The air in the archives room seemed to freeze at this moment.
Barbara's hand that was sorting the information stopped in mid-air, and the yellowed folder slipped from her fingertips and fell to the table with a muffled sound.
She raised her head, with a ghostly look in her originally cold eyes.
"Vogelbaum Doctor, with all due respect, I am a scientific researcher, not a member of the death squad."
Barbara's tone was still calm, but he refused without any room for negotiation.
"I know very well what kind of destructive power he has. I personally recorded his bone density and muscle fiber tear limit back then. If I stood in front of him now, he wouldn't even need a second to burn my head to ashes with his eyes."
She pushed up her glasses on the bridge of her nose and looked directly at the somewhat crazy old man in front of her.
"He remembers the incinerator and the pain of those high-voltage electric shocks. You want me to stimulate him? That's not an experiment, that's asking me to die."
Vogelbaum is not angry.
He was just holding a cane with both hands, and the smile at the corner of his mouth made people look uncomfortable.
The old scientist walked slowly to his desk, picked up a pen and played with it.
"Barbara, you have always been the wisest person in the entire laboratory and the one who knows the pros and cons best. This is why I picked you back then."
Vogelbaum sighed, as if teaching a disobedient student, "But sometimes reason can make people short-sighted."
"I just want to live, Doctor."
"Of course, everyone wants to live."
Vogelbaum put the pen back to its place and said in a very gentle voice, "You also hope that your little Emma can live a good life, right?"
The moment the name "Emma" came out of Vogelbaum's mouth, the invulnerable cold mask on Barbara's face completely shattered.
Her fingers gripped the edge of the desk.
"This has nothing to do with her!"
Barbara's voice finally contained a hint of trembling that could not be concealed.
A trace of false sympathy appeared on Vogelbaum's face, and he shook his head slightly.
"The rare blood disease that Emma suffers from costs more than one hundred thousand dollars every month in Vought Center Hospital's intensive care unit. In addition, the bone marrow stimulating drugs specially approved for her use in the laboratory... Barbara, you know very well that you can't even afford a week's worth of medicine with your pitiful salary."
The old man leaned forward slightly, his cloudy eyes flashing with malice.
"As long as I sign a document now to prove that you are no longer a member of the core research team, you will lose all medical privileges this afternoon. Without Vought International's medication support, your little Emma will not survive three days. The poor child will convulse painfully in the hospital bed until the blood throughout the body fails."
Barbara froze in place, his chest heaving violently.
The already cold air on the fifth floor of the underground seemed to have turned into ice water at this moment, and it was cold along her pores and into the seams of her bones.
In order to keep her own flesh and blood alive, she tortured another innocent child in the sterile room with an expressionless face in the past years.
She thought that as long as she was cold-blooded enough, she could buy her daughter's life in this huge company.
But now, the devil who made the deal with her once again used her most fatal weakness to collect debts.
"You are a devil, Jonah."
Barbara's eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse as if it had been rubbed on sandpaper.
"We are all devils, dear, Vought International never hires saints."
Vogelbaum didn't care at all about this level of insult. He even reached out and gently patted Barbara's trembling shoulder.
"Relax, I'm not asking you to fight him. That little monster is now well protected by Lynn's ridiculous family game. You just need to appear in front of him at the right time."
Vogelbaum took out a folded note paper from his pocket and placed it on the table.
"Lynn takes those kids to some stupid outdoor activities every weekend, and you just have to walk up to John, look him in the eyes, and say what's on this piece of paper."
"Remember, use the same tone as when you locked him in the dark room."
Barbara lowered his head and looked at the note, as if looking at a poisonous snake that could bite someone to death at any time.
"Just a few words?"
"Just a few words."
Vogelbaum's eyes revealed a kind of perverted fanaticism:
"Those words and your voice have long been deeply anchored in his subconscious. As soon as you speak, those fears and anger will erupt like a volcano, easily destroying the psychological defense Lynn has established for him. He will go crazy, he will lose control, and he will tear everything around him into pieces."
"At that time, Edgar will understand who is right."
Barbara closed his eyes, a tear slipped down his cheek and hit the cold table.
When she opened her eyes again, the desperate mother disappeared and turned back into the emotionless employee in Vought International.
She stretched out her stiff hand and picked up the note.
"When are you going?" she asked numbly.
"This Saturday."
Vogelbaum turned around, his crutches tapping on the ground making a rhythmic sound, and walked towards the door, "Remember to put on your white coat. Believe me, he has a very deep impression of that color."
Deathly silence returned to the archives room again, except for the monotonous hum of the exhaust fan.
Barbara stood alone under the dim light and slowly unfolded the note.
Her eyes glanced at the short sentence above, her fingers trembling slightly.
The children were all watching the newly released animated movie in the screening room, eating pizza and drinking Coke, but Lynn quietly left.
Take the elevator all the way to the top floor of Vought, the office of Edgar.
But he didn't stay long, he came out after a while, his face was gloomy and uncertain.
Ten minutes later, Lynn pushed open the door of the screening room and looked at John and the others with a smile:
"I have some good news for you. The big boss has just agreed that starting from today, everyone can move to Long Island Estate!"
After a brief silence, the screening room instantly fell into a carnival, with laughter almost breaking the roof.
Annie, Kevin They never dreamed that one day they would be able to leave this cold place and live outside.
Not to mention it is the home of the most gentle and kind brothers Lynn Director and John!
Although they still have to come back for training during the day, it is enough to make them extremely happy!
John Although he tried to control his expression like a mature adult, the corners of his mouth still rose by two pixels.
However, his super vision also allows him to notice places that others cannot.
Lynn's work plate.
He seems to have been promoted.