The plan was put together over three nights.
Lin Shuo used the "recovery time" after each test-usually two hours, during which he was allowed to rest in his room, with a guard outside-to sneak into the archive room and memorize the laboratory's layout.
The main laboratory had three floors aboveground and two below.
There were forty-seven surveillance cameras, mostly in the corridors and at entrances and exits.
Twelve biometric locks required fingerprint or iris verification.
The guards changed shifts every four hours, with a thirty-second gap during the handover.
The most crucial piece of information, however, came from a maintenance record marked "obsolete":
"Ventilation duct on the east side of basement level two partially damaged in the last Ether leak. Repairs pending-recommend sealing off the area."
The eastern ventilation duct.
It was part of the laboratory's earliest construction and connected to an old-era underground drainage system.
If they could get out that way, it could theoretically lead to New Eridu's sewer network.
And Qian An's confinement room was on the east side of basement level two.
"Perfect."
Lin Shuo slipped the blueprints back into the filing cabinet, calculating the timing in his head.
In three days, Qian An was scheduled for a low-dose test of the Type P-07 Potion.
He had to act before the test.
On the afternoon of the third day, Lin Shuo saw Qian An in the testing room.
That day's test was simple-"basic physical fitness monitoring," just routine exercises involving a treadmill, a grip dynamometer, and the like.
But Qian An was in terrible shape, his face pale and his eyes sunken.
"Little Shuo."
During a pause while the researcher recorded the data, he whispered, "I had a dream last night... I dreamed about Yuejian."
Yuejian.
Lin Shuo had heard that name many times.
Qian An said she was a very gentle girl who had grown up in the same orphanage as him.
She was always smiling. Even in the worst of times, she could find a little light.
"She said that once I got out, we'd go watch the sunrise by the sea together."
Qian An's voice was very soft, carrying a certain longing. "She said the sunrise by the sea is especially beautiful. When the sun rises over the horizon, the whole sky turns pink..."
He paused, his gaze dimming. "But I know... I'm never getting out."
"Why would you say that?" Lin Shuo asked, holding the grip dynamometer, his movements as precise as a machine's.
"I overheard them." Qian An lowered his voice further. "They said... they're using a new potion for the next test. The people they used it on before... none of them came back."
Lin Shuo's fingers tightened slightly.
The dynamometer's reading instantly shot up, exceeding the adult standard.
"Hey! Abnormal reading!"
The researcher shouted, "Lin Shuo, relax!"
Lin Shuo released his grip, and the reading dropped.
He looked at Qian An and spoke so quietly that only the two of them could hear. "Tomorrow morning at three, I'll come get you-be ready."
Qian An froze.
"What-"
"Don't ask," Lin Shuo interrupted him.
"Just trust me."
After the test, Lin Shuo was taken back to his room.
His mother made a special visit at dinnertime.
"Little Shuo, your readings were excellent today."
She sat beside the bed, holding a cup of warm milk. "Especially the grip test-you actually reached the adult standard. Mommy is so proud of you."
She handed him the milk. "Drink up. I added honey. It'll help you sleep."
Lin Shuo took it and drank in small sips.
The milk was very sweet, but it contained a trace amount of a sleeping agent-he could taste it.
His parents were always like this, wrapping control in tenderness.
"Oh, right," his mother said suddenly.
"You're having an in-depth test tomorrow. Daddy developed some new equipment that can monitor neural responses during Half-Ethereal Transformation more precisely... it might be a little tiring, so get plenty of rest tonight."
An in-depth test.
That meant he would spend all of tomorrow strapped to equipment, injected with various potions while all kinds of data were recorded.
There would be no chance to get Qian An.
Lin Shuo's hand tightened around the cup, but his expression did not change.
"Okay."
"Good boy." His mother stroked his head.
"Once the test is finished, Mommy will buy you a new toy-haven't you always wanted that limited-edition mecha model?"
"Yeah."
After his mother left, Lin Shuo poured the milk into the sink.
