I opened my eyes with a groan, but I couldn't see anything. I also couldn't feel anything. I tried moving my limbs without thinking, and I heard something break off my arm. The next second, I felt a flood of pain hitting me from all over my body.
Caught off guard, I screamed in pain for a second before stopping silently, enduring the pain as I tried to remember what happened.
'I met Saitama back then, didn't I? I should be in a hospital now. I think I knocked over the painkiller equipment. The doctors should have heard my scream,' I thought to myself.
I gritted my teeth as I tried to distract myself from the pain. 'Hopefully I will recover soon. If that cult finds out I'm here, they would definitely seek vengeance for exposing them, although I doubt my report really did anything.'
Just as I was about to complain inwardly, I heard a door open and turned my head towards the sound even though I couldn't see anything.
"Oh? You're already awake, huh, it's nice to have a healing factor, isn't it?" a man said as he approached with slow steps.
I frowned as I thought 'Isn't that voice familiar?'
"But in your case, it's much closer to immortality. By the time you got here, you didn't even have a heartbeat. Your lungs had been stabbed into by your ribs, and you've lost too much blood to live," the man continued.
"Of course, you wouldn't remember that since you were unconscious, but I would like to apologize for the rough treatment during your transportation and welcome you to your new home..." The man calmly fixed the things I knocked over as he tried to continue, but I cut him off, finally recognizing him
"Doctor Genus, was it? Is this the house of Evolution?" I sincerely hoped I was wrong, but his next words crushed that hope immediately.
"Indeed, I'm flattered you've heard of me. Are you perhaps interested in history or evolution?" Genus said, pleasantly surprised.
"No, it's just that I heard the S Class Hero Zombie Man came to be from this place, and he's pretty popular, isn't he?" I responded casually now that the worst has come to be. What more is there to panic about?
"It's a shame that all of my research on him has gone up in flames, but now at least I've got you and don't worry, you will contribute greatly to humanity, and it's evolution," Genus said with a sigh.
"..."
"I've heard about you a little bit since you caught my interest. You went up against a Demon Level threat, didn't you? That's quite courageous and heroic. Even though you wouldn't die with your immortality, it must have been excruciatingly painful going up against that monster," Genus remarked as he removed the bandage over my face.
Looking me in the eyes, he told me, "That's why I have great plans for you. I plan to make you an Angel. I was researching mosquitoes, so originally I planned to combine a new species I created with your DNA to make you a vampire of sorts, but your story has inspired me to go beyond."
"Go Beyond? What will you do to me?" I asked, confused, although I already knew it wouldn't be anything good.
"I will try to increase your regeneration speed first, then I will add some enhancements to your physical strength. After that, I will begin to change your body. You will have Wings and a Vision that can focus on multiple things at once and see from a great distance along with other minor benefits," Genus explained.
'Compared to the rest of the house of Evolution, I would at least still resemble a human' I thought before speaking.
"Compared to the rest of your creations, it seems rather tame... Did you have a change of heart? You usually go for major strength enhancements instead of trying to maintain a human-like appearance..."
"How did you know about that?" Genus said, narrowing his eyes.
"Ah, it's nothing. You just seemed like that and my instinct is pretty accurate," I said, looking away slightly sweating.
"..."
"..."
"I suppose it's not too important. I will just change the location of my important bases just to be sure," Genus said, as if it was no big deal.
"How did you even find me?" I asked, changing the subject.
"It was quite a coincidence, really, one of my clones was just going to a restaurant in their free time when he saw a Bald Man running at incredible speeds past him in a Hero suit while holding you however that man was not in any of the Hero Association's hero rankings," Genus explained.
"It made him curious, and so he decided to find the identity of that hero and, by coincidence, he also found out about you while we had already failed at capturing him due to his incredible strength. Capturing you was a child's play." Genus finished rather melancholiously.
"Why do you sound so disappointed? Didn't you just go on about how I will contribute greatly?" I immediately responded.
While I didn't care about contributing at all, I still had some pride left, so naturally, being treated as a consolation prize by him was annoying.
"That's right, you certainly will, but had I gotten both of you, the Human Race would advance to near Godhood with both Extreme Strength, Regeneration, Flight and unparalleled Instincts. We would be unstoppable! With immortality like yours, the Human Race could have already conquered the Stars and beyond!" Genus excitedly yapped.
"You weren't exaggerating about that whole thing about me basically being dead when I came in here? Just how did I get that hurt? I don't think the Demon did that much damage to me. In fact, the stab wounds he dealt me have already healed," I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
"No, I did not exaggerate. As I've said before, your transportation was... roughly handled... It was due to a little jealousy on the side of the courier do forgive him as he was born a day prior to bringing you here," Genus said apologetically.
