On the rectangular dining table sat a steaming pot of fragrant white rice and bean porridge. Ke Xun stood beside it, skillfully stirring a small bowl of cold mixed beans with chopsticks. The sourness of the vinegar and the aroma of the cooked beans blended together, like a warm breeze after a summer rain, instantly awakening everyone's taste buds.
"Let's eat first," Ke Xun said, looking up and meeting Mu Yiran's calm and clear gaze, offering him a gentle smile.
Delicious food is a good remedy for the mood. Perhaps it's because the color, aroma, and taste of food can make people feel the vitality and warmth of life; after a hearty meal, hope finally prevailed in its struggle against despair.
"Now, let's discuss the number selection," Xu Zhen said, her previously hesitant tone softening considerably as she sat in a chair in the cafeteria, looking at everyone.
Silence fell over the group. This was a sensitive topic; no one wanted to die, and everyone wanted to choose a laboratory with a relatively higher survival rate. When it came to life and death, no one wanted to back down.
"Let me state this beforehand," Xu Zhen said, "I don't want to give up my chance to live to anyone. Of course, I hope everyone can survive, but don't expect me to yield to the younger or weaker ones. Everyone is equal before survival; my life is no less valuable than anyone else's."
She glanced meaningfully at the three young girls.
The girls remained silent. Zhang Hanrui's tears silently rolled down her cheeks. Li Yaqing seemed exhausted from crying, her head bowed in a daze. Cai Xiaoyan bit her lip, clutching her clothes, revealing her immense fear and anxiety.
"Since that's the case, let's be fair," Zhu Haowen spoke, always rational to the point of ruthlessness. "Let's decide by drawing lots."
"I agree," Xu Zhen nodded in agreement after some hesitation. "That's the fairest way. Whether the result is good or bad, it's just a matter of luck."
No one else objected. Qin Ci got up and went to the office next door to find paper and a pen. He returned, cut the paper into pieces, and wrote numbers on them. Because it was uncertain how many people would enter each experimental area today, they would have to draw numbers according to the order of the numbers drawn.
Fold the paper, put it in a chopstick holder, shook it, and placed the holder on the table: "Draw one."
Xu Zhen was the first to reach out, pinched out a paper, and her expression lit up when she opened it: "Number 1!"
Number 1 meant she would definitely get a number for Experiment Zone A. For those who had experienced the agonizing ordeal in Experiment Zone B last night, the experiments in Experiment Zone A seemed much more comfortable.
So, these people actually hoped to go to Experiment Zone A.
The rest of the group also drew their slips of paper in turn. Ke Xun drew after Mu Yiran, his hand lingering in the chopstick holder for a while, stirring the remaining slips with his fingers. He looked at the number 7 on Mu Yiran's slip and winked at him: "Do you believe my intuition is really accurate?"
Mu Yiran looked at him and said calmly: "Draw one."
Ke Xun felt a tingling sensation run through his head, a tingling current traveling down to his fingertips in the chopstick holder.
With a flick of his finger, he picked up one of the slips, unfolded it, and saw the number 8.
Showing the number to Mu Yiran, Ke Xun's lips curled into a smile.
Since their numbers were next to each other, the chances of them getting the same lab number were high.
After everyone had drawn their lots, they realized Qi Qiang and Huang Pi hadn't. Qin Ci looked at them, "What?"
Qi Qiang impatiently pulled a card from his pocket and slammed it on the table: "I already got my number!"
The card, leading to the basement, clearly showed A-195.
Xu Zhen realized what was happening, glaring at Qi Qiang and Huang Pi, angry but unable to speak.
Huang Pi hadn't drawn a lot either; clearly, like Qi Qiang, he had drawn a number beforehand while everyone was leaving through the small iron gate. They knew the first to draw would be the lab A card, and they wouldn't wait to discuss it with others.
At this point, further discussion was pointless. Everyone got up and went to the small iron gate leading to the basement, taking their numbers in the order determined by the draw.
This time, Qi Qiang, Huang Pi, and Xu Zhen drew card A.
Wei Dong and Zhu Haowen drew card B.
Li Yaqing, Cai Xiaoyan, Mu Yiran, and Ke Xun drew card C.
Qin Ci and Zhang Hanrui drew card D. Li Yaqing, who drew card
C again, collapsed on the spot, crying and screaming.
In everyone's eyes, only experiments in experimental area C were guaranteed to kill people; drawing card C meant one foot was already in the grave.
"There's still time," Ke Xun squatted down and squeezed Li Yaqing's shoulder. "Crying won't solve anything. We need to find the signatures quickly. Once we find them, we can leave."
Li Yaqing nodded through her tears, struggled to her feet, and followed the equally heavy-hearted group down to the underground experimental area.
This time, everyone searched every experimental area thoroughly, inch by inch, inside and out, leaving no brick unchecked.
Several veteran members gathered in experimental area D. They hadn't finished checking it yesterday because time was running out, so they continued today.
"It's still the same question," Qin Ci said as he searched, "What is the central meaning this painting is trying to express? Finding the meaning will bring us closer to finding the signature."
