CHAPTER 14

Ren was led toward a silver door in the infirmary, his heart pounding.

'Was this the glass room? What was in there?' He clutched his shirt in helplessness.

"You're quite... dirty. I wouldn't want you staining my glass room," Corvin said as he pushed Ren toward the door.

"You have three minutes to spend in there, anything more than that, you're burned," Corvin said and slid the door open.

"There's a clothes by the side. The door will automatically open if you pass the clean scan. Good luck," He said and gently pushed Ren inside, closing the door.

He stumbled into the dark room, his heart hammering loudly as the door hissed shut behind him. The air was thick and stagnant. He pressed his back against the cool metal, trying to calm his racing pulse, but a wave of dread washed over him.

​Suddenly, a blinding light flooded the room. Ren flinched, his eyes slowly adjusting to the stark, sterile white. He was in a square bathroom. A shower stood two steps away, and a new set of clothes—black pants and a brown shirt—waited on a marble sink. He immediately understood. Three days without a bath; he must truly stink.

Suddenly, a small, high-tech panel mounted in the wall above the sink comes to life. It was a clean, digital display with a countdown timer(a 3:00. stark, white countdown timer), and a temperature reading.

The synthesised voice, calm and monotone, announced the start of the process: "Thermal initiation in three minutes. Please comply."

The numbers were sharp and white at first, but Ren knew they'd soon change to red as time went on. If he didn't comply as asked, he'd truly get burned as Corvin had warned.

"Shit," he cursed as he glanced back at the door.

The damn thing won't open unless he is sparkling clean.

'What a clean way to die!'

Hurrying, he got rid of his clothes and threw them in the sink, running toward the shower.

He gasped as the shower automatically released cold spray upon sensing him under it.

Without trying to look for the warm setting, he quickly looked around the bathroom and saw just one tube: a soap tube.

He grabbed and squirted a generous amount into his hands and quickly washed himself up.

However, the time seemed to run faster than Ren's movements, he had two minutes left.

"Oh no..." Ren muttered, he could feel the water getting warmer as the timer hit the one-minute mark, and the second passed, it only got warmer and warmer.

He could only imagine how hot scalding it would get in two minutes.

He wanted to rinse himself and run out the door, but that darned scanner won't let him through, his feet were still packed with dirt.

As Ren hastened, he suddenly started to run out of breath, and the temperature suddenly became warmer.

Now, the hearing water wasn't his only challenge, he had to fight for oxygen, too.

He pushed his wet hair out of the way and saw that the timer had hit the two-minute mark.

He had only sixty seconds.

He gritted his teeth and raised his face to the shower to let it rinse his body.

He scrubbed his hair, squeezing the foam out of it.

As the temperature rose, the numbers slowly turned from green to yellow, then to a warning orange.

"No, no, no," Ren murmured.

Simultaneously, a low, ominous hum began to rise from the grates on the floor and ceiling. The air grew thick with steam, and the walls and floor began to feel warm to the touch.

The hot steam now scalds Ren's skin, making it difficult to breathe, and the hum deepens into a low, threatening growl.

As the last foam rinsed off Ren's hair, he tiptoed out of the shower and quickly grabbed the clothes from the sink.

"I'm done, I'm done, I'm clean!" He announced a synthesised voice as he hopped on his skin, he had thirty seconds left.

​The numbers turned a pulsing red, and the walls started to radiate intense heat, the metal frames of the fixtures sizzling with the temperature increase.

At this point, Ren felt a tangible burning sensation on his skin.

"Initiating clean scanning," the synthesised voice announced and immediately, a green scan ran over Ren's body.

"Clean scan successful," The voice spoke and the door suddenly hissed as it slid open.

Without wasting a second, Ren burst out of the hot, timed bathroom and into the infirmary. A gasp of relief left his lips as the cool, sterile air washed over his overheated skin. The cold tiles beneath his feet instantly soothed his raw, aching muscles, a welcome contrast to the oppressive burning heat he had just escaped.

Twenty seconds more and he would have scalded like fish in boiling water.

The adrenaline cooled, and reality kicked in.

Ren suddenly realised that he was naked, and even before he raised his head, he felt two pairs of eyes on his body.

He risked looking up and immediately regretted it.

He gasped and immediately used his clothes to cover between his legs as his cheeks flushed redder than they already were from the hot bathroom.

Axton's silver eyes locked on Ren, unreadable.

He had come to question Corvin about Ren's blood tests and probably tell him about these strange symptoms he had developed.

He never expected to see a naked Ren with flushed skin.

Axton was surprised that he was intrigued by Ren's sudden appearance. Maybe it was that I hadn't seen Ren that clean before, or perhaps it was the flush that stained his skin all over, especially his cheeks.

He didn't know which one, but what he did know was that Ren looked different.

Ren was heavily flustered; he didn't know what to do. Lowering his hand would expose him, and turning around wasn't an option, either.

Returning to the bathroom? Never.

"Captain, I found something interesting about Ren's blood," Corvin suddenly cleared his throat and directed Axton to his experiment table.

Slowly, Axton loomed away from Ren and followed Corvin around the table.

The moment Axton turned his back, Ren immediately pulled the black pants up his legs, zipping himself up and quickly putting on the brown shirt.

He looked up and saw Corving carrying over a microscope to Axton. Slowly, he walked toward them.

"I'm sorry for earlier, Captain. I didn't realise you were here," Ren apologised with his head lowered in embarrassment.

Axton looked away from Corvin's table and gazed at Ren's face. His hair was still wet, dripping water on his shoulder, soaking his shirt in dots.

He could still see the red scalding on Ren's arms and neck, and a certain kind of anger washed over him.

"Why did you send him to the timer bathroom, Corvin?" Axton questioned, his darkening eyes as they moved to Corvin.