Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1691: What Beta Division up to: Part-1

"Why the hell haven’t the Beta Soldiers arrived yet?! The Monsters are running loose, and people are dying out there! Do you even understand how many civilians have already been killed? Damn it!"The beautiful woman shouted into the earpiece attached to her ear.

The communication device blinked with a faint blue light as it transmitted her voice while she stared at the massive control panel before her.

Dozens of displays covered the wall, each broadcasting live footage from different sections of the Zoo, and every single screen showed the same horrifying reality.

Blood stained the pathways, shattered attractions burned in the distance, and desperate screams echoed through the speakers as civilians fled from monsters that seemed determined to turn the entire Zoo into a graveyard.

Her trembling gaze moved from one screen to another, and with every passing second, the horrifying situation became increasingly difficult to comprehend.

Only a short while ago, the Zoo had been filled with happy families, excited children, and visitors enjoying their day without a care in the world. Now the colourful attractions stood drenched in blood, while mangled corpses littered the ground like discarded dolls.

The entire place looked like a slaughterhouse that had been claimed by something demonic.

The reply finally came through her earpiece.

"Sorry, Madam. Due to the lockdown, most of our Drones and Soldiers have been deployed across the borders and various districts. Reinforcement units have already been dispatched toward the Zoo, and their estimated arrival time is five minutes."

"Five minutes?!" she shouted furiously. "People are being butchered right now! Tell those idiots to move faster before there is nobody left alive to rescue!"

Her hands tightened into fists with frustration.

Everything had collapsed in less than five minutes, and the amount of destruction already visible on the screens made her question whether another five minutes would be enough to completely wipe out everyone trapped inside the Zoo.

"Should I activate the emergency lockdo—"

Before the sentence could leave her mouth, a deafening alarm suddenly erupted throughout the control room.

[WARNING: INTRUDER!]

The sharp mechanical warning echoed from every direction, causing her entire body to jolt.

The displays immediately switched away from the Zoo’s external cameras and began showing footage from inside the control facility itself. The moment her eyes landed on the nearest screen, all strength seemed to vanish from her legs... as her legs wobbled like noodles!

The entrance corridor was covered in blood.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

Crimson streaks painted the metallic walls while chunks of flesh and shattered equipment littered the floor.

Pools of blood reflected the flashing emergency lights, creating a grotesque sea of red that stretched throughout the corridor. Bodies lay twisted in unnatural positions, and several security personnel could be seen motionless among the carnage.

"N-No..."

The woman staggered backwards as her face lost all colour.

"No... no... this can’t be happening..."

Her shaking fingers quickly switched to another camera feed, desperately hoping that the previous screen had somehow been an isolated incident.

Instead, what she saw was even worse.

One of the facility staff members hung several feet above the ground while desperately clawing at his own throat. His legs kicked wildly in the air as though an invisible force had wrapped itself around his neck and lifted him from the floor. Terror distorted his face while desperate gasps escaped his mouth, and for a brief moment, she could only stare helplessly at the screen.

Chukk!

Then a sword burst through the man’s back.

The blade emerged from his chest, covered in blood, before slowly carving downward through flesh and muscle. A horrifying spray of crimson erupted from the wound and splattered across the corridor floor while the victim released a choking scream that abruptly ended halfway through.

Moments later, his mutilated body was tossed aside, crashing against the wall before collapsing.

"H-He is here!!" she screamed.

The Criminal Slave stepped into view.

His face carried a twisted smile that seemed completely detached from the massacre surrounding him. Blood dripped from his weapon in a steady rhythm while fragments of flesh remained stuck to the blade.

The emergency lights flashed across his face, creating alternating shadows that made him resemble something far more terrifying than an ordinary human being.

Then his head slowly turned toward the camera.

The woman’s heart nearly stopped.

It felt as though he had somehow heard her scream through the monitor itself.

A wider grin spread across his face before a strange melody escaped his lips.

