"Doctor" Testimony and Hidden Concerns

The clock in the corridor pointed to 3:47 a.m.

Lin Xiao opened his eyes and looked at the tightly shut door of Ward 203. The smell of disinfectant filled his nostrils, mixed with the pungent scents of blood and iodine. Suppressed groans drifted from afar, as if forced out from deep in someone's throat—intermittent, trembling with the approach of death.

Su Ying's fingers lightly touched his shoulder.

"Someone's coming."

Footsteps came from the direction of the stairs, heavy and orderly. Lin Xiao turned and saw Fletcher enter the medical ward with two soldiers. Under the stark white lights, the major's face looked especially grim. Deep bags hung beneath his eyes, as though he had not slept in days.

When he saw Lin Xiao, he paused.

"You're still waiting." Fletcher's voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

"You said I should hear her out once she woke up." Lin Xiao rose to his feet.

Fletcher stared at him for several seconds, then nodded. "Come with me."

They walked to the door of Ward 203. Fletcher did not knock. He pushed it open and went inside. The ward was small, with only a hospital bed, an IV stand, and a chair. Anna Koch lay on the bed, her face pale as paper. Her left shoulder was wrapped in thick bandages, and dark red bloodstains could still be seen seeping through.

She was awake.

Her eyes were open, fixed on the ceiling, her pupils somewhat unfocused. Hearing the door open, she slowly turned her head. Her gaze lingered on Fletcher for a moment before settling on Lin Xiao.

"You..." Her voice was soft, hoarse like sandpaper scraping together. "You saved me."

Lin Xiao nodded. "We did our best."

Anna's lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she merely closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Fluid dripped from the IV tube, each drop making a steady ticking sound in the silent ward.

Fletcher walked to the bedside, pulled over a chair, and sat down.

"Dr. Anna." His voice softened slightly. "How are you feeling?"

"Still alive." Anna opened her eyes. This time, her gaze was more focused. "Is that supposed to be good news?"

"Of course." Fletcher smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes. "Headquarters is very concerned about your condition. Those samples... you protected them well."

Anna's expression changed.

Her fingers clenched the bedsheet, her knuckles turning white. Her breathing quickened, and the liquid in the IV tube suddenly began flowing faster.

"Samples..." she repeated, her voice carrying a suppressed tremor. "Those weren't samples."

The smile vanished from Fletcher's face.

"What do you mean?"

Anna turned to look at Lin Xiao, then Fletcher, her eyes moving back and forth between them. Her lips trembled, as though she wanted to say something but did not dare.

"Dr. Anna." Fletcher's voice turned cold. "I need the truth. What exactly were those blue reagents?"

The ward fell silent for several seconds.

There was only the drip of the IV and Anna's increasingly rapid breathing.

"They were bait." At last, she said it. Her voice was so soft it was nearly inaudible. "Bait for a test."

Lin Xiao's heart suddenly tightened.

"Testing what?" Fletcher pressed.

"Testing..." Anna closed her eyes. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and into the hair by her temples. "Testing who is trustworthy, who will risk their lives for so-called 'important supplies,' and who... can be sacrificed."

She opened her eyes and looked at Fletcher.

"Those reagents were prototype 'biological enhancement samples' provided by A.I.M. But prototype means... unstable. Extremely unstable. They are highly corrosive. Contact with skin causes third-degree chemical burns within thirty seconds. If they enter the bloodstream, they trigger uncontrollable cellular mutations."

She paused, her voice dropping lower.

"Our group—I mean, the moderate research group—opposed using them rashly. We demanded at least another six months of safety testing. But the radicals couldn't wait. They wanted to begin human trials as soon as possible and create 'super soldiers.'"

Fletcher's face turned livid.

"Who is leading the radicals?"

Anna shook her head. "I don't know any specific names. I only know... they're connected to Blood Axe. Blood Axe is just the executor. Someone higher up is pushing this plan."

She looked at Lin Xiao, her eyes pleading.

"Those reagents cannot be touched. Absolutely not. If they are used in human experiments... they will create monsters. Not super soldiers. Monsters. Cells will multiply without limit, tissues will rot away, and the subjects will either die in unimaginable agony or... become something uncontrollable."

The ward fell silent again.

Lin Xiao could hear his own heartbeat, heavy and slow, pounding against his chest like a drum. Images from his past life began surfacing—those failed super-soldier experiments, those twisted, suffering "products" that eventually became killing machines.

He knew Anna was telling the truth.

