Chapter 207: Pandora
The thin boy was curled up in the incubator.
There was no trace of blood on the pale face, his long black eyelashes trembled before slowly opening.
A pair of round and big eyes dark eyes showed a moment of bewilderment and dazedness before focusing quickly.
The illusion of tranquility and fragility was instantly shattered, the newfound devilish spirit surfaced from the depths of the body again, shining in the pupils as deep as the abyss. It triumphed again at the dominant position, threatening and ready to fight against the whole world.
Waves of trembling passed over the debilitated limbs from time to time, the aftereffects of the electric shock still hadn’t completely dissipated.
He tried to move his body, but failed.
In the next second, he seemed to realize that something was off, his movements paused for a moment, his eyes moved slightly, falling on his half-closed palms.
A hard sphere wrapped in cellophane lay quietly in the child’s small palm.
A cautious and thoughtful look flitted from the depths of those big, black eyes.
He stared suspiciously and vigilantly at this object that did not belong to his cubicle, as if he could not understand the current situation.
The eating recipes of the experimental subjects were tailored for them by professional nutritionists taking into account their faster growth rate compared to normal humans—— nutritional efficiency was the highest priority considered. Among them, no one would treat them subconsciously as human beings who could enjoy food, but more like two artificial expensive machines, with food being the fuel that would keep them running possibly efficiently.
No one cared about the taste of fuel.
The only value of food was energy intake, and nothing more.
Candy was a luxury.
Only very occasionally, it would appear on the dinner plate as a side meal—maybe it was to supplement the necessary sugar needed for the experimental subjects’ overly fast growth, or maybe it was just that the nutritionists were occasionally confused by the human appearance of the experimental subject, showing such meaningless behavior.
However, for U2625, there was not much difference whether it was candy or those foods made with nutrition formula.
He never expressed any preference or complaint about the food, never being a chooser and always eating whatever was on his plate in peace.
For the experimental subject, candy was even more unfamiliar.
He looked at the small sphere lying in his palm vigilantly as if facing an enemy, and raised his eyes to look at the other side separated by a transparent partition——
the boy was lying quietly on the bed, face up, with his hands crossed over his abdomen, his eyes were closed as he breathed evenly.
The child’s pale and cold fingertips moved with difficulty, grabbed the candy, and then slowly threw it off his bed.
“Pang.”
The candy hit the floor with a slight sound, then rolled towards the corner of the room, finally slowed down and stopped there.
The child closed his eyes.
He curled up his small body, as if wanting to resist the physical trembling caused by one shock after another-as if the electricity was still flowing in his veins and blood.
·
The test result came out soon.
The physical condition of the experimental subject was very positive and the growth rate of mental power was also very gratifying. After all the data reports were submitted to the senior management of the Research Institute for review, the senior management was very satisfied, and then approved the start of Pandora Project PART 2.
DAY 635
The first phase of the experiment begun.
[In the first experiment, the anesthetic gas was released into the compartment at 12:00 noon. The experiment was estimated to take three hours, but the actual time was eight hours and twenty-four minutes.
The planned experiment was not completed]
DAY 638
[The second experiment, estimated to take three hours, actually took twelve hours and fifty-five minutes.
The experiment plan was not completed]
…
[The sixth experiment, the subject woke up during anesthesia, the researchers suffered three minor injuries and one serious injury.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. ]
[The experiment subject was confined for three days. ]
Except for the first time when the subject was sent back, after the other six experiments, U2625 never got up.
To be precise, during this period of nearly a week, his activities were pitifully small.
Except for the necessary daily spiritual strength tests, he maintained the posture of lying flat on the bed board, with his hands folded flat on his abdomen, his eyes closed, his expression calm and his breathing even, almost as if he was sleeping calmly.
“Drip——” A tiny electronic sound sounded in the silent isolation area, the special door that provided isolation from spiritual power opened silently to both sides, researchers in full protective suits pushed the incubator inside.
But this time, to the surprise of the researchers, U2625 did not maintain a state of indifference to this side like the previous six times.
A boy with a tall and straight back stood in front of the transparent isolation door. When the door of the isolation area in the distance opened, his eyes moved slightly, and a pair of extremely deep eyes looked fixedly in the direction of the sound, as if he had been waiting for them to come.
Although they were separated by specially strengthened walls and glass, the moment they saw each other, the leading researcher couldn’t help but shudder, subconsciously becoming alert.
However, until they opened the door of the experimental subject’s compartment, put the incubator into it and set up the confinement ring, U2625 did not make any changes during the whole process.
The researcher’s tensed up heart relaxed slightly.
The boy’s eyes followed the direction of the incubator.
Confinement was a much more vicious form of punishment than electric shock. It used an extremely narrow and dark space to take down the spiritual and psychological defenses of the punished, gradually moving inward over time. Deprived of light, sound, and senses, all mentality collapsed quickly.
Through the glass cover on the incubator, one could only see the pale half of the child’s cheek.
Raven-feather eyelashes hung motionless over it, leaving a brooding shadow.
