Asura in Arknights

"Now, go see that child; she's waiting for you."

Hemer nodded silently.

Palvis's meaning was quite clear: he undoubtedly wanted to study the experimental traces left by Loken Williams on the child Rosemary in order to achieve a greater breakthrough in chimeric therapy.

On one side is Ifrit, who is enduring pain due to experimental treatment, and on the other side is Rosemary, who has finally escaped from the terrifying laboratory and now seems to be doing relatively well.

With just a few words, Palvis had put Himer's heart on the hot seat, putting her in a difficult dilemma.

If Li Ang heard Palvis's words, he would also exclaim "brilliant!" His efforts from yesterday had been largely wiped out, and Himer had returned to his previous wavering attitude.

After a brief internal struggle, Himer finally decided to keep his promise and find a way to help Rosemary obtain the original experimental data from the Loken tank.

As for what Palvis mentioned... using rosemary to improve the shortcomings of chimeric therapy... Hamer felt that they could only let nature take its course.

To harm another innocent child for the sake of one child is putting the cart before the horse.

After making her choice, Himer felt much more relaxed.

She composed herself, hiding the sorrowful expression on her face, and prepared to meet Ifrit in the best possible light.

This time, Himer forcibly terminated the treatment, which prevented Ifrit from suffering cardiac arrest due to excessive pain, but it also meant that their treatment plan was disrupted.

The duration of each treatment, the specifications and dosage of the active agent injected, are all strictly calculated.

Because of this premature termination, all the work done by the entire chimeric therapy project team in the past few days has gone to waste. They need to work overtime to design a completely new treatment plan before Ifrit's condition worsens.

Now, apart from Palvis, everyone else looked at Himer with less friendly eyes.

Hemer ignored their stares and walked toward the security door.

As he passed by Palvis, he suddenly said to Himer, as if speaking meaningfully.

"And...do you really believe what that man said?"

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Himer slowed down a bit.

When it comes to the issue of trust, Himer naturally prefers to trust Palvis, because he is not only Himer's teacher, but also her benefactor.

A few years ago, when Himer had just graduated from school and successfully received an offer from Rhine Lab, a ridiculous accident caused Himer to contract OriginSpirit disease.

At that moment, Himer felt as if the sky had fallen, and even suspected that someone was deliberately framing her.

Hamer graduated from school with outstanding grades and received a referral from the structural engineering department, which naturally made many people jealous of her achievements.

In this world, the easiest way to destroy someone is to find a way to make them contract Oripathy.

There's no need for complicated methods. Just find a piece of Originium, make a light cut on Himer's body, draw a little blood, and everything will be over.

Colombia nominally welcomes infected individuals to live there, but this is only because they value the cheap labor of infected people; it does not mean that they have acquired the same rights as normal people.

If an ordinary person accidentally contracts Oripathy, they will still be relocated to a special area for infected individuals, and will be excluded from most jobs.

Although there are a small number of infected individuals within Rhine Lab, they are all Rhine Lab employees who were accidentally infected with Oripathy during experiments.

Rhine Life would guarantee the livelihood of such people in Trimont, but people like Himer who contracted Oripathy before officially starting work would definitely not qualify.

In the end, Parvis overruled all objections and vouched for Himer to join Rhine Lab, and personally became Himer's mentor, raising her as his successor.

Ifrit's treatment plan itself was in a gray area that was difficult to define, and Himer only had slight doubts about Palvis's purpose.

Therefore, as long as Parvis can provide a plausible explanation, Himer is still willing to believe her.

Parvis continued speaking.

“I did a little investigation into him yesterday, and he did indeed adopt the child through the proper procedures in Kazimierz, but... I also discovered something interesting.”

"Leon Kennedy, originally from Letania... originally lived in Casimir. The Twin Queens once personally issued an arrest warrant for him, but it was later cancelled for some reason."

"After the unexpected death of the chairman of Kasimirpil Pharmaceuticals, he somehow became the chairman of the restructured Kasimirpil Pharmaceuticals."

"Interesting... The chairman of a pharmaceutical company adopted a victim of illegal human experimentation?"

Although Palvis didn't continue speaking, his meaning was quite clear.

