No one could predict what would happen, but having a method was better than waiting to die.
The timer on the wall began its countdown to 11:00 in one minute. The four people in Laboratory C sat down against the wall, waiting for the midnight hour that would decide their fate.
Ke Xun and Mu Yiran sat a little further away from Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan. In the darkness, Ke Xun brought his mouth close to Mu Yiran's ear and spoke in a very low voice: "...Actually, my method is completely unreliable."
"Hmm." Mu Yiran felt the warmth of the breath on her ear and remained motionless.
"A brother in my college dormitory was electrocuted," Ke Xun said, trying to speak in a voice that Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan couldn't hear, "He said that during the electrocution, his consciousness was completely blurred, and it was impossible to think, let alone stare at a watch for five seconds..."
This unreliable method was only said to comfort the two girls.
"I know." Mu Yiran finally spoke, his cool voice lowered, carrying a kind of ascetic sensuality. "But if this experiment is to test humanity or willpower, then I think the intensity of the current generated by this machine will be controlled to a level that keeps the person conscious. It will cause extreme pain, but it will also keep the person clear-headed enough to think and weigh the options. It's a rather cold and cruel setup."
"So, my method might actually be worth a try." Ke Xun said, suddenly tilting his head and sneezing.
"A cold?" Mu Yiran asked.
"No." Ke Xun rubbed his nose and turned back, not mentioning that it was actually a strand of hair that had gotten into his nostril—if he did, this man probably wouldn't let him get this close again.
"Your method is worth a try, but the chances of success are slim," Mu Yiran said in a low voice, seemingly oblivious to the fact that everyone's reaction time varies. "Even if we succeed a few times by chance, I don't think those 'researchers' will allow the experiment to keep having problems. They'll eliminate the problems promptly to ensure the experiment continues smoothly."
"So, they might just turn off the phones?" Ke Xun asked thoughtfully. "Then we can just count to five aloud, or maybe we can just not count at all, and one person shouts 'Let go,' and everyone else lets go at the same time."
"Like I said, people's reaction times vary. Whether it succeeds or not depends entirely on luck," Mu Yiran said.
Ke Xun didn't say anything more, and the two fell into a long silence.
After a long while, Ke Xun spoke again, telling Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan about the remedy of shouting for them to let go. He added, "If you're unlucky enough to have your mouth gagged too, and you can still make a sound out of your throat, but you can't make a sound at all, count to five in your mind. Although it may not work, at least we've tried our best to live. Even if we die quickly, it won't be as painful as it seems."
The sound of Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan sobbing came from the darkness.
Ke Xun's voice carried a hint of amusement: "Little Li, you can think of it this way. Maybe this time you really will transmigrate, becoming a beautiful young lady from a wealthy family, pampered by her parents, living a life of luxury. When you grow up, a domineering prince will love you to death, and all sorts of handsome young men will be obsessed with you, determined to marry you. Your life will reach its peak, how wonderful, right?"
Li Yaqing snorted twice, mumbling, "I don't want to transmigrate... I'd rather be reborn..."
Ke Xun smiled, leaning his head back against the wall, tilting his face to ask Mu Yiran, who was so close yet whose face he couldn't see, "Do you have any last words?"
Mu Yiran didn't speak, and Ke Xun didn't ask again. The laboratory fell into the terrifying silence of impending death once more.
Time passed second by second, death drawing ever closer.
Finally, hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor, slowly making their way towards the laboratory door.
Ke Xun reached out and accurately found Mu Yiran's hand in the darkness, holding it tightly. He leaned close to Mu Yiran's ear and whispered, "Yiran, I don't regret entering the painting at all."
Without entering the painting, how could I have met you?
Was this... his last words? Mu Yiran's hand tightened, unsure if it was his own or Ke Xun's grip.
Just before the lab door opened, Ke Xun had already turned on his phone and placed it in front of the two machines.
The faint light was shrouded in darkness, barely illuminating anything beyond half a meter, making it impossible to see what was coming in from outside. Footsteps rustled, accompanied by indistinct, seemingly near yet far conversations, moving back and forth in the room, sounding very busy.
Ke Xun stared intently in the direction of the sounds, trying hard to see, but couldn't see anything.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind; he wanted to take out his phone and turn on the camera, but then remembered that his phone was already on and placed in front of the machines.
Just as he was about to signal Mu Yiran to turn on his phone, he heard a voice suddenly rise a few decibels from the muffled sounds, and footsteps approached from the direction of the four of them.
Ke Xun turned around and suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran paused, his brows furrowing slightly—even if Ke Xun was usually unreliable, he wouldn't do something so bizarre at a time like this; he must have a purpose—what was he thinking? Could it be—
Mu Yiran didn't have time to think further; he felt an irresistible force pull him and Ke Xun up from the ground and push them towards the two machines.