"Basement Level Two." Anna suddenly spoke, her voice even softer, as if afraid someone might hear. "They may have already transferred some early samples and data to the sealed laboratory on Basement Level Two. Blood Axe controls that place directly. Its security level is the highest in the base."

Fletcher stood up.

"How do you know?"

"I... I saw the transport records." Anna's voice trembled. "Last week, three batches of special supplies were delivered into the base, all destined for Basement Level Two. The code names on the manifests... matched the original code names of those blue reagents."

She grabbed Fletcher's sleeve, her fingers whitening from the force.

"Major, you have to stop them. Those samples... that data... if they fall into the wrong hands, it will cause a disaster. Not a disaster for the base. A disaster for the entire region."

Fletcher looked at her, his expression complicated.

Several seconds later, he gently pried her fingers from his sleeve.

"Get some rest, Dr. Anna. Headquarters will handle this."

He turned, gave Lin Xiao a meaningful look, and walked out of the ward. Lin Xiao followed behind him. In the final second before the door closed, he looked back at Anna.

She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling as tears flowed silently down her face.

In the corridor, Fletcher lit a cigar and took a deep drag.

"What do you think?" he asked without looking at Lin Xiao.

"She's telling the truth," Lin Xiao said. "Those reagents... I've seen similar things elsewhere."

Fletcher turned toward him. "Where?"

"In intelligence reports." Lin Xiao's voice remained calm. "S.H.I.E.L.D. files mentioned A.I.M.'s biological weapons program. Its code name was 'Extremis,' which later developed into the Extremis Virus. The principles are similar—both forcefully rewrite cellular genes to enhance human capability. But their stability is terrible, and the failure rate exceeds ninety percent."

He paused.

"The consequences of failure... are brutal."

Fletcher silently smoked his cigar. Smoke spread through the corridor, mixing with the scent of disinfectant and forming a strange, nauseating odor.

"Does headquarters know about this?" Lin Xiao asked.

"They know part of it," Fletcher said. "But they don't know the radicals have progressed this far. Nor do they know... about Basement Level Two."

He stubbed out the cigar in the ashtray on the wall.

"Lin, you're a squad leader now. There are some things... I need you to do."

"What?"

"Find out what's really happening in the Basement Level Two laboratory." Fletcher looked at him. "But don't go there yourself. Use your subordinates, use your authority, use any indirect method you can think of. I want to know exactly what they're doing down there, who is in charge, and where the samples and data are located."

Lin Xiao nodded. "Understood."

"And one more thing." Fletcher lowered his voice. "If possible... make their experiment fail 'naturally.'"

Lin Xiao's gaze flickered.

"You mean..."

"I mean the radicals' plan is too dangerous. It has to be stopped," Fletcher said. "But the factions within headquarters are complicated. I can't step in directly. So... we need a few 'accidents.'"

He patted Lin Xiao on the shoulder.

"You're smart. You know what to do. Remember, protect yourself, and protect your people. Blood Axe may have been captured, but the people behind him are still watching."

With that, he turned and left. His footsteps gradually faded down the empty corridor.

Lin Xiao remained where he was, watching Fletcher disappear.

He knew the major was using him—using him to deal with the radicals while keeping himself out of it. But this was also an opportunity. An opportunity to access core secrets, build leverage, and weaken potential enemies at the same time.

He walked back to the bench and sat down.

Su Ying and Wolf looked at him without speaking.

A few minutes later, Lin Xiao stood.

"Let's go."

They left the medical ward and crossed the base's central corridor. The base was unusually quiet at four in the morning. Only the footsteps of patrolling soldiers occasionally echoed from the distance. Emergency lights cast a ghastly white glow, throwing long shadows across the floor.

Lin Xiao led the two of them back to the Third Action Squad's rest area.

It was a small room, originally an office attached to a warehouse and now temporarily converted into the squad's base. Four camp beds, one table, several chairs. A map of the base was pinned to the wall, with key locations marked in red ink.

Lin Xiao closed the door and pulled over a chair.

"What did Dr. Anna say?" Su Ying asked. She leaned against the wall beside the door, one hand resting on the dagger at her waist.

Lin Xiao recounted the conversation in the ward.

When he mentioned "bait," "testing," and the "Basement Level Two laboratory," Wolf's face went pale. When he spoke of "uncontrollable cellular mutations" and "creating monsters," Su Ying's brows drew tightly together.

"So..." Wolf's voice trembled. "What we risked our lives to protect... was a trap?"

