Ke Xun's phone belonged to Xu Zhen, Zhu Haowen used Cai Xiaoyan's phone, and Zhao Youyi and Deng Guang's phones were in the hands of Qin Ci and Li Yaqing.
At midnight, the door to Laboratory D opened as scheduled. The three quickly turned on their phones, activated the flashlight function, and brought up the camera.
Six or seven gray-white figures entered the frame, preparing for the experiment at the desk and beside the experimental equipment.
Ke Xun simply walked over with his phone, searching for No. 282 among the figures at close range.
He saw someone using a syringe to inhale anesthetic, and someone retrieving the awl needed for a frontal lobotomy—time was of the essence!
"Here!" Ke Xun found No. 282 first. This person in the frame, like the other "people," had a gray-white face, was thin and withered, and had no expression. A pair of eyes that looked gentle and spirited in the photos had become dull and lifeless on this face. The dark pupils occupied almost the entire eye sockets, and even when directly facing the flashlight on Ke Xun's phone, they could not reflect any light.
It lingered beside the ET instrument, its numb face and eyes showing no movement whatsoever.
"What are you looking at?" Ke Xun suddenly asked.
For some reason, he felt this "person" was different from the others.
Number 282, however, didn't react to his question.
"Are these people test subjects or researchers?" Zhu Haowen suddenly asked.
If they were test subjects, why were they the ones conducting the experiments?
If they were researchers, why was Number 282 a test subject?
Mu Yiran's fingers flew across the phone screen, pulling up several photos he'd taken outside the lab. The photos showed various grayish-white figures. He zoomed in, carefully observing the numbers on the "people's" chests, and said in a deep voice, "Researchers also have numbers on their chests. The difference is, researchers' numbers are employee numbers, while test subjects' numbers are their experimental sergeant numbers."
"Then if Number 282 is a test subject, why is he allowed into the lab at this time?" Ke Xun held up his phone and looked around. Besides the "researchers" and Number 282, no other test subjects had entered the lab.
Mu Yiran walked over to Ke Xun, looked at the number 282 and the other researchers on his phone screen, then compared it to the photos on his own phone. He pointed to the number: "Look closely, the number styles are different. The employee number has a border and the font is Yahei, while the test subject's number has no border and the font is printed. This number 282 is a researcher."
This discovery was sudden and hard to understand. A researcher was also a test subject—what was the reason? Was he voluntarily sacrificing himself for the research?
Time wouldn't wait for the three to continue observing. Several gray-white figures quickly approached them. Ke Xun hurriedly pulled Mu Yiran to dodge, but the figures were supernatural forces. In just a moment, they caught up, and Ke Xun felt an irresistible force grabbing his arms and dragging him towards the instrument used for ET experiments.
Meanwhile, Zhu Haowen was controlled by another force and firmly pressed onto the medical bed used for lobotomy surgery.
Mu Yiran wasn't chosen, but at this moment, he could do nothing but observe the changes.
"Yiran—" Ke Xun was forcibly pressed into a seat next to the equipment, his head, hands, feet, and body handcuffed with leather straps. He could only speak, unable to move. "Yiran—number 282 is definitely suspicious. I think he has something to say. He's different from others—"
Ke Xun was terrified of being gagged like in Lab C, so he tried his best to tell Mu Yiran his thoughts as quickly as possible. Mu Yiran stood beside the ET equipment, but he couldn't stop the figures' actions or the equipment's operation. In the camera's view, Ke Xun was wearing a headband, and wires were connected to his fingers, chest, abdomen, and even unspeakable areas. The large and small screens on the equipment lit up, displaying charts similar to electrocardiograms.
Meanwhile, on another bed, Zhu Haowen was being held down by a figure, who was wiping him with alcohol swabs. The figure held an anesthetic needle in its other hand.
What to do?
How to stop it?
Where's the signature?
How could he get the signature?
Mu Yiran stared intently at number 282 on his phone screen. It stood beside the ET instrument, facing Ke Xun, who was now restrained in the chair. Its face and eyes remained emotionless, dull, lifeless, and motionless.
It was different from others. What was it that made it different?
It had thoughts. What kind of thoughts did it have?
Mu Yiran frowned. He couldn't help but pay attention to Ke Xun in the chair. The headband on his head was like the golden headband that bound Sun Wukong. The naturally free and unrestrained stone monkey had become someone else's pawn, a subordinate, unable to break free, unable to act as he pleased, unable to experience passionate love and hate.
"Ke Xun," Mu Yiran couldn't help but call out to him, "Hold on, I'll find the signature."
"Don't rush," Ke Xun smiled at him, "You shouldn't die in the first ET experiment, remember?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a beam of dim yellow light suddenly shone from the projector on the desk, landing on the wall opposite Ke Xun.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran's gazes followed, and even Zhu Haowen, who was being injected with anesthesia, struggled to stare at the wall.
