Ability Files

"Come out!" I stood on the side of the road and shouted loudly, even if I didn't say it, I could guess who was coming.

There was movement in the forest opposite, someone came out, step by step, slowly revealing his face under the moonlight—it was indeed Julian.

"Are you alone, LM-A17?" I habitually called his number, glanced behind him, but saw no one else.

"...Why did you come back?" Julian stared at me for a while, then opened his mouth.

"The mission is accomplished, of course I'm coming back." I smiled at him, "Take me to see Dr. Ling!"

Julian was not the only one who came, but he was a vanguard, and he came here specially to check the situation on my side.However, the situation was unexpected, there was no one around me, and I even offered to follow him.So, after waiting for the people behind to catch up, Julian escorted me into the car and turned back to the research institute.

Just as I imagined, and Vincott also thought, before I got in the car, I was scanned from head to toe with a detector to ensure that there were no other instruments or weapons on my body except the wristband. The half of the magnetic disk was naturally It was found and taken away immediately.After avoiding the defense system and entering the research institute, the long white closed passage thoroughly disinfected and tested.

The white unknown gas sprayed out from the rows of small holes on both sides of the channel and on the top of the head. It hurt a little when it sprayed on my body, especially where I scratched and broke my skin. The ants are crawling, and they can't wait to scratch them hard with their hands.Enduring this painful and itchy feeling, I walked through the light curtains made of light, and walked forward alone.

After finally standing at the end of the passage, I faced the closed door and waited quietly, whether I succeed or fail this time.There was a sound of mechanical operation, and several laser sights protruded from the small holes at the top of the passage, aiming at me in unison.A stereoscopic projection appeared right in front of me. Dr. Ling, dressed in a white robe, said hello to me, "Long time no see!" 』

"Hello!" I greeted back, and watched Dr. Ling on the screen hold the magnetic disk they seized from me between two fingers and hold it up to his eyes for a closer look.

"Len, you really surprised me. You thought you would just stay here, and you had other plans. You thought you would just disappear, and you came to the door yourself...and this as a gift!" Dr. Ling shook the magnetic disk in his hand, his eyes seemed to look into my heart through the image projection, "What do you want?" 』

I looked at her without backing down: "I think you have misunderstood, you and I were originally a deal, and of course we had other plans, but you can't blame me for being taken away from you by Hughes to cancel the signal... How dare you say you Didn't you let us go on purpose with the idea of ​​finding other supernatural beings by relying on the locator on my body? Besides, the reason why I came back with this is because of your wish, right?"

I raised my eyebrows and looked at her pretending to be calm. Dr. Ling showed me a provocative smile, and then the projection disappeared, and the front passage door moved to both sides, revealing the exit.

This is an invitation. The gift I brought is sufficient, and she still needs me. Whether it is my ability or the need for me to reveal Arthur's current situation, I have already counted.

When I got out of the passageway, someone stepped forward, stood behind me, and "escorted" me to Dr. Ling's location.

Walking in the institute, everything seems familiar and yet strange.At a glance, the channel is basically the same as the one in memory, but there is a faint sense of incongruity.It seems that the reconstruction is really carried out on the original basis of the research institute, and the slight deviation is often the place that is least noticed. Then, the way of life and the way of death may have to be reversed, and the previous impression will be completely overthrown, and it cannot be relied on. , so as not to accidentally fall into their trap.

Those people led me to a door, and a man who looked like an assistant waiting there opened the voice-activated door and led me in.At a glance, I recognized the equipment inside as the ones I saw on the video projection just now, and turned my head to look for Dr. Ling.

She was sitting on a chair in front of the instrument, playing with an irregular magnetic disc in each hand. I walked to a distance of about one meter behind her and stood still, looking at the things in her hands.Dr. Ling put the two disks together, pressed lightly, and the sound of "嗤嗤" sounded, and the disks were combined into one.

"Are you interested?" Dr. Ling turned his chair and asked me with a smile.

