Zong Yan was silent for a moment, then extended his hand. "Hello."
All changes occurred subtly, not all at once.
Initially, it was just longer training hours; later, due to the obvious mutant features of some volunteers, the time for everyone to go out was reduced.
Later, the first incident of unconscious harm by a Harbinger occurred, resulting in the deaths of six researchers. Therefore, the volunteers' freedom of movement was restricted.
Ren Xuan's modification plan was relatively mild, so gradually, he fell behind the progress of others.
When Zong Yan woke up from a brief coma, he felt some pain from the rib he had replaced. He heard Gong Weibin's stern reprimand from behind the wall.
—"Do you know how dangerous it is outside now?! Every day, more than 100,000 people die because of pollutants!"
—"The other experimental groups have reached a psychic threshold of 5000! Your group is only at 3500! At this rate, when will the Creation of Gods Plan succeed?!"
—"Subject 7 is a precious experimental subject! You can't waste him! If you can't handle it, pack up and get out early!"
Ren Xuan nervously defended himself, "No, Director! With your plan, Zong Yan's body won't be able to handle it."
"They are not humans," Gong Weibin slammed the experimental records onto Ren Xuan's face, "Don't use human standards to judge! I'll say it again, if you can't do it, get out!"
"You're on your own."
After speaking, Gong Weibin left angrily.
Ren Xuan squatted on the ground, silently picking up the experimental records, his eyes red.
Zong Yan, holding his uniform, pushed open the door and silently helped him pick up the experimental report.
An electronic handcuff monitoring his data had already been placed on his wrist.
"It's okay," Zong Yan suddenly said, "I'm fine."
Just this sentence made Ren Xuan cover his face and cry loudly in the corner: "What should I do, Zong Yan? I can't do it. If I can't be your researcher, who else can protect you? Who else will listen to you..."
Departing staff from the research institute have their memories erased through special means due to confidentiality agreements.
Zong Yan watched as Ren Xuan went from a young man to a mature one. Thirty-five or six years old, supposed to be the most vibrant time of a man's life. Not yet old, not as unproductive as in his twenties. However, Ren Xuan had grown white hair prematurely.
"...It's okay. Can I see Gu Zheng?" Zong Yan asked.
Ren Xuan choked up, "Gu Zheng is under the supervision of Director Hu. It's been a long time since I've seen him too."
So, Zong Yan remained silent.
The next time he underwent modification surgery, there were many strangers around his operating table.
These people were wearing protective suits, silent, reciting various data.
"The degree of body flame transformation is too low."
"The psychic threshold needs to be strengthened."
"Change the blood, replace all of 07's blood with that of the pollutant Golden Crow."
Ren Xuan grabbed the wrists of these researchers, pleading, "Can the modification be done in two sessions?"
"Ren Xuan," the man said impatiently, "This is the last chance the director has given you. I'm also in charge of Subject 3. I don't have much time to help you execute the plan. Understand?"
Ren Xuan looked at Zong Yan. His gaze was calm, like stagnant water.
He understood that Zong Yan was saying it was okay. Even though he was restrained on the operating table, he couldn't even move his neck.
Ren Xuan took the dagger handed to him by his senior.
Throughout, Zong Yan remained conscious.
Lu Yan watched this world through Zong Yan's perspective, but unfortunately, he couldn't share the pain with him.
He could only watch.
Lu Yan said, "I've thought for a long time about when I've seen such a scene before. A forensic autopsy."
In Zong Yan's mental space, time skipped forward.
One huge ice coffin after another was smashed by Lu Yan with a knife, each time revealing a fragment of 07's memory.
More than ten years passed.
Zong Yan's face still looked young, but the researchers responsible for him had aged.
Ren Xuan
knocked on the door, made sure there was no one else and no surveillance, and asked, "07, do you still want to leave?"
Zong Yan looked at him, and there was a glimmer of light in his red eyes. "...Yes."
Ren Xuan sat beside him. "But it requires some surgical resection. I will cut off a part of your brain lobe. You will lose the talent of Fire Seed. To prevent you from dying, I will transplant another talent to you."
"After leaving this time, don't come back. Understand?" Ren Xuan whispered, "I will take you out, to the Luochuan Botanical Garden. Besides me, there will be security from the institute. They have been implanted with dog genes by the director... I don't know who else to trust. And you, don't trust anyone."
Zong Yan raised his head, staring blankly at him.
Due to the aftermath of several surgeries, his intelligence had regressed somewhat.
He nodded. "Okay."
After that, it was what Lu Yan knew.
The Luochuan Botanical Garden, discarded talents, the dead banyan tree.
Zong Yan escaped, not trusting anyone.
But he had been disconnected from society for too long and was eventually found. He was locked up again in the Pollution Disease Control Center in City X.
He remembered Ren Xuan's words, not to trust anyone.
Any disobedient experimental subject would be eliminated. There wasn't even a need for a difficult reason: failed fusion surgery, mutation degree exceeding 100, euthanasia.
Lu Yan also saw himself for the first time from someone else's perspective.
He looked surprised. "Was I so gentle with patients?"
The system snorted, "[Yes, you arsonist]."
He would watch TV with 07, whispering news to him softly, and sometimes, 07 would fall asleep leaning against his leg.
"[07 has seen a lot of tenderness from you. It's something he hasn't felt from humans for a long time, even if it's just a kind of pity from above]."
Ren Xuan told him not to trust anyone, but in the end, Zong Yan still grabbed his wrist.
"Doctor, save me," he said.
He didn't let 07 down.
...
...
After that, Lu Yan saw 01, Shen Qingyang, and the Prophet in Zong Yan's memories.
The ice blocks at the bottom of the sea cracked one by one, and Lu Yan passed through layers of seawater to reach the bottom of this sea area.
The seawater here was no longer turbulent, just bone-chillingly cold, like ice.
At the bottom of the sea, a red bird was perched in the coral bushes.
Back then, joking with Gu Zheng in the cafeteria, Zong Yan said that if his mutation degree exceeded 100, he would definitely commit suicide by jumping into the sea.
So Zong Yan really jumped into the bottom of the sea, unwilling to wake up.
"[This is 07's original body. You can wake him up now]."
Lu Yan was somewhat puzzled. "It seems like I haven't done anything yet..."
"[You don't need to do anything. These are things that Zong Yan forgot. You accompanied him through it again, unlocking his memories. There's a saying, 'If you knew the past me, then you would forgive the present me']."
Lu Yan approached slowly. The deep-sea pressure was uncomfortably real, making his internal organs ache.
He touched the cold little bird. Suddenly, flames surged from the bird's body.
The flames intertwined to form a human figure.
Zong Yan lay on the ground, his slightly long hair scattered in the seawater, his red eyes staring straight at him. "You've seen everything."
"Yeah."
"Will you forgive me, Dr. Lu?"
Lu Yan thought for a moment, as if still in the Pollution Disease Control Center in City X, and touched his hair. "You've done enough. Besides yourself, no one has the right to forgive you."
So, Zong Yan closed his eyes, smiled, and replied, "Okay."
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