The Laboratory.
Under the combined efforts of Su Man and Bai Ye, an extremely detailed report was produced. While a simpler report was already produced two days ago, Bai Ye made no mention of the report as he was afraid of Eleven leaving too early. Bai Ye hence suggested to Su Man to hold back for another two days, and Su Man had no opinion. Both made no mention of the report until the detailed report was out.
As Bai Ye read every word on the report, he had a very solemn look. While he knew that the situation at hand was extremely serious, little did he expect it to be this bad. He grabbed a chair near him and sat down as Su Man formulated several special sedatives on the test bench.
All he could do for now was to temporarily suppress the toxicity in her body.
Bai Ye completed the reading the documents and frowned. “You’ve no way out too?”
“For now,” Su Man plainly replied. “While I am undoubtedly strong in viruses, this is my first time coming into contact with mutating viruses. Third Young Master Ye and Cheng Anya’s situation was extremely different.”
This was a hard test of his professional knowledge, and there were many domains where he had no knowledge of as the world of viruses and genes was simply too large.
“What do we do then?” Bai Ye frowned. His typically suave face seemed especially solemn.
Su Man looked up and calmly looked at him. He, in a white shirt, casually sat on the chair carefreely. If it weren’t for him frowning, one would have found it difficult imagining him worrying about somebody.
“Did you manage to find previous cases?”
Bai Ye shook his head. “No. Experts from IFLR-GT used to research cyborgs, but their research ended in failures and none were documented. I’ve checked for a long time, and I didn’t manage to get any useful information.”
As he said, he looked down and continued reading Eleven’s report. “What the f*** did Mo Ye do to her? If he knew, he would be able to have some inkling. She, however, was not willing to say anything.”
He sounded somewhat harsh and cold. That damn Mo Ye ought to be hacked ten thousand times over.
All of a sudden, the rolling numbers on a huge screen suddenly stopped. Su Man raised his eyebrows and immediately walked over and magnified the image. This was the database of all the viruses and toxins stored in the mainframe. Su Man, through an analysis of Eleven’s blood sample, concluded she had sixteen toxins and three different viruses in her, of which two of the viruses were as a result of mutations and were extremely unstable. These two viruses were also the main cause for Eleven’s transformation.
He could not understand how a toxin could transform into a virus. He was basically unable to find the name of the virus in the database but only information about it in the database.
“Come over and take a look,” Su Man said as he put his hands before the computer with a calm look.
Bai Ye put down the documents in his hands and walked over to Su Man. The two of them stood abreast and read the information displayed on the computer. “Does it look familiar?” Su Man flatly asked.
“It’s very unfamiliar,” Bai Ye honestly. “Is that Russian?”
Su Man nodded. “This was a toxin created by a Russian Special Operative Group to control their operatives worldwide. The toxin has properties of a virus and is able to remain dormant in the human body for long periods of time. As long as one has the antidote, said person is fine. If there is no antidote, the toxin will act up and its effect will vary from person to person. Given how special Eleven’s constitution is, the toxin could have transformed into a virus.”
“This toxin can only be found on Russian operatives? Are you sure?!”
“Yes!”
“Why does Eleven have that on her?” Bai Ye had a glum look as Su Man looked at him sideways calmly and steely. He seemed to have implied something, or perhaps not.
Bai Ye’s gaze became even more sinister and his typically suave look disappeared to give way to a malicious and insidious look. “That’s impossible. It’s not what you think.”
“Anything can happen.”
“I’ll wager with my damn life that it’s absolutely impossible,” Bai Ye flatly replied while seeming displeased.
Su Man was suspecting that Eleven could have been a Russian agent as the toxin was uniquely formulated and nobody else would have access it save Russian operatives. Su Man. in a strange combination of circumstances, got his hands on the toxin and documented it as it was extremely unique.
“I’ve heard of them. Many Russian operatives are sleeper agents, some from their childhood. They lurk in the camps of their enemies, waiting for the opportunity – sometimes decades long – to deliver that fatal blow,” Su Man factually replied.
In their world, any kind of ploy or means was possible. The leaders would never spare a move or two, and Bai Ye had experienced betrayal and heard of how a sleeper agent brought an entire city to ruin. But if anyone insinuated that Eleven was a Russian agent, he will never bring himself to believe it. Su Man’s first reaction of learning that Eleven had that toxin in her was completely different from his.
Bai Ye was just wondering who injected her with said toxin instead of whether she was friend or foe.
“Eleven… That’s utterly impossible,” Bai Ye replied displeasedly as he took a glance at Su Man. He suddenly said something that made Su Man want to clobber him. “If I have to suspect Eleven of being a Russian agent, I’d be better off suspecting that you were a woman all along.”
