116. Cure All (2)
“It’s been a long time coming! How are you, Evan?”
I looked at Belfort from the entrance of the building, wearing a white robe.
The phrase ‘Hexa Medical Research Center Director’ engraved in black on the front pocket stood out.
“… … .”
I looked around.
In addition to the lab right in front of it, Hexa Medical’s grounds were filled with office buildings, factories, and other buildings.
“You seem to be getting a lot of investment. Seeing that the facilities they have are comparable to other large corporations.”
“haha. I am terrified of how fast it is growing.”
He smiled pleasantly and glanced at the car parked in line behind me.
“Thank you for visiting in person like this, you could have sent the staff.”
“Since it was the first crop harvested from the farm, I was directly escorted by the vehicle.”
They were medicinal crops that were harvested on the farm in District 47 and completed cultivation in a relatively short period of time.
“As expected, Evan-sama. You are deep in thought. No, should I call you the representative now?”
“Now it’s more familiar to be called by title than by name.”
As I smiled roundly, he burst into laughter accordingly.
“Anyway, I wish you all the best. We plan to keep expanding our farms, and we plan to leave the security for Supreme Security each time we do so. You seem to be running other businesses in parallel, but if you need our help, you can always tell us.”
He seemed to think that he was completely in a boat now, and his tone showed a feeling of intimacy and trust.
From the first meeting at the intelligence guild to taking over the mercenaries of Putilland and completing the pact after the war with Parter.
If you think about it, there were quite a few things that happened, so it was not surprising that he felt a similar feeling of camaraderie.
he said in a sad voice.
“In my mind, I would like to share a longer story, but these days I am so busy that I think I need to check the crops going into the warehouse and go right in.”
“The business presentation is just a few days away, so there must be a lot of preparation in full swing.”
“you’re right. I was in charge of some of the presentations.”
He came over and whispered secretly in my ear.
“If you have the money, I recommend that you spend all you have on buying Hexamedical stocks. “People are talking about the peak now, but the stock price hasn’t even started going up yet.”
Talking about the low point now.
I laughed to myself because I didn’t agree with that.
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Anyway, I hope you go and look around. I have to go to work.”
Belfort disappeared towards the drivers to give instructions.
I glanced at the figure, then shifted my gaze to the laboratory.
A five-story white building.
All kinds of new drugs would be developed in this area, and data on them would have been accumulated.
Also data on the cure for horse disease, ‘Cure All’.
“… … .”
However, the material I was looking for was not here, so I turned around and headed outside the corporate complex.
The scenery in District 62 was quite different from other places.
a little more rigid.
There is silence rather than liveliness.
A disciplined atmosphere.
This is because it is a city where companies from various fields are located, and office buildings, factories, and dormitories occupy most of the district.
Since it is easy to enjoy the reflected benefits the more grouped together, companies in a specific field were forming complexes on each street.
“I will go. The thought of making a weapon tailored to me is a strange feeling.”
It was also the area where the ‘smithy’ of low tactics was located.
Milsian had two mithril ore and was in a state of being at the forge on the outskirts of the area.
widely.
As I was passing through a sparsely populated alley, a man in a hoodie bumped my shoulder.
He nodded and disappeared, and I had a briefcase in my hand.
He was an agent of the information guild.
Checking that there was no one in the alley, without stopping, he opened the envelope and took out the documents.
“Niles. One of the two survivors of the Chevy Lab explosion a year ago. After the incident, the laboratory was closed. Niles’ inability to leave Area 47 is believed to have something to do with the explosion. The cause of the explosion is unknown, and further details are due to the lack of data… .”
The Chevy Research Institute was the predecessor of the present Hexa Medical.
Since I already knew the previous content, I quickly went down without paying much attention.
“Niles currently lives at 12-1, 66th Street. The range of activity is not very wide.”
The information I was looking for was right there.
* * *
A cafe located on Route 66.
It was not difficult to find Niles, with his back to the hall, sitting by the window, eating.
And the three male guests who sit on the other side of the table and stare at Niles from time to time.
Their faces were full of boredom, and the intermittent movement of turning their heads to look at Niles was reckless.
watchers.
They did not know the secrets related to the bombing of the research institute, but they were highly likely to be mercenaries hired from outside with excellent skills.
“Your order has arrived.”
While waiting at the entrance, I entered the cafe with a tray of simple salads and meat dishes.
The face had been changed to another face that wasn’t Evan’s.
widely.
Passing between the tables, I sat down next to Niles.
“Niles. Former researcher at the Chevy Institute. Don’t turn your head and talk. There are people watching you.”
Niles looked at me for a moment, then naturally turned his head back in the forward direction.
As he continued his meal, he spoke in a voice that could not be heard by other tables.
not too surprised
Naturally, as if something like this had happened several times before.
“I know you are under surveillance. They’re the ones I’ve been following since a year ago. It doesn’t matter if you say it just a little bit louder. In the last few months, nothing special has happened, and from their point of view, it’s a trivial matter. You’re not watching me so eagerly. They’re just getting paid by their employer, and that’s it.”
I moved my fork and glanced at him.
Unshaven beard and ponytail.
