The physical examination lasted a full eight hours, from morning until afternoon. Because of the chaos, it was delayed by another four hours, and some of the injured had to return for their examinations after being bandaged.
Once the examinations were finally over, chaos erupted again on the way back to the city. The security guards were late as usual, a huge crowd got into a brawl, and even Bruce came away injured.
After finally returning to the single room prepared by the research center, Bruce sat on the bed fiddling with the special phone. It contained the contact number they had provided earlier, and it could only call that number. It could not make any other calls or access the internet.
The moment Bruce picked up the phone, he saw a text message. It read, "They are monitoring your communication device, and I am monitoring them in reverse. You can use your phone freely now, but it would be best to go to the bathroom to avoid surveillance."
Bruce glanced up at the ceiling. He could not find any cameras, but he knew his own limits. With his eyesight, finding hidden cameras would be difficult, so he chose to go to the bathroom.
As soon as he entered the bathroom, the other party sent him a picture. It showed Aisha sitting at a dining table, eating steak.
Bruce's first concern was for her safety, especially given Aisha's posture. She did not look particularly willing to eat the steak. Then the other party sent another message.
"I do not want to say that I kidnapped your daughter, but in fact, leaving her alone in the house was extremely irresponsible. You must have realized that the human experiment you are involved in is far from simple. They may very well threaten