"Has it been resolved already?"
Looking at the young girl standing behind Liao Zhong, Zuo Zhe's expression flashed with a vibrant reaction for a fleeting second. The situation was much better than he had imagined; at the very least, Chen Duo was not wearing a protective suit right now.
"Yes. I've decided to call this child Chengduo, hoping that she can grow up to be a free and carefree flower."
Despite his usually fierce and grim visage, when facing Chengduo, Liao Zhong's expression softened into the warm, affectionate gaze shared by every loving father in the world.
"That's wonderful. Judging by this, you must have found a way to heal her body, haven't you?"
Zuo Zhe stood up, laid aside the Daoist scriptures in his hand, and greeted Chengduo.
"Hello, Chengduo."
"Mm."
Hearing his greeting, although her expression remained unchanged, the light in Chengduo's eyes gradually grew brighter.
Liao Zhong patted Zuo Zhe on the shoulder and said in a heavy tone, "Zuo Zhe, even though we've rescued this batch of children whose cognitive faculties were tampered with, their bodies cannot be healed overnight, and their psychological trauma still needs to be addressed. They are still just children—kids only around twelve or thirteen years old. They should be playing by their parents' sides and studying in quiet classrooms.
Instead, day after day in cramped rooms, they are forced to play with terrifying bugs, watching them crawl in and out of their bodies. They are even made to fight to the death at regular intervals. The slightest disobedience, the slightest reaction, the slightest response to any of their tests results in severe consequences. Beatings and scoldings are the least of it; even more horrifying is having to kill someone deemed a companion right before their very eyes.
They can no longer integrate into society. Their bodies might eventually be healed, but their minds—their entire futures!"
Though Zuo Zhe's face remained largely expressionless, the fury burning in his eyes grew increasingly intense. After Liao Zhong finished speaking, it was as if a sudden thought struck him.
"Brother Liao, apart from the excessive brutality of the methods, aren't most of their other practices quite similar to the ways many Outsider factions teach their own descendants? What do you say is the difference between the two?
Is it the difference between using terrifying, murderous methods to alter a person's cognition, versus kidnapping your children in the name of love—forcing them to work hard, forcing them to obey, forcing them to conquer every fear? Is there a real difference between these things? Or rather, is the difference even that big?"
Seeing Liao Zhong hesitate with words hanging on his lips, Zuo Zhe paused for a moment.
Then, he asked in an even heavier tone, "The huge difference between them is that those factions still treat children as human beings, whereas the Medicine Immortal Sect never did!
So what about The Company? What will The Company decide to do?
Will they heal their bodies, provide long-term psychological treatment, and then release them back into society? Or will they turn a blind eye to their damaged bodies and squeeze out every last drop of value they have left?
You have to remember, The Company is a corporation. It's an organization that yields little tangible benefit to itself, yet could weaponize them to quickly supplement its combat strength in a pinch."
His words grew increasingly chilling, and Zuo Zhe's expression and body stiffened into a fierce intensity.
In his eyes, The Company was akin to the nation itself. He hoped this nation would remain forever great, forever radiant.
He could not accept his country gradually rotting away for the sake of profit.
***
*As expected, just as the analysis reports stated.*
*Though Zuo Zhe may not have had the easiest survival in his original world, he was still fortunate—at least he had parents, siblings, and a life free of major worries for the most part.*
*Yet upon coming to this world, he had nothing left except the quilt and pillow he brought with him.*
*Because his former country was much like ours, the only difference perhaps being the existence of Outsiders, which made the situation here much better than what he was used to.*
*This implied that the nation he hailed from was facing numerous crises—crises so severe that he was powerless to change or participate in them.*
*Faced with those national issues, a profound fury burned within him. Upon arriving in this world, that very anger had even managed to banish the suicidal despair that once plagued him.*
*During the initial interrogation, even though many questions were left unasked, whenever he answered basic inquiries, he would naturally weave in other matters and speak of them on his own initiative...*
Internal thoughts swirling complexly, Liao Zhong's expression shifted in an instant from awkwardness and a hint of guilt to an expression Zuo Zhe found rather ambiguous.
Immediately following that, Liao Zhong dropped the sentence.
"So, for their safety and their future lives, their handling and care are entrusted to you."
Hearing Liao Zhong's words, Zuo Zhe's expression mirrored the moment on the internet when someone leaves a troll utterly speechless, only for the opponent to retort: "If you're so great, you do it."
That pause lasted for only a split second before vanishing.
"Brother Liao, I don't have this kind of experience, but I will do it. Besides, I trust you wouldn't leave me to handle all of this alone. I might just be a participant, but surely not the ultimate decision-maker, right?"
With those words, Zuo Zhe's previously robust and imposing posture suddenly gave off the gentle vibe of a kindly old grandfather.
"You aren't a fool at all, and you know this: if it were just a single individual, The Company might indeed act purely for profit. But a whole group of children? That's out of the question—especially when they are a group of innocent victimized children.
The only reason you said that just now is because you genuinely want to take part in raising and educating them."
Seeing Zuo Zhe's "how-did-you-know" expression, Liao Zhong responded with utter disdain.
*Quit the act. How could someone who keeps so many things bottled up inside possibly not know we'd see right through it?*
*It's just the classic 'let's all pretend to get along' routine; you just didn't want to break the illusion. Such exaggerated acting—I doubt even B-movies have performances as over-the-top as yours.*
*Not worth arguing with.*
"Duoduo, let's go. We'll finish your medical checkup today, and tomorrow we'll go see a movie together. From now on, no matter what you do, as long as you don't hurt anyone else, you don't need to worry about what we might think. Whatever you do is your own freedom."
"Mm."
Though Liao Zhong spoke at length, Chengduo's responses remained sparse.
Yet he did not mind it in the least at this moment, for this was only the beginning.
And it was a very good beginning, wasn't it?
He had been holed up in the bunker for nearly a year now. Ah, in such a long stretch of time, aside from the first few months when he rarely stepped outside, he was now able to move around quite extensively.
To pass the time, aside from familiarizing himself with the state of modern society, he had read quite a few books and learned numerous skills.
All of this was so he could live well once he eventually left this bunker.
Zuo Zhe had always understood that he could never stay here forever, nor could he ever return to that slightly tedious, somewhat ordinary home of his.