In Su Lei's vision, there was only darkness, an endless stream of darkness where nothing could be seen.
Had he been caught? Su Lei was a little puzzled, he tried to get his body to move, but there was nothing he could do. That's right, he was caught, and now his body was bound. He was no longer worthy of a human. Was he finally standing against humanity?
His eyes couldn't see, but he still could hear.
"Killed?"
Mordell's voice exploded in Su Lei's ears.
"My clone… was actually killed?!"
"Brigadier Mordell, I'd advise you to stay calm. There's been a little malfunction with the lifesaver lately."
Hakein stood in the middle of the room, staring at Mordell. The view reflected on Hakein's eyeglasses was a glass tank filled with an unknown liquid. A human body was inside it. His top body floated on the tank, various links and medical hose wired upon his body.
From the beginning, A-rank Espers were the existence that humans couldn't have evolved from natural evolution. So, there's no such thing as natural evolved A-rank Esper.
"You're not very convincing with that scalpel." Mordell, who was in the incubation tank, gazed at Hakein, who was now wearing a white lab coat.
Hakein's lab coat was stained with blood. He was holding a sharp scalpel in his hand.
"This is for science." In front of Hakein was a hospital bed, where a full-bodied figure laid restrained.
"Science? I think you're just playing and enjoying yourself. Is it that fun to randomly dissect something you've created?"
Mordell watched as Hakein sliced into the bloodied flesh and split the bits of the flesh. The smile on Hakein's face indicated that he was enjoying the process.
"Don't say such rude things. Even though this subject's vocal cords have been cut off, his ears can still hear. After all, he was your former boss."
The figure strapped to the hospital bed was struggling.
"The next test is to remove the bone to confirm whether the infected part still experiences pain or not. Look at how calm he is. Certainly worthy of a man who was once a Major. Even though his arm was sliced, he shows no pained expression."
Nonetheless, Hakein continued to greet his team and began to start the experiment.
"Our target that killed my clone is here. Won't you flee?"
"No. For the sake of Science. It's time for the experiment, so how can I escape? Although it's kind of boring since the test subject doesn't struggle at all. It's as if as he was dead." With an intense glow in his eyes, Hakein continued working.
Mordell already knew nothing would stop him from continuing to research on something that tickled his interest.
"…."
The body composed of shadows appeared in front of Mordell.
"Don't underestimate that man. Ah, no. I should say, don't underestimate anyone with Alucard as his last name."
Hakein reminded Murdell.
"Tch…"
Mordell wore his equipment and picked up the Black Watch radio. He turned the radio on in front of Hakein.
"Soldier! Report the battlefield situation! Soldiers…"
"Sir! The blockade line has been breached! We are unable to resist the opponent's impact!"
"Get the rest of the troop into the battlefield!"
"This…this place won't hold up either! It was breached…!"
Then the sound of blood and flesh tearing.
"Soldier? Soldiers?!" Mordell loudly questioned the signal on the radio.
"Yo… Goodnight, Lord Commander."
"...."
That voice, it's Lucius's voice!
Was the person holding the radio now, Lucius?
"Three minutes and seven seconds, to be precise. We took out your troops in such a short time, whether it was tanks, helicopters, or whatever, all turned to metal scrap."
"What is your target?" Mordell's tone was flat, no anger coming from his voice.
"My target? My target now is easy. Please, can you give me… ah, no. Can you return Su Lei to us?"
"Su Lei?" Mordell glanced towards the figure behind him, who was tied up with bandages.
Su Lei calmly accepted the pain he endured when his body was dissected. But after hearing Lucius's voice, Su Lei suddenly struggled. Su Lei, who was already in despair and was ready to accept his final fate, was unable to calm down after hearing Lucius's voice.
Why…you come and save me?
Su Lei struggled…
Why…?
"That's funny." Hakein looked at the struggling Su Lei and took out a syringe and stabbed into him. All Su Lei could do was silently grunt from his throat.
"Hey! That's Su Lei's voice, isn't it?!" Lucius apparently sensed his voice. "Su Lei's right next to you, isn't he?" Lucius completely ignored Mordell, "Can you hear me? Su Lei? Hey! Grit your teeth and hang in there before I come for you! Whatever that crazy professor has done to you, just hang in there!"
Damn! Su Lei now just wanted to ask Lucius aloud why he would save him. Obviously, he no longer had the right to live in this world.
"We're all monsters, aren't we? Su Lei! Hang in there for me!"
Then the radio transmission was cut off.
"Oh, oh, oh. The heart is beating faster because there's a hope of survival? No…a reason to live?" Hakein's voice was tinged with an inexplicable excitement.
...…
Outside the base.
"Come on. There's no time to lose."
Lucius sits on a pile of Black Watch soldier bodies. He tossed the radio aside.
Now, he was at the entrance of the building.
With Alex.
"But you have overdone your kill, Alex…" Lucius said as he looked at Alex, who was surrounded by mutilated bodies near his feet. The claws on Alex's hands, made of jet-black sharp talons, had been stained red with blood.
Lucius stood at the center and observed. The entire alley was filled with corpses. The smell of blood was thick in the air.
Enemies killed by Alex were basically mutilated while the enemies killed by Lucius were basically reduced to dried corpses.
Bam!
Suddenly, the silent night was broken by the sound of plastic-can crashing.
"Looks like there's still a little mouse left to kill." Lucius turned his head to look in the direction of the building's entrance.
"Don't kill me… I'm not one of those guys!"
The person seemed to be an employee of this company, or some other civilian, or something like that, hiding in this building.
A pistol appeared in Lucius' hand and was pointed at his forehead.
"That's enough, Lucius! He's not a member of the Black Watch. He's just an ordinary person. Our priority is to save Dana!"
Alex's dark claws blocked Lucius's claw from the man.
"Ordinary person?" Lucius tilted his head, "What are you? A human? Why are you still on the human's side, Alex? Alright, I won't kill him. But Alex, watch your back."
As Lucius withdrew his gun, Alex subconsciously turned back. But the civilian earlier raised his own pistol and pulled the trigger on Alex.
"Go to hell! Monster!!"
Blood blossomed on Alex's forehead.
Humans, they couldn't accept monsters. Even if the monster had protected him…
"Shit!"
The bullets couldn't harm Alex, and he rushed angrily to the civilian and tore him apart.
"Why…" Alex gasped, he still couldn't understand…
"Because…" Lucius jumped down from the pile of corpses. "Humans hunt us down if we don't fight back. So, don't show them any mercy."
Lucius patted Alex's shoulder and whispered in his ear.
"That's how we can survive."
After that, he walked into the building.
That's… how we can survive…
Alex looked at the bodies of the Black Watchers scattered across the ground.
If Alex didn't kill them, they would've killed him.
Alex stared at Lucius' back. This man knows how to survive in this cruel world as a monster. Even more than himself…