Free Web NovelChapter 1673: I’m the illegitimate child!
"Take the other two to the detention cells. Move him to the laboratory immediately~"
Genome Beta’s voice flowed through the chamber with a disturbingly excited purr, sending a cold shiver down Lackey’s spine.
The two black mech-suits marked with glowing pink stripes responded instantly.
Their optical sensors flashed once before armoured hands seized Lackey and dragged him forward. Still trapped beneath the thick blocking sack, he couldn’t see what surrounded him.
Darkness pressed against his eyes while he clenched his teeth and twisted his body, desperately trying to break free.
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
His mind raced through countless possibilities while his senses desperately mapped his surroundings.
Left turn.
Right turn.
Ten meters forward and another left.
Then came a sudden change.
His body rose upward.
Even blindfolded, he could feel the subtle vibration beneath his feet and the shifting pressure in his stomach.
An elevator?
Most likely a high-speed magnetic platform.
Almost a few minutes later, the ascent stopped.
Then journey resumed.
Straight.
Left turn, then Right turn.
Five meters forward.
Again, Right turn.
Another ten meters.
Left again and sharp Right.
Then...
Hiissss!
Compressed air escaped somewhere nearby.
A door opened.
A wave of refrigerated air rolled over his body. It carried the sterile scent of disinfectants and machine lubricants.
A laboratory?
The restraints around his legs suddenly disengaged.
The moment he felt freedom return to his lower body, Lackey reacted without hesitation.
His leg shot forward.
Tang!
Metal screamed.
One mech-suit was launched backwards and crashed into the corridor wall, leaving a dent in the alloy plating.
Lackey immediately twisted toward the second suit, preparing another strike.
Then a voice stopped him.
"Oh my~ So Fierce... I love it~"
Before he could react, two glossy pink-black tendrils burst from behind the woman standing nearby.
The tendrils moved with terrifying speed.
They coiled around his legs.
The next moment, the world flipped upside down.
"Hmmfff!!"
The tendrils tightened like hydraulic cables and lifted him into the air. Pain shot through his body as pressure built around his joints.
The sack covering his head was finally removed.
Bright white light flooded his vision.
After several blinks, the first thing he saw was Genome Beta.
The sleek black mech-suit surrounding her body reflected the laboratory lights like polished obsidian. Thin streams of pink energy pulsed beneath the armour’s surface, moving through translucent channels like glowing veins.
"That’s better," she said, tilting her head slightly. "Now I can actually see my patient."
Her voice softened.
"Be a good boy and lie still. Otherwise, I can’t promise I’ll be gentle while conducting my examination~"
The tendrils squeezed tighter.
A sharp wave of pain shot through Lackey’s thighs.
For a terrifying second, he genuinely thought his bones might crack.
’*Fuck this bitch.*’
Rage burned inside him.
Unfortunately, the moment another tendril wrapped itself around his throat, he wisely kept that opinion to himself.
Genome Beta seemed pleased by his sudden silence.
"Excellent. See? Cooperation isn’t difficult."
The tendrils carried him deeper into the laboratory before lowering him onto a reinforced medical platform.
The room itself looked like a research facility designed by someone with ’questionable’ ethics.
Rows of transparent containment cylinders lined the walls.
Suspended robotic arms hung from articulated rails in the ceiling.
Several autonomous surgical drones floated silently nearby, their crimson optical sensors tracking every movement.
The equipment surrounding the operating platform appeared equally disturbing.
Every device looked expensive.
Every device looked dangerous.
Genome Beta secured his legs first.
Magnetic restraints locked into place with mechanical precision.
Afterwards, she released one of the cuffs on his wrist while carefully inspecting the restraint itself.
The remaining cuff still contained the embedded golden crystal.
Without it, most off-world people would eventually rupture from exposure to the overwhelming energies saturating this world.
"Still stable," she murmured while reading several holographic reports.
The tendrils continued moving around his body.
One after another, reinforced restraint straps emerged from the table.
Across his ankles.
Across his thighs.
Across his waist.
Across his chest.
Across his shoulders.
Each strap tightened automatically until even breathing required effort.
Meanwhile, Genome Beta wandered between floating interfaces and instrument racks, occasionally selecting a tool before reconsidering and placing it aside.
She looked almost thoughtful.
Lackey’s forehead glistened with sweat.
This was the first time he had personally experienced something like this.
Yes, he had watched one of his previous iterations endure a similar situation.
He had witnessed every second.
Every expression.
Every moment of helplessness.
But observation and experience were two entirely different things.
Watching someone drown from shore could never compare to feeling water fill your own lungs, right?
Now, secured beneath countless restraints and surrounded by machines capable of dissecting a body molecule by molecule, Lackey finally understood what that previous version of himself must have felt.
"Now everything is set~"
Lackey flinched and turned his gaze toward the side.
The sight that greeted him sent a chill racing down his spine.
Genome Beta stood beside the operating platform, several advanced instruments floating around her through the support of her tendrils.
Each tendril held a different tool.
Lackey had no idea what most of them actually did.
And frankly, he didn’t want to know.
One resembled a long metallic spear nearly as long as his arm, its tip surrounded by faint blue energy.
