Pitbabe S2, Chapter 31 pg 1
Pitbabe S2, Chapter 31 pg 1
CHARLIE:
Our lab was never a noisy place to begin with. It’s a workspace filled with utmost seriousness and caution. At most, you’d hear soft discussions or the sounds of equipment in use. But the silence right now was on another level. It was dead silent, so quiet you could probably hear an insect’s footsteps, so quiet that at times it felt like there was no air left in the room.
In the tightly sealed lab, four people stood around a large table. In the center was an empty rack for test tubes, and that was exactly why a room with four people felt like a graveyard.
“I thought you’d already destroyed it,” I finally spoke, breaking the silence. If I stood there mute any longer, my brain would’ve exploded into pieces for sure.
“But it wasn’t destroyed, so what’s the point of saying that?” Dr. Chris said in a grating tone, his usual mode of spitting out unpleasant words still functioning perfectly. But his pale, ashen face gave me some relief, because at least I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling ice-cold, like a corpse, right now.
“Then why wasn’t it destroyed?” I asked. “Didn’t you say that any sample that doesn’t work gets destroyed?”
“But we didn’t want to destroy this one.”
“Why not?”
“Because it can still be useful,” Dr. Chris replied with a serious expression, while Phii Touch and Ms. Liu stood silently. The tension on their faces was something new to me. No matter how dire the situation had been in the past, I’d never seen my researchers lose their composure like this before. Which meant the sinking, swirling feeling in my chest, like something was churning endlessly, was entirely justified.
“We know the agreement was to destroy anything that doesn’t work, but this latest one isn’t like the others. We think it can still serve as a reference for the next version,” Dr. Chris continued.
“Some things are worth keeping for further study. We’re researchers—when we see something like this, we can’t just throw it away,” Ms. Liu added, seeming to regain some of her composure after listening to me argue with Dr. Chris for a while.
“Then someone should’ve told me,” I said, trying not to blame anyone since I knew no one wanted this to happen. But my overactive brain kept conjuring up horrifying possibilities nonstop. “At least I’d know we were keeping the sample and could’ve helped keep an eye on it.”
“I think the real issue is the security of our lab,” Phii Touch raised a more critical point. “Whether there’s a sample in here or not, outsiders shouldn’t be able to come and go.” I’d been so caught up worrying about the consequences that I’d completely misprioritized what mattered most.
“Are you all sure no one accidentally destroyed it or threw it out somewhere?” I asked, trying to collect my thoughts and calmly reassess priorities.
“Destroying samples is solely Chris’s responsibility. None of us ever touch that,” Ms. Liu answered flatly. She glanced briefly at Dr. Chris, as if signaling her intent, because her words could easily be misinterpreted as casting blame. Fortunately, Dr. Chris wasn’t one to misunderstand easily. He nodded casually, unfazed.
“And we’re pretty confident Chris isn’t careless, especially with lab work. He’s more meticulous than any of us,” Ms. Liu added.
This was probably the first time my researchers seemed to get along so well. In the past, these three always looked ready to argue at any moment, their ideas pulling in completely different directions. Especially Dr. Chris and Ms. Liu—they were total opposites. Ms. Liu had even said she didn’t particularly like Dr. Chris, only agreeing to work with him because she respected his skills as a doctor and researcher. Their cooperation only shone in the lab, and I’d given up trying to reconcile these stubborn researchers. But today, I realized that wasn’t necessary at all.
I’ll take this as a small victory amidst a massive disaster.
“So, the only thing missing is the sample we tested after everyone else left, right?”
Everyone nodded in unison after I asked, a brief pause that let me catch my breath. At the very least, the chances of an outsider getting their hands on the latest version of the Sense-Dissolver drug had decreased slightly. But of course, the situation hadn’t changed that much. The fact remained that the Sense-Dissolver, which should’ve stayed in this lab, had vanished without a trace.
“Besides us, who else has been in here?”
I asked again.
“Jeff,” Dr. Chris answered. “Babe, Phii Alan, North.”
The names listed were all people close to me—my ex, my younger brother, and both older brothers from Team X. No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t suspect them. Beyond personal trust, they were the least likely to have any motive. There was no reason for Jeff, Big Bro Alan, or Phii North to mess with the Sense-Dissolver.
“Jeff’s out of the question. Rule him out,” I said confidently.
“Ruling him out that fast?” Dr. Chris questioned, not accusingly but pointedly. “No offense, but dismissing Jeff just because he’s your Phii feels a bit too easy.”
“Jeff has no reason to do something like this, and he’d never do it. I’ve known him my whole life. I’d bet my life on it.”
I hated when I acted like a dictator, jumping to conclusions based on feelings and instincts, or giving blunt, uncompromising answers. But we didn’t have time to wander through a maze anymore. I had to move forward, even if it meant dragging everyone along without a clear map or plan.
“What about the other three?” Dr. Chris pressed on. I felt a small relief that he accepted my stance instead of arguing further and wasting more time.
“North never comes up to this floor,” Phii Touch replied. “He’s always downstairs. Never even asks about the research or the drug.”
“Skip Babe,” I interjected quickly, knowing he’d be the next target in everyone’s eyes.
“Haven’t even mentioned him yet,” Dr. Chris said with a light chuckle, seemingly amused by my anxious reaction. “Quick to defend, huh?”
“I don’t think he’d do something like this.”
“But—”
“But I won’t just let it slide. Let me handle him myself.”
I cut Dr. Chris off again. I knew it was rude, but I couldn’t stand hearing anyone accuse Babe. So, even if he was a suspect, I wanted to be the one to prove it myself.
“That leaves Phii Alan,” Dr. Chris said, dropping the Babe issue as if he could read my mind. He concluded swiftly. Every pair of eyes turned to me, all sharing the same thought: I was the only one with information on the last suspect.
Suspecting family left a bitter taste I didn’t want to experience. Just the thought of swallowing it made my throat burn with disgust. Especially with someone I genuinely respected and loved like Alan. I felt I owed him a thousand apologies for this distrust. My big brother shouldn’t even be on the list. To me, he was on the same level as Jeff—practically blood.
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