Chapter 121

121: Something To Play With

Single draw.  

[Memory Fragment:]  

Her entire body ached, her head spun, and her breathing was ragged. One moment she was burning up, the next shivering with cold. The spasms of pain made her want to scream, but with her mouth sealed shut, all that escaped were muffled, nasal whimpers.  

The pink-haired researcher held a test tube—this time not for injection, but containing a liquid freshly extracted from Mi Xiaoliu’s body.  

It wasn’t a direct extraction. The substance had first been injected into her, left for one or two weeks, then drawn back out. An ordinary person couldn’t endure this—their body would either absorb or reject the material. Even if it remained, precise re-extraction would be impossible.  

But with a virus manipulator present, even the most implausible procedures became feasible.  

There was at least one benefit: to keep Mi Xiaoliu from starving during the process, the pink-haired researcher finally provided her with food—until her body grew too weak to eat.  

“What kind of research is this?” The male researcher eyed the test tube in puzzlement.  

“Major research.” The usually expressionless pink-haired researcher finally showed a hint of delight. “Perhaps from dying to poison so many times, her body readily develops antibodies. Even ZP15 can be adapted by her, even weakening the Black Element. And once extracted, ZP15 no longer causes rejection.”  

The only downside was the inability to extract the antibodies themselves.  

“You mean the Ability Drug Project can proceed?” The male researcher’s eyes flickered.  

“Yes. Unfortunately, for now, we can only use her as the purifier—she’s the only one who can survive ZP15. She even died a few times initially. But if we dilute the impurities, we can mass-produce inferior ability drugs—single-use, with Black Element contamination.” 

Using ZP15 as the base material ensured safety, she wouldn’t make the mistake of granting too many abilities and losing control.  

“Good. We can sell those to raise funds.” The male researcher frowned. “Find a way to replicate a purifier like her.”  

And so, N1202 came into being.

Sitting in the bathtub, Mi Xiaoliu stared blankly at Circle (Quanquan) happily dog-paddling in the water and asked an innocent question: 

“Sasha, if Beibei eats my meat, will she get better?”  

“Of course not, Master… Which cartoon did you get that idea from? Even your own Black Element condition hasn’t improved yet.”  

Besides, such a thing wouldn’t even be possible.  

Glancing at her nearly depleted pocket money, Mi Xiaoliu decided against continuing her gacha draws.  

According to Sasha, her habit of dumping money into the system like a gambling addict was utterly wasteful. Heli’s careful provision for her had been squandered by her own actions, turning privileged upbringing into destitution.  

Sasha knew what she wanted to draw—memories related to Emily (The white-haired auntie) and recollections from before she was captured by Easter.  

She had previously drawn memories from when she was six or seven years old, back when she was still an ordinary girl, proving that at least the first half of her life had been that of a normal child.  

But for some reason, even though she had spent roughly equal time inside and outside Easter, memories from before her capture rarely appeared in the draws.  

After her bath, Heli happened to finish preparing dinner. 

Because Mi Xiaoliu had written nasty things about Gloria in her textbook, she had not only been disciplined by Gloria, but also suffered two sharp flicks to the forehead from Heli. Heli remained seated, making Mi Xiaoliu lean her head over to receive the punishment.  

A penalty for being a bad child.  

“You already went home—why are you back here?” Heli asked Gloria.  

While collecting rent earlier, yet another stuttering, evasive-eyed young man had asked if Gloria was her daughter.  

Ridiculous. At the tender age of 33, how could she possibly have such a grown daughter?  

Ever since Mi Xiaoliu and Gloria moved in, Heli had felt her advantages and privileges as a single, beautiful woman steadily eroding. 

Housewives out shopping now constantly tried to drag her into conversations, hoping to recruit her into their middle-aged gossip network.  

The worst was when someone tried to set her up with a divorced man who had a child, repeatedly assuring her that his income and character were solid and that he would never mistreat her “son and daughter.”  

“No one is at home to bully—it’s boring,” Gloria said, glancing at Mi Xiaoliu sitting across from her.  

The opposite side of the table was the farthest possible distance from her.  

“Hey, old auntie, how’s your research coming along? Let me take a look,” Gloria said, kicking Heli under the table.

“Even if I showed you, you wouldn’t understand.” Heli adjusted the plates, placing the meat on Mi Xiaoliu’s side in hopes she’d eat more and gain some weight—only to earn a glare from Gloria.  

