Black Sky - Chapter 31

The cold, white light poured down from the ceiling, making Shi Lei’s face even more terrifying.

Looking at those eyes filled with smugness, Bai Zi couldn’t help but sigh softly.

“What?” Shi Lei frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with Bai Zi’s reaction. “You don’t take me seriously, don’t you?”

Silence was the only answer Shi Lei received.

Seeing no response, Shi Lei laughed contemptuously: “You keep running into danger, so dedicatedly. Did Miss Meng even glance at you? Didn’t she leave with Mr. Lin?”

Bai Zi still didn’t speak.

Thinking he’d hit Bai Zi’s sore spot, Shi Lei’s mouth widened: “When I sent Miss Meng away the other day, she was so happy, almost got a marriage certificate with Mr. Lin on the spot! They’re a match made in heaven, what are you?”

As he spoke, Shi Lei revealed a tangled expression: “I have to say, I really don’t understand you. It’s been over a year, and yet you’re still devoted to a woman who doesn’t care about you. What are you after?”

This time, Bai Zi couldn’t help but laugh.

“Huh,” Shi Lei raised his eyebrows, asking in disbelief, “Are you laughing out of anger or what?”

Bai Zi shook her head with a smile: “Didn’t you say that I’m a crazy woman?”

Shi Lei was stunned.

“Do you think,” Bai Zi’s smile grew, her tone increasingly provocative, “a crazy person needs to conform to the thinking of you normal people? You want a crazy person to act logically. Who’s crazy, you or me?”

The sarcastic words that he had used to say to Meng Yilan seemed to have all been used in vain. Shi Lei became angry, and raised his hand: “Do you remember biting here? Humph, you’re not only crazy, but also a mad dog who likes to bite people!”

Saying that, Shi Lei forcefully pinched Bai Zi’s neck: “Back then, if you hadn’t pushed me into the sea, I would have been successful long ago, and wouldn’t have needed to run to this broken place to sell my life!”

Although she was being strangled and couldn’t breathe, Bai Zi’s smile never stopped.

“Laugh while you can,” Shi Lei’s hand gripped Bai Zi’s throat tightly. “In a while, I’ll let you, you crazy woman, see what real ‘crazy’ is!”

Shi Lei finally released his hand, his hand even trembling slightly because he had used too much force.

Bai Zi, who was finally able to breathe, began to cough violently, but there wasn’t a trace of fear in her eyes.

The middle-aged woman wearing a protective suit walked to the side of the operating table, holding a syringe filled with an unknown liquid, glanced at Bai Zi, and said to Shi Lei: “Put on your clothes, it’ll be troublesome if someone comes later.”

“Why are you so nervous?” Shi Lei scoffed.

“Nervous?” The middle-aged woman was obviously a little angry. “It’s already a big crime for me to bring you in here privately. Moreover, you know that this kind of surgery is extremely confidential…”

Shi Lei impatiently put on his protective suit and mask again: “Alright, alright, I’m putting it on.”

Seeing the middle-aged woman flick the syringe, Shi Lei asked curiously: “Is this what you guys developed before, that something…”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.” The middle-aged woman lowered her head and tied a rubber tube around Bai Zi’s arm.

Shi Lei asked again: “I heard that this thing can make them very obedient?”

“That’s the best outcome,” The middle-aged woman pressed the plunger of the syringe, a few drops of liquid flowing out of the needle. “But it’s still in the experimental stage, and it failed before.”

“Failed?”

“Some completely lost consciousness, like mutants, basically useless,” The middle-aged woman sighed. “Some retained basic consciousness, and could complete some simple commands through training, but their memory was completely damaged, and their physical condition became extremely poor, even weaker than ordinary people.”

“So you mean,” Shi Lei smiled, “This crazy woman will be useless from now on?”

The middle-aged woman nodded.

Shi Lei smiled and looked at Bai Zi, pretending to be confused and asking again: “I heard that after the injection, it’s not over yet—you have to perform a craniotomy, right?”

The middle-aged woman hummed a casual “hmm,” seeming a bit impatient. “We need to take some brain tissue for research. Anyway, these people can’t die.”

“Can’t die,” Shi Lei leaned close to Bai Zi. “Isn’t that worse than death?”

Bai Zi looked at Shi Lei, still with that so-called smile on her face.

Shi Lei said softly in Bai Zi’s ear: “From now on, you’ll probably be a useless person without any consciousness, your mind empty, and you won’t remember anything, and you’ll definitely…forget Meng Yilan.”

Hearing those three words, Bai Zi’s smile slightly subsided.

I would lose consciousness, and forget everything?

