Chapter 344: Wish Countdown

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As Lu Xin slammed Little Nineteen into the corner for the third time, the lab began to shake.

Test tubes, the green liquid in the pond, and even the chocolate on the operator’s desk trembled slightly. It felt like the basement was experiencing a minor earthquake; even the incandescent lamps flickered erratically for a moment.

“What was that?”

Zhao Shiming, who was adjusting the medication in a flask while wearing white gloves, frowned slightly and paused his work.

Nearby, Chen Xun gently pulled off the mask he was wearing.

He carefully picked up a gently writhing brain—one possessing a strange beauty—and placed it beside Zhao Shiming.

Admiring the brain, a smile spread across his face. “That’s the power of the Tyrant…”

Zhao Shiming stiffened slightly, turning around rigidly. “The Tyrant you stole?”

“Yes, but it’s incomplete.”

Chen Xun added as he took off his gloves, “Still terrifying, of course.”

Zhao Shiming glanced at the pond. The red electronic watch above it displayed the progress of their current experiment:

97%

He fell silent for a moment. “Is there enough time?”

“I’ll buy us enough time.”

Chen Xun had already walked aside, taken off his white coat, and hung it neatly on a coat hanger.

Then, he retrieved his exquisite watch and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses from a nearby storage case. He slowly put them on, even checking his reflection in a mirror to straighten his clothes and smooth his hair.

Now, he no longer looked like a researcher.

Instead, he resembled a well-dressed, promising young man, refined despite his age.

Watching him, Zhao Shiming’s expression grew somewhat grave.

After a moment, he suddenly put down the test tube, turned to Chen Xun, and asked, “Is it worth it?”

Chen Xun turned back, smiling. “Dr. Zhao, asking me that now… don’t you think you’re underestimating me a little?”

Zhao Shiming wasn’t smiling. He just asked, “Then let me ask, why are you doing all this?”

Chen Xun paused, then smiled. “To give my teacher a satisfactory report card, of course!”

Zhao Shiming took a deep breath.

He suddenly removed the glove from his right hand and solemnly offered his hand to Chen Xun.

Chen Xun hesitated, then slowly looked up. “Is it worth wasting time on this now?”

Zhao Shiming nodded. “It’s worth it.”

Chen Xun said no more, extending his hand to shake Zhao Shiming’s.

“Pleasure doing business with you!”

Zhao Shiming released his hand, put his glove back on, and resumed his experiment.

Chen Xun picked up a stopwatch from a nearby table and turned towards the lab entrance. Inside the lab, everyone kept their heads down, engrossed in their work, seemingly oblivious to what he was about to do.

Only the elderly janitor looked up at Chen Xun, lips trembling as a few cloudy tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes.

Chen Xun smiled and nodded at her.

Then, standing at the lab entrance, he gave a slight bow to those inside before turning to leave.

“Thank you all for your hard work.”

…

Lu Xin, holding his sister’s hand, walked into the desolate building.

It was pitch black inside, with only faint light drifting in from the sparse streetlights outside.

But once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see that the building’s first floor was spacious.

It must have been a vast lobby once. Thick dust coated everything, mixed with scattered wooden easels, papers, glass shards, and more. It looked no different from any other abandoned building, except something seemed to be writhing in the darkness.

Lu Xin paused only briefly before continuing forward, not even taking out his flashlight.

The things in the dark seemed to fear him, shrinking back into deeper shadows as he advanced.

Scrape… Scrape… Scrape…

In the dead silence of the building, only Lu Xin’s soft footsteps echoed.

He tilted his head slightly, listening for something, then strolled forward, gradually approaching his destination.

As he passed through a desolate corridor, looking for a way underground, he suddenly stopped.

Tilting his head slightly, he looked towards a completely unlit area to the right of the corridor.

His pupils constricted slightly, as if he’d already spotted someone.

Click!

Just then, the sound of a lighter clicking echoed, followed by the lighting of a candle.

By the candlelight, he could see it was a bar, abandoned for who knows how long. In front was a curved bar counter covered in dust. The shelves behind it were filled with alcohol bottles, some coated in thick dust, others half-shattered.

A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was lighting candles one by one, gradually filling the bar with light.

Grind…

Suddenly, a faint grinding sound came from beside him.

Sister was gritting her teeth fiercely, staring intently at the man behind the bar counter.

Her gaze held a mixture of hatred and bewilderment.

