"How many viruses have you released?" Edward asked grimly.

"Edward Sullivan..." The man said, pausing, then cocking his head thoughtfully. "Oh, no. I should call you... R16, right?"

Edward's eyes widened. He then kicked the man hard in the stomach. The man grunted, blood trickling from his mouth, but continued to laugh, seemingly enjoying their distress.

Lily looked at Edward with conflicted emotions. She didn't know the specific virus in his body, but his codename revealed him as an experimental subject. This experiment is inhumane! she thought. She knew the organization experimented on humans, but the thought of it happening to someone she cared for was agonizing. Edward, she knew, bore this burden quietly, even attempting self-sacrifice to destroy the organization. She looked at him deeply, lips pursed.

"So what if you've caught me? You still can't change the fact that you've become our guinea pig. You can't eliminate what's inside you—for the rest of your life," the man laughed maniacally.

Edward moved to kick him again, but Lily stopped him. "Edward!" she exclaimed, "He's trying to provoke you into killing him!"

"Provoke me?" Edward hadn't considered that. Yet, the man relentlessly goaded him, urging him to kill.

"If he dies, we'll have no way to gather information," Lily said flatly.

"I guess that's his goal, huh?" "I'm not afraid of dying. What can you do about it?" the man asked, his laughter grating and irritating. Though breathless, he continued, "I don't mind telling you the viruses inside our guinea pigs are all unique. You can't develop a cure-all. Furthermore, our guinea pigs will carry the pathogens for life!" He spat out the last few words.

Edward restrained himself, but Mike, unable to bear it any longer, punched the man's face. The man's head snapped to the side, his mask cracking in half.