Chapter 39: Serial Number 097 – The Cursed Toy Cap Gun

The driver lost his footing and nearly collapsed onto the ground.

Everything felt like a surreal dream.

In the span of just one single day, he had experienced the brink of death three times.

The first time was when Lu Xiao used him as bait.

The second time was riding in a car driven by Lu Xiao.

And the final time was the closest he had ever been to death.

Dante lit a cigarette.

"Buddy, I need to go back and change my pants first!"

"If there's another mission next time, I'll still ask the Doctor to bring you along!"

Lu Xiao nodded, then seemed to recall something.

"Mr. Dante, have you really not considered asking the Prison Doctor to perform that little surgery?"

Dante almost choked on Lu Xiao's words.

He turned around and waved his hand dismissively.

…………

Unsurprisingly, the driver passed the box experiment.

Over the course of seven days, no matter how the outside consumables provoked him, he never took a single step out of the first room.

On the very day he passed the box experiment, Lu Xiao personally crafted a name tag for him.

The moment he received the name tag, the driver hung it around his neck and never took it off for even a second.

Lu Xiao was also someone who could never stay idle.

Since there were no missions assigned to him during this period, he would drop by to chat with the driver whenever he had free time.

From the driver's lips, he learned that the driver was a human from the exact same era as him.

As for the driver's beautiful wife, she had indeed eloped with his predecessor.

When asked how he had fallen into the Dark Abyss, the driver stammered and could not give a clear answer.

Much like Lu Xiao, the driver seemed to suffer from amnesia.

He had completely no recollection of what had happened during that intervening period.

He only knew that when he woke up, he was already inside the Dark Abyss.

Of course, there were differences between the two of them as well.

Lu Xiao was still human, whereas the driver had already become an anomalous entity.

This fact had already been confirmed by the Doctor.

…………

"Lu! I am so glad to see you walking out so soon!"

The Prison Doctor said, sitting upon a chair carved from white bone.

Lu Xiao patted the driver on the shoulder beside him.

"Let me make an introduction. This is my newly made friend, named Driver!"

The driver sat trembling on the chair, his body shaking uncontrollably.

That figure wearing a plague mask and standing over three meters tall filled him with a primal, bone-deep terror.

Meanwhile, the aura emanating from that other skeleton structure also caused his entire body to shudder unceasingly.

Ivan's voice echoed from within Lu Xiao's body.

"Lu! I heard it from the Prison Doctor. Congratulations on making the right choice!"

"As expected, you are a kind human who knows how to appreciate art!"

Lu Xiao felt somewhat embarrassed by Ivan's praise.

"Not at all, not at all!"

"On the path of pursuing the truth, a few bumps and bruises are inevitable!"

"Fortunately, I had Mr. Prison Doctor to guide me, otherwise I might have strayed onto a wrong path!"

The Prison Doctor nodded, looking immensely gratified.

Then, his gaze shifted to the uneasy driver who felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles.

"This friend here! You seem to be afraid?"

Hearing this, Lu Xiao hurriedly offered words of comfort.

"Driver! Don't be scared. These two are my friends! They are both very kind... um... people?"

A shrill laugh rang out, belonging to the Prison Doctor.

"Ivan, it seems this friend is rather terrified of the two of us!"

The soul flames in Ivan's eye sockets flickered for a moment.

"Friend! Are you afraid of us?"

The driver did not dare to answer at all; he could only sit in the chair and shake his head incessantly, screaming in his heart:

"The mortal world is too dangerous! I want to go back to the Dark Abyss!"

Seeing this, Lu Xiao felt a mild headache coming on.

He offered an apologetic smile to the Prison Doctor and Ivan.

"I'm sorry, my friend here might have caught a cold and is feeling a bit under the weather!"

"I'll take him back to rest first! I'll come visit the two of you again later!"

The plague mask on the Prison Doctor's face parted as a harsh, grating voice emerged from the beak.

"Lu! Have you forgotten? I am an exceptional doctor!"

"Let me give this friend a medical checkup!"

Lu Xiao's eyes lit up as he turned to the driver.

"Driver, don't worry, my friend here is a physician with abundant medical ethics and supreme medical skills!"

"If you're sick, don't hesitate to look for him!"

Right before leaving, Lu Xiao seemed to remember something and hurriedly added,

"Don't worry! His consultations are free!"

Upon hearing this, the driver shook his head even faster than a rattling drum.

"No... no need!"

"I probably just... didn't sleep well!"

He certainly didn't dare let this entity diagnose him.

When Lu Xiao had brought him to see the Prison Doctor earlier, he had already seen the doctor's profile displayed on the small screen outside the door.

The Prison Doctor said with a hint of regret,

"What a pity!"

"Friend! If any part of your body feels uncomfortable, be sure to remember to come find me!"

"Oh, and! My services are free!"

The driver wished he would never lay eyes on that plague-masked face of the Prison Doctor ever again, nor that skeletal frame.

After Lu Xiao left with the driver, Ivan's voice finally emanated from within the Prison Doctor's body.

"Prison Doctor! Did you sense that aura?"

The Prison Doctor nodded.

"Mm! I smelled the scent from the depths of the Dark Abyss!"

"It seems this newly arrived friend is no simple character!"

Ivan's voice sounded once more.

"I am worried about Lu..."

The Prison Doctor shook his head.

"There is no need to worry."

…………

Inside the research laboratory, an assistant walked into the Doctor's office carrying a lead box.

"Dr. Master! S097 - Corrupted Revolver has been delivered!"

The Doctor held a tablet computer in his hand and nodded.

"Store it in containment first!"

The information displayed on the tablet screen was precisely that of S097 - Corrupted Revolver.

[Item Designation: S097 - Corrupted Revolver]

[Containment Class: S]

[Target Abilities: Piercing, Destruction, Corruption, Curse]

[Containment Conditions: Must be stored in a lead-manufactured container; direct physical contact is strictly prohibited.]

[Combat Capability: Non-combat type anomaly]

[PS: A revolver unearthed from the ancient era, possessing the ability to pierce, destroy, and corrupt everything!]

[PS: Anyone who comes into contact with the firearm will experience progressive flesh decay!]

[PS: The Corrupted Revolver consumes the wielder's flesh and blood as ammunition. Each gunshot induces extreme, indiscriminate terror toward a specific concept in the wielder, lasting for an unknown duration! This is because no one has ever survived long enough for the effect to wear off before dissolving into a puddle of rotting mush!]

[PS: Not recommended for combat applications!]

This anomalous item had long languished unheeded within Containment Facility U01 because its terrifying side effects made it entirely unsuited for combat.

Upon learning of Lu Xiao's terrifying cellular activity, the Doctor had developed a keen interest in this anomalous item.

He was intensely curious whether Lu Xiao's cellular regeneration could counteract the side effects of the Corrupted Revolver.

Setting down the tablet, the Doctor turned his gaze toward a massive culture dish standing beside his desk.

Inside it, hematopoietic stem cells belonging to Lu Xiao were being cultivated.

Within the culture dish, cells that were originally only the size of a tiny speck had now grown to the size of a clenched fist.

Those cells were clustered together to form a bizarre mass of flesh, which was still writhing incessantly at that very moment.

Right at that instant, the tablet computer emitted a synthesized system chime.

"The Roundtable Conference is about to commence. Please prepare yourselves."