Chapter 10: Ma Changyi (Person C)
"Dr. Ma," A timid voice called over the intercom. The figure of a woman in a hazmat suit was bent over a station that housed various plant-like organisms. Each of them produced a visible vapor-like gas which had to be filtered through an extensive system. Dr. Ma didn't seem to notice the timid voice and was more intent upon the project in front of her.
"Dr. Ma, the Director wants you to submit your reports by the end of the week," the voice ventured once more. The mention of the Director caused Dr. Ma to pause as she finally bothered to turn around.
"And if I don't want to," Dr. Ma raised a brow, her voice was arrogant. However, unlike the coldness that some of her peers were capable of producing, her voice held a constant warmth to it.
"Then she would cut off all the funding for your, and I quote, 'pet projects,'" The timid voice explained, afraid that there would be the incident of "shooting the messenger."
Dr. Ma froze in their work and turned to look in the direction of the intercom. "Did the Director threaten my funding?" She inquired, her voice sounding even more cordial.
Everyone who worked with Dr. Ma knew that the more friendly the woman sounded, the more likely someone was to have their throat slashed or for their New Year's gift to consist of her failed experiments. Nobody in the lab was interested in receiving a flower capable of killing someone after only one smell or a fruit capable of creating an insatiable hunger.
There were several reasons people knew Dr. Ma as "The Doctor with the Scarred Smile." She was an expert in healing and capable of bringing anyone away from the precipice of death, but her results were always like her smile. Scarred and flawed when it came to the standards of society.
Therefore, anytime the Director sent orders Dr. Ma needed to fill and knew that she was in the midst of her "pet projects" all of the fellow lab workers would draw straws. The loser would be responsible for informing their unhinged boss.
"Yes, the director said these orders should've been finished weeks ago," the timid voice told her.
Dr. Ma blew out a heavy breath as her gloved hand caressed her latest pet project. The Director had managed to create a scent that allowed one to be indulged in their nostalgia. Something capable of invoking such sought-after memories made the company a lot of money. And, when she attempted to recreate the results, the flowers she created killed all of her test rats. It was a slow death as well as at first Dr. Ma believed the rats to be entranced by a flood of dopamine instead it was so much dopamine that it fired their brains.
"Why doesn't she understand?" She complained, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm only trying to help my older sister and instead all I can create are a bunch of killing tools." It sounded as though her voice was on the verge of a breakdown.
"Dr. Ma, the Director has told us to remind you that you do help her," The timid voice rushed to comfort her. "And…and if you just manage to finish these projects within a few days, she will reward you."
"With what?" Dr. Ma exclaimed, sounding pleased despite the venom she was trying to inject in her voice. "More funding? Does she think I don't know that she sells my stuff for me to just make more of it? Or that I don't know that she keeps most of the profits?" She had since removed herself from the case that housed her plants. She now stood in her hazmat suit and pointed furiously at the intercom.
"Well…she promised to not cut off the funding for the rest of the lab for a year," The sound of paper rustling could be heard. "And, that you would be transferred from the lab in the United States to the main one in China."
There was a long silence as both the timid voice and Dr. Ma absorbed that information. If she managed to finish a few measly orders in a week, Dr. Ma would be able to leave the United States and be by her older sister's side. It would be the first time in three years that Dr. Ma would be able to do so.
"Those were the Director's words? No lies?" Dr. Ma, her voice sounding excited. The only confirmation that she wasn't angered was the smile the timid voice was unable to hear.
"Ye-yes!" The voice cried out and immediately hung up.
Dr. Ma walked over to her computer, having removed the gloves of her suit. She looked over the backlog of orders she had. It would take a couple of days of overtime before she would be able to finish by the given deadline. A shiver of excitement ran through her body and her heart sped up. She hadn't had much communication with her older sister since the conclusion of their contracts with the Xue Lian.
Older Sister Lei was a legendary figure in her eyes. The woman managed to be recruited by one of the founders at only 18. She finished their extremely difficult training program in only a year. Dr. Ma met her older sister when she was 20 and they spent the next two years completing contracts together. It had been the most fun she'd ever had.
However, something happened that caused Older Sister Lei to leave her life as an assassin behind. She returned to China and had ceased communication with Dr. Ma save for the establishment of her company and the lab Dr. Ma now worked in.
If what the Director was promising was true then soon she would be able to address her as her older sister once more. Dr. Ma couldn't wait.
The intercom sparked to life once more and a voice grumbled into it. "You are behind on your work! Do you know the amount of trouble both you and our boss give me? That damn woman's whims and your obsessive pet projects are going to ruin my love life!" Bai Aiai shouted. She had flown across the world to retrieve each of her associates. From Europe to Japan then to the United States. She hoped to have been delayed by two days instead it would appear to take four instead. The amount of time to return to her beloved's side was growing bigger by the second.
Dr. Ma let out a gasp as she shot up from her seat. "How. Dare. You?! Older Sister Lei was the one to save your life! We were sent to kill you, but she conveniently let you live!"
"Oh, thanks. Letting me live because it was convenient for her! I'm so thankful." The level of sarcasm that Bai Aiai was able to inject into her voice was something Dr. Ma always failed at doing. Another thing to mark as an annoyance with this associate of hers.
The pair of them argued back and forth until Quan Beijia managed to hack into the lab's systems and remotely turn off the intercom.
"Yinny-chan, look I manage to stop an argument from the safety of my penthouse suite," she proclaimed, ignoring the way that the AI shook her head in disappointment.
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