Chapter 7: Prisoner 008’s Experiment

Morning light drifted through the frosted glass window, washing everything in a soft, pale glow. A faint, delicate floral scent hung in the air.

Luoxue sat quietly on the sofa, hugging the pure white plush bear tightly to her chest. She looked as clean as snow that had never touched the ground.

She tilted her head slightly toward Mochen, who had just stepped into the room and was standing a short distance away.

“Steward.”

“You’re awake, Saint.”

“How did you sleep last night?”

The words seemed casual, but Mochen’s body tensed instinctively. He glanced at the bear plush that had slipped back from his room into Luoxue’s arms sometime during the night. Lowering his head, he answered stiffly and respectfully.

“Thanks to your kindness… well enough.”

Luoxue gave a soft “mm,” then rubbed the bear’s head and rested her chin on its fluffy ear. The adorable motion made Teresa, who was attending nearby, beam with delight.

“Then… what about the matter I mentioned earlier?”

“It’s arranged. The person the Saint requested has arrived.”

A death row prisoner.

A man guilty of so many crimes that according to the Covenant’s law, he was to be executed.

Yesterday, tempted by the “sweet dream,” Mochen couldn’t help agreeing to Luoxue’s request. But after returning to his room, the old steward’s reason had led him to push back. So Mochen had risked contacting Bai Wushang, hoping one of humanity’s strongest would oppose it.

After all, Mochen himself no longer dared to object to anything.

But on the other end of the line, Bai Wushang’s voice was cold as ice, with an exhaustion and concession that brooked no argument.

“Since she’s still willing to cooperate with humanity and train the adapters… what does it matter if we give her a few death row prisoners?”

“Those men were going to die anyway. If they can be used to satisfy that frea… to meet her needs, it’s a fair trade.”

“As for what she wants them for? Just don’t ask. Whatever she requests, as long as we can do it, satisfy her.”

…

Recalling the conversation with Bai Wushang the night before, Mochen couldn’t help but sigh.

“Well then, Saint, would you like to go see him now?”

“Mm-hmm, sure.”

Holding the bear, Luoxue smiled sweetly. The smile was radiant and utterly innocent.

“Then please follow me.”

…

Dozens of minutes later, at the lowest level of the Qionglan base.

This was the area Mochen had temporarily arranged to hold dangerous death row inmates. The walls were cast from special alloys that could suppress Tianyuan.

At the end of the long corridor, Luoxue stood quietly before a glass door.

She was still barefoot, her white clothes whiter than snow, the bear in her arms. She looked out of place in this dark, cold place.

She wore an eye mask, so she plainly “saw” nothing. Yet Mochen could clearly feel that she was “gazing” into the cell.

“Gazing” at the ruthless prisoner inside, the kind of man ordinary people would tremble at.

At this moment, a man covered in wounds, with wild disheveled hair, was bound to a chair in the center of the cell. Number 008. His hands were steeped in blood, an executioner who had tortured and killed more than a dozen people. He was the kind of thug even the judges didn’t want to look at. He wore a special blindfold, his limbs locked with energy shackles, his Tianyuan completely sealed, leaving only a violent killing intent.

Silence held for several seconds.

Luoxue spoke softly, her voice as pleasant as always.

“Steward.”

“I’d like to spend a moment alone with this gentleman. May I?”

If Teresa had been here, she would have raised an objection on the spot. She would never allow the Saint to stay alone with a brutal death row inmate. What if the Saint was in danger?

Fortunately, Mochen had anticipated this situation, and had found an excuse to send Teresa away for the moment.

“I understand.”

Mochen agreed without hesitation, clearly unwilling to stay in this place with Luoxue.

“I’ll wait outside… If anything comes up, call for me at any time.”

After offering a respectful farewell bow, he turned and walked away quickly, not wishing to remain a single moment longer.

After Mochen left, Luoxue gently pushed open the alloy door of the cell.

The cell door opened softly. And closed softly behind her.

It shut out all the light and sound from outside, leaving only dead silence.

Inside, prisoner 008 paused in surprise when he heard the door open and close, then roared in a hoarse, furious voice:

“Who’s there? Who the f*** is there?!”

Forced to wear a blindfold, he couldn’t see who was coming. He only heard light footsteps approaching, step by step.

“Untie me! Untie me if you dare! If I break free, I’ll tear you all apart like government dogs!”

From his point of view, being suddenly transferred in the middle of the night meant he had been delivered to an execution ground. So facing the approaching executor, prisoner 008 could only rage and spit out his last threats.

But the next second, something happened that he didn’t expect at all.

The energy shackles binding his limbs and sealing his Tianyuan suddenly released on their own, without any warning.

