death of hope

Chapter 967 "Psionic Storm" (43) Project Zero

(turn out to be,
He's a local from Shin-Sapporo...

I thought they were abducted from colonies on other planets...

Jinguji…

Yuna…

Her name perfectly matches her appearance; she is extraordinary, refined, and exquisitely beautiful.

If she were to have a common name like Alice, Mary, or Rose, it would seem too tacky…

But why?
When Li Ang first consulted the materials, he was puzzled and pondered for a long time:
A blonde, fair-skinned, silver-grey-eyed, tall, and large-framed Nordic girl has chosen an Asian name.

It's not hard to explain. As one of the wealthiest colonies in the Terra Federation, New Sapporo has a highly developed financial and entertainment service industry, and its industrial development zone is booming, attracting businesses to set up operations there.

Every year, tens of thousands of legal immigrants arrive here on interplanetary flights to pursue their dreams and work hard. The number of illegal immigrants hiding in shipping containers is even more numerous and impossible to count.
This includes ecological disaster victims living in abject poverty, those suffering from drought, and Nordic sharecroppers from the agricultural planet Midgard. 'Zero's' parents were likely these kinds of impoverished white disaster victims.

Perhaps her undocumented immigrant parents wanted to shed the stereotype of them as country bumpkin tenant farmers, hoped to integrate into the predominantly Asian culture of Neo-Sapporo, gave their daughter a Japanese name, and start a new life…

Or perhaps, a second possibility;
Her parents contracted the plague and died in a shipping container during their smuggling journey, leaving her an orphan. She was then adopted by Asian foster parents… Most of these adoptions are not based on love but on self-interest.

The New Sapporo City Hall has ample funds and provides financial subsidies to foster parents. These undocumented immigrant orphans often do not receive the care they deserve.
She was bullied by her foster parents' biological children and also bullied by Asian classmates at school, especially girls, who were envied for their beauty...

The bullying culture in Shin-Sapporo is no joke; it can lead to depression at best, and suicide at worst…
·
For no apparent reason, Li Ang inexplicably felt that the second possibility was more likely.
An ominous black mist shrouded 'Zero', giving off a melancholic aura that seemed unrelated to psychic powers.

Although he knew nothing about her life experiences, Li Ang had a feeling that this girl must have gone through a hellish past, and now she had become research material.
After part of the temporal lobe of the brain was removed and a chip was implanted, the patient became a vegetable, like a piece of meat on a pallet, at the mercy of others. It was a tragedy that would make anyone shed a tear of sympathy.

Judging from the experimental records, the previous assistant, Diego, although possessing exceptional anti-psychic talent, was a ruthless and cold-blooded individual.

Diego treated Zero brutally and without any tenderness, not considering her human at all, but merely as a beautiful lab rat whose only purpose was to keep her alive and not interfere with the experiments.

As for quality of life, dignity as a human being, and the like, those are simply out of the question.

On the surface, 'Zero' was alright, but in reality, she had countless hidden injuries. Her body was covered in bruises, her hair was greasy, and her ears were covered in earwax. Because she didn't turn over frequently enough and didn't apply prickly heat powder in time, she even developed bedsores.

With the new broom in charge, everything changed. Li Ang not only treated Zero as a human being, but also wanted to hold her in his palm and protect her carefully, afraid that she might get hurt.

Beyond material care, the emotional support was equally profound. Even when washing and changing Zero's clothes, Li Ang never showed the slightest hint of lewdness or impropriety. His movements were as ceremonial and respectful as a mortician's, unlike others who would seize the opportunity to grope. With such meticulous and attentive care, Zero's vital signs gradually improved, and he became clean, healthy, and no longer appeared sickly. Even his chronic bedsores were cured.
Most importantly, the psionic signals are becoming increasingly stable with fewer out-of-control spikes. Even when things go wrong occasionally, Li Ang is always able to quickly calm them down and resolve the situation, so psionicists no longer have to live in constant fear.

Director Joseph was quite satisfied with this and praised it lavishly at the meeting:
"Xiao Li's anti-psychic talent is top-notch. Just like the exorcists and magic hunters in the fairy tales we read as children, who hunted demons and evil spirits. With him around, the Zero bomb was stabilized, and our research was able to continue."

"The day our research makes a breakthrough and we actually stand on the Nobel Prize podium, Xiao Li's name must appear on the first page of the list of achievements."

The applause in the conference room was prolonged, some genuine, some merely echoing the director's sentiments. Researchers praised Li Ang for his hard work and gentlemanly demeanor, while colleagues whispered among themselves:

"That guy, always volunteering to work overtime, isn't he just after her body?"

·
Li Ang gained the trust and favor of the director and gradually entered the core secret circle of the research institute. These privileges excited him, as he was able to access more and more information and gain a deeper understanding of Project Zero.

However… the more I looked, the more chills I broke out in, the more heartbroken I felt. The research records were filled with shocking words:
Injection, removal, dissection, suturing, radiation, shortening, implantation, electroshock, chemotherapy…

These top human psionicists are resorting to any means necessary to uncover the secrets of the most powerful psionic talent in history, and some of their experiments have crossed ethical boundaries.

Poor blonde girl, forced to endure this cursed misfortune; death was a mercy and a release she longed for.

There were a few times when Li Ang really wanted to help her by adding some "ingredients" to her IV drip, using an excessive amount of adrenaline to end her tragic life.

But doing so would betray one's benefactor and ruin one's future.

(Don't ask what you shouldn't ask... Don't meddle in what you shouldn't meddle in...)
Li Ang silently recited his colleague's advice, feeling the passion in his chest cool down by three degrees...

·
Even though Li Ang had done his job, Project Zero still went wrong. It wasn't his fault; someone had already made a mistake before he arrived. In the past few days, the old man's mood had been visibly bad.
It was originally predicted that Zero would regain consciousness within a month, but instead, he fell into a deep coma.
Shining a flashlight on the pupils reveals significant dilation, a dangerous sign of severe brain damage.

It seems there was something wrong with the last brain surgery; the two researchers who performed the surgery are always dragged out and scolded by Joseph at every meeting.
The idea was that if Zero really became a vegetable and remained unconscious, delaying the research, they would soak the two of them in formalin solution to make specimens.

Li Ang knew that, given the old man's temper, it might not just be something he said in anger.

If anyone tries to hinder his dream of winning the Nobel Prize, it could really lead to a fatal incident.

That day, as usual, I got off the elevator, swiped my card, greeted my night shift colleagues, and entered the curtain wall area.
Li Ang, who was holding a tablet computer, stood there stunned.
Zero, who has been in a deep coma,

I'm awake.