After stocking up at the maximum level, all the handsome men in the apocalypse are looking for suppo

Chapter 11 Hidden Scars

Su Wanqing shook off the blue blood on her tactical boots, and the metal cabinet door creaked behind her.

Lin Che, on the other hand, huddled in the corner, munching on compressed biscuits. Water dripping from his silver hair formed a small puddle on the cement floor, and the tear in his vest revealed the blood-soaked gauze.

"Take it off."

She threw a gray sweatshirt at the boy's head, and then opened the mineral water to rinse the Tang sword.

Lin Che held the edge of his shirt tightly and didn't move until the tip of the knife lifted his chin. Only then did he slowly tear open the Velcro on his vest.

The cloth ripped against the scabby wound, making a sizzling sound. Su Wanqing paused as she wiped the knife—the boy's inner forearm was covered in circular burns the size of a coin, with old and new scars stacked up like a honeycomb.

"After-dinner entertainment at the research institute?" The back of the knife tapped the bruise on his elbow.

Lin Che rolled up the torn vest into a ball and threw it at his feet. Two stitches were visible across his chest where his ribs were protruding.

When he reached out to grab the new sweatshirt, the skin on his shoulder blades suddenly twitched, as if something alive was wriggling under his skin.

"Turn around."

Su Wanqing suddenly grabbed the back of his neck, causing the boy to stumble and bump into the metal cabinet.

The yellowed wall paint fell off, revealing a distress sign painted in blood on the back.

The moment Lin Che's back tensed, she saw three intersecting whip marks running across her entire back, with a hard crust of blue blood forming around the edges of the wounds.

"Don't"

The boy suddenly curled up, his sutures bursting and oozing blue blood. Su Wanqing poked his tailbone with a mineral water bottle: "Do the dogs in the research institute all use chains?"

A holographic screen popped up on the wrist at the right moment: [High-frequency electric shock scars detected, consistent with the characteristics of an X-type interrogation device].

At the same time, a red light swept across the pinholes below Lin Che's collarbone, marking seventeen traces of subcutaneous implant removal.

Lin Che grabbed the sweatshirt and pulled it over her head, the fabric getting tangled in her wet silver hair.

Su Wanqing raised her foot and kicked him in the knee: "What's the hurry?" When the boy fell to his knees, a fluorescent code appeared on his lower back - under the number 0927 were small French words: Scent Tracking Type.

"How many toys did they put in your body?" The cold tip of the knife slid down his spine and stopped at the third lumbar vertebra, where there was a hard lump.

Lin Che's body trembled uncontrollably.

Su Wanqing grabbed his hair and pulled it back, forcing the boy to raise his head, his sexy Adam's apple protruding. A string of Braille codes appeared behind the boy's ear, and the holographic screen translated the content: [Feeding of high-risk experimental subjects is prohibited].

"Sit down."

Su Wanqing threw a dry towel over and opened the iron cabinet to look for the medical kit.

Lin Che wiped her hair mechanically, but her eyes followed her every movement. Her wet hair left dark water marks on the collar of her sweatshirt.

"Hand out."

When she pressed the alcohol cotton on the burn on his forearm, the boy let out a half-whimper from his throat, like a little animal.

An analysis chart pops up on the holographic screen: [Excessive salt intake leads to electrolyte imbalance, glucose supplementation is recommended].

"Did you steal salt?" Su Wanqing suddenly pinched his chin. "Are all the dogs in the research institute so greedy?"

Lin Che's pupils suddenly constricted, and the towel he was using to dry his hair fell into the puddle. The dark red lines on the back of his neck suddenly glowed, and the pressure of the Master-Servant Contract forced him to open his mouth—the tip of his tongue still had grains of salt left unlicked.

"The third cabinet in the kitchen." Su Wanqing slapped the glucose powder on the iron cabinet. "Remember to wipe your mouth next time you eat it secretly."

He suddenly looked up as he tore open the package: "I'm not stealing"

"Ok?"

"They said." Lin Che suddenly muttered a string of words in French, scratching the burn on his arm with his nails. "We need to maintain osmotic pressure."

A real-time translation popped up on the holographic screen. Su Wanqing squinted at the last line: [Consume at least 50 grams of sodium chloride daily to prevent cell lysis].

She suddenly pulled open the collar of the boy's sweatshirt, and sure enough, there was a suture below his collarbone that was leaking fluid.

"Did they give you a blood transfusion?"

The tip of the knife parted the sutures, revealing the pale blue blood vessels within. Lin Che froze, as if nailed to a wall. He felt a little embarrassed, and even his breathing rate suddenly increased significantly.