The machines were already powered on, and red, yellow, and green indicator lights glowed in the darkness. By the dim light, Mu Yiran saw Ke Xun being pushed to sit on a chair on the other side of the machine, several straps securing their bodies and limbs.
Someone held their heads down, forcing their gaze to a long, illuminated electronic screen on the machine, displaying instructions. If
one person released their grip first, the other would die.
As their heads were being secured, Mu Yiran saw Ke Xun turn his face towards him, smile, and wink his crescent-shaped eyes, mouthing two words: Goodbye.
Mu Yiran was suddenly gripped by a chilling feeling.
—Ke Xun did it on purpose! He deliberately hugged him under the watchful eyes of these "researchers." Ke Xun must have guessed what criteria would be used to pair the four people assigned to Lab C—the closer the relationship, the higher the value of testing their humanity and willpower. Last night, Li Yaqing was paired with her best friend Zhao Youyi; if these "researchers" considered them lovers, the chances of being paired together would be even higher.
Why did Ke Xun want to be paired with him, to undergo this experiment where survival depended on mutual destruction?
Mu Yiran didn't need to guess; he understood Ke Xun—he didn't even know when he'd come to understand him so well—Ke Xun didn't want him to die. If he were assigned to be in the same group as either of the other two, it would definitely be Mu Yiran who died.
Therefore, Ke Xun wanted to be in his group; he wanted to protect him; he wanted to force him to live with his own hands.
Even if he died, he wanted to die by Ke Xun's hand.
This idiot. Mu Yiran stared coldly at the phone screen not far in front of him. The stopwatch had already started. He and Ke Xun had to see the time the moment the phone was powered on and wait five seconds before simultaneously letting go—what a stupid method; only this idiot would come up with such a stupid idea.
All his ideas were so stupid that he wanted to beat him to tears.
Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan couldn't overcome their fear and burst into tears, but this couldn't drown out the warning sound that rang out when the power was switched on.
*Beep*
—an invisible fluid, neither fully electric nor fully liquid, shot out from the wire they held in their hands, coursing through their bodies.
As Mu Yiran had predicted, this current wasn't enough to cause insanity, and the pain it inflicted was precisely between "unbearable" and "painful to death."
It wouldn't kill you, but you couldn't endure it either.
It was a pain that felt like being hammered, burned, pricked, and bitten by ants—numb, tingling, stinging, as if a thousand ants were gnawing at your flesh, as if a heavy hammer were shattering your bones.
The piercing screams of Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan rang out. Mu Yiran heard Ke Xun shout, "Let go when I yell! One! Two! Let go!"
Mu Yiran knew Ke Xun had to yell. Leaving aside whether Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan could even see their phone screens clearly from crying, judging from their screams, they would probably let go without hesitation if no one guided them.
Mu Yiran released his grip after Ke Xun finished speaking. He hesitated for a moment, afraid Ke Xun wouldn't let go, afraid the guy would act foolishly again.
But then he thought, more than dying at his hands, what this foolish guy wanted most was to try to survive with him.
As it turned out, he was right. Although Ke Xun was occasionally impulsive, he was never reckless; he was actually a very decisive person.
The crying of Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan continued, which was actually a good thing at this moment—the two had released their grip at the same instant, luckily surviving this ordeal.
But the current returned in a flash, that irresistible force shoving the wire ends back into the hands of the four people. The electric current surged through the bodies of the two people on either side of the machine once more, and Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan's screams rang out again.
"I'll yell 'Let go!'" Ke Xun roared again, "One! Two! Let go!"
Once more, the four survived by sheer luck.
The fool's idea, though foolish, actually worked .
Mu Yiran, however, was not optimistic. This method was highly unlikely to last a night.
And indeed, it only lasted the four for less than ten minutes. The "researchers" seemed to have discovered the problem; they gagged the four.
Not only could they not speak, but
they couldn't even utter a sound. The area where Li Yaqing and Cai Xiaoyan were located became eerily quiet; they couldn't even sob anymore.
The instant the current surged again, Mu Yiran stared at the stopwatch on his phone screen.
This method was actually very risky. If either of them was even a second slower in checking their watch, they could die instantly upon releasing the wires.
But Mu Yiran had no time to think about whether Ke Xun was a second faster or slower. He could only choose to believe him, to face the choice of killing him or being killed by him.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
5 seconds.
Release!
He couldn't hear anything beside him, and didn't know if Ke Xun was dead or alive. After a brief
pause, the current was switched on again—he was still alive, so the experiment continued!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5 seconds, release. A brief pause, the current was switched on. Countdown. Release. Pause. Power on. Again and again, in the silent room, the cold and cruel process repeated itself endlessly. Mu Yiran couldn't hear or see Ke Xun in the darkness, and couldn't imagine what he looked like at this moment. But he knew that he was trying, trying his best to live with him.