldn’t help but overhear your discussion with my daughter. My name is Hector Zen, and I am the leader of the United Human Alliance as well as the head research scientist at the Zen Labs. If it is not too much trouble, could you please spare me a few minutes so we can talk about this theory of yours?]
A voice suddenly echoed through the car, and both Hayley and James blinked in shock when they realised who it was! Jason hummed at the intruder, and Gina only shifted slightly in Jason’s lap before going back to sleep. Jason shook his head and spoke calmly.
"I already told your daughter here earlier. I have a lot to do, so I don’t have time for meetings. If you want to talk then talk right now. We have about five minutes before we reach the Valley, so I don’t mind answering any questions you have until then."
Hector seemed to be a little displeased with Jason’s response, but he eventually accepted Jason’s words, and Jason raised a brow when a small disk protruded from the dashboard of the car before it lit up with a blue light and formed a hologram of an older man wearing a lab coat. The man had a no-nonsense sort of face, and he was standing with his hands behind his back in a calm pose. In a strange way, he reminded Jason a lot of Cecil. Jason leaned back and spoke calmly.
"So, what do you want to know?"
On the other side of the call, Hector Zen was in a large office, and he had dozens of different scientists running around and carrying out a re-diagnosis of the Lynx parts that they had discovered over the years! They had all heard what Jason just said, and they all wanted to know if Jason was telling the truth or not!
Hector took in a breath before asking.
[I would like to know if you have any proof regarding your claim. We have carried out many diagnoses of the Lynx, and all our tests indicate that they are actual living beings. They possess organs, blood, and even a functioning brain, just like every other living thing.]
"Well, yeah, you wouldn’t be able to figure it out. These things were made from raw magic, probably by a researcher working on the concept of Artificial Life. This is the first piece of magic the people of this world have encountered, so you don’t really know what it’s capable of. Creating a virus that mimics living cellular generation and biological organs isn’t impossible for a high-level research mage."
Hector was silent once again when he heard the word ’magic’. On any normal day, Hector would have disregarded Jason’s claims as nonsense since he believed that Magic was not real! But could he really do something like that right now! He was talking to a man who claimed to be from another world, and the man had command over multiple beasts, including dragons and giant swordsmen that were capable of using fire-based attacks to eviscerate the Lynx like they weren’t anything! If that wasn’t magic, then what could it be!? Hector asked Jason if he could explain how his powers worked so he could know whether there was some other reason for him not being able to connect with the Lynx, and Jason just told him that he could form bonds with the souls of creatures.
The Lynx had no souls, so they weren’t alive. Through all this, Hector had been running Jason’s voice through a special lie detector at the side to see if Jason was lying or not, but there hadn’t been a single lie through all this! Jason was telling nothing but the truth! Hector frowned at this! If what Jason was saying was right, then that would mean that everything that had been done this time had been pointless. The United Human Alliance had been trying to formulate a strong biological poison that would allow them to kill the Pharynx once and for all, but if it wasn’t alive, then poison wouldn’t even work against it! They would have to start thinking of other ways to kill that monster!