The college was about to end classes for today and Viktor was walking towards the staff room where other teachers had a combined office to talk with the teacher named Mark regarding Tiana being late to his class.
He had no idea if Mark was the kind who doesn't allow latecomers or not without good reason and didn't want Tiana to lose attendance or marks because of him.
And right when he was about to enter the staffroom, he saw a bald guy in his forties walking towards the staffroom as well with the name 'Mark Prim' on his ID card.
"Mark?" Viktor stopped in his tracks as he looked at the man and asked who gave a smile and nodded, "Yes, I am. Can I help you?"
"Yeah, do you remember any student entering later for your previous class?" Viktor asked.
Mark's expression became contemplative and then said as his eyes spirited up, "Ah, yes, of course. There was this girl…I think her name was Tiana, Dr. Snow's daughter?"
"Then I hope you didn't cut her attendance for being late, right? It was because of me she was late to the class," Viktor explained, to which Mark smiled and waved his hand, "Don't worry about it. I don't really scold students for being late. As long as they at least enter my class, it's fine."
"That's kind of you. So what do you teach?" Viktor asked with a curious expression.
"Oh, I teach multiple subjects, but my expertise is in bioinformatics, and that is what I was teaching for my previous class. Now I have to go to my lab and sort some things out. So if—"
"Yea, sure. Go ahead," Viktor gestured as Mark left with a smile while Viktor stood in the same spot for a while, thinking about something before walking away.
Mark barely spent any time in the staff room and immediately went upstairs towards his lab, which was locked and could only be opened by his key card.
After entering his lab, he saw many computers in the larger section of the room on his right, and on his left, there was a small door adjacent to the wall.
This small door was locked as well, and he opened it with a key and entered before closing the door behind him. The room was dark, especially since the windows were covered and tinted, and he had to switch on the light to illuminate the entire room.
The room was small and cramped with lots of books around it and a computer on a desk. But at one end of the corner, there were two cages, one large glass, and one steel. In the steel cage, there was a gray cat, and in the glass, there was a white rat or a laboratory rat.
The cat was meowing at the sight of Mark while the rat was simply running around in the glass cage.
Mark removed his glasses as he switched on his computer and sat down on the chair. On his desk, other than some notes with some formulas and information scribbled on it, there were also a couple of medical syringes and a vial of dark red liquid that seemed half full and seemed to have a slightly glowing look to it.
He looked at his watch and then looked at the glass cage as he took out his phone and switched on the video recorder, "It's been twenty-five hours, little guy. And I am right on time."
Not a few moments after he said this, the white rat suddenly stopped moving around and fell unconscious just like that while its body began to jerk and twitch violently.
Its body continued to shake and twitch till it suddenly began to get larger, its muscles enlarging and becoming more defined, its teeth becoming longer and sharper, its skin turning a strange pale yet dark color, and its fur falling off from its skin.
It suddenly opened its eyes, and they had become bright red and looked eerie compared to its previous natural eye color.
And the next moment, it suddenly got up and began to move around in a jumpy manner, banging its head against the glass and even clawing at it.
*Clak!*
The glass slightly cracked from the inside as the rat bumped its head against it, and even scratches were formed on it as it continued to claw at it violently. Still, the glass was thick and sturdy and didn't seem like it would break easily.
However, its behavior was completely erratic and wild, as if it had lost all sense of itself and was letting out low growling noises from the back of its throat like some wild animal.
"Shh, little guy, don't be so impatient. If you are hungry, you just have to be nice, and I will feed you," Mark said with a smile as he looked at the steel cage and opened it as he took the cat into his arms and stroked his head as he looked at the frenzied rat and continued, "Mr.Cat, the natural food chain favors you when you are put up against a rat. They surely wouldn't stand a chance against you, would they?"
*Meowwww*
The cat meowed and licked its lips as it stared at the rat clawing at the glass cage.
"Oh, you are hungry too? Now, what should I do? Both of you are hungry, and I only have enough food for one of you. Guess what. I will let you two compete and give the food to the winner, "Mark went on as he gently stroked the cat's head and opened the top of the glass cage as he got up from the chair.
He then brought up the cat over the top of the class cage and said, "Now…let's see if artificial evolution can change the rules of nature."
*Meowwwwww*
As he said this, he dropped the cat into the glass cage, which was large enough to hold the two.
But the moment the cat got inside the cage, the rat stopped scratching the glass but instead, it charged towards the cat instead of cowering with fear.
The cat hissed as it tried to grab this impudent rat and kill it, but the rat was quick and swift as it latched onto the cat's neck and sunk its teeth deep enough to make the cat lose its balance and fall on the glass and was helplessly moving its limbs around as the abnormal rat continued to devour its blood, sucking its life away every second till the cat's movements ceased as its eyes became lifeless.
"How amazing…Odic Force was the answer all along…Such a magical thing indeed," Mark smiled as his eyes shone with an even more excited glint as he noticed another change happening in the glass cage.