"I took half of it back. I should have the right to watch it, right?" I dragged a chair and sat down, waiting for her to open the contents.

Dr. Ling didn't care about my actions. He inserted the disk into the groove and tapped on the countertop. A progress bar popped up on the stereoscopic projection screen: 1%, 2%, 3%... 99%, and then displayed on the On the screen is an encrypted folder.

"Adam Project..." I couldn't help but read the name of the folder.

"God created Adam, and because of Adam's loneliness, he pulled out his ribs to create Eve..." Dr. Ling muttered to himself in an almost obsessive tone, raised his hand to the position of the folder, and then typed A long string of passwords.

I watched her type, and then wrote down the series of combinations of letters and numbers, recalled it in my mind, and remembered it firmly.

The file folder is opened, and there are several different sub-files inside, named after letters and numbers.I glanced over and found that the numbers of several documents side by side were very familiar: AN-A13, LM-A17, GP-A08, DI-A05, CU-A04... and TL-C01.

From the first row, these numbers are Arthur, Julian, Andre, and Rogge. I have never seen the number CU-A04, but I guess it should be Hughes, and the last one , it is me.

Sure enough, this disk contains my information, but I don't know what is the purpose of being listed here.The others are all listed here because their ability level is above A level, so I can understand, what about me?

Or from another point of view, the genes of Hughes, Rogge, and Andre have been artificially controlled and implanted into the helical molecules of animals. Arthur is because the ability level is about to reach S level, and Julian is Because of gene duplication and human cloning, am I counting it as a special case because of the natural combination of two supernatural beings?

"TL-C01, do you want to see what is written in your file?" The number was still directed at the screen, and the last sentence was directed at me.

"Of course." It wasn't until the words came out of my mouth that I realized that the end of my voice was trembling.

I don't know if Dr. Ling noticed my nervousness, but she clicked on the document marked with my name, and a page popped up.The first thing that appeared was my full-body portrait, wearing the white robe of the research institute, both front and side. It was my appearance a few years ago. At that time, I was much more childish than now, and my eyes revealed a kind of bewilderment.

Dr. Ling pulled down the page, and the subtitles slowly moved up line by line under my full body image, including height, age, weight, and so on.

In the column where I saw my mother, my heart "thumped".Of course I know who my mother is, numbered Y-B1, a B-level charmer, who used to be called Eva.What I want to know is another person's name, number, who is... my father?

The mother's column is very detailed, but I'm not in the mood to read it. I just wait for Dr. Ling to continue to scroll down... The father's column that appears below is very simple, with only a lowercase "k".

k?

initials?

Or KING?

Or other abilities whose numbers start with the word K?

I frowned and watched Dr. Ling continue to look through my files, but there was no useful news, all of them were incomprehensible molecular formulas and some graphics.Dr. Ling was quite interested in this kind of thing, and he looked at it slowly line by line with his chin in his hand, and stopped from time to time.

While paying attention to the text on the screen, I was thinking about another question: there is a photo of me two years ago in the document, but why didn't they recognize me at the time?Unless Arthur and the others haven't opened my file, or Vincott hasn't seen the information and records about me, because with the personalities of Arthur, Hughes, and Rogge, they don't care about the affairs of people other than themselves.

I think the latter is more likely.Moon also said that the contents of the magnetic disk are only related to the affairs of A-level ability users, and it has always been in Arthur's hands. Wencott can't decipher the genetic equation, so it's useless to show him... Although in the end I I got half of the disk from Wencott, but it was only half, and I couldn't read the content inside. Then Wencott and the others didn't know my existence, so they shouldn't have recognized me.

By the way, maybe someone has read my document - Andre.I still remember when he saved Gray and gave me a surprised look before jumping off the car.

Just when I was thinking wildly, there was a "beep" in my ear, and I looked up, but it was Dr. Ling who had browsed my document and clicked close.Moreover, it seems that she is not going to click on other people's files for me to watch.

"How do you feel when you see the records about yourself?" Dr. Ling leaned back in the chair, crossed his hands and asked me in a superior tone.

