Chapter 149: Jiang Huan, A Test Subject?

A knock on the door served as a reminder from those outside that the hour was up.

The two of them let go of each other and walked out side by side.

Following the events of that day, Jiang Huan temporarily shuttled back and forth between the place where her younger brother studied and the research institute where Xie Congzhou lived. In any case, higher authorities had not yet issued an order for her to return to her post.

It was unclear how Lü Pengchun had resolved the matter on his end, as Jiang Huan remained entirely free and faced no disciplinary action, but a notice soon arrived to teach her a minor lesson.

Better to offend a gentleman than a petty person.

Because the hypocrite Lü Pengchun had dug up yet another hypothesis, stating that he required a frontline operative with combat skills like Jiang Huan to assist in an experiment.

When Jiang Huan was invited to the research institute, the faint, white scratch on Lü Pengchun's neck had turned pink and scarred over, though a scar could not heal that quickly.

"We meet again, Jiang Huan." Lü Pengchun's eyes were full of gloom, yet he forced himself to put on an intellectual and gentle expression.

Jiang Huan asked what kind of experiment she needed to cooperate with.

Lü Pengchun let out a cold snort, and a new assistant beside him handed over a set of clothes.

The garments looked somewhat rough, as if they had been hastily manufactured.

"This is my latest research achievement. It can withstand extreme cold of minus seventy to eighty degrees, and protect the wearer in scorching weather as well. Furthermore, even if slashed by sharp weapons, it will not tear. Once the experiment is over, we can proceed to the final phase. Jiang Huan, for the sake of your comrades in arms and our people, as such a noble person, you will surely do your utmost to describe your experience using it, won't you?"

Jiang Huan was utterly speechless.

Without even looking, she knew the clothes were definitely not as good as he claimed.

However, since the authorities allowed her to come here, it certainly possessed some practical utility.

Jiang Huan knew that Lü Pengchun would not be satisfied until she was dead.

She had originally thought that regardless of whether the other party possessed the mind of a truly brilliant top-tier scientist, he at least held decent research projects in his hands. Unless pushed to the limit, she wouldn't have struck back last time, and she had always maintained a relatively polite demeanor.

Since the other party clearly wanted her life, she would hold back no longer.

Jiang Huan did not refuse. Instead, right in full view of everyone, she dropped a remark to Lü Pengchun.

"Oh, back then when you said that returning to William's side would definitely demand that he teach me a lesson, I thought you two were on very good terms. I didn't expect you to be so devoted to the country, pulling out something this good."

Two white-coated men holding clipboards exchanged glances, unsure of what they had just scribbled down.

Before Lü Pengchun could say much else, Jiang Huan took the outfit and requested a separate room to change. "I believe my mission does not include undressing in front of Dr. Lü."

"Of course, Miss Jiang, please follow me." Someone led Jiang Huan to a private room. She put on the outfit she had drawn from her inventory, and just to be safe, also readied her facial mask so she could put it on at a moment's notice.

Seeing that Jiang Huan had indeed put on the ill-fitting outfit, Lü Pengchun revealed a sinister smile, though he smiled so quickly that anyone not closely watching his micro-expressions would have found it impossible to notice.

Jiang Huan was instructed to enter a room of about twenty square meters. The room was completely empty, save for ventilation ducts and air conditioning exhaust vents on the ceiling.

Behind a massive glass partition, Lü Pengchun picked up a megaphone and gave the order: "Refrigeration, minus fifty degrees, start."

Jiang Huan knew the experiment had begun, and so had Lü Pengchun's torture of her.

She felt no fear, standing still in place as she waited for the temperature to plummet rapidly.

Ten degrees.

Minus one degree.

Minus twenty degrees.

Minus thirty degrees.

When it hit minus forty degrees, Jiang Huan moved. She wiped her face, stretched her limbs, and began to pace around the room.

A flash of doubt crossed Lü Pengchun's eyes. When the cooling stopped at minus fifty degrees, Jiang Huan merely bounced in place and started practicing military calisthenics. That doubt instantly morphed into anger. Raising the megaphone, he continued: "Refrigeration, minus eighty degrees, start!"

The technician operating the temperature controls froze. During previous experiments with animals, the lowest setting used had been minus sixty-five degrees; at minus seventy degrees, animals lost the ability to move in under forty seconds.

Although Dr. Dr. Lü claimed this garment provided superior insulation, the technician still hesitated, his hand lingering over the controls.

Lü Pengchun, completely out of patience, aggressively punched a series of buttons himself. The next moment, frost began to coat the glass, and Jiang Huan felt a wave of chilliness wash over her.

It was the kind of sudden, shivering cold one feels after walking outdoors in summer and getting blasted by the AC while passing a barbershop—unpleasant, but not fatal.

She intensified her movements. While the clothes retained heat, the shoes did not. She began to pound on the wall, shouting to be let out. Research personnel immediately rushed toward the door, but Lü Pengchun abruptly dialed the temperature down by another five degrees. Knowing she couldn't simply prance her way out of this unscathed, Jiang Huan feigned a stagger and collapsed to the floor, simultaneously ingesting a nutritional fluid to rapidly repair her vitality.