Beauty Su squinted his eyes dangerously and suddenly swept away the information on the table as though he was about to clobber Bai Ye. He then realized that what he was about to do was particularly unglamorous and was not in line with how he would conduct himself. Beauty Su hence stopped halfway and grunted heavily.
“How trivial!” He said through gritted teeth.
Bai Ye’s tirade was on a spur of the moment which he then realized and felt like biting off his tongue. While it was indeed utterly trivial, the description was apt to the T. He felt that he was properly lively.
He turned around to meet Beauty Su’s gaze, and Bai Ye smartly did not express any opinion.
What was a solemn atmosphere was dispelled by Bai Ye’s single statement as Su Man coldly looked at the data on the computer without distraction. Bai Ye unintentionally looked at him and saw his perfect side profile.
Beauty Su had an impeccable face whose features were perfectly proportioned. His face was perfect, and so was his side profile. His all-around perfect look gave him an imposing presence.
Bai Ye seemed to be a little engrossed as the scent of medicine wafted in the air along with a mildly cold fragrance. He was, for a moment, a little distracted and seemed…
Su Man was already extremely calm, but all his nerves must have had atrophied given how he did not even pick up on Bai Ye watching him so intently this up close. He was long numbed to the looks of shock on people around him.
He thought that he was able to continue reading his documents calmly, only to realize he was still on the same row. Su Man was flustered and coldly looked at Bai Ye. His absolutely stunning look was a little shocking.
Bai Ye was aghast and regained his senses to calmly look at the monitor and assume nothing had happened. Su Man was even more irate, and was set to create trouble given his current state.
He grunted heavily.
Bai Ye acted as though nothing had happened despite his face feeling slightly warm.
It’s getting nuts here, it’s getting nuts… He’s NOT a woman, he’s NOT a woman… Bai Ye had to repeatedly remind himself of this cruel truth.
“I’m going out first,” Bai Ye said as he walked out. He was flustered as he still could smell Beauty Su’s fragrance, and he walked a tad faster than his calm and suave self.
Su Man seemed even more calm and did not look up at him. He stared at the computer screen without moving his eyeballs at all for a long time.
AS he walked out of the laboratory, the warm wind leapt at Bai Ye and he felt even hotter. The temperature in Riyadh was absurdly high all-year round, and one was much more comfortable indoors. In the central atrium, Eleven and Cheng Anya were walking around with each other when they encountered him.
“Wow! Bai Ye, why is your face so red?” Cheng Anya pointed at his face.
“It’s hot,” Bai Ye said.
“Didn’t you just step out of the laboratory?” The air-conditioning must have been quite strong there.
“I came out for a while and was thinking about something there.”
“Oh…”
“Eleven, I need to talk to you,” Bai Ye said as he got her aside and sat her down. Cheng Anya wanted to leave, but Bai Ye told her that she had no need to leave and could listen in to whatever they were discussing. As Cheng Anya was indeed curious, she did not leave.
“How did you end up with a toxin unique to Russian operatives in you?” Bai Ye asked.
Eleven’s gaze suddenly turned cold and Bai Ye asked her what had happened. She did not say a word, and he was guessing that she did not want to talk about it. “Eleven, is there anything between us that you can’t say?” He plainly said.
Eleven’s vexed heart calmed down as Bai Ye’s gentle gaze, like the spring breeze, inspired comfort.
She paused for a moment and described what happened to her save the chaos and implications of five years ago. As Bai Ye listened on, his face became even more glum. “He’s too much.”
Cheng Anya was utterly shocked as she could not believe all that had happened. Reality, to such a proud Eleven, was ten times more cruel than what Cheng Anya had imagined.
“I am fine.”
“How dare you tell me you are fine. What then counts as ‘not fine’?” Bai Ye flew into a rage for the first time and roared. Cheng Anya was shocked, and she had a bad premonition.
Bai Ye’s suave face was visibly flustered. “Eleven, I’m sorry. I wasn’t angry at you.”
“I know,” Eleven smiled. “Tell me that my report is extremely unoptimistic.”
Bai Ye looked at her and solemnly nodded. Eleven had a calm look whilst Cheng Anya seemed to be in an extreme panic. “Do Su Man and you don’t even have the slightest idea?”
“No for now. Anya, we are not omnipotent and many things are out of our control.”
He suddenly grabbed her hand and said, “We’re going back to the island to see if The Old Witch has any way to cure you.”
Eleven shook her head. “No,” she decisively replied.
“Why?”
“I’m going to Eastern Europe.”