Meeting Dr. David

"To see Dr. David?"

Upon hearing Jilan's request, the detective shifted his gaze from the elevator doors to Jilan, his brow furrowing slightly. "Do you know what you're saying? You should understand your current situation. You're just a patient, and he's a criminal, only responsible for curing your illness. You don't need to meet at all."

Jilan shrugged. "You said yourself that I'm a patient. Although I'm awake now, who knows what kind of aftereffects might occur? I need to see the doctor and ask about my condition in detail before I can feel at ease. Also, Dr. David cured my illness, and I deserve his gratitude. You can't leave me no chance to express my thanks, can you? My conscience won't allow it."

The detective scrutinized Jilan: "Is that the only reason?"

"That's all," Jilan affirmed.

The agent didn't immediately agree, but said, "I need to get orders from Dr. David and my superiors."

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Jilan smiled and said, "Then, Detective, could you please press the elevator button?"

I-Island has a high level of technology. For minor illnesses, residents can simply take special medicines from pharmacies, and for serious illnesses, they can be cured quickly at the hospital. Under normal circumstances, there are not many patients in the hospital. Therefore, even though Jilan and the agent were in the elevator for several minutes, no one pressed the button from the outside.

As expected of an FBI agent, their efficiency far surpasses that of ordinary government agencies. The detective only kept Jilan in the ward for two minutes before pushing the door open from the outside. "The higher-ups have agreed; Dr. David also wants to see you."

"That's really good news." Jilan smiled as she approached the other person.

The officer glanced at his watch and said, "I'm taking you to see the doctor now. You'll have twenty minutes to talk. No one will be monitoring you, but your conversation must be conducted under surveillance. There's one more condition."

The conditions were better than Jilan had expected. He had thought that to meet a "serious criminal" like Dr. David, he would have to have someone guard the conversation room and every word had to be spoken under guard. He thought that it was just surveillance and that was perfectly acceptable.

What are the conditions?

Please do not discuss the content of your conversation.

"Tell me," the officer said.

"... Sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean."

The officer said, "You can assume... my clearance level isn't high enough to overhear conversations at this level."

Jilan raised an eyebrow. "Officer, are you kidding me? If you don't even have the authority, what qualifications do I have to speak with Dr. David?"

The officer stared at Jilan for several seconds, and Jilan met his gaze without flinching. Finally, the officer sighed and said frankly, "Alright, even if I didn't tell you, Dr. David would probably have mentioned it anyway, so I won't hide it from you. Actually, during the days you were unconscious, because you took the Stock Solution, your Quirk Factor activity was abnormally high. This is valuable data for Quirk research. We uploaded your data to the database without your consent, and it quickly became top secret, accessible only to a few authorized personnel. In other words... you are now an important sample."

"... So, I'm the Xiaobai you're observing?"

"You can think of it that way, but in reality, your duty is over. You've proven that taking the Stock Solution doesn't necessarily mean certain death, which has already given them enough information. Nobody will bother you; only if you suddenly die one day will someone be responsible for retrieving your body." The officer pulled an agreement from his inside suit pocket. "This is an agreement regarding the receipt of your remains. Once you sign, you'll receive a substantial sum of money right now."

Jilan took the agreement and looked at its contents. The agreement was not complicated and matched what the police officer had said; as long as he signed it, he would receive an astronomical sum of money.

Jilan didn't sign, but instead scoffed, "So, I'm sacrificing myself for the medical cause? How ironic. Dr. Sam is taking risks for money, when all he needed to do was take his invention and get enough..."

The officer stared at Jilan: "So, are you going to accept it? It's all beneficial for you."

Jilan gently patted the agreement on the police officer's chest and smiled, "Sorry, I have no intention of handing over my corpse to a bunch of mad scientists to do with."

The police officer seemed to have anticipated this outcome, showing little disappointment, and continued tearing the paper with an unchanged expression.

He tossed the agreement aside, turned, and walked out. "Then this agreement is useless. Now come with me."

Dr. David was in a hidden basement of the hospital, where two fully armed police officers were guarding the door. They seemed to have received orders and opened the heavy door, which looked like a bank vault, without asking any questions after the officer brought Jilan there.

"I'll wait for you here." The officer stopped at the door and pointed to the skull watch on Jilan's wrist. "Remember, you only have ten minutes. When the time is up, you must come out regardless of whether the conversation is over."

"I understand." Jilan nodded and went into the basement.

This is a laboratory filled with countless sophisticated chemical instruments; anyone who walks in would likely think so. Even though Dr. David knows that Jilan has awakened, he hasn't stopped his research and is currently wearing a chemical suit, placing his hands in a sterile environment to perform liquid dripping.

Dr. David, oblivious to Jilan's arrival, remained engrossed in his research. His dark-circled eyes, hidden behind his frameless glasses, were fixed on the reaction within the sterile chamber under the microscope. He subconsciously said, "Sam, increase the humidity by 0.5 degrees."

No one responded.

Ten seconds passed silently. Dr. David looked away from the microscope, his expression complex, and muttered to himself, "Oh, right, Sam is gone..."

Dr. David lost all interest in conducting his experiments. After sitting there blankly for a few seconds, he belatedly realized from the reflection in the glass of the sterile chamber that a guest had arrived in the laboratory.

"Jilan, you're here." Dr. David hurriedly took off his gloves, walked quickly towards Jilan, patted Jilan on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "It's so good to see you safe and sound."

Dr. David seemed unwilling to bring up what had just happened, and Jilan cooperated by not mentioning it either, smiling as she said, "Thanks to your tireless experiments these past few days, Dr. David, I'm fine now."

Dr. David watched as Jilan's smile faded, and he slumped into a chair, burying his face in his hands. He muttered, "I'm just making up for my mistakes. There's nothing for you to thank me for. Actually, your recovery was mostly due to your own body. If it weren't for your Quirk continuing to function even while you were unconscious, you would be dead by now, and wouldn't have survived until I made the Degrading Agent."