Although Doctor Rao didn’t act close to Lucifer in the last five years, he didn’t openly despise him either as there was a possibility of Lucifer developing his powers. His actions towards Lucifer seemed only professional till now.
He was neither too friendly nor too harsh but only kept an average attitude towards the child.
But now that Lucifer was already ten years old and failed, there was no reason for him to act nice anymore.
Lucifer’s face turned pale as he heard the answer from Dr. Rao. It felt like his world came crashing down, and every word of that sentence hit his heart like a bullet.
Tears lurked, making his eyes glittery, and his vision blurred as he tried to fight back with the enormous pain and torment he was feeling.
"But you can still help humanity. So you’re not completely useless. Come with us," Dr. Rao further said in a villainous tone as his eyes shone like a vulture under thick gold-framed glasses.
Lucifer stood up with a blank look on his face and followed after them as a few drops of stubborn silent tears left his eyes.
They brought him to a room that Lucifer had never been to before. There were strange machines all around the room with a single bed at the center.
"Go lie down on the bed," Doctor Rao commanded.
Lucifer followed the order silently and walked up to the bed with little steps.
He lay down on the flat bed, and his ocean eyes were placed on the ceiling. With no movement, he laid there balling his fists as Dr. Rao’s words roamed inside his head.
"Doctor Min, prepare him," Doctor Rao said before he turned and started working on the screen panel not too far away.
Doctor Min walked up to Lucifer. He picked up a head-band like object that was connected to a machine behind him and placed it around Lucifer’s head; his heart churned while doing so, but he still did it.
There were many wires of different colors connected to that headband-like object, which further linked to some other machines around the room.
’ I’m sorry, Lucifer. Even though I respect your parents and care for you, I can’t help you,’ Doctor Min thought apologetically as he walked back, his eyes full of sorrow.
"Everything Ready, Doctor Layman?" Doctor Rao asked the 3rd Scientist.
"Ready. Waiting for orders," Doctor Layman replied.
Doctor Rao said, "Alright. On my count!"
"3... 2...1... Begin!"
Doctor Layman pressed a button on the laptop, and with a slight sound, the process began.
"Aaaa!" Lucifer screamed as loud as he could as he felt the heart-wrenching pain course through his body. He felt like his body was being torn into shreds.
He kept screaming, but the torture didn’t stop. Instead, it went on and on for what seemed like an eternity.
"Heartbeat rising rapidly. The pain index reached 60 percent. Cell destruction has begun," Doctor Layman declared as he read the data on the screen.
"Stop it now! His cell destruction has begun! If you don’t stop, his entire body will become useless! It should be enough data for our use!" Doctor Min couldn’t help shouting loud as he heard the stats.
Doctor Layman looked towards Doctor Rao.
"Continue! Increase the pain index by 10 percent! I want to see how long it takes for a human body to be destroyed by pain," Doctor Rao commanded. There was not even an ounce of sorrow or hesitation in his voice.
"This is not research anymore, but plain madness! I said, stop it!" Doctor Min roared, but none paid heed to him.
Lucifer kept screaming for 20 minutes straight. His voice had turned hoarse, eyes were blood-shot red with tears still flowing down his cheeks, and his body trembled in pain.
Unfortunately, the pain didn’t stop. It felt like with time; it was becoming even more unbearable. Lucifer’s eyes roamed from Dr. Min to Dr. Layman as he begged them to stop. His face was covered in tears as he watched the smirk on Doctor Rao’s face.
"Why?!" Lucifer yelled like a lunatic as he glared at Doctor Rao with his bloodied eyes.
"He can still speak. Not bad. I guess the pain is not enough. Increase by 20 percent. Take the pain index to 90 percent!" Doctor Rao ordered Doctor Layman, who followed his commands without any question and increased the pain index.
"Heartbeat slowing down rapidly. The pain index reached 90 percent. Cell destruction has reached 70 percent," Doctor Layman said.
"Good. Increase by another 10 percent. Take the pain index to 100 percent," Doctor Rao said as he laughed. "This is good. Let’s see if the human body can bear 100 percent!"
Dr. Min was watching silently till now, but he couldn’t hold it in anymore as he jumped on Dr. Layman to prevent him from increasing the pain index.
He screamed at them, "Are you two even human? Stop it! He is a child, for God’s sake! Stop this madness!"
Dr. Rao ignored the sharp words as he called the security and made them take Dr. Min away.
Meanwhile, Doctor Layman increased the pain index and turned it to the maximum.
Lucifer’s body twisted in pain for one last time before his screams stopped entirely. His bloodied eyes were still open, but there was no focus on them anymore. Lucifer’s entire body had turned blue, as he lied there.
"Heartbeat has stopped. The pain index reached 100 percent. Cell destruction 100%," Doctor Layman announced.
"So, he died. He was a good testing subject to last for so long. I guess the human body is not as useless as we thought. If it can survive for so long under such pain, it’s definitely anything but useless," Doctor Rao muttered as he looked at the data on the screen.
He seemed totally unbothered by the fact that they had just murdered someone brutally, that too a ten-year-old child.
"Let’s leave. The Nurse can clean the body and throw it outside. We have more important things to do," Doctor Rao said as he turned back and walked towards the exit. "Arrange the data we decided in proper charts. I want it on my table tomorrow."
Doctor Rao was about to leave when Doctor Min appeared in front of him.
"You killed him!" Doctor Min screamed at Doctor Rao while tears flowed out of his eyes, and he sat down on the ground.
"A necessary sacrifice for the growth of humanity."
Doctor Rao smiled as he walked past Doctor Min and left the room.
"Don’t feel too attached to the subjects. You’ll feel less pain if you follow that," Doctor Layman placed his hands on Doctor Min’s shoulders as he comforted him.
"Although Doctor Rao is slightly psychotic, he is a great scientist. Anyways, let’s go eat. There is no point in fighting and crying over a kid who is already dead. He won’t be coming back after all," he continued as he took Doctor Min outside.
The maids arrived in the room after 20 minutes and saw Lucifer lying on the bed, lifeless.
"Hmm, so he’s the one that died today," The maid said casually as she glanced at Lucifer. They were used to seeing such stuff, so it didn’t bother them much.
They picked his body up and wrapped it in a ziplock bag. Then they took the body outside and threw it in a dumpster before they walked back into the facility like nothing happened.
There was no remorse, no regret, and absolutely no sympathy towards the dead kid. All their hearts were sealed and had turned into stones a long time ago.
The following day, a truck arrived that took all the trash from the dumpster and left the place.
All the trash from the facility was dumped in a desolate place, far away from the facility. As far as the eyes could see, only waste was visible. The truck left as usual after dumping everything it had collected that day.
In the vast wasteland, one body was lying. Seemingly dead yet not quite.