Evolution - Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Although she was prepared to be a test subject, she was mentally prepared for the big boss to test drugs on her.
Being a test subject for the big boss and being a test subject for the big boss's students were two completely different things.
The big boss was surely very picky; the tests wouldn't be too frequent or intense.
But his students? Wouldn't they be testing on her every single day?
What if one of them had a wild idea and cooked up some kind of “dark cuisine” from the world of pharmacology? Would her life even be guaranteed?
After all, destruction was far easier than construction. The odds of creating a good antidote were much, much lower than creating a poison that would leave everyone helpless.
Compared to her state of utter despair, the young lady's fellow disciples were much happier.
They appraised her with the professional eye of someone weighing pork, offering a pertinent evaluation: “Strong, vigorous, a standard healthy specimen. Heavens, we finally have a normal test subject.”
The ones provided by the prison were all such rejects.
They were either on their last breath, perfect for a “treat a dead horse as if it were alive” situation, or they were like walking corpses, completely devoid of life and fighting spirit. An unhealthy specimen didn't just mean physically unhealthy; it also included those who were psychologically unwell and had no will to live.
Their professional standards were quite high. While their eyes were glued to Ji Changqing, looking as if they were about to pounce and feel her up to check if her flesh and bones were well-proportioned, they quickly drew up a list and became serious in an instant. “Senior Sister, we've organized it. After cross-screening and eliminating anything with an overlap of 85% or more, there are a total of 317 types.”
Hearing the address “Senior Sister,” Ji Changqing's expression flickered, and her face softened slightly.
The young lady took the list without even looking at it and handed it straight to Ji Changqing. “See if there's anything you need to remove.”
The teacher had said her fundamentals were decent, so she must have already learned some of them.
Ji Changqing glanced at it, took the pen, and circled more than sixty types.
The young men and women gathered around immediately deleted them on their optical computers. The final list they pulled up had the last serial number: 250.
The dean of students thought for a moment, recited a few codenames, and the others typed them in with flying fingers. The new list now had 275 items.
“The last 25 are little gadgets we whipped up during our experiments, but they should be quite useful.”
The much-“adored” Ji Changqing spent about an hour and a half concocting antidotes for five of the drugs herself. The dean of students' face showed neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction; she only told Ji Changqing to learn to analyze them on her own. Following a list to create an antidote was nothing special. The difficult part was determining which drug had been used and what adverse reactions it would cause.
Only by making a quick judgment could one prescribe the right remedy.
Once the study list was finalized, Ji Changqing's learning plan was arranged with crystal clarity. They were divided into 25 small groups of 10+1. The dean of students and her three junior disciples, four people in total, would each take five groups first. The remaining five groups were a bonus reward for the winner.
As for whether Ji Changqing could learn it all, they weren't too worried. Couldn't they just cram it into her head? If she couldn't learn, she wouldn't be allowed to rest.
They only had the right to use Ji Changqing for a total of five months. One month was reserved for the teacher, so they could only torment her for four. They had to cherish the time.
If possible, they would have even forgone sleep, food, and drink to utilize every single second!
As the temporary “group pet,” Ji Changqing felt these people were truly inhuman.
Those involved with “medicine” or “pharmacology” had probably seen too much of life and death, developing a professional indifference toward aging, sickness, and mortality.
As newbies, they might have been filled with a passion for benefiting humanity. But during their transformation from newbies to old hands, they would experience the life and death of too many others, tasting a kind of inner torment and collapse that outsiders could never understand.
The feeling was probably similar to a battle between two armies, where the weaker side has the will to fight but is powerless to turn the tide. In the slaughter on the alternative battlefield of life and death, they were also the weaker party, always preempted by the enemy, constantly being ground into the dust by the reality that “human effort has its limits, and the way of heaven is fixed.”
In the end, they could only polish their hearts until they were as hard as stone, transforming their passion for benefiting humanity into an obsession with their profession.
Every problem solved became their own personal progress, no longer associated with the welfare of humanity.
With this shift in perspective, their psychological pressure was greatly reduced, and they adopted a completely different style.
When a person becomes that pure, it's actually quite terrifying.
Their hearts could only hold one thing. Besides that single great matter, everything else was a burden. Indifference, turning a blind eye, and feigning deafness were the least of it.
It was a good thing they didn't act like road-ragers in a traffic jam, wanting to ram and overturn every obstacle in their path.
