Aster gazed at the scene spread before him.
The giant snake, which was rushing toward him just a few seconds earlier, was frozen completely solid, turning into a massive ice sculpture. Of course, it wasn't only the snake; even the entire room got covered in frost.
For a moment, he thought that the entire laboratory had returned to its previous clean, white appearance!
Still, he was bewildered. In just a few moments, after he closed his eyes while thinking he was about to get eaten alive, everything was suddenly frozen in place!
"Wait, I'm barefooted!"
Fearing that the icy, frozen floor would cause his feet to become frostbitten, Aster exclaimed as he lifted them. However, he also realized something peculiar at the same time. "It's… not cold?"
Hoarfrost was all around him right now, making him feel as though he were in an industrial freezer. With just a casual glance, the temperature around him should at least reach minus 30 °C! But forget about getting frostbitten; he wasn't even feeling the chill in the air.
Curious, he patted the icy floor. As he expected, it was not cold to the touch. Rather, it was as warm as room temperature. A strange phenomenon was currently occurring to him firsthand.
As an experiment, he tried to spit, expecting nothing to happen. However, as soon as it moved a meter away from him, the meteor-shaped liquid froze mid-air, the mist around it turning into thick fog before dropping straight down and scattering into shards.
"This is real!" He exclaimed in shock before touching and checking his body all over.
He was wearing a plain white patient robe, but other than that, nothing else. Not even underwear. He raised a brow in wonder, muttering, "I can't feel the cold?"
Baffled, he stood still for a while before taking another deep breath.
*Huff!*
Thinking about things he couldn't understand would only waste his time; instead, he turned around, facing the fire exit. He was about to try and undo the bolt again, but realized that even that got frozen solid.
"Hmph!"
Even after exerting more strength, he couldn't even turn the handle by a millimeter, much less move it out of the way.
"Useless piece of…!" In a fit of anger, he kicked the gate as hard as he could.
And to his surprise, like brittle ice, the entire door crumpled into fine blocks, creating a large enough opening for him to slip through. Seeing that the alloyed metal door was frozen enough to turn brittle, this means the temperature inside should've reached minus 100 °C!
"..."
Still, he stopped thinking. He decided not to puzzle himself about it and to prioritize surviving first.
After pushing a few sharp edges out, he crawled through the door and finally saw the flight of stairs leading up. A faint light could be seen shining down from the top, while the bottom was filled with dried, decomposed leaves and small branches.
It was practically turning into a compost pit, completely burying the stairs leading to the tenth underground floor. The floor where the Nuclear Fission Reactor powering the whole laboratory—along with its silo of radioactive U-235 rods—was located.
'I should check that place later,' Aster thought.
He was worried about the possibility of the reactor going loco, causing a nuclear explosion. But for now, he needed to look for help—someone, anyone—as he wanted information about the current situation.
"Still…" He sighed, wasting his breath as he looked up. "Stairs."
He was extremely reluctant to scale it. However, he had no choice. Looking at the state of the place, he doubted there'd be any food or water around. Without those necessities, he'd die if he stayed here.
One step at a time, he climbed the stairs. At the same time, he was careful of the rusted parts, as they turned to dust after he tried putting his weight on them. Even the handrails can't be trusted!
The entire way to the top, his heart was beating wildly, as if he were walking on a tightrope!
He eventually came to the gate that was blocking the exit. However, this time, probably because it was exposed to more elements, the door was already missing, most likely buried below the thick layer of soil and decaying leaves.
Aster weaved his way through the vines blocking the path and looked around. His lips gradually turned into a deep frown. "When did the city transform into a thick forest?" He mused, looking in all directions.
Although he could navigate the entire city even while blindfolded, like it was the back of his hand, he didn't even know where to go after seeing the state of this place.
Traces of familiar buildings could still be seen, but they were already destroyed, turning into a pile of rubble covered in moss and vines.
Turning around, even the laboratory he got out from was in the same state. Reduced into rubble and washed by an unknown amount of time.
A wave of sentimentality came upon Aster, but he quickly shook his head. He decided to think about such emotional things later, when he was already safe and sound. First and foremost, he should head to where the nearest civilization could be found.
He stopped to think for a while.
Assuming that a sizeable amount of time passed and that, for some reason, the city had to be evacuated, he started to predict where the people would head.
"... North."
The land to the north should have a higher capability to support life, capable of even allowing farming and such, and become completely self-sustainable. More than that, the land there was at a higher elevation than where he was currently standing, so it was less susceptible to floods.
After rationalizing, he didn't waste time and took a careful step forward… and as if Lady Luck were laughing at him, he managed to step on a sharp pebble first thing.
"What rotten luck!" He cursed as he bent down, checking his wound. "This might get infected..." He worried but couldn't find anything to use to wrap his wound.
Having no choice, he could only repurpose his patient gown. Aster took it off once before ripping out a portion and wrapping it around his hips. The rest of it he slit into two equal parts and wrapped around his feet, using them like impromptu shoes.
After he had double-checked that he was adequately protecting his dignity and that his feet were no longer hurting from stepping on sharp pebbles, he began to walk to the left and then straight ahead.
His plan: go to the north and reach civilization!