Was it an autograph? Could it be an autograph?
With a "snap," an image appeared on the wall—a photograph. All three of them had seen it before; it was one of the stack of photos in the desk drawer. The image showed a half-naked man's full-body frontal view. He was half-naked because Ke Xun had blackened his lower body with an oil-based pen.
Ke Xun: "..."
So the projector was used to display photographs?
But photographs aren't transparent, so how were they projected?
However, this might just be a symbolic act in the painting; its real purpose was to show these photographs to the ET experiment subjects.
—Why do they do this?
While Ke Xun was still completely baffled, Mu Yiran noticed the display screen on the instrument. It seemed to show Ke Xun's heart rate and some other strange data.
The clip-like wire connected to Ke Xun's chest looked like the tool used for an electrocardiogram.
Why measure his heart rate?
Mu Yiran suddenly remembered a question he had once asked Ke Xun: "How would you react if you saw these photos?"
As a homosexual, what reaction could he possibly have to see photos of the same sex with sexual innuendo?
Mu Yiran vaguely realized something, but before he could think about it further, he heard another "snap," and the image on the wall changed, still the same stack of photos.
If these photos hadn't been vandalized by Ke Xun, perhaps there could be a slightly more appropriate explanation, but now, showing him these "things" one by one, the graffiti on these photos felt like a display and accusation of Ke Xun's mischievous behavior, filled with an indescribable... comical feeling.
The photos switched one by one, and Mu Yiran kept a close eye on Ke Xun's heart rate on the screen, maintaining a steady heartbeat.
Meanwhile, Zhu Haowen's anesthetic injection had been completed, and several figures preparing surgical instruments were standing nearby, ready to perform the operation. Zhu Haowen remained conscious.
"Ke Xun," Zhu Haowen's voice was weak, but still as calm as ever, "If I die here, please come to my place. There's a letter in the desk drawer for you. You can find my address on my phone."
"Okay," Ke Xun said.
With a "snap," the photo suddenly stopped playing. A few seconds later, the image reappeared on the wall, this time in video format. A naked man with delicate features and a voluptuous figure appeared on the screen, making provocative gestures.
"..." Ke Xun was utterly bewildered. "What on earth is this trying to do—ugh!"
A sudden, unexpected electric current pierced his flesh from the tips of his fingertips, his lower abdomen, and the ends of the wires connected to his sensitive areas, coursing through his entire body. It was a sensation unlike any he had experienced in Lab C, as if every cell beneath his skin had been shattered. An indescribable, excruciating pain crashed down upon him. Almost instantly, Ke Xun was drenched in sweat, nearly dying from the agony.
His groan was distorted by the pain. Mu Yiran saw his entire body suddenly contort, as if his bones had been twisted and deformed in that instant. Unable to fathom the extent of the pain, Mu Yiran blurted out, "Ke Xun! How are you?"
"I... I'm alright..." Ke Xun was drenched in sweat, as if a bucket of water had just been poured over his head. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but the pain made it impossible for him to utter a sound.
Mu Yiran frowned deeply, his gaze returning to the screen of his phone with a calm expression.
Only by finding a signature as soon as possible could he save him.
On the screen, number 282 stood beside the instrument's display, his blank face slightly lowered.
Was he looking at the screen?
Mu Yiran had been paying close attention to Ke Xun's heart rate, but even when the image on the wall switched to video, his heart rate hadn't changed. So why was he still receiving an electric shock?
It wasn't due to his heart rate.
It was the data on the other displays.
Mu Yiran hadn't overlooked the images on the other displays either. He quickly recalled the data from the previous and current images and noticed a slight fluctuation in the data on one display.
This display, like the one monitoring the heart rate, was connected to changes in certain physical or internal signs on Ke Xun's body. The instant the video appeared on the wall, it detected Ke Xun's change.
What was it?
Dopamine? Adrenaline? Pupil dilation and contraction? Or brain waves?
Mu Yiran didn't believe Ke Xun could have any romantic thoughts at this moment, so the change he detected must be a conditioned reflex reaction that couldn't be controlled by conscious effort.
This is similar to a heterosexual seeing a nude photo of the opposite sex; even without sexual fantasies, a sexual awareness is formed through logical thinking and conditioned reflexes.
This is human instinct.
Unless Ke Xun becomes heterosexual, he cannot avoid being monitored for the changes caused by this reflex, thus continuing to suffer the torture of electric shocks.
Mu Yiran's eyes were as dark as an abyss. Through the phone's camera, he met the gaze of Number 282 in front of him.
The ET experiment, it turns out, is Electroshock Therapy.
Homosexuality is heresy, perversion, and mental illness.
This experiment aims to use the violent means of electric shocks to forcibly "treat" homosexuals into heterosexuals.