The leech blood with adhesive force hit her face, turning thick and viscous after detaching from the mutated leech itself. It wrapped around the heart like nerves, enclosing Subject Zero inside.
Consciously, Subject Zero felt awake. As copious amounts of blood cocooned her into a blood pupa, her senses hadn't completely failed yet; she could still hear the soldiers' final assault on the leeches, and the cries of NPC Maggie. But that was all she could do—listen; her eyelids heavy, closed, sinking into slumber.
From the outside, the blood pupa containing Subject Zero looked eerie, with the desiccated leech turning into grotesque wrinkled skin surrounding the building-high blood pupa. The oval pupa under the moonlight, resembled a hatched egg, shimmering with the luster of a dazzling ruby. Touching it felt warm and elastic, just like human skin.
Fortunately, people could still see Subject Zero clearly from outside. The life-sign monitor brought over showed that Subject Zero was still alive. Her breathing was steady, and her pulse slowed but strong.
"Can't die, can't be saved. All we can do now is wait," Colonel Barton commanded. Although this leech incident caused some casualties, it also served as an opportunity for cooperation between the rebel army and the Government Army.
After extracting DNA samples from the mutated leeches, Expert Sofia and her team analyzed the soil and water of the Kapa Military District, finding a large amount of mutated leech eggs in local soil and water quality. Despite the antivirus treatment and soil improvement, the leech eggs couldn't be eradicated. After discussions and consultations in 2564, Colonel Barton decided to relocate the Kapa Military District. This time, however, he was not in this alone; he extended a friendly invitation to the rebel camps including Colonel Washington.
Bosha was diagnosed under the complete medical conditions of the government, his illness was not the same as those seen in viewing pigs; it was merely ordinary scarlet fever. To improve living conditions in residential areas, Colonel Washington agreed to consolidate the rebel camp with the Government Army camp.
All this happened while Subject Zero was unconscious. By the next full moon, the relocation preparations for the Kapa Military District were nearly complete.
The blood pupa remained unchanged, although the gem-like luster had dimmed significantly. The surface of the blood pupa had loosened considerably, too. In a month's time, like the phases of the moon, the blood pupa had gone through a complete degradation process.
Except for NPC Maggie and her now recovered brother Bosha, no one dared approach the blood pupa.
"Bosha, what are you doing?" That night, as usual, NPC Maggie wanted to tell everything that happened to Subject Zero. Listening to her mother's words, she believed Subject Zero would eventually emerge from the blood pupa, but in a few days, the whole military region would relocate, and they couldn't take the strange blood pupa with them. As Maggie was reflecting on this, Little Boxia curiously scraped off a piece from the blood pupa.
In the early stages of the blood pupa's formation, Colonel Barton had tried many methods to cut it open, but none succeeded. Little Boxia's seemingly careless action actually scooped out a large chunk.
This set off a chain reaction. The small hole led to countless tiny cracks swiftly forming on the entire blood pupa. Fluffy material continuously fell off, and a large amount of air poured into what previously seemed a solid blood pupa, which had somehow turned hollow.
After more than a month, NPC Maggie saw the real Subject Zero again. Under the full moon, her face previously covered in leech blood, was clean. Her originally slightly dull tropical Chinese complexion had also become bright and snow-white. Her eyes remained the same size, but from her originally brown pupils shot a penetrating light that NPC Maggie had never seen in others. Subject Zero lightly jumped down from the remnants of the blood pupa.
"This leech blood SPA was really exhausting," Number 0 flipped her now slightly longer hair, took a deep breath, and as she moved her limbs, she heard her bones seemed a lot softer than before; her body felt as if it had no bones at all.
"Number 0," NPC Maggie ran towards her with joy, sprinting towards her. When Number 0 lifted her up, she pinched Maggie's nose, looked at her rosy little face, and teased, "Maggie, haven't you been eating well recently? You feel much lighter." Previously, Number 0 would have struggled to lift an eight-year-old child, but tonight, lifting Maggie felt effortless.
"It's been a month, Number 0, I thought that you..." NPC Maggie couldn't help but burst into tears. Despite her mother telling her that Number 0 would definitely come out alive, she couldn't be sure that the Number 0 who left the blood pupa was still the same as before.
"Number 0, see if there is any discomfort in your body or any changes?" Under NPC Maggie's repeated insistence, Number 0 was pushed into the medical center for a full body check-up.
Seeing the medical staff looking serious, Number 0 also grew anxious. It was just before, she realized that she had been in the blood pupa for a month.
When the medical report came out, the data showed that all of Number 0's bodily functions were normal, and compared to ordinary people, her indicators were even better.
Her muscle tension and sensory response of her facial features had improved to a certain extent. Even her wrist strength and explosive power seemed even better than before.
"Number 0's current physical condition is qualified as a soldier," Colonel Barton, who rushed upon hearing the news, also greatly praised her.
The joy of awakening was only brief; Number 0 immediately realized another problem—she had been in the blood pupa for a month, and over ten days had passed before that, meaning that she had only about ten days left before leaving Military Road.
"This time, you've made great contributions to the military region, and you will be rewarded appropriately, but your shortcomings are also substantial," Colonel Barton shifted the conversation to the main topic.
"System Task 2, increasing pig unit production failed, deducting 500 military merits. System Task 3, save Kapa Military District, task completed, reward 1000 military merits." The task manual listed the real military merits of Number 0.
"'Friendship Task', rescue NPC Maggie's mother, task completed, please collect your reward from Expert Sofia." After several changes, the number on the manual finally settled at 750 points, still retaining the Private rank. There was still some gap from the system's requirement of 1000 military merits.
In a short while, the military region would be relocated entirely, and Number 0 no longer had enough time to accumulate military merits.
Feeling somewhat disappointed, Number 0 walked out of the medical center. She had barely taken a few steps when she heard a familiar voice, "The private across there, stop."