Surrounded by four “pure” individuals whose minds were filled with nothing but pharmacological and viral research, Ji Changqing's days were like being sliced by a dull knife.
Not fatal, but exceptionally painful and hard to endure.
She was also being brainwashed day and night.
At the same time, the backstories behind the drugs were shattering her worldview.
For example, the aphrodisiac for Alphas. Its original purpose was to aid cultivation; long-term use could slowly improve one's aptitude. Although the improvement was minor, it was an excellent opportunity for many who were stuck at a bottleneck, unable to advance.
But it turned out its side effects were hard to describe, and they were far more popular than its intended effects.
Then, some people who spotted a business opportunity messed with it this way and that, and it became the monstrosity it is today.
Ji Changqing could only offer an awkward yet polite smile, thinking to herself that it seemed a certain ability was highly valued everywhere.
For another example, the aphrodisiac for Omegas was originally intended to be a new type of anesthetic, but it ended up creating “the great harmony of life.”
The hallucinogen was meant to treat mental illness, but a bunch of lunatics found it to be a great high, which in turn led to an increase in the number of mental patients.
There was also a drug originally for military use, meant for “bursting seeds” on the battlefield, that was twisted into a deceptive potion that improved the quality of life while drastically shortening its length.
…
And countless other clever little devils, standing on the shoulders of giants, went further and further down the path of self-destruction paved by their predecessors.
The dean of students was a prime example. Out of boredom, she improved the “burst seed” battlefield drug into an untraceable, lethal potion. After taking it, one would feel strong and healthy, with all physical indicators reaching their peak state. Then, depending on the individual, they would silently die of heart failure one day.
It was practically killing without a trace.
Of course, this potion was never released to the public. It was one of the self-defense tools the imposing young lady, the dean of students, gave to Ji Changqing.
This is what she said: “If you see someone you don't like and want to get rid of them without anyone knowing, just use this.”
“Antidote? There's no such thing. This isn't a poison; it's a normal medical treatment. You want both quality of life and length of life? Where can you find such a good deal? Do they think we're omnipotent gods, here to bestow blessings upon them?”
But you clearly told me to use it to get rid of anyone I don't like. Deep down, don't you really think this is a poison for murder and robbery, for killing without a trace?
Compared to that big boss from Star Hidden who made them love learning with their lives, his methods were more about physical torment, and he was rarely in the mood to feed them toxic chicken soup.
But here, the worldviews of the young men and women were sometimes righteous, sometimes evil, shifting erratically as they pleased.
And they were very friendly to their “group pet” Ji Changqing. When acting as her teachers, they would export their own viewpoints with self-assured and self-consistent logic.
At first, Ji Changqing's attitude was: I'm not listening, I'm not listening, it's all just nonsense.
But not listening wasn't an option, as their viewpoints were mixed into the lessons.
Moreover, whoever had the right to teach also had the right to test drugs. Most of the time, the experience of being a test subject was indescribable. When she was in so much pain that her mind scattered, or so numb and itchy that she wished for death, or poisoned to the point of vomiting, diarrhea, and near-death, having someone spout nonsense that required no response was a sort of method—albeit a poor one—for distracting herself.
And so, as she listened, Ji Changqing found herself coming around. She inexplicably started to feel that… maybe they weren't wrong after all!
Four months later, from constantly hearing the young men and women discuss how to adjust a potion's formula or which ingredient to add to easily kill a person—all in the same tone one might use to discuss how to season and stir-fry a dish to make it more delicious—or how changing the formula and ingredients might effectively kill some virus…
Ji Changqing felt that she had changed.
She felt she had been too shallow before.
Objects have no good or evil; only people do.
Interrogation is an art, and so is pharmacology… It was malicious humans who sullied these arts, causing these pearls to be covered in dust and bear too much infamy.
Four months later, when Ji Changqing was brought before the rough-looking big boss again, she didn't even get a single glance this time.
The rough-looking big boss frowned as he read Ji Changqing's comprehensive metrics report, reprimanding the dean of students with considerable displeasure. “What have you all been doing? You haven't taken care of her at all!”
A feeling of being touched welled up in Ji Changqing's heart.
That's right, these people hadn't taken care of her at all. For the past four months, she had been risking her life at a rate of one near-death experience every six days on average.