She punched her own little head lightly, then glared even more fiercely at the man behind the counter.

But she didn’t try to tell Lu Xin what she was thinking.

Lu Xin didn’t ask either. He just held his sister’s hand and slowly walked towards the bar counter.

He felt slightly relieved now.

He had finally found Chen Xun, a relative from the orphanage days.

…

Inside the bar, the man had already lit over a dozen candles, illuminating the surroundings as if the lights were on. He then casually took out a handkerchief and gently wiped away the thick dust. In just a few wipes, the handkerchief turned pitch black.

Lu Xin reached the bar counter, stood beside a high stool that was still upright, dusted it off, and sat down.

“You’re here?”

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses glanced at him with a smile, greeting him like an old friend.

He took out a sealed set of cups from the cabinet under the counter, followed by a bottle of whiskey, mostly full of golden liquid. He poured four glasses, placed one in front of himself, and pushed the other three towards Lu Xin simultaneously.

The gesture made it seem like he was hosting three guests, not just one.

Lu Xin looked at the three glasses without speaking, his brow slightly furrowed.

He wasn’t interested in playing games of false courtesy before hostility; he was just considering how to handle this situation most effectively.

“Do you remember me?”

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses, or rather, Chen Xun, smiled and picked up his glass.

But he didn’t drink it. He just took a deep breath, a look of pleasure appearing on his face.

“Vaguely. I only just recalled.”

Lu Xin answered honestly, looking him in the eye, “But I know you’re also from our orphanage.”

“It’s normal that you don’t remember me well.”

Chen Xun chuckled. “After all, I was responsible for other matters back then and didn’t interact much with you children. Only a few in the entire orphanage ever saw me… Besides, so many years have passed, and you’ve… changed like this.”

Lu Xin fell silent for a moment, looking up slightly, his eyes as deep as wells.

He asked stiffly, “That girl… what happened?”

“Have you forgotten?”

Chen Xun held his glass and smiled. “Her codename is Nineteen.”

Lu Xin’s pupils contracted slightly.

Chen Xun brought the glass to his lips but still didn’t drink. After a while, he gently shook his head and chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I used to love indulging in things like this. But later, to protect my reason and ensure my hands wouldn’t tremble during surgery, I quit for many years. Smelling it again now… the aroma is still so fragrant, but I seem to have less courage…”

After a brief pause, he seemed to make up his mind and was about to gulp it down.

But Lu Xin suddenly grabbed his wrist, asking softly, “What did you do to her?”

Chen Xun froze, looking at the hand gripping his wrist.

After a slight pause, he put the glass down with his other hand and reached into his pocket. Lu Xin made no move to stop him, letting him proceed as if completely unconcerned whether he pulled out a handgun or something else entirely.

Chen Xun pulled out only a worn-out stopwatch.

The pointer on it was moving slowly. The set time was ten minutes.

“This is a Parasitic Item, serial number 2-31, Wish Countdown.”

Chen Xun placed the stopwatch on the table beside them, looked into Lu Xin’s eyes, and said softly, “When this stopwatch is activated, you make a wish. When the timer reaches zero, that wish will come true…”

“Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?”

“Actually, that’s just an illusion. Sequence 2 Parasitic Items don’t have the power to alter reality.”

“It can only change itself.”

“…”

“However, it can still be quite useful under special circumstances.”

He smiled and continued explaining, “For example, if my wish was to lose all my memories, or for my heart to stop suddenly, or for my mental power to erupt and destroy my brain…”

“If you do anything to me midway, or destroy this stopwatch, it will cause that outcome to happen immediately.”

“So, I’ll use these ten minutes to have a proper chat with you…”

“…”

Lu Xin glanced at the stopwatch, his expression calm.

Chen Xun, however, started smiling. “Go on, what is it you really want to ask?”

Lu Xin looked at him expressionlessly, appearing deep in thought, then slowly began to speak:

“What exactly did you do to that little girl… Little Nineteen?”

“…”

“I just let her live.”

Chen Xun looked up at Lu Xin, his gaze appearing frank now.

As he spoke, he looked directly into Lu Xin’s eyes. “Isn’t that much better than what you did?”

The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly, hinting at a smile. “When you faced her just now, did she feel particularly familiar?”

“After all, it wasn’t the first time you killed her…”

“I’m very curious, back when you brutally killed everyone in the lab, did you also feel so…”

“Sad?”