The morning sun filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the 47th floor, casting long beams of light across the polished marble floors of Star Xi Building. Zou Luyao walked through the open-plan office, her heels clicking a steady rhythm against the floor, her long black hair swaying with each step. The Operations and Maintenance Department was already buzzing with activity at 8 AM, green-uniformed staff moving between holographic displays and equipment terminals.
Near the break station, a cluster of employees gathered around the water dispenser. Luyao's sharp eyes caught a familiar figure—Nayeon from the Energy Division, a junior technician in her early twenties. The girl held a translucent cup to her lips, her eyes half-closed in what could only be described as ecstasy as she swallowed a milky white liquid.
"Nayeon." Luyao's voice cut through the chatter.
The younger woman startled, nearly spilling the contents of her cup. She quickly lowered it, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Director Zou, good morning."
"What are you drinking?"
"Just... some nutritional supplement." Nayeon's eyes darted away. "It's nothing, really."
Luyao stepped closer, her gaze fixed on the cup. The liquid inside had a faint pearlescent sheen, swirling with an almost opalescent quality. She could smell it now—a sweet, slightly metallic scent that triggered something deep in her memory, something she couldn't quite grasp.
"Give me your data pad," Luyao ordered.
Nayeon hesitated before handing it over. Luyao scrolled through the recent purchase records. The same transaction appeared daily for the past two weeks: one bottle of RT liquid, purchased from an online vendor she didn't recognize.
"RT liquid?" Luyao looked up. "What is this?"
"Just a new energy drink, Director. Everyone uses it. It helps with focus." Nayeon's voice trembled slightly. "Please, I need it. If I don't have it, I start shaking."
Luyao studied the girl's face. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and there was a tremor in her hands that hadn't been there before. She handed the data pad back.
"Go to the medical bay. Get yourself checked out."
"Yes, Director."
Luyao watched Nayeon scurry away, then made her way to the Internal Affairs wing on the 35th floor. The door to the Psychological Counseling Department was open, and she found Tao Xiaonai at her desk, a stack of case files before her.
Tao Xiaonai looked up, her short hair perfectly styled despite the early hour. She was dressed in a fitted black blazer and a crimson blouse, a red-bottomed heel dangling from her right foot as she crossed her legs. The office smelled of lavender and something else—a faint, familiar sweetness.
"Yaoyao, what brings you here so early?" Tao Xiaonai set down her pen.
"Just had an interesting encounter." Luyao closed the door behind her. "One of my techs was drinking something called RT liquid. She's clearly addicted."
Tao Xiaonai's expression shifted slightly, a flicker of recognition passing through her eyes. "Ah, that."
"You know about it?"
"I am the Director of Psychological Counseling." Tao Xiaonai leaned back in her chair. "I hear things. And since I became everyone's... outlet, the employees tend to speak freely around me."
Luyao sat in the chair across from the desk. In the months since Lin Ruojian and Su Yucang had been transferred to the space fortress, Tao Xiaonai had become the primary recipient of the staff's pent-up frustrations. Every day, she was restrained, used, and released into the discipline park in the basement levels. Yet here she sat, composed and professional, as though the nightly sessions were nothing more than routine maintenance.
"The RT liquid," Luyao pressed. "Tell me everything."
Tao Xiaonai opened a drawer and pulled out a tablet. "I've been compiling reports for the past month. The liquid first appeared among the staff around February. By March, it had spread to nearly every department. By April, most employees were drinking it daily."
"And you didn't think to report this?"
"I was going to. Today, actually." Tao Xiaonai handed over the tablet. "The liquid boosts physical performance and mental clarity for twenty-four hours. But after the first dose, addiction is inevitable. Those who try to quit experience severe withdrawal—tremors, hallucinations, seizures in the worst cases."
Luyao scrolled through the data, her brow furrowing. "Where is it coming from?"
"That's the troubling part. Mary found traces of the same compound in our building's water supply."
"Mary? She's already investigating?"
"She never stops." Tao Xiaonai smiled faintly. "You know how she is. The day after the god invasion, she started running tests on every system in the building."
Luyao stood, handing back the tablet. "Call Xiaomeng and Mary. We need to meet. Now."
---
The conference room on the 50th floor had a panoramic view of Star Xi City, the morning sun painting the skyscrapers in gold. Sen Xiaomeng arrived first, her short blue hair disheveled, a soldering iron still in her hand. She set it on the table without apology.
"I was in the middle of calibrating a new restraint frame," she said, pulling out a chair. "What's so urgent?"
Mary entered moments later, her tablet clutched to her chest. Like Tao Xiaonai, she was a short-haired beauty, but where Tao Xiaonai carried herself with feline grace, Mary had the sharp efficiency of someone accustomed to managing critical systems.
"The water supply," Mary said without preamble, tapping her tablet. "I've been tracking the contamination for two months. The RT compound entered our system via the basement level water tanks on January 3rd of this year."
"That was the day of the infiltration," Tao Xiaonai said quietly.
"Exactly." Mary pulled up a security footage still. A figure in a god's uniform, barely visible in the grainy image, standing near the water tanks. "The infiltrator was shot and killed by security, but by then, the damage was done. The entire building's water supply was contaminated."
"Which means every employee has ingested RT liquid," Luyao said, her voice flat.