The holographic screen sounded an alarm: [Subject 0927 showed an immune rejection reaction].

Without saying a word, Su Wanqing took out half a bag of saline solution bread from the space and threw it in front of him: "Eat."

Lin Che stared at the bread in his arms, his Adam's apple rolling twice without moving.

It wasn't until Su Wanqing gave him a cold glance that he hesitantly began to move. "What does the academy teach?" She squatted down and grabbed the boy by the scruff of the neck. "How do you become a stray dog?"

Lin Che looked up with bread crumbs on the corner of his mouth, his pupils misty. "They said that qualified test subjects have to find their own salt."

Su Wanqing inexplicably saw a pitiful feeling in these eyes.

A surveillance video popped up on the holographic screen: people in protective suits threw salt blocks into the cage, and Lin Che, in his youthful form, fought and struggled with the other three experimental subjects.

The electronic clock in the corner of the screen shows the date is three months before the end of the world.

Su Wanqing poured the entire box of salt bread into his arms: "No need to fight over it now."

Lin Che suddenly grabbed the edge of her clothes, salt grains on his fingertips leaving white marks on the fabric. "Why? For me?"

"It's troublesome if a pet dies of hunger." Su Wanqing brushed away his hand that was tugging at the corner of his clothes, "especially if it explodes."

The boy groaned and curled up, blue blood seeping from the whip marks on his back once again. The hem of his sweatshirt rolled up, revealing the festering wound on his side. The holographic screen marked [Continuous Self-Healing Failed].

Su Wanqing suddenly ripped open the waistband of his pants, revealing the skin on the inside of his thighs covered with old scratches from her fingernails.

"Did you scratch yourself?"

"The lab is too narrow," Lin Che said, tugging at his waistband in vain. "I'm dreaming."

Su Wanqing slapped the anti-inflammatory ointment on his abdominal muscles: "Wipe it clean."

The boy's hands were shaking violently when he opened the tin tube, and the ointment was squeezed everywhere.

He glanced at Su Wanqing who was counting the weapons, and suddenly put his finger covered with ointment into his mouth.

"Spit it out."

The back of the knife hit his wrist, and the ointment splashed onto the bloody words on the wall.

Lin Che covered his red wrists. The collar of his sweatshirt ripped open during his struggle, revealing teeth marks on his carotid artery. Judging by the marks, they were caused by a human bite.

"Stealing food?" Su Wanqing suddenly poked the scar with the barrel of a gun in a vicious manner.

"09:26" Lin Che said naively, "He said my blood is salty."

The holographic screen called up the file of subject 0926, a young man with blond hair and blue eyes.

Su Wanqing remembered the military badge among the rotting corpses in the stairwell, and slid the barrel of her gun to Lin Che's heart. "Are you not hungry now?"

The young man suddenly grabbed the gun barrel and pressed it against his forehead: "There's something here."

The red light scan showed metallic reflections inside his skull, and the holographic screen popped up another warning: [The remaining validity period of the micro-bomb is 23 days].

Su Wanqing pulled the trigger of the empty gun, and the sound of the firing pin made Lin Che flinch.

"Can it be dug out?"

“It’s going to explode.” Lin Che made an explosion gesture, “Bang——”

Su Wanqing suddenly stuffed the gun into his mouth: "Then don't rub it."

The iron cabinet was suddenly shaken by a collision, and the scratching sound of the mutant came from outside the door.

Lin Che held the gun barrel in his mouth without moving until Su Wanqing pulled out the gun and threw it into the corner, then he lowered his head and continued to apply the ointment.

"Turn around."

She tore open the boy's sweatshirt, revealing scraps of fabric stuck to his back, which was covered in whip marks.

When the alcohol cotton swab touched the festering wound, Lin Che's spine suddenly bulged and squirmed, as if something was struggling under his skin.

The holographic screen alarm flashed wildly: [Abnormal bioelectric signal detected].

Su Wanqing took out a high-voltage electric shock device and pressed it against his thoracic spine. Blue blood flowed from the corner of the boy's mouth to his collarbone.

"Bear it."

Amidst the crackling of electric sparks, encrypted runes appeared on the back of Lin Che's neck.

Su Wanqing recognized the same inverted cross totem as the one in the red light cocoon. The muzzle of the gun suddenly pierced through the skin and pressed against the center of the rune: "What did they install in you?"

"Key." The boy coughed up blue blood. "The key to open the door."

(End of this chapter)