"But isn’t that exactly why the General brought you all here? To achieve sothing that sounds impossible?" the soldier pressed.
The researcher let out an exasperated sigh. "I’ve already told the General countless tis, even regular soil is difficult to make fertile, let alone sand!"
The soldier didn’t back down. "We brought you soil samples from the forest, just like you requested. But you still haven’t figured out how the forest is able to grow plants."
Another researcher scoffed. "What do you know about science? The only thing you’re good at is carrying a gun."
Ah. deia could tell right away, the researchers and soldiers didn’t have a good relationship.
It was probably because the soldiers constantly pressured the researchers to work faster, yet they still hadn’t found a solution.
The only vegetables they had access to were the ones gathered from the forest, and even those were extrely limited because most of the plants had mutated into human-eating monsters.
For the first ti, deia truly realized how lucky she was to have arrived in this world with a system on her side.
Without it, she would have never been able to eat fresh vegetables and fruits, maybe not ever.
No wonder the people who saw the farm in her base reacted as if they had just stepped into paradise.
deia didn’t bother paying attention to their argunt any longer and instead began moving around the laboratory, trying to gather more information about the chips.
The laboratory was divided into several sections.
There was a departnt dedicated to researching ways to grow crops in infertile soil, a departnt focused on genetic modifications, likely experinting on ways to make plants or even humans more adaptable to harsh environnts.
Another section was dedicated to mutant ability research, analyzing how certain abilities functioned and whether they could be artificially replicated or enhanced.
But what caught deia’s attention the most was a restricted area labeled ’Neurological Studies.’
If the chips were controlling the soldiers’ minds, this was the place she needed to check.
She moved cautiously, her camouflage cloak blending into the surroundings, allowing her to slip past researchers without drawing attention.
A few scientists were gathered around a holographic screen, discussing sothing in hushed voices.
"The last batch of subjects showed so resistance to the chip’s influence," one of them said. "We might need to increase the synchronization process."
"Too much synchronization could damage brain tissue," another replied. "We’re already losing too many subjects as it is."
"But we succeeded with the twentieth batch," a female researcher pointed out, adjusting her glasses. "They survived, even though they ended up... well, extrely timid. But still, a success is a success."
"The General doesn’t just want them to survive," another researcher countered. "He wants them to be less timid, yet still highly reactive to stress under extre conditions."
A man let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples. "Brave, but also easily stressed? That’s a contradiction. Too much stress and they’ll be unable to function properly."
"Oh, who cares about normal functionality?" soone scoffed. "The only thing that matters is creating the perfect soldiers for us."
Another researcher suddenly frowned. "Wait, wasn’t the twentieth batch reported missing? Soone said they were kidnapped."
"Hah? No wonder the General has been in such a bad mood since yesterday." Another researcher clicked his tongue. "And the Lieutenant keeps pressuring us to stop making the kids so timid."
deia clenched her fists so tightly that her nails nearly dug into her skin as she listened to their conversation. So of the researchers in Warstock, at the very least, still looked like they were doing this against their will, like they had no choice but to obey orders.
But these researchers?
They didn’t look forced at all.
All of them appeared relaxed, comfortable, even enjoying their roles in experinting on those children.
Even when they spoke about children dying because of their research, none of them showed the slightest remorse.
As if they were running tests on lab rats, not human beings.
deia had always known that so humans were worse than beasts. Most of them only acted good because of laws because of the fear of consequences.
But when laws disappeared? So did their morality.
The twentieth batch was apparently the first successful one.
Which ant the previous nineteen batches had all been failures.
The thought of the children in Warstock resurfaced in deia’s mind, reminding her of the forced nightmares inflicted upon them.
Perhaps the lucky ones had died quickly. But what about the others?
How many had endured tornt for years before they finally broke?
Even if the children here were being "pampered" in The tal Cube, did that really make this place a paradise?
deia hadn’t even heard the full story from Finn and the others yet. For so reason, he always looked a bit terrified whenever his past was brought up.
So maybe, despite the so-called ’pampering’ environnt, he had endured sothing far worse. However, the others didn’t seem to show the sa reaction.
Could it be that most of them had their mories erased?
deia would have to investigate further once she returned to the Red Star.
Her fingers itched to grab her dagger, to silence every last one of these so-called scientists.
But she needed information first.
As a researcher walked out of the records room, deia slipped inside without hesitation.
The mont the door shut behind her, a small notification appeared in her vision.
[Countdown: 00:09:24]
Nine minutes left?
’Tch. I wasted too much ti listening to those bastards.’
She didn’t have ti to sit here and read through everything, so she decided to take them.
Without hesitation, deia grabbed a stack of docunts and stuffed them into her Space Pocket.
She didn’t have ti to steal every file in the room, so she prioritized the ones marked with progress reports on the children’s brain experints from batch one to batch twenty.
Her hand paused over a particularly thick, leather-bound book, its spine labeled with a single word: Neurology.
It had to be important.
She grabbed it without a second thought and shoved it into her Space Pocket.
"Hey, the control room said the docunts in the record room flying by their own!"
deia was taken aback when she heard the researcher’s words. Her eyes snapped upward, and cursed, "Oh, shit."
[Foul language detected! Penalty: -20 C-Points.]
She gritted her teeth.
She had completely forgotten that everything she touched wouldn’t turn invisible along with her.
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