Chapter 5: Serial Number 292
“We originally thought you were just an ordinary valuable contained subject, and we were preparing to contain you!”
“Until the field team responsible for observing you discovered that you seem to be very familiar with the Dark Prison!”
“Therefore, we decided to proceed with your containment!”
The doctor spoke rapidly, listing numerous points.
Lu Xiao quickly grasped the key information.
“Containment? Does that mean adoption?”
“That’s wonderful!”
Lu Xiao sat up, gripping the doctor’s hand excitedly.
“I will definitely obey you!”
“As long as you provide food and shelter! If you tell me to go east, I will never go west!”
The doctor nodded, then turned to say,
“The target currently shows no aggressive tendencies; security level is tentatively set to S.”
“ID number 292!”
A nearby staff member quickly recorded the doctor’s words.
“ID S292!”
“Subject name: The Lost One!”
“Containment level: Safe (tentative)!”
“Target abilities: Unknown!!! (Under study)!”
“Containment conditions: Unknown!!! (Under study)!”
Soon, the staff finished entering the subject’s information and handed the tablet back to the doctor.
The doctor glanced over it and nodded.
Then, looking at Lu Xiao with a kind smile, he asked,
“Do you have any special abilities?”
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiao pondered for a moment, then replied seriously,
“Does being able to eat count as a special ability?”
The room fell silent for a moment.
The doctor adjusted his monocle.
“Any other special abilities?”
Lu Xiao thought carefully, then shook his head.
The doctor considered this, then said to the nearby staff,
“Let’s leave it at that for now! Prepare a containment room for him!”
The staff hesitated, asking,
“Should we write down ‘can eat’ as an ability?”
“Should I stuff your head up your ass then?” the doctor grumbled.
The staff shrank back, unwilling to argue.
He didn’t doubt the doctor’s ability to do so, only whether he actually would.
After completing the data entry, the doctor spoke kindly to Lu Xiao.
“Since your containment level is S, which means safe, you can move within the designated areas of the base.”
Lu Xiao blinked in surprise, staring at the doctor with dull eyes.
“Weren’t you going to study me?”
The doctor waved his hand.
“The research will be done inside the containment room!”
“No need for slicing?”
Lu Xiao was puzzled.
In his mind, research meant slicing.
A vein bulged on the doctor’s forehead.
“Take him to the containment room!”
………
Inside the containment room.
Lu Xiao sat on a steel-frame bed in the center of the room.
The walls were all cast steel, gleaming with metallic luster under the incandescent light.
Near the door on the wall were three buttons.
One had a door icon.
Another had a lightbulb icon.
The last bore a chicken drumstick icon.
Lu Xiao pressed the button with the lightbulb icon.
Click!
In an instant, all the lights in the room were extinguished.
He pressed it again.
The dazzling incandescent lights came back on.
Then, he pressed the button with the chicken drumstick icon.
Click!
A small door in the wall beside him opened instantly, revealing a hollow space.
A hamburger appeared inside the hollow.
Lu Xiao stared blankly.
“They really do provide food and shelter! This is bliss!”
He reached out to grab the hamburger.
Suddenly,
Click!
A gust of air blew the hamburger out of the hollow, dropping it onto the floor.
Silence fell.
Meanwhile,
At the monitoring station, the doctor and staff held their breath.
On the screen,
Lu Xiao looked down at the hamburger, motionless.
The scene felt extremely eerie.
“Will he get angry because of this?” a staff member whispered.
The doctor’s gaze fixed tightly on the screen.
Back in the room,
Lu Xiao didn’t care about the hamburger on the floor; instead, he fell into thought.
“One hamburger isn’t enough to fill me up!”
“I wonder if I can press the button more times.”
Without hesitation, Lu Xiao pressed the button again.
Click!
Another hamburger appeared in the hollow.
Once again, the gust of air blew the hamburger onto the floor.
A wild look appeared on Lu Xiao’s face.
Seeing Lu Xiao’s mad expression on the monitor, the staff’s hearts sank.
“Looks like his containment level needs to be revised!” someone suggested.
Meanwhile, on the screen, Lu Xiao laughed maniacally, furiously pressing the button.
Before long, hamburgers piled up beside the wall, forming a mountain.
Lu Xiao happily dove into the mound, grabbing one and stuffing it into his mouth frantically.
The staff at the monitor breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, they recorded two short notes on their tablets.
“ID S292, emotionally stable!”
“ID S292, enormous appetite!”
At that moment, the lead doctor suddenly slapped his forehead.
“Oh no!”
Hearing this, everyone present was stunned, turning to look at the doctor.
“We forgot to remove the bullet lodged inside him!”
The staff were momentarily stunned but then resumed their work.
They were used to such incidents.
Just then, a hurried voice rang out.
“Doctor! The test results of that tissue sample are ready! Please come quickly!”
Hearing this, the doctor immediately hurried to the analysis machine.
Upon seeing the results, his monocle fell to the ground, shattering.
Everyone who saw the results was stunned.
The analysis showed the tissue’s cells were rapidly proliferating, then dividing, and finally heading toward extinction.
The doctor roared at the technician in charge.
“Where is the earliest tissue sample?”
The technician hesitated, then retrieved a container from the preservation cabinet.
Inside was the piece of flesh Lu Xiao had cut from his own chest.
The doctor opened the container and took out the tissue.
It was still trembling slightly, indistinguishable from when Lu Xiao had just removed it.
A faint metallic smell filled the doctor’s nose.
A staff member asked,
“Doctor, is there a problem with this tissue?”
The doctor’s eyes gleamed with excitement, as if he had just discovered a new continent.
“This is an extraordinary discovery!”
He immediately sliced a small piece from the tissue and placed it under the microscope for observation.
P.S.: An S-level containment means Safe. It does not imply weak power.
Generally, subjects who pose no threat to humans and show no attempt to escape are rated S-level.
For example, a button that, once pressed, could destroy the entire world would have an S-level containment.
Meanwhile, a subject who often escapes to roam, though harmless, would be classified as D for DangerOUS.
Because the button cannot move within the containment facility, it is safe (S-level), whereas the roaming subject is dangerous (D-level).
There is also an R-level, assigned to subjects with formidable power, malevolent nature, strong destructive tendencies, and great hostility toward humanity.
R-level subjects are the ones the guards must find ways to eliminate.