The afternoon light filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 47th floor, casting long golden rectangles across the polished marble floor of the Operations and Maintenance Department. Zou Luyao sat behind her desk, reviewing the weekly efficiency reports, when a commotion in the corridor caught her attention.
She looked up. Through the half-open door, she saw Nayeon, one of the junior technicians, leaning against the wall near the water dispenser. The girl's hand trembled as she raised a small vial to her lips, drinking down its milky white contents with desperate, gulping swallows. When she finished, she let out a shuddering breath, her eyes glazing over with visible relief.
Yaoyao's instincts flared. She rose from her chair and walked to the door, watching as Nayeon steadied herself against the wall, her breathing gradually evening out. The technician noticed her and straightened immediately, a flush of guilt spreading across her cheeks.
"President Zou," Nayeon said, quickly pocketing the empty vial. "I was just... taking a supplement."
Yaoyao's gaze remained fixed on her. "What was that?"
"Nothing, just—"
"The vial, Nayeon. Hand it over."
Nayeon hesitated, then slowly pulled the small glass container from her pocket and placed it in Yaoyao's outstretched palm. It was empty now, but a faint residue of milky white clung to the inner walls. Yaoyao held it up to the light, studying it. No label, no markings. She brought it to her nose and caught a faint, sweet scent—familiar but unplaceable.
"Where did you get this?"
Nayeon's eyes darted away. "I... bought it. Online. It's just a health tonic."
"Health tonic," Yaoyao repeated flatly. "With that kind of reaction? You looked like you were going through withdrawal."
Nayeon said nothing, but her hands were shaking again. The tremor was subtle, barely visible unless you knew what to look for. Yaoyao knew.
"Go back to your station," she said finally. "We'll talk later."
Nayeon nodded quickly and hurried away, disappearing around the corner. Yaoyao stood there a moment longer, turning the vial over in her fingers, then made her way to the Internal Psychological Counseling Department.
Tao Xiaonai's office was on the 32nd floor, a space designed to be calming—soft lighting, muted colors, comfortable seating. But Xiao Tao herself looked far from calm when Yaoyao entered. She sat behind her desk, her short hair slightly mussed, dark circles under her eyes that makeup couldn't quite conceal.
"Yaoyao," she said, looking up. "What brings you here?"
Yaoyao placed the empty vial on the desk. "I need you to tell me what this is."
Xiao Tao picked it up, and her face changed immediately. A flicker of recognition, then wariness. She set it down carefully, as if it might bite her.
"Where did you get this?"
"From Nayeon in Ops. She was drinking it like her life depended on it."
Xiao Tao sighed, leaning back in her chair. She was quiet for a long moment, her fingers drumming against the armrest. When she spoke, her voice was low.
"It's called RT liquid. It started appearing about three months ago. At first I thought it was just a fad, something people picked up from the black market. But then I started seeing more and more of our staff using it. And the pattern is always the same—euphoria, enhanced physical performance for about twenty-four hours, then a crash that leaves them craving the next dose."
"Enhanced physical performance," Yaoyao repeated. "How enhanced?"
"Significantly. Faster reflexes, increased strength, heightened senses. For combat personnel, it's like a temporary steroid. But the addiction curve is brutal. After a week of regular use, withdrawal symptoms set in within hours of the last dose. After a month..." Xiao Tao met her eyes. "You can't stop. Not without help."
Yaoyao picked up the vial again, rolling it between her fingers. The residue caught the light, pearlescent and deceptively innocent. "And where is it coming from?"
"That's what I've been trying to find out. The employees I've spoken to all give different answers—some say they bought it online, others say a friend gave it to them, a few claim they don't remember where they first got it. But it's spreading. Fast."
Yaoyao set the vial down and walked to the window, looking out over the city. Star Glory City stretched below her, a metropolis of glass and steel, home to millions who relied on them for protection. And here, within their own ranks, something was poisoning them from the inside.
"RT liquid," she murmured. The name stirred something in her memory, a fragment of buried pain. She turned back to Xiao Tao. "The name. Where does it come from?"
Xiao Tao's expression grew complicated. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask."
"Tell me."
Another long pause. Then Xiao Tao spoke, her voice careful measured. "The RT stands for 'Racial Transformation.' It's a secretion. From the mammary glands of human females who have undergone a specific viral modification."
The world tilted. Yaoyao gripped the windowsill, her knuckles white.
"Those deities," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "When they captured me. The experiments."
Xiao Tao nodded slowly. "The milk they extracted from you—it had the same composition. The same effects. I ran tests on your samples years ago, after we rescued you. I couldn't identify everything in them, but I catalogued the properties. The enhanced performance. The addictive qualities. The way it rewrites neural pathways to create dependence."
Yaoyao's hand went instinctively to her chest. Her breasts, which had tormented her for so long, which she had finally learned to suppress. "But I stopped producing it. You gave me the suppressants."
"Yes. And you haven't secreted any since. But the formula is still in your system, dormant. And somehow, someone has replicated it."
