Dave saw her in the usual, waiting for him to arrive, he sped up , she usually get there first.

  “hey maria, did I make you wait?”

  “no,….,let’s start going to the lab”

  “ok”

  She was cold, looked like she hasn’t slept for days

  “you ok? Want to call the lab telling them you are going to a doctor?”

  “n…no there is no need, actually I waked up early today and went there, told me I’m, … , I’m sick and need to eat some medicine for 2,3 days”

  “oh ok, you sure you can work?”

  “YEAH!” she told him instantly “I’m fine, really, just need to eat my medicine and I’m going to be good”

  He can feel that she is not in the best situation, "maybe a bigger problem? Maybe she has to use the sleeping chambers?" he thought, recalling her aversion to confined spaces. "She said she has claustrophobia, maybe she is afraid of the process itself, not just the chambers."

  “hey if you need me to be there for you for the process I’m going to be there for you?”

  “huh? Oh yeah, thanks , if I need help I will call you”

  “good, don’t be afraid , I’m there for you”

  “but you can’t be there for me.” she murmured

  He frowned, catching the almost inaudible words. "What did you say?" he asked, but she was already turning away, her voice regaining its forced cheerfulness.

  “nothing ,.. hey we are here , lets start another successful day”

  “that’s the spirit”

  He was looking at her, his mind already sifting through possibilities. The DNA was needed for future traits, the varloon for sustenance. Everything and everyone was a potential resource.

  “lets steal some of these specimens.”

  But before he could choose, Gabriel came into the lab,” hey maria, you have a moment”

  “The security guard from that night? What is he doing here?” he thought

  “yeah what can I do for you?” maria said

  "I talked with others, looks like there was some others who have found that Gomez is stealing from labs and selling them on the black market. What do you want to do with him? If this gets out, he is dead."

  He thought, "This Gomez guy sounds interesting. A connection to the black market for DNA... that could be very useful down the line. But for now, I need to keep a low profile."

  “thank you for the information , im going to use this later but for now keep a low profile”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “if I silent him, I can use this Gomez guy connection to black market for more DNA, but its too risky for now.” He thought , "maybe I can even start controlling him through blackmail. For now, let's leave it here."

  After a small talk with Gabriel , Dave and maria continue working , but they could not continue as they ran out of leechers , one of the specimen used to create a detoxification , and they may be poisoned, she goes to call for more , as she goes , Dave can see she gag for a sec , “she must be very sick .” he thought, a fresh wave of concern washing over him.

  You ate 20 leechers, you gained 200 varloon

  She goes toward the management to ask for more, traumatize after eating the leechers , in the meanwhile , he is mapping the entire facility in his mind, She clutched the container of leechers tightly, her knuckles white, a faint tremor running through her hands as she returned.

  he start looking into his missions.

  “show me my new missions”

  “the situational mission is still question marked? I give up ,lumina buy the note system”

  “note system upgrade confirmed. Would you like to activate it?”

  "activate it for the situational mission," he commanded, a knot of curiosity tightening in his gut.

  A moment passed, and the system displayed the cryptic note.

  “what the hell? What do you want me to do? Start a group band or something? Never mind , lets search the shop, lumina search for traits related to evolution”

  After some thinking he mark 3 traits for later, evolutionary momentum , will erosion and DNA consumption.

  He can use these perfectly, for the next evolution.

  Two of the lower manager are talking to each other , one is angry “The production of the farm 35 is lower than usual, we cant make a mistake , the higher managers are going to replace us, we have been near last every year in production, this year there is no manager beneath us , if we don’t do anything , we are going to be last!”

  "calm down," the other manager sighed, "I have a plan. Let's use the researchers in labs from 1000 to 1200 to increase their production. If they can do it, we can win big time. If not, we can just say the elite couldn't do it and show our work ethic to the higher managers. They like it when we can use things to our advantage without cost. They will forgive us for this year."

  “and if they don’t?”

  “we have to say our jobs goodbye”

  Unbeknown to them, that was their least of concern.