Then, she heard the big boss's extremely regretful tone: “Right now, she's just a breathing, walking shell! You've completely ruined her foundation. How am I supposed to test drugs on her?!”
Dammit! If she ever again deluded herself into thinking these people had a shred of conscience, she'd take their surname!
Ji Changqing silently retracted her earlier feeling of being touched.
The dean of students was an expert at placating their teacher. “Teacher, haven't you been researching a restoration potion these past few years? You could try it on this one.” She pointed at Ji Changqing, whose face was paler than a ghost's and utterly listless. “If it fails, she'll still have a breath left. But if it succeeds…”
The rough-looking big boss's eyes lit up! He immediately began to ponder. “Hmm, you have a point. I just improved this restoration potion a while ago. At the very least, there's no longer a risk of exploding.”
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. “Although it's still a bit dangerous, it doesn't matter. After what you all did to her, her foundation is pretty much destroyed. Fighting poison with poison might just repair it. If she's lucky, she might even reach a higher level!”
Realizing with a jolt that she had been jointly deceived by these four “pure” individuals for the past four months, Ji Changqing condemned the dean of students with her eyes:
You said it would only cause major damage to my body and that I'd just need to recuperate!
Why is the big boss saying you've destroyed my foundation?
The dean of students felt no psychological pressure whatsoever, acting as if nothing had happened. She resolved Ji Changqing's condemning gaze with a single sentence: “As long as you're alive, that's all that matters, isn't it?”
Never before had Ji Changqing so profoundly understood the words of that Star Hidden big boss.
Star Hidden members, whether reserves or official, were all just consumables.
For every training or mission, if you survived, you added a +1 to Star Hidden's book of merits. If you didn't, you added a +1 to Star Hidden's death toll.
The rough-looking big boss made the final decision, and the entire research base sprang into action.
The big boss was very thorough in his considerations. He felt that because the previous attempts were only oral, test subjects had exploded one after another, and some had even died from the sheer pain.
This time, his improved method was to combine oral administration with external immersion.
The immersion solution was mostly composed of painkillers and drugs that accelerated wound healing.
Normally, a test subject had no right to participate in discussions, but Ji Changqing's situation was special. She had the right to learn and a “death-exemption medal.” The big boss treated her like a student, explaining the principles with a pleasant and gentle tone.
Her mind a mess, Ji Changqing listened attentively. When she didn't understand something, she bluntly asked the big boss to speak in plain language—she had figured out that these people had a very high tolerance for their test subjects.
Sure enough, although the big boss was a little displeased, he had no intention of killing her. He good-naturedly had the dean of students come over to be responsible for explaining things to Ji Changqing until she understood.
Ji Changqing requested that four ingredients be added to the external immersion solution.
After repeatedly running models and simulations, the rough-looking big boss agreed, his heart aching with reluctance.
He had these four ingredients, but they were exceptionally expensive! They could stimulate the body's vitality without being too violent—a rare, gentle, and balanced effect.
The four ingredients Ji Changqing requested were often used in the cultivation world for body tempering to neutralize medicinal properties. Adding more or less didn't have a huge impact; adding more just meant the body tempering would take longer and be slightly less painful, while adding less meant the pain would be more intense and the tempering time slightly shorter.
Nine days later, everything was ready.
Ji Changqing, who had been sunbathing for a full nine days, also requested the temporary construction of a laboratory that could get sunlight.
The rough-looking big boss gave her a long, meaningful look, then waved his hand in approval.
Although she had said pitifully, “This test is a life-or-death gamble. If something goes wrong, at least I'll have gotten to see the sun for a few more days.”
The big boss didn't believe a single word!
But he didn't care. He only looked at results, not the process.
If Ji Changqing had some secrets she was unwilling to share, some unique skills that could boost the success rate, that would be for the best!
He was especially tolerant of capable, thoughtful young people who didn't do stupid things.
However, Ji Changqing was unmoved by his tolerance. She even started thinking that only a fool wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity.
Every day she came up with a new trick, logically and reasonably swindling the big boss out of many of his good things.
It is said that ten years of drinking ice water cannot cool hot blood. But Ji Changqing's heart was slowly being chilled to the core by these heartless people.
What about trust between people? Couldn't there be a little more honesty and a little less deception?
Since it's come to this, then bring it on! Let's get dramatic! Let's hurt each other!
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