Indeed, Serie, who had transmigrated, had long since inexplicably turned into a young girl.
A few weeks ago, when she first woke up in this world, she thought she had simply been kidnapped for her organs.
But when she came to her senses and saw her own frail, paper-thin girlish body...
It seemed something else was missing!
At first, Serie was devastated.
She was a hardcore beauty enthusiast; such a pitiful, delicate girl appearing anywhere would be enough to make her swoon...
But not in the mirror, for crying out loud!
However, no one gave Serie any time to adapt; what followed was a barrage of experiments that exhausted her physically and mentally.
This, ironically, made Serie less resistant to the sudden gender change, thanks to the hellish start provided by the Supernatural Anomaly Containment and Control Bureau.
Everything about her new life was more abrupt and harder to accept than the change in her gender.
Aside from her own discomfort with her new gender and body, there was almost no external feedback.
The Control Bureau employees didn't treat her as a human being at all.
Gender and appearance seemed insignificant, to the point that even now, Serie still had little real sense of her gender change, sometimes even being startled by the reflection in the mirror before slowly remembering it.
"Is... is the experiment over?"
Her voice echoed faintly in the sealed containment cell.
Serie curled up on the edge of the bed, resting her chin on her knees, the sleeve of her hospital gown slipping down to reveal purplish needle marks.
"Yes, the Cold Condensation Experiment data shows..." The incandescent light tube cast a silver streak across Linette's glasses, obscuring the emotions in her eyes. Linette paused for a few seconds before continuing, "No abnormal fluctuations whatsoever."
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard the rustling of fabric.
"Then can I..." Serie suddenly looked up, her bright eyes glinting amidst her disheveled black hair.
But Linette merely pressed her knuckles against her brow, avoiding the girl's intense gaze.
This evasive gesture made Serie understand something, and also made Linette seem somewhat unfeeling in her eyes.
"Doctor Heinuma submitted a new report," Linette sighed softly, seemingly also very troubled. "He said you might be an anomaly in a dormant state... suggesting an extension of the containment period."
"Extended again?" Serie retorted, her disbelief and anger tinged with a hint of resigned indignation.
She knew this wouldn't be simple, but this was too shameless!
Serie lightly bit her molars.
She had cooperated to her absolute limit, yet the end of the experiments seemed perpetually out of reach.
"Didn't you say passing the Cold Condensation Experiment would rule out the suspicion of being an anomaly? You promised me!" Serie pressed urgently, her voice unconsciously trembling with anger. "What's a dormant anomaly?"
Yet, she was born with an enchanting bone structure; the slight upward tilt of her reddish eye-tails exuded charm, making even her anger seem like a playful whine.
"Not all anomalies are born unusual," Linette's gaze swept over Serie's cheeks, slightly flushed with indignation. A touch of guilt appeared in the blue eyes behind her glasses.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then paused before continuing, "Most are triggered and affected by certain events."
"Then what else do I need to do?"
Serie just wanted to know how to leave this place now, but the so-called "dormant anomaly" was simply a logical trap.
By that logic, anyone could be a dormant anomaly, and anyone might not be a dormant anomaly.
This was simply a trumped-up charge!
"You just need to cooperate actively..."
Linette hadn't finished speaking when Serie interrupted her with a question: "Am I not active enough?"
"I know, I know, I don't agree with Doctor Heinuma's idea either, but..." Linette became somewhat agitated by the question. "Anyway, I'll talk to him. The only thing I can guarantee right now is that you won't experience this kind of experiment again for a short period."
Upon hearing this, Serie's complexion improved slightly.
Compared to the Cold Condensation Experiment, blood draws and the like were child's play; she even felt a sense of relief after a near-death experience.
"But if I really am an anomaly, how would I know?" Serie suddenly had a question.
If she truly was the anomaly from the prophecy, Serie absolutely could not sit idly by.
"When the time comes, you'll know," Linette explained. "It's like when a person suddenly grows a tail out of nowhere; the moment the bone pierces the skin, they will instinctively know how to control the extra joints, as naturally as breathing."
"The human brain is very miraculous; it will help you understand and adapt to your changes in your own way."
Serie understood vaguely, and just as Linette said, it was impossible for a person to guess how to control a tail before it grew.
When she asked the question, Serie hadn't actually thought much; she was simply curious and worried about the matter.
If she really did become an anomaly one day and stupidly didn't realize it, then she would be doomed.
But Serie's hoarse, slightly trembling voice, to Linette's ears, conveyed a different feeling.
What Linette saw was just a pitiful girl who felt lost and scared about the future.
Linette unconsciously leaned in a bit, her fingertips gently resting on Serie's knee: "Don't be afraid. Even if you really are an anomaly, there's no concrete evidence now to prove you'll be like the prophecy."
The sweet scent of jasmine wafted over with her body heat, and Serie was slightly startled.
"Okay... okay... I understand."
Linette's sudden display of kindness caught Serie off guard, even making her instinctively want to pull away.
Linette then realized she might have overstepped, quickly withdrew her arm, and feigned a hurried glance at her wristwatch, changing the subject: "Ahem, that's enough for today. You need to rest and recover. Get some sleep early."
With that, Linette turned and left the containment cell, leaving only Serie and the lingering scent of jasmine in the air.
Watching Linette's hurried departure, Serie was deep in thought.
Linette might not have been lying.
Linette indeed seemed to disapprove of Hayato's plan. Although the iron cocoon was highly soundproof, preventing her from hearing exactly what was being said outside, she could vaguely see the two doctors arguing about something when she was dazed from the cold.
Perhaps the two doctors didn't see eye to eye?
But Linette also seemed exceptionally friendly towards her. Was it just her personality? Or did she have an ulterior motive?
Serie's knuckles dug deep into the bedsheet; she wasn't sure.
Even though she was naturally a beauty enthusiast and had a good impression of Linette, it didn't stop Serie from still distrusting the beautiful doctor.
Who knew if these two doctors were playing good cop, bad cop?
The Control Bureau was desperately trying to dissect every secret of hers, and Serie was likewise trying to fathom the thoughts of these white coats.
But the most urgent matter at hand was to stay alive first.
All that talk about dying was nonsense; staying alive was better than anything.
Fatigue, like a dark tide, washed over her nerve endings. She wrapped herself in a thin blanket, letting her consciousness fall into a chaotic abyss, but was awakened by a sharp stomach pain just as she was about to sink. From morning until now, Serie hadn't had a drop of water, let alone food.
Serie curled into a ball, trying to hypnotize her senses, but just then, in this semi-conscious state...
Deep in her mind, a woman's seductive whisper suddenly echoed—
"What... do you want?"