Although he didn't understand why the superpower squad had retreated just now, that didn't affect his plan to leave. Once the flames had died down, Hong Mo headed back toward the passageway.
This time, no one stopped him. Before long, Hong Mo was back in the hall where the battle had taken place. The body of the superpowered man named Zhu Yao had been taken away. Aside from a few traces of pale blue blood on the floor, nothing seemed to have changed.
Hong Mo walked around and found a row of white lab coats in a small room by itself.
They were the kind of white coats worn exclusively by researchers. Hong Mo, whose clothes barely covered him, didn't bother to choose carefully. He grabbed one at random and draped it over himself.
While Hong Mo had been tending to his wounds and putting out the flames, Luo Meiyue had pulled up his file in the monitoring center upstairs and quickly skimmed through it.
After reading the file, Luo Meiyue was surprised to discover that Hong Mo wasn't the sort of person who had grown wildly ambitious after gaining power. In fact, many unexpected events had led him to where he was today. Knowing that, Luo Meiyue felt even more confident about negotiating with him.
Hong Mo wandered slowly through the research institute, looking for a way out.
Just then, the screens of numerous computers in the institute suddenly flickered and exited their screen savers. A video window popped up on one of them, showing a capable-looking woman wearing glasses.
"Hello, Mr. Hong Mo!" she greeted him first.
"I trust you can see the video, Mr. Hong Mo. Could you click the call button on the screen? We'd like to discuss something with you." The woman made a proposal that was difficult for Hong Mo to refuse.
Hong Mo pulled over a chair and sat down, then clicked the call button.
"Hello, Mr. Hong Mo." The moment the video call connected, Luo Meiyue on the other end froze briefly before collecting herself. She hadn't expected to get in touch with Hong Mo so quickly.
"Just call me Hong Mo. I'm sure you know my situation very well. What is it you want to say?" Hong Mo propped his head on his right hand and asked, his eyes half-lidded.
"I'm Luo Meiyue, the deputy director of this research institute. First, I'd like to apologize for what happened earlier..."
Hong Mo said nothing, though his expression carried a trace of scorn. Apologize? He was the one who had killed one of their people. Why were they apologizing to him? Was the poor fellow who'd died really so worthless? After listening to Luo Meiyue talk for quite a while without getting to the point, Hong Mo finally grew impatient.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Hong Mo interrupted her.
Luo Meiyue wasn't annoyed at being interrupted. Instead, she gave him a meaningful smile. "Cooperation. We'd like to work with you, Hong Mo."
"Cooperation?"
"Yes. I'd like you to assist us with our research. In return, the institute can provide you with some help."
"Assist with research? You mean as a guinea pig?" Hong Mo said disdainfully.
"Of course not. I'm approaching you with the utmost sincerity. We would never treat you like a guinea pig. Perhaps we could first discuss our respective views. If there are any differences, we can work them out."
Hong Mo closed his eyes. She doesn't sound unreasonable. It would be too rash to refuse outright. Maybe I should find out what kind of cooperation she has in mind first.
"You're the deputy director, so there's a director too, right? Can you make this decision?"
"Oh, I'm sorry for not explaining clearly. I am the deputy director, but the director here is my father. So I can absolutely make this decision."
"If you're so sure, then tell me: what would I have to do if we cooperated, and what would I get in return?"
Hearing Hong Mo ask that, Luo Meiyue felt relieved. As long as he was open to the idea of cooperating, she was confident she could persuade him. She'd been worried he might be stubborn and unyielding, like a rock that nothing could penetrate. If he flat-out refused, there would be nothing she could do.
"There are many experiments, so I won't list them all. But I can guarantee they won't cause any irreversible harm to your body. Before each experiment, we'll tell you what the potential consequences are. If you don't agree, you can refuse. In return, you'll be able to access information about superpowers from the institute and use it to improve your abilities."
"That's it? I don't see how that would help me."
"Not help you? Don't joke, Mr. Hong Mo. The benefits of your assisting with the experiments won't be limited to the institute. You could also become more familiar with your own powers through the research. Do you really think one person feeling his way along can learn more than an entire research institute?" Luo Meiyue furrowed her brows and explained carefully.
"What's today's date?" Hong Mo suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Luo Meiyue was startled, then finally understood. "September 23, 2018. Is something wrong?"