"Don't worry. This might be the nicest kidnapping I've ever experienced. I've only been kidnapped once, but I would say it's a solid 2,1/5 stars worthy attempt," I joked.
Genus chuckled before excusing himself after looking at his watch.
After he left, I just stared at the ceiling blankly without any particular thoughts as I sighed.
I knew this would be my home from now on for a long while.
'I didn't even get to do my training the day I fought that demon...' I thought apathetically.
Clenching my fist, I wondered 'did I grow stronger? Training is just breaking your body to build it up again, so healing from these should make me stronger, right?'
Either way, I would still need even more strength to get out of here enough for me to at least defeat Carnage Kabuto.
And that would take a long time.
By the 5th hour of waking up, I was still just staring at the ceiling.
Nothing had happened since I talked with Genus and this room was completely white with almost no other color except for the bed and the medical equipment in the room.
My mind was still as empty as before, but now I didn't feel like my situation was as bad as I had thought: 'As long as he doesn't dissect me without anesthetics, is it really that bad?'
Maybe I was just gaslighting myself since I had no hope of escape, but since nothing had happened yet, I wasn't worried at all as I avoided thinking of the future as much as possible.
With a yawn, I went into a dreamless sleep.
I was woken up by the door opening as Genus and his clones walked into my room.
"So it's time for my evolution, huh?" I got up and asked them.
"Not yet, today will we only experiment to increase your regeneration speed. We will get started now as you have already fully healed your wounds," one of the Genuses replied.
"Your evolution is still some time away. Be patient until then. It's a delicate process, for now just come with us," another Genus continued.
Nodding, I followed them, trying to remember the halls and doors we passed. It didn't take long to get to where I would be experiencing my first experiment. It was Room 8.
"You can just sit on the bed. You won't receive anesthetics for this first part of the experiment, as it's nothing too painful. You will just drink some of the things we give you, and we will see how your body reacts to them," one of the Genuses said as he sat on a chair.
Another Genus handed me a Green Flask and took out a pen and paper. "Just tell us how you feel after drinking it, and we will take some samples after."
I didn't answer as I took a deep breath and drank it in one go.
Immediately, I felt dizzy, and my eyes became watery "huh? Why am I crying?" I muttered as I looked at the hand. I wiped my tears with
Nothing hurt, although I felt like everything was upside down and, for some reason, I was crying.
"Dizzy... What else do you feel? Sadness? A feeling of emptiness? Euphoria? That drug specifically targets your immune system and is currently killing you without your brain knowing a thing. It must be hard to move, right?"
"Now that you mention it, moving feels awkward... Wait, did you just say it's killing me!?" I nearly shouted as I snapped out of my daze for a second.
"There's an antidote here, and you are immortal. There's nothing to worry about. It will feel just like sleeping for you." Genus casually dismissed my words with excuses.
With a scoff, I ignored his lack of empathy and changed the subject: "What does that Virus have to do with making me cry? The tears still aren't stopping.
"That's just a side effect of the poison telling your brain everything is fine, continuously overwhelming it. Your crying is just how the brain deals with overwhelming emotions," Genus explained.
"What does this experiment even have to do with anything?" I asked
"Usually, regeneration abilities start with the brain. However, when you were brought here, even your brain had stopped working, so by isolating your brain from the source of the damage and seeing if it is healed or not, we want to confirm that your brain is indeed unrelated to your regeneration ability." Genus explained
"Science is based on repeated evidence after all," the other Genus stated with a nod as he took a needle and grabbed my arm.
After drawing some blood, he went to analyze it as the other two Genuses got up and went near me, sighing, "It's about time the Poison should have done enough damage, so lay down now we will examine that damage and the healing process."
I narrowed my eyes and said, "You don't mean..." But I didn't get to finish as I was interrupted.
"Yes, we will now dissect you, but don't worry, since the Poison has completely taken over your body's senses, you won't feel a thing you are more of a corpse than a person already seeing how pale you've become," Genus said, as if he didn't just admit he would dissect me without any anesthetics and poisoned me.
My expression froze as I silently promised in my heart 'next time I see a doctor, I'm going to punch them right in the face. If I could move now I would have already done it!"
Seeing that I didn't move or respond, the 2 Genus clones just moved me themselves and one of them said casually, "Don't be scared, we will cut off your oxygen flow to the brain so you will pass out before you can feel anything."
'Aren't you just admitting that you're killing me right now? You son of a mother!' I complained inwardly while trying to maintain my politeness as the Genus Clones started dissecting me.
After a few minutes of watching them cut me up without feeling anything, I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was in my room again staring at the ceiling, this time with a mocking thought 'as long as they don't dissect me without anesthetics, how bad can it really be, huh?'