In the darkness.
Bai Shi felt as if he was continuously sinking, as if he had fallen into the depths of the ocean, surrounded by flowing water, making it extremely difficult to breathe.
"Am I going to die again?"
A thought surfaced in his mind.
"Uh, no—"
Suddenly, Bai Shi opened his eyes, only to be met with a faint greenish hue.
Instinctively, he attempted to breathe, but was quickly choked, spitting out a series of bubbles.
This stimulus made Bai Shi somewhat calmer.
It was then that he noticed several glass tanks standing not far away, each about two meters high.
Looking further ahead, there were densely packed dozens of similar objects.
Inside those glass tanks were contained a light green liquid, and children, each around two years old, were soaking in it.
Moreover, Bai Shi saw that there were dozens of thick and thin tubes attached to those children, with the other ends connected to various unknown devices.
Seeing this scene, Bai Shi couldn't help but recall some sci-fi movie scenes related to human experimentation.
"Could it be... that these are all test subjects?"
This thought crossed Bai Shi's mind, but soon he was jolted as he quickly looked at himself.
Just like those children, his body was also filled with tubes.
At that moment, his expression turned grim.
Not only because he was one of the test subjects, but another question arose in his mind: why had he turned into a child?
Just before losing his memory, he had been lying in a hospital bed, quietly waiting to be liberated from cancer's grasp.
Previously, he had thought that if he died, his parents would also be freed from pain.
But after hearing his parents' heart-wrenching cries at the end, he realized that it had all been a wishful thinking on his part.
If he had been more proactive during treatment, perhaps the outcome would have been different...
Unfortunately, in this world, there are no 'ifs'.
"Uh, but wait, although I don't understand how I've turned into a child, there's no doubt that I've come back to life, and as long as I'm alive, there is hope.
Perhaps, there really is a second chance in this world."
Once this thought settled in, Bai Shi immediately began to survey his surroundings, as the most crucial thing now was to figure out where exactly this place was.
Just as he was pondering where to start, a harsh scraping sound reached his ears.
Looking in the direction of the sound, Bai Shi vaguely saw two figures.
Uncertain of their identities, Bai Shi dared not show any signs of abnormality and quickly closed his eyes, but his ears were perked up.
Step—Step—Step—
As the footsteps grew closer, faint conversations drifted into Bai Shi's ears.
At first, he found it somewhat incomprehensible, but as some hazy memories flooded back, he gradually began to understand their words.
"How is the situation?" one person asked in a deep voice.
The other replied in a slightly hoarse voice, "The preliminary cultivation has been completed; it's almost time to begin the experiment."
"When will it start?"
"No rush."
"Is there a problem?"
"Haha... No, I just received the previous experimental records from the village and plan to refine the experimental process."
"Oh, that's all right then."
"It's definitely human experimentation!" Bai Shi thought grimly: "But what does 'the village' mean?"
Before he could ponder further, the two voices came again, and their next conversation sent Bai Shi's heart into an icy abyss.
"Orochimaru, don't target the villagers for now; the Anbu have caught wind of some news."
"Lord Sarutobi... huh..."
Orochimaru muttered, responding, "Understood."
After that, Bai Shi couldn't follow what they said anymore; not only were they moving further away, but the terms 'Orochimaru', 'Sarutobi', 'ninja', and 'Anbu' occupied his mind entirely.
Now, he finally understood what 'the village' referred to.
If he wasn't mistaken, this should be Konohagakure, the village from a manga called "Naruto".
And the two people who had just conversed were most likely Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo.
In that case, his current identity became quite evident.
...
Creak—
As the laboratory door closed, Bai Shi opened his eyes.
His gaze swept across the children soaking in the cultivation tanks, and he understood: "It seems that I am one of the test subjects along with Yamato, merging with the cells of Hashirama."
Confirming this point, even after experiencing death, Bai Shi still felt a chilling sensation running through him.
One must know that from this batch of test subjects, only Yamato survived in the end, and given the memories that just surfaced in his mind, he could not determine the identity of the original owner.
In other words, the probability of occupying the body of the original owner being Yamato was only one in sixty; in other words, his chances of survival were less than two percent.
And from Orochimaru and Danzo's conversation, it was evident that the experiment would begin soon.
Thus, he had to think of a way to save himself.
Firstly, he absolutely could not expose his identity; not only the identity of a traveler but even showing any behavior different from the other children would also be perilous for him.
For Orochimaru and Danzo, even the slightest hint of suspicion would lead them to investigate thoroughly.
At that point, once the mind-reading technique was employed, no secret could be kept.
Of course, sabotaging the experiment was out of the question. Even if he had the power to do so, he would not dare to act.
After all, Orochimaru and Danzo were no fools.
Thoughts swirled chaotically in his mind, yet Bai Shi could not find a way out.
Days passed unknowingly.
Recently, Orochimaru had been visiting daily.
However, he wasn't conducting experiments. Instead, he was checking their physical conditions.
Finally, another day arrived.
Unlike before, this time Orochimaru was not alone; he had brought another person with him, who was none other than Shimura Danzo.
In addition, he was pushing a cart filled with test tubes.
Hearing the sound of the wheels scraping against the ground, Bai Shi's heart raced. Various signs indicated that Orochimaru's experiment was about to start.
For a moment, Bai Shi even thought about tearing the tubes from his body and ending his life.
But then, thinking of his parents in another world, he had to quell his impatience.
"As long as I'm still alive, there is hope."
With this thought in mind, Bai Shi quietly awaited Orochimaru's arrival.
Time passed slowly, and after about half an hour, Orochimaru wheeled the cart over to Bai Shi.
His fingers tapped on the nearby monitoring equipment, frowning slightly.
Noting this, Danzo asked, "What's wrong?"
Orochimaru shook his head, glancing at Bai Shi, and said, "This test subject's heart rate is a bit high."
Inside the cultivation tank, upon hearing this, Bai Shi's heart nearly jumped into his throat.
Had it not been for the long agonizing suffering he endured in his previous life, which taught him the method of quickly shifting focus to ease his pain, he might have revealed himself.
Without a moment's hesitation, Bai Shi immediately shifted his focus, allowing his heart rate to stabilize from the urge of anxiety.
While Orochimaru was exceptionally intelligent, he would never guess that the test subject had changed, leaving him oblivious to this blind spot in his thought process, allowing him to assume this was merely a variance between subjects.
Such variances were quite common among the sixty test subjects, but Bai Shi's case was just slightly more pronounced, yet still within an acceptable range.
Thus, Bai Shi successfully navigated his first crisis.
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