Side Effect

The last rays of the sunset faded from the horizon, dark clouds gathered, and the sky grew heavy and dim.

Next to the vegetable patch, Raina had always thought the pool at Wexford Lane was a swimming pool, but today, while picking vegetables, she realized it wasn’t a pool at all—it was a fish pond.

The paths around the pond were reinforced, and several platforms were built for fishing.

Raina stared blankly at the pond, memories from her youth flashing through her mind as if they were right in front of her.

In her memory, she was still a shy teenage girl, telling someone with a mix of embarrassment and pride, “Honestly, I don’t want much… just three meals a day, simple food, chasing chickens and catching fish, living a peaceful life…”

Then, a fair-skinned, refined young boy smiled and replied, ‘Okay, Raina. When I grow up, I’ll come marry you. If they don’t like you, that’s their loss. I’ll protect you from now on.’

‘...Raina, what have you done?! You’re disgusting! Get lost!’

‘Go away, Raina!’

‘Get out!’

Maybe it was because it was getting late, but Raina suddenly felt a chill. She closed her eyes and shook her head hard, trying to push all those memories away.

After a while, she felt someone tugging at her. Looking down, she saw Gale standing anxiously nearby, his little hand gripping hers tightly.

Though he couldn’t speak, Raina immediately understood what he meant.

Taking a few deep breaths, she crouched down and gently rubbed his head. In a soft voice, she said, “Okay, we’ve picked all the veggies. How about we go give them to your dad?”

Gale kept staring at her, his face full of worry.

Raina lifted the vegetable basket with one hand and scooped Gale up with the other, smiling, “I’m really fine. Don’t worry, okay?”

Seeing her calm expression, Gale finally nodded obediently and reached out with his little hand to pat her back a few times, as if to comfort her.

Raina carried him into the kitchen with the basket of vegetables.

Leif was cooking inside, having taken off his suit jacket and now wearing only a black shirt, sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows. One hand held a knife, and he was calmly preparing the meal. The pots on the stove bubbled, and the aroma of food was already filling the air.

Raina put Gale down and held up the basket. “We’ve got all the veggies. Um… do you need me to help clean or prep them?”

She wasn’t great at cooking, but she figured she could handle cleaning vegetables... hopefully.

Leif’s hand holding the knife paused for a moment. “No need. Just wait outside.”

Raina didn’t press further, scratched her head awkwardly, and took Gale out of the kitchen.

…

Estravia, Vireon Lab’s No. 1 Experimental Base.

The base was remote, located on the outskirts of Estravia.

“Ugh… ah…”

“Bang bang—ouch, ouch, ouch! Let us out!”

“My head hurts so bad! Someone… someone kill me already!!!”

“It really hurts, it’s going to explode! Please, help—help me!!!”

Inside a transparent glass lab, a dozen or so test subjects screamed wildly.

Some held their heads in agony and slammed their heads against the glass walls. Some had already fainted from the pain. A few still somewhat sane were pounding on the doors.

Outside the lab, it had started to drizzle quietly at some point.

Several researchers in white lab coats wore gas masks covering their faces completely, but the atmosphere was eerie and heavy.

Watching the madness inside the glass room, finally one researcher lost control, yanked off his mask, and threw it hard onto the ground.

He shouted hoarsely, “What is this?! After all our hard work, this is what we’ve created… these monsters?! How could it be like this? It shouldn’t be like this!!”

After a silence, another researcher took off his mask, pale and shaky, his face gray. “Yeah… what was it all for? They… they don’t even look human anymore. Just hearing them hurts…”

A third removed his mask…

Then a fourth…

The rain grew heavier. By the time the last person removed his mask, his usually neat hair was a mess, but he didn’t care anymore.

His lips were pale and trembling, but he said nothing.

Suddenly, one of the researchers grabbed the last man’s wrist sharply, eyes fierce and angry.

“Mr. Shaw, we can’t keep doing this… this is murder! The drug… the drug’s effects are too terrifying. It absolutely cannot be released! Do you hear me?”

“Stop this!”

The voice held anger, sorrow, and desperation all at once.

Inside the glass lab came the screams of agony—chilling to the bone.

“Stop it!” someone else shouted again.

Mr. Shaw closed his eyes in pain. At this moment, he wished he could hear and see nothing. But those horrible screams kept ringing in his ears, stabbing at him like sharp knives, cutting through his flesh bit by bit.

After a long pause, Mr. Shaw suddenly opened his eyes.

“Do you really think I don’t want to stop? None of this is my decision… I… I…”

“Boom—”

A blinding flash of white light shone on everyone’s faces, followed immediately by a thunderclap so loud it shook the entire ground.

As the thunder faded, a cheerful voice rang out: “What are you all gathered here for?”

With that, Mireille stepped out from the shadows, dragging one arm.

Her face wore the usual elegant, composed smile—flawless and serene. She took a few steps forward, then stood under the porch, looking at everyone through the curtain of rain.

“Mireille… no, no, no, Miss Carrington, you’ve come at just the right time!” A drenched researcher’s face lit up with surprise and relief upon seeing Mireille. He dashed forward, nearly falling at her feet.

The other researchers also snapped out of their stupor and seemed to want to approach, but for some unknown reason, they all froze, looking instead toward Mr. Shaw in unison.

Mireille, as if wary of the man’s rain-soaked clothes splashing on her, stepped back half a pace, but her smile never wavered. “Mr. Shaw, what’s going on here? Didn’t I explicitly order to stop the clinical trials? And no one is allowed to enter this place anymore. Are you just going to ignore my orders?”

The man who had rushed forward staggered back two steps in shock. “What? Stop… the trials? No one allowed in? No, no, no! That can’t happen!”

Mireille smiled. “Why not? From now on, I’m taking over everything here. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“But… how can this be? We’re responsible for these trials. If we withdraw abruptly, what will happen to the patients? The drug’s effects—”

“Yeah, what about these people’s lives? Don’t those count?”

“At a time like this, you want us to just ignore it… this… we—”

“That’s impossible. If we all leave, what happens to them? The drug clearly has problems. It can’t be approved for release. Miss Carrington, you can’t be so reckless with human lives…”

***