Chapter 7: Screening (2)

Instead of sending someone to examine me, I was asked to be delivered to the RDC instead. The reason? Probably the way how Captain Van informed them. They all murmured as I walked the path to the testing center, surrounded by him, Allen, and a few RDC employees who warmly welcomed me with tranquilizer guns in their hands.

How very thoughtful of them, I must say.

"I wonder what the hell did he tell them?" I whispered to myself, begrudgingly. All I did was show my frustration toward that unnatural phenomenon depriving me of my house and now I'm set to be examined under these frightening gazes.

What's wrong with that?

Captain Van, who was walking beside me, gave me a sideways glance. I thought he was going to say something because of the way he stared, but he just sharply averted his eyes again.

"We're here." One of the employees in a white lab gown opened the laboratory with his fingerprint. "Only he can enter. The two of you will have to wait upstairs."

"Yes, thank you for this performing test upon our request."

I heard Allen say before I entered the testing center. The two of them remained at the entrance for a few minutes talking to that doctor, before leaving. As I got changed into a tight-fitting body suit, I wondered why they needed to wait upstairs instead of outside until I finally entered the main examination room.

"When an individual suspects they may be awakened, they must first submit an application to the DAM including their personal details, symptoms, or incidents that led them to believe that might possess awakened abilities. That's the initial procedure. Only those who exhibited abnormal, something that goes beyond awakening, get to be dragged in here for an urgent examination."

I turned to the woman who was watching me from the door, leaning on the jamb with her hands in the pocket of her lab gown. If she thinks she looks cool, then she is. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail and she was almost as tall as me.

She's pretty, but what caught my eye was her shirt with three buttons undone, revealing her cleavage. I looked ahead and studied the room without answering. That's how I saw Captain Van and Allen standing above me.

The main examination room is dome-shaped and very spacious. It doesn't look like a testing room, but a training one instead.

The two Seekers were standing on the viewing deck, behind a thin sheet of glass.

"You seem unbothered by what I said. The majority of those who were dragged here turned out to be mutated rather than awakened. That was the reason the main examination room was renovated similar to a Seeker's training room."

The voice got closer, so I knew the woman was approaching me. "Similar to a training room, huh? No wonder it's so large."

"Because once the mutated individual went berserk, the watchers had to fight and kill them here. I take it you already know who your watchers are."

I instinctively looked up and met the captain's eyes. His forehead was creased as if he wasn't liking something. Me? He opened his mouth and spoke to Allen, without looking away from me, making me wonder what the heck he said that made Allen glance at me curiously.

"Do you see that inverted obelisk above?" I looked up at the thing she mentioned. "That is a sensor with bio-monitors attached. Tubes will come out and attach to your body. Basic checks for magical resonance are performed, looking for signs of an awakening or mutation process. The data will then be streamed to the observation room, where the team tracks vitals, aura, and energy spikes.

"If you are an awakener, then you'd get to see the results of your examination. We will have to explain this to your watchers and give you an awakener pass so you can get registered to the UAO. But in the case that you mutated during the test; I will explain what will happen. You're one if dark patches start appearing inside your body, and the biotech specialist detects slight but unmistakable changes in the genetic markers—it's often the first sign of mutation.

"Once the mutation process is triggered, you might turn into a monster, you will lose your humanity. Your rational thinking will be overridden by a monster's primal instincts leading to impulsive and aggressive behavior."

Her tone lowered, which signaled the end of her explanation.

"So… what will happen to me now?" I had to admit. I'm scared. Though I looked like I was not, my voice betrayed me.

The female scientist looked at me. She showed no expression at all. "There are two endings. Either you get registered as an awakener, or you die as a monster." She turned her back and walked out of the dome.

I just know that the one-way glass next to the door is where she went. It's probably the observation room where monitoring devices with consoles, and several analysts were watching me and the screen.

I stood in my spot, unsure of what to do, until I heard her voice from the speaker.

"Let's begin with the test."

Fuck. They won't even ask me to write any last will? Not that I have someone to give it to, but… haa… I guess they will just send my corpse to my father if I die. Should I write one for him? Apologize for running away with his money and… he probably won't even care.

What occurs in the RDC, especially in the testing centers, wasn't publicly known, so I have no idea what these mutated individual looks like when they go berserk.

Will I be able to retain my human appearance, or am I going to turn like those winged creatures?

I almost died back then, faced a monster, and saw people dying before me, but I never felt my heart beat faster than it did right now. Dying unplanned wasn't as scary as knowing your end beforehand. No matter how you prepare yourself, you still get scared… it's maddening.

I'm no different from a prisoner walking into the electric chair. But let's see if I'll be executed, or if there will be an electrical blackout.

"Please walk to the elevated platform in the middle of the dome."

That round stage wasn't there before. But the white inverted obelisk floating at the center of the dome-like ceiling had been there from the start. It moved lower, as I stood at the center of the stage until it reached just a foot above my head.

Some parts of its paneled body opened and tubes slid out like tentacles, wriggling in the air. Two were attached to my temple, and I closed my eyes involuntarily. I felt the rest on my back, torso, arms, thighs, and ankles.

I felt trapped. I opened my eyes to see what was happening, but it seemed my subconsciousness was looking for someone to see what the last minutes of my life might be. Someone I know… but only Allen and Captain Van were there.

I had nothing to blame. I never really put effort into meeting people. I chose to be alone… ran away from home because I couldn't stomach what my family does, yet pushed away everyone, genuine or not, because I didn't want to be bothered.

I lack commitment. I lack empathy. Now, I lack someone who might cry at my death. It's scary. I blinked, and my sight was somewhat blurred. The only people I might have empathized with were just fictional characters. The only things I treasured were books.

I just realized now; that I'm not living. The way I live my life… it's the way where I'm just barely breathing. Nothing else.

I should have…

Jade, there's no point in blaming and regretting now, does it? I knew what we were getting into, but I promised myself I was not going to regret it. Don't blame us, son.

The words of my biological mother who died from being stabbed by one of the debtors whose left arm was cut off by my father rang in my head. I lost her that day, but my father shouted that if he had been caught in both arms, then my mother wouldn't have died.

No. He should have regretted it far back.

That's what I'm doing. I regret not living properly.

I blinked and noticed the captain looking at me with wide eyes. Allen was the same. What happened? Has the examination begun? I don't feel anything at all.

When I glanced around, I realized what they were looking at. The inverted obelisk powered by magic… stopped working. Just like the Aetherlock spheres, or the Seekers, and that awakened robber—everything that seemed to be run by mana, malfunctioned in my presence.

I knew it now. I'm a living nullifier.