The person on the phone finished speaking and hung up.
Number 35 put away his phone.
Zhou Fengchun's eyes, dulled by the torment of the transformation, shifted to glance at Number 35.
He was just about to ask something.
Huh?
A painful groan drifted over.
Number 35 and Zhou Fengchun ignored everything else and both looked through the glass window of the room door.
Inside the room.
Jiang Jiuguo's transformation was still continuing.
While Number 35 was reporting the situation, his skin was curling up, with no part of his body intact. Based on normal common sense, Jiang Jiuguo's condition was essentially a death sentence.
His skin was tearing and curling.
His flesh, stripped of epidermal protection, was exposed. In medical terms, it was exposed to airborne bacteria.
It is important to know that human skin is a crucial barrier against bacteria.
Without skin.
This meant Jiang Jiuguo could only survive in a sterile environment, because even a tiny amount of harmful bacteria entering would immediately infect his flesh.
But at this moment.
A strange sight was unfolding.
The previously cracked and curled skin, like sheets of crumpled white paper, was being smoothed out and straightened again.
It covered the flesh on Jiang Jiuguo's body once more.
The skin wounds slowly healed.
In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
Aside from being covered in blood, Jiang Jiuguo had returned to his normal appearance.
It was as if the previous horrific ordeal had never happened.
But the pool of blood on the floor and the bloodstains on his clothes proved otherwise.
The previous misery and terror had truly existed.
The metal door bolt suddenly turned.
Hearing the movement at the door, Jiang Jiuguo's eyes slowly glanced toward Number 35 and Zhou Fengchun standing there.
He was truly too weak.
Even moving his eyes felt strenuous, as if it drained all his strength.
He even felt that the rise and fall of his chest while breathing was heavy; moving his body or fingers might kill him.
After enduring the torment of the Ghost Sequence transformation for over an hour.
Jiang Jiuguo couldn't think about anything else.
He allowed Number 35 to step forward and examine him, not even having the usual urge to quip back.
"Jiang Jiuguo, your willpower is much stronger than mine. I thought you wouldn't make it," Zhou Fengchun said, squatting down to examine him.
There was a light in his dulled eyes.
This light was named curiosity and admiration.
He had endured the pain of having all his bones twisted and broken, followed by skin tearing. Most people couldn't withstand either of those horrors individually.
After all... for a normal person.
Tearing off a hangnail beside a fingernail is enough to make one grimace and gasp for air.
Let alone having all the skin on one's body ripped open.
Yet Jiang Jiuguo accomplished it.
"Jiang Jiuguo, you might not know this, but the first transformation usually isn't as painful as what you experienced."
Living with Jiang Jiuguo for so long, Zhou Fengchun had also picked up a bit of his talkative nature.
He continued, "The transformations usually increase in pain slowly, session by session. But yours is different, how should I put it?"
"When others go through the first transformation, it's like being hit by a car once. You, on the other hand, were hit by a high-speed train right away, and then run over."
Jiang Jiuguo wanted to complain.
But he was too exhausted to open his mouth.
Number 35 said, "Jiang Jiuguo, congratulations on surviving the first transformation. Now, I will name a few foods. If you want to eat one, move your eyes slightly to the left."
"Water."
Jiang Jiuguo's eyes shifted slightly to the left.
"Chicken."
Jiang Jiuguo's eyes moved slightly to the left.
"Green pepper."
Jiang Jiuguo's eyes did not move. He quietly looked at Number 35.
"Napa cabbage."
"Celery."
"Coriander."
"Houttuynia Cordata."
...After listing several vegetables, Jiang Jiuguo's eyes remained motionless. If he hadn't still been breathing, one might have thought he had died with his eyes open.
Number 35: "..."
He shook his head. Although his face was as cold and expressionless as always, he spoke words like a mother hen.
"You must eat vegetables. No matter how painful your first transformation was, your body will become weak. The more painful the transformation, the more energy your body needs to replenish."
"Eating vegetables can supplement vitamins and various other components your body needs."
Having said that, Number 35 stopped asking and decided to prepare food for Jiang Jiuguo based on his own meal plan.
Before leaving.
Number 35 stood at the doorway and did not forget to look back and say.
"I have a record of your blood type. When I bring the food over later, I will also give you a blood transfusion."
Jiang Jiuguo's current blood loss exceeded scientific limits.
Two-thirds of the blood in his body had flowed out.
If he were a normal person, he would have died beyond revival, but Jiang Jiuguo hadn't; he was strangely alive and well.
However, Number 35, Zhou Fengchun, and even Jiang Jiuguo himself paid no mind to it.
This small miracle was nothing remarkable.
After consuming the ghost sequence formula, the human body inevitably begins to undergo subtle transformations and cannot be viewed through the lens of a normal human being.
Watching Number 35 leave.
Zhou Fengchun didn't stay idle, fully utilizing his role as a 'roommate'.
He brought over a clean set of clothes, which Number 35 had prepared beforehand, before Jiang Jiuguo's transformation.
At this moment.
Jiang Jiuguo was motionless, like a silicone doll. Zhou Fengchun changed him into clean clothes, carried him to a clean spot nearby, and cleaned up the blood on the floor.
After dealing with all this.
Number 35 returned, pushing a cart loaded with rich food and blood transfusion equipment.
Since Jiang Jiuguo was the first adapter for the fourth ghost sequence keystone, Number 35 did not simply leave the food and depart, as he did with other adapters.
Besides personally giving Jiang Jiuguo a blood transfusion.
He also personally fed him.
Watching Jiang Jiuguo slowly regain some color under his feeding.
"I am surprised you managed to pull through," Number 35 said.
Zhou Fengchun, huddled in the corner, nodded in agreement.
Number 35 then took out a paper notebook, along with a ballpoint pen, and placed them beside Jiang Jiuguo.
"Once you've recovered sufficiently, write down everything you experienced today in detail."
"At the same time."
His voice paused slightly, then he said solemnly.
"Starting today, write a diary every day, recording your daily activities and noting your daily physical changes."
"If you survive the subsequent Ghost Sequence transformations, write down the detailed physical experiences and changes."
Perhaps because his body hadn't recovered yet.
Jiang Jiuguo did not respond.
His eyes showed no intention of moving to the left.
Number 35 saw through Jiang Jiuguo's little calculation: "As long as you write it down, the 10 million reward will be supplemented with an extra 5 million, regardless of whether your subsequent transformations succeed or fail."
Sensing that the stakes were still insufficient.
After weighing the options in his mind.
He added, "How about this: if I go out on an assignment next time, you can write a letter, and I can deliver it to your parents. You can let them know you are safe, but..."
"I must review the content of the letter to ensure you haven't leaked any information about our operations."
This time.
Jiang Jiuguo's eyes moved to the left.
He clearly accepted Number 35's condition.
He did not plan to ask for more conditions.
Because with the methods Number 35 and his people possessed, if they truly wanted accurate information about his physical changes, they certainly had many other ways to get it.
Those methods would only be used as a last resort; otherwise, they wouldn't start by negotiating terms.
Some things are best quit while ahead.
Especially when life is involved.
Being able to write a letter to his parents and sister to let them know he was safe—this transaction was very worthwhile...