"More than that." Mary zoomed in on a data chart. "The compound has a cumulative effect. After three months of exposure, withdrawal symptoms begin within twelve hours of the last dose. By now, every single person in this building is addicted."
The room fell silent. Sen Xiaomeng picked up her soldering iron, turning it over in her hands.
"Can we synthesize an antidote?" Xiaomeng asked.
Mary shook her head. "The compound is based on a biological agent. It's milk, actually. Modified mammalian milk, laced with a viral agent that targets the pleasure centers of the brain. We can't synthesize it."
"Then where does it come from?" Luyao demanded.
"From a living host." Mary's eyes met hers. "The original source was probably some kind of livestock the gods kept. But the variant in our water supply is human-derived."
Tao Xiaonai looked at her hands. "That means somewhere, someone is being farmed for this."
The words hung in the air like a poison.
Luyao felt a chill run down her spine. Her hand moved unconsciously to her chest, where her breasts ached with a familiar, almost forgotten pain. The memory surged up unbidden—the metal table, the restraints, the cold electrodes pressed against her skin.
"I know where it comes from," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Three pairs of eyes turned to her.
"Years ago, during the second god war, I was captured." Luyao forced the words out. "They experimented on me. One of their experiments involved a viral transformation of the mammary glands. They forced me to drink a mutation potion, then restrained me to a table and induced lactation through repeated electrical stimulation."
She paused, the memory of pain and humiliation washing over her. Thirty days of torture. Thirty days of having her body violated, her breasts milked dry, the liquid collected in cold glass jars.
"They called it RT-7. The milk I produced had the same properties Mary just described. After I was rescued, Xiaotao helped me develop a suppressant to stop the lactation cycle."
"Yaoyao..." Tao Xiaonai reached across the table, her hand covering Luyao's.
"So the RT liquid is my milk." Luyao's voice trembled. "Or a variant of it. The gods replicated it, modified it, and now it's infected everyone."
"Then we need you to produce more," Mary said, her tone clinical but not unkind. "You're the only one who can. Until we find another solution, your milk is the only antidote available."
Luyao pulled her hand away. "The suppressant stopped the lactation. I haven't produced milk in four years."
"We can reverse the suppressant," Tao Xiaonai said carefully. "I still have the original formula. But Yaoyao, you have to understand what it will mean. Once the suppression is lifted, the milk will come back. And it will come with the same withdrawal symptoms your body suffered before."
"I know." Luyao stood, her chair scraping against the floor. "Do it."
---
The preparation room in the basement discipline park was a sterile white space filled with medical equipment and restraint devices. Tao Xiaonai prepared the reversal agent while Sen Xiaomeng adjusted a breast pump mounted on a stand.
Mary stood by the door, a tablet in her hand. "Once the suppression is lifted, the milk should start flowing within a few hours. We need to collect as much as possible to create a stockpile."
Luyao stripped off her uniform jacket, then her blouse, standing in her bra and tailored pants. She reached back to unclasp her bra, letting it fall. Her breasts ached, already sensitive, the faint memory of the old pain stirring.
"I'll need to be restrained," Luyao said, her voice steady. "Last time, the process drove me mad. I need to be held down."
Sen Xiaomeng's eyes lit up. "I have just the thing." She moved to a cabinet and pulled out a leather restraint frame, complete with wrist and ankle cuffs, a spreader bar, and a posture collar.
"Enough for now," Luyao said. "Start with the hands."
Xiaomeng secured Luyao's wrists to the cuffs, then attached them to the stand above the breast pump. The machine hovered, its silicone cups ready.
Tao Xiaonai approached with a syringe. "The reversal agent. It will hurt."
"I know."
The needle slid into Luyao's arm, the liquid burning as it entered her bloodstream. Almost immediately, heat spread through her chest, her breasts swelling, the nipples hardening. The old pain returned—a dull ache that intensified into sharp, stabbing sensations.
Luyao gritted her teeth. "The pump. Now."
Xiaomeng lowered the cups, positioning them over Luyao's breasts. The machine hummed to life, a gentle suction that grew stronger, pulling at her nipples, stimulating the glands.
Nothing happened.
"More suction," Luyao ordered.
The machine increased its pull, the cups pressing into her skin, the vacuum creating an intense pressure. Still nothing.
An hour passed. The room fell into silence, broken only by the hum of the pump and Luyao's labored breathing. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her body trembling. Her breasts had swollen to nearly twice their normal size, painfully full, but no milk came.
"It's not working," Luyao finally said, her voice hoarse.
"The suppressant may have been too effective," Tao Xiaonai said softly. "Your body has forgotten how."
"Try electricity." Luyao's eyes met Xiaomeng's. "Stimulate the nerves."
"That's dangerous," Mary said.
"I don't care."
Xiaomeng hesitated, then nodded. She retrieved a portable electrical stimulation unit, the pads attached to wires. She applied the pads to Luyao's chest, one over each breast, and set the device to a low frequency.
"I'm starting at level one."
The current hit Luyao's body, a jolt that made her jerk against the restraints. Her back arched, a gasp escaping her lips. The muscles in her chest contracted, but still, no milk.
"Increase."
Level two. The current intensified, the pain sharper now, her vi
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