You're welcome, my friend!

On the slice of tissue, countless cells began rapidly multiplying.

Then the old cells rapidly began dying off.

The cycle repeated endlessly.

There was one word to describe that sliced-off piece of flesh.

"Fresh." It could stay fresh forever.

Having witnessed this firsthand, the doctor roared in a frenzy, like a madman.

"This is nothing short of a miracle!"

He grabbed an assistant by the collar, almost crazed.

"Do you know what this means?"

"God! This is absolutely insane!"

The assistant immediately replied.

"It means he can live forever!"

The doctor's eyes shone as he nodded.

"Exactly!"

"But haven't we found the same thing in some containment subjects?"

One of the researchers raised a question.

The doctor shook his head, took out another monocle, and put it on.

"It's different! Because we've found it in a human!"

At these words, everyone present froze, then looked bewildered.

Someone muttered quietly.

"But does he really still count as human like that?"

"What normal person cuts off their own flesh without even blinking?"

Hearing this, the doctor also sank into thought.

"From a biological standpoint, he should still count as one!"

"He should..."

At that moment, the doctor fell into deep self-doubt.

Elsewhere.

Lu Xiao finished eating the hamburgers scattered across the floor, then let out a loud burp.

His gaze fell on the last button on the wall.

The button had a door icon printed on it.

Without a second thought, Lu Xiao pressed it.

The sound of machinery rang out.

The room's door abruptly opened.

Lu Xiao poked his head out. There was no one around.

Light filled the silent corridor.

Lu Xiao glanced back and noticed a screen on the wall outside the room he had just left.

It read:

[Serial number 292-The lost human]

[Containment class: S (provisional)]

[Subject abilities: Unknown (pending research)]

[Containment requirements: Unknown (pending research)]

[PS: A human lost in the Dark Prison. Everything remains under observation. It is recommended that you do not provoke him!]

Lu Xiao stared with his dead-fish eyes, lost in thought.

"'Lost' isn't the right word! It should be changed!"

"What would be a good replacement?"

Lu Xiao thought it over and over, but could not find a suitable word to describe it, so he simply gave up thinking.

"I remember that Mr. Prison Doctor was serial number 069!"

He stuck out his scarlet tongue and licked the corner of his mouth.

"How can I find him?"

He looked up and around, soon finding something that resembled a surveillance camera.

An idea struck Lu Xiao. He walked up to the camera and pressed his face against it.

The staff member watching the surveillance feed was so startled that he fell off his chair.

On the monitor, those lifeless, dead-fish eyes filled more than half the screen.

At the same time, Lu Xiao's voice came through.

"Hello, hello, hello! Anyone there?"

Bang, bang, bang!

On the surveillance feed, Lu Xiao reached out and slapped the camera.

The staff member wiped away his sweat before answering.

"Y-yes! I'm here!"

"May I ask... what can... I help... you with?"

Hearing the answer, Lu Xiao smiled.

"I'd like to ask how to get to Mr. Prison Doctor's room, serial number 069?"

"Follow... follow the corridor straight ahead! It's the room with that number!"

The voice came from the ceiling.

Lu Xiao chuckled.

"Thanks!"

"You... you're welcome!"

So Lu Xiao headed straight down the corridor.

He walked for about twenty minutes.

Finally, he saw that number on the wall.

[Serial number 069-Prison Doctor]

[Containment class: S]

[Subject abilities: Diagnosis, medical skills, creating and spreading viruses and plagues!]

[Containment requirements: Regularly send him a patient to cure, or he will go berserk!]

[Combat abilities: You do not want to fight him!]

[PS: A doctor from the Middle Ages. Upholding his steadfast conviction to rid the world of patients, he spares no effort in searching the world for patients and curing them!]

[PS: If you have the misfortune to encounter him, you had better hope you really are ill, or he will cut you open to find the source of the illness!]

[PS: You can make a deal with him to obtain his assistance. The terms are that you must let him treat your illness and praise his superb medical skills!]

After reading it, Lu Xiao's lips curved upward.

"He really is a doctor with an abundance of medical ethics!"

"What a noble conviction. Truly admirable!"

"If every doctor had such noble character, what a wonderful world this would be!"

Lu Xiao praised him from the bottom of his heart.

Meanwhile, his hand had already reached for the doorbell button on the wall.

Soon, the door of cast steel opened.

Inside, the three-meter-tall Prison Doctor was holding down a young man dressed in special operations gear.

"Be good! You have to trust me! There can be nothing wrong with my diagnosis!"

"This body of yours is sick, and very seriously so!"

A scalp-prickling voice emerged through the beaked mask on his face.

The young man being held down was none other than Liuguang, a member of the field team that had contained Lu Xiao.

Liuguang struggled nonstop. The Prison Doctor had his mouth covered tightly, leaving him unable to make a sound.

His body kept twisting as he tried to break free of the Prison Doctor's broad palms.

Seeing the door open, the Prison Doctor turned to look at Lu Xiao standing in the doorway.

For a moment, even his voice rose in pitch.

"Oh! My friend, you really came!"

At the same time, he withdrew both hands holding Liuguang down.

Seeing this, Liuguang sprang up in a single bound.

Then he bolted for the door.

But as he passed Lu Xiao, Lu Xiao grabbed him and pulled him back.

Liuguang wanted to cry, but had no tears.

"Bro! Let go of me!"

Lu Xiao shook his head.

"What's wrong with you? Why won't you follow the doctor's orders?"

Liuguang used every ounce of strength he had to try to break free of Lu Xiao's hand.

Yet the hand gripping him was like an iron clamp, impossible to budge.

No matter how hard Liuguang strained, that hand did not move an inch.

"Keh, keh, keh!"

In that brief moment, the Prison Doctor had already come up to them.

He reached out a hand. It resembled the talon of some kind of bird and had only three fingers.

Those three fingers were like a bird's talons, slender and elongated, their proportions extremely unnatural.

Scalpels were embedded in the fingertips.

He seized Liuguang as he tried to escape, his fingertips piercing Liuguang's flesh. The beak on his mask opened and closed a few times.

"Thank you, my friend!"

"If you hadn't come, this naughty patient would have escaped!"

Lu Xiao gave him a warm smile.

"You're welcome! My friend!"