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Cillin had received the vial from Genya, and it contained a natural plant hormone extracted from a Fuji Tree. Since this would be the first time it was applied to Xingfu, he halved the dosage first before performing the injection.
Cillin watched the vital signs displayed on the monitor closely as the green liquid was injected into Xingfu’s body. Beside him, Zhuo Xing was so stunned that he forgot how to speak, and Du Hong wasn’t sure how to react.
Zhuo Xing was stunned because he recognized the symbol on the vial. He had seen it in the “Queen’s” accommodations before, and he knew that she valued the items with that symbol so deeply that she forbad anyone from touching them. He also knew that it was left behind by her husband and Xingfu’s grandfather, a man he thought to have passed away a long time ago. Since he had never heard of a great power or person with the surname “Gen” in GAL, he also thought that the man couldn’t be any more than an average person.
So imagine how surprised he felt when he saw that symbol again, and from Cillin no less.
Du Hong poked Zhuo Xing in the arm and shot the doctor an urgent, inquiring look after noticing that the latter was still blanking out. One look was all he needed to move in and stop Cillin’s “rash” action right away. However. After Zhou Xing finally broke out of his daydream, he surprised Du Hong again by shaking his head slightly.
The bodyguard couldn’t understand why the normally cautious doctor would allow an outsider like Cillin to interfere with Xingfu’s treatment, much less allow him to “run amok” like he was right now. Even more puzzling was the doctor’s reaction when he saw the vial. As far as Du Hong could remember, Zhuo Xing always looked calm and collected probably because his profession required him to maintain his composure at all times. He certainly was not in the habit of blanking out in the middle of an emergency treatment. Du Hong knew that Zhuo Xing must know something that he didn’t. What was the secret connection between Cillin, the commander of an Vanguard B Squadron and Golden Beginning really?
Before Zhuo Xing or Du Hong could think of anything else, the numbers on the display started changing drastically. One particular number caused both the doctor and the bodyguard’s eyes to widen like saucers.
On the display, Xingfu’s gene ranking had changed from F to E. In fact, it was slowly evolving to D as they stared. However, the evolution seemed pretty unstable, and worse, Xingfu's vital signs were gradually exceeding the safe ranges as well. This was not encouraging. Generally speaking, over 60% of the people who displayed such symptoms after receiving a gene evolution injection would fail to evolve to the next rank. And the bigger the deviation, the lower the percentage of success.
Both Zhuo Xing and Du Hong thought to themselves: is he planning to improve Xingfu’s gene rank temporarily before treating him? However, that would require Cillin to stop the evolution process after the injection, which the hunter showed no signs of doing.
Xingfu started spasming all over because his vital signs were getting out of control. His face looked incredibly contorted as well. God knows what the young man was seeing to display such a reaction.
The hypnosis was meant to make the victim recall all the terrible memories in their life so that they could be dragged into an even more unresponsive state. The stronger they were affected by these memories, the deeper they sank into the mire of the mind, and the harder it was for another party to break them free from the hypnosis. It was an incredibly potent and nearly irreversible hypnosis assassination technique.
Moreover, Xingfu was different from others in that his body was too weak to withstand most of the drugs or treatments that could’ve broken him out of this state. What might’ve been a mild inconvenience to another person was almost unbreakable for Xingfu.
Whatever the stakes that was involved in this assassination attempt, Cillin was certain that the mastermind definitely wanted to kill Xingfu. Earlier, Du Hong had mentioned that the only realistic way to save Xingfu was to perform a forced treatment, but there was a high chance it would turn the young man into a vegetable due to the deep hypnotic state he was in. Even if they succeeded, Xingfu most likely would’ve become brain dead.
Xingfu adjusted the parameters of the instrument connected to Xingfu’s head a bit. The equipment would generate bioelectricity to stimulate Xingfu’s brain.
Although Xingfu’s vital signs had exceeded the safe ranges, Zhuo Xing’s experience told him that it hadn’t exceeded the critical baselines. However, that was without considering the hypnosis that was attacking Xingfu, and Zhuo Xing wasn’t well-versed with hypnosis. Ultimately, he lacked all the knowledge necessary to perform an accurate analysis.
Right now, Xingfu’s face was contorting between fear, anxiety, frustration, and even anger and hatred. He looked like someone who was trapped in a nightmare.
Suddenly, Xingfu muttered something that neither Zhuo Xing nor Du Hong could understand. It was impossible to tell if it was just a meaningless murmur caused by his condition, or some other language they didn’t recognize.
Cillin understood him though. Xingfu had spoken using the Mist Bodhisattva Empire’s common tongue, and he had said:
“I have no grandfather!”
Cillin knew that Xingfu held a deep grudge against the “Queen”, but he never imagined that the person Xingfu resented the most was Genya.
It was because of Genya that he was stuck with a body that could only be described as “half-crippled” at best. It was because of the “Queen’s” order that he was stuck with a weak body until this day.
Xingfu probably hated Genya, or there was no explaining why the very first words he spoke in this state was, “I have no grandfather”. God knows how Genya would feel if he had heard this himself.
Still, the fact that Xingfu responded meant that he had broken through the unbreakable “seal” the hypnosis had applied to him. This was the benefit of having improved genes.
