"Ho-how did he…?!" a scientist asked incoherently as he trembled.
"You want to know how?" Lixue smiled sweetly.
Lixue suddenly appeared in front of the scientist. Before he could react, Lixue swiftly gripped the man's lower face, covering his mouth. The grip was very strong like an iron claw and the man was forced down into kneeling while he tried to pry open Lixue's fingers that were starting to dig into his flesh.
Then, he felt the hand gradually became hotter and hotter until he felt that his face was being directly burned by fire. But there was no fire to be seen.
"Mmph!! Mmppphh!!!" the man struggled harder and fiercer. Pulling away Lixue's wrist while also trying to pull his face out. But Lixue didn't budge.
The scientists around them tremblingly watched in fear as their colleague's face gradually turned black like charcoal with smoke coming out from the unknown youth's hand. When their colleague's whole head has become charred and crisp, the youth smashed it to the ground, shattering what was once a human head. Even the brain inside was grilled.
Some of them tried to run, but there was an unknown force suppressing their movement and glued them in their place. Starting from their feet, their body felt a chilling cold as if their feet were frozen inside a block of ice. When they struggled, the chill would spread up and gradually become colder and colder.
"I didn't expect that the empire has this kind of repulsive project. But it was actually not that strange considering the people leading the empire lack humanity."
Lixue looked up at the scientists. The execution show of their colleague successfully terrified them that their body became petrified from fear. Some who were mentally weaker collapsed to the ground.
Suddenly, all of them were lifted from the ground by an unknown force. All their tablets were also taken away from them. Instantly, the lab was filled with screams, shrieks, and pleas.
"Honorable sir, we were just doing this project as per order by the king!!"
"Yes! Yes! It's not because we want to! We were forced to do it!"
"We-we-we are innocent! Please forgive us!"
"Please don't kill me!! I have 2 children to raise! They'll be an orphan if I die!"
Lixue listened to them like background music. He walked around the lab and looked at the children one by one. Some grew horns, some grew tails, some has scaled or furry skin. The worst of them was too deformed that there was no longer any trace of human attribute left.
In another section, some of their skin rot, parasites grew out from their mouth, their hair became vines, and many more.
Looking at all of them, there was not a sliver of emotion in Lixue's eyes. It was like he was walking through an exotic exhibition. He didn't particularly feel empathy towards these children. What he felt repulsive about was how the empire tried to play God by trying to create these mutated species. God is repulsive, those who tried to become one are more so.
While he walked around, he found several rooms and took out the hiding scientists along the way.
Then, he found a section of empty tubes. He moved the people hanging in the air towards him as he opened the tubes' hatch. He dumped the scientists into the tubes and closed back the hatch.
He put a guilty and troubled face that would make people who saw it wanted to forgive his every fault and solve his every trouble. But his next words only sent shivers down their spine.
"You all are very irritating that I am forced to do this. So, forgive me and let me kill you, okay?"
Lixue tapped a few commands on the tablet. Not long after, metal claws appeared from the tube's surface, grabbing the scientists' ankles and locked them down to the ground. Then, another hole opened which poured the blue liquid inside.
The scientists became more frantic and banged on the tube's surface hoping to smash it. Unfortunately, they were specially made with special shock-resistant material. Needless to say, they knew this, but they couldn't help but try desperately hoping some miracle would happen.
Some of them tried contacting anyone on their contact book in their communicator. In fact, ever since they saw the intruder, some of them already started to try contacting the security guards but somehow it couldn't connect.
Lixue watched as the liquid rose higher and higher inside the tubes. The scientists struggle with their necks stretched up and head tilted to gasp for air. Some tried to yank their legs out from the metal claws while some tried to pry it open with their hands.
Watching from outside, it looked very funny and ridiculous. Their face full of fear and hopelessness was uglier than a dying fish. Their bodies squirmed and struggled in futile hoping for a fantasy-like miracle.
"Bwahahaha!!! You all look really ridiculous right now! I am forced to do this so don't hate me too much, okay?" Lixue happily recorded the scene with the tablet in his hands. He would shoot a close-up at some particularly hilarious scientists, receiving either hateful or pitiful glares from them.
After a moment passed, all the scientists finally drowned. Their bodies swayed limply in the tube. Lixue's smile faded, and he threw away the tablet.
"Tch. Boring."
Then, he suddenly smiled again as he hummed his usual tune. He was about to walk away and start the fire when he heard a clatter from somewhere. He spread his demonic sense and found a small boy in front of a door at a corner.
Hm? He was sure there wasn't anyone there before.
He walked to where the boy was while wondering whether the boy was also an experiment subject or one of the scientist's kid. When he arrived, he saw a boy, around 10 years old, standing in a daze, facing the row of tubes. Because of his long hair, Lixue almost mistook him for a girl.
Hearing footsteps approaching, the boy quickly turned his body to face the source of the sound full of vigilance. But even though Lixue was just a few steps away from him, he didn't seem to see Lixue. He already faced Lixue but his eyes were not focused on Lixue. His body was tense, ready to pounce and fight whoever came at him.
Lixue has stopped his step when the boy turned towards him. Watching the boy, he figured that the boy must be blind. His wary eyes that were void of black reflected nothing.
Lixue smiled mischievously as he floated up using his demonic energy to lift him up instead of his wings. Shame that this method could only be used for a limited distance from the ground. Or else he wouldn't need to use his wings.
He floated above the boy, stretched out his hands, and poked the boy's head. The boy reacted like a startled cat and quickly 'look' up as he touched his head where he was poked. Lixue then poked the boy's waist and the boy reacted again.
The boy looked confused, scared, wary, and angry at the same time. It was really cute.
Lixue reached out and swiftly caught the boy, lifting him up from the ground. The boy was startled, and his mouth opened as if he wanted to scream but no voice came out. Lixue noticed this and also the row of sharp jagged teeth inside the boy's mouth.
"So you're not only blind, but you also can't talk," Lixue stated as he floated around. The boy seemed offended by Lixue's remark and struggled in Lixue's arm, "I don't mind you fall. But for your information, we're 10 meters above the ground."
The boy paused and eventually stopped struggling. But he still didn't want to give up. He opened his mouth wide and bit Lixue's shoulder heavily.
Now that Lixue was a demon, this of course wouldn't hurt him even a bit. On the contrary, he felt the boy really was very cute like a cat. Poke here he would pop out his claws. Poke there he would show his fangs.
"I'm skinny and cold. Very unappetizing, right? When you're satisfied, tell me which hole you came out from."
The boy gradually calmed down and released Lixue's shoulder. It was now drenched with saliva but there was not even a bite mark to be seen.
Lixue landed back to the ground and the boy led him to the room on the corner. Inside the room, there was another door with a chewed corner big enough for a kid to crawl out.
"…"
He didn't think the boy's teeth were that strong.
He read the room name on the door before he kicked open the door. The door directly collapsed, and he saw the bodies of several children inside with different degrees of damage.
'Defective Disposal Room'
From the name room, adding with the files he read earlier, he could roughly guess what happened in this room. He squatted down and lift up the boy into his arms.
"So you were also abandoned by your creator. Do you want to go together with me?"