Chapter 54: Decadent Past (3)
"Zui, do you want to be examined today as well?"
"Yes, I'll take you there later."
The still young researcher responded in a gentle voice, and then took the towel handed to her by the mechanical arm and draped it over the girl's shoulders. Her wet hair was still dripping with water droplets, and the swaying liquid in the cabin was undulating under her eyes, interweaving into the cold light of the laboratory's inorganic matter.
014 answered obediently, followed the other researchers to the locker room, and changed her already wet clothes.
After she came out, she blew her hair dry and was about to go back to find Zui. When she turned around, she suddenly noticed something unusual in the corner.
...Was there someone next to that cabinet before?
014 walked over, she squatted down, poked the blue-black plush head, "Hey, why are you hiding here again?"
The experimental subject, who was huddled in the corner, slowly raised his head. His eyes were really eye-catching, like a corner of red coral on the seabed, mixed with a little bit of beautiful pink, just as charming as the deep sea itself.
He blinked his eyes, didn't say anything, just stretched out his hand to hand something to 014, then took his hand back and remained silent.
He had a pitiful expression, but he didn't say anything. But 014 also knew that it was because of the experiment and the forced integration of weirdness that caused his language function to degenerate greatly, so he basically didn't speak much, and all words came out one by one.
014 thought about it. The other kids in the institute couldn't beat 109. He was good-looking and the researchers liked him. There was basically no possibility of him being treated harshly.
She couldn't figure out the reason. She peeled off the candy 109 gave her and stuffed it into her mouth. The institute had very strict requirements on daily diet. There were very few snacks that teenagers liked. Even candies were only given out a few times a week. He didn't eat them himself. He always put them away and gave them to her when he saw her.
She suddenly became curious when she thought of this, so she asked again: "Will the experiment affect your sense of taste?"
109 shook her head, not quite understanding why she asked that, but still tried to find the right words in her language system to reply: "Habit."
014 was not that interested in snacks, but she liked to put a piece of candy in her mouth and then bite it when she was free. She understood what 109 meant, but she didn't expect him to see this.
"You haven't answered my previous question yet. What are you doing here? Hiding from the researchers?"
109 said gloomily, "I want to leave."
"I want to escape too." 014 replied casually, "How about we make a plan?"
She looked down and saw 109's piercing eyes. She took back her joke expressionlessly, "I was kidding you. Forget it. If we really escape, we will definitely be discovered. We will be doomed."
"Are you homesick?" 014 simply sat down, and the people around him didn't say anything. 109 didn't know what to say. He was different from them. He was not an orphan, nor was he taken away by force. He was sent here because he had lost his usefulness.
He had no one to miss. The faces in his memory had long faded. After merging with the weirdness, he became closer to a monster. His emotional fluctuations became shallower and shallower.
He wanted to leave here. He was afraid that one day he would be completely unrecognizable and turned into that kind of monster.
109 lowered her head, and the uneasy mood extended to the shadow. 014 vaguely felt something pulling at her sleeve. She didn't even need to turn around. She slapped the small tentacle pulling at her sleeve with a "snap". "Are you worried about the impact of the experiment?"
"We will leave here." 014 comforted him, and seemed to be muttering to herself, "There must be a way."
The scene at this moment was completely reversed from when she first entered the institute. At that time, she hated this place and tried to escape several times but failed. Not long after that, she met 109.
He suddenly appeared at that time. She was a little confused to find that there was another person in front of her, and she stopped sobbing all of a sudden.
She took the candy from his hand in a daze. She didn't quite understand but still said thank you stutteringly, "Thank you... My experiment number is 014, hello."
The boy didn't reply, he gestured a number, 109, this is his name here.
They only call each other by cold digital numbers.
Maybe they will become friends, 014 thought, she didn't like people she knew to call her like this, so she whispered: "Actually, I prefer others to call me Nana, what about you?"
The boy raised his hand and drew his real name on the palm of his hand, stroke by stroke.
Uros, he said, his name is Uros.
—
014 was discovered before she chatted with 109 for long, and she had to leave with Sin. She walked through the wide corridors countless times, the busy laboratories, the occasional passing researchers, everything seemed normal until she saw the innermost laboratory.
She walked forward until she passed that laboratory, and suddenly raised her hand to touch the glass. Under her palm, across the distance right in front of her eyes, their eyes met, and the pair of beautiful gray pupils stared at her.
Cold, hazy, and quiet, like the first impression brought by the person himself, but with a slight smile.
014 watched her raise her hand and wander on the glass, drawing a simple number. 3.
