Laboratory

As soon as the man disappeared, Kyle realized that he could no longer remember the man's face. His facial features, skin tone, hair, and even his voice were blurry.

It was as if he was shrouded by a shadow, and he could only remember the smile with the perfect white teeth that he had revealed before he disappeared.

"What was that?" Kyle uttered. A wave of tumultuous emotions rose up in his heart.

He had even forgotten how he had arrived inside the factory and was greeted by a bunch of curious people working at the factory… It was like he was a rare animal being paraded in front of many spectators.

"Why is that man still alive?"

"I think he had mistaken it for a wagon and decided to take a ride?"

"Haha… He's probably looking for a female's body. He can't take it anymore and decided to choose a cold one."

"Hmph! You're talking about yourself."

They were laborers who appeared to be melting or hammering steel near several large furnaces, making the temperature here really high…

There were only about fifty of these workers since some of them seemed to have taken a break.

Kyle's weird situation didn't escape their eyes and they immediately made fun of him as a form of entertainment in their bleak life.

Kyle jolted awake as soon as he heard their words. He urged himself to jump out of the moving cart since he really just wanted to leave right now. He wasn't just scared, he was also embarrassed.

However, he felt a mysterious force beckoning him to stay on it…

'What…'

It was another magical experience as he stayed on the kart until he arrived at his destination… He was brought deep inside the factory and passed through six doors before the sound of steel being hammered could no longer be heard.

The room, or perhaps the laboratory he was sent into, was massive. From the bright yellow light brought by the chandelier, he was able to see the situation of the room.

There were rows of shelves filled with glass jars… Each glass jar has something in it that is being preserved and they are filled with blue or red liquid. At the further right corner were shelves filled with books while the left corner was blocked by a few shelves… The central part, on the other hand, was a couple of workbenches filled with devices that he couldn't understand.

Nevertheless, he also noticed familiar apparatuses or instruments normally used for science experiments.

Near the entrance was an elevated platform that had a sofa and a wooden table which was probably being used as a resting area.

'Laboratory… Don't tell me…' Kyle had a sudden thought of what was about to happen to him.

Thud!

The cart finally stopped. This time, Kyle also felt that the restrictions bounding him had disappeared and he could now move out of the cart.

However, he noticed that the 'zombie' started moving again, so he went stiff immediately. He doesn't know how to deal with this creature.

Bang!

The cart was suddenly lifted up and he wasn't able to react. The seven bodies, including Kyle, were dropped to the floor.

"Aackk…" The sudden drop took him off-guard as he landed in an awkward position.

The bodies on top of him were also quite heavy, making it even more painful.

Creak. Creak.

Then, without any reaction from the zombie, it continued pulling the cart again and exited the laboratory leaving him astounded.

"Urgh…"

Kyle pushed the bodies off him and extracted himself from the pile. He was already sweating after doing this but he finally had the time to see the man who was looking at him curiously…

He ignored the pain in his body as he cautiously looked at the man.

The person was old. He had a wrinkled face and balding white hair. Nevertheless, he looks somewhat professional with his laboratory coat and goggles while holding a quill… He's seated behind a desk and Kyle only noticed him now because the 'zombie' was previously blocking his view.

"Hey… Did you just come from the batch of corpses delivered by the Variant?"

The old voice sounded surprised and amused by the situation. He seems to be expecting the delivery of the corpses but not a living one.

'He doesn't sound hostile… I can do this…'

Kyle soon brought his fear, uneasiness, worry, and apprehension under control. He took a deep breath to gain some courage as he replied, "Yes… There seems to be a mistake. As a matter of fact, someone has already noticed this, and I heard him mention that Mr. Heinz will take care of it. Is that your name, Sir? Ahh, my name is Kyle, Sir."

"Mhm… That's indeed my name. Can you remember the face of the person you've met before?" Heinz asked as he put the quill pen down and clasped his hands.

He seemed to be enjoying this conversation and stopped working altogether.

This time, Kyle was already able to stand up, but he stayed near the pile of corpses.

"I'm sorry. After the man disappeared, I can't remember his face anymore…" Kyle then paused for a moment before he continued.

"Well, I can remember his perfect teeth."

The old man's mouth twitched as he seemed to understand Kyle's situation and nodded.

"So it was the vice headmaster. No wonder."

The room suddenly plunged into silence. Kyle was unsure how to reply to that. He wasn't interested in the vice headmaster. He was interested in knowing what his plan was for him.

Kyle thought for a moment before cautiously asking. "Sir Heinz, may I know what's going to happen to me? Are you going to turn me into a zombie, like the one that brought me here?"

Heinz raised his brows after hearing his question.

"Zombie? That's not a zombie. That's a living being, not undead… Zombie is from Necromancy. That's a Variant, a product of Dark Alchemy... It's from a different branch. Ahh, why am I even explaining this to you?" The old man shook his head as he added.

"The vice headmaster probably wants me to accept you as my student… I was also previously in your situation. The Dark Possession took too much time to show its effect because of my unique physique. You're probably the same as me…"

At this time, Heinz spoke softly and looked at Kyle's body as he recalled his past experience.