"Hehehehe..."
In Room D-391, Chen Xiao's creepy, low laughter echoed.
And in front of him, an old man was covering his head, rolling on the ground in apparent agony.
——————
Just moments ago, the old man, as usual, had opened his mouth to begin absorbing memories (the scene was too beautiful to be described here...) But as soon as he took the first bite, he realized that today's flavor was particularly off, like countless spices haphazardly mixed together, overall, quite disgusting.
He immediately spat Chen Xiao's head out of his mouth.
At this point, the opponent's pallid cheeks still had his saliva on them, and his hair was sticky, presenting an extremely uncomfortable sight. But the youngster seemed not to care at all. He just looked at the old man with a strange smile, that look giving off an unsettling vibe.
"How's the taste?" Chen Xiao asked, with his mouth full.
The old man didn't reply because he suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable in his head, as if a chaotic mess had surged in, thoroughly muddling his thoughts.
Seeing the man's distressed expression, Chen Xiao asked with feigned concern, "What's wrong? Ate something bad?"
The old man naturally ignored him. He had no mind to answer any questions, let alone think about why this was happening, or remember that the gaze of the young man sitting across from him seemed completely different from a few days ago. His mind was in such disarray that after a low cry, he collapsed onto the floor.
...
In a corner, a monitor recorded the entire scene clearly.
But no one saw it.
Because the duty personnel's work ethic was less than diligent. Just about a week ago, he had mistakenly placed the wrong CD. This resulted in "Item D-419" becoming quite unhappy, leading the short-tempered creature to burn its room to ashes. The fierce flames had even licked through the meal slot, burning part of the corridor by accident.
As a result of this incident, last night a cleaner responsible for that area had come to him, not only beating him up but also forcing him to treat him to the most expensive bar... He knelt in the living room for an entire night after returning home.
Therefore, at this very moment, the duty officer was groggy. No wonder, after getting beaten up and drinking a bellyful of alcohol, not to mention being forced to kneel all night, it was a miracle that he still managed to come to work today.
So, he didn't notice the strange behavior of "Item D-391".
In fact, there weren't many people who would watch the surveillance footage of this old man "feeding" because... the way he ate was truly repulsive.
Anyway, several trivial matters combined led to the old man rolling on the ground for a full two minutes without anyone noticing.
...
At this moment, Chen Xiao sat in a chair with interest, watching the scene unfold, at the same time a bit puzzled why no guards had yet broken in through the door.
So, feeling somewhat bored, he poured himself a cup of tea.
"You see, when I was little, my mother told me not to casually take others' belongings."
Saying this, he copied the posture of the aristocrats from movies, raising the teacup and sticking out his pinky finger pretentiously high. But paired with his current image, the gesture appeared both weird and nauseating.
"But... it seems you don't understand that principle. No, no, no, you know it, you just don't want to think about it," Chen Xiao said in his sharp, jesting tone.
"Here, you can live carefree, drink tea every day, read the paper, and enjoy the lavish food prepared by others for you." As he said the word "food," he made quote gestures in the air with his hands.
"You've forgotten the most obvious moral standards. Of course, in the face of greed, everyone forgets those garments they use to cover their inner selves. Don't they? Loyalty is forgotten before beauty, duty before power, there're countless things in this world that can remove the guise of hypocrisy. When people are truly exposed, their true nature becomes apparent. Guess what that is?"
Chen Xiao's mouth was stretched into an incredibly happy grin.
"Madness!"
As he finished speaking, he got up and crouched next to the old man.
"To tell you the truth, you seem to be in a lot of pain! Oh oh oh... I get it, it's because you're tired, right? Do you feel like there's a heavy suit of armor pressing down on you, making it hard to move? Layers upon layers of garments wrapped around you, like a mummy that can't move, nearly suffocating, right?"
Chen Xiao's hands moved slowly in front of his chest as if a neurotic reciting poetry, his annoying voice whispering beside the old man.
"Actually, I just want to say, if all those are false pretenses, why not just cast them aside? I know there's a force in your head right now. It's not the source of your pain; it's helping you break the chains, letting you see your true self. You could try accepting it... just like I have accepted the real me! Then..."
"Hehehehe—Ahahahaha!"
Having said that, Chen Xiao once again burst into laughter.
Amidst the laughter, the old man continued to clutch his head, with a fierce expression, but as previously mentioned, laughter is contagious, so at this moment, the corners of his mouth seemed to twitch upward, ever so slightly...
————
Outside Room D-391.
