For his experiments, Ellen Thorne had thrown tens of thousands of living human specimens into gigantic sealed digestion chambers. The immortals came from settlements and shelters everywhere. Some were death-seekers who had volunteered for the experiments; some had once been drifters who refused to obey settlement control regulations; a scattered few were individuals Ellen had happened to find in the ruins, on the verge of completely rotting away.
Before each person was placed into a digestion chamber, their identification number, vital signs, and original condition were recorded.
They were stripped of their clothes and guided or transported into the sealed chamber. Once the airtight door closed, corrosive solution was injected from above and released in layers according to a set procedure. It began at the skin and gradually penetrated the muscles, bones, and internal organs.
The entire process lasted anywhere from several hours to several dozen hours, depending on the immortal's build and degree of decay. Observation records showed that flesh rapidly peeled away and dissolved in the strong acid; bones gradually softened and collapsed in higher concentrations of corrosive fluid; and internal organs became liquid particles under the alternating effects of layered acid solutions.
Yet after hundreds of years of observation, trace cells in the liquid could still revive when mixed with soil, and their pain remained perfectly intact.
The liquid particles left after digestion settled at the bottoms of the experimental chambers. Once collected, they were transported to separate observation areas and mixed with dry sand and a small amount of water.
Months or years later, faint signs of activity appeared in the sand. Cell fragments began to reassemble, consciousness gathered once more, and though they could not form complete bodies, the pain signals continued without interruption.
Ellen stared at the data for a long time in silence.