Chapter 722: The Trial of Strength
by xennovel“This is your plan?”
At the same time, under three Red Moons overhead, an ordinary-looking Jeep was parked at a crossroad on a wasteland only a dozen kilometers from Qinggang. Beside it stood a fierce and wild woman in camouflage shorts and a crop top, while in the backseat sat an elderly man in a Zhongshan suit with an unruffled expression.
When the woman spotted the three Red Moons, a sudden, ominous premonition gripped her.
Worried, she lowered her voice and asked the old man,
“Do you really think everything will go the way you expect?”
“…”
“Everything has been under control from the start.”
After a pause, the man in the backseat softly replied, “Every step is a necessary part of the experiment.”
He seemed to have hesitated briefly, ensuring that nothing would go awry before he decided to share his thoughts with her.
With a gentle sigh, he said, “Back then, I brought you all to Qinggang so I could study your secrets without interference. During that time, I acquired some crucial materials and even nurtured your theories.”
“But there was one exception – that child codenamed ‘Tyrant’…”
“…”
At the mention of the codename, his expression briefly turned complex before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
“We simply don’t know how to handle that child.”
“I knew he possessed a terrifying power within him, yet I dared not unleash it.”
“Because I could sense that the power inside him is entirely different from yours. Once activated, our security measures might not hold up, and everything could be destroyed by his loss of control.”
“I can’t even be sure he truly harbors human emotions.”
“…”
After a pause, he sighed gently and continued:
“I carried out standard tests on him, even drawing blood and collecting samples of his cerebral cortex.”
“While preparing these experiments, I wondered if it might provoke him into losing control.”
“But he didn’t.”
“When we opened his skull, I inadvertently caught sight of his expression…”
“He wasn’t anesthetized – he remained alert.”
“Even when we clipped off a portion of his cerebral cortex, he actually smiled at me…”
“…”
The woman beside the Jeep, or rather Number Seven, suddenly shivered.
Agitated and fearful, she abruptly spat, “Monster, he really is a monster…”
“I’ve known all along that he’s a monster.”
“…”
The Old Director waited silently for her outburst to subside, then nodded with a smile and said, “Indeed.”
“To determine if he possessed human emotions, I showed him many things.”
“I took him to witness Dissection Experiment Number Seventeen and let him observe Experiment Number Four, where subjects endured extreme electric currents. I even exposed him to both the most unruly and the most docile subjects…”
“I hoped to see a varied reaction from him, but every attempt was in vain.”
“No matter what he faced, he only observed with quiet curiosity.”
“His actions remain utterly unpredictable.”
“Sometimes, even when someone tries to stab him with a knife, he simply smiles.”
“Other times, a mere glance from someone is all it takes for that person to be killed right before our eyes…”
“…”
He seemed to recall those moments from long ago, his pale eyes reflecting a silent lament.
“Our experiments with him had hit a dead end.”
The Old Director sighed softly, lit a cheap cigarette, and soon the area around the Jeep was filled with a sharp tobacco scent.
“So I made a decision.”
His face remained unnervingly calm as he declared, “Since we can’t control the power within him, we must fully activate it.”
“You…”
At these words, even Number Seven was taken aback and looked up at the Old Director.
“It’s entirely normal.”
Observing Number Seven’s reaction, the Old Director smiled and said, “In experiments, applying varying degrees and types of stimuli to a material to observe its changes is a common method.”
Number Seven turned to face him boldly, “So the escape plan back then…”
“was already under control.”
The Old Director coolly replied, “How could a group of children’s escape plan ever elude the watchful eyes of adults?”
“From the moment you first conceived of escape, Chen Xun reported everything to me – including each of your attitudes towards the plan, whether supportive, indifferent, fearful, or even excited…”
“So…”
Hearing his calm tone, even Number Seven felt a surge of panic.
Her body trembled as she muttered, “So what you reported back then…”
“Your tip was indeed useful.”
The Old Director nodded gently at her, “At least it let us understand your stance.”
“That’s why I rescued you afterward; otherwise, you would have been expendable.”
