Chapter 846: A Disturbing Broadcast

“Huh?”

Lu Xin, who had been a little angry, suddenly found himself distracted by Number Fourteen’s strange behavior.

Though they hadn’t seen each other in ages, even as a classmate, Number Fourteen had changed – gained weight, gotten cheekier, eaten and drunk a bit too much, hogged the bed, and even his snoring had grown louder…

But Lu Xin wasn’t one to be petty.

It was a bit much to buy a phone worth over ten thousand just to make a call, yet lending him a phone for a call was perfectly fine.

But now, he didn’t even need to borrow a phone?

He went straight to broadcasting on the television?

With Lu Xin’s current state of knowledge, this all seemed bizarre and utterly inconceivable.

Even more startling, after Number Fourteen initiated the broadcast, a peculiar vibration began to emanate in a subtle, almost imperceptible manner. Almost instantly, flickering snowflakes appeared on the screen, and the red indicator lights below lit up in rows.

However, a quick glance at the plug revealed it wasn’t even connected to a power source.

Lu Xin couldn’t help but focus intently on the screen, subconsciously straightening his back.

The snowflakes on the screen flickered for about five or six seconds.

Then, in an instant, all the snowflakes flashed simultaneously, switching to an extraordinarily clear image.

The picture was so vivid it felt as if everything was right before his eyes.

There, he saw a hunched man with a deeply wrinkled face, his eyes vacant as he stared blankly at the screen.

At the moment the figure appeared, Lu Xin’s heart pounded fiercely, and he instinctively furrowed his brows, glancing at Number Fourteen standing by the TV, convinced that this wasn’t Number Five.

Number Five was a bright young girl…

“Fifth Sister, Fifth Sister…”

Yet, upon seeing the man on the screen, Number Fourteen immediately grew excited.

“Fantastic, you’re meeting him…”

“Come on, come on, look at who this is!”

“…”

While speaking, he pointed in Number Fourteen’s direction at Lu Xin.

Lu Xin’s confusion had reached its peak; he couldn’t understand a thing.

At that moment, the face on the TV began to recede, slowly revealing the backdrop—a lab filled with hanging translucent plastic sheets and old yet intricate instruments, centered around an operating table on which a person was bound, with a ball stuffed in their mouth.

Seeing this, Lu Xin was even more shocked and instinctively cried out:

“Number Eight?”

“…”

Hadn’t Number Eight once promised to help retrieve these children? How did he end up being bound here?

“Wuwuwu…”

Number Eight, tied to the operating table, seemed to have seen himself on the screen and grew frenzied with excitement.

Struggling wildly on the table, he desperately pleaded with Lu Xin for help.

“What’s going on?”

Growing tense, Lu Xin stood up and took two steps toward the TV.

“Hehe…”

At that moment, the hunched man who had initially appeared on the screen suddenly laughed twice.

Surprisingly, his voice was eerily soft, edged with a distinctly feminine gentleness.

And within that laugh, Lu Xin recognized a familiar sound from his memories.

While laughing, the man took a few steps backward and half-turned his body, leaving Lu Xin utterly stunned.

On the hunched man’s back, a girl was lying face down.

She possessed delicate features, an indifferent expression, and slender yet contorted limbs.

Her arms and legs were tightly bound to the hunched man’s back, secured by some unknown restraints.

Only her head was free to turn, now tilted as if to look into the screen.

“Number Nine, does seeing me make you happy?”

“…”

This bizarre sight, along with the sudden appearance of Number Three, caught Lu Xin off guard.

In that moment, any joy at the prospect of reuniting with Number Five was replaced by an indescribable strangeness.

How had Number Five ended up like this?

And why was Number Eight lying on an operating table in front of her?

“Hehe, you think I look strange now?”

Before Lu Xin could recover from his astonishment and respond, a cold sneer spread across the delicate face on the screen.

Immediately, her body twitched slightly as if issuing an order. The man behind her quickly grabbed a nearby white apron and tied it around her front, then picked up a scalpel and tray before advancing toward the operating table where Number Eight lay.

“Wuwuwu…”

Number Eight struggled even more fiercely, his eyes pleading with Lu Xin for salvation.

“You…”

Without pausing, Lu Xin blurted, “What’s going on? What are you going to do to Number Eight?”

“It’s nothing!”

Number Five replied coolly as the man under her control lightly scraped with the two scalpels, sparking tiny flames.

“I plan to slice open this guy’s head and give him an adjustment.”

