Tianlei woke up restrained
That fact reached him before sight or thought, before memory had fully aligned.
He opened his eyes. The air was filtered and cool against his skin, it carried no familiar weight.
His breathing even sounded wrong to his own ears.
Tianlei turned his head slightly and froze. He was restrained but laid out on a narrow bed as if placement itself was a form of control.
The last thing he remembered was falling. Not the act itself, but the certainty of it. The hands of a certain girl stretched towards him but he couldn't grab them before darkness swallowed him .
He couldn't remember the figure but he indeed had the memories of the torture by the Zhao family attached to core of his brain.
" Third princess....," he said through clenched teeth.
If life had given him a second chance, he had to kill her and her so called lover.
Tianlei tested his fingers. The restraints reacted instantly, holding him tightly .
A figure stood a few steps away from the bed.
She was a young woman dressed in a fitted white uniform with a gold emblem stitched precisely over her chest. A translucent screen hovered in front of her, layered with shifting lines of symbols and data that Tianlei could not read.
Her fingers moved through it with quiet efficiency, adjusting values, confirming readings.
She had not looked at him yet.
Tianlei swallowed, his throat dry.
"Where am I?" he asked, his voice rough from disuse. "And why am I like this?"
The woman did not answer.
Her fingers paused briefly, then resumed their movement, as if his words were little more than background noise. That indifference unsettled him more than open hostility would have.
He pulled against The restraints again, harder this time, ignoring the sting in his wrists.
"Hey," he said, forcing steadiness into his voice. "You need to undo these."
Still nothing.
His gaze flicked around the room, searching for exits, for weapons, for anything familiar. There were no windows maybe just screens and a single door .
"Are you trying to remove my organs," he asked .
That finally drew her attention.
She frowned slightly at her screen, then turned to face him. Her eyes were sharp and cool, scanning him the way one might inspect unstable equipment.
"You're awake early," she said.
The words were neutral, but something about them made his pulse spike.
" Was anyone with me when I arrived "
Tianlei guessed maybe his aunt brought him here since she was powerful enough to revive him even from death itself
The woman tilted her head minutely.
"Identify your relation to that subject," she said.
The word subject scraped against his nerves. He couldn't even force his mind to bring in the actual image of that particular figure .
Her gaze lingered on him for a moment longer than necessary, then shifted back to the screen.
"There is no record of any accompanying guardian . You arrived alone."
"But make sure to remain still. We're confirming your deviation index."
The word settled badly in his chest.
"Proceeding to what?" he asked.
"Dissection?" Tianlei added.
Her brows knit. "That won't be necessary if you cooperate."
If. Something ugly stirred in him. Fear sharpened into anger, the kind that came from being looked at like a problem instead of a person.
This wasn't the first time he was restrained by chains or metal bands and he was freaking tired of it .
Before she could react, he swung his legs off the bed and moved.
The floor was smoother than it looked. His foot slipped and momentum carried him forward and he collided with her shoulder ,his head falling into his breasts.
That was all it took. Pain detonated between his legs as her knee struck between his legs
Air tore from his lungs. He folded instinctively and dropped to the floor, vision blurring as his cheek snapped sideways from a sharp slap.
"Don't move," she said coldly. "That was your warning."
Tianlei curled inward, teeth clenched, breath coming in broken pulls.
"I slipped," he rasped.
She turned back to the display, eyes narrowing as numbers spiked violently.
"Deviation surge . That reaction alone escalates your classification to deviation index 5."
Deviation index 5; that was the highest class of any deviator and also a nightmare. Since that class had to be killed as ordered by government institutions, the room suddenly felt smaller.
"Stay down," she added. "And clear your mind."
He dragged himself back onto the bed and grabbed the thin blanket, wrapping it around his waist. His hands trembled, though the pain was already fading too quickly.
"Who are you?" he asked quietly.
"Just call me Xue Ren," she replied.
His heart hammered, not from fear, but from something darker. Excitement. Heat rolled through his muscles, dense and heavy, coiling too tightly beneath his skin. His teeth clenched as he forced it down.
