Bres curled into a ball on the ground, clutching his stomach, writhing in pain like a live shrimp in a hot pan.
After a long while, he recovered.
“Yifulin, did you take the wrong medicine or what?”
he asked angrily.
“I feel like you’re the one who took the wrong medicine?”
Yifulin replied unceremoniously to Bres’s accusation.
She pushed Bres away and plopped down on the sofa.
“Don’t beat around the bush. First, tell me clearly, what’s wrong with that girl?”
Yifulin leaned back, sinking into the sofa.
After letting out a satisfied sigh, she spoke.
“That girl took two bullets in the belly. Lucky for her, the bullets went clean through and didn’t hit any vital organs. I’ve bandaged her up. She’s not in danger.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Bres asked, puzzled.
“Because the problem isn’t there,” she said in a low voice.
“The problem is with the girl herself.”
“Then what is it? Spit it out, don’t keep me in suspense.”
Bres was getting impatient.
“What’s the rush? You come bother me in the middle of the night, and I can’t give you a hard time? Let me ask you, what’s that girl’s background?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know, and you still bring her to me?”
Yifulin laughed in anger.
“Probably some rich man’s daughter, maybe kidnapped by a gang, and she found a chance to escape in the middle of the night?”
Hearing this, Yifulin sat up from the sofa, leaned forward, and stared straight at Bres.
“Don’t joke around. What wealthy family would modify their daughter’s body into something like a war machine?”
“What did you say?”
Bres was completely stunned.
“From head to toe, Bres, that girl’s entire body is combat prosthetics. It’s no exaggeration to say she’s armed to the teeth.”
“That’s impossible…”
Bres stopped mid-sentence, remembering the unusual weight when he had picked up the girl a few hours ago.
“I gave her a full-body scan. Most of her body has prosthetics implanted—eyes, heart, lungs, even many bones have been reinforced or replaced. With that level of modification, why didn’t they reinforce the skin on her torso? Anyway, with such an extreme degree of cyberization, it wouldn’t be surprising if she turns into a cyber psychotic any second.”
Yifulin pulled out a tablet and showed Bres the results.
“If it weren’t for you bringing her, I would have already called the Counter-Terrorism Mobile Unit.”
Yifulin looked worriedly at the operating table where the girl was still unconscious.
“Can you tell where she’s from from the model numbers and logos on the prosthetics?”
“No. I scanned her from head to toe,”
she waved the tablet.
“Guess what? The models are all [Unknown], and there’s no company logo on the outside of the prosthetics.”
Bres covered his face with both hands and sighed deeply.
“So, what are you going to do next? I just gave her a shot; she should sleep for a few more hours. But since she’s been modified like this, there’s a good chance she has drug resistance, and also a good chance she’ll go crazy as soon as she wakes up.”
With that, Yifulin walked back into the operating room, probably to keep an eye on the girl.
Bres stood in front of the operating room door.
He had two choices before him.
First: call the police and hand the girl over to them.
But seeing such a terrifyingly high cyberization rate, those guys would most likely capture her and dissect her for research, or at worst throw her into the Counter-Terrorism Mobile Unit—a unit with a staggeringly high mortality rate and constant turnover.
The outcome of being sent there was obvious.
Second: the option he least wanted but perhaps the safest—quietly eliminate her here.
Yifulin might be a bit dissatisfied, but she wouldn’t stop him—and she had the means to do it.
Everything could be done silently, with no third party knowing.
Yifulin’s lips were always sealed.
“This is terrible…”
Bres felt like he was standing at the fork of a railway track, once again reluctantly gripping the track switch.
He hated being the one to make a decision.
swoosh, the operating room door slid open again.
Yifulin, who was resting nearby, looked up.
“Faster than I expected. So, have you made a decision?”
“Wait a bit. How about we ask her first?”
“Alright,”
Yifulin agreed readily, contrary to his expectations.
“But I need to take some precautions first.”
“?”
Click.
Yifulin took out a collar-like device from her white coat and fastened it around the girl’s neck.
“What the hell is that?”
“A bomb collar.”
“What the… where did you get something so twisted?”
The man barely suppressed his urge to curse.
“Don’t slander me. It was a patient’s belonging. I don’t need to explain why it became a belonging, do I?”
She gave a dry laugh and tossed a black object to Bres.
Bres caught it—it looked like a remote control.
“This is a safety device. During the test later, if she does anything off, you press the switch.”
“Why do I have to be the bad guy?”
Bres asked with some indignation.
Yifulin smiled.
“You brought this trouble. So see it through to the end, Bres Enfield.”
Qiao Anni opened her eyes.
Above her was an operating light and a slightly yellowed ceiling.
‘I remember passing out in the rain… Have I finally woken up from the nightmare? Was it all just a dream during surgery? First turning into a woman, then nearly being injected with some strange drug, and finally being shot. What a nightmare, not funny at all.’
Just as Qiao Anni tried to move her limbs, she found herself firmly strapped to the operating table.
Her arms and legs were locked down by metal restraints.
“Where is this now?”
The nightmare was far from over.
“Yo, awake?”
A female voice came from beside her.
Qiao Anni turned her head with difficulty and saw a tired-looking blue-haired woman staring at her.
“Who are you? Why am I here?”
she asked warily, her voice trembling slightly.
“Looks like you’re conscious and have basic thinking ability. I’m going to ask you a few questions. Just answer truthfully.”
“What do you mean…”
“Just answer. I’ll explain the details later.”
The woman interrupted Qiao Anni, fastened a wristband around her wrist, and activated a machine of unknown purpose.
“First question: You’re walking in the desert and see a turtle lying on its back, belly baking in the sun, struggling to turn over but unable to. Would you help it?”
“What the heck?”
Qiao Anni was completely confused.
“Just kidding. Now for the real test.”
Qiao Anni couldn’t laugh at all, but Yifulin ignored her and started swiping on her tablet, beginning a long series of questions.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.