The structural integrity of the aged cells was so weak that they would burst from osmotic pressure while some of them shrivelled up and died from dehydration.
Healthy cells can regulate the amount of water entering their bodies. However, when the cell membrane fails to do that, excess water can cause a cell to explode like a water balloon. Cells desiccated when their cell membrane fails to keep water in their bodies.
The consequence was that he had dried skin like a mummy. His bones were turning to dust and could snap just from him standing up. Yet a creamy white liquid would ooze out of his eyes, ears, mouth and other orifices. They even seeped out of his sweat glands like on the forehead and rolled down his arms and legs.
Although his ankles could just snap if he stood up and turn into a dust cloud upon falling, he avoided that tragedy because of the electric wheelchair.
He pushed the control stick forward. The wheels rolled over the fallen hand with ease as it crumbled to white dust.
Lazarus was pressing buttons on the console in his lab. The lack of functional cells caused his internal organs to fail and his muscles lost most of their strength. His hands were shaking as he held a reaching aid to input keys into the console. He had no one to help him as he had no money left so no one was around to assist.
The red blood cells no longer have the capacity to carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Although that didn't matter anymore because the arteries and heart tissue were so flimsy that they blew open.
After he successfully activated the capsule in front of him. He died on the robotic wheelchair.
***
*szzzzzzzzz!*
One heavy built man was sawing the door to Lazarus's mansion. 9 other men in black were standing halfway between the door and the front gate.
All of them were tall except for a man in black attire. Although the colour was simple, the suit was more intricate compared to those of the men around him. It was a sign of wealth. He was a short stubby man with a big belly.
This man in his 60s is Lazarus's accountant.
He knew that the recently late Lazarus had bought the security doors from SafeBreak to install the front and back doors. The company is the world's leading security door manufacture. He had done his research. More specifically, he got professionals to investigate Lazarus's mansion and security systems.
One of the men had deactivated the security system and alarm network of the mansion. He was a former systems engineer who when fired from his job, got caught doing petty crimes.
He was released early and hired to do dirty work. He was now doing a job for Bardan, the accountant. The absence of security detail on the property made it a cakewalk.
Although the security doors from SafeBreak were the best in the world, Lazarus was a scientist and didn't cover his tracks like a careless billionaire. Once they knew what kind of door he purchased, they knew how to break it.
These were the kind of doors that the video "police vs door" went viral about. In the video, the equivalent of a SWAT team couldn't break the door open with a battering ram. The video was cut off after the police had seemingly given up. A few minutes later, they used a shotgun to blow out the door lock and opened it.
The men brought assault rifles so they had more than enough firepower. They were prepared for any surprises, but they were just expecting an old man dead in his bed. The personal care nurse that Lazarus hired was bribed and secretly updated to Bardan with news every 24 hours.
They knew he was dead because, during one of his organ transplant surgeries, they had a microchip monitor attached to his heart while he was under general anesthesia.
It was needless to mention that some of the most expensive doctors cared more about money than their patients. This was true for some fly-in surgeons who were high in demand for their skills.
Once his heart stopped beating, the microchip sent a signal to the receiver.
The man holding the saw stopped and inspected the mark. There wasn't even a scratch.
He looked at the saw blade. All the sawtooths had been bent or snapped.
"Boss, the saw's not cutting it..."
"What!" Bardan exclaimed and went over to check the door and the saw blade.
The blade itself was made of tungsten carbide alloy which was one of the strongest commercial metal alloys but this one was a prototype that Lazarus had made for the unique designs of his buildings and inventions. It had diamond tips on each of the sawtooth, yet there was not even a scratch. They could smell the burnt metal from the saw blade.
"The door was definitely the Unique Home Designs Liberty door, right?"
Another man read out from a transaction statement "Hamgris 666 series. Yes. Interchangeable inlays, sigma bar frame, tamper-proof hinges, customizable-"
"Customizable?"
"Yes."
Bardan knew that the door was paid for five times the original price. He had thought that Lazarus was just tipping an old friend.
Another black suit used an analyser on the door. The device looked like a walkie-talkie.
"Sir, it's made of adamantium..."
"WHAT!"
Although everyone was wearing sunglasses, you could see their eyes bulging out.
"Judging by the size of the door, it's got to be worth around 10% of the world's total adamantium resource. Not even the B5 charges we brought could blow a hole in it."
Impossible!
Bardan suddenly felt stupid standing outside his mansion with fully armed mercenaries. There were at least a billion credits in there even if Lazarus's research and prototypes were junk. A few billion more for valuable technology and materials. Was he going to be stopped by a buffed-up security door?