The taste of the chicken wings he had just devoured still lingered in Lin Zhou's mouth. Now that he was full, he wanted to stretch his body for a bit. He interlocked his hands and stretched them forwards.
"Ugh!" A sharp pain assaulted every part of Lin Zhou. It felt like he was being hit by a hammer repeatedly. He clenched his teeth from the pain, and his fists tightened.
"Teeth, fists! Why can I feel those sensations again?" A realisation dawned on Lin Zhou. The chicken wings had allowed him to regrow his body from scratch! His body also felt more energetic than before, which made him feel pleased. Then... why was there still that suffocating pain just now?
Lin Zhou had not been paying much attention to his surroundings, since the fullness he felt got to his head. The familiar feeling of pain awakened him, and he could now see the children shivering in front of him.
"Why are you scared? Can't you see, I'm Orange." Lin Zhou tried his best to put on a smile, but when he said those words, the children's faces were filled with indescribable terror. One of them even fell to their knees, quivering with shock.
"I thought it was already over... why does this keep happening... Arghhh!" The person who fell to their knees began to scream, and the other children were alerted. They all looked each other in the eyes, and they knew that saving their fellow worker was more important than this abnormal event in front of them.
A short boy, who had a healthier body compared to the rest of the group, hurried over to an wooden box and lifted out a syringe from within. Inside that syringe, there was a mysterious white substance, which was constantly flowing about by itself.
The short boy quickly returned, and another boy took over, taking the syringe and sticking it into the screaming boy's hips, before injecting it inside the body. The moment the white substance entered, the boy's eyes flashed white, before he dropped to the ground, unconscious.
"Why was he shocked by me? I'm still that boy called Orange, right?" Lin Zhou used his hands to touch his face, but there weren't any strange textures or blood on his face. The skin was smooth and nice, but he quickly discovered why the boy had gone mad.
The main problem was the skin was that his arms trembled whenever he moved them. Looking at his arms, he could now see that someone had brutally ripped out the flesh in the arms, and it was dragging along the floor whenever he moved.
The stairs were all stained with blood, and Lin Zhou finally understood who he really was. He sat down on the stairs, and started mumbling to himself.
"That's right, there can only be one person that can be like this here. How did I not notice before? My name is... Sullivan!" A powerful headache instantly wreaked havoc on Lin Zhou, bringing an unmistakable pain to him.
"This pain, I remember it..." The pain started from the center of his chest, and it began to move upwards, until it reached his head. Was it deja vu? It was the last thing that Lin Zhou thought before a flood of memories overwhelmed his mind.
"Your name is Number 076." That was the first memory that Sullivan had. A cold looking man stared at him, while gripping him tightly. The man wore a black hat, and wore white robes that extended all the way to his ankle. His face was constantly shifting, so Sullivan could not see who that person was.
"You are born to produce the Awakening Potion for money. You will not rebel. You will obey the factory's overseer every words. You will do everything they say. After you wake up, you will not remember me or anything I say." After the man had repeated these words three times, he dropped Sullivan down on a soft hay mattress. Grabbing a black circular mask from inside his robes, he placed it on his face, and it attached seamlessly.
"The job's done. Call for us when you have more children." The man talked in a monotone voice as he walked away from Sullivan. "Yes, yes. Praise the Lord, for it is he who grants us everything!" More people could be heard replying. Sullivan would later know of them as "Mother" and "Father".
Even though Sullivan could think and talk, he noticed that the other children were still behaving according to their instincts, so he pretended to do the same as them.
Mother" and "Father" always talked in front of Sullivan. Even though Sullivan did not understand those words at first, he had later understood them because he had learned the words from Mister Huxley. When he was young, he could tell that they had evil thoughts plastered all over their faces, and was subsequently extremely cautious of them.
Everyday, they would eat a bowl of grit. Sullivan never felt full whenever he ate only one, so he always scooped away the grit from the other children whenever "Mother" or "Father" weren't looking. He only cared for himself, and did not have any bonds with the others.
"Father" also practiced some exercises, that made his muscles tense up and shine with sweat. Sullivan could tell that these exercises helped with physical capabilities, and he started practicing them secretly.
Emulating the exercises were extremely taxing on Sullivan, but a cool energy always appeared in his body after he had exerted himself fully, which spurred him on. At the same time, he had developed a bigger appetite, and now directly stole all the grit from the hungry children.
With the training came muscles, which he could use to push the children around. There were thrice as many children now, which meant that there was plenty grit for Sullivan to consume. Even though he knew that "Father" and "Mother" partook in extravagant meals without them, he did not dare to steal from there, since they still were more powerful than him.
One day, a shaved brute appeared at the front door and knocked violently on it. "Open up!" These words were recognised by Sullivan, who had comprehended all the basic words in the language class the adults conducted whenever they felt like it.
When the two adults opened the door, they were violently shoved away by the brute, who grunted, "Go outside, NOW! Or your parents will be sorry!"
"Father" and "Mother started crying, but there were hints of a smile in their expression as the children orderly followed the brute. When Sullivan appeared in front of the brute, the brute smiled, and patted Sullivan's broad shoulder.
"This one's good quality. Remember, if you work harder, you will be able to reunite with your parents sooner! Now move along!" The brute turned around, and did not bother to look back. He opened the door to the front carriage, and went inside.
Sullivan did not complain. It would only get him into trouble. As he walked into the carriage where all the other children were crowded, he shoved some aside to make space for himself and sat in a criss-cross position. The door to the carriage closed, and everything was submerged in darkness.
Once in a while, the carriage would open up. Some children would try to edge their way into Sullivan's position as they felt that they were being squished, but no one dared to do so after the last one to do so ended up with their nose broken. The other children feared him. Sullivan had become the tiny tyrant in the carriage.
"We've arrived at the factory. Get the hell out and don't waste my time!" The brute shouted at them. The doors to the carriage were unlocked, and the children walked out orderly in a single line. Sullivan nodded to himself. He had organised the children to do so, since he did not want to be caught up in a scramble to escape the stuffy carriage.
Sullivan was the last one to walk out of the carriage. A thin middle-aged man with a stern expression stood in front of the children, flipping a golden coin in his hand. His hair was extremely messy, and he had a fully grown beard. When he saw Sullivan, his face grew with displeasure.
"Who do you think you are to disobey me?" That man stared into Sullivan's eyes while continuing to flip the coin. Sullivan stared back at him.
"You managed to resist the hypnosis? A natural born Omni, huh? That's interesting." The golden coin slowly grew colder, and frost started to appear on it. Sullivan's eyes lit up. He could feel the chill from here, and it was exactly the same as the cool energy that was flowing through him. His body was reacting with the coin, wanting to absorb the frost on it.
"You are also a frost Omni? What a happy coincidence, isn't it?" The man now smiled, except that his smile was as wide as a devil's grin. "My name is Huxley. You may address me as Mister Huxley. What is your name?"
"Sullivan. I am Sullivan. Pleased to meet you, Mister Huxley."