Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 584: Discussing a Transaction (3)

The Feidenan family, a formidable force that had suddenly appeared while Han Zu was dealing with the Unlimited Company, offered Han Zu the opportunity to gain intelligence on them, and perhaps even eliminate or neutralize them. Their strength might not completely surpass the Unlimited Company, but it was at least comparable. If Han Zu could gain experience dealing with the Feidenan family, perhaps that knowledge would be useful in his future dealings with the Unlimited Company.

As someone who could provide this kind of intelligence, Christina was indeed very important. But the problem now was that Han Zu and she didn't have much interaction, so Christina wasn't trustworthy to Han Zu.

Even so, Han Zu was still very interested in the deal Christina proposed, so although he was surprised, he decided to continue the conversation. If what she said was true, that would be great. If Christina was just looking for an excuse to get information from him, then he could use her words to confirm her true intentions.

"How are you thinking? If you need some time, I can wait. Anyway, I'm not leaving now."

Christina looked quite relaxed. She pressed a button on her chair and raised the footrest, half-lying down in it. If someone uninformed saw this, they would definitely think this was Christina's territory. She wasn't at all restrained.

"Before our conversation continues, I need to ask you one thing."

"Of course, you can ask anything."

"What's the matter with you and your brother's identities?"

"That's a long story..."

"I have plenty of time."

"Okay, where do I start?"

"Start from the beginning."

"Row."

Christina stretched and fell into memories. Based on her memory, she began to answer Han Zu's questions.

Christina herself didn't know much about her past, not even her real parents. From the moment she regained consciousness, she remembered being in a large, comprehensive research institute. Based on this, Christina speculated that she might have been born through in vitro fertilization.

Life at the institute was dull, but Christina didn't understand it then. Before she was nine, her daily routine at the institute was monotonous. She'd wake up, eat, drink, attend class (learning to read, speak, and learn basic common sense), play in a designated area, eat again, drink again, and sleep—and the cycle would repeat.

"After I left the institute at the age of sixteen or seventeen, I gradually realized that the things I ate and drank as a child were all strange biological samples and research reagents. Before I left the institute, I always believed that all food and drinks in the world should be tasteless. You know, I didn't drink normal water until I was seventeen."

When Christina was eleven, she was no longer taken to the same area after waking up each day. Instead, she was shuttled through various labs. Some experiments were easy to handle, like drawing blood or performing full-body tests. Others were unbearable, even excruciating. She couldn't remember how many times she'd been strapped to lab equipment while awake. Without painkillers or anesthesia, Christina's initial agonizing screams of agony eventually became accustomed to the pain. The constant torture left Christina's mind in a trance. No one spoke to her, and naturally no one listened to her pain.

"I remember clearly that all the researchers in the institute wore thick but flexible protective suits and masks that obscured their faces. They never spoke, and even among themselves, they hardly ever communicated. In the entire institute, there was no sound other than my own screams and those of the other experimenters. Compared to the physical pain that I could gradually accept and endure, this mental torture was even more inhumane."

Soon, around the age of 14, Christina's mental state began to collapse, and she could no longer communicate normally. However, the good news was that the inhumane experiments, which had been carried out day and night and could occur at any time, seemed to have concluded. Christina was finally free from the agony, but the mental damage had already been done, and recovery was not easy. Christina was confined to a small room, almost a prison cell. The room was so cramped that Christina couldn't even turn her head, remaining in one position, lying flat on a sling. She was hooked up to various life-support tubes, allowing her to complete basic biological functions such as eating, drinking, sleeping, and excreting without moving.

"Of course, the food and water transported through those life-support tubes are still those biological samples and reagents, but perhaps they are different from the previous ones. Their effects are better. Even in that state, my physical condition has not deteriorated. Occasionally, when the experimenters come to maintain the equipment, they will stand me up, and I can see many other experimental subjects like me around. In order to keep our muscles active even when we can't move, they installed a special device that can stimulate every muscle in our body with electric shocks to prevent our muscles from atrophying."

Being imprisoned like an object in a small space, while equally cruel, was far superior to the experiments on living subjects. Besides, aside from the occasional researcher checking on the equipment, there was no one else around, and it was a quiet place. Christina lived in this environment for a long time, until over a year later.

When Christina was fifteen years old, she finally left the small room. When she was pushed out of the area by the researchers, she found that there were at least hundreds of people in the area, but now she was the only one left.

"Afterwards, I was taken with several other people to a very large, empty room. Through the thick glass walls, we could see a large number of researchers and some well-dressed, aristocratic-looking guys. I remember that among that group of disgusting people was my 'brother'. Unlike the other children brought by adults, he didn't show any fear or anxiety; instead, he was excited. He was probably a few years older than me and looked very tall."

Then, Christina saw several researchers operating on a control platform. Then, everyone in the room where Christina was, including herself, felt an extreme discomfort. Within a few minutes, one or two people began to vomit and couldn't stop. They fell to the ground uncontrollably and couldn't stand up at all. They used all their strength to struggle to crawl towards the door they came in, even though the door had been closed for a long time and could not be opened at all.

