"Heh, Night Owl could kill his beloved biological sister, let alone a brother he doesn’t even really like.

In Night Owl’s mind, he must think that being able to put Shade Jervois’s heart to use is Shade Jervois’s great honor."

In the scorching summer heat, Sienna Johnson suddenly felt cold, a chill in her bones. She placed her hand in Adrian Desmond’s palm, drawing warmth from him, and Adrian flipped his hand over to wrap her slightly cool fingers up.

"Old man, take the ankle chain off for me!" Adrian ordered.

"Hehe, what exactly are you worried about? Now that I’ve fallen into your hands, I don’t have the right to say ’no’ anyway, do I?"

"Good that you know. Quit dawdling and get it off me, now!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

No matter what Adrian said, Doctor X kept smiling, squint-eyed, like one of those fat lucky cats from Raelnia.

Doctor X took out something about the size of a cigarette from a box and pointed it at the ankle chain. The chain, which had looked completely seamless before, suddenly showed countless tiny gaps.

The thing that had been bothering Sienna Johnson for so long was removed by Doctor X in just a few moves.

"Done." Doctor X was just about to put the ankle chain away when Sienna snatched it from him.

Sienna carefully examined the ankle chain that had been on her ankle for so long, finding it rather magical.

"Doctor, what’s the ultimate password?"

"Six zeros! The program self-locks! It can never be opened, unless you detonate it!"

"And you? You can’t unlock it either?" Sienna gave Doctor X a sweeping glance.

"Of course not!"

"But aren’t you its creator?"

"Even if I’m its creator, it’s useless. The program is perfect. This is my masterpiece." Doctor X looked at the ankle chain in Sienna’s hand like he was looking at his beloved child, his eyes full of pride.

"Give it back to me." Doctor X reached toward Sienna for it, but she didn’t return it.

"Is the password set here?"

The moment Sienna said "password," a virtual screen actually popped up, with a numeric keypad on it. Sienna entered six zeros.

Doctor X didn’t know what Sienna was planning to do, but he nodded. Sienna passed it to Adrian and said, "Put it on the Doctor."

"Why?" Doctor X asked.

"Some things, if you don’t experience them yourself, you’ll never understand other people’s pain and torment. You should wear it too, Doctor, and get a taste of what it’s like to maybe be blown to pieces at any second."

"..."

"I believe once you’ve fully experienced this feeling, the next time you invent some crazy crap, you’ll have learned how to put yourself in other people’s shoes a little."

"Makes sense!" Adrian chimed in.

"Put it on the Doctor."

Adrian looked at Sienna, smiled, then snapped the ankle chain onto Doctor X’s ankle.

"Old man, it doesn’t look as good on you as it did on my woman."

Doctor X: ...

Right then, Brandon Potter called, reporting some news that took everyone by surprise.

Shade Jervois at the hospital was dead. Brandon Potter was the first to find out. Shade Jervois’s body was already stiff; he had been dead for quite a while.

"What’s the cause of death?" Adrian asked.

"The doctor is examining him. The preliminary judgment is heart failure..."

"Did he have an ankle chain on his foot identical to Madam’s?"

"No."

Adrian carefully thought back, but still wasn’t sure whether he had actually seen an identical chain on Shade Jervois’s ankle back when he was unconscious.

Adrian asked, "What were the people at the hospital doing? How did Shade Jervois die, his body already stiff, and nobody at the hospital noticed?"

"Last night the hospital had another power outage. I’m guessing it was then that the machines stopped working, which led to Shade Jervois’s death.

I’ll get a lawyer and hold the hospital accountable."

"Got it. Keep a close eye on things over there."

"Yes, Sixth Master."

After hanging up, Adrian said to Doctor X and Sienna Johnson, "That Shade Jervois in the hospital is dead."

Doctor X’s face didn’t change. He just kept fiddling with the ankle chain on his own ankle. The chain that had just been full of gaps and lines was now sealed into a seamless whole, like a single piece.

"Marion!" Adrian called out.

Marion walked in and asked, "Sixth Master, what are your orders?"

"Take the old man downstairs. Keep an eye on him and don’t let him run."

Doctor X raised his eyes to Adrian and said, "Didn’t you say that as long as I got this thing off your woman, you’d let me go?"