Translator: Cinder Translations
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"ID number?"
"A00131."
"Who are you here to visit?"
"B04149."
"Do you have the approval document?" The man's voice grew more serious. "Please understand, although your personal clearance is sufficient, visiting the detainee requires—"
"Beep—"
A guard dressed in light blue received a message. He raised his hand to check the electronic screen on his wrist, and his expression immediately changed. "ID A00131, your application has been approved. You may proceed with the visit. However, please adhere to the regulations here. Each visit must not exceed 30 minutes, no physical contact with the detainee, and no mention of—"
"Thank you." Before the guard could finish, the young man in front of him pushed the door open and walked in, then closed the door behind him.
As he looked up, his gaze couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Although he applied to visit here after every mission, each time he came, the sight before him still left him feeling an involuntary sense of loss.
It was the same as always.
On a metal bed lay a man with empty eyes, his limbs bound by white restraints, and his neck secured with a soft leather strap.
The only part of him that could move was his eyes.
Pulling over a stool with practiced ease, An Xuan, now dressed in different attire, sat down in front of the man and quietly observed him.
This was his former teammate.
In reality, the man was a few years younger than him.
But looking at him now, one might think he was in his early fifties.
Here, he was merely alive.
Dignity was nothing but a luxury.
As if reacting to the visitor, the man on the bed slowly turned his eyes, finally resting them on An Xuan's face.
"Wu Tong is dead," An Xuan suddenly said after a moment.
The man's face twitched, but it quickly returned to calm. The sedative's effects hadn't worn off yet.
To maintain control over these former elite members of the execution department, the hospital administrators had no choice but to continuously increase the dosage of sedatives.
After all, there had been instances where someone had gone berserk, breaking free of all restraints, and it had taken seven or eight people to subdue him. If the guards hadn't acted decisively, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
The orders from above were clear.
They could die, but they must never lose control.
If these individuals were to break free, the impact on society would be beyond imagination.
"I know you can understand me," An Xuan continued. "They all say you've gone mad, but I don't believe it."
He shook his head and went on, "You just can't control yourself, but you're not insane. You remember me, you remember Wu Tong, you remember Zhou Qin, you remember... every one of us."
As An Xuan spoke name after name, a faint light appeared in the man's eyes. Though dim, An Xuan caught it.
"I killed the one responsible for Wu Tong's death," he exhaled. "Using their usual methods. You know how I operate." Seeing a flicker of life in the man before him, An Xuan smiled. "Why should they be allowed to do such things, but not us?"
"Unfortunately, it was another one of their followers," he said, reaching out and gripping the man's hand, which was half-hidden in the restraint suit. "I know the one who killed Zhou Qin and wiped out your team must be the true Deep Crimson."
"Don't worry, I will find him, and I will make him suffer twice as much as what you've endured."
"I'm not lying to you. I already have a lead." He patted the man's hand. "Just wait and see."
At the head of the bed, a small blue light flashed three times, silently.
"Whoosh—"
This was the signal that the visit was about to end.
A reminder that time was up.
"I have to go," An Xuan said, standing up. "I'll come see you again."
But just as he was about to pull his hand away, he felt the man suddenly grip his fingers tightly.
The man's eyes changed abruptly, bloodshot, with bulging veins spreading from his forehead across his entire face. His muscles tensed, and the straps on the restraint suit creaked under the strain.
The guard watching from the monitor immediately hit the alarm by the door. In an instant, warnings popped up on all the electronic screens in the hallway.
Still, there was no sound.
But the atmosphere grew intensely tense.
Special medical personnel in light blue uniforms, protected by fully armed guards, rushed toward the room.
The enraged man was pinned down on the bed, and through an IV, he was forcibly injected with a stronger dose of sedative.
Even so, three men couldn't hold him down. Two more guards had to step in, and the metal bed groaned under the pressure.
An Xuan was quickly escorted out of the room by the arriving guards.
Though it felt more like an expulsion.
"What happened?" A man with a light green badge gasped for breath as he stared at An Xuan. Despite the thick isolation suit, sweat was visible on his face.
The green badge bore no name, only a number that indicated the man's rank and specific clearance.
The man held the same rank as An Xuan, which was why he didn't immediately order the guards to arrest him.
But this was the man's territory, directly under the jurisdiction of the Night Watch headquarters.
Even the execution department had no authority here.
Still, he didn't want to offend these people, as they were the ones truly dealing with the Deep Crimson threat.
"What did you do to him?" The man frowned, staring into An Xuan's eyes as if trying to determine if he was lying.
An Xuan calmly shook his head. "Nothing."
"Then why did he suddenly lose control?"
"I don't know."
A moment later, a person wearing a blue mask emerged from the room and hurried over. Removing the mask, he said, "His condition has suddenly worsened. It's as if he's been exposed to those things again recently. A week ago—"
He stopped mid-sentence, realizing that An Xuan was also calmly watching him.
The man with the green badge and the masked individual moved to a corner and immediately lowered their voices. "What's really going on?"
"It's likely a lingering effect from the incident a week ago," the masked man said quickly. "Many people went berserk during that event, and a group of them were near this detention area."
"He must have been exposed too, but the effects were mild and didn't show up immediately. Our subsequent checks didn't catch it."
"Damn it!" the man with the badge cursed under his breath.
"Go and send that man away," he ordered. "Then notify all teams to lock down this area immediately. Everyone needs to be checked, no matter how they've behaved recently."
"Understood."
Under the escort of the guards, An Xuan was politely shown out. The guard driving the car was quite courteous to him. The two were around the same age, though one held an A-level clearance and the other a D-level.
"This is the restroom. I'll wait outside," the guard said.
An Xuan nodded. "Thank you for your trouble."
Once inside the restroom, An Xuan walked straight to the last stall, turned, and locked the door.
In the next moment, he leaned against the door, his pupils contracting, his body trembling uncontrollably. Countless blood vessels surged into his eyes, and he struggled to suppress the sound of his ragged breathing. His heart pounded like a drum.
He raised his trembling hand, on which the faint outline of a door began to appear.
"Is this the price...?"
(End of the Chapter)
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