Where is She?!
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Perhaps because she had voluntarily fallen into a deep coma, Zhou Jiao could perceive everything happening in the outside world.
She heard the cold, buzzing sound of tentacles, heard Jiang Lian’s near-mad breathing, and felt his damp, cold, and heavy breath spraying against her neck.
—As his breathing became more rapid, more intense, the entire nest trembled, expanding and contracting in sync with the rhythm of his breaths, like a writhing stomach about to erode her completely.
Zhou Jiao thought, had she gambled wrong?
Her allure to Jiang Lian was actually not as strong as she had assumed.
Falling into a deep coma had instead played into his terrifying captivity plan.
In her unconscious state, her awareness was like drifting in dark, chaotic seawater, her thoughts slowing to an extreme degree. Even though she knew her current situation was extremely dangerous, she could not feel the slightest fear.
…It’s okay.
Zhou Jiao told herself, she was still alive.
As long as she was alive, there was hope.
She had no idea how much time had passed. Her consciousness floated and sank, images in her mind twisting and fracturing. She seemed to see everything, to hear everything—yet it all felt like illusions conjured by her subconscious.
It felt as though several hours had passed, yet also as if only a few minutes had gone by, before her soul finally broke free from the dark and heavy deep sea, catching a sliver of sound from the outside world:
“The patient’s implicit consciousness is present, showing reflexive responses to external stimuli.”
“Prepare the dynamic magnetic resonance electrodes for consciousness therapy.”
“Why was she only brought in so late…? Her blood oxygen saturation has already dropped to 80%! Begin hyperbaric oxygen therapy first!”
…
The hyperbaric oxygen chamber was activated, and the footsteps of the company’s medical personnel rushed back and forth.
At that moment, perhaps due to the stimulation of the dynamic magnetic resonance electrodes, Zhou Jiao’s eyes briefly opened for a few seconds.
The medical personnel did not take notice. Even a vegetative patient’s eyes could open spontaneously or due to external stimuli—this was a very normal reflexive reaction.
Zhou Jiao’s eye-opening was indeed reflexive.
Her pupils were unfocused, not fixated on anything in particular. However, in that instant, her gaze suddenly sharpened—for those few seconds were enough for her to clearly see the figure ahead.
Jiang Lian was standing at the other end of the corridor, motionless, his gaze terrifying as he stared at her.
His condition was extremely poor—half of his face maintained a human form, while the other half appeared corroded by something, exposing a grotesque, horrifying true visage. Dense, writhing tentacles, like purplish-red scaleless snakes, squirmed frantically within the bones of his face.
—For the treatment to proceed smoothly, he had to stay away from her. Otherwise, the treatment equipment would fail, and the medical personnel would also fall into a state of mental derangement due to his presence.
But that did not mean she could escape from him.
He did not speak, nor did he emit that low-frequency soundwave that could influence consciousness.
Yet through some unknown medium, she heard his deep, icy voice.
—You are mine.
—You cannot escape.
The reflexive eye-opening ended. Zhou Jiao closed her eyes.
The deep sea of consciousness engulfed her once again.
A long moment passed before Zhou Jiao’s brain finally reacted to Jiang Lian’s words.
—How do you know I can’t escape?
—
Biotech Office.
Before the secretary could push open the door, Araki Isao kicked it open with one foot, strode quickly to the desk, yanked open the drawer, pulled out a vial of scent agent, and took several deep, forceful inhales.
In an instant, a massive release of dopamine flooded his brain. His whole body relaxed, his muscles loosened, and an intoxicated, obsessed expression, like that of a madman, spread across his face.
But he quickly forced himself out of that state, throwing away the now-empty vial of scent agent before furiously calling for a researcher:
“What the fuck is going on?! Why the hell can I also smell that woman’s scent?!”
The true backbone of the Biotech division was, in fact, these highly educated researchers.
They held an elevated status within the company and were not intimidated by Araki Isao’s outburst.
One researcher stepped up to the monitor and pulled up the surveillance footage from the first floor. Due to the interference from Jiang Lian’s magnetic field, no matter how advanced the surveillance cameras were, the output footage remained highly distorted, as if it had been encrypted.
Even so, the researcher carefully reviewed the footage frame by frame, watching it multiple times. When he saw Araki Isao and the surrounding personnel revealing a ravenous, almost drooling expression toward Zhou Jiao, he ignored Araki Isao’s darkening face and pressed pause.
“Mr. Araki, what I am about to say may not be to your liking, but I must tell you—” the researcher said, “—the ‘Scent Project’ is highly likely to fail.”
Araki Isao’s expression flickered with uncertainty. “Do you even know what you’re saying?”
“Take higher-order mutants as an example. As long as a human stays in the same room as them, they will be parasitized and mutate into their kind.”
The researcher pointed at the blurry figure of Jiang Lian on the monitor. “‘He,’ on the other hand, completely skips the parasitization step. Simply through some kind of magnetic field, he can alter our perception and even influence our subconscious.”
