Another hour later, as June recovered from the backlash of poison, Stina "unknowingly" slipped about Ashlyn’s condition, lamenting about the poor fate of the daughters in the family.
"Ashlyn’s lifeforce is rapidly dwindling?!" Zed asked, horrified.
Ashlyn remained silent as if it has nothing to do with her. Stina further broke down in tears, begging God to exchange her life with her young daughter.
Seeing her condition, Hansen stepped up and rubbed his wife’s back, requesting her to stay strong. He then nodded at Zed and said, "You are a part of the family so there’s nothing to hide. My daughter is what the world calls Cursed One, but there’s nothing cursed about her! She’s a blessing! But... her condition is such that it would be a miracle if she could live past three months!"
Zed staggered back, the news hitting him like a bolt of lightning. Through the tears, Stina observed him.
With the knowledge she had of his personality from secret files and the recent interactions, she knew he wouldn’t care for Ashlyn’s existence as a cursed being. The nature of her existence would only make him vulnerable, make him feel bad for Ashlyn. This with her friendship would make him desperate... desperate to save her!
"Three... months?" Zed turned towards Ashlyn, his eyes turning bloodshot. "No, she wouldn’t die! Never!"
And as Stina expected, next he did what she wanted: make an oath to save her at any cost!
Ashlyn shook her head as if telling he didn’t need to worry about her. But Zed was adamant and he begged her parents to give him a chance... he would use every skill he had to save her.
Moved by his determination, they accepted, though telling him it was an impossible task and he shouldn’t feel bad if he failed.
"I will save her!" Zed promised.
...
...
"Hehe, this kid is so easy to control!" Stina said after Lebeau and Rita took Zed and Ashlyn to their lab facilities. "He is at least a Rank VII scientist so we have great chances!"
"God is on our side!" Hansen agreed.
On Earth, the ranking of scientists was from Rank I to Rank IX, Rank IX being the highest. The only scientist to achieve the highest rank was no more, or at least had disappeared.
Castor Damon.
With him missing, Rank VIII was the highest, but throughout the planet, the number of such scientists wouldn’t be even five. Obviously, they were with the factions of the world powers, either with the government, the revolutionaries, or independent.
Even Rank VII scientists were similarly with the top factions, though their numbers would be in dozens. The reason was simple: resources.
The top factions would not only treat the scientists with wealth and respect, but also give them access to secret data from World Fragments.
As such, finding a scientist of that caliber was impossible to find, at least without bringing attention. That’s why The Ivies never had a scientist of such rank as they didn’t want to arouse suspicion. This made the time frame required for completing their objective to stretch to over two decades.
And The Ivies didn’t mind for they were cautious in nature.
...
...
The lab facilities in the mountain were distributed among three floors.
The third floor was dedicated to the virus and the goal for which The Ivies existed. The first and second floors existed for other purposes, including healing.
Beneath the lab floors, there was another floor where tamed mutated beasts existed. These beasts were used for both research and their fighting powers, a gift by Dharma Chakra.
When Zed first arrived in the mansion, Stina had told him about the beasts and the lab, obviously skipping about the third floor or their purpose.
...
Now Zed stepped on the first floor where the researchers had "returned". They acted as per the script, showing shocked reactions after he was introduced as a great scientist despite his young age.
Zed greeted them politely and got a good understanding of the facilities available. After making himself familiar, he started.
On his request, Ashlyn laid down on the examination table and a glass shell covered her. In a few minutes, beams of multi-colored lights wrapped her, scanning her genetically.
Hundreds of pages of data flashed before Zed and he analyzed them in the span of a few minutes, genuinely astonishing the researchers.
He found the genetic defects in the data, and kept them aside, before conducting an essence examination.
Two hours slipped past like seconds.
After he got the needed data, he opened a virtual screen and started building a solution. The holographic projection of Ashlyn’s DNA floated in front of him, and as he worked through the solution, parts of DNA broke and restructured.
"You got to be kidding me! Without affecting her existence as a Cursed One, and thus not risking her life, he is fixing the parts responsible for the lifespan loss!"
The head researcher muttered as he stared at the DNA projection.
A Cursed One was the proof of failed evolution - something that happens when one is nothing but an embryo. It would forever keep in the transitional state between mutant and ordinary human, without giving the benefits of either but the drawbacks of both.
