Chapter 409 Not It

After a prolonged cold spell, a new round of experiments had begun, this time involving oxygen deprivation. As the oxygen slowly diminished, Subject 43's skin gradually turned purple, and veins bulged on his face.

His body curled up on the ground, resembling a drowning fish gasping for air.

As a former mid-level corporate employee, he had never experienced such agony, and suddenly everything around him seemed incredibly real.

At that moment, he looked through the glass, observing the experiences of other test subjects, which were even worse than his own.

Right then, it felt as if he had descended into hell alone, occasionally seeing people turned into corpses being carried away.

He now felt despair, and the fear of death made him desperately wish someone could save him and Hopelily.

"I... I can't die, I must endure, I will take her away from this damned place!" Subject 43 struggled while gathering any useful information.

He noticed that the group seemed to be collecting data, performing the same experiments on different people, which could be seen through the glass as others equally suffered.

Groggily, unaware of how much time had passed under such torment, Subject 43 even caught a glimpse of a shield logo on the shoulder of an inspector outside.

Half-asleep and dazed, he was dragged out of the laboratory and into a dark, damp place.

When Subject 43 strained to open his eyes, the scene before him sent a cold sweat down his spine—a corpse with a fierce expression lying on the ground.

Just like those babies who had died in explosions, and now he lay alongside them, as if he had become one of them.

"No! How could I be comparable to those cannon fodder who died under the rubble! I'm not like them!!"

Subject 43 abruptly stood up, surveying his surroundings.

Apparently, to ensure the long-term progress of the experiments, the nearly broken Subject 43 had been transferred to a cell made from a dissolution cave.

In the dissolution cave cell, everyone lay scattered, each bearing wounds, each appearing to be in great pain.

Yet, at that moment, he ignored his pain and began searching the crowd for Hopelily.

When Subject 43 found Hopelily, her condition was incredibly dire, her body badly mutilated, with organs and bones visible through the gaps, barely clinging to life.

Subject 43 quickly helped her up, looking anxiously at her body and the wounds slowly healing under DNA programming technology, also part of the experiment.

"We can't go on like this, at this rate, let alone three months, we might not last three days."

"I have money! Let me out! I have money!!" He went up to the bars and started banging on them, trying to attract the guard's attention, but nobody paid him any heed.

Frustrated, he turned around and shouted anxiously at everyone behind him: "We'll all die like this! We need to find a way out."

But faced with Subject 43's suggestion, everyone looked at him as if he were a fool.

"Forget it, there's no escape. There was one attempt before, it wasn't successful, and many died," an elderly man said, then kissed the cross in his hands.

"Why fear death! Being tormented like this is no different from being dead!" Number 43 shouted excitedly.

At this moment, Number 43 suddenly froze, suddenly understanding why Sun Jack had done what he did.

It turned out that those who followed Sun Jack were not the middle class like himself, but those who were barely surviving.

He couldn't help but lower his head to look at the external system used as a hairpin on Hopelily's head, realizing that in this situation, he only had one choice.

After hesitating for a moment, he shakily reached out and took it.

A pale and feeble hand reached out, grabbing Number 43's wrist in an attempt to stop him.

Seeing Hopelily shaking her head in pain, Number 43 hugged her tightly and said with a heartache, "I'm sorry, it's my fault, I didn't protect you."

No matter what his past identity had been, at least now he didn't want to become Sun Jack, he actually knew it, but he had been running away all along.

Because if he really was Sun Jack, it meant that everything he now had would disappear.

But if he didn't become Sun Jack, he couldn't save her, and she would die, yet by putting on this device, he would completely transform into someone else and would never again be capable of loving her.

"Don't worry, even if I turn back into Sun Jack, I will never forget you. We promised, forever together!"

"Do you know? Wife, ever since you said you would shoulder the mortgage with me, that sentence has been truer than any vow or pledge!"

Number 43, with trembling hands, firmly put the external system on his head and pulled a data cable from it to plug into his neural port.

With a sizzle, the yellow holographic lenses instantly lit up, covering Number 43's eyes, and with a sudden opening of his eyes, his past memories began to flash past like flipping through a book, as formerly buried memories started to gradually surface.

While he was holding Hopelily tightly, preparing to say his last goodbye, Tapai's familiar voice suddenly exploded in his mind.

"It seems I've made a mistake, you are not Sun Jack."

"What?!" This message instantly jolted Number 43, leaving his mind in turmoil; he had already prepared himself to completely revert to Sun Jack.

But now others were telling him this was all false?

"I'm sorry, you are not Sun Jack. Your memories indeed have been tampered with, inserting fragments of Sun Jack's memories to mislead our search, but you are not Sun Jack."

This should have been good news, but in the current situation, he didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

Seeing that the other party was about to disconnect, Number 43 suddenly became anxious. He glanced at the injured Hopelily, and grasping at straws, he quickly said, "Wait! Help me! We've been captured by the Snakehead!"

"Why should I help you?" Tapai's voice carried a hint of intrigue.

"Aren't you with Borrow King? According to his philosophy, we are being oppressed; shouldn't he help us resist oppression?" Number 43 continued, lowering his stance, pleading for the other's rescue.

"No, you've misunderstood one thing, that's Sun Jack's goal, not mine. My objective is only to assist him in everything that can be accomplished. As for saving oppressed people, that is not a priority in my programming," Tapai explained.