The researcher’s voice turned grave. “Mr. Araki, do not think that changes in the sense of smell are a trivial matter. Many neurodegenerative diseases manifest with loss of smell as an early symptom.”
“Alteration of smell, however, is even more dangerous than loss of smell.” The researcher continued, “Many human sensory functions exist to warn us of danger—pain, for example. Likewise, the reason you don’t want me to continue speaking right now is because humans are inherently wired to fixate on negative information as a means of self-preservation. If your sense of smell changes, you might start perceiving lethal chemical odors as—”
“—Why do you think I don’t understand these basic principles?” Araki Isao said coldly. “Just give me the conclusion. What do I do now?”
“The conclusion is this— with the current physiological structure of the human body and the limitations of existing science and technology, there is absolutely no way to resist such a being.”
The researcher’s expression grew solemn as he bowed deeply to Araki Isao.
“—Give up, Mr. Araki. Otherwise, humanity will face an unimaginable crisis.”
Araki Isao’s chest heaved violently. His gaze locked onto the researcher, and the muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably, momentarily revealing an eerie, inhuman quality.
A long moment passed before he finally gritted his teeth and forced out a sentence:
“…Giving up is impossible! You said it yourself—I can smell that woman’s scent only because I was affected by ‘his’ magnetic field, which altered my perception and subconscious.”
“And what does that mean? It means we actually have a chance of success! If my level of obsession with that woman’s scent is equivalent to ‘his’ level of obsession with it—then the moment the fire suppression sprinklers activate, ‘he’ will go berserk. A mindless beast is nothing more than livestock waiting to be slaughtered. As long as our firepower is strong enough, we can suppress him!”
The researcher remained silent for a long time before letting out a deep sigh. “…Then prepare the filtration masks and neural blocking agents. This will be a tough battle.”
“However, if we can truly obtain ‘his’ genetic material…” the researcher muttered, “humanity might just usher in a second evolution.”
Araki Isao was also captivated by the prospect of this so-called “second evolution.” His expression gradually shifted—slowly, greed and fanaticism took over.
The atmosphere in the office became eerily calm for a moment. Everyone’s attention was on Jiang Lian, and no one noticed that in the lower left corner of the surveillance screen, Zhou Jiao, lying on the hospital bed, had suddenly opened her eyes.
—She had woken up too quickly. Normally, she should have remained in the chamber for at least two days, yet she had regained consciousness in just two short hours.
The doctor entered the ward.
As her blood oxygen saturation slowly increased, her biometric data had basically returned to normal, so much so that the doctor had not realized she was already awake.
Just as the doctor took a step forward, preparing to check her magnetic resonance imaging, Zhou Jiao suddenly sat up from the bed—at an unimaginable speed. In an instant, she locked her arm around the doctor’s throat with her elbow, and at the same time, a silver light flashed through her eyes as she invaded the doctor’s chip device, severing his connection to the company.
All of this was thanks to Xie Yueze. Though he was full of lies, he had genuinely helped her crack the chip, successfully turning her company-issued chip into a black-market counterfeit that could be found in bulk. Because of this, she had escaped the automatic monitoring of the company’s AI.
The doctor was stunned.
But as a biotech physician, he had undergone a certain level of military training and immediately prepared to counterattack.
However, what he did not know was that Zhou Jiao’s body had been modified, and her physical strength far exceeded that of an adult male. In front of her, he had no ability to resist.
The ward was as silent as a grave, except for the barely audible hum of medical equipment. The only other sound was the faint yet horrifying crack of cervical vertebrae.
—Zhou Jiao’s expression was cold. The muscles in her arms tensed as she gradually increased the pressure, forcibly strangling the doctor into unconsciousness.
Then, without even glancing at the surveillance camera above, she stripped off the doctor’s white coat and put it on, ruffling her hair to cover half of her face.
Next, she moved the doctor onto the hospital bed, covered him with a blanket, and skillfully reattached the various medical devices.
After finishing all this, she picked up the tablet that had fallen to the ground, pried open the doctor’s eyelid, and unlocked it.
—Thanks to her experience working for the company, she felt as relaxed and at home as if she were on familiar ground.
She did not immediately leave the ward but instead turned toward the restroom and activated the Red Alert.
Almost instantly, a call came through:
“What the fuck, what happened?! Can’t a man eat in peace? I just took a sip of hot soup, and you’re setting off a red alert over there! Do you even know what a red alert means? Don’t tell me you just hit the wrong button by accident…”
Zhou Jiao took a deep breath. When she spoke again, her voice was trembling, panic-stricken, and on the verge of breaking down:
“…The patient escaped! Dr. Griffin was knocked unconscious by her… Oh my god, oh my god, what do we do? What do we do now?! Are we going to die? I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!”
Her voice was thin and laced with sobs, as if she could collapse at any moment.
The person on the other end had initially intended to verify her employee ID, but upon hearing her hysterical, grating cries, he grew irritated and skipped the usual questioning:
“Alright, alright, shut the hell up. I already told Mr. Araki. Security will be there soon. There are surveillance drones everywhere—she won’t get far.”