Chapter 1 "Number?"

"A00131."

"Visiting subject?"

"B04149."

"And the approval?" The man's voice turned serious. "Please understand, although your personal permissions are sufficient, to visit someone who has been..."

"Di--"

A guard in light blue received a message. He raised his hand to look at the electronic screen on his wrist, and his expression immediately changed. "Number A00131, your application has been approved. You may visit, but please abide by the regulations here. Each visit cannot exceed 30 minutes, there must be no close contact with the subject, and you cannot mention..."

"Thank you." Before he could finish, he saw the young man in front of him push the door open and enter, then close the door behind him.

Looking up, his gaze couldn't help but waver.

Although he applied to visit this place after every mission, he still couldn't help but feel lost every time he saw the scene before him.

Still the same.

On an iron bed lay a man with vacant eyes, all four limbs restrained by white straps, his neck fixed by a soft leather belt.

All he could move were his eyes.

Skillfully pulling up a stool, An Xuan sat down in front of the man, now dressed in different clothes, and quietly looked at him.

This was once his teammate.

His actual age was a few years younger than his own.

But looking at him now, people would believe it if he said he was in his early 50s.

Here, he could only be considered alive.

Dignity was a luxury.

Seeming to react to the visitor, the man's eyes slowly turned, finally resting on An Xuan's face.

"Wu Tong is dead," An Xuan said suddenly after a moment.

The man's face twitched, but quickly returned to calmness. The effects of the tranquilizer hadn't worn off yet.

To make it easier to control these former elites of the Execution Department, the administrators of this hospital could only continuously increase the dosage of tranquilizers.

After all, someone had once broken free from all his restraints when he went mad. Seven or eight people couldn't hold him down. If the guard hadn't decisively acted, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The orders from above were also very direct.

They could die, but they absolutely couldn't lose control.

Once these people were out of control, the impact on the entire society would be unimaginable.

"I know you can understand what I'm saying," An Xuan continued. "They all say you're crazy, but I don't believe it."

He shook his head and continued, "You just can't control yourself, but you're not crazy. You still remember me, remember Wu Tong, remember Zhou Qin, remember... every one of us."

As An Xuan said one name after another, a light appeared in the man's eyes. Although faint, it was still captured by An Xuan.

"I killed the murderer who killed Wu Tong." He exhaled. "Using their most common methods. You know my methods." Looking at the man in front of him who had come back to life, An Xuan smiled. "Why can they do that, but we can't?"

"What a pity, another one of their worshippers," he reached out and squeezed the latter's fingers, which were hidden in the restraint suit, only half of which were exposed. "I know that the one who killed Zhou Qin and wiped out your team must be a true Shen Hong (Crimson)."

"Don't worry, I will definitely find him, and then... return the pain you suffered to him tenfold."

"I'm not lying to you, there are already clues." He patted the man's hand. "You just wait and see."

At the head of the bed, a small light blue lamp flashed three times without any sound.

"Hoo--"

This was the warning that the visit was about to end.

Reminding him that his time was up.

"I'm leaving." He stood up. "I'll come see you again next time."

But just as he was about to pull his hand away, he found that the other party suddenly grabbed his fingertip.

The man's eyes suddenly changed, covered with blood vessels, and bulging veins started from his forehead and spread to his entire face. His whole body's muscles bulged, and the straps on the restraint suit creaked.

The guard who saw this scene on the monitor immediately slammed the alarm next to the door. In an instant, warnings popped up on all the electronic screens in the corridor.

Still silent.

But the atmosphere suddenly became anxious.

Specialized medical personnel in light blue uniforms, under the protection of fully armed guards, rushed towards this place.

The frenzied man was firmly pressed on the bed, and another injection of enhanced tranquilizer was forcibly administered through the indwelling needle.

Even so, three men couldn't hold him down. Two more guards came up, and the iron bed even made an unbearable sound.

An Xuan was immediately taken out of the room by the arriving guards.

Although it looked more like being expelled.

"What's going on?" A man with a light green badge gasped for breath while staring at An Xuan. Underneath the heavy protective suit, the sweat on the man's face was still hard to hide.

The green badge didn't have a name on it, only a number. Through the number, one could know the other party's level and specific permissions.

The man's level was the same as An Xuan's, which was why he didn't immediately have the guards arrest An Xuan.

But this was the man's territory, directly under the jurisdiction of the Night Watcher headquarters.

The Execution Department also had no jurisdiction.

But he didn't want to offend these people because of this. After all, they still had to rely on them to deal with Shen Hong.

"What did you do to him?" He frowned, staring into An Xuan's eyes, seemingly judging whether the other party was lying.

An Xuan shook his head calmly. "Nothing."

"If nothing happened, why would he suddenly lose control?"

"I don't know."

After a while, a person wearing a blue mask came out of the room and ran over in a hurry. He took off his mask and said, "His... his condition has suddenly worsened. It's like he's recently been exposed to those things again. A week ago..."

After saying this, he suddenly stopped because he realized that An Xuan was also looking at him calmly.

The man with the green badge and the masked man went to the corner next to them and immediately lowered their voices to ask, "What the hell is going on?"

"It should be a sequelae from the incident a week ago." The masked man said quickly, "Many people went berserk that time, and a group of them were near this ward."

"He should have also been exposed, but the degree was low, and he didn't react immediately. Our subsequent checks didn't find anything either."

"Damn it!" The badge man cursed in a low voice.

"Go and get rid of that person." He ordered, "Then notify all groups to immediately seal off this area. Everyone must be checked, regardless of their recent performance."

"Okay."

Under the escort of the guards, An Xuan was courteously sent away. The guard who drove the car was very polite to An Xuan. The two were about the same age, but one was A-level and the other was D-level.

"Here's the restroom. I'll wait for you outside," the guard said.

An Xuan nodded. "Thanks for your trouble."

After entering the restroom, An Xuan went straight to the last stall, then turned around and locked the door.

The next moment, his body leaned against the door, his pupils contracted, his body uncontrollably trembled, countless blood vessels immediately occupied his eyes, he tried his best to suppress the sound of his breathing, and his heartbeat was like a drum.

He raised his trembling hand, and a door faintly appeared on it.

"So this is... the price..."