Chapter 30: The Meaning of the Deal

……

Special Laboratory.

Water gushed out, and personnel in white protective suits were handling the situation before them in an orderly and rapid manner.

To be precise, they were handling the person involved in this strange situation.

And that person was 1690.

1690's face was now covered in foul-smelling blood. Although he had been here for nearly half an hour, for some reason, his body continued to bleed.

Blood flowed continuously from his seven orifices; it had never stopped since the beginning, far exceeding any normal situation.

He himself was in a state of extreme coma.

His complexion was deathly pale, and his vital signs were dropping rapidly; at least from the count until now, they had dropped by at least two dimensions, increasingly approaching death.

"Something has indeed gone wrong... Starting the experiment report now: test subject 1690 is experiencing large-scale physical deterioration. After 20 minutes of emergency treatment, the deterioration could not be stopped. Proceeding to further examination."

The man in the white coat leading the group was clearly the boss of everyone. Following his order, the entire laboratory began to bustle with activity.

Orderly—though, to be precise, this was actually an experimental medical room.

Due to the sudden nature of the event, although they had anticipated such a situation, it was still somewhat hectic.

Soon, the surrounding voices rang out at this moment.

"The experiment record is ready; we can begin the next step."

"Good."

Subo looked up, his gaze shifting from the camera to 1690 before him.

Soon, he clicked on the camera in front of him and adjusted its position slightly.

"Hey, Subo." Suddenly, the phone beside the sink rang.

"It's me," Subo said, picking up the phone.

On the other end of the line was Zou Zhihua.

"How is the situation on your end?" Zou Zhihua asked.

Subo shook his head and sighed slightly: "You, this is a real mess. 1690's condition is very wrong. No matter what emergency measures we use, the blood inside his body hasn't stopped. I've already followed your request to check the materials of the parchment and the quill."

Zou Zhihua said: "Hmm, understood. You go ahead and start a deep physical examination. I'll keep an eye on things here. After all, the appearance of this thing is quite bizarre. I want to see what happens and what kind of influence he has been subjected to."

"Alright, I'll start right away."

"Go ahead."

Subo wiped the sweat from his face. For some reason, despite having experienced many large and small incidents of this nature, he felt an indescribable sense of unease at this moment.

As the absolute leader in the medical field of the Judgment Bureau, most experimental medical procedures wouldn't fall to him to handle.

It was only because this incident was special and the object that appeared was quite strange that, for the sake of safety and with his own consent, he had come to assist personally.

Moreover, there was another obvious reason.

Zou Zhihua also had great concern for this matter, clearly having alarmed him, the captain.

His concern also represented the figures at the top.

His appearance and concern were enough to prove that this matter was not ordinary.

Subo and Zou Zhihua actually had a pretty good private friendship, so the phone call just now, while appearing to be a normal exchange, actually carried a deeper meaning.

That is: "If something is wrong, pull out immediately; don't take risks."

At this moment, Subo suddenly saw that what was flowing from 1690's nostrils was no longer fresh blood, but a pale yellow substance.

This is...

Subo realized suddenly.

"Not good!"

"Start the experiment record immediately! I know why his physical state is still dropping rapidly after such long emergency treatment! His brain is completely empty!"

"Brain is empty... how is that possible?" someone nearby exclaimed in shock.

But Subo clearly didn't care too much about these things; he quickly put on the disinfection equipment and walked to 1690's side at this moment.

Subo looked at 1690 and immediately pried open the other's eyes.

What he saw was extreme pupil dilation.

This had occupied the vast majority of the eyeball.

This was clearly death.

Soon, after a series of machine checks,

Subo discovered that the other party had lost all signs of life; the brainwave detection was completely blank, showing only a straight line.

And while 1690's heart was still beating, it was barely worth mentioning.

It could stop at any moment, or to be precise, it had actually already stopped; this was merely the final state of lingering on.

"Sure enough, it had already started changing toward brain death from the very beginning, but the initial basic checks didn't show brain death. Was my guess actually correct?"

Subo's expression turned ugly upon seeing this.

