"Tell him. As the patient, he has the right to know all this." The long-haired man's expression hardened as he spoke solemnly.
The man in charge of reviewing the data glanced at Noer before slowly saying, "The current data shows that everything is normal, but that is only due to the Institute's medication. Once he loses pharmaceutical support, his condition will..."
He did not finish, but the meaning was already clear.
Without medication, Noer's condition would rapidly deteriorate.
"Pharmaceutical support?" Noer lay on the hospital bed, completely dumbfounded and unable to understand what had happened.
"Is there no way to cure him completely?" The long-haired man frowned slightly.
"In theory, there is a chance of recovery, but it will be difficult. And since the patient already required medication to maintain his body before this, so..." The man shook his head gloomily.
"I want you to do everything possible to treat him. He is still young. He should still have a chance of recovering!" the long-haired man said sternly.
"I can only say that we will do our best. However, as long as he takes his medication on time, recovery is indeed possible. We simply cannot determine how long it will take," the man quickly replied with a nod.
"Wait! What are you talking about? What do you mean there's a chance of recovery? What do you mean do everything possible to treat me? What happened to me?"
The conversation between the two men terrified Noer, who was lying in the hospital bed.
Why was I suddenly sick again for no reason?
"Beep~"
"Whoosh~"
At the same time, just as Noer lay in terror on the hospital bed—
The door to a PLANT councilor's office slowly opened, and Cruze, dressed in a white uniform and wearing an eyepatch, walked in with a report.
"How did the investigation go?" Patrick Zala asked, looking up from behind his desk.
Cruze had originally been scheduled to head to Earth to assist with the deployment of the Neutron Jammer.
However, since Cruze was one of the parties involved in this incident, Patrick Zala had assigned him the investigation instead.
"According to the investigation, the rioter was a Natural employee who had been undercover at a PLANT military academy for a long time. The primary reason for launching the riot was to kill Noel Cassia!" Cruze reported, standing at attention.
"Kill Noel Cassia? Why?" Patrick Zala's gaze sharpened.
It was not strange for the Earth Alliance to have spies in PLANT. After all, both sides were human.
Naturals also lived in PLANT, so it was hardly surprising that spies could infiltrate it.
But why?
A spy capable of entering a military academy was incredibly valuable to the Earth Alliance. Were they really willing to throw away such an asset just to kill Noel Cassia?
"According to intelligence, yesterday afternoon, a researcher assigned to Noel Cassia's project fled PLANT alone in a shuttle and was taken in by an Earth Alliance fleet."
After saying that, Cruze continued, "At the same time, our investigation discovered that this researcher took Noel Cassia's body research reports and clinical trial reports with him."
"He only took those?" Patrick Zala frowned, unable to understand what they wanted with them.
"Yes. This information was also just sent over by the Institute. Based on their examination of Noel Cassia's body and research into Gene Potion No. 4, the Institute discovered a drug capable of stimulating the human body's potential for a period of time. However, the drug has certain flaws and is not particularly effective on Coordinators, so it was not immediately reported."
Seeing that Patrick Zala remained unmoved, Cruze continued, "However, the drug has remarkable effects on Naturals. According to the clinical feedback from Noel Cassia, the researchers discovered that it can allow certain Naturals to gain MS Piloting ability comparable to, or even exceeding, that of Coordinators for a short period. The man who drove the MS during the riot was able to operate it normally only because he had taken this drug."
"Those damned Earth monkeys!"
Patrick Zala could not help cursing after hearing that. A drug that could give Naturals combat ability equal to that of Coordinators was not good news for PLANT.
The greatest reason PLANT had been able to remain deadlocked with the Earth Alliance was MS Piloting. There were almost no Naturals capable of piloting MS units.
If the Earth Alliance gained MS pilots on a large scale, PLANT would be in danger.
"But this drug was only just discovered. It has serious flaws and hidden dangers, it is not suitable for every Natural, and prolonged use can cause dependency and irreversible damage to the human body," Cruze quickly added.
"But why would they want to kill Noel Cassia? Wouldn't taking him away be better?" Patrick Zala was no fool and immediately recognized the problem.
Why had the Earth Alliance wanted to kill Noel Cassia instead of taking him away?
"Perhaps because of Noel Cassia's background. His parents and relatives were all killed by Earthlings, and even the place where he lived was destroyed by Earth Alliance nuclear bombs. Under those circumstances, it would be nearly impossible for the Earth Alliance to persuade Noel Cassia to cooperate with their research," Cruze promptly explained.
Though the explanation was somewhat forced, it was the best "excuse" he could think of.
"Does Noel Cassia know about this?" Patrick Zala temporarily accepted the explanation.
Or rather, he could not think of any other explanation, so he could only choose to believe it for the moment. It was also because he trusted Cruze. In all of PLANT, there were only a handful of people Patrick Zala truly trusted, and Cruze was one of them.
Besides, the incident had already happened. Rather than considering why the other side had done it, it was better to think about how to deal with its consequences.
"He has not been told yet," Cruze replied as he put away the documents.
At first, he had wanted to tell Noel Cassia this "speculation," but after thinking it over, he chose to conceal it.
Because he had discovered something unusual about Noel Cassia.
The biggest anomaly was—hatred!
Noel Cassia's hatred for the Earth Alliance did not seem as intense as Cruze had imagined.
This forced Cruze to change his strategy for guiding Noel Cassia.
"Why?" Patrick Zala asked. He knew everything Cruze had done recently, and Cruze seemed to value Noel Cassia greatly.
Of course, Noer's MS Piloting during this incident had also allowed Patrick Zala to roughly understand why.
For someone boarding an MS for the first time to accomplish something like that, it was only natural for Cruze to hold him in high regard. Even Patrick Zala himself had high expectations for Noer's future.
"Some truths leave a deeper impression only when a person discovers them himself," Cruze replied calmly.
He had reached that conclusion based on his own personal experience.
"Let's hope so."
Night fell.
Noel Cassia lay in his hospital bed, staring speechlessly at the ceiling.
After learning the truth, he did not know what expression he should wear to face all of it.
Something like a genetic defect... a genetic defect!
That unfamiliar yet familiar term had actually appeared in connection with him.
According to what the long-haired man had said earlier, after taking Gene Potion No. 4, his body had developed various problems of differing severity.
His organs, blood vessels, bones, flesh, and even his brain had all suffered varying degrees of aftereffects.
However, with medication supporting him, these issues remained repairable.
But his prolonged use of an MS a few days ago had dramatically increased the burden on his body. As his blood went berserk, it damaged his internal organs again and further increased the strain on his body.
Even his brain had been affected to varying degrees.
With no other choice, the hospital had been forced to use the Gene repair agent, which was still in development, to save his life.
However, the Gene repair agent had side effects.
In the end, his life had been saved, but because of the Gene repair agent's side effects, he now had to take medication at all times to stabilize his body and keep it in a relatively normal state.
He wanted to speed things up, but he could not just skip ahead.
He really was not trying to pad the word count!
Before you continue