After lying there for nearly two minutes, the outer door finally swung open. Someone hurried in, squatted down beside the motionless Jiang Huan, and clicked their tongue. "Is he out of his mind? Minus eighty-five degrees? You don't run experiments like this; this is murder."

The person then muttered under their breath that a fine frontline operative was being treated this way simply for rejecting a confession; what if Lü Pengchun took a dislike to someone else next?

The next instant, Lü Pengchun's excited, heavy breathing echoed through the room: "Is she dead?"

"She still has vital signs." With that, Jiang Huan felt herself being hoisted onto someone's back and rushed off for medical treatment.

The moment she cleared the room, she snapped back to consciousness, patted the staff member beneath her, and asked, "Can I get a jacket? I'm freezing."

With that, she hopped off the man's back, looking remarkably full of life and vigor.

Lü Pengchun swallowed back a mouthful of thwarted joy. Seeing Jiang Huan stretch her limbs, wrap herself in a coat, and sip hot tea while looking entirely unbothered, he felt deeply aggrieved. "Since she's fine, it proves that the thermal protective suit I designed meets the standards. Let's move on to the high-temperature mode."

"Dr. Lü, isn't this inappropriate? Miss Jiang just underwent an extreme cold test. No matter what, she should at least pass a medical checkup before—" someone suggested, and others chimed in in agreement.

It seemed that while some people helped Lü Pengchun and bought into his coercion tactics, just as many despised his blatant favoritism and personal vendettas.

Lü Pengchun was determined that Jiang Huan would not walk out of the laboratory today, so he completely ignored their objections. "Then you run the experiment. Which of you is in better health than Miss Jiang? You can go in in her place."

Though everyone meant well, when it actually came down to risking their lives, they hesitated.

Human nature being what it was, Jiang Huan felt no need for false sentimentality. She took the initiative to say it was fine: "The difficulty of what we do on the front lines is far greater than this. Since the clothes are fine, enduring some cold wind and a sauna is no big deal. However, this time, please open the door immediately when I start pounding on the wall. If I get barbecued, it won't be easy to rescue me."

An ill-timed joke lent Jiang Huan a touch of tragic heroism, like a lone hero facing the apocalypse. Regardless of how much anyone previously knew about her, at this moment, everyone except Lü Pengchun looked at her with deep respect.

They all stepped forward in unison to stand up for Jiang Huan. "Don't worry, Miss Jiang! I will keep my hand on the controller and be ready to open the door and drag you out at any second!"

Jiang Huan nodded. "Dr. Lü, don't keep me locked inside too long just for experimental data. Otherwise, without my descriptions, who else are you going to find to run this experiment? My, oh my, bouncing between popsicles and barbecues—you're turning this into a real torture chamber."

Her words hit multiple sore spots and carried heavy sarcasm, completely shattering Lü Pengchun's composure and revealing a flash of vicious intent.

This time, the people present did not miss it; every single one of them noted Lü Pengchun's abnormal state of mind.

This time, Jiang Huan was led into a different room. Lü Pengchun immediately dialed the heat up to fifty degrees right off the bat.

Yet, having learned from the previous episode, the staff refused to follow his reckless commands blindly. Instead, they started the temperature at thirty-two degrees, politely warning Jiang Huan that the heat was going up, and thereafter only raised it by a single degree at a time. Jiang Huan began to feel a wave of warmth at forty-five degrees, and by fifty degrees, the air around her felt scorching.

She felt the crude headgear begin to trap heat and quickly signaled to the outside that she had reached her limit—the clothes were starting to smoke, and if this continued, it wouldn't be funny if her undergarments remained completely unscathed while she roasted.

However, Lü Pengchun violently hammered the switch a dozen times over. By the time someone pulled him away, the indoor temperature had reached seventy-five degrees Celsius above zero. At high altitudes, water would begin to boil at this temperature.

Jiang Huan wobbled a few steps, executing the familiar routine of preparing to collapse onto the floor. This time, however, the staff rushed in swiftly, caught her before she fell, and half-carried her out. Someone pulled off her hood, revealing a flushed face and a head drenched in sweat.

Lü Pengchun stood his ground, suddenly putting on a remorseful expression. "I'm sorry. Based on theoretical data, it can withstand a hundred degrees, so I figured seventy degrees would be fine. Since Miss Jiang is still conscious, perhaps she could cooperate and finish the final experiment? Once that's cleared without issues, we can deploy this gear for military and civilian use."

Furious, the crowd voiced their opposition, declaring that the experiments could not continue.

Jiang Huan, however, simply inquired how the final experiment was supposed to be conducted. "Are you going to throw knives at me inside a room? Or have people hack at me with swords? That hardly seems appropriate. If it's just testing slash resistance, we don't even need a person inside, do we?
Dr. Lü, you previously said abroad that once you returned to William's side, you would definitely torture me thoroughly. Today, you've finally fulfilled your wish; I feel like I'm about to reach my limit."

Lü Pengchun adopted a sincere expression, claiming it was merely to test the user's bodily sensations. "Rest assured, I stake my project on it. The final experiment will not pose any threat to your life."

He bit down hard on the last few words. Everyone exchanged glances, and someone walked outside, looking as though they were going to contact higher authorities.

Others volunteered to take her place as the test subject, but Lü Pengchun rejected every single one of them.

Because he had a much better candidate in mind.