The helicopter rolled and landed in a hastily cleared clearing, and although she knew that the curved blades that were constantly whirring above her head were still far away, Catherine subconsciously lowered her head first, opened the cabin door, and jumped.

She stood still on the mottled ground, straightened up, and looked around—she couldn't believe it was the "Tower of Babel" she had once been so familiar with, and she didn't even know where she was. Smoke and dust obscured the sky, and everywhere there were piles of dark dirt, twisted steel bars, broken concrete blocks, broken grooved slabs, crystal glass and metal protruding from some limbs, piece by piece, piece by piece, piece by piece, a large tree with a diameter of several feet at breast height stood steadily about fifty paces or so in front of her right—upside down, the dense canopy crushing dozens of feet of ground, and some of the leaves covered with the white foam of the fire extinguisher, The charred roots tangle like the hairy legs and feet of a spider and stretch out into the gray-blue sky. Two men were wielding small chainsaws, which were supposed to be used for autopsies, and with a slight buzz they cut off the branches that blocked an artificial path, and they were so engrossed that the branches were crackling down with their leaves, and translucent cyan juice oozed from the fractures.

They made way for Catherine and her party, and the artificial path was very narrow and not very straight, because there were often large buildings in the middle of the road that could not be moved for a while, and Catherine and the others were silent, and walked for nearly half an hour with the people who had come to greet them, before they saw ...... The reason why the medical department hesitated was because the changes here were too big for them to be sure at first glance, even if they were not completely unrecognizable, but they were already so large that they did not dare to immediately determine at first glance - the white flat-roofed low tower building used to resemble a human molar, and now this molar had been caved out, this hole was black and deep, and the edges were uneven, and when Catherine and the others walked through here, they could see layers of metal and rock that seemed to bloom outward, it was like a strange rainforest flower in its prime, Several gray-white fire hoses protruding from the unrecognizable interior spread evenly at the mouth of the cave, and they reminded Catherine of the stamens of Lycoris rose.

"I thought war was far away." One of the companions muttered, "Is this being bombed or shelled?" ”

"Neither." The greeter stopped and joined them in gazing at the creepy ruins: "An accident...... Detonated the oxygen cylinder warehouse. ”

Catherine pursed her lips and didn't speak, several people behind her were a little strange in terms of expressions and eyes, the G section of the Tower of Babel was not public, but insiders knew that there was such a place, but most people didn't have the opportunity and power to understand it deeply - it was a cage that was so tight that there was no crevice: a room without the slightest privacy, pure steel, rocks and electricity, monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and completely closed in case of emergency, Even the air and water from the outside world cannot enter the passage, and the special abilities and dangerous prisoners are regularly injected with tranquilizers and muscle relaxants to keep them in a docile and weak semi-comatose state - what happened to make the entire G-Sector become the miserable ghost it is now?

The man beside Catherine squirmed his lips as if he wanted to ask some other question to clear his confusion, but the greeter had already turned and strode forward, apparently not ready to say anything more.

***

"Your vacation is canceled," was the first thing the leader said when he met Catherine, and the second said, "Go to work." ”

The brief meeting was over, and the last man came out of his room, leaning on the bench at his desk, reaching into the cigar box behind him—which contained his beloved candy, which had been happening in a few hours that gave him a splitting headache and a bitter mouth—but felt empty.

The leather chair, which had been facing away from the entire office, turned around, and the cigar box was held in the hands of another person, who held it up and raised it to the owner of the "Tower of Babel": "I thought you didn't need this a long time ago. The strange man said calmly, "This kind of thing...... Eating too much won't do you any good. ”

"I know." The boss hesitated, but finally decided to tell the truth to the man: "I can't control myself, I'm in a terrible mood and I'm slow to react...... It can make me feel better a little bit - only for a few days...... I have to get the situation under control...... How much time do I have left? ”

"How much time is left? "Luckily we're not the FBI or the state police, we've never had our team and criminals appear in the newspapers or on television, we've never registered our patients with the National Center for Psychiatric Control and Research, and now very few people know what the hell is wrong here-—— but that's only until one guy starts to get ready to get sick, and any of them, once they commit another crime out there — you can't deny that they're all special enough, It's unforgettable, then we'll have to explain to the bounties and the damned bureaucrats. He paused, looked at the leader's terrible face, opened the humidor and handed it over: "Actually, someone has come to express their genuine concern and heartfelt wishes, and they hope to be able to ...... Provide certain necessary assistance. ”

The toffee pinched between the fingers was snapped in two.