"It's just an observation log of a white mouse in the laboratory. It doesn't feel like it." I defined that record.

"Then, you have seen what you want to see, now let's discuss how to arrange your problem!" Dr. Ling looked at me with malicious eyes.

"I think I have done much more for you than what I agreed before, and the rewards I should get should be higher, right?" I spoke first, and if I guessed right, Dr. Ling would pry open my phone next. Mouth to get the news she wants to know.

"Oh? I don't think so!" Dr. Ling put one leg on the other and looked at me with some arrogance, as if he had seen through my plan. "Instead, it was because of you that we missed it." This is an opportunity to catch other capable users in one fell swoop. I really want to ask, how did the locator in your wristband fail for such a long time.”

"It's a good thing to miss it, right? I don't think you can catch them, including Arthur, Rogge, and Hughes." I gave her a "as I expected" smile, " If you have all the information on the ability users of the ACC Institute of Supernatural Powers, you should know that someone can tamper with the program, and this wristband was tampered with by him... However, it seems that your protective measures are so good that you let it in my body. Before reaching the research institute, he revived himself."

It’s still the same trick as before—true and false. Anyway, Dr. Ling can’t detect whether I’m telling the truth or a lie. I’m resistant to drugs. It’s impossible to confuse my thinking and make me tell the truth. And the so-called lie detector is a complete joke to those of us with spiritual abilities.Therefore, I have no qualms about hiding the truth.

"You mean, when Hughes rescued you, other people were there?" Dr. Ling obviously doubted what I said.

"That's right, but at that time only Vincott—that is, the ability user who handled the wristband—was with Hughes. Later, Anthony, who could track the ability, found us, and then we joined Arthur and others .”

"Then, what about the house we followed the signal to find at the end? According to what they inquired, there is a female "inventor" who likes to tinker with gadgets, right?" Dr. Ling said in the "Inventor" three The accent on the word has a hint of disdain.

"We supernatural beings don't always care much about the lives of people who are not our companions," I didn't answer directly, "Hughes found the place, Vincott said he borrowed the props inside, as for the original owner I I don't know."

Subconsciously, I don't want Dr. Ling to know about Joan.

Dr. Ling stared at me with cold eyes, and laughed again after a while: "Since this is the case, let's take it as it is! Then tell me in detail how this thing got into your hands, and how you know we are here." !"

She tapped the disk with her hand.

"It's a coincidence that I got this. You may not believe me when I tell you, but it's the truth." I started with this sentence, and then continued to fabricate a lie: "Arthur and the others went to save Munn. At that time, in order to prevent the disk from falling When it is in your hands, leave it to me for safekeeping. It happened that they all ran to your place, and Hughes, the only one left, had a molt on his face and couldn’t move. I escaped overnight. As for how I came here, one is because I saw some pictures when I used the thought transmission for the first time, from which I speculated that it might be related to the ACC Research Institute; the other was to avoid Arthur and the others, I think they should Never thought I'd come here."

Looking at each other, I am not afraid that she will see anything in my eyes.

"So, the Arthur you mentioned is not with you?" Dr. Ling glanced thoughtfully at the pocket earphones on the stage.

"Well, I stayed in a town dozens of miles away from here after I came out of Tuckerberg. I just found out that the ACC Research Institute was rebuilt, and I was attacked by Julian on the way here." I shrugged Shrugged, then compared the simply treated wound on his forehead.

"It's my fault, I didn't explain it clearly. However, we still need someone to confirm what you said..." As he was speaking, the small earphone connected to the microphone made a "beep" signal, and the yellow indicator on it The lights also flickered.

"It seems that now we can prove whether you are telling the truth or not!" Dr. Ling smiled at me, put the headset on his ear, and connected the message.

I can't hear what the other party is saying at all here, and I can only judge whether the news is good or bad based on Dr. Ling's expression. I guess the other party's report is nothing more than what I heard about me in the town.

