"I don't want your best. I want your guarantee that it will succeed," Fred said as he stared at Rhea.
She took a deep breath and nodded firmly. "I promise it’ll be a success."
Seeing Rhea’s confident look, Fred nodded. "Good. Keep up the spirit, okay?"
He then lowered his head and said to a mouthpiece, "Is everything ready?"
After receiving a reply, Fred nodded and looked up at Rhea and three other surgeons. "Please get ready and change into surgical gowns now."
They went in deeper, and Rhea found a sterile room and an operating room, complete with all the surgical equipment necessary. Fred must have gone to great lengths to build this place in Hyderland in secret.
When they put on their surgical caps and masks, Fred got changed and joined them too. As they were the only people around, Rhea threw him an inquiring look.
Fred smiled." Don't worry. The test subjects will be here soon."
He called the queen and Lily test subjects, but Rhea didn't see any problem with that. If she had any doubts before, Fred had won her completely over by now.
She thought she was obsessed enough with experimenting and creating things, but Fred made her realize what real dedication was. It wasn't easy spending so many years preparing for one thing and not being able to share it openly with others.
At this moment, two boxes were pushed inside and opened before them. As Rhea expected, one of them contained Lily. She was awake, sitting quietly with her hands tied up. She was blindfolded too, so she couldn't see her surroundings.
When the other box opened, Rhea saw the queen of Yudonia for the first time and was impressed by her. Although the woman was old, she sat elegantly in her wheelchair, showing no signs of fear or anger.
The queen glanced around asking Fred, "Is it finally time to begin?"
Fred smiled. "Yes, my dear queen. It is. Are you happy?
"You look happier than me, that's for sure," the queen mocked.
"Of course, I'm happy. My dream is about to come true after so many years. That said, you should be happier than me to be achieving immortality soon," Fred said cheerfully.
The queen sneered. “We still don't know whether I'll be achieving immortality or death, do we?"
"Come on, don't be so pessimistic, Your Majesty!" Smiling, Fred remained hopeful. "I've brought the best neurosurgeons in the world. The experiment will be a success.”
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