Then he sat beside the bed and watched the clock on the wall.
Ten at night.
Five hours remained until the planned time.
He needed to act early.
At eleven that night, the laboratory entered "low-power mode."
The lights dimmed in most areas, leaving only surveillance and essential equipment running.
The researchers had gone home, leaving only the guards on duty and a few overnight experiment teams.
Lin Shuo climbed out of bed.
He went to the door and pressed his ear against the metal-he could hear the guard's footsteps outside, steady and heavy.
The guard passed once every fifteen minutes.
It was now eleven-oh-seven.
Eight minutes until the next pass.
Lin Shuo returned to the bed and took a small device from beneath his pillow-he had assembled it from parts salvaged from scrapped equipment the previous week. Its function was simple: emit a brief burst of high-frequency noise to interfere with the surveillance cameras' audio recording.
It would work for only three seconds.
But that was enough.
Eleven-twelve.
Footsteps approached.
Lin Shuo pressed the button on the device.
"Bzzzt-!"
A piercing noise rang through the corridor.
"What was that?!" the guard shouted.
The footsteps receded as he went to investigate the source of the noise.
Lin Shuo immediately opened the door-he had tampered with the lock three days earlier, making it easy to open from inside.
The corridor was empty.
He hurried down the corridor to the stairwell.
The laboratory's stairwell had no surveillance cameras-a design flaw, because the researchers believed that "internal personnel don't need surveillance."
He went downstairs to basement level two.
The lights were dimmer here, and the air smelled of disinfectant and a certain... sweet, bloody odor.
It was the smell of the Sacrifice Potion.
Lin Shuo softened his footsteps and advanced along the wall.
Qian An's confinement room was at the end of the corridor, with an observation window in its door.
Through the window, Lin Shuo saw Qian An sitting on the bed, his arms wrapped around his knees, staring at the ceiling.
He was waiting.
Lin Shuo knocked-three short knocks and one long one, their agreed signal.
Qian An jerked his head up and ran to the door.
"Little Shuo? You really-"
"Open the door," Lin Shuo said, holding a compact decoder-stolen from his father's workbench, it could crack basic electronic locks.
With a beep, the door unlocked.
Qian An pushed it open, his face full of shock. "How did you-"
"No time to explain." Lin Shuo grabbed his hand.
"Come with me."
The two hurried down the corridor.
Lin Shuo remembered every surveillance blind spot and the guards' patrol routes.
Like shadows, they passed through the laboratory's underground area and reached the "abandoned ventilation duct" on the eastern side.
The grate over the duct opening was already rusted, and a hard tug from Lin Shuo loosened it.
"Go in here."
He pointed into the dark opening. "Keep crawling straight ahead. After about fifty meters, you'll reach a fork. Take the left branch. Keep going another hundred meters, and you'll see a vertical shaft leading up-climb it, and you'll reach the sewers."
Qian An looked into the dark hole and swallowed. "You... aren't coming with me?"
"I can't leave," Lin Shuo said.
"If I leave, they'll start searching immediately, and you won't get away. I have to stay and make it look like you're still here."
He paused, then added, "Besides... I have a reason I have to stay."
"What reason?"
Lin Shuo did not answer.
He gave Qian An a push. "Go-remember, once you're out, leave Eridu immediately. The farther away, the better. Don't come back."
Qian An gritted his teeth and crawled into the duct.
But just before he was all the way inside, he backed out again.
"Little Shuo," he said, his eyes shining in the darkness. "Once I'm settled... I'll come back for you. I promise."
Lin Shuo looked at him for a long time, then nodded.
"Okay."
Qian An smiled-the brightest, most genuine smile Lin Shuo had ever seen.
Then he crawled into the duct and disappeared into the darkness.
Lin Shuo stood where he was, listening to the sound of crawling gradually recede inside the duct.
Only when the sound had vanished completely did he move.
He turned and returned to Qian An's confinement room.
