Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Aurora looked at the hands that reached out for her before raising her head to look into Han Xiao’s eyes.
“Why are you here to save me?” she asked timidly.
Han Xiao pondered and said, “You can take it as I’m just a warm-hearted person.”
“Who are you?” Aurora turned her head sideways.
“You can call me Zero,” Han Xiao said casually.
Aurora’s wet and large eyes were filled with surprise. “So, you’re Uncle Zero.”
Han Xiao squinted his eyes. Being called uncle made him felt like he was abducting a little girl.
Cyberlos hesitated before speaking up. “She went through brainwashing. You should take note of that if you want to save her.”
Brainwash?
He knew about this rumor, but Aurora’s expression did not look like she was brainwashed. Han Xiao’s eyes twinkled, and he said, “Tell me more.”
“We have many methods of brainwash,” Cyberlos said softly, “such as the destructive one that will recreate one’s personality or the gentle one that twists their thoughts. We have also been researching on chips recently… although there has yet to be any progress.”
“Which method was used on me?” Han Xiao said with interest.
Cyberlos was immediately covered in cold sweat. He braced himself and said, “I saw your documents before. When we found you, you were already severely injured, delirious, and had clear signs of memory loss. When you became a test subject, because of the importance of your brain and the fact that you were already in such a state, we used the gentle brainwashing method.”
This was within Han Xiao’s expectations. Back then, he had been tormented for quite some time by conflicting images and sounds that could be nullified if his Intelligence was just higher than ten. He figured that it was not any sort of destructive method. Anyway, it was in the past, and Han Xiao did not particularly care about it. “What about her?”
“Her elder sister is a strong Executive Officer. Her ability is very unique—she holds a special position and has contributed a lot to the organization. Because of that, Aurora’s brainwash was an even more gentle method. Her personality and mind remained unchanged. However, if she hears a set of specific words, her brainwashed personality will take over, and she will follow orders strictly,” Cyberlos said.
Han Xiao understood roughly. Although Aurora was important, there would not be any accidents since she was completely under control. Her sister, Hila, was a sharp blade, so they left Aurora’s personality unchanged as a way to order Hila. Getting rid of the brainwashed personality would not be a problem; since Aurora was just a weak little girl, Han Xiao just had to knock her unconscious if her brainwashed personality was awakened.
At that moment, Han Xiao realized something. “Wait a minute, how do you know me?”
“My elder sister told me about your story.”
That’s weird, what did Hila mention me for? Han Xiao thought. This little girl seemed to be rather friendly toward him, which was really weird since they should be enemies. He wondered what Hila had told her.
Aurora stood up wobbly, put her hand in Han Xiao’s hand, and said, “Thank you for saving me. Please bring me away.”
Han Xiao was interested. “Aren’t you afraid that I will use you like the Germinal Organization?”
“My older sister said, no matter how dangerous the future is, it will be better than now.” Aurora raised her head. Her innocent face was filled with seriousness.
Seeing that Aurora was so understanding, Han Xiao was relieved. His understanding of Aurora was only limited to the rumors in his previous life. There had been a side mission to investigate the source of the drug that Aurora was made into, and through that, the players came to know about Aurora.
Therefore, he did not know Aurora’s personality, and he did not expect things to go so smoothly.
There would be plenty of opportunities to improve their relationship later on, and now was obviously not a good place and time.
The surveillance cameras of this area were frozen, and it would be found out sooner or later. Thus, time was scarce.
Han Xiao moved the bodies in, took off the white coat and mask from one of them, and gave them to Aurora for disguise. Aurora followed his instructions.
Han Xiao only felt how truly skinny Aurora was when he touched her—it was pitiful. However, Han Xiao did not have any needless emotions. After he disguised her, he turned and yelled at Cyberlos, “Bring us to the underground tunnel, and I promise not to kill you once we’re safe. The Six Nations likes people with your abilities—you should still be able to receive funding for your research over there.”
The escape route was definitely not going to be the main gate now that Aurora was with them. The underground headquarters were connected to many underground tunnels. The tunnels were railway tracks that transported resources and people, and they spread out like a spider’s web.
The plan was to take Cyberlos as a hostage, use his authority, and leave the headquarters from the underground tunnel, hopefully with Cyberlos cooperating willingly. That was why Han Xiao gave him such a promise.
Although Cyberlos did not want to leave the research that he had in the Germinal Organization behind, he also did not want to die. So, Han Xiao’s solution was acceptable, and he even felt relieved.
The Germinal Organization was a sinking ship—to be able to change a side at this time might be a better choice.
As they were going to head out, Han Xiao suddenly stopped. He realized that the small body size of Aurora would attract too much attention even with a disguise. He thought for a moment and took out an empty single shoulder equipment bag. “Get in.”
Aurora did as she was told and climbed into the bag.
As the zip closed, her vision became dark. She could only feel herself being lifted and moved.
“Sister…” Aurora cowered in the bag, closed her hands in front of her chest, and prayed.
…
The three of them quickly passed various levels and headed toward the underground tunnel.
At the same time, the leader, who was listening to the battlefield analysis, suddenly took out his phone.
“The central computer was browsed by Cyberlos. A lot of confidential information was gone through…” The leader narrowed his eyes and raised suspicion. He said to the assistant, “Find Cyberlos’ location and show the surveillance camera footage on my laptop.”
Then, the leader operated his laptop and entered the central computer system through a backdoor command. He looked at the browsing history and immediately noticed that Cyberlos had turned off all the defensive measures. The surveillance camera footage could be seen, too. Cyberlos had entered the central computer room with another person.
The leader’s eyes became sharp and cold. He was immediately able to deduct that Cyberlos was under duress, and this stranger was most likely Zero. He did not step into his traps and snuck in another way.
“Well… don’t think about leaving now that you’re here.” The leader sent out orders immediately. “Send all the nearby Executive Officers to surround Area C-11 and the entrances of underground tunnels 3 to 11. Do it secretly and don’t raise any attention.”
The leader did not turn on the alarm in the headquarters. He wanted to secretly trap Zero to make sure he was dead.
At a lounge in the underground headquarters, a group of Executive Officers played poker out of boredom.
“It’s so damn boring to standby every day. How I wish to go to the battlefield,” someone lamented.
“What’s good about the battlefield? There’s danger everywhere. With these Inhumans and super soldiers, there’s no need for us to put our lives at stake,” someone sneered.
“Super soldiers are a group of monsters that are even more disgusting than the Inhumans. They’re a bunch of half-completed trash,” someone derided. The normal superhumans looked down on those mass-produced soldiers.
At the side, Hila sat on the sofa with an indifferent expression and rested with closed eyes. Her coldness stopped people from approaching, and she did not approach anyone either; she was not part of the lively atmosphere.
All of a sudden, Hila opened her eyes and turned her head in a specific direction. The coldness on her face was gone, replaced by shock and rage in her eyes.
The Life Mark that she had left on Aurora moved!
These Executive Officer suddenly received orders from their superiors, and before it was finished, they heard a loud blast. As they looked up, they saw that the gate was shattered. Hila had already turned into a high-speed, dark-red shadow and disappeared at the end of the corridor.