“…”
Number Seven’s body began to tremble.
Her typically fierce demeanor gave way to genuine fear and uncontrollable anger.
“Later, you witnessed the outcome of that plan.”
The Old Director didn’t waste time watching Number Seven’s reaction; instead, he sighed softly and said, “The experiment was, in a way, successful…”
“Of course, outwardly it may have seemed like a failure; we all underestimated the extent of the destruction he could cause…”
“But it did confirm my earlier hypothesis:”
“Codename ‘Tyrant’, Number Nine lacks the ability and shows no consistent reaction, meaning his mind has remained abnormally stable. Thus, stimulating others into losing control might be the only way to affect him.”
“It wasn’t until that experiment that he truly began to feel.”
“Even if his very first emotion was an uncontrollable, extreme anger…”
“…”
Having been with the Old Director the longest, Number Seven felt a surge of resentment and anger as she listened.
She believed she already knew all the truth.
Because she knew the lab had paid a heavy price for that incident, she always assumed it was an accident – which in turn confirmed that her tip back then was correct, and that she had indeed aided the Old Director in some way.
But only now did she suddenly realize her own naivety.
In that fleeting moment, a hundred thoughts of killing the Old Director raced through her mind.
Yet she dared not act on them.
Her facial muscles twisted as she finally, barely containing her anger, asked one last question:
“So, after keeping me by your side and arranging everything, what exactly do you plan to do next?”
“…”
“My plan is really quite simple.”
The Old Director lifted his gaze toward Qinggang, bathed in the light of the three Red Moons, and sighed softly:
“To guide Number Nine toward proper growth, you must first understand him.”
“…”
“After that seemingly uncontrolled experiment, something changed in Number Nine that even I couldn’t fully understand. You know why – I was injured in that failed experiment too. After all, I’m just an ordinary man who took a long time to recover.”
He shook his head slightly and sighed, “When I returned to Qinggang to resume my observations, I discovered he had vanished. It took me quite a while to locate him again, and when I did, I found his condition had changed. Someone had manipulated my experiments to awaken the human side that emerged after that colossal explosion, using odd methods to barely keep him stable…”
“Strangely, that part remains a mystery even to me.”
“…”
After a long sigh, his expression relaxed as he said, “But I can understand his state.”
“Fragile human emotions intertwined with a divinity beyond our grasp are like a person burdened with immense mental pressure – always on the edge of collapse and engulfed in fear.”
“This child has always been scared; his humanity is like that of a weeping, helpless little boy.”
“Because he’s frightened, he clings desperately to the only shelter he knows – the omnipresent rules.”
“For the weak, rules are the only means of protection.”
“He even chose to forget the most painful parts of his past, retaining only the memories he held dearest.”
“Of course, that’s a normal self-protection mechanism – the only choice he had at the time.”
“…”
At this point, a spark of excitement clearly lit up the Old Director’s face.
Overcome with emotion, he nearly choked on his cigarette.
After a couple of coughs, he moved the cigarette away from his fingertips and chuckled softly:
“With this as a foundation, I designed the subsequent experiments – or rather, trials for him – to gradually refine him through successive tests. It was risky, but everything went off without a hitch…”
“He truly grew through each trial, achieving an unprecedented balance…”
“Do you know how I felt seeing him like this?”
“I was deeply moved.”
“The fragile humanity gradually grew firmer, ultimately forming a solid base capable of supporting divinity…”
“Is there anything greater in this world?”
“…”
“…”
Watching the passionate look on the Old Director’s face, Number Seven felt a crushing sense of despair.
“If you care so deeply about him, then why arrange this trial now?”
She asked numbly, “Aren’t you afraid that this trial will obliterate everything he currently has?”
“Patients with severe depression dread repetition above all else.”
The Old Director replied softly, “Those who bear a burgeoning divinity grow in much the same way.”
“But we must do this.”
Looking up from afar at Qinggang, his voice heavy, he murmured, “Mild heat can’t forge the strongest bullet.”
“So I chose to apply even greater pressure, transforming his fragile humanity into something far stronger!”
“This is the Trial of Strength.”