Chapter 268 Sacrifice for the Cause of Human Evolution
"What? Your first cousin?" Caspian looked shocked.
It had never occurred to Caspian that the girl he once liked was actually related to him.
Looking at Sophia's back, Caspian just felt it was incredibly absurd.
After a long while, he finally managed a smile that looked worse than crying, accepting this reality.
After they arrived at the hospital, Sophia asked in a low voice, "Which room is your brother in? Take me to see him."
Before Caspian could speak, Elodie stared at her warily, "What do you want? I'm warning you, Ernest is very weak right now and can't see visitors. Whatever you're planning, I won't let you see him."
Sophia sighed and explained, "Even if you stop me now, Francis will bring me here tomorrow anyway. If I hadn't heard you mention this tonight, I wouldn't bother."
"What do you mean? Why would Francis let you come?" Elodie looked at her suspiciously.
"I'm the head of Research Institute Group Three. What's so strange about that?" Sophia chuckled lightly. Seeing their confused expressions, she added, "Francis asked me to come because seventeen years ago, my husband Benjamin was also kidnapped. He managed to escape, but he was also poisoned with a strange toxin."
Now Elodie finally understood. She exchanged a glance with Caspian, a glimmer of light flashing in their eyes.
"You mean Benjamin and Ernest were poisoned with the same thing?"
"I'm not sure." Sophia looked around and lowered her voice, "This isn't the place to talk."
Elodie and Caspian quickly took her upstairs.
Maddox and Ernest were in the same hospital, on the same floor, even in adjacent rooms.
Outside the VIP ward, bodyguards stood watch. Caspian and Elodie brought Sophia inside.
Elodie looked at Sophia with mixed emotions, "You better not be lying, or I won't let you off!"
Sophia ignored her, her eyes fixed on Ernest lying in the bed.
Ernest lay quietly with his eyes closed, his body thin, unable to even fill out the children's hospital gown.
Almost none of the skin exposed outside was uninjured. His face had many tiny scars, and there were bruises on his forehead.
The corners of his mouth were also bruised.
Ernest's small hands were exposed, so thin they were almost just skin and bones, looking like they would break with a snap.
Looking at him, fragments of memories suddenly flashed through Sophia's mind.
Scenes she had witnessed in the laboratory seventeen years ago.
Children about Ernest's age, lying on examination tables, letting those tall men inject them with drugs.
They treated those children like lab rats, calling the harm they inflicted "sacrifice for the cause of human evolution."
Actually, she hoped more than anything that this child had only been poisoned with something ordinary, because that toxin—she had endured it for a full seventeen years.
The pain when the poison flared up was simply not something a small child could bear.
If her pain nerves weren't duller than normal people's, she would definitely have been tortured to the point of wishing for death.
Sophia's hands at her sides slowly clenched into fists, her spine stiff, as if a cold wind had blown through. She walked step by step to the bedside and sat down.
She gently examined Ernest's body.
Watching Sophia's grave expression, Elodie and Caspian's nerves also tensed up. They didn't dare blink or speak to disturb Sophia.
Though only three minutes had passed, Elodie and Caspian felt every second was unbearably long.
Sophia lowered her eyes, her heart sinking heavily. She gently placed Ernest's hand back and thoughtfully pulled the blanket corner for him.
"How is it?" Elodie and Caspian looked at Sophia nervously, waiting for her answer.
Seeing Sophia's dark expression, their hearts also sank.
She must have been desperate, to actually believe Sophia.
"He is indeed poisoned." Sophia sighed silently to herself, then looked at Elodie and Caspian with a serious expression, "Where did you find him?"
"Near a trash can at a residential building not far from here." Speaking of this, the anger in Caspian's eyes surged uncontrollably, and Elodie's expression was equally terrible.
The youngest son of the Armstrong family, pampered and loved since childhood, would break their hearts even with a small bump—when had he ever suffered such treatment?
"Don't let me catch those people! Otherwise I'll kill them."
Elodie said through gritted teeth, her voice breaking with tears.
Sophia didn't respond, but her heart felt blocked by a huge stone, extremely uncomfortable.
She didn't tell Elodie and Caspian that the poison in Ernest's body was indeed the same as what Benjamin had been poisoned with before.
Only the effect was even more potent.
Ernest was lucky to be alive.
Just then, Ernest, who had been sleeping on the bed, suddenly moved. His brow furrowed tightly, his hands hidden under the covers gripped the sheets tightly, and he moaned in pain.
He suddenly opened his eyes—his clear black and white eyes had now turned completely red.
His body, which had been lying flat on the bed, curled up from the pain. The three-year-old child didn't know how to hide his suffering, and immediately started crying when he felt the pain.
Ernest's tears fell uncontrollably, his cries instantly filling the entire ward.
Ernest and Elodie immediately went to the bedside, looking helplessly at Sophia, "What's happening? What's wrong? Is the poison acting up?"
"I'll get a doctor."
Sophia quickly took out a painkiller from her bag and fed it to Ernest.
The medicine dissolved instantly in his mouth and took effect quickly.
Before long, his crying gradually weakened considerably.
But Ernest's face was still as pale as paper, his eyes red from crying, with tears still at the corners.
He was trembling all over, shaking as he reached out toward Elodie.
Elodie quickly went over and held him, tears flowing uncontrollably from her own eyes.
"It's okay, it's okay, Ernest, you're going to be fine!"
Elodie had always been straightforward, proud and strong, rarely showing such vulnerability.
Sophia pressed her lips together and took out acupuncture needles from her bag.
After Ernest's emotions gradually calmed down, she said, "If you trust me, I can treat him and temporarily stop the poison from spreading further in his body."
"You're not joking with me?" Elodie still didn't trust Sophia.
Her reaction made Sophia smile, "Please don't question my professional ability, OK?"
Elodie awkwardly let go of Ernest, but kept her eyes fixed on Sophia, staying alert.
As it turned out, she was overthinking.
Sophia's treatment technique was very professional and skilled, her movements clean and efficient, without any hesitation.
Ernest, who had just been frowning and enduring pain, gradually calmed down, his brow slowly relaxing, and he fell back into unconsciousness.
However, just as the treatment ended, the door was suddenly pushed open.