Sunlight at Last

The next morning, Lin Mo was strapped into a specialized baby stroller.

A transparent protective cover enclosed the stroller, with equipment monitoring his heart rate, body temperature, and cellular activity connected all around it.

Six security guards escorted him, and Vogelbaum even walked alongside them.

With all that fanfare, the transfer looked less like moving a baby and more like transporting a dangerous weapon that could go out of control at any moment.

Lin Mo remained quiet through it all, though he could not speak anyway.

The elevator rose slowly.

Sublevel six.

Sublevel three.

Lin Mo lay quietly in the stroller, sensing the floors pass by.

For the first time since entering the underground facility, he was truly approaching the surface.

The elevator doors opened.

Bright light streamed in from the far end of the corridor.

Even that indirectly reflected sunlight stirred the dormant furnace deep within Lin Mo's body.

Warmth—that would have been an ordinary person's first impression. But to Lin Mo, it was no ordinary warmth.

Every cell in his body rejoiced. His Kryptonian body was like parched earth finally receiving its first real rain.

The stroller carried Lin Mo out to an open area aboveground.

Golden sunlight fell across his face.

Boom!

The world seemed to change in that instant. He heard wind rustling through the leaves, as if they were drinking in long-awaited rain.

He heard birds beating their wings dozens of meters away, the faint hum of electricity running through wires inside the walls, and even the distinct heartbeats of several researchers.

His once-blurry vision sharpened rapidly. He could see tiny motes of dust floating in the sunlight, minute scratches on the protective cover, and Vogelbaum's pupils suddenly contracting behind his lenses.

Power surged from every cell. His body seemed to have finally found the state it was meant to be in.

The monitoring equipment sounded an alarm.

"Cellular activity is up twelve percent."

"Body temperature normal."

"Heart rate stable."

"But the energy reading is still rising."

"What kind of reaction is this?"

The assistants' startled cries kept coming.

Vogelbaum did not answer. His eyes were fixed on the curves on the screen.

Lin Mo had spent less than a minute in the sun, yet his cellular activity had already surpassed its peak reading from the past week.

His hypothesis had been right.

SOL-0 could indeed absorb some form of energy from the natural environment, and perhaps store it as well.

They simply did not know that the energy came not from ordinary radiation, but from the yellow sun.

Lin Mo tried moving an arm. His once-feeble infant body felt light.

It seemed he could snap the restraint around his wrist with just a little force.

He immediately suppressed the urge. He could not do anything too dramatic.

If a single sunbath turned him from a baby into a monster capable of tearing the laboratory apart, Vought would put him under close observation to determine whether he could be controlled.

He needed to show growth, but only the kind Vought could accept.

His time in the sunlight was brief: just ten minutes.

Vogelbaum ordered Lin Mo taken back to the underground research facility.

Lin Mo was deeply disappointed. That's all the time I get? Who could make use of that? But there was nothing he could do for now. He cast a reluctant glance up at the yellow sun.

Just as the staff prepared to wheel him back underground, an assistant accidentally knocked over a nearby metal equipment rack.

The heavy equipment toppled toward the stroller.

The security guards had no time to react.

Lin Mo, however, saw it clearly.

The rack tilted, its metal edge dropping toward his stroller.

If he did nothing, his formidable defenses would keep the equipment from hurting him.

More importantly, though, this was the perfect opportunity to put on a display.

He raised a hand. It looked like nothing more than a startled baby's reflex.

His tiny palm met the falling metal frame.

Bang!

The rack stopped dead.

Its metal support bar rested firmly against his palm.

The entire observation area fell silent.

A baby had stopped a piece of equipment weighing dozens of kilograms with one hand.

Lin Mo quickly began to cry, deliberately sounding frightened. He held the rack in place until the security guards recovered and lifted it away.

Vogelbaum hurried to the stroller.

He examined Lin Mo's palm. There were no cuts or swelling; the skin was still soft.

Yet that hand had easily stopped enough weight to crush an ordinary baby's bones.

"Record everything that happened."

Vogelbaum struggled to contain his excitement as he gazed at Lin Mo, his eyes shining.

"Exposure to natural light didn't just increase cellular activity. It appears to have produced a marked increase in strength."

"So SOL-0 isn't purely defensive."

"And his abilities may still be developing."

Lin Mo stopped crying and looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

That's right. Exactly.

Developing.

That was the conclusion he wanted Vought to reach. Not a sudden awakening, not a god beyond scientific explanation, but a successful subject who required long-term care and whose abilities would grow slowly with age.

Vogelbaum would not stop his research over one display of strength. On the contrary, he would devote more resources to it.

He would provide better nutrition, take greater care to protect Lin Mo, and perhaps even schedule limited sun exposure to observe how his abilities developed.

That was exactly what Lin Mo needed. After his return underground, SOL-0's experimental priority was raised again.

Vogelbaum submitted a new project report.

The report stated: "V5 has achieved unprecedented stable integration in SOL-0's body. The subject has shown no organ failure, mental abnormalities, or severe deformities.

His abilities are primarily expressed as follows:

1. Exceptionally high physical durability.

2. Strength potential far beyond that of others his age.

3. An unusual absorption response to natural radiation.

4. Abilities that may continue to grow stronger with age."

The report soon prompted Vought's senior executives to hold a meeting.

In the conference room, a young Black executive looked down at SOL-0's report.

"You're saying the experiment has made a breakthrough, and the subject has the potential to develop naturally?"

Vogelbaum sat at the other end of the long table and replied.

"Before the V5 injection, a needle could pierce his skin."

"Afterward, ordinary surgical instruments could no longer damage his body."

"The drug has, at the very least, activated some latent ability of his."

The young executive raised his head and stared straight at Vogelbaum.

"But you can't identify why it worked? He's a success you can't explain?"

"That's one way to put it for now."

"Hmph. Then keep researching."

The young Black man closed the file, impatience in his voice.

"Don't pin all your hopes on one baby."

"Vought needs a product it can replicate, produce, and control."

"Not a one-off miracle."

Lin Mo had no idea what they would decide to do with him, but he knew the young man sitting across from Vogelbaum very well: his name was Stan Edgar.