Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Morning Light Biomedical Laboratory, three floors underground.

There are no windows here, no day or night.

Xu Suyuan was tightly strapped to a laboratory chair.

The metal straps connecting various monitoring instruments gnawed at her wrists and ankles like carnivorous beetles, grinding new and ferocious bloodstains into the dark red bruises left by the constant electric shocks and struggles.

She was like a butterfly pinned to a specimen board, every tremor of her wings being precisely recorded.

Behind the one-way glass observation window in the laboratory, a man in a white coat was indifferently watching her.

Everyone calls this man Dr. Lin, who is the head of the underground project "Dawn Biotechnology".

A summary of instructions had just popped up on the screen in front of him—

[From the highest level: Regardless of losses, increase the intensity of the stimulus, shorten the experimental period, and be sure to obtain breakthrough data in the short term.]

Dr. Lin adjusted his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses reflecting absolute focus and consideration on the "experimental data".

Since the investors are already impatient and want to see a more intense "extreme reaction," then today's experimental agreement should be adjusted.

"A-07, Phase 4 'Association between Emotional Stress and Physiological Potential' Experiment, First Stimulation Enhancement Test, Begin."

He gave instructions into the microphone.

"Buzz—"

A heavy, helmet-like device slowly descended from above and fit snugly onto Xu Suyuan's head.

Xu Suyuan's vision went black for a moment, and then the scene in front of her suddenly lit up.

The image shows an ICU ward.

The subject of the shot is her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and can no longer remember who she is, but she has never forgotten her granddaughter's name.

The waveform on the electrocardiogram monitor suddenly turned into a glaring straight line.

"The patient succumbed to multiple organ failure despite resuscitation efforts..."

The doctor's voice was cold and realistic, accompanied by a scene of a nurse pulling up a white sheet, which played on a loop.

"No...no—! Grandma!"

Xu Suyuan's pupils dilated instantly, and a desperate cry like that of a trapped beast escaped her throat.

Reason screamed at her, telling her it was fake, an illusion!

But the sense of reality built from her most precious memories turned into a red-hot steel knife, stabbing fiercely into her heart!

The scene changes.

It's her old live stream room.

On the screen, the guild's blood-red "Violation Warning" pop-up kept appearing, obscuring her face.

Countless vulgarities flooded in like a tidal wave; it was the online trolls hired by competitors spamming the screen.

Several maliciously fabricated screenshots of so-called "private transactions" chat logs were repeatedly enlarged and filled with obscene language.

Finally, the platform's cold system notification filled the entire screen—[Due to your misconduct causing a negative impact on the platform, traffic support has been terminated.]

Her dreams, her blood and sweat, everything she gambled to raise money for her grandmother's medical expenses—all of it was crushed into the lowest dust by these cold words and vicious framing, and then trampled under a thousand feet!

At the same time, fragments of memory surged up uncontrollably.

Footage of the day she was kidnapped.

"Blue Whale Cafe".

The man who called himself a "top MCN agent" had a blurry face in her memory, but his voice was clear and sincere. He promised her a high salary and traffic support, as well as the money to ensure her grandmother received the best treatment.

She saw the hesitant yet longing look in her own eyes.

Then, the scene suddenly distorted, and the rim of the coffee she had just taken a sip of flashed an ominous, strange color under the light.

"ah--!"

In the instant she was drugged and passed out in her memory, in reality, a liquid was rapidly injected into her veins, accompanied by a violent electric shock.

That's a higher dose of mixed stimulant, and the electric shock probe is set to a new power level.

The mental devastation and physical agony were like a pair of merciless scissors, repeatedly cutting through her already shattered consciousness.

Xu Suyuan's body convulsed uncontrollably on the laboratory chair, and incoherent hoarse sounds escaped from her mouth.

The endless cycle of pain repeated itself, her consciousness rising and falling within it, each time torn apart and forcibly glued back together.

Why...

Why treat her like this?

She just wanted her grandmother to live, and she just wanted to live through her own efforts.

hatred!

Hatred, like magma, erupted from the depths of a soul hollowed out by pain.

Endless hatred, like magma that had accumulated for billions of years in the depths of hell, erupted from the black hole of the soul!

She hated the man who led her to hell!

I hate these researchers who wear white coats but are like demons!

I hate even more the high and mighty mastermind who treats human life like dirt and orchestrates all of this!

This hatred was so pure, so burning, that it instantly consumed all her weakness and pleas!

The last vestige of lucidity was forged in the extreme torment, ultimately transforming into the purest, most primal desire.

"Leave here..."

"Break free from constraints..."

"Let me...out...kill them...kill them!!!"

The yearning for freedom and the hatred for the enemy who inflicted all of this were completely fused together at this moment, transforming into a mad curse and questioning of the world's rules!

That is, on the verge of consciousness being completely torn apart.

Deep within her chest, in her heart filled with pain and despair.

The "seed" that had silently merged into her soul sensed this desire that was capable of burning everything.

It suddenly awoke.

[Void Travel]

[This ability temporarily "transforms" part or all of one's body, allowing the penetration of inanimate solid matter. The duration and thickness of the penetration are directly proportional to the level of mental concentration, and are accompanied by a significant drain on physical and mental energy.]

In that instant, Xu Suyuan sensed that the rules of the world had been quietly pried open with a crack.

She "understood" this ability in an instant, like a drowning person who, in the moment of sinking to the bottom, suddenly learns to breathe with gills.

This new understanding, like a clear spring, instantly extinguished the flames burning her reason.

Almost instinctively, she calmed down and made a decision.

hide.

The ability exists in her perception as if it were innate, and when to use it is the core secret she must guard at this moment.

With hope in her heart, Xu Suyuan immediately stopped all her futile struggles and let the intense electric current pass through her body.

She even buried her face in her arms, curling her body into a more painful position, and her cries became more broken, perfectly playing the role of an experimental subject about to be completely destroyed.

Behind the observation window, Dr. Lin stared intently at the data stream on the monitoring screen.

"In case A-07, under superimposed stimulation, abnormal high-frequency waves appeared in the amygdala region of the EEG, with the peak value exceeding the threshold by 3,000%. Stress hormone levels spiked instantly... but no abnormal external physical manifestations were observed."

He frowned, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

Another "semi-failure" experiment.

Although he collected peak data under extreme conditions, he did not see the kind of "qualitative change" that he most hoped for, the kind that could interfere with reality, as described in the "Chen Guohua" case.

"Stop the stimulation and administer a sedative." Dr. Lin typed the conclusion in the experimental record. "The subject's mental threshold has reached a critical point, and the effect of conventional individual stimulation is decreasing. Starting tomorrow, move her to the group observation room to conduct a group fear stress experiment and observe her stress response in a group panic environment."

He believes that when an individual's will to survive is combined with the chaos and threats brought about by the group, it may generate data that will surprise him even more.