Chapter 7: Smell Explosion!

"I'm not taking that risk. This is for you, not me."

Without another word, he swiftly plunged the needle into Dane's arm, injecting the serum before his own curiosity could get the better of him.

As the liquid entered his bloodstream, Dane flexed his fingers slightly, feeling a strange warmth spread through his body. But rather than focus on that, he tilted his head and asked,

"Aren't you worried that once I get superpowers, I might just wipe all of you out?"

The old man chuckled, shaking his head as he tossed the now-empty syringe aside.

"You don't have to worry about that." His tone was calm but laced with amusement. "If you ever get such thoughts, I strongly advise you to forget them. Otherwise, you'll come face to face with the most terrifying mutant in this facility."

He pressed a button on the side of the hospital bed, and Dane felt his entire body rotate until he was lying face down. At the same time, the old man walked over to a nearby drawer and pulled out a much thicker syringe, this one filled with a viscous yellow liquid.

The sight of it made Dane instinctively tense up.

"Quick question—any chance I can request a female nurse for this?" The old man snorted.

"What do you think this is, a medical clinic? There are no female nurses here. Only me—Walter." His voice carried a hint of twisted pride as he held up the syringe.

"Consider yourself lucky to be in my room. Unlike the others, I don't use machines or weapons to torture my test subjects." He leaned closer, his lips curling into a sinister grin.

"I prefer using the poisons I've personally developed." Dane's expression darkened slightly.

"And what's that supposed to be?" He motioned toward the yellow liquid. Walter's grin widened.

"I call this one Ant Jaws Black—because once it enters your body, in just a few minutes, you'll feel like thousands of ants are biting you from the inside out." 

Dane's eyebrow twitched.

"And you know this… how? Don't tell me you've tested it on yourself?" 

Walter let out a short laugh.

"Of course not. But the past test subjects who were injected with it described the experience in great detail." 

Dane exhaled sharply.

"Seriously, what is it with guys named Walter all being this messed up?"

[You've just gained Resistance to Physical Attacks, yet you ended up facing a poison expert instead.]

[It's like bringing armor to a magic fight—completely useless.]

Dane felt an internal chill creep up his spine. Walter continued, his voice brimming with excitement.

"Yes, I am quite the sadist. Over the years, I've developed more than seventy different poisons and tested them on over forty individuals. None of them ever lasted beyond ten different injections."

Dane's mind raced. Then, an idea struck him.

"Then you definitely shouldn't miss out on the guy next door—Wade. That guy has an insane resistance to poison. He'd be a great subject for your experiments."

[Walter's curiosity has been piqued.]

[Stench Resistance +10 (Current Stench Resistance: 25)]

Walter stroked his chin, intrigued.

"Interesting… but before that, I want to see how you handle it first." Without warning, he reached out with one hand and yanked down Dane's pants. Dane's eyes widened. "Wait—! Stop! You're scaring the crap out of me!" 

Walter ignored his protests. "Stay still. This will only take a moment." As he leaned in closer—

BOOM!!

A deep, muffled explosion echoed through the room.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

A rapid-fire chain of unholy sounds followed.

A thick, putrid gas burst forth from Dane's body, blasting directly into Walter's face. His once-pristine white hair was sent flying from the sheer force of it.

"Cough—!" The two bodyguards standing by the wall instantly clutched their throats, their faces turning a sickly shade of green.

"F-FUCK!" One of them staggered backward, desperately covering his nose, his eyes wide with sheer horror. The other guard wasn't as lucky—he doubled over and vomited violently onto the floor.

Unable to endure the sheer stench, the two men scrambled for the exit, gagging and heaving as they fled the scene.

Walter, however, was not so fortunate.

Having taken the full blast directly to the face, his body shuddered. His pupils dilated. Then—

He collapsed. Dead. A long, heavy silence followed. Dane sighed.

"See? If you'd just let me use the bathroom earlier, none of this would have happened." He glanced toward the door, where the two bodyguards were still retching in the hallway.

"Those two are probably regretting it more than anyone right now." His gaze then drifted to Walter's motionless body.

"As for you, well… you'll be regretting it forever."

[Two bodyguards are now deeply regretting not letting you use the restroom first.]

[Walter will remain forever silent.]

[Lethal Toxin Resistance +10 (Current Lethal Toxin Resistance: 10)]

Dane stared at Walter's lifeless body, his expression filled with disbelief. "Forever silent?" he muttered, then leaned in slightly, waving a hand in front of the old man's face. "Hey, you're not actually dead, are you?" He didn't get a response. Walter remained utterly still, his features frozen in a mix of shock and agony.

Dane sighed and leaned back, shaking his head. "Killed by a fart… that's got to be one of the weirdest ways to go."

Outside the room, the two bodyguards who had fled earlier were still slumped against the wall, unconscious from the overwhelming stench. However, their condition had not gone unnoticed. The unusual commotion quickly caught the attention of the security team monitoring the facility's surveillance system. Within seconds, alarms blared, and the B-Zone warden—a bald, muscular man—stormed down the hall with seven or eight heavily armed guards in tow.

With no idea what had actually happened, the warden assumed the worst. "Did one of the test subjects awaken their powers and start a revolt?" he barked, his eyes scanning the corridor as they approached the scene.

Then, without warning, his nose twitched.

An unbearable stench hit him like a sledgehammer. His steps faltered, and his expression twisted in disgust. "What the…? What the hell is that smell?" He gagged, instinctively pulling his shirt over his nose. "Did a toilet explode in here?"