After a long wade through the damp drain, the boy finally saw the stars in the night sky again.

After turning off the night vision device with a blink, he kicked off the guardrail of the drain and jumped out. The first thing that catches your eye is a flat riverbank, next to which is a ribbon-like river that flows to an unknown destination.

Smelling the faint fragrance of leaves in the air and listening to the sound of rushing water, the boy collapsed on the soft soil next to the drain with relief, looking up at the bright starry sky with his back to the sky.

"Finally...... Free. ”

With a voice like a dream whisper, two lines of tears slipped from the corners of his eyes and gently swept across his cheeks.

The boy raised his hands and tried to wipe away his tears, but he couldn't wipe them away.

He knew that it was not a tear of sorrow, but a tear of emotion:

"Thank you...... Thank you ......."

He wept like a madman and thanked his hands for a long, long cry until his voice was so hoarse that he could not speak.

Tired of closing his eyes, there was immediately a memory that he didn't want to recall, occupying all his thoughts.

He has seen this unbearable memory countless times:

The teenager used to live in St. Petersburg with his parents, but seven years ago, when he was nine years old, his parents were killed in a car accident at the same time.

At that time, it was a colleague of his parents, Mr. Vincent from an East German research institute, who offered to take him in.

Although both parents died, he was not depressed at a young age.

In addition to that, he didn't want to disappoint Vincent, who had adopted him.

As a child, he thought that being a scientist was the noblest and most beautiful profession in the world.

And his parents' old friend, Vincent, the silver-haired man who always wears a white coat and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, is a scientist.

Vincent worked at a research institute in East Germany, along with many scientists from the Soviet Union.

Therefore, at that time, teenagers often used children's voices to tell Vincent about their dream of becoming a scientist, and always said that they wanted to go to the research institute.

Then, someday, about half a year later, Vincent asked:

"Do you want to join our research and contribute to the cause of science?"

"Of course!"

The boy, who was about to turn ten years old at that time, nodded without hesitation, with an expectant smile on his immature little face.

So, he followed Vincent to the Institute of Science in Siberia.

To this day, he still vividly remembers the first time he lay on the cold iron frame bed, and his whole body trembled with nervousness.

And the kind man who adopted him, while soothing himself in a gentle tone, fixed his body to the bed with a belt.

"Will this experiment hurt?" The boy, who was firmly tied on a leash, stared at his most trusted "loved one" with wide eyes.

"It might hurt a little, but that's okay, I'll reward you with a piece of chocolate when I get home." Vincent said absentmindedly.

"What are you going to do to me?" The boy continued.

"The experiment of killing response is mainly to study the physical condition of human beings in a near-death state, and to provide technical information for rescuing critically ill patients and euthanasia." The scientist who sent his adopted child to the test bench patiently explained the principle of the experiment.

"Dead? Am I going to die? The boy writhed uneasily.

"Of course not! Rest assured, it'll be over soon. Vincent's words are categorical.

At that time, the teenager was relieved because of such a promise. It wasn't until later that he realized the true meaning of the words, but unfortunately it was too late.

The content of the first day's "Reaction to Killing Experiment" was suffocation, a painful experience that the teenager really didn't want to recall. I just remember someone putting a black bag on their head and starting to time it in an emotionless voice:

"Thirty seconds, one minute, ninety seconds......"

The sound of the timer in his ears began to become blurred, and the boy who was overly deprived of oxygen struggled frantically, his lungs working harder than usual, but he could not get any oxygen.

Sharp pain began to come from his chest, followed by paralysis all over his body, and after about a minute, he finally lost consciousness with relief.

It was night when he woke up, but it felt like ten years had passed for him.

The boy struggled to open his eyes, and was surprised to find that his gaze was scarlet, and then slowly began to fade. He saw a lot of guys in white coats, standing beside him, holding all kinds of strange instruments and counting them.

"Ninety-four seconds after complete suffocation, the heart stopped."

"Visible purple pincers on the lips."

"How much is this?" A man in white stretched out two fingers and shook them in front of his eyes.

"II...... Ahem. The boy coughed and breathed greedily.

"There is no obvious damage to the brain, and the condition of the organs throughout the body needs further examination." The man in white was talking while quickly typing something on the portable computer in his hand.

At the time, the teenager did not know what such an experiment meant. When he saw Vincent's familiar face, he finally couldn't help but cry:

"Let me go......"

"No, you still need to measure your physical condition, and you can't leave until it's over." Vincent said in a flat tone.

At that time, the boy realized that something was not quite right, but he did not think too much about it, still naively thinking that he would be able to return home soon.

However, the development of events completely shattered his naïve illusions.

For the next seven years, he was imprisoned at the Northside Research Institute, where he became a test subject for the "Reaction to Killing Experiment".

Drowning, poisoning, massive blood loss, electric shock...... Countless inhumane ways of death were all inflicted on him.

But the cruelest thing is not death, but every time I think I can finally be freed, I am ruthlessly rescued by the doctor, and then continue this cruel cycle.

After thousands of "experiments with a reaction to killing", even he wondered why he was still alive.

He never gave up hope of escaping, but unfortunately at the end of each day's experiments, he would be injected with muscle relaxants and sedatives, and could only wait powerlessly for the "death penalty" the next day. Again and again, never stopping.

But......

The cogs of death that were spinning wildly stopped today.

There was not a day in seven years that the freedom that he did not desire was thus returned to his own hands.

Finally free, finally able to say goodbye to the cruel experiment, finally no longer have to experience the feeling of death every day. After seven years of being imprisoned at the research institute, he finally regained his freedom.

"I ...... Free...... Is it? ”

The boy slowly opened his eyes, wiped away the tears that had not dried from the corners of his eyes, and limped towards the river in front of him.