Chapter 250: At Both Ends of the Scale 31
The rivalry between Night Cicada and You Wang was officially established.
“Aren’t you going to ask me which character my surname is?” You Wang said deliberately.
“No need, I saw the name tag on your bedside table.” Night Cicada harbored a grudge and had hardly acknowledged You Wang for several days.
However, he was quite concerned about You Wang, not only because of their rivalry but also because of what You Wang had said.
Why not ask or delve deeper? Where did the disappeared children go? Weren’t they adopted?
You Wang seemed to know something, but no matter how Night Cicada hinted at it, he skillfully avoided the topic and changed the subject.
After all, Night Cicada was young, and after a while, he put the matter out of his mind. Life in the orphanage was quite busy, filled with homework and studies. The director even forced them to undergo physical training, claiming it was to ensure they had good health.
This life continued for a while until the next health check arrived. This time, the physical examination was combined with a psychological evaluation. As usual, the kids of the orphanage lined up in the corridor outside the infirmary, waiting to report to the psychology room to fill out forms.
One by one, they went in and came out.
When You Wang finished his physical examination and came out of the psychological evaluation, his expression was visibly off.
Night Cicada didn’t have time to decipher his expression before entering the infirmary himself.
After a series of checks were done, the doctor in the white coat looked over Night Cicada’s data and tapped on the electronic record board in hand.
Just before leaving, Night Cicada turned his neck to see if this examination result would be a check or a cross. In the past, his results were always checks, but this time… it was a cross!
Night Cicada’s heart sank; the hair on the back of his neck almost stood up.
Judging from his shallow knowledge and intuition—that was not a good sign!
But he couldn’t quite articulate what was wrong.
Once all the children finished their assessments, the doctor in the white coat showed the electronic records to the director. The director’s finger slid across the electronic screen, then she tilted her head and spoke a sentence to the doctor, nodding slightly, and the doctor also smiled and nodded in return.
From a distance, Night Cicada watched this scene with an inexplicable sense of dread creeping over him.
“It looks like we’re in trouble.” You Wang said behind him.
“What happens to people who get marked with a cross?” Night Cicada asked quietly.
“I don’t know, but it definitely isn’t good.” You Wang replied.
Night Cicada said, “How do you know it’s not good?”
“Because I can do things that others can’t.” You Wang whispered, “Those kids… they weren’t simply adopted… they went to a very bad place.”
“We’re all going to be in trouble, why keep it a secret?” Night Cicada crossed his arms and looked at him, “Tell me, is there any way to solve this?”
“Okay… I can attach myself to others like a ghost… that’s my secret, I haven’t told anyone.” You Wang sighed, “I wanted to know where those kids went, so I possessed someone… but that person wasn’t picked up by adoptive parents; he got on a black transport vehicle… just like the transport vehicles in cartoons that carry prisoners…”
“What an amazing ability.” Night Cicada’s focus shifted momentarily before quickly returning to the point, “So once you got on the transport vehicle, that was it?”
“The person I possessed fainted.” You Wang said, “When I woke up, I was back in the orphanage… after that, I had a high fever for three days, and my nose kept bleeding.”
Night Cicada had some recollection of this: “Ah, I remember… you were in the infirmary for several days. Why did you have a fever?”
You Wang uncertainly answered, “Maybe… it’s a side effect? The cost of using a superpower?”
Night Cicada shivered, “Can we… escape?”
“Where can we run away to? Do you have money? An independent account? What can we do if we escape?” You Wang replied, “Without an electronic account, we can’t even take the electric tram or buy food.”
Night Cicada’s shoulders drooped in frustration.
The director didn’t give Night Cicada and You Wang the chance to plan their escape. That afternoon, she informed all the children that Night Cicada and You Wang were to be adopted, and they would not be returning to the orphanage.
That evening, the orphanage had an extra meal, which was customary; whenever a child was “adopted,” two extra meat dishes would be added in the evening.
Night Cicada ate without tasting anything, mindlessly pushing the food around his plate.
Later that night, the director called Night Cicada and You Wang aside and smiled at them: “Someone has come to pick you up, but before going to your new home, you need to undergo a more comprehensive health check. The equipment here isn’t sufficient, so we need to go to a proper hospital…”
She firmly grabbed both of their wrists and hurriedly led them out of the orphanage. A black transport vehicle was waiting on the road ahead, blending into the night, with two people in white biochemical suits standing beside it.
You Wang stopped in his tracks, a wave of fear spreading through him. He instinctively began to struggle, and the director almost couldn’t control him.
But the people in the biochemical suits approached, wielding a dark stick. Once the stick touched You Wang’s body, he trembled and collapsed.
Night Cicada was paralyzed with fear, trying to step back but unable to escape the director’s grip. He yelled in terror: “Don’t come over!”