He closed the door and activated the electronic lock.
Then he went to the bed and lay down.
Next, he needed to pose as Qian An until testing began the following morning.
But plans could never keep up with changes.
At two in the morning, hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor.
"Emergency! A specimen has gone berserk in the observation area on basement level three! We need backup!"
The guard's shouts came through the door.
Lin Shuo sat up, his heart giving a heavy thud.
A specimen going berserk... usually meant an Ethereal transformation had gone out of control.
And the observation area on basement level three held volunteers who had undergone "in-depth testing."
Among them was-
"Yuejian."
Lin Shuo remembered the look in Qian An's eyes when he mentioned that name.
The girl who was always smiling.
The girl who had said they would go watch the sunrise together.
She was there too.
The footsteps drew closer, and someone began unlocking the confinement room.
"V-24! Come out! We need your help!"
The door opened, and a researcher stood in the doorway, his face pale. "Qian An, come with me, quickly! That friend of yours... Yuejian, she... she's transformed!"
Lin Shuo's mind went blank for an instant.
Transformed.
Did that mean... she had become an Ethereal?
"She keeps calling your name." The researcher's voice trembled. "We tried the reversal agent. It didn't work... but she said she wanted to see you, and she's still fully lucid... maybe you can..."
Lin Shuo rose from the bed.
"Take me to her."
The observation area on basement level three was colder than the floors above, and the sweet, bloody odor in the air was nauseatingly thick.
Observation rooms lined both sides of the corridor. Through the reinforced glass, the "specimens" inside were visible-some still retained human forms, while others had already twisted into indescribable monsters.
Several people had gathered outside the innermost observation room, including Lin Shuo's parents.
His mother wore a protective suit and was recording data. His father stood at the control console, his brow tightly furrowed.
Inside the observation room...
Was Yuejian.
She still wore the volunteers' white hospital gown, but her body had undergone terrifying changes.
Large patches of her skin had turned pale, as though covered in a layer of plaster.
Her left arm had fully transformed into an Ethereal's, its pale claws hanging at her side. Patterns of Ether tissue crawled over her neck like twisted vines.
But her face... still retained its human features.
She even still wore a smile.
Gentle and sweet, just as Qian An had described.
Only her eyes... had already lost their light.
"Qian An... has Qian An come?" Her voice was very soft, like wind rustling through leaves.
"He's here." Lin Shuo walked up to the glass.
Yuejian looked at him, her smile deepening a little. "Qian An... you're all right... thank goodness..."
She reached out with the hand that still retained its human form and pressed it against the glass.
"I... I might... not be able to watch the sunrise with you anymore..."
Her voice began to grow hoarse as the Ethereal transformation eroded her vocal cords.
"But... you have to keep living... you have to... escape..."
Tears spilled from her eyes, dark red.
"I... I'm in so much pain... inside my body... it feels like fire is burning..."
His mother rapidly took notes beside him. "Retaining self-awareness during the transformation... a rare case! The data! Hurry and record the data!"
His father ordered, "Prepare to inject a sedative, then collect samples."
"But she said she wanted to see Qian An-" a researcher said hesitantly.
"The specimen's emotional fluctuations are valuable data too!" His mother cut him off. "Record her physiological responses upon seeing her 'friend'!"
Lin Shuo looked at Yuejian behind the glass.
At the girl who still worried about Qian An even in the worst of her pain.
At the pale tissue spreading across her body.
At the human light gradually fading from her eyes.
Then he made a decision.
"Open the door," he said.
Everyone froze.
"Open the door," Lin Shuo repeated, his voice calm. "I'll go in and say a few words to her. Maybe... it'll calm her down."
His mother and father exchanged a look.
"All right." His father finally nodded. "But you must wear a protective suit, and you only have three minutes."
The protective suit was cumbersome, but Lin Shuo didn't care.
The observation room door opened, and he walked inside.
The door closed behind him.
