Chapter 463 - 411: The Runaway Third Scarlet Experiment (2)

Chapter 463: Chapter 411: The Runaway Third Scarlet Experiment (2)

"Quick! Get him to the resuscitation room!"

Meren frantically gave orders, but the other experts were more focused on the screen displaying the brainwave readings.

One perfectly stable brainwave signature caught everyone’s attention.

"Whose EEG is this? It seems completely unaffected by the Crimson Fear!"

"Incredible! How is that possible?"

"The data looks even more stable than the Parasite from North Star..."

Meren also noticed the exceptional data, his expression one of surprise. "These are the brainwave readings for Number 11..."

"A patient? Is that right?" Finch asked rapidly. "What’s her condition?!"

Meren looked toward Number 11’s position. A woman in her early twenties was sitting before the astronomical telescope, the lower half of her face visible beneath the eyepiece, completely expressionless.

"She... she’s had her prefrontal cortex removed."

A chill ran down everyone’s spine.

The lobotomy wasn’t an advanced procedure. On the contrary, it was a rather archaic form of surgery.

The procedure was originally developed to treat mental illness. Many psychiatric patients were unpredictable, with the potential for sudden violence that terrified the general public. For the safety of the majority, it was considered necessary to take action against such individuals.

Initially, the mentally ill were simply locked away, confined to places like asylums and forbidden from having contact with "normal" people.

Later, doctors discovered that removing a patient’s prefrontal cortex would render many "lunatics" and manic patients quiet and docile. Thus, the procedure came into use for treating the mentally ill.

But it was later discovered that the price of this tranquility was a loss of emotion, a steep decline in intelligence, and significant memory impairment.

Some patients with acute mental illness could study, work, and live normally when not experiencing an episode. After a lobotomy, however, they became like emotionless simpletons, forever unable to return to a normal state.

Unsurprisingly, the procedure was banned not long after it was legalized, making it extremely rare to encounter a lobotomized person today.

"No wonder the readings are so stable," an expert muttered. "But the problem is, while she may not feel fear, she’s also incapable of helping us explore the Source of Fear!"

You can’t have it both ways. A lobotomy might eliminate fear, but it also came with a drastic reduction in intelligence, rendering a person unable to understand and carry out a mission.

Although the woman was currently sitting at the astronomical telescope looking at Crimson Terra—she probably had no awareness of exploring the "Source of Fear," which would make her useless.

"No!" Meren declared. "She’s different. Her intelligence hasn’t degraded that much. I spoke with her many times before selecting her. She is capable of understanding this mission!"

"That’s imposs—"

"Aah! Aah!" The woman suddenly cried out, raising her hand and waving it in two circles.

"That’s the signal we agreed on for a discovery!" Joy flashed in Meren’s eyes. He rushed over, grabbed her by the shoulders, and asked, "What did you see? Did you—"

Meren stared into the woman’s pupils. After a few seconds, his expression twisted, and he violently slammed his head against the nearby astronomical telescope. Blood immediately stained the lens red.

"Deputy Prime Minister!"

"What’s happening?!"

"It’s the Crimson Fear! The Director has been affected by the Crimson Fear!"

The sudden affliction of the experiment’s director, Meren, was completely unexpected, and the room instantly descended into chaos.

No one knew what was happening. Meren hadn’t been looking at Crimson Terra, so why was he affected?

Several of his assistants ran over to help Meren up, but they too quickly succumbed to fear. Some screamed, some went rigid, and one of them threw a punch at the person next to him.

It wasn’t just the assistants; many experts also fell victim without warning, succumbing to attacks of fear.

The sudden, overwhelming chaos terrified every sane person left in the room. The experts from the various nations of the Human Federation scrambled to escape, with only a handful managing to remain calm.

These few were sharp. They had already identified the source of the contagion: the lobotomized woman.

"Don’t look at her eyes! She’s a vector for the Crimson Fear!"

"Quick, restrain her! Cover her eyes!"

Shouting, a few of them took out their Psychic Power items and attacked the woman.

The woman was not an Ascender, just an ordinary person, and was knocked to the ground immediately.

They swarmed her, pinned her down, and tied a jacket around her head, completely covering her eyes.

Just then, Lu Rui and more Ascenders burst into the room, immediately halting the experiment and securing the scene.

...

A few minutes later, the shaken group had relocated to a conference room.

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. No one could have imagined the experiment spiraling out of control, with even Meren, the Director, falling victim.

Soon, another expert accompanying Lu Rui entered, his face grim. "The Director... Deputy Prime Minister Meren... he appears to have gone mad. We used sedatives and mental stabilization devices, but nothing worked. And it’s not just him. The others who were affected are either dead or have descended into irreversible madness."

"..."

A heavy silence fell over the room. This was already a major experimental accident.

"...I think we should discuss the cause," the expert from North Star was the first to break the silence. "Why did the lobotomized woman become a vector for the Crimson Fear? It makes no sense."

This was a question no one could answer, a situation that had never been seen before.

And it was an utterly terrifying one.

If humans themselves could become vectors, then not even hiding in a locked room would be safe.

"It might be related to her inability to feel fear," Finch said with a frown. "I have a theory; listen up. That woman... I think she may have actually completed the mission Meren gave her."

The group was taken aback. Someone whispered, "You mean—"

"She can’t feel fear, so she wasn’t affected by the hallucinations her brain would generate. That allowed her to quickly make contact with that Red Halo. That’s right—that damned thing we named the ’Source of Fear’!"

The Sisiya expert said in horror, "Are you saying that when a human makes contact with the ’Source of Fear,’ they themselves become a vector for the Crimson Fear?!"

"How can that be? Didn’t the hidden information say there was an unknown element hidden within the crimson power? In that case..."

"Who ever said the ’hidden unknown’ had to be something good?" Finch cursed, his face dark. "Not every treasure map leads to treasure. Sometimes they lead to traps and death!"

"This..."

They all looked at one another, the confusion plain on their faces.

If this was the result of all the effort the Human Federation had poured into these experiments, did that mean all their hard work had earned them a punishment instead of a reward?

The North Star expert mulled it over for a moment. "Let’s not jump to conclusions. I think we need to communicate with the woman. Director Meren said she retained a degree of intelligence and could understand her mission. We might be able to get something out of her. Besides, even if Dr. Finch is right, it’s not as if we’ve gained nothing."

"What do you mean?" someone asked, confused. "What possible positive value could a vector of contagion have?"

Finch suddenly said, his tone sinister, "It would make an excellent weapon."

"..."

A young scholar said excitedly, "He’s right! If we put this woman on Black Flag... no, no, the Parasites aren’t really affected by the Crimson Fear. Drop her in Fahe! It would definitely get those Cultists. It really could be used as a weapon!"

When he finished, he realized no one was echoing his sentiment.

Clearly, everyone else felt that even against an enemy, such an act was utterly depraved.

"We have decided to first conduct a closed interrogation of the woman," the Lu Rui expert said. "We will see if we can obtain any useful information... As for using her as a weapon, that is not under consideration."