章節 72: Dark Heart
The morning sun bathed the city of Oujisama in its warm glow as Shino and Hinata emerged from the hotel where they had spent the night.
Hinata trailed behind Shino, her steps less hesitant than the day before and her hands less clingy, but unease still lingered in her eyes. She couldn't shake off the worry that gnawed at her heart - Kiba had yet to return.
They walked in silence for a while until Hinata mustered the courage to speak, her voice laced with concern. "Shino-kun, do you think something happened to Kiba-kun? He's never been gone for this long before."
Shino glanced over his shoulder at Hinata, his gaze steady. "If you're worried, we can go look for him. It's possible he encountered some trouble."
Hinata hesitated, her mind filled with the memories of the slums and the fear that still clung to her. She wanted to resist the thought of returning there, but her concern for Kiba won over her hesitations. "Alright, let's go find him," she replied, her voice determined.
As they made their way back to the slums, they began asking the locals if they had seen a young man with a loyal canine companion. Once again, their inquiries led them to the warehouse of the Shin gang -a place teeming with danger and secrets… at least, according to the locals.
Approaching the warehouse, they found it eerily empty, with signs of scorch marks and charred ground from previous explosions, but there were no other clues. Hinata's heart sank as she realized there was no trace of Kiba. Disappointment washed over Hinata, but she refused to give up.
"Let's search somewhere else. I'm sure we'll find Kiba-kun eventually..."
Just as they were about to leave the desolate warehouse, their ears caught the anguished cries of a woman in a nearby alley. The echoes were hauntingly familiar, mirroring the events of the day before. Hinata froze in her tracks, her body trembling. Images of her nightmares resurfaced, threatening to paralyze her.
Shino observed Hinata's inner struggle and silently stood by her side, his expression stoic. He knew the torment she was experiencing, but he also understood her compassionate nature. The decision rested with Hinata, and he respected whatever path she chose.
Torn between her fears and her innate kindness, Hinata battled with her emotions. In the end, the weight of her empathy and the memory of her nightmare propelled her forward. She mustered her strength and stepped into the dark alley, leaving Shino to shake his head with a sigh.
"I suppose it's too difficult to change the personality of important characters," he muttered to himself, a hint of amusement in his voice, "But I suppose this is also part of the fun of the game..."
Hinata cautiously approached the source of the cries and found a distressed woman cornered by a group of unruly men. Ignoring her own trembling limbs, Hinata summoned her courage and spoke with unwavering determination. "Leave her alone!"
The men turned their attention to Hinata, their eyes gleaming with malice. "What's a delicate flower like you doing in this part of town? This is none of your business, little girl."
Undeterred, Hinata straightened her posture, her voice steady. "No one deserves to be treated this way. Release her at once."
Shino, still lingering in the shadows, observed the unfolding scene with a watchful eye. He admired Hinata's bravery, her spirit refusing to succumb to the darkness that threatened to engulf her.
The men, finding amusement in Hinata's audacity, let out mocking laughter. "You think you can stop us, girl? You're nothing but a nuisance."
The air grew heavy with tension as the thugs closed in, their malicious laughter echoing through the dimly lit alley. Hinata's breath hitched, her body trembling as the memories of the night before flooded her mind. The suffocating fear threatened to paralyze her, rendering her incapable of taking action.
Just as despair threatened to consume her, a firm hand landed on her shoulder, jolting her from her stupor. Hinata turned, her wide eyes meeting Shino's unwavering gaze. His presence brought a sliver of solace, a beacon of strength in the darkness that surrounded them.
"I'm here, Hinata," Shino's voice, calm and steady, whispered reassurance. "You don't have to face this alone."
His words, like a soothing balm, resonated within Hinata's core. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a newfound surge of courage coursing through her veins. With Shino by her side, she no longer felt the crippling weight of fear.
Hinata quickly averted her gaze, a flush coloring her cheeks. Gathering her resolve, she clenched her fists, a determined smile curving her lips. She knew that she was no longer afraid to confront the thugs that loomed before them.
The chakra within her stirred, awakening the power of her Byakugan. Her once gentle eyes transformed, becoming piercing orbs of pale white, brimming with untapped fierceness, ready to face her past and future.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the underground base near the capital, a scene of eerie torment unfolded.
An unconscious figure, suspended in midair, was ensnared by slimy appendages that extended from the hive-like walls, their surfaces appearing to bulge occasionally as they infused an unknown concoction into its prey. The appendages held her arms and legs spread wide, exposing her vulnerable form to the twisted lurkers in the shadows.
Twitching uncontrollably, the woman's body exhibited signs of distress. Two dog-sized bees hovered near her, their stingers piercing her body, injecting her with the neural parasites they brewed within their bodies.
The bees, eventually drained of vitality, sagged and fell away, only to be replaced by another pair, perpetuating the cycle of torment. Shadows danced on the walls, revealing the presence of countless more bees, their forms crawling in the darkness.
In the midst of this sinister spectacle, Shino and Karina observed the experiment with grim fascination. Shino's gaze never wavered, his expression unreadable, while Karina's eyes betrayed a mixture of concern and intrigue.
Shino turned to Karina, his voice laced with an air of detachment. "How is the progress?"
Karina, her attention fixed on the scene before them, replied, her tone tinged with a hint of dissatisfaction. "The parasitic genjutsu method we employed to torture her mind through the control of the neural parasites is showing promise. However, the effectiveness of the mind-breaking procedure is not as potent as we initially anticipated. Her will is stronger than imagine, especially since she is a genjutsu master herself. The neural parasites are constantly being destroyed and the consumption of biomass is high."