Yuejian looked at him, her smile becoming somewhat distorted-not from emotion, but because her facial muscles were beginning to slip out of control.
"Qian An... you... you've gotten taller..."
"Mm." Lin Shuo walked up to her and crouched down, meeting her eyes.
From this close, he could see the Ether tissue writhing beneath her skin and the murky yellow gradually spreading through her pupils.
Signs of Ethereal transformation.
"Yuejian," Lin Shuo said softly.
"Qian An has already left."
Yuejian's smile froze.
"I helped him escape."
Lin Shuo continued, "By now, he should have reached the sewers. Soon... he'll be able to see the outside world."
Yueyan's tears flowed even harder.
But this time, they were tears of joy.
"R-really...?"
"Really." Lin Shuo nodded.
"He asked me to tell you... thank you. Thank you for keeping him company at the orphanage, for still being able to smile in the darkest times, and for saying you wanted to watch the sunrise with him."
He paused. "He also said... he'll definitely keep living. He'll live your share too."
Yuejian cried like a little child.
"Thank goodness... thank goodness..."
She reached out, wanting to touch Lin Shuo's face, but drew her hand back halfway-she was afraid her claws would hurt him.
"Qian An... you have to... be happy..."
Her voice grew weaker and weaker, and her body began to shake violently.
The final stage of Ethereal transformation was about to begin.
Once it was complete, she would lose herself entirely and become a monster that knew only destruction.
Then... she would be disposed of.
Like all the previous "specimens."
"Yuejian," Lin Shuo suddenly said. "Do you trust me?"
Yuejian nodded with great difficulty.
"Then... close your eyes." Lin Shuo's voice was very soft, very gentle. "When I count to three, it won't hurt anymore."
Yuejian looked at him for a long time.
Then she smiled.
It was just the kind of smile Qian An had described-a smile that could encourage others and bring them light.
"Mm..."
She closed her eyes.
Lin Shuo reached out and laid his hand over her forehead.
His palm began to change-his skin turned white and hard, and pale claws extended from his fingertips.
Half-Ethereal Transformation.
But he controlled it well, confining it to his right hand.
Then he mobilized all the Ether energy in his body and gathered it in his palm.
This was a technique he had never tried before-compressing the power of Half-Ethereal Transformation to its utmost limit to produce "internal destruction."
It would leave no external wounds.
It would give the people outside no sign of anything amiss.
It would only... destroy everything from within.
"One."
Yuejian's body trembled slightly.
"Two."
A smile still lingered on her lips.
"Three."
Lin Shuo gently pressed his palm down.
There was no sound.
There was no light.
Only Yuejian's body suddenly stiffening, then... going limp.
She leaned against Lin Shuo's shoulder as though she had fallen asleep.
That gentle smile still lingered on her lips.
The Ethereal transformation stopped.
The pale tissue began to recede, her claws retracted, and color gradually returned to her skin.
But her heartbeat... had stopped too.
Lin Shuo held her, feeling her body rapidly lose its warmth.
Feeling her last breath brush softly against the side of his neck.
Like a sigh.
Then everything went still.
The observation room was very quiet.
There was only Lin Shuo's own heartbeat, heavy as a hammer striking his chest.
He gently laid Yuejian on the floor, straightened her clothes, and smoothed her hair.
Making her look... as though she were merely asleep.
Then he stood and walked to the door.
The door opened.
His mother rushed in first and checked Yuejian's vital signs.
"Her vital signs... have stopped?" Her voice was full of shock. "How is that possible? Just a moment ago-"
"Her transformation failed," Lin Shuo said calmly. "During the final stage, her self-awareness collapsed, causing her physiological systems to fail. It's a reasonable outcome."
He took off his protective suit, revealing the sweat-soaked clothes beneath.
"You recorded all the data, right? This kind of 'transformation termination caused by a collapse of consciousness' should have considerable research value."
His father stared at him, the eyes behind his lenses sharp as knives.
"What did you do?"
"I soothed her," Lin Shuo answered.