Guard A was chatting with Guard B.
"I heard that last week the headquarters detained another 'A-level' one!" said Guard A.
Guard B, bored, twirled his baton in his hand, "Actually, it's not bad here.; We only have a few C-levels at most.I really wonder how those guys at headquarters get through the days!"
"Yeah, facing those terrible things every day, I heard they have to undergo psychological assessments every month, and several have gone mad!"
"Sigh, even being a guard is tough, I can hardly imagine what it's like for field agents carrying out missions!"
The mention of "field agents" made both of them show an expression as if they had thought of something terrifying...
The casual conversation was abruptly interrupted.
...
Suddenly, an alarm blared.
This wasn't the regular alert from the anomaly detector that grandpa muttered about during each meal, this was a real alarm, harsh and penetrating.
The whole corridor was instantly bathed in a flashing red light, emanating from who knows where.
"Abnormality Level Mutation D-391"
"Abnormality Level Mutation D-391"
The synthetic voice of the machine filled the entire space!
"Damn! What's going on?" Guard A bellowed, panic-stricken.
Guard B, at a loss, hurriedly pulled out his magnetic card: "I don't know, did the old guy choke on something?"
With a "beep", the door opened, and Guard A, holding his shotgun, charged in first, followed closely by Guard B with a baton in hand!
They saw the situation inside the room...
The old grandpa was kneeling on the ground, his upper body was rigid, his hands dangling powerlessly at his sides, and beside him was a puddle of vomit, of unknown substance. His mouth was split wide open in an exaggerated manner, like during his meals, his jaw almost touching his belly.
At that moment, he was laughing!
Laughing hysterically, his eyes rolled upward, his face purpling as if he was running out of oxygen, yet he couldn't stop laughing, appearing particularly terrifying under the crimson lights!
In front of him, Chen Xiao was clutching his stomach, pointing at him and laughing as well.
He laughed as if he had seen something incredibly amusing, rocking back and forth in his hilarity!
The entire room reverberated with their overlapping laughter, even drowning out the alarm!
These guards were professionally trained; despite the bizarre scene before them and their utter confusion about what had happened, they weren't too panic-stricken facing two unarmed individuals.
"Damn it! What the hell is this?" Guard A aimed his gun at the old grandpa and roared, "D-391! Stand up now, and shut your mouth!"
At the same time, Guard B rushed toward Chen Xiao, bringing his baton down hard: "Stand still! Get rid of that disgusting smile of yours!"
"Security! Security! D-391 is subdued but mentally unstable and non-compliant, requesting authorization for sedation!" he said, pointing the baton at Chen Xiao while pressing the communicator on his helmet.
Suddenly, the guard stiffened, and for a second did not move.
There must have been a voice in the earpiece, but through the riot helmet, Chen Xiao couldn't make it out clearly. He just saw the guard ignore the response in the earpiece and drop his baton in a dazed motion.
The other guard with the gun had also lowered his weapon, staring blankly around him as if he suddenly forgot a lot of things.
"Clang"
"Clang"
Both guards collapsed almost simultaneously to the ground, unconscious!
...
Meanwhile, 30 meters below Chen Xiao's location, within a large room.
An elderly man in a white lab coat stared anxiously at the computer screen and exclaimed, "What's happening in the D-level containment area!"
The person behind him shouted, "Five minutes ago, an Abnormality Level Mutation was detected in D-391, it's now at a C-level danger stage!"
The old man turned around, it was Mr. Zou, who had interacted with Chen Xiao and others just a week ago!
"Bring me that thing's file!" He pushed up his glasses, looking tense.
"Lockdown the whole D-level area! Pull up the containment zone footage!" he commanded soon after.
The large screen on the wall lit up, aimed directly at D-391's room, where the elderly grandpa still maintained his kneeling with the mouth wide open, but now not only the two guards from earlier surrounded him, but many more were piled on top of each other, indistinguishable in number.
"Surrounding corridors!" Mr. Zou called out.
Suddenly, small windows popped up on the large screen displaying the corridors around D-391's room, with several guards lying on each one.
...
Suddenly, Mr. Zou fixed his gaze on one of the screens, his pupils contracting sharply!
"Zoom in!" he yelled, pointing at that screen!
The image immediately enlarged to fill the entire screen.
On the edge of the frame, a figure was leisurely strolling down the hallway, occasionally hopping and then twirling in place as if doing a ballet, seeming quite content.
And below his feet were the motionless bodies of guards.
...