Chapter 2 - “Here’s your dinner”

Yisheng stared at his own reflection.

The solid black collar on his neck stood out against his pale skin. As if mocking him on his new status.

Dangerous Entity.

The doctor claimed, the ones with modified genes like Yisheng were the ones who held responsible for the high death toll these days. They were likely to develop mental disorder, aggressive/destructive behavior and majority of them had uncontrollable blood lust. This was a distinct feature of Dangerous Entity, they no longer need normal human food to sustain their life but rather, blood. That’s why they were deemed as non-human.

The Federation had been trying to investigate who were the ones behind substance M, what purpose they had in mind, what gain they would have from the disorder Federation was in, how could they track all Dangerous Entity and contain them before they wreak havoc.

But now, all Yisheng could do was surrender to fate.

Tomorrow the authorities would escort him to the containment zone.

Yisheng laughed dryly.

It was as if the life he had before was a fleeting illusion and all of the suden the mirage broke.

His grandma had died.

His friend Jingyi was still hovering between life and death.

He became a freaky creature with mental disorderwho soon-to-be prisoned for the rest of his life.

No longer human. No longer free. No future.

Anger, despair, sadness flooding his mind. His chest felt constricted as he gasped for air, the drumming of his heart could be heard loudly in his ears.

He was sweating profusely, his face pale like lacking blood and his eyes were bloodshot red.

Was this.. the onset of his madness?

_____________

Early in the next morning, the dreaded time arrived. Yisheng’s eyes were covered, he was handcuffed as they brought him to the transport vehicle. The officers didn’t say anything, the only sound he heard were the car engine, and click clacks of metals in between.

Some hours later the car stopped and the engine turned off. They must have arrived.

He walked for a few meters, entering what seemed like an elevator, and then another distance of walking until he was seated and they took off the blind. The light stung his eyes immediately.

“10081 Gu Yisheng” an elder man around 50 years old, wearing a gray uniform called, an acrylic name plaque on the table. Head Warden.

Yisheng silently stared at him.

“Your room is at C10 on the B3rd floor. No smoking, drinking, fighting, killing and drug use allowed except for prescribed meds from the medic. Everyone will get 1 blood bag every 2 days, you don’t have any right to ask for more, on what type of blood, how high the iron level and all the crap. No. Lights out at 9 PM. Obligatory medical check up every 1 month, every violation of the rules mentioned before will be punished accordingly. Do you understand?” The head warden looked at him intimidatingly, his eyes were cold with apathy. Like he won’t receive any other answer except yes.

“Yes” Yisheng answered.

“Ok, get him to his room” the man gestured another warden who stood by the door.

Just as he was about to leave the room, the head warden called him.

Yisheng looked back at him.

“Forgot to tell you. Welcome home to The Den. Enjoy your stay” clear sarcasm dripping from his tone.

Even if he wanted to deny it, but it was the bitter truth. This cage will be his home from now on. But that shitty head warden words were like rubbing salt all over his wound.

—————-

“Your name is Yisheng right, high schooler?” the warden tried to make small talk.

“Um”

“I’ll be the one in charge of your block. Name is Huang Ming” Huang Ming extended his hand for a handshake.

“I’ll be in your care” Yisheng smiled weakly.

They went into the elevator, Huang Ming pressed the B3 button.

“I know it isn’t right for me to say this but.. please don’t give up”

Their eyes met, Yisheng could perceive the sincerity of Huang Ming’s words.

“Thank you” Yisheng smiled out of courtesy.

How could he not give up? Didn’t he already lost everything? What’s there to fight for, what expectation should he have for his life? Zilch. Might as well just die and end everything. But the concept of death seemed to be too scary for him, and besides.. he still need to know about Jingyi, whether he could survive or not; whether he could still have a shred of connection with normal life or would he take another burden on his life out of the death of his grandma and Jingyi.

