The castle's appearance and office area were designed to look original. After all, not many ancient castles had been kept intact throughout Europe. The Edward Family was still rich and powerful, not declined as many others, and the castle was the symbol of him and his noble ancestors. Of course he would keep the castle instead of tearing it down to build a new modernized institution.
However, the inside of the castle was largely modified. It was where the core project of the whole research took place, so it must be one hundred percent modernized and precise.
Psychological research could not be separated from constant experiment and deduction, so this place looked like physics or chemistry labs a lot, just a little softer. In the modern times, everything was digital; even sports had data analysis system. Of course psychology was no exception.
In an inclosed room made of glass, three researchers were crawling on the floor like lizards, sticking out their tongues to lick the floor or glass walls from time to time. That was really funny, but also extremely creepy.
Other staff were standing around but carefully kept a certain distance from the room. And there were armed security staff. The Edward Institution was semi-governmental, so its high-level security was permitted.
Sophia and Edward were standing in the front. Edward looked gloomy, but Sophia was much calmer. As an audience, she had seen too many weird things beyond human imagination.
"She's doing that again?" Sophia took the gloves that a researcher handed over to her, and put them on.
"She has been sleeping for almost half a year, but somehow woke up just now. Two men happened to be recording her physical signs in the room, and they were instantly hypnotized. Then another one came in to check on them but was hypnotized, too." Edward said helplessly.
Sophia stepped up, but Edward grabbed her hand.
"Her hypnosis range was only around five meters, but that was recorded last time she woke up. We don't know if she's better than that now."
Sophia looked around and shook her head. "Never mind. I'm just taking a closer look. If she can hypnotize me, it won't matter how far I am from her."
As a botanical enhancer, Sophia was quite confident about her mental state and spiritual power.
"Usually, she would only be awake for half an hour. After that, she would fall asleep again." Edward checked the form in another researcher's hands. "In about fifteen minutes, she should fall asleep. Those men in the room should be hypnotized to be her toys. Shouldn't be too dangerous."
Then he turned around and yelled to everyone:
"What are you doing here? Go back to work! This is the first time this specimen woke up in six months. Keep your eyes wide open and make no mistake, are we clear?"
"Yes."
"Roger."
"Okay."
Everyone calmed down and went back to their position.
But the security guys were still watching everything around them. They were nervous but also a little excited because they had never seen anything like this.
Sophia got rid of Edward's hand and signaled him not to worry. Then she walked forward, opened the glass door and walked in.
In the middle of the glass room, there was a pale blue container filled with nutrient solution and attached with multiple sensors. In the solution, a brain was floating up and down.
Yes, only a brain, living in nutrient solution.
It was a horrible idea to separate a brain from a human body and keep it alive in such a container. But Sophia knew that this brain was not taken off by anyone in this institution, or from any other advanced organization in Britain or any European country. It was brought here by a man over a decade ago.
Modern science and technology developed rapidly, which implied that in the old times it wasn't as advanced as it was today. But over a decade ago, someone could perform such a delicate surgery. That was incredible.
"You are annoying! Can't you just stay away from me? I hate the way you smell. I'm living in something like a culture dish and you've got so many plants in you! Are you gonna take away my nourishment?"
A little girl's voice appeared in Sophia's mind but didn't surprise her much. This brain had already been examined and analyzed by others in the department, but by that time, it was still asleep. This was the first time Sophia saw her sober. Others must be on their way here, but they probably wouldn't make it in time since Edward said she was going back to sleep real soon.
"Back off! How dare you come closer! I'll send Bai to kick your ass!"
The voice yelled with anger. The three researchers crawling around suddenly came back to normal and immediately left the glass room; apparently, they were scared.
"Bai?"
Sophia frowned. Due to the difference between Chinese and English, she failed to understand whom this "Bai" meant. But if she was Chinese, she might immediately realize who this girl was talking about. After all, she had been with that person the whole morning.
"Still on your way? Why are you so stupid?"
"How come you're lost? That's hopeless!"
"Stop wandering around! Hurry up!"
"Stop talking! That's annoying!" Su Bai couldn't help rolling his eyes. The little girl had been talking to him all the time and there was no use covering his ears. Her voice went straight into his mind. It felt so intimate, like having some stranger filming you when you were having s*x, and the camera was only inches from your p*nis.
Finally, after wandering about for so long, Su Bai arrived in front of a gate which was decorated obviously different from other places. It was an electronic gate that required verification, probably of fingerprints.
It was just a simple verification, much easier than the safety-check gates. After all, this was a psychological institution, not nuclear weapon or CBW [1] arsenals; no terrorists would actually attack here.
Luckily, there was a security guy standing by the door. Su Bai walked to him and offered his hand as a greeting.
The guy was surprised. He walked to Su Bai, reached out his hand and said:
"Sir, you can't go in there..."
But before he could finish, Su Bai stepped toward and hit him on the neck. The guy was immediately knocked out. Su Bai was strong enough to take out a common person.
Then he put the guy's palm onto the sensor and the door opened instantly. Su Bai looked around and walked in.
It was vast, but most people were gathering up around that glass room, therefore no one had noticed him at the moment.
"Finally you're here! Alas, I'm tired, I wanna go to sleep... A few more minutes later and you'd have missed me because I'm really going to sleep! I'm telling you, I will sleep for a long time. Last time, I slept for almost half a year!"
Su Bai kept walking. Now it would be impossible to catch no attention. The security staff found him and all turned their guns towards him.
Edward turned around, confused. Su Bai was a patient that Sophia had introduced to him, so he must be noble or powerful or something. But he was quite impolite to break in.
"Sir, you really should leave." Edward stared at Su Bai with anger.
Su Bai shrugged and pointed to the glass room. "The voice inside told me to come here. I was already leaving."
Sophia also saw Su Bai. She waved to him and signaled the others to let him in. She was a little worried that if these men fire at Su Bai, he might start fighting back, then the institution would fall into chaos. Normally, Su Bai wouldn't kill anyone, but if his life was threatened, there was no way he would refuse to protect himself, no matter what consequences would be waiting for him.
Edward was still looking gloomy, but he waved his hand to let Su Bai in. He really hated to have a psychopath in his most secret and important project.
Su Bai walked by and pushed the door open.
Sophia looked at him with an intrigued look: "Don't you know this is western dominion?"
"Mm-hmm." Su Bai didn't answer.
"Even though that woman is behind you, we will, for our honor and... "
"Cut the crap, will you? This thing told me to come here." Su Bai pointed to brain in the culture dish, then gasped in surprise. "This is a cool way to exist."
"Yeah, pretty cool." Sophia wasn't happy.
"Aha, here you are! I've been waiting for you! Luckily, I haven't fallen asleep just yet," The girl's voice said joyfully.
"Yeah, here I am. I want to know about my parents." Su Bai said. That was the real reason why he came here.
However, just then, the girl's voice suddenly turned into a harsh scream of a vicious old woman:
"Finally! That man sent me here and tortured me for so long! Now...
"I'll have his son die with me!!
"Die with me!!!!!!"
FOOTNOTES:
1. [CBW] Chemical and Biological Weapon.