Chapter 134 — When Chemicals Don't Behave
S.C. 1511 — Early March
Foosha Village — Underground Lab (Chemical Chamber)
The mixed pile of powders hissed softly.
Ren didn't hear it at first—he was still bent over the drawer, sorting his tools.
Zemo did.
The fox's head shot up. His ears twitched sharply.
Ren finally turned, brushing dust from his hands.
"…Did something fall?"
He walked back to the table.
A faint trail of powder—stimulant residues, plant solvent crystals, oxygen-mix dust—had been swept together in the middle.
Beside it: the tiny dish of Z-05 dust he hadn't stored yet.
And one drop of high-concentration Compound X had rolled straight into the pile.
Ren muttered, annoyed:
"I didn't even start the controlled mix yet…"
He reached for a brush.
The mixture shifted with a soft crackle.
Ren froze.
"What—"
A thin wisp of gas rose upward, pale and almost transparent.
The powder began to darken unevenly—brown, then black, then a strange blue-gray swirl.
He stepped closer, frowning.
"Why is it changing color? None of these react like—"
The temperature spiked.
Not hot enough to burn him.
Just enough to make his fingers tingle when he touched the edge of the plate.
He lifted it to inspect more closely—
And the pile collapsed inward, liquefying into a strange glossy droplet.
"…That's not normal," Ren whispered.
Zemo backed up, fur bristling.
Ren tilted the plate slightly.
The droplet trembled.
Then
FSSSSHHH—
A faint mist burst upward and hit Ren directly in the face.
His eyes widened—
Not in fear.
In complete surprise.
"I— cough— didn't add anything volatile…"
His knees buckled.
The plate slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor.
Collapse
A sharp stabbing sensation crawled down his spine.
His vision wavered—colors stretching, vibrating.
"Z—Zemo… stay back…"
He tried to walk toward the wall, but his legs folded beneath him.
His chest tightened.
His breath jolted in strange bursts.
His hands trembled so hard he couldn't even lift them.
Then—
Nothing.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
Hours Later
Ren woke to a stabbing pain behind his eyes.
Not normal pain.
Sharp. Constant. Like needles pushing outward from inside his skull.
Zemo was pressed against his side, whining anxiously.
Ren tried to sit up—
And immediately clutched his head.
"—agh—!"
The world was too loud.
The faint drip of water in the far corridor sounded like someone hammering metal.
Zemo's breathing felt like a storm.
Ren could hear insects in the walls.
He could hear villagers outside the hill… talking casually several houses away.
"I can… hear all of that…?"
He forced his breathing to slow.
Everything sounded like it was happening in his ear.
His vision wasn't better—it was too good.
He could see the grains of dust floating in the air individually.
He could see every scratch on the stone walls.
Every color was painfully bright.
"Too much… I need to— compress… narrow it down…"
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus.
His senses refused.
Then the Thoughts Hit
Not from outside.
Inside.
His own mind started sprinting.
Equations.
Trajectories.
Chemical patterns.
Angles of light.
Bone structure movement.
Blood circulation.
Heat gradients.
Surface tension.
Wind pressure outside the cliff.
Structural load of the island rock.
Salt content in the air.
Pulse rhythm of Zemo.
Predictive mapping of footsteps above ground.
It DID NOT stop.
Thought after thought fired automatically—like his brain was trying to calculate every detail of existence simultaneously.
Ren grabbed his head.
"Stop— stop— slow DOWN!"
His enhanced mind didn't listen.
The overflow made him feel like he would burst.
Telepathy Breaks Loose
Zemo jolted as if struck.
Ren stared at him.
He could hear Zemo.
Not words.
But the raw, emotional bursts—
fear, concern, confusion, protect-protect-protect—
Ren's breath caught.
"No—nonono—stop—stop—this isn't… I didn't do anything—"
The noise wasn't sound.
It was thoughts.
Other people's thoughts.
The villagers outside.
Their faint anxieties.
Half-formed plans.
Random memories.
All of them trickling into his mind like background static.
Ren gritted his teeth, pressing both palms to his skull.
"Too much… too much… quiet—just quiet—please…"
The thoughts didn't obey.
They pulsed harder the more he panicked.
Regaining Control (Barely)
He forced his breathing slow.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Again.
Again.
Ren squeezed his eyes shut, pulling all his awareness inward—shrinking the mental field—narrowing the noise.
Bit by bit…
… the screams of sound softened.
… the flood of thoughts dimmed.
… the over-bright colors faded to tolerable.
He slumped back against the wall, exhausted, shaking, drenched in sweat.
Zemo pressed his head into Ren's chest, trembling.
Ren managed to lift one hand and stroke the fox's fur.
"…I'm okay."
Not really.
But he said it anyway.
"I'm okay… just… something went wrong."
He looked at the shattered tray on the floor.
The dark smear where the mixture had spilled.
His breathing steadied.
But his heart didn't.
There was something new in his body…
Something he didn't understand…
And now everything—sound, light, thoughts, calculations—felt different.
Ren swallowed.
This wasn't a normal chemical reaction.
And he had no idea what was happening inside him.
End of Chapter 134