She sat down heavily in the chair across from Xiao Tao's desk, memories rushing back like water through a broken dam. The cold metal of the experiment table. The electrodes on her nipples. The machine that pumped and pumped until she thought she would die from the pressure alone. The deities standing over her, clinical and indifferent, discussing her body as if it were a laboratory specimen.
"I need to call the others," she said finally. "Xiao Meng. Mary. We need to figure out where this is coming from."
They met in the executive conference room on the 50th floor, a circular space with a holographic display table at its center. Sen Xiaomeng arrived first, her short hair still dusted with metallic powder from the equipment lab. Mary came in moments later, her tablet clutched to her chest, her expression grim.
Yaoyao laid out what she had discovered. The addiction. The spread. The connection to the deities' experiments. When she finished, silence hung heavy in the room.
"I've been tracking the supply chain," Mary said, pulling up data on the holographic display. "For the past two months, I've noticed irregularities in our water purification logs. Small amounts of contamination, always within acceptable safety thresholds, but consistent. I flagged it but never followed up."
She manipulated the display, and a timeline appeared. "Look at the pattern. The contamination started in January. Small doses, barely detectable. Enough to build tolerance over time without triggering immediate symptoms."
"January," Xiao Tao said slowly. "That was when an unidentified entity breached our security. We shot it on sight."
Mary nodded. "I checked the security footage from that incident. The intruder was in the utility level for approximately seven minutes before being detected. Plenty of time to introduce a contaminant into the main water lines."
"So everyone," Yaoyao said, her voice hollow. "Everyone in this building has been drinking RT liquid for months."
"It would explain the increased performance metrics we've been seeing," Xiaomeng said quietly. "I thought our equipment upgrades were paying off, but..." She shook her head. "The combat teams have been faster. More efficient. I noticed, but I didn't question it."
"They're addicted," Mary said. "All of them. And those who haven't developed full dependency yet are well on their way. The withdrawal symptoms will start appearing en masse within the next week."
"Can we purify the water supply?" Yaoyao asked.
"I already initiated a full system flush," Mary replied. "But that's only half the battle. The ones who are already addicted—they'll need a source of RT liquid to manage their withdrawal. Without it, they'll experience severe physical and psychological distress. Some may not survive the detox."
Xiao Tao leaned forward. "There's only one way to produce RT liquid that we know of. It requires a modified human female."
All eyes turned to Yaoyao.
She felt their gaze like a physical weight, pressing down on her shoulders. The memory of the experiment table rose before her eyes again, but she pushed it back. There was no time for fear.
"My suppressants," she said. "If I stop taking them, will my body resume production?"
Xiao Tao's face tightened. "Yaoyao, do you understand what you're asking? The process is excruciating. The engorgement alone—"
"I know what it feels like. I lived through it once." Yaoyao's voice was steady, though her hands were trembling beneath the table. "I can do it again."
"But the mental toll—"
"I said I can do it." She stood, cutting off the argument. "Prepare the lactation collection device. And give me something to reverse the suppression. I'll start tonight."
Xiao Tao looked at her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "I'll get the medication."
That evening, in her private quarters on the 49th floor, Yaoyoa stood before her bedroom mirror, undressing slowly. The city lights glittered beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, a panorama of electric life that seemed distant and unreal.
She had stripped down and connected the collection device to her chest. It was a discreet apparatus, two cups of flexible silicone connected to a small pump and a jar. The jar sat on the bedside table, empty and waiting.
Xiao Tao had given her the reversal agent—a small vial of clear liquid that would counteract the suppressants she had been taking for years. Yaoyao held it in her hand, turning it over, watching the fluid catch the light.
This was the point of no return. Once she took this, her body would begin the process. The swelling. The pain. The helplessness of her own flesh turning against her.
She uncapped the vial and drank it in one swallow.
For the first few minutes, nothing happened. Then she felt it—a warmth spreading through her chest, starting deep in the tissue and radiating outward. Her breasts began to tingle, then ache, then throb with a dull, insistent pressure.
Yaoyoa sat on the edge of the bed, breathing through the sensation. The pain grew, her breasts swelling against the collection cups, filling them with a tight, constricting pressure. But no milk came. The pump hummed softly, but the jar remained empty.
She lay back on the bed, closing her eyes, trying to relax into the process. But her body refused to cooperate. The milk ducts were blocked, the glands unresponsive despite the swelling.
After an hour, she disconnected the device and examined herself in the mirror. Her breasts were noticeably larger, the veins more prominent beneath the skin, the nipples dark and erect. But when she pressed gently, nothing came out.
Defeated, she put on a loose robe and left the room.
Xiao Tao was waiting in the living area, her expression anxious. She rose when Yaoyao entered.
"Nothing," Yaoyao said before she could ask. "The swelling started, but I couldn't produce."
Xiao Tao's shoulders sagged slightly. "The process may take time. Your body has been suppressed for years. It might need multiple attempts to reawaken the pathways."
"Or it might never work," Yaoyao said flatly. "You said yourself that RT liquid production requires specific modifications. Maybe the deit
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