They stopped in front of a barred room, Huang Ming opened the lock as he informed loudly “Hey guys, you got new friend here!”

Yisheng’s eyes swept through the 2 persons inside the room.

A man wearing glasses who looked like in his late 30s. He was scribbling on a paper and in front of him was a thick book of God knows what.

A young man sitting on his bed, his long legs dangling at the bed’s edge. He might be taller than him by a few inches. His dark red eyes seemed to be glinting under the lamp’s light.

Yisheng got inside, nervously he tried to introduce himself.

“My name is Gu Yisheng, 18 years old. I’ll be in your care” he bowed slightly.

“Ye Jianwen, 36. I was a lecturer on anthropology at the Empire’s National University” the glasses man answered.

“Xiaohui, 20. Your bed is over there” he pointed at the bed far at the corner of the room. It was a bit messy, t-shirt, socks, photos and other trinkets scattered around the bed.

“Before you ask, that bed is unoccupied. Just throw those things to the trash” Xiaohui added.

“What happened?” He curiously questioned

“The guy was heavily neurotic right from when he got here, and it got worse. He killed himself yesterday” Xiaohui explained.

Yisheng paled. Jianwen caught how the color drained from the youth’s face. He got to his feet and approached him.

“Scared? Let me help you” Jianwen started to pick up the scattered things, Yisheng stiffly followed after.

“Thank you” Yisheng said, Jianwen nodded.

“Suicides isn’t a rare occurrence here, maybe everyone here ever thought about it, even only once” Jianwen’s voice was calm, like he was merely telling Yisheng about something common like the weather outside.

“Not me. Only weaklings did” Xiaohui interjected.

Jianwen smiled, “Then we should be glad we have a strong man like Xiaohui as our roommate”

“Damn right you should” Xiaohui sniggered.

“And you, Yisheng. Stop being drowned in pity party and depression, your mental heath would only get worse” Xiaohui stated firmly.

Yisheng blinked. Was his emotion shown clearly on his face? He didn’t notice. He felt ashamed.

“You better focus your energy on controlling your aggression, mental power or whatever the hell it is inside yourself. Maybe you can gain something” Xiaohui added.

“Something? Like what?”

“You see, Xiaohui had been training his control for months and suddenly 3 days ago his eyes turned dark red like now. He also claimed that at times, he got stronger physically, but to know the exact requirements of how the burst of power occur we need more time to research it” Jianwen explained, Xiaohui looked proud of himself.

“Maybe one day he would be like an Edward Cullen- minus the sparkly effect under the sunlight” taunted Jianwen, Xiaohui frowned in distaste.

“Does the authorities know about this?” Yisheng asked.

“I guess. Maybe it was also the reason why they will hold a tournament next month? Well, officially they say its purpose is as a media to vent our negative energies, lowering the aggression level but yeah.. highly likely they know about this”

“A tournament?” Yisheng asked.

“Yep, they will grant 1 wish of the winner. Of course it still have to be within their power”

1 wish. Maybe he could ask for 1 day out to visit his grandma’s tomb and Jingyi. But right now, what Xiaohui said was true.

He should stop being depressed. Learn to control his mental. Join the tournament and win. That’s his short term goal for now.

“You guys seems to get along well!” A familiar voice woke Yisheng up from his dazed state.

“Warden Huang” Jianwen offered him a polite smile.

“Here’s your dinner” He said as he put down the tray on the floor. There were 3 blood bags and 3 straws on it.

“Thank you Warden Huang” Jianwen took the tray and went to distribute the bags.

Yisheng’s eyes trembled in horror.

Seeing the unmoving Yisheng, Jianwen and Xiaohui shrugged. They stuck the straw into the bags and drunk the blood nonchalantly.

He saw the thick red liquid went out of the bag, straight into their mouth. Bile seemed to rush outward and burned his throat. He gagged, then ran to the toilet to vomit.

Xiaohui rolled his eyes and sighed. “Damn new kid”.

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