"Yes." Lin Xiao's tone was calm. "A trap to test loyalty and sacrificial value."

"Damn it." Wolf cursed under his breath, clutching his head in both hands. "I knew it... I knew it couldn't be that simple..."

Su Ying walked to the table and ran her fingers across the map, finally stopping at the area marked Basement Level Two.

"Here," she said. "The entrance is in the basement of the central command building. It requires Level Three clearance to enter. The internal layout... there are no detailed blueprints."

She looked up at Lin Xiao.

"You want to infiltrate it?"

Lin Xiao shook his head. "No. Direct confrontation would be unwise. Basement Level Two has security that's too tight. Forcing our way in would be suicide. Besides... we don't need to go in ourselves."

"Then what do we do?" Wolf raised his head, his eyes full of confusion.

Lin Xiao stood and walked to the map.

His finger moved across it, starting at the Basement Level Two laboratory, moving upward to the base's energy supply system, then to the ventilation network, and finally stopping at a backup circuit connection in the warehouse district.

"Any sealed laboratory needs three things to keep running," he said. "Power, ventilation, and supplies."

He looked at Su Ying.

"Is the power supply independent?"

Su Ying thought for a moment and nodded. "Based on the base's standard design, high-security laboratories have independent backup generators and circuit systems. But... they still need initial power from the main grid, and if the generators fail, they automatically switch back to the main grid."

"What about the ventilation system?"

"In theory, it's also an independent circulation system, but emergency exhaust ducts connect to the upper levels." Su Ying traced a line across the map. "Here... an old ventilation shaft in the warehouse district. It was built in the sixties and later partially sealed off, but the structure is still there."

Lin Xiao nodded.

"What about supplies?"

"This..." Wolf suddenly spoke. His voice still trembled, but some of his calm had returned. "I... I organized transport records before. Supplies for Basement Level Two are delivered regularly. Every Tuesday and Friday at ten at night, a dedicated elevator carries them directly down from the surface warehouse. The escorts are always the same—four people. They all wear full-face protective masks, so you can't see their faces."

Lin Xiao looked at him. "Can you access the transport records?"

"I can." Wolf nodded. "I'm an intelligence officer... or at least, I used to be. There are loopholes in the base's electronic archive system. I... I know how to bypass clearance and view some of the records."

"Good," Lin Xiao said. "Then we have three angles we can work with."

He returned to the table, picked up a pen, and wrote three words on a sheet of paper:

Power, ventilation, supplies.

"We need a more subtle approach," he said. "Not direct confrontation, but making their experiment fail 'naturally.' Or... drawing the attention of someone higher up."

Su Ying walked to his side and looked at the words on the paper.

"How exactly?"

Lin Xiao put down the pen.

"First, Wolf will use the system loophole to monitor the underground laboratory's energy consumption patterns. Find out when they conduct high-energy experiments—such as constant-temperature culture control, high-speed centrifuge operation, or maintaining sample activity."

Wolf nodded. "I... I can try."

"Second," Lin Xiao continued, "at that moment, create a brief but full-spectrum power fluctuation. We don't need a complete blackout, just unstable voltage and frequency shifts. Precision lab instruments are extremely sensitive to power quality. One fluctuation would be enough to ruin a batch of samples being cultivated."

Su Ying frowned. "How do we create a power fluctuation?"

"The backup circuit in the warehouse district." Lin Xiao pointed to a spot on the map. "There's an old transformer here, connected to both the main grid and the backup grid. If it 'accidentally' overloads, it'll cause a regional voltage fluctuation."

He paused.

"Of course, we can't do it ourselves. We'll need a little... indirect help."

"Such as?" Su Ying asked.

Lin Xiao did not answer directly. Instead, he looked at Wolf.

"Are there any people in the base... unhappy with the current situation? Technicians who've been sidelined, maintenance workers who've had their wages cut, or... moderates who have doubts about the radicals' plan?"

Wolf thought for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Yes. There's an old electrician in the warehouse district named Ivan. He worked here for thirty years. Last year, he argued with the logistics supervisor over the plan to dismantle the old circuit system, and afterward he was reassigned to guard the backup generators. He complains a lot... says young people nowadays don't understand technology and only know how to force things through."

"Good," Lin Xiao said. "Find an opportunity to talk to him. Don't mention the laboratory. Just talk about circuit systems, the value of old technology, and how... 'accidents' always happen when people neglect the basics."

Wolf understood.

"I get it. I'll... suggest that there's a problem with the base's power system and that its stability needs to be 'tested.'"