"Just as you wanted. Then... she passed peacefully."
"Peacefully?"
His mother stood, her expression ugly. "But what we needed was data on a completed transformation! Not-"
"Enough." His father cut her off.
He walked up to Lin Shuo, crouched down, and stared into his eyes.
After a long while, he said, "Where's Qian An?"
Lin Shuo's heart skipped a beat.
But his expression didn't change. "In the restraint room-I took him back."
"Is that so?" His father stood and ordered a guard, "Go to the restraint room on the east side of basement level two and bring V-24 here."
The guard ran off.
Lin Shuo stood where he was, his palms slick with sweat.
But he couldn't panic.
There was still one final step to the plan.
A few minutes later, the guard ran back, panting. "Reporting! V-24 isn't in the restraint room! The grate on the eastern ventilation duct has been broken! He... he may have escaped!"
"What?!" his mother shrieked.
"How is that possible! What about the surveillance?!"
"The east side is a surveillance blind spot... and all the guards were transferred here tonight to deal with the rampaging specimen..."
His father's expression darkened completely.
He turned to Lin Shuo, his gaze cold enough to kill.
"It was you."
It wasn't a question, but a statement.
Lin Shuo didn't deny it.
"Why?" his father asked.
"Do you know how valuable that specimen was? How many resources TOPS provided to-"
"Because he's my friend," Lin Shuo interrupted, his voice very soft but very clear. "And you... have never treated me as your son."
The air froze.
His mother opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.
His father stared at Lin Shuo for a long while, then suddenly smiled.
It was a smile Lin Shuo had never seen before-cold and cruel, like a predator spotting prey.
"Good," he said.
"Very good. Since you care so much about your 'friend,' then... you can complete the experiment in his place."
He turned to the guards. "Take Lin Shuo to the testing room. Prepare the Type P-07 Potion-a full dose."
His mother's face instantly went white. "A full dose?! That's a lethal dose! It'll-"
"Make him the perfect test subject," his father interrupted, his voice devoid of emotion.
"Since we've lost one valuable specimen, we'll make up for it with another-and this one is our 'biological' child."
He looked at Lin Shuo and said, each word distinct, "You saved your friend. But the price is... yourself."
Lin Shuo looked at him, then at his mother.
His mother avoided his gaze.
At that moment, the last trace of warmth in Lin Shuo's heart disappeared too.
He nodded.
"All right."
In the testing room, Lin Shuo was strapped to a metal bed.
Heavy restraints encircled his wrists, ankles, and neck. Monitoring electrodes covered his body, connected to dozens of instruments.
His father stood at the console, holding a syringe.
Inside was a dark red liquid-a full dose of the Type P-07 Sacrifice Potion.
"Your last chance."
His father said, "Tell me the route Qian An took to escape, and I can consider reducing the dose."
Lin Shuo stared at the ceiling without speaking.
"Then..." His father pressed the button.
The restraints tightened, holding Lin Shuo's neck immobile.
The syringe advanced, its needle piercing the vein in the side of his neck.
The dark red liquid entered his body.
For the first few seconds, he felt nothing.
Then...
Heat.
As though he had been thrown into a furnace.
His blood boiled, his bones groaned, and every inch of his skin felt as though it were being torn apart and reconstructed.
His vision began to warp, the colors turning strange-reds grew redder, blues grew bluer, and the edges of everything glowed.
He could hear his own heartbeat, like pounding drums.
He could hear his blood flowing, like rivers.
He could hear... something inside his body waking up.
"Aaaaah-!!!"
A scream tore from his mouth.
He hadn't wanted to scream. It was his body's instinct.
It hurt too much.
More than all the previous tests combined.
"The data! Record the data!"
His father's voice came from far away. "His heart rate is soaring! Ether absorption has exceeded the threshold! The transformation has begun!"
Lin Shuo struggled in agony, making the restraints creak.
He could feel his skin hardening, turning white.