Heli didn’t want to accidentally overhear the neighborhood “intelligence network” gossiping about how she blatantly favored her “daughter,” feeding her all the meat while her “son” grew frail.  

Ugh!  

She needed to find a chance to clarify that Gloria wasn’t her daughter.  

Heli piled two more pieces of meat onto Mi Xiaoliu’s plate and glanced at Gloria. “Since when are you interested in my research?”  

“Just asking.” Gloria pouted, dropping the subject.  

After dinner, both Gloria and Mi Xiaoliu were promptly kicked out.  

Heli was busier than before—not just with work, but some experiments were now dangerous. She couldn’t have the two girls lounging in her living room watching TV anymore.  

But she wasn’t about to neglect Mi Xiaoliu’s studies either, so Gloria was once again tasked with tutoring her.  

Sitting cross-legged on a chair, petting Circle (Quanquan) in a way the cat disliked, Gloria scanned Mi Xiaoliu’s room. “Clean room, no weird smells—either a femboy or gay.”  

Aside from that, the kid’s handwriting was surprisingly neat… Well, never mind. The older she got, the messier it’d become anyway.  

Instead of actually teaching, Gloria forced Mi Xiaoliu to white out every instance of “Gloria” scribbled in her textbooks and replace them with “Mi Xiaoliu”—no sleep until it was done.  

The brat went to bed early anyway, and as a “barely legal” older kid, Gloria had the privilege of staying up late. She could outlast her.  

Pulling out her phone at an angle Mi Xiaoliu couldn’t see, Gloria idly typed away.  

Mi Xiaoliu glanced sideways.  

This wasn’t Gloria’s usual phone—the one covered in glittery stars. Instead, it was a compact, matte-black smartphone, no brand logo, no flashy camera.  

Even the interface looked dimmer than normal.  

It looked a bit like the phones the organization issued, but not quite.  

“What’re you staring at? You brought this on yourself. Keep looking and I’ll add ‘Little Dog’ to your name on the first page.” Gloria shook a fist at her.  

Mi Xiaoliu turned back.  

Eventually, the correction fluid ran out. Mi Xiaoliu looked at Gloria, silently pleading for mercy.  

“Why’re you looking at me? Go buy more—the store’s right downstairs.” Gloria raised an eyebrow.  

“Three mila…” Mi Xiaoliu mumbled.  

Gloria nudged her with a foot. “You think I’m paying? Not a chance.”  

Mi Xiaoliu held out a hand, attempting to use the rock-paper-scissors method Yiwen taught her to settle it.

Seeing the usually docile Mi Xiaoliu actually take the initiative to make a request, Gloria found it oddly refreshing and, for once, agreed.  

Rock-paper-scissors—Mi Xiaoliu threw scissors, Gloria threw paper.  

Gloria frowned, grabbed Mi Xiaoliu’s two extended fingers, and forcibly folded them back into a fist.  

“I win. Go buy it yourself.” She shoved her toward the door.  

Mi Xiaoliu stared at her own hand, now clenched into a fist by Gloria.  

Unhappy.  

Yiwen hadn’t told her this could happen.  

“You go buy it first. I need to use the bathroom.” Gloria pocketed her phone and headed into the restroom.  

Fortunately, it wasn’t a Western-style toilet—she’d never sit on a seat someone else’s butt had touched. Even as a kid, she’d wipe her father’s toilet seat a dozen times and layer it with paper before using it.  

But when she finished and stepped out, she caught sight of a toppled suitcase snapping shut.  

Mi Xiaoliu had crawled inside, apparently hoping Gloria would lose interest like NPCs in video games and just leave.  

“Oh-ho?” Gloria’s eyebrow arched again.  

This brat really was tiny—how’d he (she) even fit in there?  

With a dangerously sweet smile, Gloria walked over and clicked the suitcase’s latches shut. “Huh? How’d this suitcase get here?”  

Then she dragged it out, waiting for Mi Xiaoliu inside to beg for mercy.  

A quick check confirmed the suitcase wasn’t airtight—roomy enough to breathe, unlike a pet carrier.  

Well then. This could be fun.

Translator’s Note: Both Mi Xiaoliu and Yiwen are Female, but different Pronouns will be used based on what the Characters themselves and what other Characters think their gender is.

Translator’s Note: Night Hawk and Night Owl refer to the same secret organization. Also, Foboler and Feds both refer to the same police force that has superpowered ability users.