Locking the room, Hong Fei turned and went elsewhere.
Pushing open the door, he saw Frank with his legs propped up on the table, staring through a huge one-way mirror at Big Head, who was smiling eerily on the other side.
"When did he wake up?"
Frank didn't even turn his head. "He woke up this morning."
Hong Fei pulled out a chair and sat next to him, gazing at Big Head's eerie smile. He couldn't help but wonder, "I have a feeling he can see us from here?"
"Hmph, just playing tricks," Frank said coldly.
"But you're right, he might actually have superpowers like telepathy; the person monitoring him earlier almost let him out."
"What about that person?"
"Knocked out and carried away."
A trace of confusion appeared on Frank's face. "Do superpowers really exist in this world?"
Hong Fei nodded. "Of course they do. Seeing is believing; we have to learn to accept new things. But why are you sitting here by yourself? Aren't you afraid he'll control you too?"
Frank said dismissively, "He's not quite there yet if he wants to control me." He pointed to his own head.
"I do seem to be able to feel something trying to drill into my brain, but it's clear my resistance is stronger."
"Exactly right. A strong individual will can indeed resist a certain degree of telepathy. He just mutated and gained this ability, so he definitely hasn't mastered it yet, but this ability might be growing, so don't be too careless."
Frank nodded slightly.
At this moment, Hong Fei also sensed an inexplicable force outside his consciousness. As soon as he had the thought, his energy surged instantly, directly isolating this force.
At the same time, the smile on Big Head's face next door stiffened slightly.
Hong Fei laughed, stood up, and said, "I'm going over to check on him."
"Wait, aren't you afraid?"
"If you're not afraid, what do I have to be afraid of?"
"Didn't you just say not to be careless?"
"I'm stronger than you."
After double authentication with a password and iris scan, Hong Fei entered the room where Big Head was. At this moment, he was firmly bound to an alloy chair with chains as thick as a thumb, and his entire body was restrained except for his head, which could move freely.
Seeing Hong Fei enter, he turned his head and continued to offer that extremely eerie smile.
Hong Fei smiled, and as he approached, he suddenly raised his right hand high and brought it down quickly, his large palm rapidly enlarging in Big Head's eyes.
"Smack!"
In the crisp, loud sound of the slap, that huge head was struck and turned one hundred and eighty degrees. Next door, Frank couldn't help but worry if such a large head would suddenly fall off.
Turning his head sharply, the Big Head, Samuel Sterns, stared back, his eyes wide with shock and confusion. For a moment, he didn't know how to react.
Hong Fei smiled. "Go ahead. Keep laughing."
Samuel's eerie smile vanished. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice flat.
Hong Fei sat on the table. "Who I am isn't important. What's important is, do you know who you are right now?"
"I am Samuel Sterns. I am a scientist. I..."
To his surprise, Hong Fei just shook his head repeatedly. "Wrong."
"What's wrong?"
Hong Fei smiled again. "You have one, and only one identity right now: my captive."
Samuel was stunned. His head was normal from the forehead down, but after the mutation, it had begun to grow wildly upward. Looking at it now, it didn't seem to have reached its limit. His stunned expression was comical.
However, Hong Fei wouldn't underestimate him. The Big Head's brain hadn't grown for nothing; as his skull expanded, his brain capacity increased accordingly. At the same time, his intelligence was growing, encompassing intuition, computational thinking, information storage, and logic. His head was still growing, meaning he still had potential for improvement. Given his current performance, it was hard for Hong Fei to judge whether it was real or fake, so the best method was... beat him up first!
Hong Fei reached out to unlock the chains on his body. "Come on, let's fight. If you win, I'll let you out; if you lose, we continue."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
Samuel quickly raised his hand to stop him, but Hong Fei didn't care. He strode forward and delivered a front kick straight into Samuel's chest.
Immediately, Frank next door saw Samuel, with his oversized head, curl up and fly backward. He couldn't help but shake his head. "Here we go again..."
Landing with a thud on the ground, Samuel clutched his abdomen tightly, his face contorted in pain. "What on earth are you doing? I don't know how to fight..."
Hong Fei stepped forward, hoisted him up, and slammed a headbutt right into his big forehead.
Immediately, Samuel was dizzy from the impact. Next, no matter what he said, Hong Fei continued to beat him up, completely ignoring him. A minute later, when Hong Fei approached him again, the exterior of his energy-covered brain was suddenly attacked as if by a sharp thorn. Hong Fei had to mobilize more energy to force it away inch by inch.
"That's more like it. Why hide it?" He raised his leg high, the sole of his foot hitting Samuel's chin directly, once again causing his large head to drag his body up and then crash down.
Samuel gasped for breath, the wind knocked out of him. Coughing frantically, he tried to crawl backward, hands and feet scrabbling for purchase.
"Wait, wait a minute, cough... I give up, I cough... I'm not faking it anymore…"
Hong Fei's side kick met him.
"It hurts, I won't fight anymore!"
"I really know I was wrong!"
"I won't dare to do it again!"
"Stop hitting me, I really tried my best, if you hit me again I'm going to die…"
Three minutes later, Hong Fei's palm strike sent Samuel flying across the room.
His head slammed against the wall, and blackness swallowed him. Hong Fei lowered his hand, shaking his head regretfully. Another strike, and still no skill card. He envied supernatural abilities, like Telepathy. That elusive, unfathomable power would be an excellent match for anyone. He turned his head, but only saw a huge mirror, unable to see what was happening on the other side. He beckoned. "Find someone to treat him."
Moments later, under Hong Fei and Frank's joint supervision, Samuel was in a hospital bed, receiving an IV drip. They left the monitoring room.
Frank asked, "Why did you hit him?"
"He wasn't obedient."
"But what exactly do you want him to do? Join us in our operations, or let him do the scientific research he's good at?"
"Both." Hong Fei nodded. "His ability is rare; it might come in handy at critical moments. And he will become increasingly intelligent. Whether it's planning and executing missions, or scientific research, he's an excellent helper."
Frank paused. "Then why didn't you just tell him your purpose directly?"
Hong Fei frowned. "I didn't?"
"You didn't."
The atmosphere grew awkward. Hong Fei's eye twitched, and suddenly, he changed his expression, patting Frank on the shoulder with a beaming smile. "Go check the first room on the left in the equipment room."
Frank looked confused.
Hong Fei said, "Go on, I put something good in there, it will definitely shock you for a whole year!"
Frank walked over half-believing and half-doubting, while Hong Fei stood in the corridor, smiling without a word. A moment later, a huge, trembling "WTF" echoed in the corridor. Hong Fei couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into loud laughter.