The original reason for Adam's rage was Magnus's experints and the fact that there were children, mostly girls, in the pods.
Adam couldn't imagine what Magnus had to say to keep him from killing him on the spot, but... Magnus had managed to shock him.
It wasn't surprising, though, since Adam couldn't have known about the existence of hybrids.
After all, Nessa was the only one and it was unknown whether other hybrids like her would ever appear. As long as there were none besides her, she wasn't a separate species but simply an anomaly for which there was simply no explanation yet.
"As I said at the beginning, so of these children are here of their own free will, and so I took away when they were near death. You should know better than most that it's easy to get hurt in the slums, too easy, especially by children that don't yet understand the cruelty of our world." Magnus said calmly, glancing at the pods.
Adam nodded. Many tis Leona, his mother, had scolded him when he ca ho with scratches and abrasions. However, Adam couldn't rember a single ti after that when things changed and he acted less risky.
"Have I tried to turn them into hybrids? Sure, dozens, no, hundreds of tis. All of those girls died, but they were in the sa situation as Nessa. The wounds were too severe, their bodies too weak and so on, their only chance to survive was to beco a hybrid to strengthen their bodies and let heal them." Magnus said calmly. Their deaths were just a number in his records.
Magnus continued:
"Sure, I have done my experints on both boys and adults. You know, if you put so effort into it, you can pick up a lot of wounded people from the Dead Lands that no one and nothing will ever be able to help. I'm talking about the military and the Harvesters."
Adam narrowed his eyes.
"Well... your history with Nessa is truly astounding, but we both realize you're not a kind man. I'm sure you've tried turning not only the terminally wounded into hybrids but those who might easily survive in other circumstances." Adam said coldly.
Magnus's story had answered many of his questions, but Adam wasn't going to forget what kind of man Magnus was because of it. Nessa may have been soone he cared about, but that didn't apply to the others....
At the sa mont, Magnus grinned widely like a demon. He was back to normal after having been truly serious for the duration of the story.
"Naturally. Many were fatally ill to whom I offered a deal. Usually, they were poor people from the slums. They didn't have the money to pay for the treatnt that would get rid of the disease anyway, it was impossible for them and the disease was becoming incurable." Magnus chuckled evilly.
In the Citadel, with money and resources it was possible to cure any human disease, but... how could the slum dwellers have hundreds of thousands or even millions of credits?
"Tsk. You could have just cured them, that's what you do here, isn't it?" Adam frowned, looking around. He didn't like Magnus's position. Partly because it was a bit personal for Adam since he was from the slums too.
Magnus nodded, then his face grew serious.
"Look, like you said I'm not a philanthropist, I have my own goals and I'm willing to make deals to achieve them, but not charity. The poor terminally ill slum residents to whom I co have two choices:
"First one: refuse and die in agony, condemning their family to an even more miserable existence, because with the death of their family mber, hopes for a brighter future beco less as well.
"Second one: agree to the experint, die with a 99.99% chance of never becoming a hybrid, and get so much money from that his family can leave the slums forever." Magnus waved his hand with an excited expression.
Adam sighed heavily, shaking his head.
"So it's either die and do nothing or die and give your family a good life, right?" Adam clenched his fist tightly.
Oddly enough, he realized that such an offer was almost impossible to refuse. Adam seriously doubted how he would have responded, a few years ago, if Magnus had co to their family with such an offer.
"Yeah, sothing like that, but you think too good of people. I assure you, I've seen dozens of cases where mothers and fathers have given their children, even if they weren't sick. All for the sake of getting so money and making their lives better." Magnus shrugged as if talking about sothing insignificant.
Adam's eyes went wide. Even in his worst nightmare, he couldn't imagine that his parents would do such a thing.
"And...? Did you agree? You took their children from them at their will and gave them money to conduct an experint dood to fail and kill them?" Adam asked, in a choppy voice.
"Of course." Magnus instantly replied, "I don't care about their fates, the main thing is to run the experint and try to succeed once more. However... sotis I have been offered children when I needed adults, over the years I have experinted on all age groups. In that case, I'd give the money to the children and take the adults."
Adam bit his lip. It was vile to hear that, but even worse for Adam was the fact that it was the people in this situation who were the worst and not Magnus.
If in the case of the disease, agreeing to Magnus's offer had been cruel, but pragmatically correct and even sacrificial, because it was for the well-being of the family. In the second case... people were literally killing their own children for the sake of a few coins.
Adam wasn't sure that these people were better than monsters and that they deserved to live, this act was an inferior one.
"Tsk. Is money really that important to these people..." Adam clenched his fists tightly.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha." Magnus laughed suddenly, "You should know how many perfectly healthy people died here, even from the First Ring. So were set up, so were sentenced to life imprisonnt, so ca to on their own in hopes of becoming stronger. Well, they all died."
Whooooooosh.
Magnus turned around sharply pointing at Adam.
"Adam, never forget that if given the opportunity, human nature cos out. Many of us are capable of terrible decisions and things, it just takes the right conditions."
Adam narrowed his eyes, not answering anything.
Then, he looked at the girls in the pods once more.
"In that case, what are they doing here? From the looks of it, you're not going to do experints on them, are you?" Adam asked in a low voice.
"Agh... Like I said many ca here of their own free will and they are simply being treated here in return for passing a few simple tests unrelated to the hybrid." Magnus shoved his hands in his pockets, "In a couple of days many of them will return to their hos and others will take their place. People get injured and sick with sothing serious all the ti."
"Oh, why the sudden kindness?" Adam narrowed his eyes.
Magnus shrugged nonchalantly:
"Why not? I've done enough experints to know that if I want to have even a 00.01% chance of success, I need the person to be near death like I did with Nessa. I can heal them and that's it, maybe one of them will be fatally wounded after a while and co back to and maybe one of them will beco a second hybrid soday..." Magnus said with a slight sadness in his voice.
Adam frowned and closed his eyes, pondering Magnus's words.
Even if most of the test subjects were beyond help, Magnus had killed many people with his experint that were not sick or terminally wounded, they had just been abandoned by fate.
Perhaps if Adam had co here a few months ago, he wouldn't have even asked the next question, but would have simply attacked Magnus, accusing him of all sins:
"And? What are you doing all this for? Is a second hybrid really worth it?" Adam asked seriously.
Then, his gaze turned cold.
"Show , does the end justify the ans?"
There was silence for a while.
But, very soon a sinister smile ford on Magnus's face, and an eerie aura began to emanate from him that was like a violet fla filling the room, at least that's how it looked to the others.
"Good question. Fine, I'll show you how strong Nessa is." Magnus pointed at Adam.
At the sa mont, Nessa attacked.
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