An ugly shirt that looks like it hasn’t been washed for a long time.
There was no will or desire for life in his blank, dazed eyes.
“Where are you from? Whatever your purpose, you will never get what you want from me.”
I ignored him and brought up the next story.
“Project Cure All was a long-term project that lasted 10 years. We spent a lot of money to develop a treatment, but in the end it failed.”
For a moment, he stopped lifting the knife.
“Keep eating and don’t stop. Even if the monitoring is poor, there is no reason to be suspicious. They would have only thought it was a success when the symbol of the horse disease disappeared from the body of the subjects who had been taking the drug for years. After the clinical trial, if all the subjects had not stopped their heart and died according to the original symptoms of horse disease, the treatment would have been announced to the public as originally planned.”
“… … .”
“At that time, the project manager was in danger of incurring huge losses, and made the extreme choice of cutting out only the last part of the experimental results and publishing them to the public. Killing all the researchers at the time and the subjects who had not yet developed the symptoms of horse disease to keep their silence.”
There was the sound of gasp swallowing from the seat next to me. Soon Niles said.
“… I know quite a bit. Were you involved with the project at the time? outside the lab? I know that no one has survived except for a few. One of them?”
“It’s clear that he grew up hoping for Hexa Medical’s downfall.”
There was a brief silence, and only the sound of dishes hitting the dishes was heard.
After a moment, he said in a way of organizing his thoughts.
“Why did you find me?”
“You know that Hexa Medical’s business presentation is not far away. I need your testimony. Testimony that CureAll was a failure.”
“It’s no use. Even if I tell the truth, who is close to being a beggar, people… .”
“If the data that the subjects thought to have been cured had died of horse disease, they would have no choice but to believe it. Niles, the material you barely stole from the Burning Lab and hid it.”
Niles’ fork stopped in mid-air once more.
“… What is it really?”
“The surveillance around it must have been put on by the former head of the research institute.”
“… … .”
Niles’ fork stamped the meat.
In that state, he stood still, not moving.
“Like you said, I hid the research data. But I can’t go find it because I’m under surveillance. They follow me 24/7. They’re even blocking you from getting out of this city.”
It could be said that it was a natural action for Hexa Medical.
Niles holds a secret that will determine the survival of the company.
He wouldn’t be able to kill it either.
Rather than burying the research data forever, it was an act of self-inflicted anxiety about when and where it might be discovered.
“I can protect you.”
“Hey, what can you do? Do you think the watchers are all three in this cafe?”
“It’s impossible at this place right now, but I’ll make a plan and get rid of all the factors that threaten you. I will take care of myself until Hexa Medical collapses.”
Niles clicked his tongue.
“I don’t know who you really are, but being a human being is not that easy. There have been several rival companies that have tried to kidnap me and get behind me, but all have failed. There are dozens of mercenaries hired by Hexa Medical outside this cafe right now. I don’t know how much we’re having a conversation like this, but if we’re serious about it… .”
“So are you going to live like a loser like that?”
“what?”
“Niles, are you going to live like that for the rest of your life? Trapped in the past, unable to move forward, locked up here for the rest of my life, without seeing my family in other territories.”
“No, there are mercenaries outside… .”
“I don’t know if I struggled with myself. I heard that he was a man with big ambitions to make a disease-free world, but he was just a coward. I get up first.”
“for a moment… .”
Without hearing his answer, I got up from my seat with an empty bowl. After returning the dishes to the counter, I left the cafe.
The walls of the all-glass cafe met Niles, who was shaking his body, and his eyes met.
“… … .”
He glared at me fiercely, but then he bowed his head with a bewildered look on his face.
Emotions that go back and forth between two poles in a short time.
He had many conflicts within, and it was proof that his psychological state was unstable.
‘The location of the hidden research materials is the large library in the city center. The exact location is known only to him.’
It was like Van Woods when he hid Red Skull’s slush fund.
I designed the episode, but I didn’t set the exact location of the main things.
You can find the material if you search the entire library, but the problem is that there is not much time until the business presentation.
That’s why I needed Niles’ help.
Time was tight, but I was confident I could convince him on time.
Because he is also a supporting actor that I set up.
* * *
Niles’s job was nothing special.
All I had to do was wake up at dawn and wander the streets, eat breakfast at a cafe in the late morning, stare blankly at people in the park, and then go home in the evening.
In keeping with his routine, I visited the cafe every morning.
Don’t forget to use a different face each time to avoid spying.
“You are very persistent.”
Niles was at first startled by the familiar voice from an unfamiliar face, but soon realized that I was using magic and accepted it calmly.
“I went home and pondered what you said. It wasn’t wrong. I vaguely hoped for salvation. When a competitor tried to get me out, I just let the situation take place and didn’t want to do anything aggressively.”
These were the words he brought out on the third day after visiting the cafe.
“Obviously I had a dream. The dream of creating a disease-free world. How sad that such children have to live knowing that they are going to die.”
There were children running around on the street outside the glass, and on one of them, a horseman’s pattern appeared on the forearm.
“But that dream seems to have disappeared someday. I felt a little relieved to hear what you said.”
He sighed and said with a lot of meaning.
“Let’s hear the story first.”