It doesn't matter, anyway, Vincott and the others never showed up at all, and the people in the hotel are controlled by Elena, so they won't leak their information, and other people in the town only know that I ran out to travel alone.Moreover, I believe that Vincott has moved with Arthur and Fili, and all the traces have been destroyed.

Sure enough, Dr. Ling nodded to me after taking off the communicator, and said: "It seems that your situation is true, then, according to the original conditions, you cooperate with our experiment, and we will give you a certain degree of freedom!"

Thinking of doing those painful experiments again, I subconsciously frowned.

Dr. Ling laughed "hehe" twice, and pressed a button: "Don't worry, although you are a special case, our real goal is not to be able to achieve it just by studying you. When everyone else is arrested, maybe we will still I can set you free!"

The door connecting to the outside opened, and two people came in. I could clearly see that they were from the few places where I was escorted.I glanced at Dr. Ling, then walked out behind them, turned around and came to a room.The specifications of the room, the color of the ceiling, and the transparent isolation cover that made the wall were all too familiar, so familiar that I thought I had never had the freedom of the two years in between.

I walked in, and the door slowly closed behind me.I patted the bed that was as cold as an operating table, and lay down on it. Facing the snow-white ceiling above my head, I twitched the corners of my mouth and said softly, "I'm back!"

I originally thought that I would not be able to fall asleep when I returned to the research institute, but unexpectedly, I fell asleep and woke up naturally.

In the research institute, day, night, year, month, and day are all just a number on the monitor. There is only a small space in the room where you can move, and what you can see is only the same scene. There is no need to calculate the time at all. s things.In the past, the way I used to spend the long time alone was to be in a daze, let my mind go blank, and not think about anything, but now I can't.

As soon as I was free, I was full of thoughts about how Wencott and the others prepared, whether Hughes brought Joan back, whether the two groups of them successfully met without being discovered by Dr. Ling's people, and when they could be assembled The equipment successfully cut into the defense system of the research institute...blah blah blah.Sure enough, after being exposed to the bizarre world outside, it is impossible for my mentality to return to the previous state of indifference to everything.

This time I was not alone for a long time, and soon someone brought food and told me that my fingerprint had been entered, and I could move around freely.The timing is very coincidental, it must be because they found out from the monitor in the room that I was awake.I was allowed to freely enter and exit this room, which was part of my rights in the deal with Dr. Ling, but the person who came here deliberately left a sentence of "don't go where you shouldn't go", but it denied me the freedom to explore the research institute .

Since they said so, I gave up my plan to find the way for Vincott and the others, and took a shower after eating.After coming out of the bathroom in the room naked, clean clothes have been placed on the bed outside. It is no longer the cool robe that leaks air everywhere. It looks more like the uniform of a researcher, but there is no name tag on it.

The person said that I could go to Area A and Area C. One of these two areas is the lounge of the laboratory and researchers, and the other is the living area of ​​all the subjects including me.I don't really want to see Dr. Ling again, a woman who can be called a snake and is smarter than a man. After leaving the room, she looked to the left one by one.

The rooms here are not on the same line, and the doors need to be entered from different directions. The curved passage is more like a maze, and there is always blue light shining down from the top.This kind of light made me feel a little uncomfortable, my chest seemed to be pressed by something, and I felt uncomfortable.

I saw a sign on the door of the room closest to me, which means that this room is inhabited, and there will be a brief record of the level and ability of the sign on the sign, which is used to remind others.

I looked at it, and it was a completely unfamiliar number, at least I hadn't seen it when I was in the ACC Ability Research Institute.There are two possibilities, one, this person, like Hughes, belongs to the secret establishment; two, this person is a new supernatural person.I think the latter is far more likely than the former.

I touched the door's opening touch screen with my hand, and the metal partition door retracted into the wall, revealing the things hidden behind it.There were people in the room, and there was an isolation device between the door and them, so I stood outside and looked at them.Inside were two children who looked exactly alike, about seven or eight years old, standing inside the isolation hood with a pair of big light brown eyes open and looking at me.It seems that they are really new supernatural beings. The introduction at the door is C-level telepathy, but I don't know why they were brought here.