Power surged back through his body in an instant.

008 trembled violently. His heart pounded.

What… what is this?

He didn’t have time to think. Almost by instinct he raised his hand and ripped off the blindfold. Then he froze in place, his pupils shrinking sharply.

What met his eyes wasn’t the elegant face he’d expected, but a pair of delicate, beautiful bare feet. They were lovely, alluring, and somehow familiar. But soon, recovering his senses, the prisoner recognized the person before him through that familiar aura.

It was the being who, a year ago, had awakened his Tianyuan. The Saint?

Why would the Saint be here? And… with no one else?

Countless questions flooded his mind, but 008 had no time to puzzle over them. He knew the Saint had once helped wrongly convicted inmates. But him? He had genuinely killed so many people.

There was nothing false about his conviction. After the Saint tested his soul, it would only hasten his death.

So if he wanted to live, there was only one choice.

The next instant, the prisoner leaped up. The newly released Tianyuan wrapped around him, greatly boosting his physical form, and he reached straight for the girl’s neck.

Take the Saint hostage, force the Covenant to let him go. That was his plan.

“Sorry about this, Saint!”

But the instant he lunged forward, his eyes shrank, his face went dark. Inexpressible terror replaced his earlier excitement, and his very soul began to tremble wildly.

“No, you! What sort of monster are you?!”

In that moment, when he raised his eyes to look at the Saint’s face, he found in horror that what met his gaze was not her masked, flawless features, but a deep, eerie hole that was constantly gushing blood!

A huge bloody hollow had replaced the Saint’s face, and within it, countless dense, horrifying blood-red pupils were fixed on him. And not just those. The walls around him also warped, and countless blood-red eyes turned their gaze upon him, nearly stopping the prisoner’s heart.

Before he could make sense of what was happening, the chair behind him and the floor around him twisted and deformed without warning. Countless bloody tendrils pierced straight through his body. The tendrils then wound around his limbs and wrenched hard, crushing them before tearing them from his body.

In an instant, blood spilled everywhere.

A miserable, piercing scream echoed through the cell.

…

And yet, in the real cell, all was calm. No twisted tendrils. No grisly bloodbath.

Looking at the prisoner before her, collapsed on the floor and convulsing, but with all his limbs intact and his body unharmed, Luoxue smiled with satisfaction at the corners of her mouth.

“Will you keep me company in an experiment?”

The white-haired girl tilted her head. Her tone sounded like she was inviting someone to afternoon tea.

“Mr. 008.”

As she spoke, the bear plush beside her wobbled its way to the convulsing prisoner. Clutched in the toy’s hand was a small golden bead that gave off a peculiar aura.

This bead was exactly what Luoxue had extracted from Veteba’s body earlier…

The token of the Chosen One, the Star Soul.

The moment the Star Soul touched the prisoner’s skin, golden cracks exploded across his chest, spreading like a bizarre spider web.

…

On the other side, outside the cell, Mochen leaned against the wall in silence, waiting. He didn’t know what was happening inside. He didn’t dare imagine it. All he could do was pray silently that this agonizing stretch of time would pass quickly.

But just then, for some reason… Mochen’s attention was inexplicably drawn to the cell. In a daze, he walked toward it.

By the time he realized it, he had already opened the cell door and entered the room that had held prisoner 008.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

A heart-wrenching, devastating scream slammed into his ears, sending chills down his spine.

“Ah! My eyes! My eyes!”

“Take them out! Take them all out! They’re looking at me, all of them are looking at me!”

“Hahaha… beautiful… so beautiful… dig them all out!”

…

“What, what is this?”

Coming back to his senses, Mochen drew in a sharp breath. The prisoner who had been so savage and violent moments before was now lying on the cold floor, his whole body convulsing and twisting violently.

With his own hands, he had gouged out his own eyes.

They were a bloody, blurred mess.

He howled madly, then burst into hysterical laughter. Tears and blood mingled together, a sight that made any onlooker shudder.

“This…”

Mochen didn’t dare say more. Trembling, he looked over at Luoxue.

The white-haired girl simply stood there, quiet, as if the mad, bloody scene before her had nothing to do with her.

The bear in her arms was perfectly still.

“Endurance… insufficient… broke down in twelve seconds.”

After murmuring this to herself, she turned her face toward Mochen.

She showed no displeasure at his sudden entry. As if Mochen… was supposed to be here all along.

Luoxue spoke again, her voice still gentle, calm, and moving.

“All right.”

“Steward, let’s go.”

“Take me… to the next prisoner.”

Her tone was plain and natural.

As if she had just finished an insignificant experiment.

Mochen could only nod helplessly.

“Yes, understood.”

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