Another looked like a cluster of razor-thin needles folded together into a deadly flower.
One resembled an oversized drill with rotating segments running along its length.
A flat circular device floated nearby, its spinning edge glowing faintly enough to make him wonder if it could slice through steel.
Another instrument looked disturbingly similar to a giant metallic claw designed to grip something far larger than a human hand.
One tendril carried a heavy rectangular apparatus covered in warning symbols and blinking red indicators.
A black rod.... A curved metallic hook.... A polished sphere... A narrow silver spike... and so on!
Behind them floated numerous smaller instruments, creating a terrifying halo of steel around Genome Beta.
The Goddess of Torture!
Lackey couldn’t identify a single one.
But he didn’t need to.
Every shape triggered the same instinctive conclusion.
Danger!!
The tendrils moved with unnatural precision, constantly rearranging the instruments around her like a surgeon preparing for a procedure.
Or an execution?
"Don’t worry," Beta said with an amused smile hidden beneath her visor.
"It will only hurt at the beginning~"
The playful tone in her voice somehow made the statement far worse.
Even she didn’t sound like she believed it.
A low mechanical hum suddenly echoed beside Lackey’s face.
One of the instruments was activated.
Blue scanning beams flickered across his skin.
The device slowly descended toward him.
Fuck he had to do something!
Lackey’s eyes widened.
"Hmmfff! Hmmmfffffff! HMMMFFFFFF!!"
His body strained against the restraints.
The straps immediately responded.
Red warning lights flashed across their surfaces as the restraint system tightened further.
"Honestly..." Beta sighed.
The humming sound disappeared.
Several floating displays minimised themselves while she turned toward him.
"What?"
"Hmff! HMFff!"
Beta stared at him.
"What? I don’t understand."
"HMFF! HMMMFFF!!!"
"Say the fucking wor—Oh. right."
Her visor tilted slightly in realisation as if she was just seeing it now.
One of the tendrils immediately slithered forward and hooked itself around the gag.
"Almost forgot about that."
With a quick tug, the gag was pulled free.
Lackey sucked in a desperate breath.
"I AM EPSILON’S CHILD!!"
The words exploded from his mouth with every ounce of strength he possessed.
The laboratory fell silent.
Even the autonomous surgical drones seemed frozen in place.
The humming machinery continued in the background, but for several seconds, neither person moved.
Genome Beta simply stood there.
The sound echoed through the laboratory.
Finally, she spoke.
"...I beg your finest pardon?"
For the first time since entering the laboratory, Genome Beta sounded genuinely caught off guard.
Lackey immediately seized the opportunity.
"You heard me! I’m Epsilon’s child! Kill me, and my father will hunt you down—your entire division included!" freewebnσvel.cøm
Since he had nothing left, he had to grab this opportunity.
But what opportunity?
An opportunity that might save his life...
"What the hell are you babbling about? Epsilon’s child? Are you delusional? You’re a slave. Do you think I’m an idiot?" Beta’s voice sharpened into cold steel as the tools in her tendrils hummed louder, their vibrations menacing.
So far, from everything he’d seen, Lackey realized that Epsilon and Beta had some kind of grudge. But how was Lackey supposed to be Epsilon’s child?
Even a fool wouldn’t believe that... right?
"How? Haven’t you noticed I’m speaking your language? How would I know it if I was just a slave?"
At that moment, Beta’s visor blinked. She hadn’t considered it—he was speaking fluently in her tongue. "H-How?" she stammered, her shock almost palpable.
Lackey smirked internally. He had her exactly where he wanted. With pained eyes, he looked up, letting a few tears roll down. "How? Because I am one of you! How could you do this to me? I just want... sniff... sniff... to see my father... sniff... How could you?"
Tears streamed down—half genuine, half a performance.
Beta stepped back, her glowing pink eyes widening behind the visor as she watched this grown man cry out for his father.
She got it. He spoke their language, which meant he had to be connected to them somehow. ’Is that why... Epsilon tried to buy him and hide his records?’ she thought, frowning.
"Wait. If you’re his child, why are you in another empire? And... you don’t even look like us," she asked, her brows tightening.
Lackey, tears still fresh, smiled weakly. "O-Of course... because I’m the illegitimate child he had in the Zephyra Empire."
[What in the world are you cooking up?]
Even Log was flabbergasted.
’Let me cook, damn it! It’s the only way to save our skins,’ Lackey thought furiously.
Beta connected the dots, her pink visor glowing brighter. She muttered, "Y-You mean he slept with someone in another empire?"
"Well, if you want to put it bluntly... yeah," Lackey nodded desperately.
Yet, Beta frowned. "No, no, no, that’s impossible... He never had contact there. The President forbade us from entering that region." Her words were firm, but the tools in her tendrils lowered, the hum diminishing. She was still sceptical, but the slight belief was enough.
Lackey’s smile was weak but determined. "I don’t know about that... But are you sure he never stepped foot there? Not even once? What about the merchant he made trade deals with, hmm?" He watched closely for a reaction.
And just as he expected, Beta stiffened. Her tendrils faltered, and every tool clattered to the floor.
"..." As the silence stretched, Beta muttered, "Oh... shit."
