Mike’s heart raced, and his stomach turned. However, Rhea gave no response to the “boss’s” face and instead cocked her head to admire it. She loosened her grip after a while, and the “boss” simply slid back onto the chair.
Rhea took a wet wipe to clean her fingers, then drawled, “What do you think of my bargaining chip?”
“Bargaining chip?” Stunned, Mike looked over his shoulder at her and caught on after two seconds. “You’re saying he’s your bargaining chip?”
He pointed toward the man.
‘Yes, he used to be somebody but not anymore. Why would Rhea treat him as her bargaining chip?’
“Didn’t you say the organization abandoned him, and he now means nothing to them?” Mike took a deep breath to calm himself down, disgusted by what he saw. When he first saw what the boss looked like, he felt appalled but not as revolted as he was now.
The scary and dirty face had a few more bloody wounds, making it look even more unnerving and disgusting. However, the young and beautiful Rhea calmly admired the face fearlessly. Such a sight was unsettling and eerie to Mike.
He suddenly realized something and asked, “Did you do something to him?”
Rhea smiled smugly. “You’re not as dumb as I thought, huh? Look at his face. Isn’t he uglier now? It’ll worsen because all his skin will soon rot and fall off…”
Feeling nauseated, Mike said, “I don’t need to hear it.”
He looked away as his stomach turned.
His reaction pleased Rhea as she leaned back and said, “Come on, it’s only a process. Every transformation is painful. That’s the price to pay if we want to transform ourselves.”
“Transformation?”
“That’s right!” Rhea said, her eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. “It’s like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. Have you seen a snake shedding its skin? It’s somewhat similar. The old decaying flesh will fall off, and a new one will replace it.
“This involves cellular repair and regeneration of fresh… If I succeed, I’ll be remembered by generations to come!” She stood up excitedly as if she had already succeeded.
“But you’re not sure yet?” Mike asked.
“Of course, it’s still in the experimental stage. Anyway, I’m running out of time.” Rhea shrugged and sounded upset, no longer pumped up as before. She had been researching this secretly, hoping to produce good results.
She knew the organization only cared about the R10 experiment. Other research projects were just smokescreens. However, she was proud of her experiment and wanted to make it work.
She could only do it in secret and had yet to succeed. Unfortunately, the organization expedited its plan, and she could not wait any longer as she did not want them to abandon her.
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