AERHABDAW 13

Chapter 13 — The Research Institute

Seeing the scene before her, Shao Leyan’s emotions surged. She suddenly thought of the moment she had knelt on the ground, begging Xiao Yi to spare her life—broken, battered, and half-dead. Had she looked just as wretched and hideous as this zombie?

The icy scalpel flashed with a cold, pale gleam as it passed before her tear-filled eyes.

Suddenly, her stomach twisted violently. A bitter taste rushed up her throat. Panicked, she hurried into the corner of the laboratory and bent over a trash bin, retching uncontrollably.

Fu Xingyan stopped his cutting. His long legs strode toward her quickly.

He crouched beside her, lifting her soft hair off her shoulders with his right hand while his left hand gently rubbed down along her spine.

His heart was knotted with worry, and even his voice carried a rare gentleness.

“Are you okay?”

Shao Leyan hadn’t eaten anything, so nothing but saliva and stomach acid came out.

“I’m fine,” she managed.

Disappointment flickered across Fu Xingyan’s handsome face.

He’d heard that Shao Leyan wasn’t afraid of lightning—that she even liked the feeling of pain. So he had specially arranged this dissection demonstration to attract her into joining the research institute, but the result was the complete opposite of what he hoped for.

“Sorry,” he said softly, “I thought since you like pain and stimulation, watching me conduct an experiment would excite you.”

After she finally recovered a bit, he helped her sit down on a chair.

She reached to take the cup of water he held out, but not only did he not let go, he even pressed the rim of the cup to her soft lips and said in a tone that allowed no refusal:

“Rinse your mouth.”

She wanted to say she could do it herself, but the apologetic expression on Fu Xingyan’s face overlapped so perfectly with the guilty look Fu Xingchen had worn last night when he hurt her… her resistance melted. The words she wanted to say were swallowed back down.

So she let Fu Xingyan feed her a few sips of water. After rinsing, she spat into the waste bin.

Fu Xingyan continued to rub her back and asked again, “Feeling better?”

Shao Leyan nodded quickly, terrified that he’d notice the heat rushing to her cheeks. Her eyes darted away.

“I do like pain… but I can’t watch the process of others being hurt. You didn’t know, so you don’t need to blame yourself.”

Fu Xingyan raised a brow, surprised.

She liked pain, yet she couldn’t bear to see the process of pain being inflicted?

The awakening of an ability was deeply tied to one’s personality and past experiences.

For Shao Leyan to awaken a resurrection ability, it almost certainly meant she had once suffered a severe, life-threatening injury.

His gaze deepened as he looked at her, shifting again and again.

The intoxicating scene from yesterday replayed endlessly in his mind. He had thought about her flawless face the entire night—he hadn’t slept peacefully for even a moment.

Now, with his brother not around, Fu Xingyan had no intention of letting this opportunity slip.

His expression softened to water-like gentleness, like he was her most loyal and devoted friend.

“Does lightning satisfy your need for pain?”

Shao Leyan nodded, her thoughts involuntarily drifting to Fu Xingchen’s usually cold and restrained face stained with the flush of desire. The contrast alone made her cheeks burn.

“Your brother is a powerful ability user,” she said. “Being with him helps enhance my abilities a lot.”

Fu Xingyan’s calm smile curved lightly on his full, rosy lips.

Only he knew that inside, vines of jealousy had already wrapped around his heart so tightly his breathing had grown harsh.

No matter how composed he tried to remain, the desire and obsession in his slightly narrowed eyes could not be hidden.

“What you saw earlier was only the beginning. The pain the test subjects experience is no less intense than a lightning strike. And with your resurrection ability, you are the perfect candidate for my experiments.”

Shao Leyan blinked, suddenly understanding why Fu Xingchen never allowed her to come to the research institute.

Fu Xingyan had been eyeing her all along—
More accurately, eyeing her ability.

Still, she was curious. Just how far could her ability resurrect?

“What should I do?”

Fu Xingyan’s lips curled proudly as he took her hand.

“Follow me.”

The Ability-Users’ Wing — Physical Research Room

The moment they entered, a blast of cold air hit her and made her shiver violently. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her teeth chattering.

“It’s so cold in here…”

Fu Xingyan removed his suit jacket and carefully wrapped it around her shoulders.

The jacket still held his body warmth and the faint scent of lavender. The comfort soothed her chilled body so much she couldn’t bring herself to refuse; she simply tightened the collar around herself naturally.

With both hands on her shoulders, he gently guided her into the inner operating room.

“There are some precautions I need to explain to you first.”

Shao Leyan nodded. “Go ahead.”

Fu Xingyan watched her closely. Her calm, defenseless expression made her seem like a naive little white rabbit wandering unknowingly into a wolf’s trap.

It was… beautiful.

His lips curved faintly, and his broad hands subtly tightened on her shoulders.

“First, I need to draw your blood to analyze it and extract your ability gene.”

Shao Leyan had already prepared herself. A blood draw was nothing—just like a medical checkup.

“Can I see the test results afterward?”

He nodded firmly. “Of course. You’re an ability user in the underground city—you have the right to see all experimental data.”

Shao Leyan didn’t doubt him.

“Okay. Then go ahead.”

She briskly rolled up her sleeve. Her slender, porcelain-white arm appeared before him, and Fu Xingyan’s eyes darkened slightly.

Yesterday, this arm had been wrapped around his brother’s neck. Today, it was stretched openly before him.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. His hand paused for a split second while picking up the syringe, but he quickly regained composure and continued the procedure he had performed countless times.

When the needle pierced her skin, his fingers brushed lightly against her smooth, jade-like flesh. The slippery, tingling sensation shot from his fingertips straight into his heart.

It felt like a jolt of electricity—numbing, tight, sending heat surging into his lower abdomen, where it collected like a growing flame with nowhere to go but upward.

The collection tube filled with bright red blood. Fu Xingyan took a long, steadying breath and smoothly removed the needle, pressing a cotton ball to the puncture site.

“No need.”

Shao Leyan gently pushed his hand away and lifted her arm to show him with a bright-eyed smile.

“See? I don’t need to stop the bleeding.”

The spot where they touched felt scalding hot. Fu Xingyan frowned slightly but didn’t pull his hand back. Following her gaze, he looked closely—and saw that her arm was flawlessly smooth, not even a pore visible, much less a needle mark.

The wound had healed the instant the needle left her skin.

A shadow of delight flickered in his eyes.

Shao Leyan didn’t notice his change in expression. She pulled down her sleeve out of habit and asked curiously,

“So what’s next?”