There was a knock on the door, and Anastasia's voice sounded outside, "Dad."Cameron took a breath and said, "Come in."Anastasia opened the door and entered with a tray with a bowl of porridge and a few side dishes."Dad, I got the kitchen to cook some porridge and a few side dishes. You can have it later." After a pause, she continued, "You just woke up, so you can't eat greasy food. These are just very mild dishes.""Okay." He nodded. He was indeed a little hungry. When she put the food down, he immediately straightened up and picked up the porridge before sipping it slowly.Alexander nodded to her slightly and headed out the door to answer his phone."Dad, how are you feeling?" Anastasia sat down next to the bed and looked at Cameron with concern.Cameron nodded with a slight smile. "Much better. It must’ve been a lot for you throughout this time.""No, it's nothing," she sincerely replied, shaking her head. Although tired and worried, she knew her father had it more challe
"Will I die?" Cameron asked after thinking about it."No, that's not what I mean," Alexander hurriedly explained, "It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll die, but you might see signs of deterioration. You might not be as strong or fit as before, but these aren't the biggest concerns. The scariest thing would be the damage it might have done to your organs or brain."All of these were unanswered questions. Only time could tell. The best approach now would be for Lily to be here and observe Cameron daily, but that was an impossible request as she was in the organization’s lab and could not leave."All is good if I'm not dying soon," Cameron said nonchalantly.He had experienced countless storms over the years. This was nothing to him. On top of that, he had more important things to focus on right now. Only once he had settled his unfinished business would he retire and recuperate."Dad…" Anastasia was distraught as she squeezed her father’s hand. However, he shook his head to indicate t
It was a hot, sunny afternoon when Lily strode into the laboratory building with a hazmat suit on. She appeared to be in a hurry and looked like she was swamped.The hallway was silent, with no one in sight, which she had expected. Usually, most working areas would be packed with people during the day and turned dead silent at night.However, Lily noticed this place was the opposite after observing it for the last two days. Midnight was when this place would be full of people and was its busiest time, while no one would be around during the day.This place was the institute’s rightful property and a legitimate place of business. They could operate normally, but Lily wondered if they worked late at night because they were accustomed to doing things at night or could only do the experiments during that period.Anyhow, this place worked the opposite way as the other working areas. Since that was the case, Lily had to execute her plan during the day. Nonetheless, the different working
Lily subconsciously retracted her hand in an instant. She was shocked as well. The earlier feeling made her think she was under a curse. As Lily had learned about herbal plants, she knew how poisonous the wilfordi root could be.Moreover, this was a mutated plant before her, so she should not touch it. However, she felt she was possessed earlier because she could not help but extend her hand toward it. It was such a strange feeling.When she snapped back to her senses, she looked toward the voice. It was a man in a hazmat suit, and she could only see his eyes. She did not know anyone here, but the man gave her a sense of familiarity.“Who are you?” she asked warily.“You don’t need to know that, but I’d advise you to leave as quickly as possible.” With that, he turned and left the room.Lily was puzzled. She wondered if he had come here just to warn her. Before she could react, the man exited through the door and turned at the corner, disappearing from her sight.She chased behin
After the encounter, Lily thought things through again. She concluded it would be challenging to discover the truth about this place. Hence, she began to concentrate on the experiments.They were already halfway through. The main problem was that they could not blend the two types of materials and find the perfect ratio for the product.Lily found a problem in the provided data. Those previously in charge of this experiment had been using the ratio she previously provided, which was the one from the successful experiment.After seeing the data, she knew past researchers did not understand fragrances. To be exact, they did not understand the tricks of blending fragrances and herbs.The data from her successful experiment was accurate, but that was just a single success case. How could they use it for all the other experiments as well? After all, the ratio for different mixes of fragrances and herbs would vary, and the material that would need to be added to blend those two ingredien
“Did your boss tell you to ask me that?” Lily asked with a raised brow.Mike said nothing momentarily before he replied, “You’re still wary of me even now, aren’t you?”“Yes,” Lily answered unapologetically.The things Mike did and what he kept from them in the past made it impossible for Lily to trust him completely. After all, it was hard to rebuild broken trust, especially not with a few words exchanged.They were no longer friends, but Mike was not her enemy either.“Is there anyone I know working in this lab?” Lily asked out of the blue.Mike was stunned and pondered momentarily before answering, “A few people here have worked with you before. Why? Did you meet them?”“It’s not them,” Lily said with determination as she shook her head.There might be those people who Mike mentioned here, but Lily only had vague memories of them. Lily was not one to socialize much or put in the effort to build relationships with her colleagues, so she would not remember them much.She woul
“But you’ve said it yourself that the boss is just like a front desk and that there’s still someone else he has to answer to,” Lily said.“That’s right, but I’m sure he also has important information and secrets on his hands.” After pondering for a long time, Mike believed the boss should have something to keep himself safe, even if he was technically working for someone else.Although he was a madman, he also had his own beliefs: this so-called plan and research. Before they completed it, Mike was sure the boss would not allow himself to be in danger.“So, what you’re trying to say is…” A moment of silence later, Lily raised her brow and looked at Mike.“We should work hand-in-hand and find the secrets together.”Mike knew Lily was not here to serve the boss solely. She was just like him. He had been trying to free himself from their control and leave the organization for the longest time. However, he needed to stay to find Nick, but he still had no idea where Nick was until now.
“It’s not that I can’t tell you. I just… I’m not so sure either,” Mike said and pondered momentarily. After some time, he seemed to have decided something as he turned to look at Lily and continued, “You’ve seen the core of this research. Other research is ongoing at the same time as well.“However, all the research is stuck in this same phase, which means you must complete not just one but a couple. Still, the boss said we should prioritize R10 if we can’t make it in time.”After listening to him for so long, Lily finally heard the most critical thing. She instantly felt energetic again. “R10?”“Yeah. All the research here is in numerical order. I’m sure you’ve noticed that from the documents you’ve browsed through. R10 is the most crucial research out of all of them.”“Is R10 the one I’m doing now?” Lily asked after some thought.“No.” Unexpectedly, Mike shook his head. “The one you’re working on right now is R13.”Lily was even more surprised. “R13? Wait, aren’t they in numeri