...3? Her experiment number?
"Sin!" As soon as the thought came to mind, 014 impatiently chased after her supervisor and began to ask, "Who was the person by the window in the laboratory we just passed by?"
"That's 003, a child from Group L."
"Group L...? Is the experimental project of this group very special? There seemed to be very few people in that laboratory."
"Of course, Nana is very curious about these?"
"Well, can't I ask?"
"You can, but you can't tell others, not even the child who is close to you."
Sin squatted down, bent one leg on the ground, looked her straight in the eye, his voice still gentle: "Each group of experiments is responsible for different areas. Group L is responsible for 'breakthrough', trying to allow an awakened person to have multiple abilities."
014 was a little surprised, "But how can one person have multiple superpowers? Can the body of an awakened person bear it?"
"No."
Sin's eyes were calm. He couldn't protect himself, and he had to worry about others outside. What else could he do? "But the higher-ups insist on getting a result, so we have to do these experiments."
"Nana, even if you know something, you can't empathize with it. The most important thing is always yourself."
It was hard to believe that such words would come from the mouth of the Sin she knew, but in the research institute and in the imperial capital, this was the only way to stay safe,
and none of them could avoid it. 014 thought of her own family at an inopportune time. Was it because they had touched the interests of others that their family was destroyed overnight?
She had been in the research institute for a year and didn't know when she could leave.
Sin noticed that her mood seemed to be a little depressed, so he changed the subject and said, "Nana, do you like that girl just now?"
Most research institutes explicitly prohibit private contact between experimental subjects, but the vast majority of the people in the Federal Center Research Institute are unawakened, and some of the children are too young and should be accompanied by people of the same age. Taking into account the mental health issues of the experimental subjects, the research institute broke this rule.
Sin was also happy to help. 014 is only 16 years old this year, and it is the right age for him to go to school. Although the institute usually has special teachers to teach, it is not as good as the atmosphere of school. Nana makes more friends now, so she will not be helpless in interpersonal communication in the future.
After all, he has not been here for that long and does not know much about the Federal Center Institute. Subconsciously, he thinks that these children should leave safely in a few years.
But how can the top management let them leave with the secret of illegal experiments? The ending is of course a dead end.
Sin, who still knows nothing, is still trying to convince his child, "Nana, do you want to meet her?"
After receiving a positive answer, the action researcher told his friends in Group L that afternoon and took 014 and 003 to check. The data showed nothing unusual.
Sin was busy recording the data, and 014 was talking to 003 beside him.
When she got closer, she noticed that the gray eyes of the person in front of her were as beautiful as mist and rain, and were stained with a very light blue, but it was almost difficult to notice.
"Your eyes are beautiful." 014 praised sincerely, and 003 just smiled when he saw this. She has a cold look, and it is a completely different feeling when her eyebrows and eyes soften.
014 likes to be with 003, and gradually they become familiar with each other. Until recently, she found that 003 often read a dictionary and pondered something.
"Ah... Because I suddenly remembered that I am already 19 years old this year, but I still don't have my own name, only an experimental number, so I want to think of a new name, Nana, can you help me?"
"I shouldn't have told you about the past. I have no parents. After being picked up by my grandmother, I have been living in the slums. Later, my grandmother passed away, and then I was taken away by the research institute."
No family, no name, no nostalgia.
014 stared at her quietly, lowered his eyes to look at the page that happened to be turned, raised his hand and covered the back of her hand, "Then... how about this word? Moon, bright moon, clear moon, it is pure, humble, peaceful, and can also symbolize unique and beautiful qualities."
"Moon, clear moon, how about it? Do you like it?"
"I like it very much."
003 smiled with her eyes tilted, she thought it would be nice if she could leave here, so that she could have a new name.
But does it exist, will the institute really let them go.
She thought of those experimental subjects who were released because they lost their research value and never came back. Even if they have freedom, they are alone, how can they live without material support? Besides, no one knows whether they have returned home or died in an unknown corner.
In fact, she didn't hate this place that much. She was living a good life now, at least much better than her previous life. But she didn't want to die yet, and an uneasy premonition lingered in her heart.
Sometimes she thought that it might just be a normal data test, and the researchers would inject a replacement drug into her body, and she would never wake up again.
If she hadn't been one of the only two successful products in the transformation experiment so far, she would have been gone here a long time ago.
She didn't trust any researcher, no matter how friendly and gentle they appeared. She would only pity those experimental subjects who were as unfortunate as herself.
She looked at 014 and showed a sincere smile.
"Thank you, Nana."