"Smart." Lin Xiao nodded. "Third, the ventilation system."

He looked at Su Ying.

"I need you to investigate the old ventilation shaft. Its entrance, how thoroughly it has been sealed, and its internal structure. You don't need to go inside. I just need to know... if a small leak occurs in the laboratory, whether toxic gas could spread to the upper levels through the ventilation system."

Su Ying's eyes sharpened.

"You want to create a leak?"

"No." Lin Xiao shook his head. "I want to know how much impact a leak would have if it happened 'naturally.' Then... casually let certain people learn that information."

"Which people?"

Lin Xiao was silent for several seconds.

"There's a third kind of person in the base, aside from the radicals and moderates," he said. "The observers. They don't take sides or make statements. They only care about their own safety and interests. If they believe the laboratory threatens the safety of the entire base... they'll apply pressure."

He walked to the window and looked at the sky gradually turning pale outside.

4:37 a.m.

The eastern horizon was beginning to show a faint gray-blue, like faded ink.

"The final step." Lin Xiao's voice was soft but clear. "We need an anonymous report. Its contents will be vague intelligence about a Hydra peripheral base conducting high-risk biological experiments. It doesn't need too much detail. It just needs to draw... outside attention."

Su Ying and Wolf looked at him at the same time.

"Outside?" Wolf lowered his voice. "You mean... S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Lin Xiao did not answer.

He simply stared out the window, watching the sky gradually brighten.

Scenes from his past life resurfaced—the S.H.I.E.L.D. archives, the folders marked "Hydra-Related Projects," the biological experiment records classified as "Highly Dangerous."

He knew that at this point in time, S.H.I.E.L.D. had already been riddled with Hydra infiltration.

But some channels... were still clean.

Some dead drops, some encrypted channels, some methods of contact known only to the outermost undercover agents—his original body's memories contained them.

"Not an official channel," Lin Xiao finally said. "An abandoned dead drop. The original owner of this body... received emergency backup contact training while working as a S.H.I.E.L.D. undercover agent. That drop box hasn't been used for three years and should, in theory, have been abandoned. But if someone deposits intelligence into it... the signal will be caught by an automated relay station and forwarded to some... extremely highly encrypted server."

He turned to look at Su Ying and Wolf.

"All we need to do is send the intelligence in. The rest... let the system run itself."

The room fell silent.

Only the wind outside the window and the low hum of a distant generator could be heard.

Su Ying walked over to Lin Xiao's side and stood beside him, looking out the window.

"It's very risky," she said. "If they trace it..."

"They won't," Lin Xiao said. "That relay station uses one-way anonymous transmission. Once the signal is sent, it randomly jumps between twelve nodes around the world before disappearing. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. itself can't trace it back."

He paused.

"And... we don't need to sign it or provide details. Just one sentence: 'Hydra peripheral base, high-risk biological experiments, coordinates unclear, reconnaissance recommended.'"

Wolf swallowed.

"And then? Will S.H.I.E.L.D. send people?"

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't," Lin Xiao said. "But what matters is... pressure. External pressure. If the hardliners' experiments face both internal 'accidents' and the threat of outside investigation... the higher-ups will have no choice but to reassess the risks."

He returned to the table and sat down.

"The plan has three phases. Phase one: Wolf contacts Ivan, the old electrician, and lays the groundwork for power system issues. Phase two: Su Ying investigates the ventilation system and assesses the risk of leaks. Phase three: I prepare the anonymous report and look for a chance to send it."

He looked at the two of them.

"Any questions?"

Su Ying shook her head.

Wolf hesitated for a moment, then shook his head as well.

"Good," Lin Xiao said. "Rest now. At dawn, everyone acts on their own."

Su Ying walked over to a cot, sat down, and began inspecting the edge of her dagger. Wolf curled up on another bed and closed his eyes, but his breathing remained rapid.

Lin Xiao sat in his chair without sleeping.

He looked at the map on the table, at the area on the second underground level circled in red.

Images from his past life kept flashing through his mind—those failed super soldiers, those twisted monsters, those test subjects howling in agony.

He knew he had to stop this plan.

Or at least delay it.

Outside, the sky grew brighter and brighter.

The gray-blue darkness gradually faded, replaced by pale golden dawn. The base's outline slowly sharpened in the morning light—the barbed wire, the watchtowers, the concrete buildings, and the silhouettes of distant mountains.

A new day had begun.

And a game hidden in the shadows had only just begun.