Her voice came clearly through the TV, as if she were speaking directly to him:

“Let’s see if we can cure his meddlesome, tattletale ways.”

“Hehe, if he hadn’t been so bored as to drag you to Qinggang, would you have even remembered us—those of us who’ve already died once?”

“And why else would he interfere with our lives, asking for our help?”

“This stubborn oaf even had the nerve to show up saying he’d take me to Qinggang…”

“…”

Lu Xin was momentarily taken aback, then suddenly understood.

Was Number Eight, while acting as his spokesperson, inadvertently tied up by Number Five?

A sense of urgency welled up within him.

He quickly said into the screen, “Number Five, it’s not Number Eight’s fault. I really was the one who asked him to come for you all.”

Number Fourteen, leaning against the wall, added, “That’s right, Fifth Sister…”

“Don’t worry, Old Eight; Fifth Sister just likes to joke around. She wouldn’t really go about slicing your head open…”

“…”

“Wuwuwu…”

Number Eight thrashed on the operating table like a bug, writhing in panic.

“Who arranged this, anyway? And what’s the difference?”

Number Five laughed coldly as the burly man’s twin scalpels were poised above Number Eight’s head.

Lu Xin’s emotions became a tangled mix – the joy of possibly seeing Number Five once more, shock at her current state, and deep worry for Number Eight. In his haste, he stuttered, “Number Five, I want to see you…”

“Haven’t you seen me already?”

Number Five said, as she carefully placed the scalpel in the precise spot and began to cut.

“Aaaargh…”

Number Eight was almost unable to move any longer, his eyes welling up with tears.

Number Fourteen continuously tried to comfort him, “Don’t cry, Old Eight. Relax, Fifth Sister’s just giving you a scare…”

Old Eight’s eyes grew red with anxiety, and suddenly he burst into a series of agonized cries.

Lu Xin could faintly hear something like, “Scare your ancestors…”

Number Eight, usually so particular, had even begun uttering curses.

But as Number Eight’s skull was about to be opened, Lu Xin couldn’t help but feel nervous. Even though he possessed the strongest destructive power on earth, how could he stop an operation unfolding on a television?

Lost in thought, he suddenly looked up and blurted, “Number Five, what happened to you?”

“Swoosh!”

Number Five – or rather, the scalpel in the burly man’s hand – abruptly halted.

The burly man, with Number Five’s face turning sharply toward him, glared coldly and said, “What’s wrong with me?”

“This…”

Lu Xin crouched in front of the television, struggling to find the right words.

Gazing at the slender, contorted limbs fixed on the burly man’s back, a sudden sadness welled up inside him.

“Number Five, your body…”

“…”

“My body?”

Number Five’s expression turned chillingly cold as she sneered, “And it’s all thanks to you, isn’t it?”

“Buzz…”

Hearing her words, Lu Xin’s heart contracted heavily.

“I—I caused it?”

In that instant, his body trembled and he felt an overwhelming sorrow.

He recalled how Teacher Xiao Lu, who once dashed away from the Orphanage, ended up confined to a wheelchair because of him, a grief that had haunted him for years.

But he never imagined that the once powerhouse Number Five would turn out this way…

Beside him, Number Fourteen, listening to their conversation, suddenly wore an oddly strange expression.

“Of course it’s your fault.”

Just as Lu Xin’s guilt peaked, Number Five fired back angrily,

“Had it not been for you wanting to run away with us back then, how could we have been cornered?”

“If it weren’t for you losing control, I would never have experienced being killed and resurrected.”

“And if it weren’t for that experience, I wouldn’t have uncovered the Old Director’s mad plan!”

“If not for the mishaps during my modifications, I wouldn’t have turned into this wretched state!”

“…”

“Yes, it’s all because of me… wait?”

With Number Five’s accusations, Lu Xin’s heart sank even further.

When his guilt was reaching its peak, he suddenly paused.

Something didn’t feel right…

“I owe you some fairness here…”

Number Fourteen, resting an arm on the TV and distorting the image slightly, gritted his teeth and said, “Fifth Sister, blaming Number Nine is a bit much, don’t you think?”

“…”

“Wuwu…”

Number Eight, still bound to the operating table, couldn’t help but join in, as if saying, “Exactly!”

……

……

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward.

It took Lu Xin a while to regain his composure as he, with mounting tension, said, “You just mentioned you discovered the Old Director’s…”

His heart skipped a beat as he hurried, “What exactly is his mad plan?”