This was why the radiation emitting from them was harmful to mutants, for it carried traces of failed evolution.
Zed wasn’t trying to evolve her or change the essence of her existence. Perhaps he was incapable of that, or maybe he just didn’t want to.
Yet what he was doing was virtually impossible: overriding the defect that made her generate power by burning lifespan.
An evolved being would generate power through foreign mediums (any form of nutrition), but a failed, transitional being consume use their own body vitality to achieve that.
Yet that defect was being removed, or at least that’s what the projection denoted.
"How the hell is this even possible?! Is he even a human?!"
The other researchers echoed the head researcher’s sentiments, eyeing Zed as if he was a monster.
What they couldn’t do in decades... he was doing in hours!
Sure he might have the data they provided him, but he ignored it, building everything from scratch! It was like the data they gave him was a pile of trash, not worthy of his attention.
At other times, they would have complained and shouted for being arrogant, but now they didn’t dare. After observing the data Zed had unearthed in a matter of hours, they felt they were worse than trash and wished they could hide.
How were they researchers? They were just garbage!
By the time ten hours passed in the lab, a prototype solution was ready!
The researchers were already sweating, and seeing the prototype solution, their poor hearts thumped violently, ready to jump out of their chests.
"Who the hell is he?!"
"Could he be the reincarnation of legendary Castor Damon?!
They wondered as their eyes popped out and jaw dropped.
Lebeau didn’t understand what Zed was doing, but looking at the faces of the researchers, he understood it was something impossible!
This made him revaluate Zed’s worth.
...
...
Two days later.
"The preparations are complete," Zed announced in front of everyone. "If things go as per plan, the treatment would be completed in 5 days. It would take an additional 3 days to restore the lifespan Ashlyn had already burned. So, a total of 8 days."
"Oh!"
Even though they were keeping eyes on his research, the adopted parents were still awestruck. They wondered if he was a Rank VIII scientist.
As for the rest of the family, they were dumbstruck, not able to believe their ears. Only Ashlyn remained neutral, without showing any emotions.
She only nodded at him, perhaps in gratitude for the hope he gave her. Maybe she would now remain alive to meet his elder brother... and live the life he so wanted for her.
"Then let’s not delay!" Hansen urged. "We don’t lack any resources you need!"
...
...
After injecting Ashlyn with powerful sedatives and shifting her to a glass pod, Zed started the treatment.
Every day, he would conduct the treatment on her for 4-5 hours, while ensuring she remained in hibernation till the treatment wasn’t completed.
On the third day of treatment, after completing his work for the day, Zed retired in his room. Stina and Hansen personally handed him the meal before leaving.
Zed took a bite of the desert and feeling the sweet taste, he craved for something far sweeter.
And the only thing that could satisfy this craving was screwing.
"Now is the time to start Operation Screwing!"
Zed whispered to himself, his eyes flashing the devilish glint his other persona was known for. He stepped to the bathroom and started the shower.
"Women I would screw but men... hehe!"
Covering his hands with gloves, he took out an icy-blue capsule around which red mist swirled.
"It took me a fortune to create it... but since the fortune was of others, I don’t mind!"
Alongside the capsule, he retrieved a hair, something that belonged to Hansen.
Body hair were easy to retrieve as they fall regularly, so grabbing one without arousing any detection was a child’s play.
If he was right, Hansen and Stina would have examined him, to check if he was a spy or what he carried. Furthermore, they would be watching over him.
Th1s chapter is updated by n)ovel/\bin/\
But they wouldn’t do that here. Not because they respected his privacy, but because here he was free without anything to do, and he might detect any spy item due to his sensitivity to his heat.
Furthermore, with all communications intercepted by the gadgets in the mansion, there was no risk of him contacting anyone from outside.
Zed knew at this moment, none was watching over him, not even with supernatural perception.
Otherwise, his sixth sense ability would tell him, just like it had in the last few days.
He crushed the capsule and the energy particles within twisted out, wrapping the hair. Then, in a flash, the hair and the energy particles disappeared, merging with the air.
"Claudia, this time we are doing something new! I wish you were here to see it!"
With this thought in his mind, he enjoyed the shower.
...
...
Hansen was resting next to his wife, chatting with her about their grand plans to dominate the world after Ashlyn recovers.
An invisible, formless mist slipped into him as he pictured the bright future, not knowing the future was anything but bright.