In the dark environment, the light from the screen was dazzling. After the footsteps stopped at the console, they headed straight towards Shen Siwei.
In an instant, the numbers in his mind jumped from 99% to 100%. The lost memories, long and short, pieced together to complete the missing part for Shen Siwei. But he didn’t dare to immerse himself in the regained memories, so he only concentrated on listening to Moran’s movements.
Finally, the footsteps stopped beside the life pod. The next second, two arms lifted Shen Siwei horizontally. He heard Moran suppressing excitement and whispering, “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this day?”
In Moran’s trembling voice, there was a hint of madness that Shen Siwei had never heard before.
He pretended to still be asleep, but in his mind, he began to search for the past. It was then that he realized that Moran had pretended to be his lover for a second time.
—Is it necessary to use the same trick twice?
Various images then flashed uncontrollably in Shen Siwei’s mind, such as the woman in red who fell in a pool of blood twenty-five years ago, and himself going crazy and killing the aircraft’s pilots five years ago.
A wave of anger surged, interupting Shen Siwei’s steady breathing.
Fortunately, Moran had been talking to himself and didn’t notice Shen Siwei’s abnormality.
“You are a failure. Every time you go on a mission, you’re disobedient. Is there any need for modification? That guy, Dr. Chen, is not reliable at all. He always says he can control your memories, but he always messes up and is unwilling to harm your brain. His modifications can’t meet my requirements at all.”
The doors along the corridor opened one after another, and Moran carried Shen Siwei to the escape passage.
“The most brilliant thing I did in modifying you was having Dr. Chen add pigment particles to your body. This way, I can change your appearance at any time according to my will. Although your personality is still disobedient and not to my taste, it can be ignored as long as I can control you.”
Shen Siwei gradually calmed down and suddenly remembered that when he was brought back last time, Moran had said that he wanted to keep him as a toy, but Shen Siwei was military property, so he couldn’t do that.
After passing through another door, the temperature dropped suddenly, and the oxygen concentration in the air decreased rapidly. Shen Siwei immediately felt a shortness of breath. If he guessed correctly, Moran had brought him to the rooftop of the research facility, and with Shen Siwei’s cardiopulmonary function, he couldn’t survive in the environment at six thousand meters above sea level.
He furrowed his brow, unable to hide his natural suffocation reaction. Moran hastened his pace and said, “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll take you to the aircraft.”
Moran placed Shen Siwei in the co-pilot seat. At that point, Shen Siwei was certain that Moran had secretly come to the laboratory to steal him.
“We won’t be discovered during the surveillance maintenance tonight,” Moran said as he started the aircraft. “I’ll take you home first, and later I’ll come back to arrange the scene for your escape.”
The temperature and oxygen concentration in the aircraft quickly increased, and Shen Siwei gradually regained his breath.
He leaned against the back of the co-pilot seat like a doll, devoid of life, while mentally assessing the current situation.
It seemed that it wasn’t because guards had noticed something was wrong and informed Moran, but rather Moran knew that the surveillance in the laboratory would be undergoing maintenance at a certain time that night, so he specifically chose that time to act.
Based on his words, he wanted to disguise himself as Shen Siwei and escape. However, temporarily hiding Shen Siwei in the aircraft was risky, so he decided to take him away first and then come back alone to set up the scene.
Plans never keep up with changes, and Shen Siwei couldn’t have imagined that Moran would play such a trick, making it impossible for him to see the direction things were heading.
The aircraft gradually moved away from the laboratory, and Moran visibly relaxed, no longer suppressing the excitement in his tone.
“Do you know, my dear? I’m truly a genius!”
Shen Siwei listened helplessly to Moran’s self-praise.
“Sending you on a mission, I was not worried at all that you’ll betray me. If you betrayed me, it meant you’re a complete failure, and I have the right to dispose of you as I please. If you didn’t betray me, it meant you completely obeyed me, which is also a good result. So no matter how I look at it, you are mine.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Siwei suddenly realized that Moran’s trust in him wasn’t because he believed in Dr. Chen’s research results, but rather because it didn’t matter to Moran whether he was betrayed or not.
After all, Moran could retrieve him through the control chip and location information, so his choice was simply to let Moran decide how to possess him.
“Of course, if I had to choose, I would still lean towards the latter. I like it when others obey me, especially you, who never listen to me. As long as I see you submissive and obedient to me, I feel a sense of triumph.”
If Shen Siwei hadn’t remembered Sara and the bombing from five years ago, he might not have been so furious. But the blood pool in the rainy night and the hellish scene filled with thick smoke stimulated Shen Siwei’s nerves.
He had a momentary impulse to bite down on the microcapsule between his molars and send Moran to meet his maker. But with the thought of Amor and Avis still missing, he had to suppress the urge and continue listening to Moran’s monologue.
