Tear A Path 184 Smoked Beef

Once it touched her, her body spasmed, arching her spine at an almost unnatural angle as she let out a blood curdling shriek that would make the toughest of men go soft at the knees. She laboriously tried to close her mouth and suppress her reflex to shout after the initial outburst, eyes turning bloodshot as a pained groan escaped her gritted teeth.

The patterns continued to glow brighter and brighter before it suddenly began to flicker uncontrollably, cracks beginning to form on it's body and the tendrils that connected it and the girl became more erratic causing her to shriek even more. Her free hand which was originally ripping into the bed with her nails gripped onto her arm. The fingers dug into her clothes and reached her flesh, drawing blood which spread across the fabric.

The horrific scene lasted for less than a minute but everyone in the room was tended to the extreme at the sight of it. This of course included Zhao Wei who was fighting the urge to step out there and pull that thing off the little girl's hand.

Finally the plate split apart, sending out a force which not only repulsed the small girl but also Gren9, even Zhao Wei who was watching this from meters away felt himself pushed back by this surge.

Grendolyn, who took the most of the force was blown away, throwing her body against the wall which cracked under her. By the end she sat limply where she fell, smoke billowing from her whole body.

Gren9 who had been knocked back shook her head with in a daze and rushed over as soon as she saw the state that Grendolyn was in. "Are you ok miss!?" She tried to touch Grens body which discharged some orange energy of it's own, as soon as it came into contact with Gren9's hand it began to crumble as part of it turned into normal rocks.

Lucky for her, the effects lasted only a while before her body returned to normal and she regenerated the lost parts. The girl on the other hand had just begun to stir.

"Miss? Miss!?" Gren9 spoke worriedly.

"Dear G.o.d Terry, I told you that your voice way too annoying to be a wake up call..." The young girl spoke as she held her head which was throbbing incessantly right now. "Do I smell roast beef?" She sniffed.

"Oh thank G.o.d." Gren 9 let out a breath of relief.

The older version picked up the young girl, this time with no consequences and laid her back on the bed before bandaging her bleeding arm.

"So how close are we?" Grendolyn asked between heavy breaths.

"We're going the right direction, but it barely pulls apart the bindings even for just me." Gren9 reported solemnly.

"The other's are not you." The young girl slouched in her bed.

"That may be so, but I doubt it'll affect more than 4 of them with every activation, and really we don't have that many materials left." Gren9 avoided her gaze.

"That means..."

"Yeah... we'll have to jump the progress tests a little further each period." Gren9 completed the conjecture. "It won't be as dangerous as testing a fully developed product, but it'll hurt a little more, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Grendolyn said. "My idiot genius self did that."

Gren9 having nothing else to say, got up to leave the room. As she reached the door she turned her head. "I'll send someone with your lunch, I believe you mentioned craving roast beef?"

The young girl smiled on the bed. "Don't patronize me."

In response Gren9 could only give a sad smile before continuing to step out. "Please don't block your door again, I think it'd be a shame if I have to break more chairs for no reason."

"Are you going to give me some privacy?" Grendolyn asked.

"Not a chance..."

"Then don't count on it."

With that Gren9 closed the door.

As the footsteps faded away, the girl turned to the vent, "You can come out now." She spoke, "I guess you overheard, my name is Grendolyn."

Zhao Wei shifted the cover and entered the room. "Are you ok?"

"A little well done, but I'll be fine." She replied. "Don't worry, they've gotten better at lowering the risk, you wouldn't be able to imagine how much worse this was when they first started."

"Then why do they do it?" Zhao Wei avoided getting emotional.

Grendolyn pondered her answer for a while, "It's a long story, but the short version goes that they're my Golem slash clone so to speak, embedded with my will which at the time was to protect me from all cost."

"If they're made to protect you at all cost, and yet they're putting you through all this..." Zhao Wei considered.

"Yep it means that there's something more dangerous that surpa.s.ses the threat of these trial and errors, and before you whip up any fantastic theories I'll tell you right now, I'm dying."