Chapter 1051: Sacrifice a Small Portion
Time was pressing, so Xu Huo didn't watch all the recordings in order. Instead, he randomly picked two segments. Aside from the first experimental subject, the two he watched later had already developed varying degrees of mental problems. They were no longer like R17, able to control their violent outbursts at will, but were completely out of control.
According to the psychotherapist's notes, at first they only went berserk when the keyword "drug" was mentioned. But as time passed, like most experimental subjects, they developed antagonism toward everything related to "Dr. Zhang"—whether it was his photos, the training methods once recorded by surveillance, or simply his voice. These children reacted strongly, even to the point of being unable to control themselves. In this situation, forget about extracting the method Dr. Zhang used to cultivate highly intelligent children; even their very existence had become a major problem.
Xu Huo had mentally prepared himself before coming, but Chi Minghong was only now learning that Zone 002 was conducting experiments on children. Watching the clips of two children being repeatedly stimulated just to test where their "breaking point" was, she turned around and slapped Lu Huizhi across the face. "You dog-shit bastards, you call yourselves human?!"
She put all her strength into that slap, sending Lu Huizhi rolling to the ground with blood streaming from his mouth and nose. Seeing him dazed and barely conscious, Chi Minghong stepped forward and forced a bottle of self-healing agent into his mouth. "You think you can just faint? No such luck. Get up!"
Lu Huizhi still had his wits about him. "Beating me won't help. These children have been with psychological experts. They can never return to a normal life for the rest of their lives. Because we don't know when they'll turn into a bomb. Maybe they can live normally for ten or twenty years, but once they explode, who knows how many people they'll kill!"
"That's not a reason to experiment on them." Xu Huo quickly copied the data and content, then turned back and said, "Since you know they can never return to a normal life, why drive them insane?"
"You should understand that even adults might not be able to withstand long-term experiments, let alone children. And the children from Zone 002 may have inherent psychological issues."
"If you don't want them to become time bombs, you could just kill them to eliminate the threat."
"Instead of killing them, you lock them in the lab for testing. You don't actually think that's better than killing them, do you?"
"Or is your so-called 'time bomb' just an excuse? Because one psychologically troubled child successfully turned normal, with increased intelligence, even more rational than ordinary trained adults. You just want to know how to cultivate that kind of child."
Xu Huo walked up to Lu Huizhi, looking down at him. "Didn't you ever consider another question?"
"Do you think Dr. Zhang only experimented on children from Zone 002? Probably not."
"If his method could successfully change every child, then high-intelligence, high-combat-power players should be mass-produced. That hasn't happened yet because the success rate is low. Why is the success rate low? In the end, it's because every child is different."
"Smart children suitable for cultivation are the foundation. No amount of training can make mediocre children useful."
He leaned in, lowering his voice slightly. "You already know that."
Since Lu Huizhi could stay in this lab and even climb to a leadership position, he naturally wouldn't be shaken by Xu Huo's few words. He firmly believed he was doing the right thing. "Maybe a small portion will be sacrificed, but this proves that the children of Zone 002 can be saved. If we can really develop a potion or formulate a set of educational models suitable for the masses, what's wrong with that? More people will be saved because of them. Rather than being locked in a room without seeing daylight until they die, it's better to have their names engraved on a monument!"
Chi Minghong's face turned iron-gray at this. Xu Huo, however, remained calm. He asked, "Then do you know their names?"
Lu Huizhi was stumped. These children only had numbers when they were sent into the lab.
"I'll go let them out!" Chi Minghong angrily searched the lab's control console. "So what if they're bombs? Let them blow these bastards to hell!"
Seeing she was about to find it, Lu Huizhi had to say to Xu Huo, "Most of the children are mentally unstable. Letting them out will only harm others. They'll be shot dead as mentally out-of-control individuals. You'll be hurting them and others!"
Hearing this, Chi Minghong paused, then looked at Xu Huo, asking for his opinion with her eyes.
On the way over, Xu Huo had already confirmed that at least ten single rooms held children. Besides them, some adults were also locked in single rooms, presumably experimental subjects as well. So many people couldn't be accommodated if released.
Xu Huo raised his hand, signaling her to calm down, then said, "Players have already noticed this place."
The lab already had a considerable number of players. If not for the Holy Sword Society and the toxic gas outside, it would have been difficult for them to get in. Keeping Lu Huizhi trapped until now had already exceeded his expectations.
It was impossible to take so many people away at once. Xu Huo pulled a bomb from the invisible bag on his back. "Let's test the power."
This was from the B-level player sent by Dong Qifeng, whom they had killed earlier at Bai Xueji's villa. After Xu Huo's childhood personality intercepted it, he had casually placed it near the villa. This kind of thermal weapon couldn't be stored in the item slot or luggage compartment, so he had to carry it on his back.
The lab's walls and floors were made of special metal. A small number of bombs might not bring down the building above, but they would be enough to attract attention.
Lu Huizhi's face changed when he saw what Xu Huo was holding. He was about to stop him when Xu Huo casually tossed the bomb, and it rolled to the end of the corridor!
With a thunderous roar, about a third of the entire corridor swelled and deformed, even the ceiling softened and warped—proving the lab was indeed sturdy. A bomb that could level half of Bai Xueji's villa hadn't completely collapsed the walls on either side of the blast center.
Xu Huo pulled out two more. Under Lu Huizhi's horrified gaze, he threw them toward the area where players were flooding in.
Then came a third and a fourth.
The continuous explosions were enough to attract the attention of those outside, especially the Holy Sword Society. After the blasts, they, along with the lab's own players, scrambled to enter the underground, until the building above ground was shifted to one side...
That's right, the remaining half of the energy plant building was directly moved aside. Even the floor tiles were lifted without a trace, taking the lab's ceiling with it.
The sizable experimental base, long buried underground, suddenly had its top ripped off. All the test isolation rooms, experimental subject holding areas, data instrument warehouses, including staff quarters and restrooms, were all exposed under the city lights!
(Chapter End)