For many people, the "institution" is a sweet and huge piece of toffee, it is not a real state apparatus, there is no real power figure who can be put on the table, there is no formal system, there is no clear system, there is no allocation from the state treasury, and even the social insurance system lacks a part of it; While the institution is indeed rich, the rich don't need any help from the state at all, and even putting aside the bounties that have accumulated in recent decades (how many people are willing to break the bank in exchange for a chance at revenge), the foundation of the institution alone, a foundation made up of half of the world's richest people, is enough for this particular organization to function for hundreds of years - the reason why greedy politicians and families have been slow to do so may be the lack of a loophole big enough to interfere with it.

"I'm sorry."

The boss said. The toffee melted in his hands.

The man did not speak for several minutes, and then he suddenly brought up another topic that seemed unrelated to the previous one; "Your ...... When did it start when things got bad? He closed the humidor and put it in the inner pocket of his coat: "Maybe you should do a thorough examination first, both physical and mental." He said.

***

Before returning to the workplace, the underground area that had been destroyed by the "oxygen cylinder explosion", Catherine first met her partner.

Abel didn't look very good, which was normal, and no one who had passed by such a serious disaster would put on a good face, but to Catherine's surprise, this man's attitude and mood were very different from before...... Especially when faced with her, his emotional fluctuations are extremely chaotic, soft, and fragile...... It's hard for others to see; His way of thinking and acting has never been out of his old nest, his legs, feet and arms are strong and steady, his reflexes are quick, his mind is clear, and his work is as good as ever—the elevator connecting the Tower of Babel to the outside is almost completely paralyzed, the helicopter is carrying a drop in the bucket, the other members of the operation team are more inclined to destruction, only Able can provide the medicines, tools, and instruments that are needed now—as long as there is life, and the research center in the Tower of Babel is full of all kinds of creatures, rats, rabbits, monkeys, Orang...... It doesn't matter if he can consume as much as he wants, except for people.

"What happened?" Catherine asked bluntly, perhaps rudely, but as a partner she had the power to do so—the personal condition of an action team member would directly affect his survival rate and that of others: "I'm talking about you, Abel. ”

Abel grabbed a monkey, and the monkey chirped, paws pulling apart his arms and chest, "Nothing," he said, and after a faint flash of light, he had an extra potion in his hand: "I just found the answer to a question." ”

The monkey's fear and despair affected Catherine, but she now knew how to isolate it: "The right answer? ”

“…… For me," Abel stretched out his arm towards the second monkey, the more human-like creatures it was, the more precise it was to be exchanged: "Correct, very right." ”

He discovered this ability when he was ten years old, and his precocious mind allowed him to control this ability well, and before and after entering the institution, he did not let this ability hurt anyone for no reason - it made him proud of himself, although he often laughed at himself: maybe in the face of life and death, there is a great possibility that he would trade the lives of others for his own life, but again, he always held on to a slim hope, that is...... If only his sanity could suppress the instinct to survive - as he would have jumped off a boulder without hesitation when he realized that his abilities were out of control a few hours ago.

He thought he could sacrifice himself, and that on the scale of life and death, the plural should have been more important than the singular.

But when he was swept up by the violent wind, like a thin little berry struck the stone, he regretted it, he never thought that death could be so painful, so long...... The wind's hand grasped him as if the man, who weighed more than one hundred and twenty pounds, was just a small feather, and he had been thrown several times into the rock, once on the shoulder, once on the pelvis, once on the cheek...... Clothes and skin were worn away by the rough rock face, flesh was pulled and torn apart, bones shattered like biscuits, his eyeballs flew out of his eye sockets with nerves - and at last he was thrown into an elevator, his body crashing on the top of the bridge, blood splattering onto the small observation window, and the people inside looked at him with wonder and pity, as if they were looking at a dog that had suddenly crashed into a car.

They're breathing, their hearts are beating, their brains are working, they're alive and refreshed.

And he was dying, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't feel his heartbeat, and even the pain had become so slight and elusive.

He stretched out his hand with the last of his strength, his fingers touching the hard metal, he couldn't touch the people, and he fell into the darkness with hatred.

But in the end, he woke up, and the elevator was empty, and the humans had left no trace.

How cheap life is, and how precious it is.

(To be continued)

Well, there is one more chapter in this volume that is over - these two chapters have a lot of psychological descriptions, which are particularly difficult to write, and I have been busy with work recently, so I really can't spare time, only to see if I can write a little more on the rest day, and I ask you to be tolerant!

Yuyu bows and thanks!