A small deep blue vortex suddenly flickered in the air and vanished. The two people in the biochemical suits exchanged astonished glances, and one of them unhesitatingly jabbed the electric stick into Night Cicada, and he instantly fell down as well.
Before he lost consciousness, he heard muffled voices exchanging: “What’s going on with these two children? They seem to know something; otherwise, they wouldn’t have reacted this way.”
“He has awakened. Awakening at this age is far too early; it will have a significant impact on their physical development and can easily lead to early aging…”
“Anyway, he is no longer a scrap—report it and see how the higher-ups handle it.”
When Night Cicada woke up again, everything before him was a blinding white.
He sprang up from the ground and realized he was locked inside a silver-white room, the walls perfectly sealed, not even a door in sight.
He frantically grope around the walls for several rounds, yelling: “Is anyone there?”
With a sharp click, the originally sealed wall suddenly cracked open, startling Night Cicada so much that he stumbled backward and fell to the floor.
Before him stood an old lady with white hair, wearing a white coat and gold-rimmed glasses. Although elderly people tend to give off a kind feeling, this woman’s brown eyes revealed a cold hardness.
She appeared to be in her twilight years, yet her gaze was sharper and more ambitious than that of a young person.
Her name badge read—Chen Zhiqiu.
“Y-you, who are you?” Night Cicada stammered.
“Your researcher.” The old lady said, “From now on, you will call me Dr. Chen. You will need to live here permanently, cooperating with my experiments and work.”
Night Cicada felt absurd, still a bit dazed. “Why? Why must I be here? What about You Wang? What is the experiment…?”
Dr. Chen smiled, but this smile did nothing to soften her features.
“You must follow many rules while you stay here. The first rule is obedience. Do not ask questions.” Dr. Chen said, “Alright, come with me; I need to conduct a preliminary test on your abilities.”
Having learned to obey in the orphanage, Night Cicada vaguely understood that being disobedient had its consequences. So he suppressed his fear and doubts and followed Dr. Chen out of the silver-white room.
They walked through a long corridor, which was also silver-white.
As they passed through a section of the hallway, Night Cicada suddenly heard horrifying screams. The screams were muffled, as if coming from a far-off distance… He froze in place, a look of fear spreading across his face.
The screaming persisted, seemingly from multiple sources—men, women, young and old. Their voices blended together, piercing into the mind, striking the deepest fear within one’s heart, making him shudder.
“Am I going to die?” Night Cicada’s face turned pale.
At the age of ten, the weighty word “death” emerged for the first time in his mind.
“No.” Dr. Chen’s gold-rimmed glasses reflected slightly, and she said with a smile, “As long as you are obedient enough, you won’t die. As long as you are valuable enough, you also won’t. You’ve been quite obedient—no crying, no shouting—this is good… Now let’s confirm your value.”
Fortunately or unfortunately—Night Cicada had enough value.
His extraordinary ability was an extremely rare spatial type, and Dr. Chen looked at him as if gazing at a precious treasure.
“What can be determined now is that you are valuable enough.” Dr. Chen said meaningfully, “As long as you haven’t lost your value, you will continue living, child.”
“What about You Wang?” Night Cicada couldn’t help but ask.
Dr. Chen replied, “Who is You Wang?”
Night Cicada’s scalp tingled when he heard her question. After the recent ability test, he vaguely understood what extraordinary abilities were—only those with extraordinary abilities were considered valuable and earned the right to live. But Dr. Chen did not know that You Wang also had extraordinary abilities! Without value, You Wang would die!
“He has powers too, he told me!” Night Cicada locked his eyes on Dr. Chen, “He can live too! Having abilities means living, right?”
Dr. Chen raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”
She picked up the communication microphone from the wall and dialed a number, speaking to someone on the other end: “Has the child named You Wang been disposed of? No? That’s good; bring him over.”
After ending the call, Dr. Chen looked down at Night Cicada, her expression unreadable, “Well, as you wish, he can live.”
Night Cicada sighed in relief.
Unfortunately, his joy was premature.
In his memory, the years spent at the experimental base could only be described as dark.
Every day, he endured injections of unknown substances. There was a retention needle installed in his arm, so he no longer needed to have multiple holes poked in it.
Since his powers awakened too early, he frequently underwent ability training, causing his physical condition to lag behind. Moreover, his cellular vitality was much lower than that of normal awakened individuals. His powers and physical fitness developed in almost opposing directions; while his abilities rapidly increased under a variety of medications and training, his body weakened to the point that even a few steps would leave him gasping for breath.
But because he was a valuable experimental subject, Dr. Chen used the best medications on him and even researched several new types of drugs to increase his cell vitality. Drugs still in the research phase were first tested on other experimental subjects to confirm their safety and lower side effects before being administered to him.
All of this was to allow him to live longer.