"No damage to the head."

He gently reached one hand to the back of the other's head and lifted it, feeling the weight of the head.

"So light... It's empty! Where is his brain?!"

Then he remembered the sentence that had appeared on the parchment at the beginning: Deal completed, the other party obtained the desired love; as the price, I have taken his memory.

Desired love?

Subo looked down and saw the smile on the face of the person who was already a corpse.

This smile looked very soft and clearly filled with a sense of happiness; even compared to the layers of blood on his face, this expression stood out easily.

Taken his memory?

Subo pondered.

Could it be that it wasn't taking his memory in the literal sense? Was it taking his brain? After all, if the brain is gone, the memory is naturally gone too.

And the so-called love had indeed been given to him?

Subo then frowned: "A deal that makes one's hair stand on end. This can't be considered a fair deal at all; it's clearly a huge trap, and 1690 jumped right into it, and the price paid was painful..."

It seems that set of things is far stranger and more eerie than imagined.

Regardless of how it appeared here.

Or how it caused this change.

Subo thought to himself.

"Maybe only people like Zou Zhihua, who deal with those things all day, know what the hell this thing represents?"

After thinking for a while,

Subo felt that this question could be left for later; the main issue was to thoroughly check if it was as he thought.

So, under his orderly command,

1690 underwent a very rapid craniotomy within the next two minutes.

And at the final moment of observing the inside of the skull,

everyone present couldn't help but gasp when they saw the scene inside.

Because it was truly empty inside...

It was cleaner than clean, not even blood or anything else; it was as if someone had scraped it with a knife!

All that could be seen were clear bones!

The brain was completely gone!

——

"What's going on... Strange Tale Roulette? My phone and everything else aren't with me, but now it's appearing before my eyes in this situation. Can this thing ignore scene restrictions and distance? And looking at this situation, has it already started?"

"The feeling just now was like I was about to fall into death in the next second."

Huaiyou's gaze was solemn, and he took a deep breath. At first, his gaze was on the paintings in the office not far away, but now he pulled it back.

Because he didn't know what those things represented.

After thinking for a while, he could only stop there.

But the unease in his heart grew stronger.

"This place looks like a national department; judging by the things observed just now, the protective measures definitely won't be simple, but it looks like this thing has already invaded?"

Huaiyou thought, "In that case, the yellow, ear-piercing alarms and motives that appeared at the beginning should have been caused by this so-called Strange Tale Roulette."

"But if it's like this, how can I go out and deal with this thing while staying here?"

But just as he was thinking about these things, facing him, along with the special material, the door creaked, and a familiar figure walked out.

It was actually the man in black whom Huaiyou had first seen when he woke up, the one who had brought him here and asked him some questions when he first insisted on it.

"We meet again." The other party smiled slightly at Huaiyou at this moment. "Time was too rushed before, so there was no time to chat more. Let me introduce myself; my name is Luo Yi."

When Huaiyou saw Luo Yi, his eyes lit up immediately, and he walked up to meet him. The other party didn't drag things out and immediately handed over a transparent bag in his hand.

This bag contained the phone, the mask, and the clothes Huaiyou had been wearing earlier.

The clothes looked clean and tidy, clearly having been washed.

"Do you have a new mission?" Huaiyou asked, looking at the things in his hand.

"Yes, there are always some missions. Coming to find you must mean there's something to do," Luo Yi said.

"You're quite straightforward."

Luo Yi smiled and said: "What can I do? In this line of work, you have to have the awareness of this line. Dealing with some ghostly things every day, I'm actually quite afraid of you too, but I have no choice."

Huaiyou tilted his head and looked at him: "Since you're afraid, you still dare to get so close to me?"

"No choice, work requires it."

"Since that's the case, I won't talk nonsense. Just tell me what your mission is; I will definitely cooperate with you actively."

Luo Yi smiled and thought for a moment.

Finally, he learned from Huaiyou's initial posture, tilted his head, and said.

"The requirement for this mission is that you put on this mask, put it on in front of me."

…… ===== CHAPTER 31 =====