After finishing everything, the researchers turned around and left the compartment. The special glass door closed behind them with a soft “beep” sound. Just as they turned to prepare for the quarantine area, they heard an unfamiliar voice coming from behind them.
“Wait… a moment.”
It was an unskilled crude voice, rough and hoarse like gravel, as if he was not proficient in speaking, he paused before every word, speaking unskillfully.
The researcher turned his head in shock and looked in the direction of the sound.
The boy stood there, looking back at them with a pair of dark eyes, his expression was still calm, as if he was indifferent to everything.
…Just now, was he the one who spoke?
Since its birth, U2625 had never spoken a single word.
His voice was completely normal, he screamed in pain when he was first taken to the laboratory for experiments, but this disappeared quickly—— even with increased pain levels, U2625 kept silent throughout entire childhood, as if he didn’t feel pain.
The researchers also tried to design experiments to test and even train his language ability, but although the other party was very cooperative with their experiments, they never uttered a word even under their inducing. This plan lasted for three months. Afterwards, it was declared a failure. Although the researcher who led the project claimed that U2625’s intelligence was completely sufficient to learn every language of human beings, but he was just indifferent to all external stimuli, so he didn’t speak, but the main belief in the Research Institute was still—— —He couldn’t speak.
While the researcher was looking at him in shock, the communicators on everyone’s protective suits started beeping frantically.
All electronic screens began to flash red lights.
There was a problem with the starnet, possibly even leading to a fatal crisis causing it to go completely offline.
The young man stood in the isolation room, his dark eyes reflected a flickering red light, like a treacherous scarlet blood.
He spoke again:
“We can make a deal.”
Astonishingly fast, he got rid of the pauses and unskilledness during speech, his words became smooth and free.
Inside the incubator.
The closed eyelids of the experimental subject moved, as if pulled out of the stupor by the piercing siren. In the drowsiness, he heard a voice from a distance:
“…Need…ask for instructions…”
“Report quickly!”
He recognized these voices.
During the past few days, the high-intensity experiment and the ensuing punishment for his resistance also meant more intensive contact with personnel and a denser language impact—for the experimental subject, this level was enough to master the language in seventy-eighty percent, and to know the specific voices that often appears around him.
After an unknown period of time.
The sound of hurried footsteps came from far and near, and then, the familiar voice sounded again.
“…high level…agree…details…”
Immediately afterwards, a strange voice that he had never heard before came from a place very close to him, low and hoarse, without any emotion:
“Okay.”
The next second, there was a “di” sound, as if the door of the next compartment was opened.
The buzzing of electronic shackles came through.
The dense footsteps left towards the distance, and everything returned to silence.
The experimental subject tried to open his eyes, but the eyelids seemed to be tightly glued to the lower eyelids, a deeper and darker darkness struck, engulfing him and dragging down deeper into sleep.
It was unknown how much time had passed.
In the incubator, the child slowly came to life.
Dragging his limp limbs, he climbed up from the edge of the incubator and looked aside.
The compartment next to it was empty.
The bed was flat, and the boy who was supposed to be lying on it was missing.
The experimental subject sat in the incubator, staring deeply at the empty bed opposite him thoughtfully and puzzled, with inexplicable emotions in his big dark eyes.
three days later.
U2625 was escorted back by heavily armed guards.
He looks different.
He was paler and thinner, the wrist joints exposed under the sleeves were thin and distinct, with scorched marks that had not yet healed.
He looked very tired, but his expression was still calm and indifferent.
The child opened a pair of big black eyes, silently watching the whole process.
The guards locked him back in and left quickly.
Soon, there were only two people left in the quarantine area again.
The experimental subject stared fixedly at the other party, and without warning, he spoke, his immature and soft voice was a little hoarse, as he spit out a single sentence unskillfully:
“You, what, did you do?”
No one took him to those boring experiments.
The experimental subject was very aware of what had changed.
The boy looked at him when he heard the sound.
Those indifferent and cold eyes added a touch of fresh warmth when they met the other party. He lowered his eyes and said calmly: “If you want to fight, you got to be smart.”
He fell on the bed and closed his eyes.
Not long after, the sound of even breathing sounded.
The young man looked extremely embarrassed, his messy black hair covered his tightly closed eyes, the thick blue and black shadows under his eyes became more prominent and conspicuous.
The child stared at the other in silence.
After a long time, he looked away.
He hesitated for a moment, seeming a little uncertain, but he still reached out to touch his cuff.
A hard, round, cellophane-wrapped sphere was hidden there—he picked it up from under his incubator after U2625 was taken away that day.
Of course he knew what it was.
Although it was not common, it would occasionally appear on the other party’s dinner plate, and he had seen the other party eat it.
The experimental subject stared at the candy lying in his palm, hesitated, and then imitated the other person’s example, unwrapping the package clumsily and carefully.
He took a quick lick, tentatively, carefully.
The child’s big black eyes lit up slightly.
The next second, he quickly raised his head and glanced at the opposite bed as if having guilty conscience, and after making sure that he was not seen, he secretly stuffed the candy into his mouth.
