CHAPTER NINE
HYBRIDIZATION!

❝ DON'T GROW OUT MY WINGS
ONLY FOR YOU TO CUT THEM OFF ❞

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Ear-piercing screams and wails filled the sinister hallways of the laboratory. Hendery bit his bottom lip, suppressing the urge to let out his own battle cry as the doctors continued to reel him down into the tank filled with cold water. His eyes were shot open wide, trying to look clear into the deep water, but all he could only see were the surrounding plants.

All he tried to focus on was himself, trying to finish up his time in the tank by calming down, but how was he supposed to calm down? He could hear the screams of his friends from nearby test rooms and the pain delivered by their screeches kept him distracted. He was distressed and unfocused.

The water today was extra cold and he felt like his whole body was slowly giving up. The bitter coldness slowly numbing every part of his body, nipping his nerves bit by bit.

Meanwhile, in the confinement room, both sat Kun and Yangyang where they were given their daily meals together. Hendery was taken to testing, Ten escaped, and their remaining three friends were also either locked up or still undergoing their diurnal probe.

"You think Lucas, Xiaojun, and Hendery are doing fine?" Yangyang questioned the older in a hushed tone, his icy gaze trailed from his untouched tray of food to the blue-haired lunatic.

"Xiaojun and Hendery... they must be fine. I hope so. I don't know, Yang."

The door to their specified dining room opened and one of the guards harshly shoved Sicheng inside the room followed by Xiaojun and Hendery. The three looked back to glare at the guards only to be met by a door in the face.

"I am so done with the inhuman treatment they do to us! This is fucking torture!" Xiaojun yelled out, banging his fists loudly onto the door.

Kun shot the boy a look, "Dejun... calm down."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?! You expect me to calm down after all we've been through in this fucking laboratory?! Kun- we're nothing but bloody test subjects to them! They feed us unknown food, inject vile substances, and chemicals into our body- heck! They dare to turn one of us into a hybrid!" Xiaojun exclaimed, his fingers curled up in his messy hair, tugging the ends of it out of annoyance.

"Look, I know you're mad. We all are, but can you please just calm down for now? You know the... plan." Kun mouthed the last word towards the boys and they immediately regained their senses, almost forgetting the fact that they had a plan in the first place. They were all so distracted by everything happening in the laboratory that they forgot about their true intentions.

Hendery gazed down onto his tray of food, pushing it away from his edge of the table. None of them was in the mood to eat, especially Sicheng. The male felt like throwing up any minute now. He didn't know whether it was because he was chained up to a chair and tortured for whoever knows how many hours, days, or even weeks! But it could also be because of the endless wails coming from Lucas' testing chamber.

The two had the closest testing chambers and it didn't help at all when they just had to let Sicheng listen to Lucas' cries of torment. He wondered why was Lucas in so much pain, he never really screamed that much during probes, so why was he screaming?

Sicheng knew nothing until he caught a glimpse of what was happening in Lucas' testing chamber a while ago. Blood was splattered almost everywhere, staining the sapped walls of the room. However, that wasn't what made him want to vomit out the bile he had in the pits of his stomach – it was because of the sight of Lucas laying helplessly in the middle of the room as blood flood from his back.

Streamlines of tears on his cheeks as he wept to himself as if it would lessen the unbearable pain they gave him.

Sicheng could hear him speak in a shaky voice, "Don't grow out my wings only for you to cut them off." And that was when it hit the older boy – the scientists had cut off his full-grown wings. Those ebony, beautiful wings that he had grown attached to. It was like a part of his identity, his whole being, was ripped off from him.

Sicheng knew how much Lucas adored his wings and here he saw his lone friend, crying helplessly as they take away that part of him.

"They hurt Lucas you know," Sicheng said in a quiet voice, dried lips pressed together and fingers balled into fists.

"We are all hurt, Sicheng." Kun tried to say but was cut off immediately as Sicheng added, "They took away his wings."

Hendery instantly shot his head up, "They- what?"

"Lucas. They took away his wings."

Yangyang couldn't help but get mad, his expression said it all. He bitterly eyed the camera at the corner of the room, flipping his middle finger up to those who were watching. "FUCK YOU ALL! FUCK YOU FOR HURTING MY FRIENDS- MY FAMILY! YOU ALL ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF LAPDOGS OF THE UA! PATHETIC BEINGS!"

"Yang—"

"Don't." Hendery places a hand on Kun's shoulder. "Let the young boy be. He had enough of the UA. Who wouldn't if they were him? Not only was he apart of Project U7... but he's also apart of this NVI116."

"They are going to pay. We will make them pay- for all of the inhumane schemes they hide from the perfect reality."

PROJECT NVI116
The Four Main Stages of NeoGen

STAGE ONE: RABID BEHAVIOR ☑︎
~ screaming, throwing a fit, scratching

STAGE TWO: ENIGMATIC VELIUS ☑︎
~ weird symbols, cryptic words

STAGE THREE: MESHUGA ☑︎
~ rebellion, revenge

! must not reach stage 3 and 4 !

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