2018. Four years had already passed. Had he really been unconscious for four years? Four years had slipped away silently, leaving no trace in his memory.
"I've been in this research institute for four years, right? Are you telling me you haven't studied me at all during that time?" Hong Mo didn't believe it, and neither would they.
"Of course we studied you. But at the time, you were already dead, so we only extracted some of your cells. There were very few people with superpowers back then, so even though your body didn't seem particularly valuable, we kept it in a sealed room." Luo Meiyue didn't avoid the subject.
"Wait. You said I was dead?" Hong Mo interrupted her.
"Yes. The test results at the time confirmed that you were dead." It was nothing worth hiding, so Luo Meiyue answered plainly. Being told to your face that you'd died felt strangely surreal.
"What about my left hand?" Hong Mo held up his intact left hand.
"Your left hand? What about it?" Luo Meiyue didn't understand what he meant.
"If my memory is right, my left hand was blasted to pieces. I want to know why it grew back."
"Is that so? Let me check your file. Give me a moment." Luo Meiyue looked a little surprised, then began searching through the research data on Hong Mo. Before long, she looked up again.
"I found it. This is probably why: your body has a certain ability to regenerate, much like a lizard regrowing its tail. I think that's the reason, though we'd need to run more tests to be sure."
Is that so? Hong Mo thought it over. Perhaps he really should cooperate with them. That might help him understand the changes in his body more quickly.
"That's how it was. Since we'd determined you were dead, we were extremely curious about how you came back to life. You have to understand, life has always been a mystery everyone wants to unravel." Luo Meiyue knew she had to persuade Hong Mo if she wanted to study him.
Hong Mo considered everything that had happened, then shook his head.
"There's something I have to do. I'm sorry, but I can't help with your research." Four years had passed. He had no idea what had happened to his parents, Mu Siyu's parents, or her younger sister, Mu Siyue. And then there was Mao Shaohui.
"I just looked through some of your file, Mr. Hong Mo. I can more or less guess what you're planning to do. Would you hear me out?" Luo Meiyue asked confidently, a faint smile on her lips.
"Go ahead. It can't hurt to listen. You seem pretty clever—not like an ordinary person such as me, who can barely understand you."
"I just looked into why you came here, Mr. Hong Mo. Once you get out, you'll probably go after Mao Shaohui. You'll also visit your family and Mu Siyu's family, won't you?"
Hong Mo nodded.
"Then that's exactly what I thought. I should warn you, Mr. Hong Mo: with your current strength, you can't do a thing to Mao Shaohui. As for your family and Mu Siyu's, I'm afraid it would be better not to see them until you've become strong enough."
Without power, he couldn't even see his family? Revealing his identity would only bring enemies they couldn't fight down on them. Hong Mo closed his eyes.
"Has Mao Shaohui's power grown that much? I remember he was no stronger than me four years ago." Hong Mo raised a question.
Luo Meiyue raised a slender white finger and wagged it in front of her.
"No, I'm not talking about how strong Mao Shaohui is. As a researcher, I couldn't possibly know the details of his abilities. I mean the state of the country."
"Then please explain," Hong Mo said, straightening in his chair.
"The country isn't what it was four years ago. I've read your file. Four years ago, when superpowers first appeared in the world, neither the government nor society knew much about them. With the power you had then, you could still cause quite a stir. But things are different now. The government keeps a very close watch on superpowered people. All kinds of heavy weapons are in use. Even superpowered people can't move around freely the way they used to."
"Give me an example," Hong Mo said, frowning.
"All right, here's one. You and Mu Siyu fought other superpowered people at a police station in Mountain Orange City, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Then I can tell you for certain: if that happened now, the government wouldn't let superpowered people fight you directly. They'd simply crush you with heavy weapons. How many missiles do you think you could withstand?"
Missiles?
"Do you understand now? These days, all kinds of heavy, high-tech weapons are standard equipment. Even missiles aren't off the table." There were other things Luo Meiyue didn't mention. Missiles were simply the kind of weapon ordinary people knew by name. In fact, many newer weapons were far more powerful, and ordinary people never even had a chance to learn about them.
So going after Mao Shaohui now would be like throwing himself into a fire. Hong Mo thought for a moment, then spoke. "Tell me the specific terms of your offer."
Luo Meiyue clenched her small fists inwardly and wore a victorious smile.
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