The woman watched him closely now.
A second presence entered the room, heavy in a way that had nothing to do with size. An older man stepped into view, hands clasped behind his back. His uniform bore additional markings, as though he had earned and discarded ranks over time.
He looked at Tianlei and frowned.
"So this is the one," he said. "The deviator."
Tianlei lifted his head slightly. "Say it again."
The word carried weight . It was like calling a toilet a washroom , trying to hide the actual meaning of something . In actual sense ,a deviator was a human mutant .
The older man ignored him.
"Monster-grade genes," he continued, voice calm. "Partial mutation during reconstruction."
The woman nodded. "His body compensated for the loss of all blood tissues."
"Of course it did," the man said. "They always do."
Tianlei felt the pressure in his chest spike.
"What are you talking about?"
The older man stepped closer, stopping just outside arm's reach. He studied Tianlei openly now, eyes sharp and unflinching.
"You died but luckily survived," he said.
The restraints tightened again.
Tianlei laughed once, short and humorless.
"You're lying."
There was no way he died and came back to life.
If hadn't transmigrated into a new world like those stories from the many novels he had read, then how come he was alive .
The man tilted his head.
"Your heart is beating thirty percent faster than normal. Your muscle fibers are denser than steel-reinforced tissue. Your nervous system responded to restraint before your brain registered threat."
He paused. "Human bodies don't do that but to a deviator like you ,your physical body is twice as strong as a normal person."
Silence followed. Tianlei closed his eyes. The heat beneath his skin twisted, something restless pressing outward, testing boundaries.
He forced himself to breathe slowly.
The older man nodded slowly.
"How long until mutation occurs?"
"Impossible to say," she replied. "Minutes. Days. Depends on how his monster genes operate."
His gaze returned to Tianlei. "You understand why you're dangerous," he asked.
Tianlei met his eyes.
" The fact that I am a deviator , more of a mutant human who you plan to kill incase I mutate "
That earned him a thin smile.
"Yes, that's why you're still alive."
Being a deviator was both a gift and a curse. Deviators were humans with monster-grade genes that gave them extraordinary abilities, even when it came to cultivation, but deviators of the highest class were dangerous and had high chances of mutation into monsters.
Images of veins bursting from his skin flashed in his mind even if he couldn't bring himself to put the puzzles of that figure together .
Because of this, most deviators disappeared without a trace, either taken by the government to make them national assets or killed by some weirdos to get their genes.
And since he was one of them, he was about to become one or be killed.
" For your safety ,you will be transferred to Golden Earth Academy "
Tianlei stiffened. "An academy."
" It is a facility with benefits," the man corrected. "You'll be allowed to develop without having to worry."
The older man turned away.
" you will love it there "
The restraints lifted. This time, Tianlei didn't rush. He sat up slowly, feet touching the floor, grounding himself. The heat inside him pulsed once then settled .
Tianlei straightened his back and stepped forward.
Tianlei was offered a black vest shirt and long trousers to wear, all holding the similar golden emblem on Xue Ren's white coat.
He hated the fate that it suited him very well; if he had a great build, it would be tight against his muscles, making him look super sexy, but this wasn't the time to complain about such things, even though it hurt his guts.
The door was open, a very opportunity to escape, but still he couldn't bring himself to face the previous fate.
"The uniform suits you," Xue Ren gave him a smirk.
"Mr. Li, I think I will handle the rest," Xue Ren assured.
The man nodded and walked out, leaving only the two of them. The door was fully open, as if calling out for him; if he didn't escape now, he could become an asset for God knows who or worse.
Xue Ren tapped on the space in front of him and it rippled outwards, then slowly shifted, forming something resembling a wormhole. She stepped in, and her body disappeared in the light.
Tianlei followed on instinct.
The space around him was dark, but there was light ahead and chatter. As soon as he stepped from the empty space, intense light hit his face.
The sun hung high above him, shining like it was about to envelope Earth. Curse climate change but that wasn't his worry right now.
His eyes widened at the sight of everything.