45. The Birth of the Lizard

Dr. Connors’s gaze flickered.

Sitting blankly in his office chair, his expression appeared very calm, but in reality, a fierce battle was raging within his heart.

On one hand, Dr. Connors also wanted to conduct human experiments.

After all, what was the purpose of all his years of research, if not to benefit humanity and free mankind from the suffering of disabilities?

Yet, on the other hand, Dr. Connors knew all too well that the current regeneration serum was still unstable.

Because up to this point, there was only one—and uniquely only one—lab mouse that had achieved the results of his dreams after being injected with the regeneration formula.

And that was precisely where the crux of the problem lay.

They did not know why it had succeeded.

Yes.

It had succeeded, but they did not know why it succeeded, and furthermore, they were unable to replicate it.

Because they didn't even know where the problem was; without being able to find the issue, replication was naturally out of the question.

Medicine is rigorous and tolerates not the slightest trace of carelessness.

Especially when it came to human trials—let alone a major issue, even the slightest shred of confusion had to be resolved before taking the next step.

Therefore...

Emotionally speaking, no one desired the success of the regeneration serum more than he did.

Rationally speaking, however, the board of directors' approach was undoubtedly playing with the lives of those disabled veterans.

A fierce internal battle was waging within Dr. Connors.

An angel and a demon materialized in his mind.

The angel told him that doing this was wrong, and should anything go wrong, God would never forgive him.

The demon, however, told him that medical science was destined to require sacrifices, and should it succeed, even if he died and went to heaven, the angels would gladly surrender their seats to him.

Dr. Connors sat dazedly in his office.

The sunlight streaming through the window struck his face, casting a continuous interplay of light and shadow.

Just like that.

He remained seated in his office from the afternoon until nightfall descended.

With a soft chime from his phone, Dr. Connors, trapped in his internal turmoil, was snapped back to reality.

He grabbed his phone and opened the newly arrived text message.

Entering his line of sight:

Doctor, I am already on my way to the hospital. We trust you.

After reading it.

Dr. Connors’s gaze went unfocused.

Immediately following!

With a swift swish.

Dr. Connors abruptly rose from his seat, and then, as if having made up his mind, walked determinedly toward the door.

The surveillance camera responsible for monitoring the laboratory sat quietly in the corner.

A red light flashed on and off.

With a soft ding, in the laboratory, the 'biochemical mixer' used for cross-species gene splicing and fusion successfully opened, and Dr. Connors retrieved a vial containing a serum of a distinctly green color.

I may not be an angel, but I absolutely cannot be a demon.

Dr. Connors murmured to himself as he looked at the regeneration formula in his hand—derived from the fusion of mutant serum and lizard serum extracted from the lab mouse. Then, with a resolute gaze, he clutched the vial and sat down nearby.

A moment later.

Sitting in the chair, Dr. Connors gazed at the syringe in his hand, took a deep breath, and without further hesitation, thrust the needle directly into his right arm, which he had lost in an accident years ago, pushing the plunger all the way down in one swift motion.

Almost the exact moment he pulled the needle out, a wave of dizziness without the slightest preamble surged over him.

Thud!

Dr. Connors slumped directly forward onto the desk in front of him.

At the same time, within the stump of his right arm, something seemed to be writhing, struggling desperately to force its way out.

As if...

"A bug?"

"Yeah, a very small lizard."

Having finished dinner and returned to her room, Gwen was on the phone with Hawk, recounting an amusing incident from dinner where her eight-year-old younger brother had been startled by a stray lizard that had crawled in from somewhere.

Hearing Gwen’s laughter over the phone, Hawk felt a bit curious.

"Aren't you scared?"

"Hawk," Gwen said seriously, "you forget, the inspiration for our lab's regeneration serum came from lizards. The lab has no shortage of anything except white mice and lizards."

She was hardly some delicate, squeamish woman.

She was a cold-hearted scientist who could drain a lizard's blood without changing her expression and dissect lab mice without a flinch.

Hawk realized it and smiled.

Gwen smiled as well, then steered the conversation elsewhere.

"What about you? Have you eaten?"

"Not yet." Hawk looked at the fried chicken drumstick he had just bought. "Planning to go up to the rooftop to punch the bag, and eat afterward."

No choice—with the new semester starting, the old gym had been torn down and rebuilt into a swimming pool.

Besides, the new gym was always crowded, especially today with the new semester and the incoming ninth-graders making it even more packed.

So Hawk simply decided to wait until he got home at night, work out on the rooftop, and then eat, shower, and sleep.

Gwen listened to Hawk’s plans for the evening, nodded, and then a thought occurred to her.

"Hawk, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why do you work out every day? You're already strong enough, aren't you?"

Gwen said.

In her mind surfaced the scene she had witnessed after walking through the forest back then.

Hawk standing shirtless in the pool of water.

The waterfall rolling backward in front of Hawk.

Gwen didn't know if that backward-flowing waterfall was actually Hawk's doing, since she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

Yet she had no doubt that the Hawk before her could kill a bear with a single punch.

That was something she had seen with her own eyes.

It was only after watching Hawk kill a bear with one punch that day that Gwen had felt a lingering sense of fortune and fear.

After all, when she walked through the forest to find Hawk, she hadn't encountered a single wild beast; she could only imagine how lucky she had been.

Or perhaps not.

Perhaps it had been God's will.

Gwen then thought of Maryland and that unknown website that could provide her with Hawk's real-time location even when Hawk's phone was clearly turned off.

As Gwen was reminiscing about Maryland and that mysterious website, Hawk also fell silent upon hearing her question.

"Why do I still work out every day?"

"To..."

Hawk paused for a moment, a certain image flashing through his mind, and after a brief thought, he provided an answer.

"To protect myself and the people I care about."

"Does that include me?"

Hearing Hawk's explanation, Gwen's crisp voice rang softly in his ear.

Ever since she had forcefully handed her personal-use phone to Hawk that day, and Hawk hadn't refused, she felt she had found the secret to getting along with him.

Hawk hadn't expected Gwen to be so straightforward.

He couldn't help letting out a chuckle, then nodded heavily.

"Of course."