"La~LaL~Laaaal~LA~LALALAAAA~"

The cheerful tune sounded horribly out of place amid the screams, gunfire, and carnage surrounding him.

It resembled the song of someone enjoying a pleasant walk, yet every step he took left another corpse behind. Security guards rushed toward him from multiple directions, weapons raised and firing continuously, but none of it mattered.

The camera captured flashes of movement too fast for the eye to properly follow. One guard was suddenly thrown across the corridor hard enough to shatter bones. Another collapsed in a spray of blood before he even realised he had been struck. A third was cut down so violently that crimson splattered across the walls and ceiling.

Within seconds, the entire hallway had transformed into a butcher’s chamber.

What terrified her most wasn’t the violence.

It was the complete absence of emotion.

There was no rage in his eyes.

No excitement.

No hatred.

No satisfaction.

His expression remained disturbingly calm as he continued humming that bizarre song while walking through piles of corpses as casually as someone strolling through a park.

"I-I need to get out of here before he reaches this room," she muttered while frantically looking around for an escape route.

There was only one exit.

And it happened to be the exact corridor he was currently walking through.

"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" she screamed while grabbing handfuls of her hair. "Why is this happening to me?! Those incompetent bastards had to drag some disaster into the city and then lose control of it! Out of every division in the Empire, why did I have to end up here?! Damn it! I should’ve transferred to Gamma Division when I had the chance!"

Her breathing became increasingly erratic.

She bit her nails while shouting into the earpiece once again, desperately demanding updates from the rescue teams. At that moment, the approaching monster inside the facility frightened her far more than the chaos occurring outside, because unlike the civilians trapped in the Zoo, she knew exactly what was coming toward her.

Just then,

Knock... Knock...

The woman instantly flinched, her entire body stiffening as terror surged through her chest. Her trembling eyes remained fixed on the entrance while she slowly retreated toward the control panel, desperately trying to put as much distance between herself and the door as possible.

Knock~ Knock~

The second round of knocking came louder than before, carrying enough force to make her shoulders jerk violently.

She immediately covered her mouth with both hands, terrified that even the slightest sound of breathing might reveal her location. Tears streamed down her cheeks while she squeezed her eyes shut, silently praying that whatever stood outside would simply leave.

Several agonising seconds passed.

Then the knocking stopped.

The woman remained frozen in place for nearly half a minute before finally gathering enough courage to move. Slowly lifting her head, she turned toward the security monitor connected to the camera outside the entrance.

Nothing.

The corridor beyond the door was completely empty.

Confused, she quickly switched between multiple camera feeds, checking every possible angle surrounding the control room. The hallways appeared deserted, and there wasn’t a single sign of the blood-covered monster she had seen earlier.

A weak smile slowly appeared on her face.

"Did he lea—"

"OI, CUNTS!"

!!! "HIKKK!!"

The woman nearly screamed as a face suddenly exploded onto the monitor.

Lackey’s grinning face filled the entire screen, pressed so close to the camera that every detail became visible. Blood stained his skin. His wild abyssal eyes gleamed with amusement.

The sight alone was enough to make her heart feel as though it had stopped beating.

"Open the fucking door," he said casually, "I know you’re all inside."

The woman immediately collapsed into herself and lowered her head. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at the monitor anymore. Her hands clutched her forehead while her body shook uncontrollably.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!!!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Brilliant white beams erupted from his weapon and slammed repeatedly against the door.

"I-It won’t break..." the woman whispered to herself.

Her voice sounded more like a desperate prayer than a statement.

"It won’t break... it won’t break... it won’t break..."

BOOOOMMM!!!

THUUUDDD!!!

The woman’s words died in her throat.

The door tore free from its frame and shot across the room like a giant metal projectile before crashing into the opposite wall with enough force to leave deep cracks across the surface.

Dust and fragments of metal scattered through the air.

The woman’s face instantly turned deathly pale.

Standing in the ruined entrance was a tall, muscular man covered in blood from head to toe.

