Chapter 18

Sera Westbrook's POV

I was a little taken aback, but I asked without changing my expression, "Is something wrong?"

Kyle said, "Your heart rate rose for no reason. Do you remember what happened back at the military warehouse?"

I looked at him silently. "I know."

Just then, Vera opened two cans of ready-to-eat food. "Stop chatting. Come eat something first."

I was actually a little hungry, so I said to Kyle in a low voice, "I'll tell you after the meal."

We ate in a relaxed, pleasant mood.

After the meal, there were no other tasks, and most of the team went back to their rooms to rest.

Kyle and I walked into the command room, sat down at the round table, and looked at each other. I was the first to break the silence. "I saw that code again."

Kyle asked, "On that body?"

I said, "Yes. The same code, K-7. Exactly the same."

Kyle didn't say much—he only asked, "K-7. Did you used to work with them?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

If that were true, K-7 was most likely a work group or organization, tied to me in countless ways.

At that point, I froze.

If I belonged to the K-7 organization, then was I safe right now?

Just then, something occurred to me. "Kyle, why did you build the Titan in the first place?"

Kyle poured me a glass of cold water. "Because I received some intelligence. The intelligence showed the disaster was coming."

I asked, "Where did the intelligence come from?"

"Thanks to my work." Kyle said, "I had access to some secret and important agencies."

I said, "All right. I understand."

Kyle looked at me. "Since there's nothing else, you should go back and rest. There's too little information right now."

I said, "Got it."

After the conversation, we each went back to our quarters to rest.

Dorian had spent the whole night in the third-deck medical bay.

By the time I came down, seven sealed glass tubes were laid out on the table, each filled with green liquid. Every tube opening faced the same direction, and even the spacing between the glass tubes was identical.

Kyle had arrived before me. Dorian was holding one glass tube and said in a relaxed tone, "The concentration of this stuff is much higher than the plant-based green pills. Theoretically, it should lower her GCI."

"How much can it lower?" Kyle asked.

"No idea. First time using it—we'll have to see how she reacts." Dorian put the tube back on the rack, then added, "The side effect is that she'll be weak for a while. After all, I've never developed an inhibitor before. Once my technique is more practiced, the side effect should disappear. The problem is that her neural responses aren't accurate, so you need to watch her condition constantly and not miss any abnormality."

Kyle nodded. "I understand."

Just then, Dorian waved at me. "Sera, come give it a try."

Dorian handed me the inhibitor and explained how to use it. When he finished, he injected the inhibitor into my body, and I felt nothing. A few seconds later, the number on my wristband began to change: 95%, 93%, 91%, 89%, dropping steadily, finally stopping at around 88% and holding there.

Dorian visibly relaxed and smiled. "Congratulations. Your GCI has finally returned to normal."

I looked down at the GCI reading on my wristband. My GCI had finally come down.

But Dorian said the inhibitor might have some side effects.

My expression was a little heavy. If my ability was temporarily suppressed, did that mean I'd become someone to be protected again?

I hoped Dorian could develop an inhibitor with almost no side effects soon.

Dorian had me sit in the medical chair for half an hour of observation. The chair was hard, and the backrest wouldn't adjust higher. I sat quietly for half an hour.

"How does it feel?" Kyle asked.

I frowned, flexed my fingers, and for the first time in a long while felt the blood moving under my skin. I pinched the pad of my finger with my nail and could even feel a faint thread of pain.

I blinked, a little stunned. "…I can feel pain."

But not much. Even pinching hard, I could only feel a faint, uncertain pain.

Just then, Dorian immediately walked over, took my wrist, and asked what exactly I felt.

I shook my head and told him every sensation I had.

He wrote notes while explaining, "This may be a neural reaction caused by the drug. Her feedback pathway was severed, so theoretically she should feel nothing, but the drug may have briefly activated part of the pathway, which is why she can feel something—but not much."

Kyle watched me and asked, "Are there any negative effects?"

Dorian shrugged. "I don't know. I've never seen a situation like this before. But from how Sera looks right now, there shouldn't be any negative effects."

Kyle stood at the door, his right hand hanging at his side, watching me silently.

Then I had another strange sensation.

It came from my chest. I pressed my hand to my left chest and felt my heartbeat—something I hadn't felt in a long time. Very faint, but rhythmic, regular, very healthy.

It was hard to describe how I felt at that moment. Something even welled up in my heart, a faint, sour strangeness. I hadn't felt that in many years.

After losing my senses, I'd always felt I wasn't fully human. How could a human not feel pain?

But now, I finally had the real sense of being human.

Half an hour later, the number stabilized at 88%, with no further drop and no rebound.

I tried to condense a film of water. The first attempt failed; the second succeeded. Dorian said this was normal—although the drug suppressed the rise in GCI, it would temporarily disrupt sequence stability, and it would recover in a few hours.

I asked him if it would affect combat. He said it would for now, so I couldn't use my ability today—at least not until the drug's effects stabilized. Once he developed an inhibitor with fewer side effects, these problems would be solved.

I let out a soft breath, and a sense of reassurance rose in me.

I smiled. "Thank you, Dorian."

"Don't thank me. Thank Kyle." Dorian patted my shoulder and said meaningfully, "I used him to test the drug, after all. Your sensations—he's the most familiar with them. Naturally, he knows what you can and can't bear."

I looked at Kyle in surprise, but Kyle just watched me quietly and said concisely, "Get some rest. I'll be with you the whole time."