Ilso drove quickly to the suburbs, and Sains’ private secret research institute soon appeared in the forest ahead. Sains was a scientific madman.
He was passionate about scientific research and loved challenges. His research needed funding, and Ilso greatly appreciated and supported his work and interests. So they became best friends.
Sains hadn’t slept. He always worked continuously for several days before sleeping for over ten hours, maintaining full energy and a clear mind.
He was curious but not surprised by Ilso’s sudden late-night visit. He joked with Ilso: “Hey, Ilso, I heard your most beloved slave died. You’re not coming here to confide in your loneliness, are you?”
Knowing this news, he didn’t feel sorry and was even somewhat happy. He didn’t want to see his good friend ruined by a worthless slave.
Ilso smiled silently.
Sains patted Ilso’s shoulder again: “I think there’s nothing to regret. Your life won’t change, it might even get better.”
“Maybe,” Ilso responded, just like usual.
“Ilso, you really haven’t changed. And here I was worried about you for a while.”
Ilso gave a mysterious smile, placing a small box on the table: “Sains, shall we have a drink together?”
Sains slapped his forehead: “Wait, I’ll go to the cellar to get a good wine. You know, you can’t drink while doing research, and wine can’t be kept here.”
Ilso removed his white gloves: “No need. I have some in my box. Take a look and see if you like it.”
Sains opened the small box, saw its contents, and was stunned: “This… this is…”
Ilso asked with a smile.
Sains was speechless. He didn’t know what to say, and after a long time, he said: “Ilso, are you… crazy?”
He thought this matter had no impact on Ilso, and since two months had passed, it should have been forgotten. But the facts were entirely opposite. All the calm was just a prelude to a volcanic eruption.
Ilso’s smile was mysterious and composed, his voice intimate and gentle: “Sains, I’ve always considered you my best friend. If you feel the same, then join me for this drink.”
Sains kept shaking his head: “I thought you were normal, but… you’ve really gone mad, truly mad…”
“Maybe so, I really have a bit of a problem, but what does it matter. If possible, after finishing this drink, help me do a surgery. You know, no one but you can do this surgery.”
Sains still shook his head.
Ilso took out a bottle of champagne and two glasses, elegantly pouring a glass and handing it to him, his ice-blue eyes constantly flashing: “Come, Sains, let’s have a drink?”
Sains kept sighing, but still took the glass: “What else can I do, you know, I can’t refuse you.”
Ilso laughed: “Don’t you find this job interesting? What could be more interesting than this?”
Sains drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, then stared at the items in the box, his eyes bursting with a fanatical light: “Very interesting! I really love it!”
Half an hour later, everything was ready. Sains took Ilso to his special operating room, asking him one last time: “Ilso, it’s not too late to cancel the decision now. You know, this is very risky.”
Ilso had already taken off his clothes and lay down on the operating table, smiling: “You know me well, don’t you.”
He closed his eyes. He was Ilso, and what Ilso decided would never change.
Sains sighed, put on surgical gloves, and picked up the shiny surgical knife. That night, he removed a rib from Ilso’s body.
The same night, the same moment, Fux carried the dying “Fux” and ran downstairs frantically. He had never been this anxious and flustered before. Jacques, who couldn’t sleep and was wandering around, inadvertently saw his master carrying someone and hurriedly leaving. This was the first time he had seen Fux so nervous and rushed.
He really wanted to follow and see, but he didn’t have the courage to risk his life, so he could only hide in the distance, quietly observing and looking for an opportunity.
In less than half an hour, Fux arrived at Sains’ private research institute.
Sains was surprised by his sudden visit. Fux didn’t like to visit others’ places and had never been interested in his affairs. Being this urgent, what had happened?
When Fux carefully placed the “thing” in his arms on the sofa and said: “Consider it a favor to me, please help him,” Sains was shocked that his glasses almost fell off, he could hardly believe his eyes: “Fux, this person…”
“Just as you see, I have nothing to explain. I just want you to save him, that’s all. Of course, you can name your conditions.”
“But this seriously violates regulations and will cause big trouble if it gets out…”
“Just save him. All other matters have nothing to do with you.” Fux’s tone was unusually irritable: “Rules? To hell with them! Who hasn’t done something against the rules? Haven’t you done it too? Come on, Sains, save or not?”
Such a choice was difficult. Sains sighed: “I’ll try.”
This was an unspoken secret, so they had to help each other sometimes, even though they weren’t allies. More importantly, this was a very fresh and challenging matter.
As the empire’s top scientist and inventor, how could he refuse such a challenge?
Adam’s Rib
“His multiple body organs have different degrees of atrophy and damage, especially his heart, with large areas of cells dying. I need to extract corresponding cells from your body for cultivation and transplantation. Moreover, he must be isolated for round-the-clock treatment and observation, and the time may be very long,” Sains told Fux.
This “Fux” was cloned using Fux’s genes, perhaps replicating Fux’s important organs and then transplanting them into a new body. This was a top-tier and dangerous technology that violated the empire’s strict law forbidding self-replication. If discovered, it would be a serious matter.
Fux had probably conducted this self-replication privately.
Although he could find experts in this field, he lacked the conditions and environment necessary to implement this plan. Doing this rashly could result in a congenitally deficient, physically deformed, and unhealthy semi-finished product or a failure.
But would Fux not let go of this strange semi-finished product? How interesting.
Fux was truly crazy, just like him. Although risky, Sains did not reject such a profound and dangerous research and surgery. This was his greatest pleasure and pursuit, worth sacrificing everything.
“Whatever, just take it,” Fux answered without hesitation.
Sains laughed. It turned out that Fux had fallen in love with “Fux”, just as he loved technology.
Because he cannot love others, cannot generate feelings of “love”, he might as well love himself, only love himself, right? For Fux, this might be the best way out and future, though it sounds crazy. Sains picked up the scalpel and thought.
“There’s hope, isn’t there, if it’s you?” Fux stared and asked.
“Maybe. I won’t accept failure,” Sains said without looking up.
Before dawn, Fux quietly left. Sains was still immersed in researching “Fux”, though he had just finished Ilso’s matter and hadn’t slept for days, but he showed no sign of fatigue. Instead, he was more passionate and devoted, just like Fux’s crazy infatuation with “himself”.
“Ilso, I need to know the whereabouts of the secret billion-yuan fund you allocated to Fux,” Mis said.
Ilso stopped typing and turned his face: “I’ve verified that Fux indeed needs a huge amount of funds to eliminate the remnants of the guerrilla forces. You know, he recently obtained some important intelligence that will help him destroy the guerrillas.”
“I’ve heard about this, and it seems quite effective. The terrorist attacks in the city have dropped by more than two-thirds.”
There’s also another secret fund of tens of billions allocated to Sains. I want to know if this investment is worthwhile.”
