Chapter 267: Healer
Zhuang Mingxu wasn’t trapped. After resting for a while, someone brought breakfast—bread with ham. Not lavish, but enough.
The delivery person didn’t talk to him. Zhuang Mingxu took the food and left the room openly.
The broken cameras had been restored, and the corridor returned to its cold and silent state.
He moved room by room. Men and women aged between about eighteen to forty lay on the beds. Some looked extremely weak; others relatively healthy. The common thing was each had a bandage on their forehead.
The bedside charts recorded the time they entered here and the experiments conducted on their bodies.
Some tested drugs that aimed to enhance abilities; some tested drugs for leveling up.
Zhuang Mingxu wasn’t sure where cameras were, so he didn’t move much.
Most of them were in a deep sleep. At first, Zhuang Mingxu thought they were drugged. Near the end of the corridor, he saw two doctors inject a sleeping man. The man’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and a piercing roar came from him.
Strapped tightly to the bed, he couldn’t even struggle, only wide-eyed and screaming in agony.
Zhuang Mingxu considered himself ruthless. The special forces had done many dark missions beyond imagination, but such endless torture was rare.
The two doctors ignored him, accustomed to it, tapping away on a machine nearby, continuously recording and increasing the dosage.
The man’s roar became hoarse. His body tensed, veins bulged like writhing worms. His eyes were full of despair, and he caught sight of Zhuang Mingxu—a flash of light.
“S…kill…”
He wasn’t begging for help. He was begging for death.
The two doctors noticed something wrong and turned back, only to see a silent figure standing at the door.
“Sir, you can’t be here,” they said, faces hidden behind tight white masks, their features indistinct.
“I… cough…” Zhuang Mingxu’s voice was a little choked. “Am I imprisoned?”
“No… the doctor said—”
“If I weren’t imprisoned, I could come and go as I please.” Zhuang Mobai’s status seemed high, and Zhuang Mingxu used it smoothly. He glanced at the person on the bed again and left the room.
Right now, he could do nothing. Acting rashly would only get himself killed.
The two doctors spent the whole morning visiting wards in a circle. Roars and screams never stopped. Zhuang Mingxu followed them at a safe distance. The endless cries completely shattered his last bit of hope for Zhuang Mobai.
*
Near noon, everyone from the unique squad gradually woke up. They saw a laboratory-like place with cold metal beds, various instruments inserted into their bodies, and straps restraining them.
Besides machines, there was little else in the room. Transparent glass walls on both sides allowed a clear view of adjacent rooms with the same layout, but the height was just right, making it uncertain if someone was lying there.
After a complicated experience, Antonio and Li Zhuang immediately tried to activate their abilities, only to find their powers seemingly sealed—completely unable to mobilize.
The pure-hearted Lu Xi asked where they were, and where his friends were.
After a series of blood tests, everyone realized something was wrong.
Their abilities couldn’t be activated, their bodies weak. Even a few soldiers struggled to move, let alone others.
Blood was drawn for tests, people moved in and out. Everyone guessed there were people in the rooms on both sides, but they couldn’t confirm if they were teammates.
Until two men in plain clothes entered a room and grabbed a little golden-haired kid.
“Dean!” Antonio shouted, watching his lively little sun being roughly carried away by two men, looking limp as if his bones were broken.
Antonio tried to mobilize all his muscles, only causing the inserted tubes to tremble slightly. “Ah—” he screamed, his face grimacing, managing to sit up forcibly. “Dean—”
The powerless Dean tried looking toward two places. On one side was Xu Sa lying down, opening his mouth as if calling him; on the other side was Ning Yuan, far away—
“David,” Dean weakly said, struggling to get closer but was dragged away by the two men.
“Dean—” Antonio shouted, forcing his ability to activate. Then, warning beeps sounded throughout the corridor.
Less than a minute later, a group of white-coated doctors appeared in Antonio’s room. They were surprised he could sit up. Leading them was Zhuang Mobai, his face unable to hide joy.
“Where did you take Dean?” Antonio asked, glaring at Zhuang Mobai as he was forced back to bed.
Zhuang Mobai glanced down at him, took a palm-sized device from his pocket, and pressed a button. Immediately, his voice spread through all the experimental rooms.
“Mingxu needs the healer team. Send someone to take him there.”
Antonio’s eyes flickered, then heard Zhuang Mobai laugh, “Why so surprised? He’s part of the Zhuang family, naturally loyal to us. Otherwise, how do you think you got trapped?”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Ning Yuan’s shout was particularly clear amidst the shock.
They could hear each other’s voices now.
“Liu Rui?”
“Qing Yue.”
“Brother Sa… Sa.”
