The First Order

The garrison troops of Stronghold 74 all stood quietly on the stronghold walls as they waited for Old Li to return.Everyone wanted to know what the Experimentals had talked about since it was a little bizarre for such fearsome creatures to want to negotiate.

When they saw Old Li appear on the horizon, the garrison troops on the walls were all relieved. At least, Old Li had returned safely.

Some of them even started cheering like they were welcoming a lone hero home. They were not stingy with their praises and ardor at all. It sounded like these garrison troops on the stronghold walls had won the battle with everyone conveniently forgetting that they were still surrounded by the Experimentals at this moment.

However, the hero, Old Li, did not look happy at all. Instead, he felt torn and puzzled by what he had just found out. His mood turned a little heavy.

The soldiers on the walls were about to lower the gondola car to pick up Old Li. However, he climbed up from below with his bare hands.

From a distance, the stronghold walls looked very smooth. But upon closer inspection, there were still some fine cracks in it. When everyone saw Old Li skillfully climbing the walls, it was apparent that this was not the first time he had scaled a stronghold.

Zhou Xingwen went up to Old Li. “What did the Experimentals want? How did you communicate with them?”

“One of them can speak our language.” Old Li looked at the Pyro Company members next to him and said to the others truthfully, “The Experimentals all came from the Pyro Company’s Lab 39 that was originally used to treat cancer patients. However, an accident happened and caused them to become like that. They wanted to negotiate with us to help them find a person who escaped from that lab. They said the person holds a secret that can help them recover fully and turn them back into normal humans again.”

Everyone was shocked. A lot of information was contained in those short few sentences.

Looking at everyone’s dumbfounded expression, Old Li recalled that he probably wore the same look as well earlier.

Everyone looked at the Pyro Company members subconsciously and thought to themselves, ‘So they were the ones who created these creatures.’ This confirmed the Pyro Company had created the monsters.

But since they were helping to defend the city now, the officers of the Zhou Consortium troops did not say anything more. They could only go back and discuss it in private later.

Meanwhile, the Pyro Company members remained expressionless throughout. In fact, it was no secret the Experimentals were created by the Pyro Company.

At least the Qing Consortium knew all about this. However, they did not deliberately try to stir up public opinion to spite the Pyro Company.

At this moment, Old Li sighed and said, “If we can’t find that person, the Experimentals will come and destroy the city in seven days.”

Zhou Xingwen suddenly said, “We definitely can’t hand that person over to the Experimentals. First of all, we can’t fully believe what they said as we still need to verify the authenticity of the story. Second, we don’t know whether this person can cure the Experimentals or not. These Experimentals are so cunning and vicious, so even if they recover, are we certain we can get along with them?”

Nearby, some people echoed agreement that the person must not be handed over to the Experimentals.

Only Qin Sheng wondered from next to them, “You’re putting it as though we’ve already found that person. Why do I feel that we might not even be able to find him?”

Zhou Xingwen was speechless.

Old Li said, “Indeed, there aren’t really any clues for us to start from. We don’t even know what he looks like and can’t be sure of how old he is. The only information we have is that he came out of Lab 39.”

Qin Sheng’s words hit the mark. They would have to find that person first before discussing whether to hand him over to the Experimentals.

Everyone split up and got down to business. The Pyro Company contacted their headquarters to relay the information. However, the Pyro Company clearly expressed that Laboratory 39 had been completely destroyed. After the earthquake in the Jing Mountains, the volcanic magma had entirely covered the area. Furthermore, there was an extremely powerful unidentified creature there.

Even if that creature remained motionless in the volcano, the laboratory data would have been burned away by the magma. There was absolutely no chance of finding any clues.

There might have been some relevant data left in the research laboratory at Stronghold 73. After all, based on some previously discovered information, the research direction of that research laboratory and Laboratory 39 was generally the same, so both laboratories should have had contact with each other. There might just have been some information left behind.

But that data had already been stolen by Wang Congyang!

Suddenly, the Pyro Company issued an order to raise the wanted level of Wang Congyang.

The Zhou Consortium’s troops immediately contacted the Qing Consortium. Even the head of the Zhou Consortium, Zhou Shiji, called Qing Zhen directly in the hope that the Qing Consortium could provide them with some information about this matter.

However, the Qing Consortium expressed they also knew nothing of this. They had only deduced that the Experimentals must have mutated from cancer patients, which was now confirmed by the Zhou Consortium.

As for the person the Experimentals were looking for, they were not sure of that either. It could be very possible that he had died along with the destruction of Stronghold 113 and Stronghold 112.

The earthquake utterly destroyed the two strongholds. Even if there were any clues, they would probably have been buried together with the strongholds.

Zhou Xingwen was at a loss. They also discussed whether they should hand over the person, but how were they supposed to hand him over when they could not even find him?!

At this moment, they were guessing the patient who had been successfully cured of cancer was walking among normal people by now. Unless that person’s cells were tested, it would be impossible to find him.

Even the Experimentals had mentioned he probably looked like an average person now.

This matter eventually made it to Hope Media’s newspapers. The Zhou Consortium troops had made the issue public and accepted the media’s interview as they were hoping to appeal to the Experimental who was walking among normal human beings to voluntarily step forward. He would not have to face the Experimentals and only needed to tell them the information he knew.

When Ren Xiaosu read the newspaper, he was bewildered. “Lab 39?”

This matched the research data he had transported away in his train. One of the documents also stated that a patient in Laboratory 39 had successfully made a full recovery from cancer. However, the treatment conditions were extremely particular and difficult to replicate.

So the Experimentals were the guinea pigs of that replicated treatment that had failed.

When he saw the date reported in the newspaper, Ren Xiaosu was stunned. The image of a little boy who was lying unconscious in the snow appeared in his mind. After he carried the boy out of the snow, he ended up with a younger brother from that day onwards.

Based on the date and location, Yan Liuyuan seemed to fit the descriptions very well.

Although the reported date and location were extremely vague, and it was difficult to calculate the time scale as the Experimentals claimed to have been imprisoned in the dark laboratory, it was really possible that Yan Liuyuan could be the person they were looking for based on simple deduction.

But Yan Liuyuan did not have a strong physique. Instead, he was really weak and frail due to his Curse Manipulation superpower.

“It’s probably not the case,” Ren Xiaosu muttered to himself.

But regardless of whether Yan Liuyuan was Experimental 001 or not, Ren Xiaosu would definitely not tell anyone about it. He had seen too much evil and knew full well the kind of things a unique person like that would encounter in society.

No matter how kind you were, you would still be ostracized if you were not one of them.

Even heroes were treated like this, let alone others.