One hand held a sword stained crimson while the other carried a gun.

His expression carried the same wicked smile she had seen through the cameras, except now it was infinitely more terrifying because he was standing only a few meters away.

"Hello~ Lovely Lady~"

He even gave her a playful wink.

Instead of appearing charming, the gesture only deepened her terror.

"P-Please don’t... I-I didn’t do anything... I swear... I didn’t do anything... please..." the woman begged while crawling backwards across the floor. Tears mixed with mucus as panic completely destroyed any trace of composure she once possessed.

"I-I’ll do whatever you want... just please don’t kill me..."

"Relax," Lackey replied in a surprisingly calm tone while casually walking toward the control panel. "I didn’t come here to kill you."

The woman stared at him in disbelief.

Lackey’s attention shifted toward the countless switches and touch controls spread across the console.

"Which unlock the remaining cages?" he asked curiously.

The woman’s expression froze.

"I... I don’t kno—"

Lackey didn’t say a single word.

He simply looked at her.

The dead, emotionless stare that settled upon his face instantly crushed whatever courage she had left.

"It-It’s on the right side! The upper switches!" she blurted out immediately.

"Good."

Lackey nodded with satisfaction before walking over and flipping the designated switches without hesitation. Throughout the facility, distant alarms immediately began sounding as containment systems disengaged one after another.

The woman’s heart sank.

Then Lackey tilted his head and glanced back at her.

"Okay," he said. "Now tell me how to lock the Zoo again."

The woman’s pupils shrank.

"..."

"Huh?"

Lackey raised an eyebrow.

"P-Please..." she whispered, "D-Don’t... please don’t do that..."

Tears flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks as she finally understood what he intended to do.

The emergency lockdown system wasn’t designed to protect the people inside.

It existed to contain monsters.

The moment the lockdown was activated, a massive energy barrier would surround the entire Zoo. Nothing inside could escape, and nobody outside could enter.

Every civilian, soldier, and survivor still trapped within the facility would be sealed together with the creatures that were currently slaughtering everything in their path.

It was a safety measure designed for the worst possible scenario.

And this monster standing before her wanted to activate it willingly.

But how did Lackey know where the control room was located?

The answer was fairly simple. On his way through the facility, he had "politely asked" numerous people for directions.

Which was why he had spent the last several minutes making his way toward the control room rather than wandering aimlessly through the Zoo.

The woman had delayed activating the lockdown for one important reason.

Thousands of civilians were still trapped inside the Zoo, and once the emergency barrier was deployed, nobody would be able to enter or leave the area until authorised personnel disabled it... It’s her and Genome Beta.

Strangely enough, despite all the chaos spreading throughout the Zoo, the monsters showed absolutely no interest in escaping. They continued hunting people within the Zoo’s boundaries as though leaving had never even crossed their minds.

Hearing this man ask about the lockdown system only confirmed her suspicions.

If the barrier were activated now, the fate of everyone still trapped inside would be effectively sealed. Even if the Beta Soldiers arrived a few minutes later, they would first need to bypass the barrier before they could begin rescue operations.

By that point, most of the survivors would likely be dead.

Lackey crouched down before the terrified woman. She immediately recoiled and pressed herself against the floor, but the blood-covered man merely smiled at her with an expression that looked strangely warm considering the carnage surrounding him.

"It’s alright, dear. I’m not going to hurt you... Really," he said in an unusually gentle tone.

The words might have sounded reassuring if they had come from anyone else. Unfortunately, hearing them from a man whose clothes were soaked in blood and whose body was still covered in pieces of human flesh had the exact opposite effect.

"P-Please, sir..." the woman stammered while shaking her head repeatedly. "W-We didn’t do anything... I swear... w-we—"

"Hey," Lackey interrupted as he tilted his head slightly.

"You have beautiful eyes, you know that?"

The woman froze.

For a moment, her fear gave way to complete confusion.