Just as their bodies were growing weaker and weaker and were about to crawl to the door, their bodies suddenly became like over-inflated balloons, rapidly swelling into an irregular sphere. Their facial features and limbs were rapidly deformed due to the abnormal swelling of their bodies. Before others could react, they exploded, and pieces of flesh, blood, blood plasma and brain matter burst out in all directions.

Even after being stained by the filth, the few subjects who could still tolerate the abnormal sensation were unable to react. It wasn't that they couldn't feel it, but that they simply couldn't control their bodies. As the discomfort gradually deepened, more people suffered the same fate as those two guys. Their original location instantly transformed into a scene of hell.

"After about ten minutes, only three people remained alive in the large room: me, another girl, and a skinny little boy. The girl seemed to be in the best condition, but after another ten minutes, her abdomen suddenly exploded. Her internal organs and flesh were shattered, merging into blood and plasma. But she didn't die immediately. Instead, she endured the ordeal for several more minutes before finally giving up.

The frail boy bled from all seven orifices, but ultimately survived. When the discomfort in the room reached its peak, his body suddenly transformed. His size rapidly expanded several times, transforming from a thin, frail figure into a muscular monster. His body lacked any aesthetic appeal, and he seemed to have lost his mind. He went berserk, attempting to attack every living thing—including me, the only survivor in the room. Watching him approach, I desperately tried to escape, but the uneasy feeling in the room held me completely captive.

Just before the mutant boy was about to tear Christina apart, Christina suddenly felt another feeling. Compared with the extremely uncomfortable feeling in the room, this newly emerged power was like ice water suddenly appearing in the desert, very comfortable. Feeling the great contrast, Christina suddenly became dazed. She subconsciously wanted to get closer to that power, and at this moment, the mutant boy's terrifying claws also touched the skin on Christina's neck.

Christina felt a sharp pain in her neck and thought she might have been beheaded. But when she calmed down and looked, she found that she was not dead. There was only a shallow cut on her neck, which only scratched the skin.

"It's amazing!"

“This is a huge breakthrough!”

Christina heard an unfamiliar voice and turned to find herself, without realizing it, out of that horrifying room and into the area where the dignitaries and researchers were. Suddenly, she felt a ripping pain in her head and collapsed to the ground. Immediately, several researchers approached, restrained her limbs, and carried her to a prepared stretcher. The dignitaries, with sickening smiles on their faces, surrounded her, pointing and talking, but Christina couldn't hear a word of their conversation.

"The mutated boy is still in the room. A team of armed members of the family went in and subdued him. They put a special collar on him and injected him with something that restored his sanity, but his body could never be transformed back."

After that, Christina was sent to a culture chamber and immersed in culture medium for several months. That was when Christina turned sixteen.

"After that, a few people suddenly showed up one day. They were the former patriarch's men. After some negotiation, they took me out of the research institute and brought me to where I live now, which is the current headquarters of the Feidenan family. For the first four months after arriving there, I didn't meet anyone important. I was constantly learning various knowledge and social etiquette from the family's private tutor. It wasn't until I was seventeen that I met the former patriarch, his wife, and my "brother" there for the first time."

It was on that day that Christina finally had a real name. Before that, she was only known as an experimental subject by her number. Christina had become a member of the Ferdinand family without knowing why.

"But that was just a superficial identity. Even after I left the institute, my daily routine was still training. Ever since I discovered my teleportation ability, I've undergone even stricter training, learning how to control it step by step and how to use it. When I was controlled outside the lab, I immediately realized that something must have entered my head, something that could kill me. Even if I ran far away, if the Feidenan family wanted to kill me, I would be powerless."

The former patriarch of the Ferdinand family was a cruel and hypocritical man. Although Christina was nominally his daughter, she knew full well that in his eyes, she was little more than a tool for killing. After all, having a killer who could suddenly appear at your side at any time was indeed a terrifying thing.

Because she was controlled, even though Christina didn't want to become an executioner, she couldn't resist. To avoid unnecessary trouble, she acted submissive, like a pet, constantly trying to please the master. This humble attitude, absolute obedience, and loyalty proved very effective. Christina gradually integrated into the true Ferdinand family. Until a few years ago, Christina was no longer just a tool in the family.

"Then something unexpected happened to the family. Perhaps due to age or a loss of ability to manage the family, the old patriarch began making a series of incompetent decisions, which gradually caused dissatisfaction among several branches of the family. His son, the current patriarch of the Ferdinand family, Sebastian Ferdinand, gradually manipulated his father to gain the support of most of the branch families, thus marginalizing them and becoming the true leader of the Ferdinand family."

Christina was incredibly intelligent. She recognized Sebastian's unique qualities: his forbearance, shrewdness, cunningness, and understanding of the ways of the world. He was also brutal and terrifying, but unlike his father, he exercised restraint. So, when Sebastian hinted at Christina and extended an olive branch, she immediately sided with him. She became his spy, providing him with a wealth of intelligence. Christina's loyalty was unquestionable, and she never overstepped her bounds. In public, she would cooperate with Sebastian, acting the roles of the pampered second daughter and the mature, steady brother. Behind the scenes, she would display unwavering loyalty, unwavering devotion, and uncomplaining dedication. This loyal, servile image naturally endeared Sebastian to her, and he granted her considerable authority. Even so, Christina remained consistent, never overstepping her bounds.