Experiment Animals

The room was pure white, its four walls smooth as mirrors. It was spotlessly clean, without a single decoration. A wooden table stood in the very center, with a lighter on top.

"Subject 01247, pick up the lighter on the table and demonstrate your ability." A cold voice came from a hidden speaker in the corner of the room.

"Go to hell, bastard!"

Pyro John wore a prison uniform and a collar around his neck as he frantically pounded on the walls. When his fists proved ineffective, he grabbed the table and swung it into the wall.

Behind the one-way transparent tempered glass, several researchers in white coats held notebooks as they watched Pyro go berserk inside the room.

The lead scientist sighed and said, "These experimental animals are always like this. They never learn."

After speaking, he reached out and pressed a button on the table. Inside the testing chamber, the collar around Pyro’s neck received the signal and immediately released a powerful electric current.

"Ah…" Pyro’s body went rigid before he collapsed to the floor. Arcs of electricity flickered across his body as he trembled and screamed in agony. A few seconds later, the scientist pressed the button again, and the electric arcs finally vanished.

Pyro twitched on the floor for a long while before finally managing to crawl back to his feet.

"Subject 01247, pick up the lighter on the table and demonstrate your ability." The scientist issued the command again.

"Spit! Go to hell, you scum!" Pyro’s eyes were still filled with defiance. The pain only deepened his hatred for the humans outside; it could not make him submit.

"Tsk!" The scientist curled his lip and pressed the remote-control button again. Electricity once more flowed from the collar into Pyro’s body.

This time, he deliberately extended the duration. Only after shocking him for twice as long as before did he stop. By then, Pyro had collapsed limply to the floor and could no longer move. A puddle of liquid seeped out from beneath him. He had wet himself.

The scientist frowned. "What a nuisance. Send someone to clean it up." He turned his head and gave the order.

"Understood, Dr. Lanchester."

After receiving the order, the guard at the door spoke a few words into the communicator on his shoulder. A short while later, a door opened in the laboratory, and someone who looked like a cleaner walked in.

Pyro, who had been lying limp on the floor, suddenly sprang up and snatched the lighter. He ignited it, activated his ability, and drew the flames toward the collar around his neck.

But Dr. Lanchester in the observation room had seen through this little trick long ago. The collar around Pyro’s neck released another massive surge of electricity, knocking him heavily to the ground.

"Ah…" Pyro screamed and convulsed on the floor. The flames lost control, like duckweed without roots, and immediately went out.

The cleaner had long since grown accustomed to situations like this. Without paying any attention to Pyro’s miserable condition, he simply wiped the urine off the floor, picked up his tools, and left the room again.

Only after the cleaner had left and the door had closed and locked once more did Dr. Lanchester stop the electricity. Ignoring Pyro, who was still convulsing on the floor, he repeated the earlier command in the same cold tone.

"Subject 01247, pick up the lighter on the table and demonstrate your ability."

"Spit!" Unable to rise, Pyro could only spit viciously at the wall.

"Looks like the experimental animal needs more training." Dr. Lanchester was not angry. He merely felt that his time was being wasted.

He tossed the notebook in his hand to the assistant beside him and said, "I’ll leave the animal’s domestication to you. I have other work to do."

After leaving the observation room, he followed the corridor to the end, went upstairs, and arrived at the lounge. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a short rest.

This was the research staff’s lounge. The ordinary workers rested on another floor, while this floor was reserved for researchers, assistants, and the like.

"Linda, how is the experiment progressing on your end?" he asked softly as he carried his coffee over and sat down in front of a female researcher.

"We’ve collected the data, but the principles behind it are still unclear for now." Linda answered with a smile.

Dr. Lanchester sighed enviously. "Then you’re already very lucky. My experimental animal has never been cooperative, and I haven’t even finished collecting the data."

"But your experiment is relatively likely to produce results. The difficulty of mine is far too high, and I can’t understand it at all. How can an ability like this violate the three laws of thermodynamics? I feel like I wasted all those years studying physics." Linda complained.

"Haha…" Lanchester laughed and consoled her. "That’s just what Mutants are like. It’s as if they appeared specifically to destroy the existing system of knowledge."

Linda glanced to the side before lowering her voice. "Actually, I think those Magnetic Field Warriors are the same. They completely contradict our existing biological knowledge."

"You want to change your research direction?" Lanchester asked in surprise.

"Forget it. There are too few samples." Linda sighed. "The only sample has been monopolized by Professor Lambert."

"I heard that sample has an astonishing resistance to anesthetics. Most existing anesthetics are completely ineffective on him. His body is also abnormally sturdy. Laser scalpels and ultra-high-pressure water jets can’t cut through him at all. We have to rely on those Magnetic Field Warriors to conduct the experiments."

"But what do those brutes know about delicate procedures? All they can do is grab a knife and hack and stab away with all their strength."

Holding a coffee spoon in her right hand, Linda imitated a Magnetic Field Warrior crudely stabbing someone with a knife. The act was so comical that it made Lanchester burst out laughing.

"I heard this magnetic-field ability can be acquired through practice. There will definitely be more test subjects in the future. If you’re interested, you can look over Professor Lambert’s experimental records first and prepare some relevant knowledge. We can talk again when a new specimen arrives."

"That’s the only way. I’d actually like to give it a try and see whether I could learn that Qigong or whatever it’s called, but one look at my frail physique was enough to make me give up." Linda lamented.

"Forget it. We use our brains, unlike those brutes." Lanchester dismissed Linda’s idea with disdain.

"Humans rose above the competition in nature not through sharp claws and teeth, but through intelligent brains. This is a world ruled by clever people. So what if those Mutants have greater physical strength? Don’t they still end up lying on the operating table, waiting for us to butcher them?"

"To be honest, I really hate conducting live experiments. Every time I do one, I feel like a butcher, especially when I hear the test subject on the table begging for mercy and screaming." Linda’s mood was clearly somewhat downcast.

"It can’t be helped. Many Mutant abilities only work when they’re conscious, and anesthetics seriously affect the results. If you feel uncomfortable, you can stuff their mouths."

Linda spread her hands and said, "Actually, I had their vocal cords removed."

"Now that’s a good idea! I can try it next time too."

The two raised their coffee cups and clinked them together. They exchanged a smile, then got up and returned to their respective laboratories.

Thanks to reader Wu Da Bu Ai for the reward!