“Do you hate him? Do you hate your grandfather?” Cillin asked softly in the empire’s tongue.
Zhuo Xing and Du Hong stared unblinkingly at the hunter. Is he trying to establish communication?
Xingfu didn’t reply to the question, but his reaction became worse than before. That was good news, because it meant that Xingfu had broken through the “seal” and became aware of his environment.
“Do you hate him because the genes he imparted upon his children and grandchildren are inferior?”
Cillin’s voice became low, deep and pitched in a certain way. It was just loud enough for Xingfu to hear him, but not so loud that it would cause a negative reaction.
“Your genes are not a burden, a shackle, or trash. It is something many people couldn’t even dream to have. The reason you cannot see its abilities is because it is lying dormant inside your body, for now.
You were tormented by your genes for over two decades, but your grandfather was tormented for far, far longer. He had had to endure being powerless from his best years to his worst. He had had to watch himself wither away while his partner looked as young as ever. Maybe that was why he ultimately chose to leave your side and grow old at a quiet place. He didn’t want his loved ones to be sad for him.
I know he regretted his decision later on. He enjoyed drawing, and he often drew a husband and wife, a child, and a plethora of faceless children behind that child. I once asked him why he gave the children a face, and he told me that he wanted to, but he didn’t know what they looked like.
Some time later, he finally returned home, but he wasn’t as happy as he pretended to be. He likes to wake up in the morning, finish his breakfast, and work out for a bit. Then, he would lie down on a rocking chair shaped from a Fuji Tree and stare at the artificial sea before his resting place. He would daydream or close his eyes and think of those people he missed. He shared his sorrow and sense of loss with no one.
Please don’t blame him for what he did. He wouldn’t have left his loved ones in the first place if he thought he had any other choice. Many people thought that he preferred the quiet, but I know he wanted nothing more but to be surrounded by his grandchildren; to watch both his children and grandchildren grow up every step of the way.
His brother’s children often visited him and kept him company, but he always daydreamed for a long time after they left. He would sit at his chair, stare at the sky through the gaps of the Fuji Tree, and let the wind take away his sorrow.
Maybe... he is afraid even now.
If you don’t believe me, you may meet him and question him yourself. I am sure that the two of you, all of you will meet each other very soon. Maybe one day he will return with a fleet like nothing you’ve ever seen before. The ships will be bigger and finer than the one you’re on right now, the troops will be wearing very fine uniforms, and the leaf symbol you know will be on all of them…”
It was like a cool, soothing breeze that came during a hot and suffocating summer day. It blew away the irritating heat without being imposing or startling. Slowly, Xingfu’s irritation and negative emotions seeped out of his body and left only the calm behind.
Zhuo Xing knew that Cillin’s hypnotic voice wasn’t the only reason Xingfu calmed down. What he said to Xingfu was the true key behind his recovery.
The “Queen’s” son and grandchildren were all paired with private doctors for health reasons. For example, Zhuo Xing was assigned to be Xingfu’s private doctor not long after the young man was born. That was why he knew a tiny bit of the unknown language Xingfu and Cillin spoke, but not enough to understand the contents of the one-sided dialogue.
What did Cillin tell Xingfu? How did he manage to calm Xingfu down in that situation? And most importantly, how did he grasp the language in the first place? Deep curiosity and conflicting feelings troubled Zhuo Xing and Du Hong for a moment. They hadn’t known the young man for very long, but already he had proven himself to have a knack of destroying preconceptions and surprising anyone who thought that they had a good handle on him.
Zhuo Xing and Du Hong’s jaws fell when a childish smile appeared on Xingfu’s face. The gene rank on the display especially made them wonder if it was all a dream.
The letter alternating between D and E had stopped at B before they noticed it. It could’ve climbed higher, but Cillin, against all common sense, decided that now was the time to halt the evolution process.
Cillin had spoken in a hypnotic voice earlier to repair Xingfu’s consciousness and guide him out of the extreme state he was in. He also used the opportunity to ensure that Xingfu’s gene evolution process went smoothly.
Cillin had known that the Gen Family’s genes were special since a long time ago. For starters, they required two stimulation processes to awaken their genes completely. If a descendant received their first injection but not the second, then their gene rank would grow worse and worse. The second injection was critical in stabilizing their genes completely. While the process wasn’t the simplest to administer, every Gen descendant who completed their evolution were ranked A or higher by the standards of GAL.
The Gen Family’s genes couldn’t accept any other gene extract besides the Fuji Tree’s. It was probably the main reason why the “Queen” had adamantly refused to give him the “treatment” he thought he needed. If Xingfu had undergone a standard gene evolution treatment at GAL, he would only be damaging his own special genes.
The successful evolution had improved Xingfu’s resistances tremendously. At the very least, it was nothing like when he was stuck at F-rank. Not long after Cillin halted the second half of the evolution process, the young man awoke. If possible, Du Hong wanted to stick his face to the monitoring display and examine every number in detail.
The first thing Xingfu did after he awoke was to stare at Cillin’s face, not to placate his bodyguard or his private doctor. A long, long time later, he finally said, “You’re not my long lost first half-cousin, are you?”
Cillin: “...”