****************Warning****************
This is a side story, Julius's Memories
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The days that followed Julius were like hell.
He woke up drenched in sweat in a white bed, in a white room, everything white.
In a room no more than two meters long, one and a half meters wide, and two meters high, he slept wearing a loose white cloak covering his naked body, and around his neck was a black electronic bracelet bearing the number 300.
The reason for his awakening was the sound coming from the door, which was annoying, and a red light emanating from the same door. It was on the other side of the bed and contained a ventilation opening and a food pass.
He immediately rushed to the door, waiting for something to happen.
Suddenly, the door opened, and he rushed out, only to have it close immediately. It became clear that he had been waiting for that moment of escape, because if he missed it, he would remain in the room until the next day.
In the corridor he had exited, there were many children just like him. The corridor gradually changed color to light blue. It was so long that it seemed as if it would never end.
As he walked, there were rooms on either side of the corridor, just like the one Julius had been in. He saw the hands of other children who hadn't been so lucky in getting out.
Were they new?
Or were they suffering from severe pain that had kept them sleeping?
In truth, no one cared about anyone but themselves. The next moment, he heard a woman's voice over the microphone.
"All samples in the corridor, proceed to the freezer room."
"I repeat."
"All samples in the corridor, proceed to the freezer room."
"I repeat."
"All..."
Julius was at the end of the corridor, making him the last sample to pass through. After Julius passed through, the blue lights turned red!
"It was discovered that some of the samples were still in the recovery room."
"Appropriate measures will be taken."
Julius watched the corridor in slow motion as it closed on its own. All he could see was an electric spark followed by the scream of a helpless boy.
"Disciplinary shock procedure for the first, second, and third failure samples."
"Sample 234, under discipline," "Aaaaaah!"
"Sample 245, under discipline."
"Sample 432, under discipline."
"Sample 321, under discipline," "Ughh ... Without any appetizers, the chair flipped backward, and each child was lowered onto the floor.
There was a space similar to Julius's room, and the voice spoke again: "Now the low-temperature test will begin."
The room began spraying a mist of cold gas to cool it down abruptly. A thermometer-like device on the other side of the room displayed the temperature.
It was the only source of light; the entire room was dark except for the green light emitted from the device.
For a full hour, the thermometer continued to drop until it reached -20 degrees Celsius. When the hour was up, Julius was shivering with cold, his tears frozen, and his runny nose had also frozen.
Suddenly, the annoying voice reappeared: "You will now be taken to the high-temperature test room."
The chairs moved along a track on the floor, where the door to the thermometer opened, and the scene shifted to another dark room.
As soon as the wheelchair came to a stop, the door that had been letting in the cold air closed, and another gauge light, the same green, came on.
Then a voice announced,
"Now the high-temperature simulation is underway."
The temperature began to rise, reaching fifty degrees after half an hour, and slowly increasing to sixty degrees after an hour.
It was exhausting, both mentally and physically. The boys were in a hopeless state, some literally going mad. They were labeled "corrupt samples" and were eliminated and replaced.
After that hour of intense heat, Ulysses would rave and vomit, even though his stomach was already empty. Then he would turn to his shackled arms; his back ached. The seat wasn't even comfortable; it was rough and hard.
"The data collection process is underway. 120 people passed the test, and 119 managed to pass it."
"You will now be transferred to the sanctuary."
It was another white room with an extremely long dining table. Chairs were brought out to the designated spots for each child, according to their number. Julius sat down. There were many unconscious children and empty seats.
Most were unconscious due to exhaustion, while others were still confined to the recovery rooms (Julius's sleeping area).
Then, from the right arm of each chair, a needle appeared and pricked each child's arm, beginning to draw blood.
Within five minutes, a circle opened in front of each child, and various types of food emerged.
The food was unappetizing, barely edible, and a thick green liquid oozed from it. Each child received a specific amount of food.
They were given a time limit; they had to eat all the food and leave nothing out within the allotted time. They didn't have the luxury of saving any; it was mandatory.
Julius cried during his first days eating that food, which he couldn't stomach and almost spat out. When I saw the boy next to him do the same, electricity rushed down his neck, knocking him unconscious.
He decided to swallow it and be patient, but now, with Julius's pale, lifeless eyes, and his Dark circles spun beneath his eyes, devoid of any glimmer of hope.
He held the food and stuffed it into his mouth without any intention of doing so, as if he had become a body devoid of a soul.
He finished eating exactly as the timer went off, and as soon as he was done, his legs swung away from the cursed chair, and a male voice spoke this time:
"To all the specimens in the lab, proceed according to the light on the wall."
"I repeat."
"To all the specimens in the lab, proceed according to the light on the wall."
The path kept changing at this point, as if you were living in an endless maze. Lights traced long lines in different corridors, all leading to the white room where the children's educational program was located.
They removed all their clothes, walked in a straight line, and then divided into equal rows, one after the other, their eyes fixed on the screen.
They remained standing, their eyes fixed on the screen where a strange man spoke to them in a bizarre and somewhat provocative manner, until the four-hour brainwashing program was over.
Then the real hell began: the combat program. They trained with muscular men disguised in various masks. The training lasted eight consecutive hours without a break, and many of them fainted from exhaustion.
The problem was that the program wouldn't recognize whether you were tired or not. To it, stopping the training was considered an act of rebellion, punishable by electrocution.
You weren't even given a chance to catch your breath and recover. As long as the program could see you on the ground, it would continue to electrocute you. Even if the reason you weren't getting up was because of the electrocution itself, it wouldn't acknowledge that and would continue to torture you.
And even if you weren't tired and just fell by accident, you received the same punishment.
The final hour, a "realistic fighting session," saw the students battling their supervisors. There was no room for mercy.
The training was like that of adult Central Army soldiers. The supervisors' kicks and punches were brutal; it was rare for someone to leave the ring without suffering numerous broken ribs and bones.
The goal was to acclimate them to this level of pain and teach their bodies to recover quickly.
Emerging without any fractures and withstanding some supervisors for extended periods was nothing short of miraculous—unthinkable—until the day Julius emerged. He managed to leave the ring with just a few blows.
The moment he stepped out, silence fell over the room. The timer still ticked, and the stillness of the hall only amplified the sound.
"Time's up, the duel is over."
The duel always ended long before the allotted time, usually with a serious injury, fainting, or death... but this was the first time he'd ever heard of how a round ended.
But the supervisor, who was supposed to harm Julius, was in a precarious position among his colleagues, wanting to destroy him. In the laboratory environment, even workers faced consequences for not completing tasks.
Her eyes were fixed on him as she said, "From today onward, you'll be my prey, and I'll see how far you can go before... you die!"
Someone was watching the training from a balcony, their eyes sharp and a faint smile playing on their lips.
What would the coming days hold for Julius...?