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You inject the pure serum into the sample you harvested from Lucy. The plasticine, liquified flesh soon toughens into something resembling low quality beef jerky. It's dry, flaky but it still has a bit of bend to it.
You jab and poke at it with your scalpel. Her flesh was so soft, even after being injected with this skin-hardening serum, it only partially reverts her condition. You inject a dose of modified serum in and that seems to 'cure' her flesh.
You inject the 'pure' serum into Hidaka's sample.
Hidaka's sample reacts similarly enough to the spam you tested before but with one odd addition: the skin has taken on an off-grey hue that reminds you of your own blotchy skin. You examine both of them under a microscope to see what the serum actually did to them.
Huh. on Hidaka's sample, there's a thin layer of metal that has merged with the surface of her flesh. Roots of metal have dug into the flesh underneath, binding the metal to her skin. That's how it works? The 'biometal', as you'll refer to it, is already starting to degrade due to the flesh it's connected to being a hunk of dying, severed flesh.
For Lucy's sample, her sample has the biometal scattered throughout her flesh instead of taking on a solid layer. It's also not decaying as fast as Hidaka's, probably a side effect of Lucy's mutation?
You inject a dose of 'modified' serum and what you see disproves your initial assumption. The layer of biometal melts into the Hidaka's sample, dispersing and scattering throughout her flesh. Interesting. Your modified serum still creates the 'biometal' but it's spread out more uniformly through the subject's body. You record some notes for ZENITH to study.
>2.5/3 DRUG TESTS done. You'll need to do one last test on yourself OR modify the serum again to complete the sponsorship.
Welp. Time to check up on that wine-producing android of yours. You briefly check on Lucy and, despite how disoreinted she is, she seems pretty healthy all things considered.
"Hidaka, you're coming with me. Lucy, stay here and keep an eye on things. Tell me if anything happens."
"Alright."
"O-okay!" Lucy tries her best to give you a thumbs up. "I-I'll, uh, keep an eye on the roomba."
You toss Hidaka the NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER dossier so she can get caught up to speed on what you're dealing with. She silently hands it back to you where you do a quick refresh on it.
Your INSIGHT MODULE crackles to life.
>NOWHERE SOMMELIER HINTS: ABYSS GAZE/?/? (3 ARTIFACTS)
That's certainly a lot more cryptic than IN LIMBO'S hints but you'll worry about that later. You duck into the containment cell with Hidaka following right behind you.
The room is just as shady and frigid as it was when you left it. The android's gaze is absentmindedly fixed on the floor, seemingly unaware of the world around it. Hidaka clears her throat to get the android's attention.
It suddenly jolts upright, locking its eyes on the both of you. If it had a face, you sure it would be forcing a smile right now.