Pharmaceutical companies... and victims of human experiments—putting these two identities together is far too sensitive, making it hard not to draw other conclusions.

Hermer's pupils contracted, clearly indicating that he had also considered that possibility.

He paused slightly in his steps, then walked through the laboratory's security door without looking back.

Seeing that Himer had finally arrived, Ifrit, who had regained some strength, also struggled to prop herself up from the medical bed, as if she wanted to get off.

Seeing Ifrit's dangerous actions, Himer quickly ran over and pressed her back onto the bed.

The restraints used to restrain adults were already showing signs of loosening, which showed how much pain Ifrit had just been in.

Her body is now completely exhausted, and she has suffered varying degrees of strain in many parts of her body due to excessive exertion.

While analgesics are not very effective against the severe pain caused by the active ingredient, they are somewhat useful for these minor injuries. Once the effects of the medication wear off, Ifrit will probably be in so much pain that she won't be able to get out of bed.

"Your body is still weak, so don't move around too much! Rest here for now... I'll go find you a wheelchair later."

Himeron gave Ifrit these instructions, but Ifrit seemed not to hear her, saying sadly, "I'm sorry, Himeron... I just couldn't help myself and caused you trouble..."

"This is not your fault. There were problems with this experiment from the start. I should be the one apologizing to you."

After untying Ifrit's braids, Himer picked up a piece of gauze and gently wiped her sweat-dampened hair.

"But I thought I could bear it... It really hurts..."

Seemingly recalling painful memories from the past, Ifrit couldn't help but sob softly.

After several months of treatment, Ifrit has become much stronger than when she first came to the structural ward.

If it were the initial stages of treatment, Ifrit could now endure that inhuman pain through sheer willpower.

However, if that dose of activator hadn't come into contact with specially treated Originium fragments, it would have been enough to transform them into a terrifying active Originium bomb, almost equivalent to directly inserting a small Originium engine into Ifrit's body. One can only imagine how painful that would be.

Helping Ifrit sit up, Himer gently patted her back as she reassured her, "It will never happen again, I promise, do you believe me?"

Ifrit nodded, sobbing.

Besides Himer and Saria who rescued her, who else can Ifrit trust?

There must be... there must be some other way, Hemer thought silently to himself.

Her time is very limited. Even considering the funding for the structural department, Ifrit's conservative treatment plan will not last long. The cost of that activator is terrifyingly high, and it has virtually no use other than in chimeric therapy.

Hammer had to come up with a win-win solution before the project's funds ran out.

"Let's end today's experiment here. If you have any ideas about new pain relief methods or treatment plans, you can come and tell me, or you can send me an internal email. I will take a look when I have time."

Palvis addressed the others in the lab.

To address the shortcomings of chimerism experiments... besides researching new nerve-blocking agents, the only other option is to work on the patients themselves.

Unfortunately, Kristen had some kind of problem this time and rejected his experimental application, which left Palvis feeling somewhat disappointed.

However, Parvis did have other options.

Standing on the other side of the glass partition, seeing the expression on Himer's face, Palvis silently pushed up his glasses.

-------------------------------------

On the other hand, Li Ang was unaware of what was happening to Himer, and he did not expect that old man Palvis would use such vague information to smear him.

He is now leading the rosemary to the garden located inside the main building of Rhine Life.

Although leaving the Rhine Life headquarters campus is not permitted, other places are still accessible; otherwise, it would be considered illegal imprisonment.

Between two buildings resembling the number ∞, there are two ecological gardens, one large and one small. These gardens gather various plants from all over Terra. The ecology department has devoted a great deal of effort to overcoming the different growing requirements of these plants and their competitive relationships, planting them all in the same area.

Although these plants may look unremarkable, the technological content they contain is no less than that of the other departments.

If this technology continues to develop, it will become the prototype of an artificial ecosystem. However, we are still far from that point. An ecosystem without biological participation cannot be considered perfect.

It is said that within the Department of Ecology, the head of the department also controls a smaller but more complex ecosystem. However, it seems to be managed entirely by the head of the department, and no one has ever been able to enter the interior of that ecosystem.

After playing with Rosemary in the ecological park for a while, Li Ang noticed that she wasn't very interested in it, so he led her towards their destination: the experimental base of the Ecological Science Department.