“This time when you came back, I thought Dr. Chen’s research had finally become reliable, but it turns out you still don’t listen. It seems that making you obedient is really difficult. I’ve given up and don’t want to wait any longer. It’s better to let you enrich my collection. What does it matter if your personality is unpleasant? As long as your appearance matches my aesthetic.”
Enrich the collection?
A strange thought flashed through Shen Siwei’s mind, but at that moment, he only heard Moran say, “Alright, darling, we’re home.”
The aircraft landed in the garage on the ground floor of the villa. Moran carried Shen Siwei horizontally, twisting and turning until they arrived at a dimly lit place.
Then, the sound of identification verification and the opening of an elevator door could be heard. Shen Siwei suddenly realized that Moran was continuing to climb down some stairs while holding him.
Shen Siwei was well aware that his mother’s residence was also on the third floor, so he knew very well that it was not possible to build a basement in the upper levels of the Life Tree, as it could damage the main structure of the Life Tree.
The fact that Moran’s house had a basement made it easy to imagine that there were some weird things hidden inside.
Finally, Moran brought Shen Siwei to a brightly lit room and placed him on a soft bed, gently stroking his cheek, saying, “I’m going back to destroy the central console now. That way, your communication signal and identity location will all disappear. When I come back, you’ll belong to me completely.”
After saying this, Moran left the room.
The door opened and closed, leaving the room completely quiet.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Shen Siwei finally opened his eyes and found himself in a white bedroom.
Besides the bed, there was also a table, chairs, and a clothes rack in the bedroom. The rack was filled with all kinds of clothes, including uniforms, cosplay outfits, and even women’s clothing.
So, these were the clothes Moran had prepared for him?
Shen Siwei couldn’t help but feel a chill, realizing that he had underestimated how disgusting Moran could be.
He checked his communicator in the palm of his hand and found that the signal in the basement was very weak.
When Moran entered the laboratory earlier, he paused in front of the central console, probably intending to destroy it immediately. However, he must have changed his mind and decided to bring Shen Siwei back home, fearing that something might happen and it would be difficult for him to leave. So he temporarily abandoned the central console and brought Shen Siwei home.
Shen Siwei couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear. If Moran had really taken action earlier, he might never have recovered his memories.
But now he couldn’t let his guard down because once Moran returned to the laboratory to destroy his communication signal and identity location, he would be completely cut off from the outside world.
Taking advantage of the time he still had, Shen Siwei took deep breaths and approached the door.
The door was not a tightly secured elevator door, but a regular metal door with an electronic password lock, not much different from the ones used by the residents on the lower levels.
It made sense, as elevator doors had structural requirements for the upper levels, and it was not possible to install an elevator door in the basement.
Shen Siwei leaned against the door and rested for a while. When his breathing finally calmed down, he gathered all his strength and punched the password lock.
The numeric keypad instantly sank in, making a buzzing sound of electricity, and the metal door swung open.
Shen Siwei already knew the consequences of using extreme force. Previously, when Avis tried to kill him at Klet’s place, he had kicked the dining table with great force.
—The feeling of regaining memories was really good.
Some inexplicable subconscious thoughts and indescribable déjà vu moments were answered in the instant his memories returned.
Half of Shen Siwei’s body fell outside the door. He gasped for air, checked his communicator, and saw that the signal had somewhat improved since leaving the room.
He dialed Klet’s number, and as soon as the call tone rang once, he heard Klet’s voice in his ear.
“Shen?”
“Ha…ha…” Shen Siwei was still panting and didn’t have the strength to speak.
“Are you okay? Why are you panting like that? Where’s your mask?”
Klet bombarded him with questions, leaving Shen Siwei unsure of how to answer.
After enduring the initial suffocation, even though Shen Siwei was still breathing heavily, he managed to regain the strength to speak. “I’m fine.”
Klet visibly breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s the situation now?”
“I might lose communication at any moment,” Shen Siwei gasped, intermittently saying, “My memories…have returned. No need to worry.”
“Do you remember me?”
“Mm.” Shen Siwei finally had the strength to climb up and leaned against the corner of the wall. He asked, “Who do you think is the gorilla?”
“Um, well…” Klet stumbled for a moment, awkwardly changing the subject, “When you’re out of breath, don’t let anyone see you. It could be dangerous.”
Shen Siwei already knew this without Klet’s reminder.
If Moran came back and saw him like this, there was no doubt that he would lock him up and might even use an anesthetic gas to knock him out.
“I have an idea. It might help me find Amor,” Shen Siwei decided to settle the score with Klet later about calling him a gorilla. “If I can contact Miller through Amor, then Moran won’t be a threat anymore.”
“Okay,” Klet said. “Stay safe.”
“Then…” Shen Siwei hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” Klet asked.
“It’s nothing,” Shen Siwei said. “Wait for me to come back.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the signal on the communicator suddenly disappeared. Even the microcomputer showed no network connection at all, indicating that Moran had returned to the laboratory and cut off Shen Siwei’s external communication.
Shen Siwei struggled to stand up against the wall, knowing that he didn’t have much time left.
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