The narrow room was extremely oppressive, with large patches of wall skin peeling off, covered with mold stains and dilapidated, cobwebs tangled in the corners, and only a broken window letting in a glimmer of light, like a world isolated from society.

"Creak..." As the iron door opened with a groan, two guards walked in.

The elder guard stood in front with his hands on his hips, introducing, "Dinner time is at 6 PM every day, make sure they finish eating within 5 minutes. Remember to check the utensils when collecting the trays."

"Some little bastards will secretly hide utensils to commit suicide, if found, just break their hands."

The new guard followed in, fanning his hand in front of his nose repeatedly, "What is this smell, it’s unbearable."

"Stop complaining, how good can the place the bastards live be." The elder guard tossed him the keys, then pointed the flashlight towards the iron cage in the corner, saying, "The person is over there, let her out."

The new guard went over to open the cage door.

"Creak..." The cage door slowly opened.

The flashlight first illuminated a skeletal arm, the skin nearly ghostly white, with so little flesh that the blood vessels under the skin became very prominent, twisted like little green snakes.

A frail child crawled out of the cage, her head covered with blood scabs from mosquito bites, resulting in almost no hair, her eyes sunken, cheeks hollowed, skinny beyond recognition, from a distance she resembled an ugly humanoid monster.

The new guard widened his eyes and sneered, "Whoa, is this human? So ugly, where did they find her?"

The elder guard said flatly, "Remember the ’Origin Project’ from the park a few years ago?"

New guard: "Yeah, the one about using genetic coding technology to modify embryo cell DNA to create defect-free humans."

Old guard: "Most of the experimental subjects in the Origin Project didn’t live past their first year. This one is the only one who survived, she’s four years old now, we all call her ’Zero’."

The new guard inhaled sharply: "Did someone really survive such experiments? She’s simply a monster!"

The old guard teased indifferently: "Who says otherwise? The gap between us and her might be bigger than the gap between dogs and humans."

New guard chuckled coldly, "So what, we’re the overseers here. Monsters must also submit to us."

After speaking, he opened the lunchbox he held in his hand.

Inside the lunchbox was mashed potatoes made from potatoes and assorted vegetables, all ingredients mass-produced by the factory, the texture like chewing wax, the only benefit being cheap, not enough to kill you.

The new guard flipped the lunchbox over, dumping the mashed potatoes on the ground, sneering at Zero, "Come, ugly monster, come and feast."

Zero raised her skeletal arm, crawling toward the scent of food.

She squatted in front of the pile of mashed potatoes, using her dirty little hands to scoop up a handful, stuffing it into her mouth.

"Rustle... rustle..." The mashed potatoes were covered with dust and gravel from the ground, abnormal sounds emitted as she chewed.

Some of the gravel was sharp, cutting her mouth, thin lines of blood oozed from the corner of her lips, yet she seemed to feel nothing, continuing to stuff the filthy food into her mouth.

She was about to grab another handful, suddenly "thud" a booted foot stomped on the back of her hand.

The new guard stomped on Zero’s hand, grinding back and forth with the hard sole, coldly saying, "Forgot the rules, did you? Before eating, you need to say thank you to us."

"You bastards with no parents, it’s because of us you have food, human beings ought to have some gratitude, right?"

Zero didn’t speak, her eyes devoid of life and sparkle, enduring the hand being stomped until the blood started seeping, extending her other hand to continue grabbing mashed potatoes and stuffing them into her mouth.

The new guard couldn’t lift his other foot to stomp, it wouldn’t maintain balance, he became somewhat embarrassed and angry for a moment.

"Little son of a bitch, still got attitude?" He grabbed the ragged collar of Zero, punching her hard in the face.

"Thud!"

Zero’s nose was broken, blood gushed out, yet she seemed to feel nothing, her dim eyes showed no emotional fluctuations, the guard was right in front of her, yet she didn’t look at him, as if he didn’t exist.

"Rustle... rustle..." She continued chewing the mashed potatoes, the nose blood flowing into her mouth, staining her jagged baby teeth red.

This disregard made the new guard even angrier, punching her face violently over and over.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!..." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

In this bout of beating, Zero’s nose was knocked sideways, several baby teeth fell out, her mouth full of blood, a broken brow swelling high, her face covered with welts.

"Rustle... rustle..." She still showed no reaction, merely numbly eating the filthy food, one bite after another.

The old guard saw the new guard was tired from hitting, sneered: "Stop wasting energy, this one had genetic modifications before birth, naturally has no pain nerves, can’t feel any pain."

The new guard kicked Zero over, muttering, "Really a monster among monsters, huh?"

The old guard patted his shoulder, said seriously, "Young man, don’t be so impetuous, monsters have monster training methods, let me do it."

The old guard used the key to open the hidden door on the wall of the room, his gaze became deep,

then, he walked over and grabbed Zero by the collar.

Zero saw the hidden door open, seemingly realizing something, finally reacted.

"Ugh... ah! Ah!..." Those eyes filled with panic, she struggled, screamed, her broken throat from the gravel continuously emitted hoarse cries, like a monster howling.

The old guard threw Zero into the dark room, only smiled saying two words: "Three days."

"Ah! Ah!!!..." Amidst Zero’s heart-wrenching wails, he closed the door.

...

Three days later, the old guard and new guard returned to this room.

The moment the hidden door opened, the small body leaning against the door frame fell out.

Three days and nights without water or food, Zero’s body became even thinner than last time, her lips covered with blood wounds, to alleviate thirst, she could only bite her lips to drink her own blood.

If somewhat alive when Zero last came out of the cage, now she’s like a puppet with strings cut, blankly sprawling on the ground, eyes devoid of light.

The old guard used the tip of his shoe to turn Zero over, looking at those vacant eyes, sneered: "The place she’s locked is called ’Dark Prison’, soundproof padding all around inside, light doesn’t go in, sound doesn’t come out, absolute darkness and sealed state."

"The fear of darkness is inscribed in human genes. People can be unafraid of pain but can’t possibly be unafraid of darkness, not afraid only because it hasn’t been dark long enough."

"To deal with these disobedient monsters, darkness is enough."

The old guard took out a water bottle from his pocket, poured water on Zero’s face, "Drink, drink with gratitude. Remember, if you’re disobedient again, this will be the consequence."

Cool water flowed into her mouth, bringing a resurgence of vitality, under survival instinct’s drive, Zero drank greedily, drinking so fast that tears and snot flowed continuously.

Her vision blurred by tears and water poured on her face, she coughed and looked blankly at the ceiling.

Why...

Why does living feel so disgusting...