I would also forget Meng Yilan?

As if a thunderclap had sounded in her ear, Meng Yilan suddenly sat up.

…

Panicking, Meng Yilan glanced down at her feet, and saw Mao Mao sleeping soundly with its stomach exposed. She looked up at her surroundings again. Lin Quwei and Sister Hua were sitting by the campfire, about five meters away from her. Lin Quwei, who had been actively chatting with her, was now nowhere to be seen.

Meng Yilan, panting, turned her head to stare at the kerosene lamp placed between the three of them, feeling fear.

She seemed to have had a nightmare, but she couldn’t remember what it was about after waking up.

After her breathing stabilized, Meng Yilan got up and walked out of the tent.

She was in a vast grassland by the highway. It had originally been a very large ranch, but now, the fences surrounding the ranch had all collapsed, and the animals inside had long disappeared.

This was the third day since they had left the prison. Until half an hour ago, before they had decided to rest at the ranch, Meng Yilan had been awake for almost three days.

“Had a nightmare?” Lin Quwei suddenly asked softly, his expression not like he had just been woken up by Meng Yilan, but rather like he hadn’t slept at all.

Sister Hua, on the other hand, was facing away from them, seemingly still fast asleep.

Meng Yilan didn’t reply. She took a deep breath again, and rubbed her temples.

Although the weather was cold, she was still drenched in sweat from a nightmare she couldn’t recall.

Lin Quwei said again: “You were talking in your sleep just now.”

Meng Yilan still didn’t feel like paying attention to Lin Quwei. She pulled open the zipper of her coat, wanting to let some of the heat out of her body.

“You…” Lin Quwei hesitated, and said softly, “You were calling out the name ‘Bai Zi’.”

Immediately, Meng Yilan’s hand, which was gripping the zipper, stopped halfway.

“Maybe I misheard, heh…” Seeing that Meng Yilan wasn’t in a good mood, Lin Quwei quickly changed the subject carefully. “Yilan, you must have suffered a lot for me these past few years.”

Meng Yilan continued to unzip her coat, lowered her head, and still didn’t speak.

Having reunited after so many years, the two hadn’t said more than a few words to each other in these three days.

Especially Meng Yilan. The further away she got from the prison, the worse her mood became. Her entire being seemed to be frozen, unresponsive to anything.

“You’re now..,” Lin Quwei coughed, “And your father…”

“After you were arrested,” Meng Yilan finally spoke, “I haven’t contacted him.”

Lin Quwei was stunned, and then nodded, looking thoughtful.

“Sorry,” After a long silence, Meng Yilan suddenly smiled wryly. “It’s also because of this that I couldn’t get you out sooner…”

“What are you saying,” Lin Quwei frowned. “If it was for me, and you had to force yourself to return to that family, and bow down to that man, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life.”

Meng Yilan glanced at Lin Quwei, and then looked at Mao Mao by her feet, not replying.

In the days after Lin Quwei had just been arrested, Meng Yilan had thought about returning to the Meng family, and asking that man—her father—to help her rescue Lin Quwei.

But in the end, Meng Yilan didn’t do it.

Besides the fact that she firmly believed that she could rescue Lin Quwei with her own strength, she also knew that if she stepped into that family again, and made that request to that man, then her life would be tied to that man forever, and she would never be able to break free.

“Is Bai Zi your friend?” Lin Quwei suddenly asked. “Or, someone else?”

Meng Yilan couldn’t react for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

“If she’s very important to you,” Lin Quwei looked tangled. “I should…”

He suddenly stopped speaking, warily looking around, and then glanced at Sister Hua, who was facing away from them. Then, he moved closer to Meng Yilan, and said in a low voice: “Sorry, that woman has been watching me too closely these past few days, and I haven’t been able to find a chance to tell you.”

Lin Quwei’s tone made Meng Yilan’s right hand clench involuntarily.

“But, everything is already set,” Lin Quwei said earnestly again. “Yilan, we really can’t change anything.”

“What do you mean?” Meng Yilan asked in a deep voice.

“That…” Lin Quwei looked at Meng Yilan, his face full of reluctance. “That Bai Zi, what she’ll be undergoing next isn’t simply some kind of ‘antibody experiment’.”

Meng Yilan was stunned, and the blood drained from her face.

“They’ve been researching methods to deprive immune people of their consciousness.”

“Deprive consciousness?” Meng Yilan’s attention was drawn back by these four words, but her hands and feet quickly turned cold.

Lin Quwei nodded: “First, they make them lose their self-awareness, then they train them, and after they can control them, they maximize their abilities…”

Meng Yilan clenched her hands tightly, frowning unnaturally, and then chuckled softly, trembling: “How is that possible?”