Lackey stared directly into her emerald-green eyes, which trembled beneath a layer of tears. Even in her current state, they possessed an unusual beauty that stood out against her pale face.

"Seriously," he continued with a smile. "Those are some really lovely eyes."

The woman didn’t know how to respond.

"Since you have such beautiful eyes, how about we make a deal?" Lackey asked while resting his chin on his hand. "If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you leave. Better yet, I’ll personally guarantee your safety before I leave this place."

His expression suddenly became serious.

Then he pinched his Adam’s apple and declared confidently,

"Daddy Promise!"

The woman simply stared at him.

The statement sounded so ridiculous that under normal circumstances, she might have laughed. Unfortunately, nothing about her current situation was normal. Even so, a faint glimmer of hope began appearing within her frightened eyes.

"R-Really?" she asked hesitantly.

Lackey’s smile widened.

"If I fail to keep my promise, I’ll kill my father."

A faint crimson spark flashed through his abyssal eyes.

Spark~

At the same moment, a similar spark flickered within the woman’s pupils.

The desperate hope she had been suppressing suddenly intensified... The desire came out.

"T-T-Th-The switch beneath the upper controls," she answered immediately while pointing toward the console. "After that, e-en-enter command code 1234."

Lackey followed her instructions without hesitation. The code itself felt embarrassingly simple, but he wasn’t about to complain about incompetent security while benefiting from it.

The moment he entered the sequence, warning alarms erupted throughout the facility.

[ALERT! BARRIER ACTIVATED!]

A mechanical voice echoed across the entire Zoo.

Throughout the complex, enormous containment rods emerged from hidden compartments beneath the ground. Blue energy surged through their metallic frames while powerful vibrations shook the surrounding area.

BOOBBB!

Moments later, beams of concentrated light shot skyward before connecting high above the facility, forming a colossal transparent barrier that rapidly expanded until it enclosed the entire Zoo.

Lackey calmly observed the process through the control room displays.

"Not bad," he remarked with mild approval. "This should keep them occupied for a few more minutes."

Several screens showed desperate civilians rushing toward exits only to collide violently against the newly formed barrier. Some pounded their fists against the invisible wall while others screamed in frustration and panic.

A faint chuckle escaped Lackey’s lips.

"Hehe~"

However, the amusement quickly disappeared.

"Still not enough," he muttered while studying the displays. "A few more minutes won’t change much."

"H-Hey..."

The trembling woman cautiously raised her voice.

A hopeful smile had appeared on her face.

"I-I can leave now, right?"

Lackey turned toward her and smiled.

"Of course, dear. I always keep my promises."

His hand gently touched her cheek.

The woman instinctively flinched, yet she forced herself not to move away. Every instinct inside her body screamed for her to run, but she understood perfectly well that attempting anything reckless would likely get her killed before she reached the doorway.

"Although," Lackey continued casually, "I’d like to ask a few questions first. You don’t mind answering them, do you?"

The woman nodded immediately.

As long as she survived today, nothing else mattered. She would resign from her position, transfer to Gamma City, and never come anywhere near this facility again.

Lackey’s smile slowly faded.

"Tell me," he said while looking directly into her eyes, "what exactly were you people experimenting on here? More specifically, what were the cages containing? Those creatures are my people, aren’t they?"

The woman’s face instantly lost all colour... as if she fucking died.

The reaction alone told Lackey far more than words ever could.

"Come on," he said patiently. "I’m waiting."

The woman swallowed nervously and avoided his gaze.

"I... I don’t k-k-kn-now."

Lackey stared at her for several seconds before slowly raising his bloody sword at her crotch,

"I wonder if you take this much... Hehe~"

"I-I’ll tell you!" she screamed immediately.

"It’s for a Bio-Weapon! We were developing a virus!

A virus specifically designed to kill the Outer Species!"

"..."

For the first time since entering the control room, genuine shock appeared on Lackey’s face.

He blinked several times. Even he hadn’t expected an answer like that.