After entrusting the matters at Rose Castle to Mr. Dong, Xu Huo went up to the Third Floor alone.
Tan Qi was waiting outside the Study Room.
"Is something the matter?" Xu Huo opened the door.
Tan Qi followed him inside, then stood by the door. "Aren't you going to ask me about Dr. Zhang?"
Xu Huo sat down behind the desk and sorted through the notes on it as he spoke. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
With his head lowered, Xu Huo's expression was hard to read. Tan Qi tilted his head and watched him for a while. Getting nowhere, he lowered his head too and said, "Didn't you bring me here because of Dr. Zhang? You can ask me."
"That was part of the reason." Xu Huo glanced up at him. "You can live an ordinary life, just like Xiao Yuan. You can go to school in District 011 and decide for yourself what you want to do in the future."
"I can help you," Tan Qi said. "Are you trying to deal with Dr. Zhang? Give me a few more years, and I'll be able to work for you."
Xu Huo smiled. "I read your experimental records. You were very sensitive to Dr. Zhang and the drugs during the experiments. Were you pretending?"
"To protect myself," Tan Qi said. "If they found out everything about Dr. Zhang, I might die."
After a pause, he added, "I'm not a successful experimental subject."
"Did the Doctor at the Laboratory tell you that?" Xu Huo asked.
"No." Tan Qi walked over to the other side of the desk and met his gaze. "Dr. Zhang told me."
"Before he gave me and the other children the drugs, he told us we were failed specimens."
"But he also said