It took a long while for Zhou Ze to find relief from the negative emotions that had nearly swallowed his sanity, and he gradually calmed down.
He drew a deep breath, turned to look at Old Yang's silhouette by the washroom door, and asked in a low voice:
"Is there a way to get them out? What will they do to me?"
Although Zhou Ze had no idea exactly how they worked, just knowing there was a bomb inside his body was enough to make his scalp prickle.
"You should ask him yourself about that."
Despite saying that, Old Yang explained in the end:
"These hundreds of millions of nanorobots will rapidly merge into your blood after entering your body and establish bioelectric signal synchronization with Dai Yong'an's heart. If his heart stops beating for more than three minutes, they'll trigger a detonation sequence and break down your bodily tissues at the subatomic level..."
Zhou Ze walked out of the washroom with a grim expression. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and asked thoughtfully, "Is he doing this on his own?"
"Smart..." Old Yang snapped his fingers and gave a slight nod. "He's clearly realized something and is trying to tie your fates tightly together this way."
"What should I do?" Zhou Ze narrowed his eyes.
"You'll know..." Old Yang's voice suddenly grew faint and distant. "By the way, Zhou Ze, the seal inside you has loosened. Their power is growing stronger. I can't hold out much longer..."
Before Zhou Ze could ask any further questions, Old Yang vanished.
He sighed and walked absentmindedly back to the bed.
Over the next two days, Old Yang never appeared again. During that time, Zhou Ze barely left his room except to eat. More than anything else, he spent his time pressing the veins in his arm and staring blankly, as though doing so would let him sense those tiny, lethal things inside his body.
Not until the afternoon of the third day did a sudden knock break the silence in the room.
When Zhou Ze opened the door, he saw Shi Yaming standing outside. Shi Yaming said quietly, "Word came down from above. I'm here to tell you to report for an experiment."
"Oh, okay. Wait a minute. I'll change my shoes."
Zhou Ze wasn't surprised. As far as he was concerned, he was now essentially Alice's dedicated test subject, and he didn't mind seeing her.
But when he returned to the door after changing his shoes, he caught the faint worry on Shi Yaming's face, as though he wanted to say something but was holding back.
Zhou Ze's heart gave a jolt. He frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure either, but they told me to take you to the garage. Looks like you're going somewhere else for this experiment..." Shi Yaming paused, then added:
"I heard that apart from the Temporary Containment Area, Site-17 pretty much has no items with a high risk of breaching containment. But that isn't necessarily true elsewhere... Anyway, this probably isn't good news."
A host of thoughts flashed through Zhou Ze's mind. Somewhat distracted, he replied, "Is that so... I see."
"Hey, buddy, just because I told you all this, don't start thinking about escaping!" Shi Yaming's tone was half joking, half warning. "Don't make things hard for me."
"I wouldn't..." Zhou Ze gave a bitter smile.
Escape? Where could I possibly go?
Could I really treat myself like Superman and fight my way out of the site barehanded, based solely on some uncertain guesses about Alice's abilities?
Besides, I've got a whole bunch of bomb robots inside me that could go off at who knows what moment...
Twenty minutes later, Zhou Ze entered an unfamiliar area accompanied by Shi Yaming.
It appeared to be the site's parking garage. Vehicles of various models occupied the spacious interior, from ordinary jeeps to fully armed armored vehicles. There were even several oddly shaped vehicles that looked purpose-built for experiments.
Shi Yaming watched Zhou Ze climb into the rear compartment of a gray armored transport. Before the heavy metal door closed, Shi Yaming mouthed, "Good luck."
The compartment was dimly lit, with cold metal walls on every side. Another member of the Class-D Personnel sat in a corner, wearing the same orange-red uniform.
He was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, with a black crew cut and unremarkable features, but his eyes held a liveliness that seemed out of place in his circumstances. When Zhou Ze entered, he even winked at him, apparently in greeting.
Before long, the engine roared to life, and the armored vehicle slowly began moving. As it picked up speed, the jolting inside the compartment grew increasingly violent. They had clearly reached the road.
This was Zhou Ze's first time leaving that hellhole since arriving in this world. Unfortunately, the compartment had no windows, so he couldn't even see the scenery outside.
Still, he wasn't in the mood to pay attention to any of that. He closed his eyes and leaned against the cold wall, pondering why Dai Yong'an had suddenly arranged for him to take part in this experiment.
Did it have something to do with those robot bombs...?
"Hey, buddy, what's your name?" The other Class-D man, who had been silent in his corner for some time, suddenly spoke.
Zhou Ze opened his eyes. Rather than answering immediately, he studied the man with a scrutinizing gaze.
"My name's Liu Xin. What about you?"
The Class-D man named Liu Xin didn't seem to mind Zhou Ze's cold attitude at all. He was quite talkative:
"I haven't been here long. Where are you from?"
"Zhou Ze. I'm a local," Zhou Ze replied flatly.
"A local? You know where this is?" Liu Xin was taken aback.
"No idea. I just said it offhand. Don't worry about it." Zhou Ze shrugged.
Liu Xin merely smiled at that. "Aw, don't look so down. Look on the bright side. Maybe in a few days we'll get out of this hellhole..."
Dream on...
Zhou Ze rolled his eyes and said nothing.
Liu Xin kept chattering away on his own. "Anyway, I'm definitely going to do my best and try to get out of here sooner..."
Finally, Zhou Ze couldn't help asking with a strange look on his face, "How did you end up here?"
"Ah, a woman screwed me over... The woman I was set up with took the bride price, then turned around and accused me of rape. I got three years..."
Though Liu Xin acted as if it were no big deal, a trace of venom flashed in his eyes:
"I don't have the patience to wait that long. Once I get out... Hmph. I'll come back and do time afterward!"
Zhou Ze had no desire to comment on those suggestive plans the man had yet to carry out. All he knew was that the man before him was probably the first true "fellow inmate" he had met here.
"Did you sign an agreement?"
"Yeah. That Temporary Agreement thing gave me five million in compensation. At least that means I've done something for my parents..." Liu Xin nodded.
But that five million won't come easy...
After hesitating for a moment, Zhou Ze frowned and asked, "Then do you know what the work here involves?"
"I didn't at first, but by now I've more or less figured it out..." Liu Xin raised his eyebrows carelessly. "It's just human experimentation or something, right?"
Zhou Ze was a little surprised by his attitude. "You seem pretty confident."
"Confident, my ass. But we're already in this mess, so what's the point of moping around all day? It's only a month at most, and doing well can shorten it even further. What if, huh? If someone can survive, why can't that someone be me?"
"..."
Instead, it was Zhou Ze who was left somewhat speechless by the man's almost naive optimism.
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