Chapter 1 Chapter The Volunteer

"Blood pressure, normal."

"Heart rate, normal."

"All vitals are within experiment parameters. We can begin now."

On the cold platform, Su Qingge, wearing a dark green medical gown, lay calmly inside the experimental apparatus.

Even without makeup, she was pretty and delicate. In the nervous crowd, only her eyes were calm.

"Qingge, have you really thought this through?" the dean asked. He was a bit over fifty. It was odd to see him looking so concerned. He was usually so serious and expressionless.

Afterall, the one lying there about to be the test subject was one of his greatest students.

"Sir, I am fully aware of what I have decided to do," Su Qingge told her teacher. "You and I are the only ones who understand the procedure well enough to participate. Your wife and Langlang cannot afford to lose you. I am the only viable test subject."

She glanced around at her fellow students, but most of them wouldn't look her in the eyes.

None of them were foolish enough to volunteer for a completely untested experimental operation.

"Three minutes until the machine is ready. All staff, please exit the experiment area."

The dispassionate voice played through the lab speakers, repeating its message as the students started to file out. The dean took one last look at Su Qingge before turning his back to her and leaving.

Su Qingge looked around the empty lab, finally exhaling. She grabbed her clothes tightly, hands stiff. No one had noticed the cold sweat that soaked her back.

No afraid? Who wouldn't be afraid?

No one knew if she would make it off this platform alive. Even if she did, they had no idea what the side effects would be.

This was a completely unexplored field of science, but if she succeeded, she would do something nobody had done before.

She focused on that, on the dreams of what she was about to accomplish.

Turning her head, she could watch the data flow down the LCD panel next to her.

Three years ago, she had thrown herself into this research with all her heart.

The idea was the human brain could be taught to respond to previously undetectable stimuli. In this case, poison. Upon recognizing it, her rewired brain, using traditional Chinese medicine and modern medical science, would instinctually know the appropriate antidote and dose.

In other words, if this succeeded, anyone would have the ability to treat poison with the skill of a pharmacist. It would be a great step for medical science, but without concrete, experimental evidence, it was only a vision.

"Sir, everything is prepared. We can begin on your say so."

Inside the spacious observation room, all eyes were on the grizzled dean. He steeled himself for a moment, nodded his head, and grimly activated the preliminary sequence.

Lying inside the machine, Su Qingge watched the green and red indicator lights start to blink.

"System activation at ten percent. Thirty percent. Fifty percent. Ninety percent. Activation complete," said the same emotionless female voice.

The machine began to vibrate, making Su Qingge's head spin. It's caused by the vibration of the shock chamber. In a moment, when its frequency was synchronized with her own brain wave, it would try to rewrite her sensory perception.

Fifteen seconds.

She felt sick, unable to hide her discomfort anymore.