Want to See You

Lin Mo watched Joanna gulp down two bottles of milk and still look as if she wanted more. Once again, he cursed Vought in his heart.

Look how hungry the kid is. She's probably hardly ever had milk.

Now Vought wanted to turn their brief contact into long-term observation. That suited him perfectly. The more time he spent with Joanna, the more he could teach her.

A few weeks later, after his time in the sun, Lin Mo was taken alone to a new classroom.

The person assigned to speak with him was a middle-aged researcher he had never seen before.

Instead of the light blue uniform worn by the regular caregivers, the man wore a neatly buttoned white lab coat.

Lin Mo sat in the chair, his legs dangling above the floor, and pretended to look around with curiosity.

He glanced down at the toes of his shoes, then up at the researcher, acting like a child who had no idea why he had been brought here.

"Lin Mo, you've been getting along very well with Joanna lately," the researcher said approvingly.

Lin Mo nodded, putting on a delighted expression.

"She likes playing with me."

"Do you like her too?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Lin Mo appeared to think seriously for a moment before answering.

"She plays with me."

That answer was enough. He could hardly launch into a long explanation.

A gentle smile appeared on the researcher's face.

"So you'd like to keep seeing Joanna often, wouldn't you?"

"Yes."

"Then you both need to follow the arrangements here."

The researcher pushed a picture in front of Lin Mo. In it, a child sat in an examination chair while several staff members stood nearby recording data.

"Physical examinations make sure you aren't sick."

The second picture showed a child demonstrating an ability behind reinforced glass.

"Ability tests help you control yourselves better."

In the third picture, two children sat in a room full of toys.

"Only after you complete your examinations and training can the researchers decide whether you're ready to keep meeting."

The researcher laid the three cards out in order.

The cause and effect had been made so simple that even a young child could understand it at a glance.

"So you must cooperate with every experiment," the researcher said.

"It's for your own good."

Lin Mo looked at the cards on the table.

He had heard that line many times before.

Whether the person being told to obey believed it did not matter.

Lin Mo showed no displeasure. Anyone could play dumb. He tilted his head as though he had not quite understood.

"If I don't get checked, I can't see Joanna?"

"Of course, if you aren't feeling well, you shouldn't take part in activities together."

The researcher had not answered directly.

"What if I feel fine?"

"The researchers need an examination to confirm that."

"So I still have to get checked?"

"Yes."

The researcher smiled.

"Children who follow the arrangements get more time for activities."

Lin Mo lowered his head and traced two uneven circles on the tabletop with his finger.

A few seconds later, he asked quietly:

"Does Joanna know too?"

"She'll know."

"What if she doesn't listen?"

"Then we'll need to reduce the time you spend together for a while."

The researcher's tone remained gentle, but his words were cold. "It isn't a punishment. It's simply that when she's emotionally unstable, she isn't suited to spending time with you."

Lin Mo could not be bothered to ask anything else. Vought kept repeating the same few lines. In the end, it was just bullying those it thought it could control.

In the original story, the researchers had said outright that Homelander was fully capable of killing everyone in the bunker facility and escaping. He had not done so for psychological reasons.

But in reality, the people studying Homelander had never dared to truly hurt him. Even a cornered rabbit would bite. Whatever psychological flaws Homelander had, he would absolutely fight back against a threat to his life.

Vought, though, seemed to think that because it could not control Joanna, Lin Mo would be easy to control.

Joanna noticed the change quickly.

Before their next activity together, she arrived nearly twenty minutes late.

Lin Mo sat alone at the dining table. The lunch laid out on it had already gone a little cold.

No explanation came from the Observation Room. Then the isolation door on the other side opened, and Joanna walked in clutching her blue blanket.

Her hair was slightly disheveled, and her face looked even gloomier than usual. After sitting down, she turned to stare at the now-closed isolation door.

"They took blood."

She was telling Lin Mo what had happened.

"I can see that."

Lin Mo pointed to the tiny puncture mark on her arm.

"Did it hurt?"

"No."

Given how tough her body was, an ordinary needle could hardly hurt her, and such a small wound would heal quickly.

Pain was not what bothered her. She looked at Lin Mo, her pale eyes seeming to speak for her.

"I said no."

Joanna sat down beside Lin Mo and went on.

"They said I couldn't see you if I didn't do it."

Lin Mo fell silent, which was rare for him. This had happened sooner than he had expected.

Vought had already turned Joanna's need for him into leverage.

Disobey, and she could not see Lin Mo.

Simple and effective.

"So you did it?" Lin Mo asked.

Joanna nodded faintly, her eyes dim. Then, as if remembering something else, she continued.

"They took a lot."

"Then they made me hit something."

"Hit what?"

"The wall."

It seemed they had been measuring the upper limit of her strength.

Joanna had always hated those tests. She disliked repeatedly striking things on instructions from the speakers, and she could not understand why the researchers were so eager to watch her destroy things.

"They only opened the door after I finished."

When she finished speaking, she looked up at Lin Mo.

"Did you only come because I listened?"

Lin Mo's heart sank. For Joanna as she was now, this approach really was better than what had come before.

In practical terms, her living conditions were improving.

Lin Mo did not intend to change that for now. They were still too young. If he rashly broke the current rules, Vought would only go back to its old, far crueler methods.

At this stage, going along with the company's arrangements might genuinely be the choice that hurt Joanna least.

But he could not let Joanna believe their relationship was nothing more than a reward Vought gave her.

Lin Mo turned toward her and met her eyes.

"They opened the door after you cooperated with the examination."

"Mm."

"But I didn't come to see you because they told me to."

Joanna did not understand. She blinked.

Lin Mo deliberately slowed down.

"They set the time, but I chose to come in because I..."

"Wanted to see you."

Joanna stared at him, her little mouth slightly open, looking stunned.

"Wanted to see me?"

"Yes."

"Not a reward?"

"Not a reward."

"You aren't a reward I get for finishing an experiment," Lin Mo said. "And neither am I."

Joanna looked down at the tabletop between them.

She could easily understand complex shapes and numbers, yet she could not immediately grasp an emotional distinction with no concrete form. Or perhaps she was simply too young.

As she understood it, the researchers opened the door, and the researchers decided when they could meet.

So she naturally assumed Lin Mo was no different from sweets, picture books, or television: something she could have only after obeying.

Lin Mo held out his hand. "Even if they don't reward me, I still want to see you."

Joanna looked at his hand. Without hesitation, she placed hers in it and gave Lin Mo a small smile. Why think so much about it? If she could not figure it out now, she could leave it for her future self to think about. Lin Mo had taught her that too.

"I understand."