The head of the ecology department was there.

Since a woman claiming to be the head of the Ecology Department visited last night, Li Ang should go and see her, both out of courtesy and courtesy.

Unlike other places, Li Ang was stopped by a security gate as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the Ecological Science Experimental Base. The pass given to him by the Structural Science Department was completely useless.

Li Ang stood at the door and rang the doorbell for a long time before a familiar voice finally came from the intercom.

"Who is this person? Why are they so annoying? Don't they know that you need to apply in advance to come see me?"

A moment later, Muirsay's somewhat sleep-deprived face also appeared on the walkie-talkie screen.

"Müllerse, you haven't forgotten what happened last night, have you?"

Chapter Eighteen Ecological Park

"Hey! It's you?"

Upon seeing Li Ang through the walkie-talkie, Muirsay suddenly let out a strange cry and leaned back abruptly.

Although the other party's reaction was somewhat subtle, it did indeed prove that the guy Li Ang saw yesterday was indeed Muirsey.

After calming down a bit, Muirsey complained, "Also, what you just said sounded so strange? I clearly didn't have time to do anything yesterday, did I?"

"Breaking into someone's home without permission is bad enough, but what else do you want to do?"

After a brief silence, Muirsay sighed and said, "Well... I was indeed presumptuous yesterday, I apologize."

"So, what is your purpose in coming to see me this time?"

“The one with ulterior motives… is you,” Li Ang replied. “I just want to talk to you.”

Originally, because Magellan's whereabouts were unknown, Li Ang did not want to contact the people in the Ecology Department so soon, but unexpectedly, Muirsey actually came to him.

Li Ang certainly wouldn't miss this rare opportunity.

Since that old guy Palvis is not easy to deal with, Li Ang can find a breakthrough from the other departments of Rhine Lab.

As one of the earliest members of Rhine Lab, Muirsay was the best candidate besides Ferdinand.

Although... judging from the research direction of the Ecology Department, the Ecology Department may not have received any of Loken's original inheritance, Li Ang still has other things he needs to understand from Muirsey.

“Talk? Sure,” Muirsay said readily. “Then tell me who exactly ‘Trevor’ is.”

After being rejected by Ferdinand, Muirsay considered confronting Christensen directly, but her rationality ultimately prevented her from doing so.

Whatever Christensen is plotting, this facade of peace can continue if Muirsay pretends to know nothing.

But if she rashly rushed over to confront him, Muirsay didn't know what would happen.

Because she possesses a very convenient spell, Muirsey is able to obtain a lot of secret information that even the head of the department cannot obtain. Apart from Christensen, no one in the entire Rhine Lab dares to say that they know more about Rhine Lab than Muirsey.

Therefore, Muirsay was able to sense the unusual atmosphere permeating Rhine Life at this moment.

Frequent personnel changes, unusual cash flow, and the sudden activity of the General Components Department all indicate that Christensen is about to make some big moves.

Besides, Muirsay isn't incapable of conducting investigations elsewhere, so why confront Christen directly?

If Ferdinand was unwilling to tell her, wasn't there another person in the know right in front of her?

"No, are you just going to let me stand here and talk to you?"

Li Ang was slightly speechless. He felt that Muirsay was a little missing a screw in his head.

To show his sincerity, Li Ang even brought rosemary, but what kind of talk was it for Muirsay to keep them outside the ecological park?

"At least let me in... Don't you even have the most basic sincerity?"

This should have been a very simple matter; all Muirsey had to do was nod. Could there be something shady going on in this eco-park?

However, after hearing Li Ang's request, Muirsays unusually fell silent.

"..."

Muirsey frowned slightly, as if letting outsiders into the room was an exceptionally difficult decision for her.

"If anything inside involves secrets of your ecology department, then it's your turn to come out... The location for the conversation can be decided."

Seeing Muirsey's dilemma, Li Ang offered her another option.

Since the ecological park is so important, Li Ang shouldn't ask to go in and explore it; it would be the same if Muirsay came out instead.

"If you can't even guarantee this most basic courtesy, then pretend I was never here today."

With that, Li Ang turned to leave.