Shino nodded, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated their next course of action. "As expected of a jonin. Their will is not easily shattered," he remarked, a touch of admiration in his voice. "Nevertheless, we shall persist. We have plenty of biomass to spare. Continue with the plan. I believe that in due time, it will bear fruit. After all, we have already researched her weaknesses thoroughly over the months of getting along."
Karina, her resolve undeterred, acknowledged Shino's command. "Understood. I will make the necessary adjustments and intensify the genjutsu simulation, including the AI-generated torture and death scenes of Asuma. The more she believes she is trapped within the confines of an illusion, the greater the backlash when she finally realizes she cannot awaken from it. However, this stimulation has a 60% probability of destroying her mind, rendering our optimal plan a failure…"
Karina's gaze flickered with hesitation as she stole a glance at Shino, her words hanging in the air, burdened by unspoken uncertainties. "Shino, are you sure you want to risk it? After all, she is your teacher. You could have followed my suggestion to give her physical stimulation, and gradually assimilate her through repeated irrigation, which has a much higher success rate…"
Their conversation hung in the air, thick with the weight of their nefarious intentions.
With a playful smile, Shino lightly tapped Karina's head, his words uttered in a hushed tone that hinted at concealed intentions. "Although I am tempted to indulge, but we don't have so much time to transport her back to the main base. If we want the follow-up plans to succeed, we'll have to return her before this mission ends…"
In a moment of contemplation, Shino's gaze lingered on his teacher's captivating visage, as though reminiscing the profound influence she had exerted on their journey together, yet his voice carried an unwavering determination. "My clone can only delay Hinata for so long before she notices something wrong and requests support. This method is the riskiest but the fastest. If she really is unlucky and turns into an empty shell here, we can only use the Puppet Kurenai plan. It'll be a pity though..."
"Understood, Shino. I will do my best to preserve her will. After all, it'll bring more benefits… in many ways," Radiating a coquettish charm, Karina reassured with a playful grin directed at Shino, only to swiftly divert her attention towards the intricate dance of holographic screens under her command.
The woman's suffering became the canvas upon which their sinister experiment unfolded. Shino, stoic and calculated, saw it as a means to an end - an opportunity to test the limits of the human psyche and his new interrogation method.
Karina, a passionate researcher and dedicated woman, found herself irresistibly drawn to the challenge presented before her, fueled by her determination to fulfill her lover's wishes, even as a tinge of jealousy lingered within her heart.
Bound by unwavering loyalty yet haunted by the fear of abandonment amidst the long rivers of time, Karina, a natural born queen, had meticulously gathered the intricate data of human nature through her AI capabilities, devising a masterful plan to secure her hold over her beloved.
For once he starts thinking with his lower body, he will not be able to escape her grasp!
As they watched the woman's plight continue, their eyes met, a silent understanding passing between them. They were bound by a shared goal, pushing the boundaries of their abilities in pursuit of their ambitions. The road to triumph was paved with darkness, and they would tread it together.
In the depths of the underground base, the echoes of suffering and manipulation reverberated.
The hive's web tightened its hold, ensnaring its prey ever deeper, while Shino and Karina continued to orchestrate their twisted symphony of pain and deception. The outcome remained uncertain, but they were resolute in their determination to break the woman's spirit, no matter the cost.
And then she will become a part of them.
Turning his gaze away from the beauty, Shino's gaze swept across the grim scene of the lab, where the walls were adorned with the haunting presence of living humans, their bodies infested by the insidious neural parasites injected by his bees. Needless to mention, the horrendous experimental tools were not lacking, and the bloody dissection table speaks of the hidden horrors which have occurred.
Shino turned to Karina, his voice laced with a mix of curiosity and concern. "How is the progress with our experiments using normal humans as computation power?" Shino inquired, his eyes betraying his anticipation for the results.
Karina's expression clouded with a hint of frustration as she responded, her voice tinged with a touch of disappointment. "The progress hasn't been as fruitful as we had hoped. Due to their natural resistance, it seems that the amount of computation power required to establish a system connection and to synchronize normal, unassimilated human through the neural parasites outweighs the computational capacity their minds can contribute."
"And assimilating them will require the same amount of essence as a ninja, but even the weakest ninja can grow to have at least twice the computation power of a normal human. So, it's not worth wasting our lacking supply of essence."
"Not only that, the initial and partial infestation of normal humans has a probability of causing them to mutate or degenerate into mindless monsters – one which could only serve as cannon fodder because they would no longer contribute even the slightest computation power. We're still researching ways to overcome these limitations, but our capabilities are currently confined by the boundaries of our computation power, which we are aiming to increase soon."
Recalling a note in the database, Shino inquired. "But at least we have found a way to extend the control time for infested subjects, right?"
"Yes. I have developed the delayer implantation you have suggested. Neural parasites can hibernate within the implanted storage to extend their survival duration, allowing our parasites to delay their infestation time, achieving a pseudo queue which allows us to implement longer control duration. However, this duration can only be maintained for a couple days at most before the container requires a refill. Not only that, the infested subject still requires our manual control or a corresponding AI model that requires computation power. Otherwise, it will just be a stiff puppet. Naturally, this is another research topic on file."
A sense of understanding flickered in Shino's eyes as he absorbed her words. He knew that this endeavor would require patience and perseverance, a constant cycle of trial and error.
If harnessing the computational abilities of humans were a simple task, the Zergs would have already conquered countless universes, unopposed by the limitations of technology.
Allowing his gaze to settle on two empty biocontainers nearby, Shino's curiosity piqued. "And what of the implantation on the dogs? Was it a success?" he inquired, his voice laced with a hint of intrigue.
Karina nodded, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Yes, the implantation process was successful. Our fuinjutsu are in place, and the dogs have been released to where they belong," she replied cryptically, her tone suggesting that their purpose had been served.
"Oh? And where is that?"
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