Genetically Modified Humans Emerge

As for Xie Xu's invitation, she would have to think it over.

When she got home, Tu Ran changed clothes, drank a bottle of nutrient solution, and took the magnetic rail to the Medical Department.

She would officially start work tomorrow, so she probably wouldn't have time to visit Xi Chunzhi. The only chance she had was to swing by now.

Xi Chunzhi still showed no sign of waking.

Tu Ran sat in the chair beside her bed, gazing at her pallid face.

What illness was it, exactly? Why hadn't the Medical Department found the cause after treating her for so long?

She reached out, took Xi Chunzhi's wrist, and closed her eyes.

She activated her memory-reading ability.

She wanted to see what Xi Chunzhi had gone through during her time in the Threshold.

What met her eyes was darkness—nothing at all.

Tu Ran snatched her hand back and stared at Xi Chunzhi in disbelief.

Why couldn't she see anything?

As long as the person was alive, her "Memory Read" ability could always see something.

Amnesia?

Tu Ran took Xi Chunzhi's wrist again.

She closed her eyes and carefully searched the darkness for even the slightest irregularity.

Nothing. There was nothing, only darkness everywhere.

Tu Ran refused to give up. How could there be nothing to see? She kept searching through the memories inch by inch.

Just then, she heard a low moan.

It came from the depths of Xi Chunzhi's memories.

The voice was faint and trembling violently.

"It hurts..."

"It hurts..."

"It hurts..."

Aside from crying out in pain, there was nothing else.

Tu Ran opened her eyes and looked at Xi Chunzhi's face.

There was no sign of pain on her features.

She lay there, peaceful and serene.

But Tu Ran couldn't have misheard that voice from the depths of her memories.

She pressed the bell by the bed and called for a nurse.

Unexpectedly, Xie Xinyu was the first to appear.

"Is something wrong with the patient?"

"No," Tu Ran stood up. "She's in pain right now."

"In pain?" Xie Xinyu walked to the other side of the bed and checked the readings on the equipment. "There's nothing abnormal. What makes you think she's in pain?" He looked at Tu Ran.

"I can feel it." Tu Ran said it with complete conviction.

Xie Xinyu gave her an odd look.

"Is she really not in pain right now? The kind of pain she can feel herself, the kind the instruments can't detect?"

He stared at her even more strangely. "Miss Tu, have you been under a lot of stress lately? Maybe you should go see the psych department?"

Tu Ran refused to give up. The voice she'd heard inside Xi Chunzhi's mind couldn't be wrong. "Is it possible your equipment is faulty?"

"How could it be!" Xie Xinyu raised his voice and patted the device beside him. "This is the latest fully automated medical monitoring system from the Pang Corporation. It cost the Medical Department a fortune. You can doubt my medical skill, but you can't doubt this machine."

Tu Ran didn't bother listening to his long-winded introduction. She sat back down in the chair and stared blankly at Xi Chunzhi.

She stayed for two hours, trying "Memory Read" several more times. Every time, she heard Xi Chunzhi crying out in pain from deep within her mind.

But when Tu Ran asked her where it hurt, she wouldn't say. It was as if a recording was looped in her head, repeating the same word over and over.

There was nothing Tu Ran could do. She stayed until eleven o'clock, then left.

At this hour, the city was in full swing. Bars and dance halls were opening for business, and the magnetic rail cars still carried plenty of passengers.

Tu Ran sat in a corner, scrolling through the Federation's news from the past two weeks.

[Caught Off Guard! Extreme Protesters Suddenly Riot!]

[Heartless! Extreme Protest Organization Uses Teens for Live Experiments!]

[Genetically Modified Humans Emerge—What Crime Has the Extreme Protest Organization Committed?]

[Federal Government Issues Arrest Warrant for Extreme Protest Organization Leader!]

[Audacious! Extreme Protest Organization Openly Provokes Federal Government—This Is Their 32nd Open Provocation! What Will Happen This Time? Stay Tuned!]

[Federal Government Offers Reward for Extreme Protest Organization Leader—10,000 Federal Credits for Tips! Everyone, Get Involved!]

[Pioneers Deployed! The End Is Near for the Extreme Protest Organization!]

From these sensational headlines, Tu Ran had gathered a rough picture of what had happened in the Federation over the past two weeks.

The extreme protest organization had rioted again.

In the past, they'd rioted many times. Each time, a group of people would march through the streets holding signs. The biggest impact was blocking traffic and inconveniencing other citizens.

The Federal Government rarely took them seriously. Unless the scale got too large, they'd send a few Executive Department squads to disperse the crowd, arrest a few ringleaders, and throw them in a cell for a few days.

But this riot seemed to be more serious—the Federation had even deployed the Pioneer Team.

In the past, the Pioneer Team's targets had always been aberrations.

Tu Ran's gaze settled on the five characters: "genetically modified human."

She'd never heard of them.

She tapped to search the corresponding entry.

It had already become the most-searched term in the Federation over the past two weeks.

Genetically modified human: Also known as a mutant or gene warrior. The extreme protest organization modifies the genes of teens and young adults, giving them physical traits distinct from normal humans.

On July 16th, a genetically modified human appeared in Red Province. Its body size swelled to twice that of a normal human, and its physical defenses were greatly enhanced, allowing it to withstand hundreds of gunshots.

A video appeared below.

Based on the visuals, it seemed to have been filmed in a bar with flashing lights.

Tu Ran tapped in to watch.

It had been recorded by someone present. The footage shook violently, clearly showing the fear of the person filming.

In the video, an obese man—originally around 1.7 meters tall—collapsed to the ground, tearing at his clothes, rolling around and screaming in agony.

Many people watched from around him, no one daring to help. Someone called the police.

Then, a horrifying scene unfolded.

His muscles began to visibly swell and grow, like dough fermenting. His shirt shredded into strips. The man's agonized screams gradually faded as he climbed to his feet, his height now scraping the ceiling.

He began attacking everyone around him indiscriminately. People fled in all directions. Those unfortunate enough to be caught were lifted above his head and slammed hard onto the ground.

Some people in the bar were carrying guns. They aimed and fired. Gunshots rang out one after another, but the bullets that struck the mutated man's body all clattered to the floor, as if they'd hit an iron wall.

It wasn't until the bar's security arrived with heavy machine guns that they managed to subdue him.

The video ended the moment the mutant hit the ground.

So this was a genetically modified human?

Tu Ran's shock lingered long after.

A human body alone could withstand bullets?

How was that any different from the aberrations in the Threshold?

And this was just one kind of genetically modified human.