He could feel his nails lengthening into claws.
He could feel... his reason slipping away.
Like sand running through his fingers.
"No..."
He gritted his teeth, resisting with every ounce of strength.
"I can't... I can't become a monster..."
He thought of Qian An.
He thought of Yuejian.
He thought of the "outside world" they had described.
The slides in the park.
The candy shops along the street.
The lights outside the windows of the elevated trains.
The sunrise by the sea.
The pink sky.
All those things he had never seen, yet longed for so deeply.
"I... have to live..."
He roared, drawing on every bit of strength within him to fight the potion's corrosion.
His Half-Ethereal Transformation ability erupted fully at that moment.
The ether tissue beneath his skin grew wildly, only to be forcibly suppressed by him.
His claws extended, then retracted.
His eyes switched repeatedly between human pupils and the murky yellow of an Ethereal's.
"He's resisting the transformation!"
His mother's voice carried shock. "How is that possible... A full dose of P-07 should have immediately-"
"Keep injecting the suppressant!" his father ordered.
"We can't let him successfully resist! We need transformation data, not resistance data!"
Another syringe of medicine entered his body.
This time, it was a suppressant, specifically intended to suppress self-awareness and promote Ethereal transformation.
Under the combined onslaught of the two drugs, Lin Shuo's consciousness began to blur.
He saw visions.
He saw Qian An crawling through the pipes.
He saw Yuejian's gentle smile.
He saw his parents' indifferent faces.
He saw the laboratory's white walls, those eternally white walls.
"Is it... over...?"
His vision began to darken.
But just then-
"Little Shuo!"
A voice rang out in his mind.
It wasn't an auditory hallucination.
It was... the system's voice.
[Host detected to be critically near death, with consciousness on the verge of collapse. Activation conditions met-] [Strongest Romance Conquest System activating.] [Binding to host... Binding successful.] [Distributing beginner's gift pack-] [Obtained: Three-Tomoe Sharingan (permanent)] [Obtained: Complete Ichiraku Ramen preparation techniques (permanent)] [Obtained: Uchiha Basic Ninjutsu] [System notice: This system uses "self-directed quest triggering." Please seek out system-recognized quests yourself. No quests are currently available. Good luck.]
The voice disappeared.
But Lin Shuo felt that something had changed.
Warm power surged through his eyes, and his vision grew clear again.
Three black tomoe rotated slowly in his pupils, bringing unprecedented perceptiveness.
He could clearly see the path the potion took through his blood vessels.
He could clearly see the changes in every part of his body.
He could clearly see... how to control them.
"Sharingan..."
He murmured the name. Though he didn't know what it was, he instinctively knew how to use it.
Focus.
The tomoe spun faster.
The ether energy in his body began to circulate according to a particular pattern.
Suppress.
Channel.
Control.
The pale tissue on his skin began to recede.
His claws retracted.
His heartbeat gradually steadied.
"The transformation... stopped?" His mother's voice was filled with disbelief. "No, it hasn't stopped... it's reversing! He's expelling the potion from his body!"
His father stared at the data screen, his face ashen. "Impossible... P-07 can't be reversed..."
But the data didn't lie.
Lin Shuo's vital signs were recovering.
The signs of Ethereal transformation were disappearing.
He... had made it through.
After an unknown stretch of time, the agony finally subsided.
Lin Shuo lay on the metal bed, soaked through, as though he had been pulled out of the water.
But he was still alive.
Still conscious.
The restraints released, and he sat up, looking at his parents.
His Three-Tomoe Sharingan glowed an eerie red in the dim light.
His father took a step back.
His mother covered her mouth.
Those were... eyes no human should have.
"The experiment is over."
Lin Shuo spoke, his voice hoarse. "The data... you should have all of it."
He stepped down from the metal bed. His legs trembled, but he stood firm.
"From today onward, I won't cooperate with any more tests."
He looked at his father, then at his mother.
"If you force me... I'll destroy everything here."
He said it calmly.
