*WARNING. This chapter contains visceral gore. If you're squeezy, please take note of the warning that marks the gore part.*
Due to the lack of labels, Zhenin did not know what to expect besides a rotting corpse.
Just as he entered the room, the motion sensors detected his entrance and turned on all the lights.
In the middle of the room is the stretcher with the corpse, which is currently being flashed by a surgical light.
At the side of the stretcher is a trolley filled with various tools such as the Xcapula that can change its size, tilt and can automatically avoid cutting bones. Dishes that seem to contained dried up blood and other liquids.
Strangely enough, there were no dextrose or anything similar of the sort.
Not even those high-end medicinal light that could stabilize the patient.
It was so primitive Zhenin couldn't understand the goal at all.
Above the set of xcapulas is a blue button with five thick broken lines that formed a circle. This was the universal logo for an aperture.
"If I'm right, this should show the vitals of the corpse. These scientists were experimenting on him while he's alive," Zhinen concluded.
Ever since he was born, the people around him were living in a savage environment full of psychopaths—people who let loose their control to enjoy their final days.
This kind of incident won't really faze him nor his twin brother.
However, the stench that blasted from the room. The odor of a rotten carcass shouldn't be that vile.
"These scientists can really be heartless for their pursuit of knowledge," Zhinen thought, letting his ignorance get the better of him.
Just like the other rooms, not much inside, so Zhinen immediately placed his full attention towards the corpse.
After inspecting every inch of the tools and tables, Zhinen decided to press the button.
*WHING*
Zhenin realized that he was wrong. They're really treating the subject as an experiment.
Right on top of the corpse is a hologram depicting a part-bird, part-snake, and part-human woman who seems to be speaking while crying.
Zhenin noticed the lack of sounds. He finally noticed that there seems to be no energy flowing towards the sound system installed in the room.
All the energy is isolated in the operating area.
Suddenly, Zhenin felt peculiar. His instincts are screaming at him that something is wrong.
"Just what was going on here?" he thought.
Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he slowly placed his hands at one end of the blanket.
Gradually, he pulled down the cover.
*GORE WARNING, this part of the chapter isn't mandatory but is more immersive.*
Yellow dried pus was stuck on the dehydrated skin of the carcass. Then ruptured legs with bald feathers sticking out as if someone had punctured the legs with stems.
Besides that, flakes of dead skin were all over the bed. Smudged with dried blood and yellow pus, it could be described as a dried-up chunky soup.
A little bit more and a dried human male genitalia wholly fused with the scrotum. Barbs of feather replaced what was supposed to be the pubic hair.
The skin in the hips was bubbling. Some even burst as red, yellow, and brown pus already dried up.
It was inaccurate to call it pus. It was clearly dried blood, pee, and shit.
And at the line of the navel, a distinct line on the wrinkled skin is visible.
*END OF GORE*
At this moment, Zhinen was ready to vomit everything he had ever consumed for his lifetime.
Horrendously disgusting is an understatement to what he was currently seeing. He had seen people halflings with bird bloodline. Besides having feathers on the legs, nothing on this man is natural.
The rest of the torso, besides being completely dried up, seems to be untouched. Only everything below the navel was messed up.
With a strong pull, the entire body was revealed to Zhinen.
The head of the body was tilted where its face was facing Zhinen.
It took all of his willpower to stop himself from screaming.
That is because the eyes were staring at him widely.
And it was not a dead stare.
He could feel it.
Whatever that stare contains was not dead at all.
The man is alive!
As if wanted to be proven correct, the man began to blink.
Contrasting to the completely dead looking body, the man's eyes were brimming with vitality.
The feeling was similar to staring at a statue with eyes that can move, except its more horrifying. Zhinen thought that this was the sickest optical illusion he has ever seen. His mind couldn't fathom what exactly is this man in front of him.
However, besides blinking, the man remained unmoving.
Zhinen stood frozen still as they began to stare at each other. He also began to notice a sort of orange glow in the man's lively eyes.
Even without any malice coming out from the man's eyes, Zhinen could not stop but feel terrified.
Silenced consumed the air as only Zhinen's rough breathing can be heard.
Yes, only Zhinen's. The man wasn't breathing at all. Yet here he could see with his eyes, the amazing vitality his eyes were exuding.
After a lengthy standoff, Zhinen gradually regained his calm. His mind began to think of the possible reasons why this man is exactly as he is now.
And then it hit him. Zhinen finally realized what the experiment here.
During one of their hunts, his father had mentioned about how the entire civilization would survive once every single star and black hole dies.
The answer was immortality. The kind of immortality where one won't feel pain. No need for food, water, and air. But one would remain lively forever living in bliss due to hormonal manipulation.
This sort of explanation is heavily biased on the side against it, yet that was enough for Zhinen to know it was a terrible idea.
The taboo of all living beings. The immortality modification.
During the human civilization's peak, they spent almost half of the energy they absorb from a blackhole towards the research of immortality.
However, true immortality became a horror experiment. Breaking all the ethical boundaries set by humans, true immortality became a form of torture.
Just like this man in front of him now.
It seems like he was dipped in a relatively weak acid, deprived of food and water, and even locked down so the man couldn't even move anything else besides his neck.
Such cruelty, if this was for the sake of humanity, why was to process so inhumane?
It's terrifying to see how the man had no muscle fibers in his body, yet he was still able to move his neck.
Zhinen only had five words for the man in front of him, "a stick in human skin."
And, out of nowhere, a deep voice resounded in his mind.
Full of strength and confidence, a voice spoke in Zhinen's mind, "Put me into him. Let me absorb his life to end his suffering."
Zhinen trembled even stronger. The man did not open his mouth, yet he could clearly hear a man's sonorous voice—a complete contrast to what he sees now.
"Calm down." the voice spoke once again.
"What the f*ck," Zhinen thought, "You calm down!" he screamed in his mind. He was just about to lose his mind completely.
"Look below you," the voice stated.
Zhinen almost fell to the ground, was his lower body going to be similar to the man in front of him?
Shaking, he turned his head down, only to be blinded by a strange orange glow in his neck.
As if splashed by a bucket of cold water, Zhinen fell to a strange calm. His body ceased its trembling. Looking at the strange, glowing gem in his neck, he could feel a sense of warmth. The kind of warmth that one can only receive from their family and loved ones.
"Don't worry. My name is Jack Hemmons. I'm a human. Well... former... I'm that stone in your neck." the voice in his head spoke in a friendly tone.
"Put me closer to the man. I'll absorb his undying core so he'll finally be able to rest in peace." the Jack continued.