An opportunity or...?

In a long white corridor, a group of twenty people was walking surrounded by more than a hundred armed men clad in black military suits. Leading the group at the front was none other than the horrifying Bruce.

'Huh, this taste? its bitter and kind of metallic what does it mean?'

Luo thought as he kept walking keeping his expression as stoic as he could, while thinking about this phenomenon.

'They are trembling, hmm, is this coming from them? Does that mean fear?'

Luo noticed how bad these kids were trembling as he concluded, this was actually not the first time he encountered this situation as it happened a couple times before, sometimes he would see colors around other people and strings attached to them only for it to disappear the next moment while others he could taste all kinds of tastes out of nowhere but through his experiences he could conclude that taste is related to people's emotions as long as it is intense enough he can taste them while he still has no idea about the colors as he can only see them briefly before they disappear as for the strings he easily concluded that they were paths to finish someone up. While others might have thought he was going insane after arriving here from the pressure or maybe the pills given to him every day, he knew he wasn't. He experienced these before he was even brought here on the night he fought the hitmen.

As he was lost in thought the group stopped at a five-meter-tall black door with a small screen on its lower left side. Bruce walked to the screen and put his palm on it prompting the door to open with a series of mechanical noises.

'What the F#cking hell is this sh#t? What did we get involved in?'

Beyond the door, a huge room was filled with hundreds of tubes, people in lab coats going about as armed soldiers went on patrols across the room.

Clap, Clap

Bruce's claps were abnormally loud, prompting the kids to look at him

"How is it?" Awesome right ahahah? I know there is no need to tell me."

He said with a mad smile plastered on his face

"That aside, welcome to your new house"

Bruce paused as he savored these kids' scared expressions, before he continued

"Com'on, don't so scared this stage is also an opportunity for you"

The group was shocked to hear that although they didn't believe it, a seed of hope had spurted inside them.

Bruce easily noticed their suspicions and said,

"Well, I guess you wouldn't believe it right away, so listen as long as you survive for 6 months in this place, you guys will become official members of our organization."

He paused once again, as he observed the disappointment on their faces before he continued

"So let me tell you the advantages of being a member of our organization, you guys will have only to do one mission every 3 months and the amount you get paid per mission is one million dollars as minimum and that is only for the most basic missions aside from that you will have a monthly pay of five hundred thousand dollars every month, and _"

He paused as he couldn't discern the usual excitement on their faces like most people would when they heard the first advantage of being a member. Then he remembered that he had forgotten to mention an important part.

"Ah, I almost forgot the most basic mission only lasts 1-3 days and the remaining time will be your free time to do what you want outside, well don't get excited just yet apart as money without authority is useless and the authority you can get is based on the number and quality of accomplishments you achieve and to get them you will need to do harder missions, meaning the higher strength the strength you need to possess"

"How cool isn't it? You just need to survive these six months and you will gain power, money and true strength belonging to you and nobody else."

At this point the entire group got excited as the deal wasn't too bad in their views as their lives was in the hands of these people anyway, so as to get such an opportunity is certainly tempting, but there will always be different people in the group as some weren't very positive about the first proposal apart from the fact of the being able to go outside, one of them was Luo of course while the others were people who were already living a life in luxury before being kidnapped so money wasn't something they lacked but the idea of them having authority and strength which they assumed to be some super-human strength was very tempting and convincing to them enough to accept the risks. Everyone except Luo was convinced, but he was able the bigger picture and find some loopholes in the so-called opportunity.

'So, they will not only give us some crazy a$s power that might be enough for us to riot and maybe even lose their hold on us but also, they will let us freely go outside without any type of supervision or surveillance without us running away. I'm sure something is up there is no way some kids here won't get the idea of running away once they are strong enough or taking revenge, as with the power they will gain it's going to be enough for them to make riches outside without any restriction from anybody'

Well Luo guessed it right as Bruce soon followed by saying

"Of course, we can't just give you guys everything without any restrictions"

He said with a sinister smile as he started counting with looking at his clock

"3,2,1"

When he finished saying number one, screams rang inside the huge lab as the twenty kids could be seen lying on the ground squirming in pain with foam coming out of their mouths. They couldn't even talk as a brain-numbing pain assaulted their senses. They could only scream while Bruce watched for a couple seconds before he signaled with his head, as some of the men behind him walked to the student and injected a serum into their blood. Soon the screams halted, and the pain gradually disappeared as the students regained their hold, but they were still lying on the ground trembling as they couldn't forget the sensation when they heard Bruce say.

"How was it? Quite refreshing, isn't it? Well, let me tell you the medicine you guys have been eating every day has some nice effects that strengthen your bodies in all aspects in a very short time bringing you to the limits that your bodies can reach basically you guys are at your best shape and peak right now, but of course this comes with some very severe side effects and only us were capable of creating a potion that allows you to negate these side effects"

None of the kids could hear him talking clearly but they still got the gist of it, shattering their expectations and forcing them to accept their reality. That except for one of them that was beaming with hope which was Luo.

'Nice, he didn't notice my acting. It seems I'm safe at the moment'

In fact, Luo's physical capacities increased abnormally during these three months, he went from being a normal athletic teenager to feeling an abnormal amount of strength. This is more than anything a human can reach. He estimated that he was now more than 15 times stronger than a normal adult. This is not only that his memory, reaction speed and perception also grew to match his physical capacities. At first, he thought that the rate at which he was getting stronger was about the same as the others but soon he realized that during training he didn't find it challenging at all no matter how they increased the difficulty while the others were barely hanging on, so he matched his level to theirs and hid his true capacities.

'I always wondered why they were making us stronger, so they had a method to reign us in, and not only that despite controlling us they were still meticulous and smart enough to not treat us as simple tools, and try to make us loyal to their organization willingly by presenting all these benefits, but that also means their need for us as they could've straight out enslaved us with the medicine to negate the side effects. Well, that doesn't matter to me as whatever side effect exists, I don't seem to be affected by it'

'How come I'm unaffected unlike the others? Is it due to me being stronger but that might mean either a great compatibility with the medicine or I'm brewing some other side effects that have yet to show up'

Luo estimated that the person with the highest physical capability was only three times stronger than an average adult. Therefore, he matched his level to his while keeping the act up till now. When he saw Bruce counting, and how the other kids' expressions were changing he braced himself to fight in case he was found out as he expected being made a lab rat if that was the case, but he saw the guy beside him fall to the ground and started screeching in pain like some zombie. He hurriedly did the same and lucky he acted his way through without being found out. He was initially scared that the other will have some clear mutations or something that can be verified with the naked eye. However, that didn't seem to be the case.

Bruce was talking to some guys in scientist robes while waiting for them to catch their breath and stand up. He saw that they were all up and he ordered

"EACH ONE OF YOU WILL FOLLOW THE SOLDIERS THAT WILL COME TO YOU AND YOU ARE TO LISTEN TO THEIR ORDERS IN THE MEANTIME"

"That's it, good luck you will need it, hahahaha"

While he was walking further into the corridor, his laughter could still be heard.

After he left each student had a soldier beside them as they follow behind them each going in a different direction, Luo was one of them as he walked deep inside the lab till he reached a door with the number 0-59 which opened automatically when the soldier pressed their watch on the scanner beside the door, the room was quite big it had 2 beds and a shower with another door leading to a small training ground. "This is where you will be living. And I will be your supervisor for the next six months."

As she was saying the last part, she took off her helmet with a shake of her head. Her blonde hair fell down. Luo couldn't help being stunned at how pretty she is. She had green eyes, plump red lips, a straight nose and a heart shaped face with thick eyelashes and eyebrows.