I'm not interested in testing to see if my fingerprints can open their isolation cover, but when I was about to leave, one of the children said something, he said, his brother's injection site hurts, can he be replaced? go out.

"You misunderstood, I am also a supernatural being who is being tested." I glanced at him, and he was blocking his younger brother behind him, but he was about the same height as two people, so he couldn't hide anything.

He seemed to be relieved after hearing my words, and patted the hand of the child who was tightly clutching his sleeve, then turned his head and continued to ask me: "Sir, what's the matter with you?" Looks old-fashioned.

"It's just to say hello to the neighbors. Do you know how many other rooms there are people living in?" I was not afraid of him guessing what I meant, so I squatted down to keep eye level with him.

"There are four other people who came in with us, and I don't know about the others." He paused, and asked me a little timidly, "My name is Ken, and he's Kane, sir, can you tell us your name? "

I thought of the same cold number on the cold number plate at the door, and my heart softened inexplicably: "Lun, the number is TL-C01, you should also familiarize yourself with your own number as soon as possible... For names and so on, just leave it to your companions to call you."

Ken's expression froze for a moment, he was very surprised, and then he showed a shy smile and nodded to me: "Well, Lun is a good person! Are you the second generation?"

nice guy?

Really, besides Philip, this is the second person to say that about me, and they don't know where their eyes are.

I chose to be noncommittal about the evaluation of the "good guy" and answer his question directly: "If you are said to be the third generation, then I belong to the 'second generation'."

The first generation should be KING and my mother's group, but there is too little information about them, and I can't figure it out; the second generation is of course represented by Arthur, but now the second generation More than half of the surviving people are still outside, waiting for an opportunity to destroy the institute again; as for the third generation... I looked at Ken who looked at me with an innocent expression on his face, and he used the trapped cub behind his back. Kane, who stared at me fiercely like eyes, couldn't help feeling a little bit of anticipation in his heart—someone escaped from the first generation, and destroyed the research institute in the second generation, so can the third generation create a new era?

Before I could say anything else, the door was opened from the outside, and the person who came was Julian, whom I hadn't seen since arriving at the institute yesterday.

"The doctor is looking for you." Julian glanced at the two brothers Ken and Kane, then lowered his head and spoke to me who was squatting on the ground.

"Oh." I stood up, waved to them through the isolation shield, and followed Julian out.

I had no idea what Dr. Ling wanted me to do, and walking in the research institute, my ability was restricted by half, and I couldn't sense Julian's emotions at all.I looked at the blue light on the top of the passage, and I was sure that my ability was limited because of this.

"LM, why did you ask me 'Why did you come back'?" I have always been worried about his words. I don't know why, but I always feel that he seems a little different now than before.If Julian used to be a robot who only knew how to obey orders, then he now has a little ability to think independently. Could it be that the contact with external things in Tuckerberg had a certain degree of influence on his perception? ?

"Because you don't seem to like being around us." Julian dropped such a sentence, which made me stunned.

I don't look like I like being around them?This is a matter of course, but if even Julian finds out, it is impossible for Dr. Ling not to know... Don't point out that I am still worth using now!

I sighed, Julian stopped at the entrance of a passage, I looked up and saw a red sign "B" above.I thought I read it wrong. This is Area B, which is different from Area A, which only targets supernatural beings. According to the area classification of the previous ACC Research Institute, this area should be used for cultivating clones, as well as various biological and chemical experiments. Area, even if I have never been in it before.

"Let's go," Julian said to the guards at the entrance, and they entered the voiceprint and password to open the entrance, "Dr. Harwick is waiting for you inside."

This is a name that Dr. Ling has only heard once. I only know that this person is a supporter behind Dr. Ling, but I don't know anything about the rest.Although I don't know what is waiting for me in front of me, but at this point I am no longer allowed to escape, I took a breath, raised my legs and stepped into the passage.