"If all the experiments are based on various questions derived from the human subject," Zhu Haowen said, "the meaning of this painting should be closely related to humans. Remember the words written on the screen wall in the hallway? 'Reveal the essence of consciousness, explore the power of life, guide alienation back to nature, and help the lost regain their true nature.'"
"Consciousness, physiology, psychology, concepts," Mu Yiran summarized, "encompassing all the products that an individual like 'human' can produce, subjective, objective, substantial, and insubstantial."
"Then do you think the signature this time might be on a 'human'?" Wei Dong said, "Like the painting in 'Animal World,' the signature was a dog; this time it might be a human."
"There are only us, the people in the painting, in the entire research institute," Zhu Haowen said, "no one else is here, and I don't think any of the people in the painting will come in from outside halfway through."
"I suggest we take a closer look at these research materials," Qin Ci said. "Perhaps we can find the true intentions behind these experiments."
Ke Xun looked at the stack of photos in his hand—the ones he'd seen in Lab D last night—and handed them to Qin Ci: "I don't know if this counts as research material?"
Qin Ci took them, glanced at them, his face stiffened, he coughed, and handed the photos back to Ke Xun: "This might be… well, office entertainment."
"Like those old porn books or using your phone to browse inappropriate websites at work?" Ke Xun put the photos back in the drawer. "But the researchers at this institute are really bold, actually bringing photos to work. Are porn books no longer enough for them?"
"What are you talking about?" Wei Dong was completely bewildered. He came over and rummaged through the drawer. "What porn—Holy crap!"
Holding the photos, he looked at Ke Xun in surprise: "There's actually something like this?! That's so bold! Holy crap… let me check if there's anything suspicious in the photos."
Ke Xun: "Heh."
Wei Dong flipped through a few photos, his tone somewhat strange: "Wait, why are there only naked men and photos of men having sex in these pictures? Could it be that all the researchers in this lab are women? And all of them are yaoi fans?"
"They could also be gay," Ke Xun said.
Wei Dong glanced at him: "You seem to have inadvertently revealed your private collecting hobby."
"Stop talking nonsense. What time is it? If you're not going to look at it, put it back," Ke Xun said, turning and walking over to Mu Yiran. Seeing him carefully examining a document, he held up his phone to illuminate it for him.
"On April 13th, after discussion by the entire team, it was unanimously decided to perform a prefrontal lobotomy on test subject number 213 seven days later." Ke Xun read the words on the document, then looked up at Qin Ci and asked, "Dr. Qin, what is the prefrontal lobe?"
Qin Ci's expression was somewhat serious: "The human brain is divided into four lobes in each hemisphere, and the frontal lobe is the largest one. After its removal, a person will lose many bodily functions, and even a large part of their personality. It is an extremely inhumane surgery."
Wei Dong gasped: "What kind of demonic surgery is this?! Why would they do this kind of surgery?"
Qin Ci said: "In the mid-19th century, some medical scholars in the West believed that this surgery could free schizophrenic patients from emotional distress, thus making them quiet and obedient. It is said that patients with violent or suicidal tendencies did indeed become quiet after undergoing the surgery. The inventor of this surgery, Moniz, even won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for it. From then on, for a period of time, frontal lobotomy became an important means of treating human mental illnesses, and it was even very popular at one time." "
This... does it really work?" Wei Dong asked.
Qin Ci smiled sarcastically: "Let me explain the procedure, and you'll see if it works.
"The process is simple. First, the doctor uses local anesthesia to keep the patient somewhat conscious, as the doctor will explain the surgical steps—and if the patient doesn't respond, the doctor will even use an electric shock to wake them. "
Next, the doctor will insert a steel cone about 18 centimeters long into the bone under the eyelid, directly opposite the eye socket. By gently tapping the base of the cone with a small hammer, the cone will penetrate the bone and nasal bridge, entering the brain. "
When the cone is about 5 centimeters into the frontal lobe, the doctor will rotate it to sever the white matter that connects the prefrontal cortex to the rest of the brain."
"In the words of one doctor, it's basically like sticking a cone into someone's head and stirring things up. The whole process takes less than ten minutes. In ten minutes, the patient might not be the same person anymore."
"Holy…crap…damn it…" Wei Dong cursed, dumbfounded. "Wouldn't that turn the brain into porridge? Are the doctors doing this devils or demons?!"
"The mortality rate for this kind of surgery is as high as 14%, but at the time, some doctors were almost pathologically obsessed with using it," Qin Ci said.
"Obsessed…there were actually people obsessed with this kind of perverted surgery?" Wei Dong covered his forehead.
"The prefrontal cortex is a key organization for making decisions, shaping and maintaining personality," Qin Ci said. "So some medical experts at the time believed that this surgery was like operating on the soul. They believed that through this surgery, they could reshape a person who was more acceptable to society and the public."
"It seems that's the key," Ke Xun said. "If the ABC labs were studying people, then the purpose of the D lab's experiments was to modify people."