"I don’t care about the flirting, but please, at least don’t disturb the patients’ rest here."
The woman wore a ragged but clean lab coat, with half of her hair short and the other half a stainless steel alloy coating, clearly exposing the bionic scalp that had fallen off. The integrated circuits and brain-machine interface of her right artificial eye were distinctly visible.
She held a laboratory beaker containing a blue-green, fluorescent unknown liquid, grumbling discontentedly as she sampled the chilling solvent.
The doctor’s appearance was hardly appealing. Most of her synthetic skin had peeled off, revealing the underlying electronic circuits, making her look particularly ferocious. Her smoky makeup, however, added a touch of seductiveness ─ if it weren’t for the array of dicinal scents emanating from her, one could hardly imagine her as a doctor.
"No, not at all!" Qiu Ran quickly waved his hands, "We are just companions—"
"Sorry, Doctor," Li Aozi apologized, bowing his head, "We didn’t notice we had arrived at the clinic, it’s my fault."
As he spoke, he took off his mask, revealing handso contours and well-defined features. His gray eyes were filled with sincerity.
"Hmm, you are quite handso. For the sake of that collagen-packed natural face of yours, I’ll let it slide," the doctor raised an eyebrow, curled her lip, "Go where you were headed, and rember not to make a fuss. I have patients resting here."
"We will be leaving soon, but before that, I want to ask if you have any suitable dicines for sale," Li Aozi inquired, "I have a friend in need of a rare dication."
"A scavenger actually coming to a doctor for dicine? Don’t you all only trust what you synthesize yourselves?" the doctor asked curiously, "Tell , I am curious what kind of dicine would make a scavenger seek dical help."
Her interest piqued, she raised the beaker and poured the fluorescent solvent into her mouth.
Li Aozi said, "ZX-102, Doctor Chen Siqi."
Crash—
The beaker shattered on the floor. Li Aozi slightly turned his head, dodging the blade that sprung from the other person’s wrist. The pale green core in the middle appeared especially lethal. He said calmly,
"Cuing’s Fang — by Laifu Light Industries, a military-grade prosthesis. The synthesized neurotoxin has a lethal dose of 0.2 milligrams for adults; a re scratch ans death to ordinary people."
A conduction wire popped out from Chen Siqi’s neck and imdiately clung to the back of Li Aozi’s ear. Her mouth closed, her voice transferred via bone conduction to Li Aozi, asking,
"Shut your mouth, it can detect vocal vibrations — who sent you?"
Li Aozi slightly raised his hands, signaling no harm, "Dmitry introduced us, don’t worry, I am a short-lived man. I don’t care about your Origin from Mingji, nor will I publicize it."
Chen Siqi’s expression remained neutral, but her voice penetrated directly into Li Aozi’s brain,
"Hehehe, that old craftsman, then you are indeed a dead man walking — what do you want ZX-102 for?"
"I’m curious, sothing happened in Mingji two years ago, I heard they’ve been working on human research and have made so progress. I thought, maybe they could treat ," Li Aozi’s tone was flippant, fitting well with a scavenger’s persona.
"You?"
Chen Siqi raised her left hand, a probe shooting out and pricking Li Aozi’s neck. A stream of data flowed through her eyes, followed by a cold laugh,
"You don’t need treatnt, your genes are collapsing, just die."
"You analyze quite fast, even faster than the physicians of Mingji."
"Fast my fucking ass, you’re definitely holding high-risk Arcane Energy — what level is it? I just glanced at your telores and gene chains, and I almost got claustrophobia."
Doctor Chen Siqi scoffed.
"Sigma? Upsilon? Surely not Puxi, right?"
Li Aozi gently moved her blade away, speaking calmly,
"Oga."
Zoom!
Doctor Chen Siqi retracted the blade in her wrist, her expression as if she had seen a ghost,
"Oga-level Arcane Energy is not a power mortals can master. Your gene chains are battered by the force of Arcane Energy, your telores severely damaged. If you keep using it like this, you sure as hell won’t live for two more years."
"Mingji Humanity, isn’t that what they’re researching? Arcane Energy and human genes, as well as the influence of Ersha on extraordinary powers..."
Li Aozi spoke indifferently:
"I’ve heard about the ZX-102 incident, and it seems that Mingji Humanity isn’t as united as one might think. Since Doctor Chen has chosen to defect, she must know sothing about that incident, right?"
"Who told you about it?"
"A woman nad Zexi."
"Huh... A second-rate peddler, huh? It seems you’ve been to Mingji—no, perhaps, that Arcane Energy awakened in you with their help?"
Li Aozi remained noncommittal.
"Oga-level Arcane Energy—impressive that you could withstand it, it’s a power not ant for humans to control. Mingji Humanity, have they completely lost their minds?"
Doctor Chen, holding her forehead, muttered to herself for a mont. Then, she knocked on the door panel, retracted the conduction wire, turned, and entered the room, waving her hand:
"Co in, and close the door behind you."
Li Aozi didn’t imdiately enter. He scanned the interior, identified three potential traps, and pointed them out with a lift of his hand.
"If you have nothing to hide, just ignore them." Doctor Chen Siqi lay back in the chair, feet propped on the desk, utterly indifferent.
Only then did Li Aozi walk inside, sitting across from the examination table. Qiu Ran followed closely; she closed the door and suddenly turned, eting a wary gaze—it was a boy lying on the bed, covered with a thin blanket, his dark eyes cautiously watching the new arrivals without wavering.
"Don’t be scared, Mosert." Doctor Chen Siqi spoke soothingly: "These two are not like your damn boss. They are sowhat conscientious."
Hearing this, the boy withdrew his suspicion, pulling the corner of the blanket over his head.
Qiu Ran glanced at the lower half of the blanket, where the shape did not correspond to that of a normal human body.
"This child is..."
"He was traveling with a peddler’s team, and his boss forced this kid, not even ten years old, to carry heavy loads. He fell in the snow and soon after, his legs started to rot."
As she spoke, Chen Siqi tossed a skull to Li Aozi:
"This is the boss’s skull. Hand it to Dmitry later, have him make a bowl. Old chap was eyeing my water tank, he won’t give it to for free otherwise."
"A simple task." Li Aozi tossed the skull lightly: "You cleaned it quite thoroughly."
"It’s for the kid, couldn’t I be a bit more serious?" Chen Siqi responded with disdain.
Qiu Ran hesitated.
The customs of the Outer World were indeed too fierce and barbaric...
"Let’s discuss the ZX-102 incident now." Li Aozi knocked on the table, returning to the matter at hand. "Doctor Chen Siqi, I heard that Nurse Nodley Krau was in charge of the ward for ZX-102... What exactly is ZX-102?"
"A child."
"...What did you say?"
"A child, not even a year old."
Chen Siqi rubbed her temples and said:
"ZX-102 was a baby adopted by the Professor, we nad him ’Xeno’. At that ti, Nodley was still very young, and she worked together with Assistant Doctor Anna, and it was then that the Professor initiated a project involving ’Xeno’."
"A project," Qiu Ran’s pupils shrank: "You experinted on that child, didn’t you?"
"Yes." Chen Siqi said sternly: "The rumors about Mingji Humanity in the Outer World are true."
"Go on."
Li Aozi’s tone turned colder involuntarily:
"What is Mingji Humanity’s project?"
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