“Liu Yang.”
…
Names kept ringing out, each met with a response from the corresponding person.
Until Li Zhuang called out, “Lu Weiyi!”
The surrounding noise quieted down.
Zhuang Mobai pressed another button, and all the voices instantly disappeared. He adjusted several settings on a nearby machine. After a moment, Antonio felt as if his whole body had vanished—he couldn’t even move a finger.
Zhuang Mobai took a record sheet and said to the following researcher, “Once the drug effects wear off, test each person’s ability values and assign individualized adjustment plans.”
“Understood, Doctor,” replied a young woman’s cold, mechanical voice. “Will the B-rank subjects also be involved in the matching?”
“…No, first stimulate their abilities to improve, trying to raise them to A-rank as much as possible,” Zhuang Mobai said.
*
Dean, utterly weak like a dead dog, was dragged onto an elevator by two men. After ascending three floors, they walked in one direction.
“Knock knock.”
“Come in.” Dean was startled by the voice. The door opened. It really was Zhuang Mingxu.
Zhuang Mingxu raised his eyes and scanned over to see the usually lively little guy being dragged like a dead dog.
“Zhuang, you…”
“What’s wrong with him?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
“He was injected with an ability suppressant,” one man answered, tossing Dean onto the floor. “The doctor said if you want, you can give him a soothing injection. No need to take him away—wait for him to boost his abilities.”
Soothing injection and ability boosting.
Zhuang Mingxu recalled the morning’s screams.
“Need it,” he said, reaching out to pick up the kid.
The two men nodded and left.
Avoiding all possible surveillance points, Zhuang Mingxu whispered, “Don’t talk carelessly. We’re not sure if the room is monitored.” Though he hadn’t found any, better safe than sorry.
“The drug to boost abilities here is very painful. You cooperate with me and stay here for now,” Zhuang Mingxu said, placing Dean on the bed.
Dean heard Zhuang Mobai’s words as he left but didn’t know how to react. He had no strength at all.
Dean was like Lu Weiyi a year ago—overprotected.
Seeing this reaction, Zhuang Mingxu felt a pang in his heart.
They were burdened because of him. If not for needing to treat his leg, they could have lived carefree on the island—going out to kill zombies for fun, gathering for drinks, even going out to catch seafood.
Dean curled up on the bed, staring fearfully at Zhuang Mingxu. “Where’s Lu?”
Zhuang Mingxu shook his head, signaling, “Not here.”
“Where… is this place?”
Zhuang Mingxu roughly explained, including the purpose for bringing them here.
“I… I’m going to find David,” Dean said, struggling to get off the bed but only managing to move slightly while panting.
Seeing him nearly fall, Zhuang Mingxu stepped close and helped him up. In a low voice, he said, “Calm down. I have weapons in my space. I’m already working on it. Don’t hold me back.”
Antonio seemed easygoing but was actually a madman inside. Dean was the leash keeping that madman in check. If that leash wasn’t protected well, even if they escaped, the madman would definitely make things hard for Lu Weiyi.
That was why Zhuang Mingxu’s first choice was to bring Dean over, not the closer Lu Xi or Ning Yuan.
Soon after, a person dressed like a doctor knocked and entered, holding a purple syringe.
“This is a soothing injection. The doctor told me to give it to him.”
“One injection? How long until it takes effect? What reactions?” Zhuang Mingxu asked the woman.
She said nothing and moved toward Dean. Dean shook his head, unconsciously shrinking back, “No, don’t come.”
Zhuang Mingxu stood up, grabbed the back of her neck, snatched the syringe from her hand, and threw her out.
Bang! The woman slammed hard against the door.
Turning the syringe between his fingers, Zhuang Mingxu’s expression was indifferent to human life. “I don’t like it when people ignore my problems.”
“You…” The woman stared at him resentfully.
“Want to complain?” Zhuang Mingxu made a gesture inviting her to do so.
Though he didn’t understand why Zhuang Mobai was tolerating him, it didn’t stop Zhuang Mingxu from being a bit brazen. To Zhuang Mobai, such petty behavior was like a child throwing a tantrum; Zhuang Mingxu bet he wouldn’t care.
The woman ignored him, stood up, and tidied her clothes. “One injection is effective, takes effect in eight hours, and reactions are mild.”
Between the morning and evening ability-boosting drugs and one injection, Zhuang Mingxu chose the latter for Dean.
The woman took the syringe he handed over, yanked Dean’s arm, injected it, and quickly left.
At first, Dean had no reaction. As the woman left, his body felt as if thrown into a sulfuric acid pool. The acidic pain coming from his bones made him want to struggle, but his whole body was weak. His groans of pain were powerless.