She didn’t know if she was refuting Lin Quwei, or trying to persuade herself.

Ever since the car had driven away from the prison gate, she had been constantly hypnotizing herself—Bai Zi would be fine.

It was just a simple experiment.

Moreover, Bai Zi had an extremely strong ability to heal. Every time she had encountered an emergency situation before, she had been able to turn danger into safety, and of course, that included every time in the future.

But the more she thought this, the more Meng Yilan couldn’t relax.

She knew very well that these three days had been more difficult than the year she had endured before.

Lin Quwei sighed: “I’m not too sure either. After all, I’ve only heard about this, and I can’t verify whether it’s true or not…”

Meng Yilan didn’t reply, but the smile that she had forced out just now had faded away.

“You’re right,” Lin Quwei nodded again, pretending to be relaxed. “Deprive consciousness? How is that possible? It’s just some nonsense that some people have made up…”

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approaching from far away came. Lin Quwei quickly closed his mouth.

The freckled woman, holding a flashlight, walked to the side of the jeep, glanced at Lin Quwei, and looked at Meng Yilan next to him.

She immediately sensed that something was wrong: “Miss Meng?”

Meng Yilan didn’t react, stiffening her body and not moving.

“She’s a little uncomfortable,” Lin Quwei quickly made an excuse. “She might have caught a cold.”

Thanks to the cover of the light, the freckled woman didn’t see Meng Yilan’s pale face. She nodded: “Get in the car, it’s warmer inside. We’ll be in Bei City in another day.”

Sister Hua and Mao Mao had also woken up. Everyone packed up their things and got back into the car.

During this time, Lin Quwei had been secretly observing Meng Yilan’s expression, but she was just expressionless, and hadn’t said a word. This situation hadn’t changed even after the car had been driving for about ten minutes.

Just when he thought that Meng Yilan didn’t care much about Bai Zi’s matter, he heard the person next to him suddenly say: “Stop the car.”

The freckled woman glanced at Meng Yilan through the rearview mirror, frowned, but didn’t stop the car.

“Yilan, what’s wrong?” Lin Quwei asked softly.

He knew that it was probably his words just now that had made Meng Yilan feel unwell, but he hadn’t expected her to act so abnormally. This was the first time Lin Quwei had seen Meng Yilan like this.

He could never remember her losing her composure like this..

“I’m carsick,” Meng Yilan ignored Lin Quwei, and continued to say, “Let me sit in the front.”

Her tone was a little soft, but her attitude was extremely firm.

Seeing that Meng Yilan’s face was indeed not very good, the freckled woman thought for a while, and stepped on the brakes.

Meng Yilan, with Mao Mao, switched seats with Sister Hua.

The car started again, continuing to head towards Bei City.

Mao Mao was obviously still sleepy. It sat next to Meng Yilan, its head leaning against the car window, and soon began to snore softly.

Meng Yilan leaned weakly against the back of the seat, her eyes staring straight ahead.

Although the car had turned on its high beams, there were still places that couldn’t be illuminated at the end of the road and on both sides.

Meng Yilan always felt that in those dark corners, there seemed to be a silent cry approaching her.

She couldn’t hear the sound, but it was heart-wrenching.

…

“Scream,” Shi Lei’s hand was holding a sharp scalpel, the blade covered in blood. “Why aren’t you screaming? You’re quite good at enduring pain, huh?”

Compared to Shi Lei, who was wrapped tightly, Bai Zi, who was on the operating table, had her clothes torn open, with only a few rags covering her chest, and her exposed body was covered with countless knife marks, some deep and some shallow.

But Bai Zi hadn’t screamed once from beginning to end. She was just gritting her teeth, staring intently at Shi Lei, who was hidden behind the mask.

Like the eyes of a beast, preparing to pounce on the prey that she hated so much.

Although he knew that Bai Zi’s hands were cuffed tightly, Shi Lei was still frightened by the other party’s gaze, and didn’t dare to continue his actions.

He even wanted to take a few steps back, or simply escape the operating room.

Realizing his thoughts, Shi Lei became angry, and as if to embolden himself, he suddenly gritted his teeth and stabbed the scalpel hard into Bai Zi’s shoulder.

The pain made Bai Zi straighten her body suddenly, cold sweat pouring out of her pores, and even her gums were bleeding from being bitten, but Bai Zi still didn’t beg for mercy, or even scream.

“Alright, these wounds are enough to accelerate the decay of her body,” The middle-aged woman, who had been standing not far away watching all of this, looked up at the clock. “It’s getting late, let’s go.”

