Goodbye Cruel World Axel Gilberto is visited in prison by a woman named Hersch, who fills him in on the current situation: after disappearing without a trace three years ago, the genius Dr. Skinner has resurfaced online to reveal that his miracle painkiller "Hapna" will kill everyone who has taken it three years after the first dose, with the first wave of victims set to come in approximately 30 days. While the U.S. government tries desperately to find a cure, the only sure-way to prevent the medication's massacre is to find Dr. Skinner himself and force him to reverse the effects of Hapna before the 30 days have passed. However, Axel is uninterested, instead using Hersch's visit as an opportunity to escape prison. While the world is currently in chaos following Dr. Skinner's announcement, Axel uses the confusion to escape, but finds himself hunted by a team of pursuers, one of whom manages to stun him with a high-tech bracelet. One day later, Axel wakes up in an abandoned barbershop, where Hirsch talks to him via video chat to tell him that he has been selected to join her team, codenamed "Lazarus".