But no one doubted the truth of those words.
Those eyes... were far too convincing.
His father opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately said nothing.
His mother cried-not out of concern for him, but out of fear.
Lin Shuo didn't look at them again.
He turned and walked out of the testing room.
In the corridor, the guards watched him with complicated looks-there was awe, fear, and... sympathy.
Lin Shuo paid them no mind.
He returned to his room and closed the door.
Then he sat on the floor, his back against the door, hugging his knees.
His whole body trembled.
The Sharingan deactivated automatically, returning his eyes to ordinary black pupils.
But everything he had just experienced was already etched into his bones.
He had killed Yuejian.
He had let Qian An escape.
He had endured a full dose of the Sacrifice Potion.
He... had survived.
The price was... there was no going back.
He could no longer pretend he was an ordinary child, pretend his parents loved him, pretend all of this was simply "for science."
The truth was cruel.
But he had to face it.
Outside the window, the sky began to lighten.
Morning had come to Eridu.
Looking at that faint light, Lin Shuo suddenly remembered Qian An's words:
"The sunrise by the sea is especially beautiful. When the sun rises above the horizon, the whole sky turns pink..."
He closed his eyes.
"Qian An..."
"You... have to be happy."
Meanwhile, in the sewers of New Eridu.
Qian An crawled out of a drain, covered in sludge, utterly bedraggled.
But he was free.
He was truly free.
He lay on the filthy ground, looking at the daylight spilling through the gap overhead, and laughed out loud.
As he laughed, tears began to flow.
"I got out... I really got out..."
He climbed to his feet and staggered toward the street.
He was going to leave this city, go far away, go to the seaside, and watch the sunrise.
He would see that pink sky for Yuejian.
But just as he was about to step out of the alley-
A familiar, sickeningly sweet, bloody smell drifted over from the laboratory.
Along with it came a kind of... tremor in his soul.
As though something important had shattered.
Qian An stopped and looked back toward the laboratory.
He did not know why.
But he sensed... something had happened to Yuejian.
And Little Shuo...
That child who had helped him escape, who was only seven years old.
"No... it can't be..."
He turned, wanting to run back.
But reason held him back.
Going back meant certain death.
Besides... he had promised Little Shuo that he would live.
That he would live for Yuejian, too.
Qian An clenched his teeth, his nails digging deep into his palms, feeling no pain even as they bled.
He took one last look toward the laboratory.
Then he turned and ran into the morning mist without looking back.
His tears scattered in the wind.
Like wounds that could never heal.
Meanwhile, inside the laboratory, Lin Shuo leaned against the door and heard a new system notification:
[Intense emotional fluctuations detected: guilt, despair, resolve.] [Quest trigger conditions met.] [Long-term quest issued: escape this hell.] [Quest description: find a way to leave before becoming a test subject completely, and collect all evidence of your parents' crimes and experiments-time limit: eight years.] [Reward: eligibility to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan (method only).] [Failure penalty: permanently lose your human status and become a true "test subject."]
Lin Shuo opened his eyes.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared once more, turning slowly in the morning light.
"Eight years..."
He repeated softly.
Then he smiled.
His smile was bitter, but firm.
"That's enough."
Enough for him to grow stronger.
Enough for him to find a way out.
Enough for him to... escape this gray past.
Morning light streamed through the window into the room.
It illuminated the tear tracks still wet on his face.
And the resolve in his eyes, stronger than ever before.
A new story had begun.
Though its beginning was terrible.
At least... there was still hope.
However faint.
However distant.
At least it existed.
[Note: eight years later, the Old Capital Fall Incident broke out. Lin Shuo escaped the laboratory amid the chaos, provided his parents' experimental data to the Defense Force, and was taken in by the Obsidian Camp. Qian An's whereabouts remained unknown until he reappeared many years later as a "high-ranking member of the Order." Yuejian's death became a thorn forever lodged in both their hearts.]
[All of that, however, came later.]