Shi Lei wanted to agree, but didn’t want to show weakness in front of Bai Zi, so he said: “Aren’t we going to perform a craniotomy?”

“You can’t,” The middle-aged woman said impatiently. “I can’t either. Only seniors are allowed.”

“You have to be a senior to perform a craniotomy?” Shi Lei asked in confusion. “Besides being immune, she’s no different from ordinary people, there’s no need to be so cautious.”

“You don’t know?” The middle-aged woman asked back in confusion. “These immune people aren’t ordinary people at all, they…you wouldn’t understand even if I told you. Today, I’m only responsible for giving the injection. I’ve already taken a big risk by secretly bringing you in, so leave quickly!”

Shi Lei reluctantly walked to the side of the operating table: “You wait, I’ll come again in a few days, and I’ll definitely make you scream.”

After saying that, the two finally left.

The lights and the door were turned off, and the operating room fell into darkness.

Bai Zi, who was still cuffed to the operating table, was constantly panting. Her whole body was trembling, and the blood and sweat on her body were mixed together. Her shoulder was still stabbed with a scalpel.

At this time, she was like a broken doll.

But compared to the knife wounds, the pain that was constantly surging in Bai Zi’s blood vessels was an even greater torment.

Ever since the middle-aged woman had injected the unknown drug into Bai Zi, a piercing pain had spread from the injection site, and quickly spread throughout her body.

It was a feeling as if millions of ants were gnawing at her blood vessels.

When this pain spread to her brain, Bai Zi could even clearly feel that her brain marrow was being gnawed away little by little.

Then, Bai Zi remembered the words that Shi Lei had said.

I would lose consciousness.

I would also…forget Meng Yilan.

Not knowing whether she was happy or sad, Bai Zi, as if wanting to engrave those two words in her heart, wanted to keep repeating them silently before her consciousness was completely lost—

Meng Yilan…

Meng…Yilan…

Meng…

…

“Yilan,” Lin Quwei said from the back seat of the car with a slightly worried tone, “Why don’t we stop for another half an hour to rest?”

Meng Yilan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, didn’t reply, still leaning weakly against the back of the seat, staring straight ahead, not moving at all.

The freckled woman also didn’t stop the car as Lin Quwei had said, but instead stepped on the gas pedal, increasing the speed.

The car was about to leave the highway, and was about to pass through a toll station that had been abandoned for a long time.

It was also at this time that Meng Yilan suddenly pulled out a dagger from her waist, and forcefully stabbed it towards the freckled woman.

Caught off guard, the freckled woman immediately stepped on the brakes, while turning her head to the side, instinctively turning the steering wheel.

Mao Mao grabbed Meng Yilan’s clothes, letting out a piercing scream, and Lin Quwei and Sister Hua in the back seat hit the car window due to inertia.

The jeep quickly made a 180-degree turn in front of the toll station, and finally stopped.

The long dagger was stabbed into the back of the seat. Due to inexperience, and also due to using too much force, Meng Yilan’s hand, which was holding the hilt of the knife, directly slid onto the blade, but she didn’t relax at all, and even gripped the blade more forcefully, to prevent the freckled woman from taking advantage of the situation.

At this time, the front half of the blade was close to the freckled woman’s neck. As long as Meng Yilan pressed down hard, she could make the dagger cut into the freckled woman’s neck like a guillotine.

The back half of the blade had cut through Meng Yilan’s palm, and blood was dripping down.

But Meng Yilan didn’t care. She quickly used her other hand to pull up the handbrake, and said extremely calmly: “Drive back.”

The freckled woman didn’t speak, panting softly, seemingly not having recovered from the shock yet.

Lin Quwei and Sister Hua in the back seat were so frightened that they couldn’t speak. Mao Mao grabbed Meng Yilan’s sleeve, baring its teeth at the freckled woman.

After a long while, the freckled woman was still silent. Meng Yilan ran out of patience, and the hand holding the blade began to press down. In the next moment, the freckled woman immediately nodded.

Only then did Meng Yilan stop her movements. At the same time, the freckled woman’s left hand was quietly reaching towards her waist.

Before the freckled woman could pull out the handgun hidden in her waist, Meng Yilan, who had already noticed her movements, directly gripped the blade, forcefully pulled out the knife, and then stabbed it hard, nailing the hand that had once pressed the remote control, causing Bai Zi to kneel on the ground in pain from the electric shock, to the steering wheel.

Amidst the screams, Meng Yilan used her bleeding hand to search for the freckled woman’s gun, and said calmly: “I’ll drive.”