The experimentation was torturous. Some medications, although they had minor side effects, brought immense suffering. Some caused persistent high fevers, others resulted in severe pain and muscle spasms, and some induced hallucinations…
Electroshock was one of the means to stimulate cellular vitality, and every few days, Night Cicada had to undergo electroshock therapy.
He had considered using the spatial vortex to escape, but he had at least five or six failsafe measures on him.
Mechanical devices were installed in his spinal column, in his brain, on his heart, and he wore specially designed high-tech shackles on his wrists and ankles, along with an electronic neck ring.
If he made any unusual moves, his life would be at stake.
Night Cicada rarely saw You Wang, and Dr. Chen would not disclose any information about him.
Occasionally, Night Cicada would feel regret.
“If only I hadn’t revealed You Wang’s abilities to Dr. Chen, maybe he could have been freed.”
In the third year at the experimental base, Dr. Chen inadvertently told Night Cicada, “The experimental subject named You Wang has been transferred.”
“Why was he transferred?” Night Cicada asked.
“He was close to death.” Dr. Chen said, “You two awakened at similar ages and have similar physical conditions. Each medication used on you was tested on him first, and he couldn’t hold on any longer.”
Night Cicada remained silent, not speaking.
This base filled him with dread and hatred. He harbored a burning desire for revenge but dared not show any signs of it.
The researchers here were extremely cold; they treated the experimental subjects like animals in a livestock pen.
Night Cicada could only endure in silence.
Two more years passed, and just when Night Cicada was in despair and feeling numb inside, a turning point suddenly arrived.
Dr. Chen had reached her twilight years. She was not young anymore but still dedicated herself to research. An elderly person of her age should have retired and enjoyed her later years, but she did not.
On an ordinary experimental day, Night Cicada lay on the experimental bed, expressionless, staring at the slowly dripping medication.
Dr. Chen stood beside him, observing the instruments and recording data, and calmly asked, “Do you want to leave this cage?”
This question was too abrupt, and her tone was too casual. Night Cicada momentarily did not process what she had asked.
Until she asked again, “Do you want to leave this cage?”
Night Cicada reacted, stiffly curling the corners of his mouth, speaking with a tone laced with mockery, “If I say I want to, will you really let me go?”
Dr. Chen didn’t have the ability to let him leave; she was merely a researcher, not the actual controller of the experimental base.
“What if I said I could?” Dr. Chen smiled.
Night Cicada’s heart began to race, almost leaping out of his chest.
“Why are you being so kind?” He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. “What do you want me to do? What do you stand to gain?”
“Someone has paid a price on your behalf; I have already received what I want, so there’s no need for you to give me anything.” Dr. Chen looked down at him, “You only need to provide me with one answer.”
“You know what I will choose.” Night Cicada stated.
“If you choose no, I will put a lethal substance into your IV, and you will die, and I’m confident no one will discover I’m the culprit.” Dr. Chen said, “You cannot choose between wanting freedom or not; you can only choose between death and freedom.”
Night Cicada clenched his jaw and suddenly laughed, “At least you gave me the freedom to choose death. Is that ‘mercy’?”
Dr. Chen gazed at him without a flicker of emotion, “Choose one.”
Without much thought, Night Cicada said: “I choose freedom.” He chuckled again, “Is the freedom imposed by others still truly freedom? What price must I pay for this so-called freedom?”
“You will pay a price, but it will be much lighter than staying in the experimental base.” Dr. Chen said.
Dr. Chen added an anesthetic to Night Cicada’s IV, and he fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up again, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling—not the cold silver-white ceiling but rather an everyday grid ceiling he had seen in the orphanage.
His head and body were aching in several places, and it felt like the various mechanical devices that had been in his brain and body were removed.
“You’re awake.” A voice echoed in the room, it was a male voice.
Night Cicada strained to turn his head and saw a man in his thirties sitting on the sofa, looking at him.
“I am Kui Haidong, the leader of Mechanized Dawn.” The man, who called himself Kui Haidong, said, “I arranged for someone to rescue you.”
“Is Dr. Chen one of yours?” Night Cicada replied unexpectedly calmly, “You brought me out, what do you want me to do?”
“Work for us, and in return, you’ll gain a significant degree of freedom.” Kui Haidong’s gaze was deep and direct, “The one conducting inhumane experiments on you were the federal-run experimental bases, and our enemy is the Federation… you can take revenge on them. What we need is your ability.”
“Is that so?” Night Cicada muttered, “Dr. Chen is a cold rational researcher; she said someone paid a price for me, so she brought me out… what kind of price did you pay her? What kind of reward could move a person like her?”
Kui Haidong replied in a deep voice: “Eternal life.”
He paused before adding, “The human body is composed of cells and has its limits; mortals can never reach the realm of eternal life. What we have granted her is a form of eternal life at the data level.”
